Hennie J.C. Pieterse

Multicultural worship in Pretoria. A ritual-liturgical case study

The main aim of this article is to develop a theory for praxis with regards to multicultural worship in South Africa. With this aim in mind qualitative research was undertaken in three denominationally different congregations namely Dutch Reformed, Roman Catholic and Charismatic. The research question was “what are the ritual-liturgical qualities that make sustainable multicultural worship possible with the goal of enhancing social cohesion and reconciliation?” After a discussion of the theoretical points of departure of the research project the congregations and collected data are presented and ritual-liturgical qualities are identified. The article concludes by revisiting these qualities, rephrasing them into a preliminary theory for praxis which could possibly enhance the development of more sustainable multicultural worship services in the South African society.