The Necessity of Doing Theology with Occasional Practitioners

Abstract Attention to the liturgical theological insights of occasional practitioners is possible and necessary. This chapter makes three distinct yet interrelated arguments for why it is important to do theology with occasional practitioners. The first engages with scripture, specifically the story of Zacchaeus, drawing on the theology of Tomáš Halík, and the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. The second re-examines Aidan Kavanagh’s “Mrs. Murphy,” the archetypal routine practitioner and mythical primary theologian in liturgical studies, and introduces her great-granddaughter, who is almost certainly occasionally religious. The third draws inspiration from the liturgical liberation theology of Cláudio Carvalhaes and makes a case for attending to those on the liturgical and theological margins as a way to start where it hurts, think at the border, and enter into dialogue through praxis. Doing liturgical theology with occasional practitioners requires openness to changing what is considered liturgy and how theology is done, as modeled in an extended example of occasional practitioners’ use of photography. It requires setting aside the false, yet persistent, assumption that liturgical participants are formally affiliated, fully believing, actively practicing, and morally compliant with the Christian tradition. By letting go of this assumption, and attending to the theological and liturgical margins as privileged places of theological insight, additional dimensions of what Christian worship is meaning and doing can be uncovered that have the potential to enrich the theology and practice of all participants.