Nathan D. Mitchell, PhD, (1943-2024), was Associate Director for Research at the Center for Pastoral Liturgy, University of Notre Dame. Six times a year, he wrote "The Amen Corner" for Worship. In 1998, the North American Academy of Liturgy presented him with its Berakah Award. Other books by Mitchell that have been published by Liturgical Press include Cult and Controversy, Mission and Ministry, and Rule of Prayer, Rule of Faith. He also contributed to The Collegeville Pastoral Dictionary of Biblical Theology.

This is a masterful overview of what we have come to call the anthropological roots of worship. As he has done in the past, Nathan saves us months, if not years, of reading. He presents the pertinent literature with balance and precision. He also helps us to see beyond our past and present certainties. Nathan is a master at presenting the many sides of a topic. He has a master teacher's way of bringing us to a higher viewpoint that enables us to see the truth of several different approaches. It is hard for me to imagine a single order of ministers in the church who would not benefit from reading this new addition to American Essays in Liturgy. Bishops and religious superiors, pastors and religious educators, liturgists and theologians will find in these pages insight into every dimension of contemporary church life.Andrew D. Ciferni, O.Praem

• Contents1  The Search for Ritual’s Roots in Anthropology   5Introduction   5Beginnings   8Ritual: Definitions, Characteristics, Purposes, Strategies  16The Emergence of a Prevailing Consensus   24Summary   322  Critiquing the “Classic” Consensus   35A Ritual Wasteland?   35A New Category: “Emerging Ritual”   38Reevaluating Victor Turner   49Summary   613  New Directions in Ritual Research   63Ritual and the Technology of the Self   64Ritual, Religion and “Critical” Anthropology   80

Nathan D. Mitchell, PhD, (1943-2024), was Associate Director for Research at the Center for Pastoral Liturgy, University of Notre Dame. Six times a year, he wrote "The Amen Corner" for Worship. In 1998, the North American Academy of Liturgy presented him with its Berakah Award. Other books by Mitchell that have been published by Liturgical Press include Cult and Controversy, Mission and Ministry, and Rule of Prayer, Rule of Faith. He also contributed to The Collegeville Pastoral Dictionary of Biblical Theology.

This is a masterful overview of what we have come to call the anthropological roots of worship. As he has done in the past, Nathan saves us months, if not years, of reading. He presents the pertinent literature with balance and precision. He also helps us to see beyond our past and present certainties. Nathan is a master at presenting the many sides of a topic. He has a master teacher's way of bringing us to a higher viewpoint that enables us to see the truth of several different approaches. It is hard for me to imagine a single order of ministers in the church who would not benefit from reading this new addition to American Essays in Liturgy. Bishops and religious superiors, pastors and religious educators, liturgists and theologians will find in these pages insight into every dimension of contemporary church life.Andrew D. Ciferni, O.Praem

• Contents1  The Search for Ritual’s Roots in Anthropology   5Introduction   5Beginnings   8Ritual: Definitions, Characteristics, Purposes, Strategies  16The Emergence of a Prevailing Consensus   24Summary   322  Critiquing the “Classic” Consensus   35A Ritual Wasteland?   35A New Category: “Emerging Ritual”   38Reevaluating Victor Turner   49Summary   613  New Directions in Ritual Research   63Ritual and the Technology of the Self   64Ritual, Religion and “Critical” Anthropology   80

Nathan D. Mitchell, PhD, (1943-2024), was Associate Director for Research at the Center for Pastoral Liturgy, University of Notre Dame. Six times a year, he wrote "The Amen Corner" for Worship. In 1998, the North American Academy of Liturgy presented him with its Berakah Award. Other books by Mitchell that have been published by Liturgical Press include Cult and Controversy, Mission and Ministry, and Rule of Prayer, Rule of Faith. He also contributed to The Collegeville Pastoral Dictionary of Biblical Theology.

This is a masterful overview of what we have come to call the anthropological roots of worship. As he has done in the past, Nathan saves us months, if not years, of reading. He presents the pertinent literature with balance and precision. He also helps us to see beyond our past and present certainties. Nathan is a master at presenting the many sides of a topic. He has a master teacher's way of bringing us to a higher viewpoint that enables us to see the truth of several different approaches. It is hard for me to imagine a single order of ministers in the church who would not benefit from reading this new addition to American Essays in Liturgy. Bishops and religious superiors, pastors and religious educators, liturgists and theologians will find in these pages insight into every dimension of contemporary church life.Andrew D. Ciferni, O.Praem

• Contents1  The Search for Ritual’s Roots in Anthropology   5Introduction   5Beginnings   8Ritual: Definitions, Characteristics, Purposes, Strategies  16The Emergence of a Prevailing Consensus   24Summary   322  Critiquing the “Classic” Consensus   35A Ritual Wasteland?   35A New Category: “Emerging Ritual”   38Reevaluating Victor Turner   49Summary   613  New Directions in Ritual Research   63Ritual and the Technology of the Self   64Ritual, Religion and “Critical” Anthropology   80