Ritual and Religious Belief: a reader

This Reader brings together material that illustrates the problem of ritual as a type of religious behaviour, in relation to belief and thought, and as ‘vain repetition.’ The material presented here seeks an understanding of ritual as performances that may have a logic different to ‘belief’ or as actions that are not meant to be understood. The contributors discuss recent questions about the fluid performance of all identities and the inherent permeability of critical categories such as ritual. An introduction to the various debates is also provided.Locating its material in the encounter between traditional and contemporary, and within many forms of response to the image of the shaman, Shamanism: A Reader is an essential tribute to the vitality and breadth of shamanic tradition both among its original practitioners of Europe, tribes of America and Asia, and within seemingly familiar aspects of the modern west. Representing the best of classic and current scholarship, and highlighting the diversity of approaches to shamanism in an accessible and user-friendly way, this clearly introduced and organized collection sets a new standard for shamanic study in terms of the breadth and depth of its coverage