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INTRODUCING RITUAL

INTRODUCING RITUAL. Sheila E. McGinn, Ph.D. Professor of Religious Studies John Carroll University. What Is Ritual?. “A specific and usually repeated complex ‘language’ of paradigmatic word and gesture.” Intentional acts done in the same way to effect the same purpose ...

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INTRODUCING RITUAL

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  1. INTRODUCING RITUAL Sheila E. McGinn, Ph.D. Professor of Religious Studies John Carroll University

  2. What Is Ritual? • “A specific and usually repeated complex ‘language’ of paradigmatic word and gesture.” • Intentional acts done in the same way to effect the same purpose ... • Rituals may be religious or “secular,” depending upon context, intention, etc. Introducing Ritual

  3. What Is Religious Ritual? • Religious ritual is: • A repeated complex of word and gesture … • That refers “to essential structures of the universe, • And paradigmatic modes of being….” • All the key facets of religion (creed, code, cult, community) intersect in religious ritual. Introducing Ritual

  4. Purposes of Religious Ritual Four traditional ends of religious ritual: • Adoration • Penance/purification • Petition • Thanksgiving Introducing Ritual

  5. Adoration Historic St. Peter Church, Cleveland, Ohio—Gaudete Sunday 2007, “Alleluia” Introducing Ritual

  6. Penance / Purification Historic St. Peter Church, Cleveland, Ohio—Gaudete Sunday 2007, “Kyrie Eleison” Introducing Ritual

  7. Petition Historic St. Peter Church, Cleveland—Gaudete Sunday 2007, “Prayers of the People” Introducing Ritual

  8. Thanksgiving Historic St. Peter Church, Cleveland—Gaudete Sunday 2007, “Offertory” Introducing Ritual

  9. Religious Ritual Supports Belief • Serves psychological function of providing the context for religious conviction • Creates a chairos for contact with the Sacred • Enacts the beliefs of a community • Teaches what is Sacred to the participants/community • Through physical expressions of words and communal ethos, helps create appropriate affect in participants • E.g., Reciting the Lord’s Prayer with motions • E.g., “Stoning Satan” and other rituals of the Hajj Introducing Ritual

  10. Sacred Presence in Ritual • Rituals have transcendent power • Escape “routine” • Make present supra- mundane reality • Reveal sacred presence • Divine immanence • Leaders • Participants • Space • Objects Introducing Ritual

  11. Ritual Space is Sacred Space • “Center of the Universe” • Site of hierophany (historic or present) • Point where Ultimate Reality connects with earthly existence • Examples of sacred spaces: • Easter Vigil fire • Sacred circle for Native American ceremonials • Navaho Hogan • Mount Sinai • Jerusalem • Mecca • The Kaa’ba • Others? Introducing Ritual

  12. The Primal Sacred Circle The Village Fire Circle The Emerald Forest Introducing Ritual

  13. A Contemporary Sacred Circle Historic St. Peter Church, Cleveland—Gaudete Sunday 2007, “Come to Us, O Emmanuel,” invocation and meditation for the Lighting of the Advent Wreath Introducing Ritual

  14. Sensus Fidelium • “Instinct” of the faithful • Concerning content of faith (i.e., correct beliefs) • Concerning presence and power of the Sacred in a particular context • Experience of the Sacred • Mediated by the senses but transcends them • Communal context for interpretation • The “Sacred” nature (of an event, space, person, or object) may not be evident to outside observers Introducing Ritual

  15. Ritual Objects AreSacred Objects Ritual incorporates objects that function as signs and symbols of the Sacred

  16. Sacred Objects: Signs • Point to the Sacred • Representational • Extrinsic to Reality they represent • Meaning is conventional, contextual • Tends to be “flat,” univocal • Based on human convention • Identical sign may have one meaning in one context but another in a different context • Not clear to those outside the interpretive community The cross represents the death of Christ to those who know about it. Introducing Ritual

  17. Sacred Objects: Symbols • Mediate the Sacred • Participate in Reality they represent; essential, intrinsicconnection • Universal significance • Intrinsic meaning drawn from nature, not human convention • Multivalent; imbued with meaning on many levels • Various meanings not necessarily in harmony with one another • E.g., water and fire convey both life and death The Torah scroll both represents and contains the Divine Word. Introducing Ritual

  18. Signs & Symbols What about this one? The globe represents the layout of the land masses & oceans of the earth. A child is a symbol of her/his parents (and, hopefully, of their love for each other). What are some other examples of signs and symbols? Introducing Ritual

  19. Ritual Time Is Sacred Time A foundational event in community’s life • Hierophany • Is remembered, imitated, repeated; but also • Becomes really present in the here-and-now of the celebrating community Introducing Ritual

  20. Myth in Ritual Klingon Foundation Myth, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, “You Are Cordially Invited” Introducing Ritual

  21. Transforming Power of Ritual • Transcends the routine, common, quotidian, “profane” • Transforms the cosmos, ecosystem, celebrating community, and individual participants • Ritual is intentionally done both to recognize and effect a transformation in participants. • Physical expressions of words & affect, helps create affect • E.g., Lord’s Prayer without vs. with motions • E.g., circle dance • E.g., motions of yoga or salat Introducing Ritual

  22. Dynamics of Communal Worship Two basic dynamics: • Union with the Sacred, the Transcendent Object of worship • Bonding of worshipping community Introducing Ritual

  23. Effects of Communal Worship • Reinforces group identity, cohesiveness • Liminal experience • Temporary intensification of social unity • Transcendence of routine social structure • Access to and revival of "collective memory“ Introducing Ritual

  24. Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi“the law of prayer is the law of belief” • Ritual shows what celebrating community believes • Physical expressions of words & affect • Enacts meaning • Creates affect • Shapes participants’ patterns of behavior and thought/belief Introducing Ritual

  25. Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi“the law of prayer is the law of belief” Bride Conquest, The Emerald Forest Introducing Ritual

  26. Four Types of Ritual • Calendar Rituals • Communion/ Sacrifice • Crisis Rituals • Rites of Passage Introducing Ritual

  27. Four Basic Types of Rituals 1. Calendar Rituals remember an event in the past and make it present again • Examples: • Holy Communion • Lent, Easter, other liturgical seasons • Sabbath/Sunday • Daily hours of prayer • Thanksgiving, New Year's Day • Feast days, MLK day Introducing Ritual

  28. Four Basic Types of Rituals 2. Crisis Rituals • Are done at time of important decision, to help person choose the right path • Examples: • Cursillo • Retreats • Vision quest of Navajo • Or at a time of intense need, to overcome an obstacle or tragedy • Examples: • Confession/Reconciliation • Prayer in time of special need(e.g., Novena to St. Jude) Introducing Ritual

  29. Four Basic Types of Rituals 3. Rites of Passage (aka Life-cycle Rituals) enact shift from one social location to another (usually higher) • Examples: • Baptism/Bris/Naming of Child • Funeral • Puberty Rites • Marriage • Initiation/conversion rites Introducing Ritual

  30. Four Basic Types of Rituals 4. Sacrifice-Communion Rituals create or intensify unity of participants with the Transcendent Object of worship • Examples: • Holy Communion • Passover • Thanksgiving • SuperBowl Party? Introducing Ritual

  31. Small Group Discussion • Select one or two rituals you have observed to answer the following: • What were the key actions involved in the ritual? • Who were the participants? How could you tell? • What intra-group connections were being made (i.e., where did you see communitas)? • What feelings were evoked? • What attitudes/convictions (ethos) were being expressed and developed? • What behaviors (mores) were being shaped? Introducing Ritual

  32. Many Facets of Ritual • What constitutes a religious ritual? • What are the four basic purposes of religious ritual? • What are the four main kinds of religious ritual? • What are each of the following and how are they connected to religious ritual? • Sacred space • Sacred time • Signs • Symbols • Myth • How does religious ritual allow participants to make contact with the Transcendent? • How does religious ritual transmit the worldview and ethos of a tradition? • What does it mean to claim that religious rituals create the context for participants to make meaning of life? Introducing Ritual

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