Both anthropologists and theologians, each in their separate ways, are interested in rituals and their symbol-units. Victor Turner, from extensive fieldwork, has evolved a definition of ritual as “prescribed formal behavior for occasions not given over to technological routine, having reference to beliefs in mystical beings or powers.” Monica Wilson has insisted that “it is the values of the group that are revealed” in rituals and their symbol-units. The present essay is located at the interface of anthropology and theology. It surveys pertinent anthropological information and then analyzes the Christian rituals of baptism, confirmation and eucharist, and their symbol-units, to clarify and focus their meanings and the values and ontology of the Christian group which are revealed in them.

A major work of reform of the Roman liturgy was the restoration of more extensive biblical selections at the worship of the church. This article studies the reform insofar as it applies to the use of the New Testament at the liturgy of the hours, at mass, and in the other rites of the church. It judges the restoration to be admirable from a theoretical viewpoint. However, before this reform can take root, serious problems in the practical order must be addressed. The reform places pressures on the liturgical homilist, the celebrant of the liturgy of the hours, the faithful who hear the Word, and those who plan liturgies.

Process philosophers and theologians have long been critical of the traditional (Thomist) doctrine of divine immutability (Section I); yet until quite recently their protests had been largely ignored in Roman Catholic circles. The purpose of this present article is to draw attention to the fact that a number of contemporary Roman Catholic theologians have begun to take the Whiteheadian-Hartshornean challenge seriously, indeed to the extent that they have felt pressed, in response, to seek and exploit implicit, latent resources within Thomas' texts in order to explicate a more adequate Thomist conception of God's interrelationship with his creatures (Section II). Process metaphysics is defended versus several criticisms raised by Roman Catholic writers (Section III).

A common feature of many Eastern religious groups which have found a foothold in Western society is the presence of a charismatic guru around whom belief and devotion can be centered. This study examines one such religious leader, Guru Maharaj Ji of the Divine Light Mission. Attention is directed towards the nature of the guru in the eyes of his followers, the task and mission both assumed by him and attributed to him, and the devotional or worshipful aspect exhibited by the devotees. The ambivalent figure of this guru and the possible crises of the Mission, namely, the question of the sucession of the guru and the youthful age of Maharaj Ji, are deemed important enough to influence the future course of the Divine Light Mission and the role the guru will play in its life.