Wilhelm Mannhardt - A Pioneer in the Study of Rituals
In the history of the study of religion the German folklorist Wilhelm Mannhardt (1831-1880) was the first to undertake a systematic study of rituals. This was not because of a specific interest in rituals; Mannhardt's interests lay with mythology, and all his life he regarded himself as a myth...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Donner Institute
1993-01-01
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| Series: | Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis |
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| Online Access: | https://journal.fi/scripta/article/view/67204 |
| Summary: | In the history of the study of religion the German folklorist Wilhelm Mannhardt (1831-1880) was the first to undertake a systematic study of rituals. This was not because of a specific interest in rituals; Mannhardt's interests lay with mythology, and all his life he regarded himself as a mythologist. In focusing on mythology Mannhardt was in tune with the spirit of his age, but to undertake a systematic study of rituals was something new. At the time the novelty of this approach went practically unnoticed, and Mannhardt himself barely reflected on method. There are complicated relations between a scholar's ideas and the ideas of his time, between what he intends to do and what he actually does and achieves. |
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| ISSN: | 0582-3226 2343-4937 |