Repeated prayers: saying the rosary in contemporary Syria

Andreas Bandak

Repeated prayers: saying the rosary in contemporary Syria

Institut for Tværkulturelle og Regionale Studier

6 Citationer (Scopus)

Abstract

Mauss' seminal doctoral thesis, On Prayer [1909], captured the social character of prayer, but he sidelined the rosary as a merely mechanical prayer of repetition. This article also finds repetition at play in the rosary, as it is performed in the shrine of Our Lady of Soufanieh, Damascus, in pre-2011 Syria. However, it argues that repetition need not be conceptualised as dulling and inhibiting for the devotee. Rather, repetition can be seen like a heartbeat: something alive and pulsating. The repetition of the prayers among the followers is seen as unforced, a voluntary response to a grace already bestowed upon them by the Virgin Mary and Christ. Prayers are a response to this grace and, in this sense, repetition is to be understood as re-petition. This re-petition is seen as modelling the individual in the image of the Virgin Mary and, by this, exemplifying the saintly character of the devout.

Originalsprog	Engelsk
Tidsskrift	Religion
Vol/bind	47
Udgave nummer	1
Sider (fra-til)	92-110
Antal sider	19
ISSN	0048-721X
Status	Udgivet - 2 jan. 2017

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http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0048721X.2016.1237158

Citationsformater

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AB - Mauss' seminal doctoral thesis, On Prayer [1909], captured the social character of prayer, but he sidelined the rosary as a merely mechanical prayer of repetition. This article also finds repetition at play in the rosary, as it is performed in the shrine of Our Lady of Soufanieh, Damascus, in pre-2011 Syria. However, it argues that repetition need not be conceptualised as dulling and inhibiting for the devotee. Rather, repetition can be seen like a heartbeat: something alive and pulsating. The repetition of the prayers among the followers is seen as unforced, a voluntary response to a grace already bestowed upon them by the Virgin Mary and Christ. Prayers are a response to this grace and, in this sense, repetition is to be understood as re-petition. This re-petition is seen as modelling the individual in the image of the Virgin Mary and, by this, exemplifying the saintly character of the devout.

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Repeated prayers: saying the rosary in contemporary Syria

Abstract

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