On the varieties of 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

2007

Contents vi 8 Catherine Bell 166 Ritual, change, and changing rituals 167 The authority of ritual experts

International Journal for The Psychology of Religion, 2012, 22, 89-92

One of the most obscure and recalcitrant of the subjects with which religion is associated is that of the meaning of ritual forms. Research particularly in Anthropology in the last generation has helped to transform our understanding of this, but this has also strongly misled students of ritual, for it has tended not to take ritual and religion themselves seriously on their own terms, but to be reductionistic, i.e., reducing religion and ritual with it merely to socio-cultural values. This omits the very foundation of ritual in experiential spiritual realms. This essay is therefore a meditation on ritual that attempts to take it seriously as the embodied enactment of religious meaning, existing simultaneously on a multitude of levels, physical, personal, social and spiritual, and therefore as revealing meaning and levels of reality in the world that can be discovered, fully experienced and properly explored in no other way. We seek to clarify in this meditation, in short, what ritual "does" as such, in all religious cults, and so we focus on its foundational implications that appear in and underlie any particular expression of it. Our approach is phenomenological, but our reflections lead us to question and modify many common assumptions about the role of will, personhood and ethical encounter, and the nature of the holy, not only as developed in Anthropological studies both English and French, but also in the philosophical writings of Kant, Buber, and even leading phenomenological theorists such as Merleau-Ponty.

Religions

Due to the COVID-19 crisis and the related restrictive measures, many of our (daily) rituals have changed [...]

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.

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.

2001

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.