Foot washing before the Lord’s Supper: in African Independent Churches this ritual has everything to do with development. During a presentation for the Knowledge Centre Religion and Development, South African theologian Cas Wepener recently explained how.

Together with a team of Dutch and South African scholars, Wepener is investigating the role of religious rituals in social capital formation. The Christian foot washing ceremony provides a good example. During this ritual, participants are encouraged to be humble, friendly, and cooperative. The very act of washing the feet of other church goers helps the foot washers to realize what these virtues mean in practice. According to Wepener, this realization can then translate directly into everyday actions:

A woman witnessed that she felt as though at that moment she had stood in the shoes of Jesus. This motivated her to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, just as Jesus did.

Thus, new social contacts are established in the wake of a religious ritual. With these contacts also come new opportunities for development. Wepener’s team uses three measures of social capital:

• -bonds within a group;
• -bridges between comparable groups; and
• -links between diverse groups.

Material poverty often goes hand in hand with a low score on one or more of these indicators of social capital. Especially a lack of links with diverse groups makes people vulnerable to material adversity.

The research team focuses on the unique role of religious rituals in building and sustaining social capital. To this end, the interdisciplinary group of development experts and liturgy scholars receives public funding from the South African National Research Foundation. Gerrie ter Haar, who chairs the international advisory council and the steering group of the Knowledge Centre Religion and Development, is also involved in the project.

The South African study of religious ritual and social capital builds on the work of Mary Douglas and Victor Turner. In the 1970s these anthropologists already documented the role of rituals in the social order and in processes of social transformation. Another source of inspiration for Wepener and his team came from the rituals that accompanied the work of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, this court-like body effectively facilitated the transition from apartheid to an inclusive democracy.

The KCRD coordinating staff values staying in touch with researchers who, like Cas Wepener, investigate the specific ways in which religion forms and transforms development.

Louke van Wensveen