Understanding Religious Ritual: Theoretical approaches and innovations (Routledge Advances in Sociology)

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. -- Book Description Introduction. Improving our understanding of religious ritual / by John P. Hoffmann Transformations : the social construciton of religious ritual / by Timothy J. Nelson The ritual production of belonging and belief : Darwinian flesh for Durkheimian bones / by Douglas A. Marshall Experience, subjectivity and performance : an anthropological approach to pentecostal rituals based on the body / by Geraldine Mossiere Ritual texts : languages and action in ritual / by Jorgen Podemann Sorensen A psychological functionalist perspective on a forgiveness ritual / by Elizabeth A. Gassin Making it look right : ritual as a form of communication / by Daniel B. Lee Applying practise-oriented approaches to Islamic purification and prayer / by Kate Ostergaard Centered in time : a sociological phenomenology of religious rituals / by James V. Spickard Mongolian livestock rituals : appropriations, adaptations, and transformations / by Vesna A. Wallace "Don't forget home" : the importance of sacred ritual in families / by Loren D. Marks and David Dollahite The ritual economy in modern Malaysia / by Johan Fischer. Understanding Religious Ritual Theoretical approaches and innovations 8 Copyright 9 Contents 10 Notes on contributors 12 Acknowledgments 15 1 Introduction: improving our understanding of religious ritual 16 2 Transformations: the social construction of religious ritual 24 3 The ritual production of belonging and belief: Darwinian flesh for Durkheimian bones 46 4 Experience, subjectivity and performance: an anthropological approach to Pentecostal rituals based on the body 69 5 Ritual texts: language and action in ritual 88 6 A psychological functionalist perspective on a forgiveness ritual 108 7 Making it look right: ritual as a form of communication 130 8 Applying practice-oriented approaches to Islamic purification and prayer 151 9 Centered in time: a sociological phenomenology of religious rituals 169 10 Mongolian livestock rituals: appropriations, adaptations, and transformations 183 11 “Don’t forget home”: the importance of sacred ritual in families 201 12 The ritual economy in modern Malaysia 219 Index 236 Theoretical approaches and innovations Although numerous studies of religious rituals have been conducted by anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists, and religious studies scholars, 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 from leading scholars from several disciplines that show the diversity of approaches to religious rituals, while also providing cross-disciplinary perspectives on this topic. The first section of the book This text 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.