rituals in certain religious traditions that possess such as concept. However,
since we agreed to use multiple understandings of ritual and learn from each
of them irrespective of the validity of their universal claims, the potentially
limited applicability of the approach of ritual as a means to encounter the holy
is not necessarily a problem for us. The approach of the phenomenological
school influenced the neuroscientific study of religious experience (most
importantly, d’Aquili & Newberg, 1999; but also McNamara, 2009), a topic
that is of interest for this introduction. Since we will dedicate a full chapter of
this book to the cognitive study of religious experience, which provides a
better context for discussing the relevant neuroscientific research than the
present chapter, we will return to the subject in Chapter 7.
5.7 CONCLUSIONIn this chapter we have seen that cognitive approaches to rituals offer multiple
ways to think about biblical passages and other sources that can be brought
into connection with ritual practices. First and foremost, we have considered
social and psychological aspects of rituals that remain neglected when using
more traditional approaches. One effect that we observed across various
practices (communal meals, baptism, and prayer) was a tendency to increase
ritualization and strengthen the function of the rituals as commitment signals.
Arguably, rituals that were not reformed in such ways were on a path to
becoming neglected. An interesting example is the case of ritual handwashing,
which receives relatively little attention in the New Testament, and when it
does, the question is whether it should be maintained at all (Mark 7:1–23;
Matt. 15:1–20). We also made suggestions about a more inclusive consider-
ation of costs and benefits that takes into account multiple identities and
group memberships. Analyzing rituals along these lines can contribute to our
understanding of long-term historical processes of the formation and life cycle
of Christian groups. The answers provided by our theories can potentially
complement or replace explanations based on personality traits or intentions
attributed to religious leaders, such as Jesus’emphasis on personal piety or
Paul’s motivation as God’s chosen apostle. The problem with such explan-
ations (as we will discuss in Chapters 9 and 10, this volume) is that even
though pious and inspired persons make a difference, it is difficult to establish
why one such person’s intentions won out over other leaders’intentions in the
long run. Further, the theories of Whitehouse as well as of Lawson and
McCauley allowed for a consideration of the connection between rituals and
religious concepts as well as of the processes of transmission. In particular, we
placed Paul’s instructions about the communal meal into the context of the
dynamics of the two modes of religiosity and addressed the specific effects of
120 Cognitive Science and the New Testament