Ritual in the Biblical World

Call For Papers: The Ritual in the Biblical World section will offer three sessions in the upcoming 2022 annual meeting. 1) The first session will be a joint session with the Space, Place, and Lived Experience in Antiquity section. We invite proposals that critically examine the use and significance of physical, literary, or imagined urban spaces and the role of ritual in the formation, maintenance, or dissolution of these spaces. Papers focused on use of locations in or near cities (such as temples, plazas, cemeteries) especially for ritual activities, or papers that explore the organization of cities are encouraged. We are especially interested in papers that consider how urban spaces influence ritual practices and religious imagination and how rituals influence the use of urban space. 2) The second session is a continuation of our efforts to explore the role(s) of women in liturgical contexts. This session wishes to engage some of the following questions: What role did women play in liturgical rites? Did they hold positions of authority or leadership in liturgy? Was female participation in liturgy a contentious issue? We welcome submissions that address issues of authority, power, and/or variances in participation based on conceptions of gender as they relate to women in liturgy in the Biblical world. 3) The third session will be an open session on all parameters of meaning and function of ritual found in textual and iconographic sources in the larger context of the cultures of the ancient world, employing insights and methods from the field of ritual theory.

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