Foundations in Ritual Studies

Theorizing Rituals: Vol I: Issues, Topics, Approaches, Concepts, edited by Jens Kreinath, Jan Snoek and Michael Stausberg, xiii–xxv. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2006

It is unclear when rituals first originated. Some assume that ritual, like dance, music, symbolism, and language, arose in the course of the evolution of primates into man, 1 or even prior to it. 2 Thus rituals may also have facilitated, or even stimulated, processes of adaptation. Be that as it may, biologists and behavioral scientists argue that there are rituals among animals, and this has important implications for our understanding of rituals. 3 Unlike animal rituals, however, sometime in the course of the evolution of (human) ritual, and in specific cultural settings, rituals have partly become the business of experts (priests). These ritual specialists, it can safely be assumed, often not only developed a ritual competence in the sense of performative skills but also began to study the rituals of their own tradition. Hence, one may assume that within this process of specialization, social differentiation, and professionalization, 4 indigenous forms of the study of rituals evolved. In contrast to the modern, mainly Western academic study of rituals, these indigenous forms of ritual studies can be referred to as 'ritualistics'. 5 * A first draft of this introduction was written by Michael Stausberg. It was then jointly revised and elaborated upon by the editors of this volume. We wish to thank Ingvild S. Gilhus (Bergen) and Donald Wiebe (Toronto) for helpful comments on a previous draft. 1 See also Bellah 2003. (Here, as throughout the volume, works listed in the annotated bibliography are referred to by author and year only. Those items not listed in the bibliography will be provided with full references in the notes.) 2 Staal 1989, 111 states: "Ritual, after all, is much older than language." See also Burkert 1972. 3 See Baudy in this volume. 4 See Gladigow 2004. 5 See Stausberg 2003. Although a small group of us began using the term at American Academy of Religion meetings, today it has wide currency in a large number of disciplines" (p. 1). See also Grimes 1982 and his bibliography, Research in Ritual Studies (Grimes 1985). In terms of the establishment of a new field of research, see also his article on ritual studies in the Encyclopedia of Religion from 1987. 8 See, e.g., Grimes 1990; Bell 1997. 9 Over the last five years, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Council) funded two large-scale research programs on rituals: Kulturen des Performativen (Sonderforschungsbereich 447 [http://www.sfb-performativ.de] since 1999) and Ritualdynamik (Sonderforschungsbereich 619 [http://www.ritualdynamik.uni-hd.de] since 2002). Some contributors to the current volume are members of the former (Christoph Wulf) or the latter (Dietrich Harth, Axel Michaels, William S. Sax, and Jan A.M. Snoek). 10 The editors themselves were members of a junior research group, Ritualistik

The Journal of Ritual Studies is an independent, subscriber-based, peer-review journal. The Joumal is run by the Co-Editors (P.J. Stewart and A. Strathern) and printed in the U.S.A.

The study tries to explain a clear understanding of rituals, religion and secular practices in society. It begins by stating the meaning of Ritual, Religion, and Secular; Ritual Too often, the word "ritual" is abused because a ritual considers that it does not rely on the repetition of action but also needs other factors. The definitions provided by anthropologists of the word "rite" are often very contrasting. The rite has the prerogative of being plastic and adapting to social change, and for this reason, every author has a distinct definition. The concept of ritual, if it was only part of the primitive and exotic societies that are now part of the contemporary world, rites are part of the communities because they need a lot of symbolization.The term "rite" comes from the Latin word ‘ritus’ that mean ritual. It is from this that many anthropologists have developed different definitions.

Approaching Religion, 2022

, Terhi's sixtieth birthday, and contains reflections and research articles written by Terhi's colleagues in Finland, the UK and the Netherlands. All the research articles address the theme of rituals, which is one of Terhi's special foci of interest as a scholar of religion. This editorial first outlines Terhi's academic career and then introduces the individual texts that make up the issue.

e-rhizome, 2023

In this article, the author responds to review articles dedicated to the book "Ritual. How Seemingly Senseless Acts Make Life Worth Living," published in 2022.

Numen, 2008

Birds do it. Bees do it. Rituals are common in nature. In our own lineage rituals runs rampant. Why this is so, and how best to examine human rituals, remains some of the most intriguing and contested questions facing scholarly inquiry.

Journal of Ritual Studies , 2020

The present paper aims to investigate the role of anthropology in the development of Ritual Studies as an interdisciplinary platform, with a focus on ritual dynamics by using a historiographic description, focusing on the transition of Greco-Roman to Christian culture. This study attempts to shed light not only on the contribution of anthropology to Ritual Studies and how rituals are constantly changing, but it also underpins exploratory analysis on how religion and rituals have been researched by the first generation of scholars, like Edward Burnett Tylor, William Robertson Smith, James Frazer and Jane Ellen Harrison to scholars like Victor Turner, Ronald Grimes and more recent authors like Gil Renberg, Hedvig von Ehrenheim, Risto Uro and Richard DeMaris. Further, the goal is to clarify how anthropologists examined Christianity in Late Antiquity, thematized by the healing ritual temple sleep and stipulated by the examples used, to conclude how anthropological theories, like the liminality model of Arnold van Gennep, are applied to ritual healing. This study is innovative and challenging through the application of Ritual Studies to the transition from Greco-Roman culture to Christian culture, with emphasis on ritual and change.

These days within liturgy studies, and theology and rehgious studies in general, it is possible to come across numerous references to, or cross-references from, so-called Ritual Studies. Tliis often involves an indication of partnerships and alliances in the open and multidisciplinary research design of modern liturgical studies.2 In some cases Ritual Studies is used in reference to a specific sub section of social sciences concerning rites, or certain trends in ethnology, biology and neurology, such as the so-called '(new) cognitive science of religion'. Elsewhere the suggestion is put forward that Ritual Studies concerns a specific theory or method, or at the very least a movement or school. Based on the überschreiten. Profile und Perspektiven der Uturgiewissenschafit (Leipzig 2002 Liturgie und Spiritualität 9) 81-100; IDEM: Personen de liturgie (Zoetermeer 2001); P. POST: Rrtuvon Trends und Perspektiven, in A. GERde gestalte ' This contribution is based in part on a master thesis by T. SwiNKRI.S: Inculturatie en de grondhouding van liturgical supinity. De bijdrage van Grimes aan de liturgiewetenschap gethematiseerd via liturgische inculturatie. Theologische Faculteit Tilburg (Tilburg 2002).-The term 'Ritual Studies' features explicitly in P. POST: Programm und Profil der Liturgiewissenschaft. Ein niederländischer Beitrag, in W. RaTZM.ANN (ed.): Grengen Beiträge zu en patronen. Literatuurbericht Uturgiewetenschap, in Praktische theologie 28 (2001) 86-110 (in particular 89-96 on Bell, Rappaport, Grimes, Stringer and Lukken); IDEM: Life cycle rituals: a ritual-hturgical perspective, in Questions liturgicjues/Studies in liturgy 83 (2002) 10-29; IDEM: Interference and intuition: on the characteristic nature of research design in liturgical studies, in Questions liturgicjues!Studies in liturgy 81 (2000) 48-65; M. BARNARD & P. POST (eds.): Pdtueel bestek. Antropologische kernwoorden van ell-hturgische Bewegungen: Erkundruigen TIARD.S & B. KKjVNEMANN (eds.): Idturgie im Umfeld von Sterben und Pod im dkontext der säkularen Gesellschaft (Leipzig 2002 = Erfurter Theologische Schriften 30) 25-60 (esp. 30, footnote 12); IDEM: Overvloed of derituahsering: Lukken en Grimes over het actuele ritueel-liturgische miUeu, in Jaarboek voor liturgie-onder-yoek 17 (2001) 193-212; G. LUK KEN: Pdtuelen in overvloed. Een kriliscbe beginning op de plaats en de gestalte van het christelijk ritueel in onge cultuur (Kampen 1999); IDEM: Pdtual in abundance (Leuven 2004 = Liturgia condenda 17, in preparation); AI. BARNARD: Eiturgiek als wetenschap van christelijke riten en symbolen (Amsterdam 2000). Cf. G. ROUWHORST: 'Ritual Studies': drie benaderingen van een complex verschijnsel, in Pijdschrifit voor liturgie 86 (2002) 266-280 (on Bell, Grimes and Lukken). Jaarboek voor Uturgie-onderzoek 19 (2003) 215-238 ' Cf. S. Van DF.N Bossche: Geen wijn in water veranderen. De onherleidbare particu lariteit van het christelijk geloof, in Tijdschrift voor theologie 38 (1998) 109-119; G. DAN-NEEI.S: Rituelen in, sacramenten out?, in Tijdschrift voor liturgie 86 (2002) 306-322; H. Geybej.S: Algemeen mensehjk of eigen christelijk? Rituelen en de identiteit van religies, in Tijdschrift voor theologie 41 (2001) 221-230; for a general framework covering a diversity of positions see: L. BOEVE, S. VAN DEN BOSSCHE, G. IMMINK & P. POST (eds.): Levensrituelen en sacramentaliteit: tussen continuïteit en discontinuïteit (Kampen 2003 = Meander 5). In addition to this there are authors such as Lukken and Schillebeeckx who deploy Ritual Studies without hesitance: G. LUKKEN: De 'overkant' van het menseUjk ritueel: herbezinning vanuit fenomenologie en semiotiek op antropologische en lagen, in Tjdschrift voor theologie 41 (2001) 145-166 (this article can be seen as a supple ment to the close of IDEM: Trituelen in overvloed, E. SCHILLEBEECKX: Naar een heront dekking van christelijke sacramenten. Ritualisering van religieuze momenten in het alledaagse leven, in Tijdschrift voor theologie 40 (2000) 164-187 (= Hin zu einer Wiederent deckung der christhchen Sakramente. Ritualisierung religiöser Momente im alltäglichen Leben, in A. HOLDEREGGER & J.-P. Wlt.S (eds.