Understanding Religious Ritual

Hoffmann John P.

ISBN 10: 0415781671 / ISBN 13: 9780415781671

Published by Taylor & Francis Group, 2011

About this Item

pp. 240.

Seller Inventory # 182141818

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Understanding Religious Ritual
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Group
• Publication Date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0415781671
• ISBN 13: 9780415781671
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

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.

About the Author

John P. Hoffmann is Professor of Sociology at Brigham Young University. His research interests include the influence of religious practices on behaviours and attitudes. He has also studied western religions in Japan. His most recent books include Japanese Saints and Revisiting Thomas F. O’Dea’s The Mormons.