Olivia Strittmatter - Outside Reading 1

 Blog Post 12 - Outside Reading 1


This blog post is going to be about a book I read for my RSTD 310 class. It’s called Ritual: Perspectives and Dimensions by Catherine Bell. 

This book was all about the phenomenon of rituals throughout cultures and time. Part one of the book talks in depth about the history of theories about ritual and religion. Then the second part discussed rituals and ritual-like activities. Part three was about social and cultural life that forms because of ritual practices. 

Part one went very much in depth with everything about the history of rituals. It first talked about how myth interacts with ritual. As well as social structure and function around rituals. It also discussed symbols and how they interact with rituals. 

Part two talked about the spectrum of ritual activities. It went over some of the different types of rituals such as rites of passage, rites of affliction, general rites, political rites, etc. We also did a presentation project on these different types of rituals. It also went over different types of ritual-like activities like formalism, traditionalism, and sacral symbolism.

Part three talked about the fabric of ritual life. It went over ritual density and system, as well as orthopraxy vs orthodoxy. A connection back to last semester’s class is that it talked about orality and literacy, which I thought was interesting. It also discussed the differences between a church, a sect, and a cult.

I thought that this book related to our class because hiking the AT, or any long-distance hiking trail, is sort of like a ritualistic experience. I think the concept of pilgrimages as a whole are rituals of transformation. A lot of rituals of transformation or transition are experienced in liminal space, which was also covered in the book. Overall, I feel like a lot of what I read in this book, and learned about in class, related to our class because of the connections of ritual.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kayla Hammond- Christmas Saves The Year (student choice)

                        On December 8th at 9pm one of my favorite bands released a new Christmas single.  The song is Christmas Saves The Year by Twenty One Pilots. I was notified of the song release moments after I finished reading the chapter on Masks in the Landscapes of the Sacred book. I immediately stopped what I was doing to listen. The song perfectly described this year and how many may be feeling this Christmas season. All while adding a perfect theme of joy and hope. This song was a mask disguised as a message from God, with a deeper hidden meaning in the lyrics.  Snow falls down from the gray sky  Ashes fall in the sea  Plans are thrown to the wayside  Frozen days of the week But everybody wants to make it home this year  Even if the world is crumblin' down' Cause everybody's got somebody who's got their name on a shelf  With cheap decor and flavored cheer  You rest a...
Read more

Kayla Hammond - Prayer as the Posture of the Decentered Self (Phenomenology Reading 2)

      In the first Chapter of the Phenomenology Of Prayer the author explains how prayers can represent the decentered self. He explains this concept through Mary the mother of God. In the bible it explains how an angel named Gabriel was sent down to tell Mary that she will bear a Son whom is holy. Mary's reply was "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word." (Luke 1:35-38) In this reply it shows a prayer of decentered self for she recognizes that God is her creator and the highest of power. In addition to this she recognizes that God is the writer of her story. In another example God prayers in a form of decentering self too when he was about to face his death on the cross. In this he says "My Father, if it is not possible this cup shall pass without my drinking it, you will be done".  In both of these examples God nor Mary knows the plan the Lord has for them yet they still are able to trust in the Lord and do as he ple...
Read more

Kip Redick Introduction

  Welcome to the Fall 2020 Sacred Communication/Journey blog page. As I have done with this post, enter your name and a subject for the title of each post. Blog entries will be considered informal writing assignments and as such will be graded more in relation to content than style. Blog entries will contain questions and answers to questions, as well as reflections that relate to daily classroom discussions, completion of exercises, and reading assignments. Any questions the student has while reading or completing assignments should be written in their blog. Reflections may relate to connections the student makes between discussions in this class and those in other classes, between arguments raised in the readings in this class and those raised in other classes or from informal conversations. Students are encouraged to apply the ideas learned in this class to activities that take place outside of the class. These applications make great reflections. The student should br...
Read more