On Ritual: A Microhistorical Approach (Supplements to Method & Theory in the Study of Religion)

Close, microhistorical examination of the way rituals are actually performed goes well beyond the standard, ideal description of such ceremonies to reveal participants who modify the proceedings in shrewd, subtle, strategic ways that advance their own interests, sometimes going so far as to challenge, even subvert the protocols, traditions, and values favored by presiding officials. The wide-ranging set of examples includes a Roman funeral, a Mesoamerican healing ceremony, a Jewish-American Thanksgiving dinner and others, each of which receives meticulously detailed consideration. Each one has its own engaging characters, intricate maneuvers, analytically revealing developments, and moments of high drama.

Bruce Lincoln is the Caroline E. Haskell Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of History of Religions at the University of Chicago. His previous books include Secrets, Lies, and Consequences: A Great Scholar’s Hidden Past and his Protégé’s Unsolved Murder (2023), Religion, Culture and Politics in Pre-Islamic Iran (2021), and Old Thiess: A Livonian Werewolf (with Carlo Ginzburg, 2020).