Studies in religion are flourishing internationally, and one of the central topics discussed in the field today-perhaps the most discussed topic-is religious diversity. With the influx of religious traditions in the West and the growing diversity of religious adherents and practitioners worldwide, people across the globe are currently nterested in exploring issues in religious diversity. The present work is a response to this ubiquitous interest.

It is a substantial volume of thirty-three ori...

From handshakes and toasts to chant and genuflection, ritual pervades our social interactions and religious practices. Still, few of us could identify all of our daily and festal ritual behaviors, much less explain them to an outsider. Similarly, because of the variety of activities that qualify as ritual and their many contradictory yet, in many ways, equally legitimate interpretations, ritual seems to elude any systematic historical and comparative scrutiny.

In this book, Catherine Bell off...