ritualism
Devotion to ceremony
Ritualism is devotion to or insistence on ritual, especially in religious worship.
The term often carries a slightly critical edge, suggesting excessive concern with ceremony over substance or meaning: His faith had hardened into mere ritualism.
In sociology, ritualism describes going through the motions of accepted practices without believing in their underlying goals.
Formal worship structure
- vestmentsCeremonial religious attire
- processionFormal moving line
- officiantCeremony presider
- incenseAnger greatly, or aromatic resin
altar · chanting · invocation · solemnity · congregation · homily · chalice · acolyte
Quality of being inviolable
- holinessSacred spiritual purity
- sacramentSacred ritual conveying grace
- consecrationDedicating to sacred purpose
- venerationProfound admiring respect
piety · devotion · worship · reverence · divinity · sacredness · transcendence · hieratic
Inherited cultural legacy
- customsTraditional practices or import taxes
- ancestryFamily line of descent
- folkloreInherited cultural narratives
- orthodoxyAdherence to accepted beliefs
dogma · doctrine · continuity · preservation · patrimony · antiquity · rubric · canonicity
Ordained religious office
- sanctuaryProtected sacred space
- tabernaclePortable sacred dwelling
- sacrificeGiving up something precious
- ablutionRitualized washing of body
pilgrimage · fasting · vigil · rosary · mantra · puja · salat · mikveh
Analysis of artistic symbols
- totemSpiritual clan symbol
- emblemRepresentational sign or device
- semioticsStudy of signs, symbols
- motifRecurring thematic element
archetype · sigil · insignia · glyph · token · emblematic · symbolism · fetish
Regular sequence of actions
- repetitiveMarked by recurrence
- mechanicalOperated by machinery
- automaticitySelf-generating action capacity
- compulsionIrresistible urge to act
obsession · habituation · conditioning · ingrained · entrenched · fixation · perseveration · superstitious
liturgy
Formal worship structure
- vestmentsCeremonial religious attire
- processionFormal moving line
- officiantCeremony presider
incense · altar · chanting · invocation · solemnity · congregation · homily · chalice · acolyte · cantor
sanctity
Quality of being inviolable
- holinessSacred spiritual purity
- sacramentSacred ritual conveying grace
- consecrationDedicating to sacred purpose
veneration · piety · devotion · worship · reverence · divinity · sacredness · transcendence · hieratic · numinous
heritage
Inherited cultural legacy
- customsTraditional practices or import taxes
- ancestryFamily line of descent
- folkloreInherited cultural narratives
orthodoxy · dogma · doctrine · continuity · preservation · patrimony · antiquity · rubric · canonicity · formalism
priesthood
Ordained religious office
- sanctuaryProtected sacred space
- tabernaclePortable sacred dwelling
- sacrificeGiving up something precious
ablution · pilgrimage · fasting · vigil · rosary · mantra · puja · salat · mikveh · darshan
iconography
Analysis of artistic symbols
motif · archetype · sigil · insignia · glyph · token · emblematic · symbolism · fetish · talisman
routine
Regular sequence of actions
- repetitiveMarked by recurrence
- mechanicalOperated by machinery
- automaticitySelf-generating action capacity
compulsion · obsession · habituation · conditioning · ingrained · entrenched · fixation · perseveration · superstitious · pattern
- Anglican ChurchAnglicanism, bishop, Archbishop of Canterbury, Church of England, parish
- High ChurchOxford Movement, Tractarianism, chasuble, genuflection, high mass
- Victorian TheologyOxford Movement, Tractarianism, Newman, biblical criticism, evangelicalism
- hypocrisyhypocrisy, hypocrite, sanctimony, two-faced, self-righteousness
- magical practiceswitchcraft, sorcery, folk magic, ceremonial magic, hoodoo
- religious fervorfervor, zeal, zealotry, fanaticism, devotion
ritualismcharismatic worship
Spirit-led, demonstrative religious practice
Quakerism · Pentecostalism · informality · evangelical worship · plainness
ritualismevangelicalism
Fervent gospel-centered Christianity
pietism · spiritualism · rationalism · puritanism · personal devotion
ritualismspontaneity
Acting without forethought
improvisation · informality · flexibility · adaptability · casualness
- ritualistic murderCeremonial taking of life
- ritualistic sacrificeCeremonial killing for divine favor
- ritualistic behaviorFormalized, repetitive symbolic actions
ritualistic, ritualize, ritualist, ritualized, ritualizing, ritualists, ritualistically, ritualizes