Early Christian Ritual Life ed. by Richard E. DeMaris, Jason T. Lamoreaux, and Steven C. Muir (review)

This collection of essays seeks to open "new possibilities for the study of early Christianity" by exploring early Christian ritual life as "an aspect of the larger emergence of some early Christianities" (p. 183). The introduction, by Richard DeMaris, indicates that, partly due to the difficulty in defining and theorizing ritual, the ritual aspect of early Christian life has been underestimated. After a concise and helpful outline of some influential ritual theories and analytical models, DeMaris points out four major characters of ritual: ritual is "referential, relational, physical, and situational" (p. 6). However, what are emphasized in this collection are only the relational and situational characters. Nine essays, which follow the introduction, are organized around three relational themes: "Interacting with the Divine" (part 1), "Group Interactions" (part 2), and "Contesting and Creating Ritual Protocols" (part 3) through interactions with Mediterranean rituals. A "primary task" of these essays is to contextualize ritual in its social and cultural situation (p. 9). The conclusion, by Hal Taussig, locates the collection in the field and offers challenges and prospects for future studies.

This collection does not assert an overarching theory or framework. Rather, its approach to ritual is context-specific (p. 187). Jonathan Schwiebert applies the sociological model of "ceremonial idiom" to the practices of honouring the divine in the ancient Mediterranean world and illuminates the relation between Christian identity and the honouring practices. Steven C. Muir applies anthropological and psychological theories to consider ritual experience as pre-cognitive. He examines the phrase "Abba, Father" in light of the background of ritual and magical breathing practices and argues that such practices fuelled the emergence of Paul's adoption theology. Ritva Williams applies Catherine Bell's ritual theory to demonstrate the ways that early Christians used pre-existing skills of divination to construct alternative power relations. Applying Bell's categorization, Agnes Choi considers baptism as a "political ritual" that indicated the unity of the Christian community and differed from the ritual uses of water of the Romans and the Jews. Erin Vearncombe considers dining and dressing in Christian groups and Greco-Roman associations as effective in maintaining social boundaries. Using archaeological information, Nicola Hayward argues that early Christian funerary iconography reinforced group identity.

Finally, the essays in part 3 directly refer to and work upon two interrelated and fundamental themes that seem to provide an important theoretical basis for the whole collection: Roy Rappaport's claim that ritual contains "the social contract itself" (p. 146), and the models of how ritual might be socially negotiated, violated, and modified. It might have been more helpful to treat these key theories in detail earlier in the book alongside DeMaris's brief introduction of Bell's theory about ritual and power relations. On the basis of these key concepts, DeMaris discusses whether and how early Christian rituals might be socially transgressive in their context. Jason T. Lamoreaux understands Paul's argument on food offered to idols as asserting ritual efficacy against competing groups. Richard S. Ascough's essay demonstrates how Christian water purification, prayers, and meals function in Luke's narrative as the ritual modifications of temple traditions. These rituals changed with the changing community yet powerfully connected the community with traditions, since "rituals tend to present themselves as unchanging" (p. 168).

While the context-specific approach allows a wide range of insights from various theories and models, the physical character and the cognitive aspect of ritual are less explored in the collection. Taussig states his disagreements with the attempt of cross- cultural understanding of ritual typical in cognitive science and with the overarching way that Risto Uro applies cognitive approaches to "the whole of early Christianity" (p. 185). However, the exploration of universal phenomena of the body and cognition in ritual and the context-specific analysis of ritual can be complementary. Muir's essay seems to be an initiatory example...