The Meaninglessness of Ritual

Staal, Frits

doi:10.2307/3269623

Cited by 89 publications

(23 citation statements)

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“…Scholars from diverse backgrounds also hold conceptions of ritual based on diverse prototypical instances. This is a situation that cannot be resolved by claiming that "ritual" is adequately encompassed by common usage ( [7], p. 217), by considering it a term of art, by attempting to identify a single defining characteristic ( [1], p. 9), by recourse to "family resemblances" (polythetic definitions), or by stipulative definition. Rather than attempting to reify ritual as a clear and distinct category, the concept of "ritualization" allows us to consider that humans engage in practices that are similar or different to varying degrees as judged according to different characteristics.…”

Section: Definition: From Ritual To Ritualizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Though it has antecedents, in present-day scholarly discussion the idea that ritual has a syntax was introduced by Frits Staal in his 1979 essay "The Meaninglessness of Ritual" [1]. In this essay, Staal proposed a systematic analysis and description of the organization of ritual activities by borrowing the techniques employed in linguistics for the analysis of sentential syntax.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Buddhist Ritual from Syntax to Cognition: Insight Meditation and Homa

Payne

2016

Religions

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Abstract:The concept of "ritual syntax" is developed by relating it to cognitive studies of ritual, providing a fuller theoretical basis. Developing theoretical grounding requires differentiating between the members of five pairs of concepts: production is not the same as analysis, syntax is not the same as semantics, ritual is not the same as the mental, cognition is not the same as the mental, and syntax is not the same as language. These distinctions help avoid overly strong interpretations of the analogy between ritual and language. A discussion of "ritual" suggests that it is best conceptualized in terms of multiple scalar characteristics with degrees of ritualization. Two Buddhist practices, insight meditation and homa, are introduced as instances for the cognitive study of ritual. Syntax involves not simply ordering of elements, but also hierarchical organization of those elements. While syntax allows sentential elements to move within a sentence, ritual tends toward invariance. Invariance seems to contradict the claim that ritual is syntactically organized. However, rituals are often modeled on ordinary activities, producing a kind of "semantic" motivation for invariance.

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Section: Definition: From Ritual To Ritualizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Buddhist Ritual from Syntax to Cognition: Insight Meditation and Homa

Payne

2016

Religions

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“…By contrast, there are no intuitive expectations linking the action of making a baby's head wet and being baptized, casting spells over an axe used to cut down the bush and getting an abundant harvest (Malinowski 1935), or burying magical medicine in the ground and getting revenge over a thief (Evans-Pritchard 1937). Th is lack of causal transparency, however, does not entail that the fundamental characteristic of ritual action is its meaninglessness (as proposed by Staal 1979). A meaningful relation can be established by means of two hermeneutical strategies-one based on available perceptual clues, another based on symbolic interpretations.…”

Section: Agency In Ritual Actionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Acts That Work: A Cognitive Approach to Ritual Agency

Sørensen

2007

Method Theory Study Religion

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Questions of agency are central for understanding ritual behavior in general and representations of ritual efficacy in particular. Religious traditions often stipulate who are entitled to perform particular rituals. Further, representations of unobservable superhuman agents are often explicitly described as the 'real' ritual agents. Recent investigations into the processes underlying action representations and social cognition can help explain how these representations arise. It is argued that paying close attention to details in the cognitive processing of ordinary actions can shed light on how ritual actions activate part of these systems while simultaneously leaving other aspects unaccounted for. Th is has particular effects that make culturally transmitted representations of superhuman agents highly relevant.

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“…This remark is made against the background of a growing functionalising of ritual. The anthropologist Staal ([1979Staal ([ ] 1996 complains that 'rituals, instead of remaining useless and pure, became useful and meritorious'. The idea of liturgy as useless is connected to definitions of liturgy as ritual and play before God (Guardini 1959:102).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Reclaiming space for learning in liturgical contexts: Cracks in the maxim of the uselessness of liturgical ritual

Barnard

Wepener

2012

HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies

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The problem addressed in this article is, that empirical and theoretical research appears to demonstrate that liturgy often aims at certain results. This, however, puts the widely accepted notion in Liturgical Studies of the so-called uselessness of liturgical ritual under pressure. Against this background in Liturgical Studies the aim of this article is to reclaim space in academic discourses on liturgy for learning in liturgical contexts. The latter is done by presenting several liturgical models, revisiting arguments regarding the (non) functionality of ritual or religion and also by reflecting on ritual-liturgical data that the authors personally collected as part of two research projects.

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The Meaninglessness of Ritual

Cited by 89 publications

References 0 publications

Buddhist Ritual from Syntax to Cognition: Insight Meditation and Homa

Buddhist Ritual from Syntax to Cognition: Insight Meditation and Homa

Acts That Work: A Cognitive Approach to Ritual Agency

Reclaiming space for learning in liturgical contexts: Cracks in the maxim of the uselessness of liturgical ritual

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