Human Rites: The Power of Rituals, Habits, and Sacraments

by Dru Johnson, David Dark (Foreword)

What are we doing when we gather around the sacraments— or when we make the same breakfast every morning? Embodying rituals, says Dru Johnson. And until we understand what we’re doing and why, we won’t know how these rituals work, what they mean, or how we might adapt them.

In Human Rites Johnson considers the concept of ritual as seen in Scripture and its role in shaping our thinking. He colorfully illustrates both the mundane and the sacred rituals that penetrate all of life, offering not only a helpful introduction to rituals but also a framework for understanding them. As he unpacks how rituals pervade every area of our lives, Johnson suggests biblical ways to focus our use of rituals, habits, and sacraments so that we can see the world more truly through them.

Genres: Theology, Religion, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Spirituality, Cultural

164 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 21, 2019

About the author

Dru Johnson (PhD, University of St. Andrews) is Templeton Senior Research Fellow and director of the Abrahamic Theistic Origins Project at Wycliffe Hall, University of Oxford. He is also a visiting professor at Hope College, director of the Center for Hebraic Thought, editor of the Routledge Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Biblical Criticism series, and cohost of the OnScript podcast. His books include Biblical Philosophy and Human Rites: The Power of Rituals, Habits, and Sacraments. Johnson splits his time between Holland, Michigan, and Oxford, England.

Reviews

[Jacob Aitken · Rating 5 out of 5]

Johnson, Dru. Human Rites: The Power of Rituals, Habits, and Sacraments.

Thesis: Rituals symbolically encode our deepest thoughts and desires into a storyline.

Definition: A ritual or rite is a regular action that has been scripted for another use.

Dru Johnson, Hebrew professor at King’s College New York, exposes the daily rituals in our lives. Rituals and rites, and for some the term, sacraments, conjures up the smoky atmosphere of mystery religions. The reality of rituals, however, is quite different. Stated plainly, rituals teach our bodies when our minds are not always aware. This book is not about “rituals for church,” nor is it prescribing a set of rituals for one’s spiritual life. The truth is probably the opposite: getting rid, or at least becoming aware, of bad rituals.

The symbolism of a ritual is important, but we should not always expect a one-to-one correspondence. God told the Israelites to pretend they were camping out in tents and booths for one week a year. This was to remind them of the wilderness years. That symbolism seems obvious enough. Not all of them are, though. God told Israel to sometimes sacrifice a red heifer. Why that particular heifer and not another? There really is not a good reason and looking for one probably misses the point.

Rituals are scripted by someone. God scripted rituals for Old Covenant Israel for reasons sometimes beyond the obvious. It is easy for us to “feel out of place” or confused even when we have not sinned. If an Israelite kills a man in battle, he does not sin (especially if God commanded the battle!). Nevertheless, it is easy to feel confused. It is no light thing to kill someone. God knows that, which is why he prescribed purification rituals that give the man a script and a purpose and prevent a falling into despair.

The same applies for married life, including sex. This is especially true for young couples. Emotions are high. Becoming one flesh; not really having a clue what is going on. That’s normal. God prescribed some minor rituals to “script that part of life.”

There is an excellent section on technology and rituals. If you have read neuroscience regarding technology’s, especially smart phones, impact on the brain, then you know what he is saying.

The reason rituals are powerful is that habits are encoded in our flesh. Simply talking them out does not work (which is what psychologists learned in the early days of PTSD). Rituals rewire the body.

Concluding Comments

One minor criticism is that there is no hard and fast line between “rites” and “rituals.” Using one is just as good as the other. Other than that, the book was very informative, maybe even “formative.”

[Christian Wermeskerch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helpful look at our daily habits and rituals, comparing them to divine rituals and habits. How are we formed? How are we forming ourselves? How can we push back against the things that are ill-forming us into truer humans? I would recommend reading James KA Smith first, and then take Dru's book as an applicatory look at these ideas of liturgical formation.

[Becker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have learned a lot from Dr. Johnson and really like what he has to say on Hebraic thought and on rituals. I don’t think this was the best written book, but it’s a quick read (less than 150 pages) and the contents are good!

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fine little book showing how rituals, habits and routines are essential to our lives.

[Gabriel Jensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The chapters of this book include brief exposition of the Old- and New-Testament commands and writings about holidays, rituals, and practices, as well as anecdotes about cultural rituals from across the world and Johnson's own life. Johnson is a casual writer and it's easy to fly through this piece without thinking enough about the important ideas this book contains. He asks good questions through the exposition and explanation of rites from current and historical cultures, but the points and ideas are sometimes lost in the ease of reading and become almost implicit. The best advice I can give to others who read this book (and I recommend you do) is to take it slowly, highlighting the questions and big ideas in each chapter for answering and reflecting upon before moving onto later chapters and sections. The ritual of reading a book can be dark and flimsy if we don't take the time to intentionally let it soak into our minds, and unfortunately Human Rites doesn't include anything in itself to prevent that, such as summaries or discussion/reflection questions at the end of chapters or sections. The chapters seem like they are almost too open-ended and leave readers with little direction how to soak in these ideas. The book ends by explicitly giving readers a great start on how to do this, but until you reach the Appendix, you may have to work hard to find application on your own.

Keep track of the ideas, take notes, answer the questions, and maybe even read the Appendix before reading the book so you can answer those questions as you move through the book. Doing so will make this a powerful book that may change the way you look at almost every aspect of your life. Not doing so may leave you with some new vocabulary when discussing things and nothing more.

[Peter F · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good thoughts on rituals and made me want to read Dru Johnson's more academic work, but I would have liked a clearer definition of ritual. Oftentimes it seemed Johnson treated pretty much all of human action as "ritual", but I don't this is a clarifying way to think about things. One sees this elsewhere in the recently common appropriation of "liturgy" to any action we repetitively do. I do think these can be valuable lenses to view habits, but some clearer definitions would be helpful.

[David Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dru Johnson stresses the importance of knowing who or what is writing our rituals.

I was drawn to reading this book after listening to a Mars Hill Audio interview of the author. At this time in my life and in my society, I feel a keen importance in acquiring insight into epistemology, as a disorder in this area seems to be at the root of so much disorder, personally and in the society around me. Johnson's book seems helpful in addressing this area of need for philosophical, intellectual and spiritual recuperation or renewal.

But addressing ritual may not seem at first clearly connected to epistemology. They surely diverge at some points, but in the early chapters, Johnson makes a point which helps show how ritual is at the heart of seeing. On pg. 26, after noting that ritual is rooted in ordinary activities which are converted into rituals, he notes regarding the Torah's prescribed rituals that "Israel is instructed by God to perform rites in order to know. The ultimate goal is not to perform the ritual, but to see what is being shown." This reminds me of the words of Jesus where he says the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit will come and make their dwelling in the one who loves Christ by keeping his word. There is a performative, integrity aspect to seeing that certain Protestant stresses neglect. If we focus only on juridical status, we neglect the formative aspect that God calls us to, to our impoverishment and peril. In fact, it seems my need for understanding and growth in this area is related to neglects especially in the Protestant order and theology. This reminds me, writing this now, that I should attend to the writings of those who are helpful in this area such as those by Dallas Willard, among others.

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Johnson makes the point that trying to figure out the way rituals work can actually be detrimental to the very thing which rituals do best: teach us to see what was always there right in front of us. He gives the example of how he tried to conquer areas of knowledge such as biblical history and jazz drumming, rather than participating in a discerning community. Understanding comes after we have participated in the process, had a eureka moment, and looked backed on the whole process.

Poor models of humans make for impoverished rituals. He gives the example of the breakthroughs in treatment of PTSD by psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk. Sometimes discussing feelings in early attempts at addressing to PTSD were counterproductive, triggering relapses. But when he Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy in which the patient followed his fingers with their eyes as he had them summon the traumatic memories. By involving the body through EMDR therapy, he enabled the patients to successfully process trauma without associated reactions in their adrenal systems. "EMDR therapy strategically ritualizes the remembrance of past events to so that patients can successfully process trauma."
Until we see what the ritual tries to show us, we will always be puzzled by the ritual scripts.

How this relates to Protestant theology and current Protestant stresses in the gospel is a good question. Dallas Willard has said that discipleship is the "great omission" in modern ways of framing the gospel. Today the guest preacher at my church alluded to the rituals of the Law of the Old Testament and also to the expectations and rituals of other societies and stressed the Scripture in which Jesus calls all who are burdened and heavy laden to come to him take up his yoke which is light. Protestant stresses can make it seem that the message is there is no Law, there is no ritual, that the gospel is freedom from these things, modern freedom which is merely freedom from. In modern freedom, where is the embrace of the good? D.C. Schindler effectively addresses modern freedom. But if the Protestant gospel has become this, then it is become a worldly gospel.

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Lack of unscripted time undermines the formation of "executive functions." Kids need lots of unscripted time… Seems to clash with the advice to carefully structure time for kids. Obviously, there is a golden median.

Pg. 72 - "If ill motives have been ritualized into us, then caring acts must ritualize them out of us."

I think how I treat money in relation to people is an issue. I am not generous and other oriented like I should be and life is short.

Johnson highlights and helps to clarify the indispensibility of rituals. They are sometimes vitally important for the performance of high stake jobs like air-traffic controllers. They are also something we cannot simply choose to do away with, to abstain from. They are part of our natures.

Johnson points out and stresses our need to separate in our minds the rituals across Scripture from the church rituals springing up and cobbled together by local Christians, and then examine the two kinds of rituals closely. This is a prescription I think I should accept and adopt. I need to examine my rituals, ask who prescribed them and to what end they serve, and pursue the God-given, life-bearing rituals in place of the dark ones.
But how? Surely I can make it a point to examine three rituals a week at least reflectively in my journal for some six weeks or so.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provides and simple description of the rituals we have in our lives. He does not offer an extended argument for rituals but shows that we are ritualistic people by nature. We need to look at them critically and improvise them to orient our lives around a more Christ honoring and people loving goal. He offers really good, simple, and practical ways to evaluate our “rituals” or routines and rhythms if you prefer. He does by ask four questions: who prescribed it, to what end, how can we safely improvise it, and how can it become dark or flimsy. The appendix of examples gives you a good taste of what the book is trying to do. It accomplishes it’s purposes with great insight and I really enjoyed.

Naturally a question may arise among some Christians this is advocating a works righteousness. He does not address this objection and presumably it’s address in his academic monograph “Knowledge by Ritual.” I presume it based on a Polanyian epistemology and TF Torrance’s integration of Polanyi in theology. Knowing how many Christians are so nervous about works righteousness it would have been good for Dru to at least speak to it more specifically. I would have to encourage lay people in my church to ignore that question and just read the book and ask if what is being advocated is really things Christ has not clearly told us to do. But he does make the basic premise clear - that some things we can only learn by doing since we are embodied creatures and we embody a “tradition” but we rarely reflect on its true source. Dru’ illustrations do serve the premise well. My way of distilling the idea is just to say it is an act of faith (as a means to knowledge) to obey. As Jesus said, “if you love me, obey my commands.” Understanding why he told us to do it often comes later with obedience by faith.

[Zak Schmoll · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such an important book. I kind of purchased it on a whim, but it is incredibly thought-provoking, and I think that almost anyone can gain something from it. This book relies on the rather obvious statement that all of us participate in rituals of some fashion, and we often times do this without a thought. Maybe we do something a certain way because our family always did it that way or all of our friends said it is the right way. Maybe we do it because we expect a certain outcome. Patterns, tradition, rituals, and rites are not a problem and are unavoidable, but they can become misguided. They can become flimsy and lack meaning or even dark and dangerous. Therefore, we always need to be in a continual process of evaluating the rituals that we build in our lives because these rituals are going to shape who we are. We become more and more like what we consistently do.

As Christians, it is important for us to make sure that our rituals are bringing us closer and closer to God rather than off the way. Rituals will look different from time to time, and improvisation is not always a bad thing, but, again, it is important to evaluate who is prescribing the ritual and to what end it will bring us.

I will be thinking about this book for a while, and I think you should pick it up.

[Phillip Howell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book felt like reading wisdom literature. There is a lot to ponder and many helpful suggestions for how to take inventory of one’s life. My only quibble with this book is that I would have been nice to have heard some ritual scripts for focusing our attention on Jesus. Plenty of detailed scripts were given for self examination but a heavier dosage of Christ-centered scripts would have made this book 5 stars. Nevertheless, I really like the book. It’s helpful and full of great wisdom and insight. Johnson did a nice job of a writing a clear and engaging book for non-academics. The illustrations and stories are excellent.

[Tyler Collins · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book for my "Introduction to Christian Liturgy and Its Development" course under Fr. Tobias Karlowicz at Nashotah House Seminary.

While Johnson made many good points about how we are ritualized creatures and must be reflective and intentional about the rituals we participate in every day, I felt I could have gotten the gist of the book in 2-3 chapters of content rather than 10. I will give it to him, however. Johnson does a great job of making this content accessible to the average person. His writing is conversational and even "hip." It definitely is a great starting point for those who have little exposure to thinking about these concepts.

[Sarah Becker · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book so much. I'd like to say there is a lot of good here, but the good that is here suffers from what is not here. And what is not here is any definition of terms. The author never tells us what he means when he uses the words "ritual" or "rite," or even "practice" or "habit." I get the feeling he's trying to talk about just everything that we do in life instead of focusing on how rituals are different than other things we do and how that affects how they form us. I really wish this had been a better book.

[Cass 10e · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great starting to point to begin examining the rituals we knowingly and unknowingly have implemented in our lives. It is humbling to realize that I’m setting rituals for my children that they may (or may not) follow as truth for a huge chunk of their lives. That alone is enough to encourage me to examine the things we do and why!

[Cody · Rating 3 out of 5]

An engaging popular level treatment of how rituals do and should form our daily existence. The author shakes low church Christians out of their mistaken assumption that they have no rituals while encouraging a flexible and intentional approach to ritual performance. A good place to go next would be James K. A. Smith's You Are What You Love.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Focusing on the practices that shape us, Johnson encourages us to root rituals deeply, while gives space for improvisation. From a faith perspective, rituals form us to know Gods and ourselves and to be Gods people. From the perspective of daily living habits likewise form us. Interrogating these practices is advised.

[Gregory · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very helpful introduction to the centrality of rites and rituals in all of human life, and in the Bible. The question is not whether we will have rites and rituals, but which rites and rituals we will have, and whether we will unconsciously adopt the rituals of the world, or be shaped by the deep rituals of God's creation and his revealed Word.

[Dustin Turner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall not bad. The author does a good job of demonstrating the roles of rituals in our lives and how the Bible and God have much to say on this topic.

[Kris Lundgaard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short but rich read that would nicely pair with James K. A. Smith's *You Are What You Love.*

[Jeremy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent treatment of ritual.

[Derek Kreider · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pairs well with James K.A. Smith's "Desiring the Kingdom." It's largely about habits and ritual and how to assess those and ensure we are doing everything unto a purpose. I liked Smith's work better.

[William Schrecengost · Rating 4 out of 5]

An introduction to man as a ritualistic creature. Good overall

[Chris Borah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don’t use Pepsi (cf Jesus). Use this book.

This is a helpful primer on knowing what the Bible means by how we get to know God. I think it is best understood in the classical teaching on the dialectic between word and sacrament within the church.

[Tyler Hurst · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine book, another candidate for replacing James K.A. Smith on the shelf as he is in a nebulous place theologically and appears to be moving out of evangelicalism.