1. Ritual TheorY; Birth and Death

2. Review: Thinking about Religion
Topics in Religion
Defining Religion - Bruce Lincoln
Religion and Globalization - Peter Berger
Creation Stories
Mircea Eliade — Sacred vs Profane space
Rosemary Ruether — Creation stories are blueprints for society and mandate values on the future

3. Review: Religious Texts & Creation Stories
Purusa Sukta (Vedas - Hindu)
The Life Story of the Buddha (Pali Canon - Buddhist)
Genesis 1-3 (Hebrew Bible - Jewish)
Gospel According to Mark (Christian Bible - Christian)
Selections of Sura 2 & 7 (Qu’ran - Islam)

4. What are some types of ritual?
From sacred or profane world?

5. Kinds of Rituals Eucharist Calendar Rituals Life Cycle Rituals Daily
Weekly
Monthly
Yearly
Life Cycle Rituals
Birth
Coming of age
Marriage
Death
Special Occasion Rituals
Ordination
Exorcism
Eucharist

6. O Brother Where Ar’t Thou
Functions of Ritual
Orients participants to space and time
Connects participants to the divine
Connects participants to a larger community
Includes the body as an instrument for religion
O Brother Where Ar’t Thou
Delmar’s Baptism

7. Birth Rituals: Brit Milah (Jewish)
Arlene Rossen Cardozo: Birth
Is author emic or etic?
Naming ceremony
gender
watchnight
location
covenant
“Covenant of Circumcision” — video

8. Genesis 17:10-14
“This is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you and your descendants after you; every male among you shall be circumcised…He that is eight days old among you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, ad it shall be a sign of the covenant between you and me…any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskins shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”

9. What kind of ritual is it? choose all that apply

10. Brit Milah How does it display four functions of ritual?
connection to divine
connection to community
sacred space / time
uses the body