The Ritual Spectrum: Definitions, Frameworks, and Implications

Response to Commentators

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/jcsr.31698

Keywords:

ritual, cognition, evolution, culture, theory

Abstract

Ritual is one of the defining characteristics of our species, which both precedes and extends beyond religion, into domains like politics, sports, family, the workplace, and all manner of social organizations. In a rapidly changing world where organized religion appears to be losing its monopoly on ceremony, it is more important than ever to understand ritual’s unwavering persistence, investigate its functions, and explore its applications. The contributors to this book panel offer insightful critiques and insights about how to do this. In engaging with their ideas on the nature, definitions, and effects of ritual, both bright and dark, I join then in exploring applications for an interdisciplinary study of ritual.

Author Biography

  • Dimitris Xygalatas, University of Connecticut

    Dimitris Xygalatas holds a joint position between the Interacting Minds Centre at Aarhus University and the Department of Anthropology at the University of Connecticut, where he is directing the Experimental Anthropology Lab. He has previously held positions at the universities of Princeton and Masaryk, where he served as Director of the Laboratory for the Experimental Research of Religion. His main areas of interest are experimental anthropology and the experimental study of religion, and much of his work has focused on the practice of extreme rituals around the world. He has conducted several years of ethnographic research in Greece, Bulgaria, Spain, and Mauritius and has pioneered new methods, integrating ethnographic and experimental approaches in field research.

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2024-11-06

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How to Cite

Xygalatas, D. (2024). The Ritual Spectrum: Definitions, Frameworks, and Implications: Response to Commentators. Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion. https://doi.org/10.1558/jcsr.31698