An updated primer for the burgeoning field of ritual studies

Beginnings in Ritual Studies, Revised Edition, lays the groundwork for the interdisciplinary study of ritual by broadening the conception of ritual and articulating its connection with a diverse range of cultural activities. To his classic first edition, which garnered widespread praise from the scholarly community and quickly became the standard work in a burgeoning field, Grimes has added a new introduction in which he assesses recent developments in ritual studies. In addition, he has updated the descriptive and theoretical essays that form the core of the volume.

Ronald L. Grimes is founding editor of the Journal of Ritual Studies, author of Ritual Criticism: Case Studies in Its Practice, Essays on Its Theory, and professor of religion and culture at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Canada.

"[A book] worthy of the company of such great pioneers in ritual studies as Victor Turner and Mary Douglas... No one has moved through this field with such verve, imagination, and playful intelligence as Grimes does in these essays."—Journal of the American Academy of Religion

"Throughout his book, Grimes reveals himself to be not only one of the foremost ambassadors and patron spirits of ritual studies but also a leading exponent of ritual theory."—Ritual Studies