Ritual in the Ancient Mediterranean
About the Book Series
Scholarly interest in the ritual life of the ancient Near East, Greco-Roman societies, and both ancient Christianity and Judaism has increased considerably in the last decade, no doubt a reflection of the rising interest in ritual across many fields in the social sciences and humanities—and in western societies generally. This series supports scholarship that utilizes up-to-date ritual theory, and does so critically, to produce innovative studies that challenge conventional views and offer alternative viewpoints on the ancient Mediterranean world.
Series Editor: Richard E. DeMaris, Valparaiso University, USA
Advisory Board of Associate Editors: Emma Blake, University of Arizona, USA; Thomas Kazen, Stockholm School of Theology, Sweden; Jacob A. Latham, University of Tennessee, USA; Rubina Raja, Aarhus University, Denmark; Daniel Ullucci, Stonehill College, USA
Ritual, Gender, and the Body in the Early Christian World
1st Edition
Edited
By Richard E. DeMaris, Soham Al-Suadi, Richard S. Ascough
November 25, 2025
This volume investigates the central role of physical bodies, ritual technologies, healing practices, gender constructions, and visual imagery in creating and sustaining religious meaning in antiquity. Religious life in the ancient world was profoundly shaped by the interplay of materiality, ritual...
Magical Passages in Ancient Near Eastern Rituals: Liminality, Transformation and Separation
1st Edition
By Ilan Peled
September 24, 2025
This book focuses on the element of thresholds – makeshift gates, makeshift structures and house doors – as concepts of liminality in ancient Near Eastern magical rituals, and the idea of transformation they reflect. Readers gain an in-depth understanding of theories of liminality and rites of ...
Ritual, Emotion, and Materiality in the Early Christian World
1st Edition
Edited
By Soham Al-Suadi, Richard S. Ascough, Richard E. DeMaris
October 28, 2024
This volume advances our understanding of early Christianity as a lived religion by approaching it through its rites, the emotions and affects surrounding those rites, and the material setting for the practice of them. The connections between emotions and ritual, between rites and their materiality...