
Contents
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Introduction Introduction
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Preliminary Reflections Preliminary Reflections
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Anthropological Perspectives Anthropological Perspectives
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Tylor: Sacrifice as Gift-Giving Tylor: Sacrifice as Gift-Giving
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Robertson Smith and Durkheim: Ritual as a Source of Social Bonding Robertson Smith and Durkheim: Ritual as a Source of Social Bonding
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Hertz: Death Rites and Emotions Hertz: Death Rites and Emotions
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Van Gennep, Turner, Bloch, and Whitehouse: The Power of Emotion in Rites of Passage and the Modes of Religion Van Gennep, Turner, Bloch, and Whitehouse: The Power of Emotion in Rites of Passage and the Modes of Religion
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Chapple and Coon: Rites of Intensification Chapple and Coon: Rites of Intensification
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Malinowski, Evans-Pritchard, and Lienhardt: Fieldwork and Ritual Diversity Malinowski, Evans-Pritchard, and Lienhardt: Fieldwork and Ritual Diversity
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Richards, La Fontaine, and Douglas: Women and Ritual Richards, La Fontaine, and Douglas: Women and Ritual
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Hocart and Stanner: Ritual De-reified Hocart and Stanner: Ritual De-reified
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De Martino: Rituals and Well-being De Martino: Rituals and Well-being
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Mol: The Sacralization of Identity Mol: The Sacralization of Identity
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Weber: Daily Life as Ritual Weber: Daily Life as Ritual
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Exploratory Applications Exploratory Applications
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Dividual Persons and Substance Codes Dividual Persons and Substance Codes
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Potential New Testament Application Potential New Testament Application
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Conclusion Conclusion
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Works Cited Works Cited
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Suggested Reading Suggested Reading
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4 Ritual, Identity, and Emotion
Get accessDouglas J. Davies is Professor in the Study of Religion and Director of The Centre of Death and Life Studies at Durham University, UK, trained in both social anthropology and theology. He is known internationally not only as a death-studies scholar, with work on traditional and woodland-ecological forms of burial and on cremation, but also for monographs on Mormonism. He has also worked on Anglicanism, on the interplay of anthropology and theology, and on the theology of death, most recently publishing Mors Britannica: Lifestyle and Death-style in Britain Today (OUP 2015). He is Oxford Doctor of Letters, Honorary Doctor of Theology in Uppsala, and Fellow of The Learned Society of Wales, of The Academy of Social Sciences, and of The British Academy.
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Published:11 December 2018
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Abstract
This chapter is grounded in its own theoretical proposition that ideas become values if and when pervaded by emotions; that such values become beliefs if they confer a sense of identity upon a person or group, and that such beliefs become religious beliefs if they frame identity with a sense of destiny. It then analyses a variety of familiar and less familiar anthropological and sociological approaches to the role of emotions in ritual practices, including Mol’s theoretical discussion of how forms of identity may be sacralized, a perspective applicable to early Christian ideas of Jesus and of the status-enhancing faith-community. The notion of identity is also explored through the concept of dividual rather than individual personhood. One hypothetical application highlights the idea of betrayal as a frame for Paul’s identity status as an apostle, and of grace interpreted technically as a ‘substance-code’ of participation in the early Christian spirit-grounded sect. While also covering basic concepts of reciprocity, habitus, and rites of passage, the chapter is alert to existential aspects of ceremonial behaviour and remains appropriately cautious of any overly reified notion of ‘ritual’.
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