Comments for Ritual Studies

Comment on Harry Potter and the Persistence of Ritual by splate

splate — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 16:01:33 +0000

Hi Barry, Good comments and questions. Of course, please understand the context in which the piece appeared: It was meant as a response piece to a short Times article, written in a blog for a general public at Religion Dispatches. I simply reposted here as I thought it might strike some readers as relevant. The questions you ask would take a serious full on scholarly book to begin to answer!
But a couple comments: Precisely because of the ritualistic flair of midnight Harry Potter screenings, I am increasingly tempted to say we need ritual like water. I also say this from reading works like Ron’s “Deeply into the Bone,” and this constant desire/need to ritualize our lives. By no means does that mean they are all the same (which is why, in my short piece, I referred to other writings on superbowls and proms, et al), in style, degree, taste, etc. And indeed Protestants got rid of a number of rituals but as you point out in your fascinating article on the Thesenportal, “Luther is back” and he is in ritualized form.
My overall point in much of my writing on film and pop culture is to suggest that, even if we think we as a late modern culture are “secular,” we keep borrowing these same activities. And I’m trying also to write for a public audience that continues to see religion as about “belief in God.” Thus, my final sentence…

Comment on Harry Potter and the Persistence of Ritual by Barry Stephenson

Barry Stephenson — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 20:14:19 +0000

Brent: Thanks for your post. If we do indeed need ritual, what do we need it for? Do we need it like water, or need it like a drug? If we need it, does that necessarily mean it is somehow helpful or inevitable? If it is hard-wired, as you suggest, then ritual has evolutionary advantage; but even if and when we arrive at a more or less agreeable definition of ritual, there are varities of ritual, each with different contexts, sources, and outcomes; this ritual might have advantages, positive moral outcomes and valuations (for some mebers of a group); but that ritual over there might not. So, I guess I’m saying I’m a bit leary of a very general statement such as ‘we need ritual.’ Lastly, perhaps we need to think about degrees or differences or styles of ritual. Yes, Protestants were hard on many Catholic rites and popular culture and theatre and performance, etc. But in there place, they also developed ritual forms and styles. Is a Quaker meeting somehow less ritualized than a high liturgy. Rather than more or less ritual, perhaps we need to think about styles and tastes?

Comment on Rehearsal for the Raising of the Cross by Ron Grimes

Ron Grimes — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:53:05 +0000

Rodrigo, I’m not sure I understand the point of either the quotation or your comment. Are you implying that you consider the images to be secular because they lack a ritual context? Aside from Delgado-Gal and Kant, what’s your own response to these images? Ron

Comment on Photos on the Home Page by Rw Harwood

Rw Harwood — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 15:15:48 +0000

The one image brings to mind the history of ritual. The other – that wonderful photograph of the brick building – suggests to me the study of ritual.

Comment on Photos on the Home Page by Webmaster

Webmaster — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 00:28:37 +0000

Like the bricklayers, we aim to please and have, accordingly, reordered the bricks of our title.

Comment on Photos on the Home Page by fshapiro

fshapiro — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 21:00:55 +0000

Why the title ““Always changing, always the same.”
I’d have thought the other way round makes more sense when it comes to ritual “Always the same, always changing.”

Comment on Photos on the Home Page by Ron Grimes

Ron Grimes — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 18:52:15 +0000

Well, Puzzled, you might start with letting your cursor linger over that photo, because it hides a secret.
Now, what do you think?