Ritual without belief?: Kierkegaard against Rappaport on personal belief and ritual action, with particular reference to Jonathan Lear's "A Case for Irony"
This paper presents a Kierkegaardian critique of Roy A. Rappaport's classic treatment of religious rituals. It discusses Rappaport's claim that public and outward acceptance of a religious ritual is sufficient for successfully enacting it - even where such acceptance is devoid of any perso...
| Published in: | International journal of philosophy and theology |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis
[2018]
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| In: |
International journal of philosophy and theology
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Rappaport, Roy A. 1926-1997
/ Ritual
/ Kierkegaard, Søren 1813-1855
/ Sacrament
/ Faith
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| RelBib Classification: | AA Study of religion AG Religious life; material religion CB Christian life; spirituality KDD Protestant Church NBE Anthropology NBP Sacramentology; sacraments |
| Further subjects: | B
Rappaport
B Christian sacraments B Kierkegaard B Holy Communion B Ritual Theory B Lear |
| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | This paper presents a Kierkegaardian critique of Roy A. Rappaport's classic treatment of religious rituals. It discusses Rappaport's claim that public and outward acceptance of a religious ritual is sufficient for successfully enacting it - even where such acceptance is devoid of any personal commitment on the participants' part. To interrogate Rappaport, the paper develops Jonathan Lear's reading of Kierkegaard and builds on the Danish theologian's remarks on the Christian sacraments to argue that, pace Rappaport, personal engagement is necessary to the successful enactment of religious rituals. In this sense, I will show with Kierkegaard how inner belief is a necessary pre-requisite for the performance of any religious ritual whereas in Rappaport's view it is ritual action itself which creates a posteriori the possibility for personal religious faith. |
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| ISSN: | 2169-2335 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: International journal of philosophy and theology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/21692327.2018.1423634 |