The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Ritual
Digitale Logos-Edition
Overview
Scholars of religion have long assumed that ritual and belief constitute the fundamental building blocks of religious traditions and that these two components of religion are interrelated and interdependent in significant ways. Generations of New Testament and early Christian scholars have produced detailed analyses of the belief systems of nascent Christian communities, including their ideological and political dimensions, but have by and large ignored ritual as an important element of early Christian religion and as a factor contributing to the rise and the organization of the movement. In recent years, however, scholars of early Christianity have begun to use ritual as an analytical tool for describing and explaining Christian origins and the early history of the movement. Such a development has created a momentum towards producing a more comprehensive volume on the ritual world of early Christianity employing advances made in the field of Ritual Studies.
The Handbook will give a manifold account of the ritual world of early Christianity from the beginning of the movement up to the fifth century. The volume introduces relevant theories and approaches (Part I), central topics of ritual life in the cultural world of early Christianity (Part II), and the most important Christian ritual themes and practices in emerging Christian groups and factions (Parts III and IV).
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- Seeks to promote interdisciplinary collaboration
- Draws on the newly established field of ritual studies to better explain and understand the history and culture of early Christianity
- Reflects the current status of ritual studies, embracing analyses that promote integratie approaches and others whose roots are deeply grounded in cultural explanation
- Part I Ritual Theory
- Part II Ritual in the Ancient Mediterranean World
- Part III Ritual in Nascent Christianity
- Part IV Ritual in the Ancient Church