Ritual - Perspectives and Dimensions

Klappentext From handshakes and toasts to chant and genuflection! ritual pervades our social interactions and religious practices. Still! few of us could identify all of our daily and festal ritual behaviors! much less explain them to an outsider. Similarly! because of the variety of activities thatqualify as ritual and their many contradictory yet! in many ways! equally legitimate interpretations! ritual seems to elude any systematic historical and comparative scrutiny. In this book! Catherine Bell offers a practical introduction to ritual practice and its study; she surveys the mostinfluential theories of religion and ritual! the major categories of ritual activity! and the key debates that have shaped our understanding of ritualism. Bell refuses to nail down ritual with any one definition or understanding. Instead! her purpose is to reveal how definitions emerge and evolveand to help us become more familiar with the interplay of tradition! exigency! and self- expression that goes into constructing this complex social medium. Zusammenfassung In this book, Catherine Bell offers a practical introduction to ritual and its study. She presents comprehensive overviews of the most influential theories of religion and ritual, the major categories of ritual activity, and in the process continues to develop her own distinctive position regarding the nature of ritual.

Product details

• Authors: Catherine Bell, Catherine (Associate Professor of Religious Bell, Bell Catherine
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.11.1997
• EAN: 9780195110517
• ISBN: 978-0-19-511051-7
• No. of pages: 368
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Religion/theology > General, dictionaries; Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Religion: general, reference works; RELIGION / Devotional, Religion: general, Worship, rites & ceremonies, Worship, rites, ceremonies and rituals