Understanding Religious Ritual

Download or read book Understanding Religious Ritual written by John P. Hoffmann and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-03-01 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although numerous studies of religious rituals have been conducted by religious studies scholars, anthropologists, sociologists, and psychologists, it is rare to find a work that brings scholars from different disciplines together to discuss the similarities and differences in their research. This book represents contributions by leading scholars from several disciplines that show the diversity of approaches to religious rituals, while also providing cross-disciplinary perspectives on this topic. The goals of the chapters are to consider where the field currently stands in understanding religious rituals and what novel ideas can improve our knowledge about these practices; and furnish innovative applications of theory by discussing particular examples which are drawn from the authors’ fieldwork. The chapters cover Christian, Buddhist, Jewish, and Islamic rituals, thus providing a view of how ritual practices vary across the globe, but also how they share some important characteristics.

Download or read book Religious and Ritual Change written by Pamela J. Stewart and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The topic of religious and ritual change, including conversion from one modality of practices to another, has emerged in recent years as a prime focus of scholarly attention in anthropology and related disciplines, such as history, sociology, political science and religious studies. Conversion to Christianity is one focus that has developed within this broad and dynamic field of investigations. This edited volume is a unique set of studies that explores this field further, with a doubly innovative approach. First, the chapters represent a collaboration of leading scholars from Taiwan and from the USA and Europe. Second, the studies involve a comparative dimension, juxtaposing work done among indigenous Austronesian minorities in Taiwan and work done in the Pacific Islands (Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands). Within this collection of essays, common processes of change are evident, while the importance of specific histories is revealed, and analytical and theoretical issues are probed and reviewed in ways that demonstrate their relevance to the overall dimensions of comparison. No other work in this arena of study has brought together scholars with such a comparative framework in mind. This volume is relevant for scholars and students of religious change generally, as well as those readers who are interested in the wider Asia-Pacific region, minority groups, Christianity, indigenous movements, and the socialization of the ritual body in contexts of historical and cosmological change. This book is part of the Ritual Studies Monograph Series, edited by Pamela J. Stewart and Andrew Strathern, Department of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh. "... [A] wide range of views are offered ... Overall the book offers itself as a detailed archive of ethnographic information for further analysis and interpretation of these and other issues." -- Religion and Society: Advances in Research

Download or read book Homo Ritualis written by Axel Michaels and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 395 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Are the richness and diversity of rituals and celebrations in South Asia unique? Can we speak of a homo ritualis when it comes to India or Hinduism? Are Indians or Hindus more involved in rituals than other people? If so, what makes them special? Homo Ritualis is the first book to present a Hindu theory of rituals. Based on extensive textual studies and field-work in Nepal and India, Axel Michaels argues that ritual is a distinctive way of acting, which, as in the theater, can be distinguished from other forms of action. The book analyzes ritual in these cultural-specific and religious contexts, taking into account how indigenous terms and theories affect and contribute to current ritual theory. It describes and investigates various forms of Hindu rituals and festivals, such as life-cycle rituals, the Vedic sacrifice, vows processions, and the worship of deities (puja). It also examines conceptual components of (Hindu) rituals such as framing, formality, modality, and theories of meaning.

Download or read book Icons of Power written by Naomi Janowitz and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2010-11-01 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Janowitz sifts through the polemics to make sense of the daunting mosaic of religious belief and practice in Late Antiquity. Janowitz reveals how ritual practitioners held common assumptions about why their rituals worked and how to perform them. Icons of Power makes an important contribution to our understanding of society in Late Antiquity.

Download or read book Routledge Encyclopedia of Religious Rites, Rituals and Festivals written by Frank A. Salamone and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines religious beliefs expressed through ritualized behavior and festivals.

Download or read book Understanding Religious Ritual written by John Hoffmann and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-03 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book represents contributions from leading scholars from several disciplines that show the diversity of approaches to religious rituals, while also providing cross-disciplinary perspectives on this topic.

Download or read book Ritual and Religious Belief written by Graham Harvey and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-07-28 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The study of ritual and how it relates to beliefs and ideas is of central importance in our understanding of the world. Rituals can become divorced from beliefs and religious believers regarded as simply "going through the motions". 'Ritual and Religious Belief: A Reader' presents the full range of scholarly thinking on ritual and ritualizing as they relate to belief. It questions the assumption that belief should take precedence over outward behaviour and engages with questions such as: how are rituals related to performance; are politics ritualized; and is there a difference between rituals and etiquette? This comprehensive volume brings together material by eminent scholars from across the centuries, ranging from Martin Luther's sacramental dialogues to the life and routine patterns of Zen Buddhist Temples and the relationship between magic, religion and science. It will be of interest to all those engaged in the study of the dynamics between ritual and belief.