Religion Past and Present

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Purification
(2,436 words)

[German Version]

I. Religious Studies

As with many animals, purification is a basic area of human behavior. Mutual purifying implies and generates expectations, trust, solidarity, and hierarchy. Religious actions (e.g. the purifying of statues and pictures of gods) go back to identical structures.

Purifying is a fundamental element of ritual actions. Ritual objects, but also the actors themselves, are purified. This proce…

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Stausberg, Michael, Cancik, Hubert, Seidl, Theodor, Kollmann, Bernd, Schneider-Ludorff, Gury, Wandrey, Irina and Börner-Klein, Dagmar, “Purification”, in: Religion Past and Present. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1877-5888_rpp_COM_024576>
First published online: 2011
First print edition: ISBN: 9789004146662, 2006-2013



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