Dance plays an important role in many religious traditions in rites of passage processions
healing rituals or festivals. But it is also controversial especially in Christianity.
Colonial European Christian discourses tend to separate dance from religion(s) and
spirituality. This volume explores dance as Third Space following Homi Bhabha's postcolonial
metaphor. The Inter-Dance approach combines interdisciplinary theoretical considerations with
case studies. International experts examine dance controversies and discourses from the early
church to World Christianity as well as in Hasidic Judaism Greek mysteries Islamic Sufism
West African Togolese religions and Afro-Brazilian Umbanda. Christian dance theologies are
unfolded and the boundary-crossing potential of dance in interreligious and intercultural
encounters is explored. The volume breaks new ground in how dance as ephemeral performative art
embodied thought and gendered discourse can transform studies of religion.
