A Review of: The Call of the Mourning Dove: How Sacred Sound Awakens Mystical Unity, by Stephanie Rutt

In the 1980s the interfaith or religious pluralism movement was looking towards an understanding of faith that unified multiple religious traditions. Paul Knitter, John Hick, and others offered the idea that perhaps there are multiple roads leading to one end in hope that people from various traditions may garner a respect for each other rather than disdain and condemnation. The efforts were to look at what was similar between the variety of faith traditions in humanity. As time went on, scholars in the field of religious pluralism started to look at what were the particular aspects of each tradition that made it different and unique. Dupuis, DiNoia, Heim (who wrote the forward to this book), and others looked to the idea that there may even be different ends with different religions. Beyond the academic work, many practitioners of religious traditions just did not want to be white-washed into a bland religious pabulum of the lowest common denominator. This is currently a push of the Parliament of World Religions, which the author criticizes (Rutt, 7). It is Rutt’s criticism that opens up one of the major risks of her book. Rutt is trying to offer a way of being religious that invites a variety of faith traditions, that speaks to similarities among those traditions, and we would hope still leaves space for those traditions to maintain their individuality. Looking directly at and rebuking the academic trends of inter-religious dialogue, Rutt is adamantly demanding we embrace a way that was initially embraced in the 1980s.

What Rutt does that is different is that she starts with the idea of sound made in times of worship/meditation. The idea of starting with sound is novel and creative and holds a good deal of promise. It is something that we all do, even the Quakers. With such an approach, Rutt may be inviting the reader into a space where unity in experience draws people past the differences of theology, ontology, and metaphysics. Rutt also looks to draw from the mystical edges of various traditions (Judaism, Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam), which opens the potential for the engagement of the divine in ways that can leave space for others. The idea has merit and potential.

Yet Rutt’s work lacks the depth and nuance to follow through with the project. Her basic idea, “The Sonic Trilogy of Love” is a trinitarian-esque model of one’s engagement with the divine through sound creating something new. Rutt is suggesting an ontological approach to one’s engagement with the divine and suggests that something new is created in that engagement. As soon as a theological model is offered, theologians from every faith traditions will no doubt respond with criticism and reasons why their particular faith tradition does not work in such a model. The project loses its credibility. Rutt goes further to offer a summary of panentheism, a philosophy that Rutt tells the reader more than once is not familiar to many scholars. Panentheism is not new. It is not a hidden, radical wisdom that we are just now unlocking and which will radically change the world. Panentheism is one of many approaches to reality and understanding of the divine. It may work for what Rutt is attempting to do, but need not be offered as something that no one has encountered before.

What is lamentable about her introduction of panentheism is that, like the model of the “sonic trilogy,” it distracts from what I think Rutt is trying to do. Rutt is offering an ontological model of theology, attempting to speak to the essence and the presence of the divine which opens up her project for multiple criticisms from scholars of particular traditions. If Rutt left alone the theology and looked at the practice, if this were a work that focused on actions and results, then it may have more to offer. We may not be able to say why, but we can say that when different traditions engage in sound when praying or meditating, something happens. Rutt explains away the mystery in attempting to offer something new.

It is regrettable that Rutt does not consider sound produced through congregational/group singing but rather focuses on the individual chants or prayers. It may be that some are done in larger groups and it would have been interesting to hear about those experiences and the difference between collective sound-production and individual sound-production.

There are a number of other challenges with Rutt’s work. When offering examples from each faith traditions she leads the reader to consider Moses for Judaism, Arjuna for Hinduism, Muhammad for Islam, and for Christianity, “Mother Teresa representing the biblical New Testament” (Rutt, 4). I am a Christian theologian, so cannot speak to the validity of the other representatives, but as much as I admire, respect, and honor the life and witness of Mother Teresa, she is not a character from the New Testament, and her life only focuses on particular aspects of what it means to be Christian. The example that Rutt is offering undercuts her credibility in her project. Further, as Rutt offers an investigation in Islam in that same chapter, she uses Huston Smith’s The World’s Religions as a primary source. Smith’s work is good, but dated and biased and not a great representative of Islamic studies, further bringing into question Rutt’s credibility in this work.

Rutt has a heart for people who are desiring a spiritual connection who do not have a religious tradition (spiritual but not religious). This is to be applauded. Rutt clearly has seen and experienced the power that sound has in one’s worship experience and is looking to offer that experience to others. It is a worthwhile project that calls for more study, analysis, and comparison.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the author and/or publisher through the Speakeasy blogging book review network. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.