To Take Place: Toward Theory in Ritual

The "place" of the title and of Smith's theory is not merely location, but also the "place" in sequence and the "place" in rank or value. He theorizes ritual as a "mode of paying attention," which creates and affirms distinctions and differences, rather than contents or essences. He thus draws comparisons between the "places" established by Tjilpa dreamtime narratives, ancient near eastern temple architecture, the system of the Mishnah, and the Christian liturgical year.

As always, Smith is rigorous and thorough in his treatment of his illustrative cases, and he applies a critical sensibility to the history of the scholarship of religion. Not only does he take Eliade to task over the universality of the "sacred axis," he dissects and show more addresses the abiding legacy of Protestant anti-Catholic polemics underlying the conception of "ritual" in academic discourse. show less

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 show more of "The Sacred." show less

There was too much dense academia for me. Dry and inaccessible.