The Problem with Ritual Efficacy

William Sax

ISBN 10: 0195394410 / ISBN 13: 9780195394412

Editore: Oxford University Press, 2010

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nach der Bestellung gedruckt Neuware - Printed after ordering - This collection of 10 contributed essays is the first to explicitly address the question of ritual efficacy. The authors do not aspire to answer the question 'how do rituals work ' in a simplistic fashion, but rather to show how complex the question is. While some contributors do indeed advance a particular theory of ritual efficacy, others ask whether the question makes any sense at all, and most show how complex it is by referring to the sociocultural environmentin which it is posed, since the answer depends on who is asking the question, and what criteria they use to evaluate the efficacy of ritual.

Codice articolo 9780195394412

Dati bibliografici

• Titolo: The Problem with Ritual Efficacy
• Editore: Oxford University Press
• Data di pubblicazione: 2010
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 0195394410
• ISBN 13: 9780195394412
• Rilegatura: Taschenbuch
• Condizione: Neu
• Dimensioni: 229 L x 152 A x 12 P (millimetri) 229 millimetri di larghezza per 152 millimetri di altezza per 12 millimetri di profondità
• Peso: 339 grammi

Descrizione articolo

Riassunto

How do rituals work? Although this is one of the first questions that people everywhere ask about rituals, little has been written explicitly on the topic. In The Problem of Ritual Efficacy, nine scholars address this issue, ranging across the fields of history, anthropology, medicine, and biblical studies. For "modern" people, the very notion of ritual efficacy is suspicious because rituals are widely thought of as merely symbolic or expressive, so that - by definition - they cannot be efficacious. Nevertheless people in many cultures assume that rituals do indeed "work", and when we take a closer look at who makes claims for ritual efficacy (and who disputes such claims), we learn a great deal about the social and historical contexts of such debates. Moving from the pre-modern era-in which the notion of ritual efficacy was not particularly controversial-into the skeptical present, the authors address a set of debates between positivists, natural scientists, and religious skeptics on the one side, and interpretive social scientists, phenomenologists, and religious believers on the other. Some contributors advance a particular theory of ritual efficacy while others ask whether the question makes any sense at all. This path-breaking interdisciplinary collection will be of interest to readers in anthropology, history, religious studies, humanities and the social sciences broadly defined, and makes an important contribution to the larger conversation about what ritual does and why it matters to think about such things.

Informazioni sull'autore

William S. Sax is Professor of Anthropology, South Asia Institute, University of Heidelberg

Jan Weinhold is research psychologist, Collaborative Research Centre Dynamics of Ritual (SFB 619 Ritualdynamik), Institute of Medical Psychology, University of Heidelberg.

Johannes Quack is lecturer of Religious Studies and Anthropology, South Asia Institute, University of Heidelberg.

Paul Töbelmann, Research Assistant, Historical Seminar, University of Heidelberg.