RLG101H5 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Edmund Leach, Gennep, Neurosis
Document Summary
8 particular ways of looking at rituals: meaning, symbolism, communication, performance, society, repetition, transformation, power, ronald grimes suggests that there are 16 categories of ritual action (rites of passage, marriage, bell breaks it down into four. Rituals and symbolism: beattie"s distinction between expressive and instrumental action is founded on a symbolist approach to religion and ritual. The term ritual is ambiguous, since rituals are not things that existin themselves, but are ways of acting and behaving. Ritual is better described as ritual action" or, in catherine bell"s phrase, as ritualisation". Ritual is a way of thinking in action, working on creating a sense of ritualisation". Classical studies of ritual have analysed ritual with respect tomeanings, symbols, communications, performance, society, repetition, and transformation. Each of these approaches give us certain perspectives on some of the ways in which people perform rituals, but none explains what rituals are about".
