Santa Clara University

Faculty and Staff » Regular Faculty » Catherine M. Bell

Catherine M. Bell

Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies

Research

Activities

Academic Appointments

Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies	2007-
Chair, Religious Studies Department, Santa Clara University	2000-2005
Bernard J. Hanley Professor, Religious Studies Department, Santa Clara University	2001-present
Professor, Religious Studies Department, Santa Clara University	1998-present
Director, Asian Studies Program, Santa Clara University	1999-present

Associate Professor, Religious Studies Department, Santa Clara University	1991-1998
Assistant Professor, Religious Studies Department, Santa Clara University	1985-1991
Adjunct Lecturer, Graduate Program, International University of Japan (Kokusai Daigaku), Nigata, Japan	1983
Teacher and Curriculum Advisor, Seishin Joshi Gakuin, Tokyo, Japan	1982-1983

Research

Research Interests

History of Religions Methodology, Ritual Studies
Asian Religions
Chinese Religion: Popular Religion, Religious Tracts (shanshu), Printing, Ritual

Publications

Books: Teaching Ritual, editor. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.; Ritual: Perspectives and Dimensions. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.; Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.


Selected Articles: "Paradigms Behind (and Before) the Study of Religion" Theory and History 45 (2006): 1-20; "Culture: What Does One Do with It Now?" Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 18, no. 4 (2006): 315-324.; "Ritual Tensions: Tribal and Catholic." Studia Liturgica 32, no. 1 (2001): 15-28.; "Modernism and Postmodernism in the Study of Religions." Religious Studies Review 22 (3 1996) 179-90.; "'A Precious Raft to Save the World': The Interaction of Scriptural Traditions and Printing in a Chinese Morality Book." Late Imperial China 17 (1 1996) 158-200.; "In Search of the Tao in Taoism: New Questions of Unity and Multiplicity." History of Religions 33 (2 1993) 187-201.; "The Authority of Ritual Experts." Studia Liturgica 23 (1993) 98-120.; "Printing and Religion in China: Some Evidence from the Taishang Ganying Pian." Journal of Chinese Religions 20 (1992) 173-86.; "Religion and Chinese Culture: Towards an Assessment of Popular Religion." (Review article) History of Religions 29 (1 1989) 35-57.; "Ritual, Change, and Changing Rituals." Worship 63 (1989) 31-41.; "Ritualization of Texts and Textualization of Ritual in the Codification of Taoist Liturgy." History of Religions 27 (4 1988) 366-92.; "Discourse and Dichotomies: The Structure of Ritual Theory." Religion 17 (2 1987) 95-118.

Selected Chapters in Books: "Belief: A Classificatory Lacuna and Disciplinary 'Problem'." In Introducing Religion: Essays in Honor of Jonathan Z. Smith. Ed. Willi Braun and Russell T. McCutcheon. 2008.; "Theory in the Classroom? Theory IS the Classroom." In Rethinking Religion 101 Ed. Bradford Verter and J. C. Wolfart. Cambridge University Press. 2007.; "Religion through Ritual." In Teaching Ritual Ed. Catherine Bell. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.; "Scripture: Text and Then Some," Signifying on Scriptures Ed. Vincent L. Wimbush. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2007.; "Embodiment." In Theorizing Rituals: Vol. I: Issues, Topics, Approaches, Concepts. Ed. Jens Kerinath, Jan Snoek, and Michael Stausberg. Munich: Fink Verlag, 2007.; "Korperliche Ubung, Ritual und politische Abweichung: Die Falun Gong [Physical Exercise, Ritual, and Political Dissent: The Falungong]." In Die Kulture des Rituals Ed. C. Wulf and J. Zirfas. Munich: Fink Verlag, 2004. Also Published as "Exercice physique, rituel et dissidence politique," in Revue Hermes 43 (2005): 11-119.; "The Chinese 'Believe' in Spirits: Belief and Believing in the Study of Religion." In Radical Interpretation Ed. N. K. Frankenberry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.

: "Acting Ritually: Evidence from the Social Life of Chinese Rites." In Companion to the Sociology of Religion (ed. Richard K. Fenn; London: Blackwell, 2000).; "Pragmatic Theory." In Secular Theories on Religion: A Selection of Recent Academic Perspectives (ed. Mikael Rothstein and Tim Jensen; Copenhagen: University of Copenhagen Press, 2000).; "Performance." In Critical Terms for Religious Studies (ed. Mark C. Taylor; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998).; "Tales from the Treatise on Action and Retribution." In Religions of China in Practice (ed. Donald S. Lopez, Jr.; Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996).

Most Recent Presentations

"Belief, Beliefs, Believing: Declensions of a Problem," Oxford-Princeton Symposium in the Classics, Oxford University, UK, 2006.; "Do Buddhists Believe: Not the Same Old Question," Buddhist Studies Program, University of California at Berkeley, 2006.; "Religion: Constructing the West, Missing the Rest?" Eliot Lecture, Reed College, and guest lecture, the School of African and Oriental Studies, London, UK, 2006.; "After the Fall, Before the Clash: The Global Role of Religion Today," Gates Lecture, Grinnell College, Iowa, 2006.

Selected Awards

National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, 2007.

University of Chicago Divinity School Alumna of the Year, 2005.

: American Academy of Religion Research Grant (for research in Beijing), 1997.

: Brutocao Award for Excellence in Curriculum Innovation, Santa Clara University, 1996.

: American Academy of Religion Award, best first book in the History of Religions for 1992, 1994.

: National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, 1988.