Paper short abstract:

Taking ways of believing in the eternal life as an example the paper makes suggestions to a dynamic interpretation, envisaging smooth concepts, easy to mix in the representation of the colourful cocktails.

Paper long abstract:

Drawing on fieldwork in Christian folk churches in Denmark and the Cook Islands, the paper discusses coexistent forms of transcendence in the context of death rituals. By focusing on the everyday theological practice, i.e. the way participants are interpreting ritual cosmology, the paper examines difficulties in understanding and representing the ontological fluidity in the accounts. The play with meaning between symbolic and literal meaning in ritual and beyond is well documented, but when it comes to the details of the differences and transformations, analysis tends to 'get stiff' in binary concepts or 'blurred' in third positions. Taking ways of believing in the eternal life as an example the paper makes suggestions to a dynamic interpretation, envisaging smooth concepts, easy to mix in the representation of the colourful cocktails.