Week Eight Lecture One

WEEK EIGHT LECTURE ONE
RLCT 1026 “Introduction to the Study of Religion”

October 25-29, 2021
RELIGION AND MATERIAL PRACTICE
We left off talking about the idea of Emily Esfahani Smith and her
argument that meaning is more important than typical ideas of
happiness. Now up until very recently for most people that meaning
would have been derived from religious belief. As we have seen these
beliefs and practices, often provided through narratives provide solace
in times of suffering and provide maps of how to relate to other human
beings.
Whether or not there are adequate substitutes outside of religion

is a matter of debate but what we do know is that religious and spiritual
traditions have been remarkably good at creating maps of meaning
through story, through art through codes of conduct and by creating
enduring communities.
In this next section of the course I will focusing on material

practice of religion and then on community. One of the reasons that
religion has been so successful at creating the eudaimonia Esfahani
Smith discusses is that it is a holistic system that functions on many
levels. I am going to be talking today about what is generally called
material practice . This is a rapidly growing sub-field in the study of
religion.
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Material practice refers to what people actually do when they are
religious not just what they believe. For a long period in Religious
Studies ritual and ceremony went largely unexamined It has often been
viewed as the poor cousin of philosophy and theology and something
that “average people do”. There are also other complex reasons for this
attitude. One is without a doubt the Protestant bias of a great deal of the
work done in religious studies.
Material practice then takes seriously the embodied practices of

religious people and includes ritual practice and the objects and spaces
in which they perform them. When I teach the course RLCT 2016
“Practicing Religion” at Nipissing I use the work of David Morgan who is
an art historian. This makes sense as he deals in material objects in his
field. He writes that people live their religion in the “grit and the strain
of a felt life.”
That is to say, I we have discussed already, the majority of people

don’t sit around talking about theology – they live it. So religion is also
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the foods that we associate with certain occasion,, the smell of incense,
the clothes worn at religious services, music and art. It is the cheque
that is hastily written out to the synagogue, mosque, food bank that
expresses the person’s belief in charity and community.
Most people learn about religion through story and through

embodied practice. They dress up for Hallowe’en or the Days of Dead
and they don’t even really think about why they are doing it. We
associate certain ways of dressing, certain types of food and certain
smells and sounds with these practices. This is central reason why
focusing on “belief” as many of the current debates around religion and
secularism only take in part of the religious experience.
Attitudes to ritual over the past 50 years or so have been

especially negative in countries like Canada. However, interestingly this
is changing as we shall see. I myself had this general attitude when I was
in undergraduate until I took a class on Hindu Ritual. Which was
incidentally taught by an American Catholic! And this completely turned
my views on their head.
I suspect the growing interest in material practice is also a

reaction against our increasingly dematerialized society with so much of
our time spent on line. The millennial obsession with vinyl records,
plants, cocktails is all part of this desire for a grounded existence I think.
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Material practice of religion also has to do with concrete objects
which can include objects like the chalice or a rosary in the Christian
tradition, the prayer shawls of Judaism and the use of lamps and candles
across the world’s traditions. These practices may take place either at
home or in a sacred space such as a temple or mosque. So an aesthetic
sense is deeply connected with material practice and that is why
tourists tend to visit churches and temples – because they are very
beautiful and filled with a sense of meaning. In fact, religious
architecture and design is a concrete express of the beliefs of the
tradition.
(Rosary beads are used to say a series of prayers)
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(Detail of the exterior of a Hindu temple depicting the vision
of Krishna as described in the Bhagavad Gita)
Rituals, ceremonies and festivals are vital ways that religious

belief is expressed and embodied and this is practiced both at home and
in the public sphere. Rituals such as praying five times a day, or twice a
day structure a religious person’s life in a specific way placing deeper
values at the centre. Both prayer and meditative and contemplative
practice, saying a rosary or mala, emphasize the need to take time away
form the stress and strain of life and to reflect or simply not engage with
our often anxious thoughts.
As we discussed earlier in the course psychologists are

increasingly becoming interested in researching how practices such as
prayer and meditation impact our mental and physical well-being.
Research beginning in the 1970’s such as Herbert Benson’s “The
Relaxation Response” has demonstrated that practices such as
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meditation, slow the heart rate and calm the nervous system
significantly.
In the past, and into the present ritual has been criticized as being
empty of meaning repetitive. I find this as a critique very interesting
and I feel that it speaks to a malaise of the time which is that we think
we need constant stimulation and change or we will be ( oh how most
horrible of things) – bored Also ritual, like all forms of routine, accepts
the periodicity and cyclical nature of life and this is something we have
largely lost in urban setting.
Festivals and holidays are often linked to religious calendars they occur
every year at the same time. So for instance Halloween in Ontario also
marks the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. So while it
attaches to Christian practices of praying for the souls of the dead at this
time of year it also recognizes the “death of year” and moving to time when
we have to bundle up and move indoors.
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Another reason I think ritual has been frowned upon partly
because any form of religiosity is viewed negatively by many now ritual
is a particularly open and overt way of expressing one’s religiosity and
that may be another reason it is frowned upon. It is sort of ok if one has
vaguely “spiritual” beliefs but physically express them is another
matter..
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF RITUAL
Religious ritual has also been of interest to some schools of

psychology particularly the Jungian school founded by the Swiss
psychologists Carl Jung. Jung and his followers have a tremendous
influence on the study of religion. The Jungians I would venture are the
most sympathetic to religion of all the western schools of psychology. It
has been noted human beings are symbol making creatures by nature
and that they do not simply live on the physical plane. We are creatures
of meaning as we discussed last lecture. And we embody our sense of
meaning in all our activities whether we are capitalists or Christians.
Another useful definition is Joseph Campbell’s. He writes that,

“ The function of ritual as I understand it, is to give form to human life,
not in the way of a mere surface arrangement, but in depth.”
On the most basic level for any society to function there has to be a level
of predictability. I need to know that indeed the car will stop at the stop
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sign, that when I go register at the university indeed the person behind
the counter will follow through etc. In the case of humans, culture has
filled in this gap and provided set pathways of attitude and behaviour.
The great traditions all take the individual from the cradle to
grave. And in Hinduism there are rituals for a child even before it is
born. Religion than is the container within which life is lived and gives
meaning to all aspects of it.
Symbols are intimately tied up with ritual and express the central
meanings of religious traditions. Symbols function as condensed
imagery that instantly recognizable whether if be the crescent of Islam
or the cross of Christianity.
(the khanda of Sikhism represents many of the key ideals of the

tradition including the idea of justice and religion in both the
public and private sphere. The colour orange is also important in
the tradition)
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Ritual also helps the individual to channel energy and plays an
integretative function aiding them in successfully negotiating transition
points in life through rites of passage. Ritual has always been one of the
primary ways that human societies have helped individuals to negotiate
life transitions. I also offered an example of what can happen when we
no longer have these methods for helping people to move to the next
stage and how the individual can then become stuck betwixt and
between. These are psychological and sociological perspectives upon
the practice of ritual.
Rituals also offer a public display of commitment as with the

example of the marriage ceremony , or in the case of a Muslim who is
fasting at Ramadan it is a public expression of belief and solidarity with
others in the religious community who are fasting also.
As I noted in the definitions of ritual that I provided you that ritual

is by its very nature an embodied practice and so very different from
abstract or intellectual approaches to religion. So it is very different to
think about the religion or the nature of God and for instance to fast
during a Vision Quest and to feel that actual hunger. It is also one aspect
of religiosity to talk about theology versus for instance going on a
pilgrimage and physically make the effort to leave regular life.
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Rituals like pilgrimage require a great deal of commitment to
concentrate fully on one’s religious life. The Camino Real pilgrimage in
Spain has undergone a tremendous renaissance in recent years and for
the purists, who undertake it in the traditional way and not in tour
buses it is a very arduous journey through the Pyrenees on foot.
Pilgrimage in India continues to become more and more popular
especially with greater ease of travel. But even with today’s modes of
transport there is almost always an aspect of struggle within these
practices that requires commitment.
Rituals are often enjoined by religious traditions so one is

expected to do them everyday, for instance recite the rosary so many
times a day. In some traditions like Islam daily prayer is part of the 5
pillars and is expected of all devout Muslims. In Hinduism often a guru
will assign a ritual practice for a certain period of time for example 40
days and if it is broken the ritual is believed to lose all efficacy.
Presented in a overview like this I think it clear why many of the world’s
religious traditions place ritual at the centre. Even in this cursory look
we can also see that ritual plays a multi-faceted role in human life.
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(Rituals and ceremonies are often used to mark
transitions such as in this Muslim marriage ceremony)
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WEEK EIGHT LECTURE ONE

RLCT 1026 “Introduction to the Study of Religion”

RELIGION AND MATERIAL PRACTICE

Whether or not there are adequate substitutes outside of religion

In this next section of the course I will focusing on material

Material practice then takes seriously the embodied practices of

That is to say, I we have discussed already, the majority of people

Most people learn about religion through story and through

Attitudes to ritual over the past 50 years or so have been

I suspect the growing interest in material practice is also a

Rituals, ceremonies and festivals are vital ways that religious

As we discussed earlier in the course psychologists are

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF RITUAL

Religious ritual has also been of interest to some schools of

Another useful definition is Joseph Campbell’s. He writes that,

(the khanda of Sikhism represents many of the key ideals of the

Rituals also offer a public display of commitment as with the

As I noted in the definitions of ritual that I provided you that ritual

Rituals are often enjoined by religious traditions so one is

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