Ritual and Religious Belief

Rituals are among the most obvious and common religious activities, but their relationship with other aspects of religion, especially 'belief', has been a problem both for religious people and for scholars. In many religions leaders have worried that people are 'just going through the motions', doing without understanding. People are often accused of 'vain repetition' as if it was possible to perform significant religious acts without repeating oneself. Even the word 'performance' is difficult, because it might imply pretence rather than sincerity. However it is not at all clear that religious actions, rituals, are meant to be understood. Certainly they might function very differently to rational and thoughtful statements of what a religion teaches. This Reader brings together material that illustrates the problem of ritual as a type of religious behaviour, in relation to belief and thought, and as 'vain repetition', with material that provocatively seeks a different understanding of ritual as performances that may have a logic different to 'belief' or as actions that are not meant to be understood. Recent questions about the fluid performance of all identities and the inherent permeability of critical categories such as ritual are also significantly discussed. An introduction to the various debates is provided.