Theorizing Rituals, Volume 1: Issues, Topics, Approaches, Concepts

Jens Kreinath (Dr. phil.) is affiliated to the Institute for Religious Studies at the University of Heidelberg and currently Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Wichita State University (U.S.A.). He is co-editor of The Dynamics of Changing Rituals (2004) and his publications include Semiose des Rituals (2006). His research interests focus upon theoretical and methodological issues in the anthropological study of religions. He is planning a publication on Ritual and Reflection: Tropes in Transformation and Transgression.
Jan Snoek studied in Leiden (The Netherlands). In 1996 he held the Théodore Verhaegen Chair (Freemasonry) of the Free University of Brussels (ULB). Currently he teaches Sciences of Religions at the University of Heidelberg (Germany). He published widely about the development of masonic rituals. The edited volume Women's Agency and Rituals in Mixed and Female Masonic Orders (with Alexandra Heidle) will appear with Brill this year. In preparation is a monograph Transferring Masonic Rituals from Male to Mixed and Female Orders.
Michael Stausberg (Dr. phil.) is professor of the History of Religions at the University of Bergen (Norway). His publications include Die Religion Zarathushtras (3 vols. 2002-2004). He is the editor of Zoroastrian Rituals in Context (2004). Apart from a study of the contemporary Zoroastrian priesthood in India and essays on a variety of topics (from the history of the study of religion to modern tourism), Stausberg is currently preparing a work on the terminology used in the study of religion (working title: The Vocabulary of Religious Studies).

Social anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists, theologians, and all those interested in ritual studies and the study of religion.

'There can be no doubt that the anthology Theorizing Rituals is a milestone in the study of rituals, or let’s better say: in the study of ritual theories.' Oliver Krueger, University of Fribourg


'Theorizing Rituals is without peer as an overview of theoretical approaches to ritual and as a handbook for doing theory of ritual.' Steven Engler, Mount Royal College, Calgary


'This important and useful collection of 35 articles with an introduction by the editors and epilogue on the use of several very good indexes that follow it is a successful attempt to summarize the field of ritual studies'. - Frederick M. Smith, University of Iowa.