E-Book Overview
Many teachers share an interest in bringing a better appreciation of ritual into their religious studies classes, but are uncertain how to do it. Religious studies faculty know how to teach texts, but they often have difficulty teaching something for which the meaning lies in the doing. How do you teach such "doing"? How much need be done? How does the teacher talk about the religiosity that exists in personalized relationships, not textual descriptions or prescriptions?These practical issues also give rise to theoretical questions. Giving more attention to ritual effectively suggests a reinterpretation of religion itself-an understanding less focused on what people have thought and written, and more focused on how they engage their universe. Many useful analyses of ritual derive from anthropological and sociological premises, which may be foreign to religious studies faculty and even seen by some as theologically problematic. This is the first resource to address the issues specific to teaching this subject. A stellar cast of contributors, all scholars of ritual and teachers experienced in using ritual in a wide variety of courses and settings, explain what has worked for them in the classroom, what has not, and what they have learned from the experience of being more real about religion. Their voices range from personal to formal, their topics from ways to use field trips to the role of architecture. The result is a rich guide for teachers who are new to the subject as well as the experienced willing to think about new angles and fresh approaches.
E-Book Content
AAR TEACHING RELIGIOUS STUDIES
Teaching Ritual edited by catherine bell
TEACHING RELIGIOUS STUDIES SERIES series editor Susan Henking, Hobart and William Smith Colleges A Publication Series of The American Academy of Religion and Oxford University Press TEACHING LEVI-STRAUSS Edited by Hans H. Penner TEACHING ISLAM Edited by Brannon M. Wheeler TEACHING FREUD Edited by Diane Jonte-Pace TEACHING DURKHEIM Edited by Terry F. Godlove, Jr. TEACHING AFRICAN AMERICAN RELIGIONS Edited by Carolyn M. Jones and Theodore Louis Trost TEACHING RELIGION AND HEALING Edited by Linda L. Barnes and Ine´s Talamantez TEACHING NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS Edited by David G. Bromley
Teaching Ritual edited by catherine bell
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2007
3 Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that further Oxford University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education. Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam
Copyright Ó 2007 by The American Academy of Religion Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Teaching ritual / edited by Catherine Bell. p. cm.—(AAR teaching religious studies series) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-19-517645-2; 978-0-19-517646-9 (pbk.) 1. Ritual—Study and teaching. 2. Rites and ceremonies— Study and teaching. I. Bell, Catherine M., 1953– BL600.T43 2007 203'.8071—dc22 2006030319
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Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
Dedicated to our teachers, as well a