Meal Practices

During the first two centuries of their history, Christians experimented extensively with what they called their meals, what they did during them, and where, when, how often, and with whom they conducted them. As a result of this process, these meals became significantly ritualized. Despite the scarcity of evidence regarding these meals, the chapter shows that adopting recent cognitive theories of ritualized behaviour, ritual efficacy, and ritual competence allows us to identify certain developmental trajectories in this process. The chapter presents a theoretically grounded overview of the most relevant sources. Since the focus is specifically on the ritualization of these meals from a cognitive perspective, their social function is not considered.

Women’s Rituals and Women’s Ritualizing

Although women participated in the early Christian rituals described elsewhere in this book, it would not be accurate to presume that their participation was in any way identical to that of men, nor even to the elite men whose evidence forms the basis of scholarly discussions. This chapter focuses on women’s ritualizing in relation to their bodies, the domestic sphere, in women-only religious communities, and in relation to the ecclesial hierarchy. It suggests that in some cases the approaches used by contemporary ritual theorists are insufficiently nuanced to allow for gender difference.

Christian Initiation

The limited evidence for Christian initiation practices in Syria and North Africa in the third century suggests ritual patterns that differed from each other in some ways but followed the three-stage structure of rites of passage outlined by Arnold van Gennep, even if the first and third of the stages were relatively undeveloped at that time. The fourth century saw the elaboration of these together with the temporal contraction of the middle or liminal phase in the rites of Syria and Milan, as well as in the variant practice of the city of Jerusalem.

Introduction

This chapter offers a guide to the reader for understanding the nature of ritual studies as an emerging interdisciplinary field, with particular emphasis on its relevance to the study of the history of early Christianity. Three characteristics are singled out. Ritual studies is distinguished by: (1) a pluralistic approach to the definition of ‘ritual’; (2) an increased interest in theory; and (3) the application of interdisciplinary perspectives on ritual. The chapter also responds to the criticism that has been raised against using the concept of ritual and ritual theory in the study of past rituals and argues that ritual theory enriches historical and textual analysis of early Christian materials in a number of ways. Ritual theory contributes to drawing a more complete picture of early Christian history and offers a corrective to a biased understanding of early Christianity as a system of beliefs and practices. Finally, examples from the present Handbook are taken to demonstrate how the ritual perspective creates a platform for interdisciplinary collaboration and integrative approaches which both stimulate new questions and enrich old ones.

Ritualization and Ritual Invention

In the lexicon of ritual theory, the notion of ritualization bears a heavy load. The concept aims to account for both the origins and functions of ritual (at both the biological and cultural levels), as well as inform reflection on the meaning and merit of ritual and even ritual theory. Broadly, ritualization refers to modifications in behaviours (or actions) that, when combined, stereotyped, formalized, and repeated eventuate in recognizable rites (or rituals). Ritualization is to ritual as a tree is to a house or a gear to a bike. Since ritualization is especially concerned with processes, the concept is important to discussions of the dynamics of ritual—its origins, changes, adaptations, and developments. Different theorists, however, use the concept in quite specific, sometimes antithetical, ways.

Wedding Rituals and Episcopal Power

This chapter offers a survey of the development of Christian marriage rituals in the first four centuries. It pays special attention to the emerging role of bishops in the ‘consecration’ of Christian marriage through rituals of blessing and veiling. Using categories derived from the ritual theory of Catherine Bell and Pierre Bourdieu, the chapter argues that by displaying ‘ritual mastery’ in this area, the Christian bishops in late antiquity were able to define new symbolic boundaries and thereby enhanced their own authority as ritual agents.

Communal Meals

This chapter begins by briefly discussing the prevalence of communal meals in the Roman world and then turns attention to the form and setting of communal dining. Such meals were framed as semi-public events. While not everyone was invited—indeed, only a small cadre of the especially chosen took part—banquets were often located and structured so that they could be observed. Within the meal setting itself, seating arrangements were such that each participant was also an observer. The bulk of the chapter examines how communal dining rituals model the values of the surrounding culture while also serving to mirror these values back to the banqueters, thus reinforcing and legitimating these values within the group. While meal rituals have the potential to challenge societal norms, in practice, the replication of cultural values reinforce the dominant social order.

Sacrificial Practice and Language

This chapter deals with sacrificial practice and language among the earliest Christians according to New Testament literature. It notes the ambivalent attitude of Jesus towards Herod’s Temple in Jerusalem and its sacrificial worship, which is manifest in the episode called ‘Cleansing of the Temple’ (Mark 11:15–19). This tendency probably led early Christians to discontinue actual sacrificial practices in their own worship; New Testament texts mention the Jewish sacrificial cult occasionally, but mostly employ sacrificial metaphors. The only exception is the celebration of the Eucharist, which appears as a renewal ritual to substitute for the early Jewish sacrificial cult. Hence this chapter explores sacrificial rituals in the Hebrew Bible, first, through a ritual theory approach and, second, with a theological perspective. The New Testament authors embrace the latter in their use of sacrificial metaphors in Christological concepts and paraenetic contexts.

The Cult of Saints

Veneration of holy people was a significant feature of early Christian piety. Through a collection of ritualized practices, Christians both received traditions handed down to them and contributed to the expansion of the image of the saints. Thus, ritual was a central factor in the creation of the cult of the saints. This chapter focuses on three of these practices: (1) the telling of stories; (2) pilgrimage; (3) and relic veneration. It then argues that the cult of the saints functioned to create the image of the martyrs as a special class of Christians, to promote the idea that suffering was the mark of true Christianity, to implant a distrust of government officials in Christian collective memory, and to provide opportunities for certain church leaders to control expressions of piety by the populace.

Ritual and Orthodoxy

Study of Christian origins typically separates the development of orthodox doctrines from community rituals of baptism, eucharist, or anointing of the sick and dying. Ritual studies are an appendix to arguments over the truth of teachings about God, the nature of Christ, salvation, and the canon of Scripture. This chapter argues that emerging Christianity was primarily a community that gathered to engage in ritual activities. Its rituals of baptism and eucharist are at the core of community identity in 1 Corinthians and Romans. The energy fuelling intra-Christian disputes reflects anxieties over the effectiveness of ritual celebrations in the pluralistic setting of early Christian assemblies. Both poetic fragments in Christian texts and artistic settings like the baptistery at Dura Europos demonstrate the powers of ritual to reconfigure participants’ vision of the self in the cosmos. Valentinian, Marcionite, and Manichaean authors and their orthodox opponents mirror diverse ritual praxis.