25 February 2008 / Story and Ritual

Please read Mighty Stories, Dangerous Rituals, paying close attention to the authors’ definitions of “narrative,” “ritual,” “mythic,” and “parabolic.” Come to class prepared with one example of a powerful narrative and a powerful ritual in your own life, and think about how – if at all – you’ve encountered the mythic and/or the parabolic in your life. Spend some time thinking about the definitions of words like “religious,” “sacred,” “spiritiual,” “ceremony,” “habit,” “routine,” “holy,” “sacrament,” and so on.

I’ll be particularly pleased if you can come up with examples that are not explicitly religious. For example, a baptism is clearly a ritual, but also carries explicit religious symbolism – so much so that is is an official sacrament in every Christian community. Baking bread can be a ritual for many people, but while it can carry deep theological significance, it is not in and of itself, an explicitly religious ritual.

Try to stretch your imagination to come up with a ritual, a narrative, an event with mythic or parabolic elements, that does not carry explicit religious significance.

Helpful resources include: Spirit Garage 10th anniversary videos, the Mediated Spirit, TBA.