Signs of Hope: Narratives, Eschatology, and Liturgical Inculturation in Deaf Catholic Worship

Liturgical inculturation in the twenty-first century has stalled for many reasons, one of which is the reality of the postmodern world. In an increasingly global, multicultural, and rapidly changing world, practices of liturgical inculturation that rely on a “structural-functional” definition of culture—that is, the idea of cultures as fixed, homogenous, and structured wholes—inevitably fail. This dissertation seeks to create a path forward by developing a postmodern model, method, and theology of liturgical inculturation. To this end, a study of American Deaf Catholic churches, whose congregations and liturgical practices exhibit postmodern traits which naturally critique the dominant method and theology of liturgical inculturation, is used as an empirical case study. Chapter one explains the research methodology and aims of the dissertation. Data gathered from field research, including ethnographic participant observations, interviews, and archival sources, form the basis for methodological and theological development. Narratology and performance theory are employed to analyze the data, and placed in dialogue with the history of anthropology, scholarship from deaf studies, and theology. From the analysis, three proposals emerged for advancing a theology of liturgical inculturation grounded in eschatology. The first is to question and re-examine the context behind the term “culture” as understood by the community that claims it. One way to do this is by providing a historical account of ethnogenesis, as demonstrated in chapters two, three and four. Chapter five provides an example of the fruits of ethnography for understanding the complexities of postmodern cultures. The second proposal is a definition of liturgical inculturation as the “co-creation of eschatological signs of hope.” “Co-creation” accents the relational aspect of inculturation, consequently requiring the consideration of social dynamics such as power inequities between and within cultural groups; “eschatological signs of hope” brings attention to the ethical dimensions of liturgical inculturation. The definition also presents the goal of liturgical inculturation as an effort toward transforming the church’s operative eschatology by expanding eschatological visions. The final proposal entails the adoption of a theological sense of “culture” as an eschatological society, to guard against the fragmentation of the people of God and reduction of salvation to mere political processes.