To Take Place: Toward Theory in Ritual (Chicago Studies in the History of Judaism) - Softcover

Smith, Jonathan Z. Z.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0226763617 ISBN 13: 9780226763613

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 1992

Synopsis

In this broad-ranging inquiry into ritual and its relation to place, Jonathan Z. Smith prepares the way for a new approach to the comparative study of religion.

Smith stresses the importance of place—in particular, constructed ritual environments—to a proper understanding of the ways in which "empty" actions become rituals. He structures his argument around the territories of the Tjilpa aborigines in Australia and two sites in Jerusalem—the temple envisioned by Ezekiel and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The first of these locales—the focus of one of the more important contemporary theories of religious ritual—allows Smith to raise questions concerning the enterprise of comparison. His close examination of Eliade's influential interpretation of the Tjilpa tradition leads to a powerful critique of the approach to religion, myth, and ritual that begins with cosmology and the category of "The Sacred."

In substance and in method, To Take Place represents a significant advance toward a theory of ritual. It is of great value not only to historians of religion and students of ritual, but to all, whether social scientists or humanists, who are concerned with the nature of place.

"This book is extraordinarily stimulating in prompting one to think about the ways in which space, or place, is perceived, marked, and utilized religiously. . . . A provocative example of the application of humanistic geography to our understanding of what takes place in religion."—Dale Goldsmith, Interpretation

About this title

About the Author

Jonathan Z. Smith (1938-2017) was Robert O. Anderson Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of the Humanities at the University of Chicago. He also held appointments in the Committees on the Ancient Mediterranean World and on the History of Culture, and in the College. He was also an associate faculty member in the Divinity School. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Academy of Religions, and served as president of the Society of Biblical Literature.

In 2013, when he was named to an Honorary Lifetime Membership in the International Association for the History of Religions, the citation read, in part: "Smith's enormous contributions to the field from the 1960s to the present have unwaveringly insisted upon, and been exemplary of, methodological rigor and self consciousness. He has probably done more than any single scholar to promote an analytic or critical approach to the study of religion."

He was the author of numerous works, including some published by the University of Chicago Press.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0226763617
• ISBN 13: 9780226763613
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 202