Ritual and Social Dynamics in Christian and Islamic Preaching - Paperback

by Ruth Conrad (Editor), Roland Hardenberg (Editor), Hanna Miethner (Editor)

Christian and Islamic sermons from past and present, and their preachers, are analyzed to reveal the socio-cultural dynamics of religious speeches.

Part I focuses on the explicit contribution of sermons in socio-cultural transformation processes. It shows how sermons connect with holy texts, religious norms of the specific group, and social-cultural contexts.

Part II analyzes the dynamic tension between normativity and popularity. Rather than juxtaposing normative stances and the popularity of sermons, it shows how that normativity can itself contribute to popularity and the quest of popularity carries its own normative stances.

Part III explores the ritual embeddedness of religious speech in the sermon in relation to social dynamics, normativity, and popularity, and shows how speech and rituals have a reciprocal relationship.

Author Biography

Ruth Conrad is Professor of Practical Theology at Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany.

Roland Hardenberg is Professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany.

Hanna Miethner is a research assistant for the Faculty of Practical Theology at Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany.

Max Stille is Executive Director of NETZ Partnership for Development and Justice, Germany.