Written with the specific needs of students of religious studies in mind, Ritual: Key Concepts in Religious Studies surveys the field of ritual studies looking at it both historically within anthropology and in terms of its contemporary relevance to mass phenomena.

Ritual has emerged as a major focus of academic interest. As a concept, the idea of ritual integrates the study of behavior both within and beyond the domain of religion. Ritual can be both secular and religious in character. There is renewed interest in questions such as: Why do rituals exist at all? What has been, and continues to be, their place in society? How do they change over time? Such questions exist against a backdrop of assumptions about development, modernization, and disenchantment of the world. Written with the specific needs of students of religious studies in mind, Ritual: Key Concepts in Religion surveys the field of ritual studies, looking at it both historically within anthropology and in terms of its contemporary relevance to world events.

Ritual: Key Concepts in Religion provides an important, powerful and provocative advance in the study of ritual. Braiding together reflection on rituals in many places with cutting edge analysis, the authors demonstrate the strengths and weaknesses of existing concepts. They make possible a greatly enriched performance of theorizing ritual.