Ritual and religion are, as everyone knows, closely intertwined. So tightly linked are they that some scholars, such as Emile Durkheim, seem to have mistaken one for the other or at least conflated the two. For those who cannot accept Durkheim’s position, there are two competing explanations for the origin of ritual. The first is [...]
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Sooner or later any serious student or historian of religion will encounter Jonathan Z. Smith, he of the infamous quip — “there is no data for religion. Religion is solely the creation of the scholar’s study.” A curious statement indeed coming from one of the most prominent historians of religion, whose entire career and oeuvre [...]
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Rituals are obviously important to the study of religion. Indeed, the sociologist Emile Durkheim and the anthropologist Roy Rappaport locate the origins of religion in ritual. It is, however, a mistake to equate or conflate ritual with religion. They are not the same. Not all rituals are religious and not all rituals are sacred.
Having said [...]
