Ritual and Its Consequences

2008-02-21 Language Arts & Disciplines

Author : Adam B. Seligman
Release : 2008-02-21
Genre : Language Arts & Disciplines
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 003/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Ritual and Its Consequences by : Adam B. Seligman

Download or read book Ritual and Its Consequences written by Adam B. Seligman. This book was released on 2008-02-21. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on examples from many places and times, this work argues for the continuing tension across historical contexts between movements emphasizing ritual and movements emphasizing sincerity. It contends that our contemporary age has, at great risk, downplayed the importance of ritual.

Ritual and Its Consequences

2008-03-24 Religion

Author : Adam B. Seligman
Release : 2008-03-24
Genre : Religion
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 411/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Ritual and Its Consequences by : Adam B. Seligman

Download or read book Ritual and Its Consequences written by Adam B. Seligman. This book was released on 2008-03-24. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This pioneering, interdisciplinary work shows how rituals allow us to live in a perennially imperfect world. Drawing on a variety of cultural settings, the authors utilize psychoanalytic and anthropological perspectives to describe how ritual--like play--creates "as if" worlds, rooted in the imaginative capacity of the human mind to create a subjunctive universe. The ability to cross between imagined worlds is central to the human capacity for empathy. Ritual, they claim, defines the boundaries of these imagined worlds, including those of empathy and other realms of human creativity, such as music, architecture and literature. The authors juxtapose this ritual orientation to a "sincere" search for unity and wholeness. The sincere world sees fragmentation and incoherence as signs of inauthenticity that must be overcome. Our modern world has accepted the sincere viewpoint at the expense of ritual, dismissing ritual as mere convention. In response, the authors show how the conventions of ritual allow us to live together in a broken world. Ritual is work, endless work. But it is among the most important things that we humans do.

Rituals Of Blood

1999-12-10 History

Author : Orlando Patterson
Release : 1999-12-10
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 393/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Rituals Of Blood by : Orlando Patterson

Download or read book Rituals Of Blood written by Orlando Patterson. This book was released on 1999-12-10. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the first essay, Patterson analyzes the very latest survey data to delineate the different attitudes, behaviors, and circumstances of Afro-American men and women, dissecting both the external and internal causes for the great disparities he finds.In the second essay, Patterson focuses on the lynching of Afro-American boys and men during the decades after Reconstruction, particularly on the substantial number of cases that constituted apparent ritual human sacrifice. As no one has done before, Patterson reveals how the complex interplay between Christian sacrificial symbolism and the deep recesses of post-bellum Southern culture resulted in some of the most shameful, barbaric events in American history.The third essay brings us into the late twentieth century, with an investigation of the various images of Afro-American men portrayed by the media. From the demigod (Michael Jordan) to the demon (Colin Ferguson) to the demigod-turned-demon (O. J. Simpson) and the crossers of racial and gender boundaries (Michael Jackson and Dennis Rodman)—all contribute to the cultural complications of our contemporary society.Rituals of Blood advances Patterson's new model of ethnic relations that opens American society to a new and freer dialogue.

Ritual: A Very Short Introduction

2015-01-28 Religion

Author : Barry Stephenson
Release : 2015-01-28
Genre : Religion
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 583/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Ritual: A Very Short Introduction by : Barry Stephenson

Download or read book Ritual: A Very Short Introduction written by Barry Stephenson. This book was released on 2015-01-28. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ritual is part of what it means to be human. Like sports, music, and drama, ritual defines and enriches culture, putting those who practice it in touch with sources of value and meaning larger than themselves. Ritual is unavoidable, yet it holds a place in modern life that is decidedly ambiguous. What is ritual? What does it do? Is it useful? What are the various kinds of ritual? Is ritual tradition bound and conservative or innovative and transformational? Alongside description of a number of specific rites, this Very Short Introduction explores ritual from both theoretical and historical perspectives. Barry Stephenson focuses on the places where ritual touches everyday life: in politics and power; moments of transformation in the life cycle; as performance and embodiment. He also discusses the boundaries of ritual, and how and why certain behaviors have been studied as ritual while others have not. Stephenson shows how ritual is an important vehicle for group and identity formation; how it generates and transmits beliefs and values; how it can be used to exploit and oppress; and how it has served as a touchstone for thinking about cultural origins and historical change. Encompassing the breadth and depth of modern ritual studies, Barry Stephenson's Very Short Introduction also develops a narrative of ritual's place in social and cultural life. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

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Ritual and Its Consequences

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