Publisher's Synopsis
This volume was conceived as a handbook for students and researchers from the social and cultural disciplines as well as for the broader public, particularly from church, pastoral and psychotherapeutic circles, and interested laypersons. It provides information on the key concepts including the theories and problems found in the study of rituals. This project developed out of the 10-year-long special research project "The Dynamics of Ritual" at Heidelberg University. It represents the most important results emerging from that study and provides a short and readable introduction to the state of the art of research in this area using concrete examples taken from the authors' research practice. Thus, this volume is well suited as both a general introduction to these themes and as a reference work of the scientific terminology and concepts.
