Ritualism

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Ritualism \Rit"u*al*ism\, n. [Cf. F. ritualisme.]
     1. A system founded upon a ritual or prescribed form of
        religious worship; adherence to, or observance of, a
        ritual.
        [1913 Webster]
  


     2. Specifically :
        (a) The principles and practices of those in the Church of
            England, who in the development of the Oxford
            movement, so-called, have insisted upon a return to
            the use in church services of the symbolic ornaments
            (altar cloths, encharistic vestments, candles, etc.)
            that were sanctioned in the second year of Edward VI.,
            and never, as they maintain, forbidden by competennt
            authority, although generally disused. Schaff-Herzog
            Encyc.
        (b) Also, the principles and practices of those in the
            Protestant Episcopal Church who sympathize with this
            party in the Church of England.
            [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  ritualism
       n 1: the study of religious or magical rites and ceremonies
       2: exaggerated emphasis on the importance of rites or
          ritualistic forms in worship

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  RITUALISM, n.  A Dutch Garden of God where He may walk in rectilinear
  freedom, keeping off the grass.