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Dear Esther I would very much recommend that he looks at a series of articles by Talal Asad, who is a poststructuralist anthropologist (pace Dave Postles' comment) with an interest in high medieval stuff. THe articles are: T. Asad, 'Anthropological conceptions of religions: reflections on Geertz', Man 18 (1983) 237-259 ______, 'Notes on body pain and truth in medieval Christian ritual', Economy & Society 12 (1983) 287-327 ______, 'Medieval Heresy: an anthropological view', Social History 11 (1986) ______, 'On ritual and discipline in medieval Christian monasticism', Economy & Society 16 (1987) 159-203 In the last article, Asad promises a book on these topics, which, as far as I know, has not yet appeared. If there's anyone out there who knows where Asad is now based, and what he's up to, I would be _very_ keen to hear! cheers john arnold On Fri, 3 Jul 1998, Esther Cohen wrote: > >Dear fellow medieval-religionists, > >I am writing in the name of a doctoral student of ours, who is working on > the socio-liturgical role of synagogues in northern France and Germany > (10-12th c.). I am the general historian in his supervisory committee, and > he came to me asking for parallel materials on liturgy and ritual - and > their social role (the sort of thing John Bossy did for the early modern > era) among Christians in the same areas. Being a social historian, I could > still direct him to the proper theological authorities, but my knowledge of > ritual and liturgy amounts to near-total ignorance. Several very learned > members of the group are sure to be able to help. > >I hereby append the query as he phrased it: > >"I am looking for bibliographical references for > >historical/anthropological research of Church ritual and the use of > >sacred space in Northern France and Germany in the 10th to 14th > >centuries. In addition: Has work been done on correlations between > >church ritual and culture or social structure e.g. the impact of > >literacy on public readings of the gospels, Church sermons,or the > >ritualisation of prayer or the eucharist in this period?" > >The idea isn't to look for influences, but for parallel developments. > >Since the subject has arisen more than once, I suggest that the kind > helpers address their answers either to me ([log in to unmask]) or to > Alick Epstein in person ([log in to unmask]) > > > >With many thanks, > > > >Esther Cohen > >Department of History > >Hebrew University > >Jerusalem > > > > %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%