Ritual in Early Modern Europe

by Edward Muir

• ISBN13: 9780521841535
• ISBN10: 0521841534
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-10-07
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This new and expanded edition of the first comprehensive study of rituals in early modern Europe examines the impact on the European interpretation of ritual from the discoveries of new civilizations in the Americas and missionary efforts in China. It also adds more material about rituals peculiar to women. Edward Muir draws on extensive historical research to emphasize the persistence of traditional Christian ritual practices, even as enlightened elites attempted to choose reason over passion, textual interpretation over ritual action, and moral rectitude over gaining access to supernatural powers of anti-Christian rituals. First Edition Hb (1997) 0-521-40169-0 First Edition Pb (1997) 0-521-40967-5

Table of Contents

List of figures	viii
Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction: the lure and danger of ritual	1	(14)
PART I: The ritual moment	15	(74)
Rites of passage	21	(41)
The ritual calendar	62	(27)
PART II: Rituals of the body	89	(66)
Carnival and the lower body	93	(32)
Manners and the upper body	125	(30)
PART III: Ritual and representation	155	(139)
The Reformation as a revolution in ritual theory	163	(39)
The Reformation as a ritual process	202	(50)
Government as a ritual process	252	(42)
Epilogue: mere ritual	294	(9)
Glossary	303	(9)
Index	312