Religious Ceremonies Christian Rituals in Cross-Cultural Perspective

includes index and biblioraphy

Introduction The nature of belief and practice .............06 Meaning in the context of religious ceremonies .............09 Social science and the loss of personal unity ............. 11 The limitations of categorization ............. 13 The assumptions of linear thought ............. 15 Assessing multiple factors in religious ceremonies ............. 17 The religious reluctance to use the social sciences ............. 18 A predestined cultural approach .............21 Uncertainty and contemporary religions The certainty of uncertainty .............25 The certainties of poverty .............25 The certainties of inequality .............26 The certainty of natural disasters .............27 The certainty of violence .............28 The certainty of strangers .............29 The certainty of negotiating uncertainties .............30 The certainty of sexual uncertainties .............31 The certainty of disease and accidents .............31 The uncertainties of the new certainties .............32 The uncertainties of constitutional equality .............32 The uncertainties of livelihood .............33 The uncertainties of education .............34 The uncertainties over sexuality .............35 The uncertainties of political violence .............36 The uncertainties over health .............37 The uncertainties over generelational roles .............38 Uncertainties over the environment .............39 Approaches to the study of religious behaviour The founding fathers of anthropology .............47 The psychological approach to understanding religious behaviour...49 Sociological theories of religion ............. 50 Religions in their cultural settings ............. 51 The global gauze of religious ceremonials .............56 The methods for examining religious behaviour Methodological restrictions on acquiring social knowledge The inappropriateness of breaking down unitary activities.........71 The impossibility of exactness .............80 Subjecting the inexactness of prayer to the exactness of analysis... 82 The issue of cooperative research into religion ............. 86 The methodology of comparison .............89 The availability of data for comparison .............92 The research costs of assessing unorthodoxy .............94 The overall costs of finding out .............96 The unnaturalness of data collection .............98 Contents The use of the body and mind Genetics, ethology and contemporary religious practices Language and religion The background to religious behaviour The absence of homogeneous societies ... ......... 189 Uniformities in religious behaviour ... .........191 The hybridisation of religious ceremonies ... ......... 192 The individuality of religious beliefs and practices ... ......... 195 The cost-benefit approach ... ......... 197 The part-time nature of religious involvements ... .........199 The environment of a religious culture ... .........202 The practising believer- the users of faith Ceremonies of childhood ............208 Ceremonies of adolescence ... .........211 Ceremonies of marriage ... .........213 Ceremonies ofageing ............215 Ceremonies of death ............218 The performers of religious ceremonials Some tentative conclusions Repetition and theological inadequacy ... ........ .261 The basic definitions `operato` and `operands`. ... .........266 By the work done and its historical background ... .........267 The great divide; preparation versus participation ... ........ .269 The importance of choice ... ......... 271 The nature of belief and practice. ... ......... 272