The marriage ritual: transition or confirmation. Development of a measuring instrument for research in theology and ritual studies

Abstract

This article focuses on empirical research in the field of liturgical studies into the religious consciousness of participants in the Catholic marriage ritual. Following the classification of the anthropologist Arnold van Gennep, marriage rituals are interpreted as rites of passage. The marriage ritual is a transition - a transition in status. Because present-day society in north-western Europe differs so greatly from the societies that Van Gennep studied, the question is whether marriage in Europe can in fact be interpreted thus. In this respect empirical research into the views of participants in marriage ceremonies can be illuminating. On the basis of two distinctions -transition/confirmation and transcendent/immanent - four sub-concepts are defined and used to analyse the problem of the Cathohc marriage ritual as a rite of passage. These dimensions are operationalised in a measuring instrument that can be used to determine how participants in Catholic marriage rituals interpret these ceremonies.