Social Locations

Coming to terms with Jonathan Z. Smith has always been a challenge. And it might not be that this book, To Take Place, is the best place to get started, even though it is a thorough and summary development of his theory of ritual as theory of religion and theory of social formation. One needs to be clear about several categories of thought worked out in other essays, Smith's definitions of myth and ritual explained in other contexts, as well as his underlying intellectual anthropology throughout in order to entertain the startling ramifications of the argument and conclusion of this book. Like jumping rope, engaging Smith requires a concentrated focus on just one set of categories at a time, then a hop to mark their moment and keep from being tripped up while waiting for the next encounter. Classification and difference; comparison and distinction; homology and analogy; identity and relations; thought and thinking; context and situation; system and gap all keep coming around, one after the other, the distinctions making a little pop and whoosh to keep us on our toes while trying to pay attention to the larger picture Smith is painting.

Aesthetics · Analogy · Argument (complex analysis) · Art · Epistemology · Focus (optics) · Identity (music) · Literature · Mythology · Order (exchange) · Social theory · Sociology · Philosophy · Religion and Society Interactions · Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices · Religious Tourism and Spaces