Religious practices and behaviours, also known as “ritual”

What comes rst in religion: ritual behaviour or religious belief? ere is probably no way of knowing and so it may seem odd that there has been an enduring discussion in the study of religion on whether ritual or belief is primary (Bell 1997: 3-21). e outcomes of this debate were, however, not quite irrespective of who conducted it. As guardians of literate monotheistic traditions with a focus on faith and belief, Christian theologians will logically tend to view ritual as subordinate, but many historians of religion and philosophers growing out of Christian cultural traditions have also stressed the primacy of faith and therefore also belief as primary and necessary for the signi cance of ritual. Belief was thus seen as giving meaning to ritual as well as being the cause of ritual: belief comes rst – ritual follows, and is what it is because of belief. Contrariwise, scholars of a more social orientation such as sociologists and anthropologists have emphasized the social cohesive nature and functions of ritual and therefore a probable priority of ritual over belief. Recently evolutionary and cognitive theorists have also o ered explanations that favour the primacy of ritual, partly because ritual seems to be older in evolutionary terms and partly because similar ritual forms apparently may have di erent meanings attributed to them, and similar rituals can be associated with varying beliefs. Whatever the case may be, the stance of the investigator is important because it determines the selection of data, the direction of analysis and the bases for interpretation, explanation and understanding (Jensen 2009d).