Zeven notities over rituele verandering, traditie en (vergelijkende) liturgiewetenschap

Abstract

Processes by which rituals change, which raise questions about traditional, modern and post-modern perspectives, the dynamic of cultus and culture and especially about our involvement with the past and "tradition", are examined here in seven notes linked to one another. In connection with these observations, an attempt is also made to ascertain the characteristic nature of an open and comparative study of liturgy, a professional exercise in the broader context of ritual studies. Proceeding from ongoing research into the process of change in festivals and rituals which has been and is particularly focused on Christian popular religious rituals in The Netherlands in the 19th and 20th century, and with reference to one another, the notes particularly develop theoretical and methodological aspects of the above questions. Following a first introductory note concerning the scope and plan of the research (1), the following themes are examined in succession: changes in festivals and rituals (2); trends within research concerned with this topic (3); the dialectic or dynamic of cultus and culture (4). Notes regarding our involvement with the past (5), and questions called up by Hobsbawm's work (6) form the occasion for an attempt to describe the characteristics of the discipline of liturgical studies, and particularly comparative liturgical study (7).