The Archetypal Actions of Ritual: A Theory of Ritual Illustrated by the Jain Rite of Worship

ISBN-13: 9780198279471 / Angielski / Miękka / 1994 / 312 str.

Laidlaw Humphrey; Caroline Humphrey; James Laidlaw

Opis

Humphrey and Laidlaw present a new and radical general theory of ritual by drawing on an ethnographically rich account of the ritual worship of the Jains of western India. Ritual, they argue, is not a logically separate type of activity, but rather a quality that can be attributed to a wide range of everyday activities. In exploring the issue of what is distinctive about actions which are ritualized, this book makes an ambitious and controversial contribution to social and religious anthropology.

Recenzje

It advances a comprehensive theory of ritual and delves into thorny philosophical issues ... Humphrey and Laidlaw present a detailed ethnography of the ritual of daily worship before a temple idol (puja) by Shvetambar Jains in western India ... this is an exceptionally fine book - certainly the most important work on ritual I have read in a decade.