Paul Post

My research concerns rituals, more specific the following areas: modern devotion: research into developments in contemporary ritual settings, popular religious ritual (pelgrimage), memorial culture, cyber ritual. Currently there is a strong focus on place and space of ritual, on ritual and sacred zones in our culture. I am now involved in three large scale research and book projects: Absent Ritual, Disaster Ritual, and Re-using redundant church buildings.

 Dr. Paul Post (1953) studied in Utrecht and Rome (Theology, Religious and Ritual Studies, Christian Art). Since 1986 he has been involved as coordinator in a large-scaled multidisciplinary research programme on Christian pilgrimage. From 1988 until 1994 he was Head of the Department of European Ethnology at the Meertens Institute (Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences) in Amsterdam. There he initiated and coordinated a national programme on Places of pilgrimage in the Netherlands. Since 1994 he is Professor of Liturgical and Ritual Studies at the Tilburg Faculty of Theology, now: Department Religious Studies and Theology) and Director of the interfaculty and interuniversity Institute for Liturgical and Ritual Studies located in Tilburg. In the period 1991-2001 he was a member of the steering committee of the national research programme Dutch Culture in a European Context (a national priority programme of NWO). In 2006 he was a member of the national assessment panel Theology/Religious Studies of Finland (coordinated by the Academy of Finland in Helsinki). From Tilburg he initiated and coordinated a research programme on Disaster ritual (2000-2001; funded by the KNAW) and on dynamics of ritual space in modern western society (2006-2009; Holy Ground: reinventing ritual space in modern Western culture, together with prof.dr. A.L. Molendijk (RUG), funded by NWO, cf. The Future of the Religious Past). From 2007 he has initiated and coordinates (together with Prof. W. van Beek, PhD) an international programme on Sacred sites (2007ss.; funded by SANPAD), a collaboration of Tilburg and Bloemfontein (SA). He was initiator and leader of the PILNAR (Pilgrimage narratives) project financed by CLARIN. He was research director of the Department Religious Studies and Theology, and in 2010-2018 vice dean for research of the Faculty of Humanities and director of the TSH Graduate School. In 2013 he founded the Funeral Academy and the Camino Academy, platforms where academia and practice meet in expert meetings, publications etc.

His main interests are theory and methods of ritual and liturgical studies, the anthropological dimensions of ritual, popular religion (especially pilgrimage), religious iconography and architecture, and (post)modern developments in ritual. For the last five years all his research has been concentrated around the theme of located religion and ritual space. he now is involved in international projects on  Absent Ritual, Diaster Ritual, and Redundant Church Buildings.

He is in the board of Liturgia condenda (international series, Peeters: Leuven), Meander (national series), Jaarboek voor liturgie-onderzoek, and Netherlands Studies in Ritual and Liturgy, Verbum & Ecclesia, Member Advisory Board of Questions Liturgiques / Studies in Liturgy, Member of Societas Liturgica, and AKL (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Katholischer Liturgiedozenten/Innen im Deutschen Sprachgebiet).

 Supervision projects: PhD projects completed: 31; current PhD projects: 8.

Books (selection): (with J. Pieper en M. van Uden, eds.): The Modern Pilgrim (1998); Het wonder van Dokkum: Verkenningen van populair religieus ritueel (2000); (with M. Barnard, ed.): Ritueel bestek: Antropologische kernwoorden van de liturgie (2001); (et al. eds.): Christian Feast and Festival (2001); (et al.): Disaster Ritual (2003); Space for Liturgy (2004); (with B. Kranemann, eds.): Die modernen ‘Ritual Studies’ als Herausforderung für die Liturgiewissenschaft / Modern Ritual Studies as a Challenge for Liturgical Studies (2009); (with A. Molendijk, eds.): Holy Ground: Re-inventing Ritual Space in Modern Western Culture (2010); Voorbij het kerkgebouw: De speelruimte van een ander sacraal domein (2010); (with L. van Tongeren, M. Barnard & G. Rouwhorst, eds.): Patterns and Persons: A Historiography of Liturgical Studies in the Netherlands in the Twentieth Century (2010); De Romeinse Katakomben in Valkenburg: Het verhaal van een unieke kopie (2010); (with A.L. Molendijk & J. Kroesen, eds.): Sacred Places in Modern Western Culture (2011); (with Ph. Nel & W. van Beek, eds.): Sacred Sites, Contested Grounds: Space and Ritual Dynamics in Europe and Africa (2014); (with L. Sparks eds.): The Study of Culture through the Lens of Ritual (2015); (with S. van der Beek): Doing Ritual Criticism in a Network Society. Online and Offline Explorations into Pilgrimage and Sacred Place (2015); ‘Ritual Studies’, in OxfordResearch Encyclopedia of Religion, Oxford UP (2015); A Short History of the Roman Catacombs in Valkenburg, the Netherlands (2018).

Click here for my courses.

Completed PhD supervisons [31]:

- Dr. C. Wijers (carnavalsritueel in Limburg) [1995]

- Dr. J. Helsloot (feestcultuur in Goes) [1995]

- Dr. J. van de Ven (geschiedenis huwelijksritueel in de Nederlanden) [2000]

- Dr. P.J. Margry (processieritueel in Nederland, 19^e eeuw) [2000]

- Ir.dr. S. de Jonge (moderne kerkarchitectuur) [2002]

- Dr. R. Bot (liturgische muziek en de Liturgische Beweging) [2003]

- Dr. T. Michels (actueel huwelijksritueel) [2004]

- Dr. C. Wepener (vanuit universiteit van Stellenbosch, Zuid-Afrika) (riten en symbolen van verzoening) [2004]

- Dr. M. Hoondert (ritueel-muzikale bewegingen in de marge van de parochie (Gregoriaans, Taizé, jongerenkoren) [2006]

- Dr. I. Albers (Lopen als ritueel fenomeen) [2007]

- Dr. G. Juchtmans (Liturgie thuis) [2008]

- Mw. drs. P. Versnel (Geschiedenis Nederlandse liturgiewetenschap, 20^ste eeuw) [2009]

- Dr. J. Holsappel-Brons (Ruimte voor stilte. Stiltecentra in Nederland als speelveld van traditie en vernieuwing, 23 sept. 2010)

- Dr. J. Tonnaer (Bomen voor het leven. Een studie naar een hedendaags collectief herdenkingsritueel voor overleden kankerpatiënten, 8 okt. 2010)

- Dr. Th. Van Dun (Invoeren in Vieren: Ritueel-Liturgische Strategieën. Een onderzoek naar de katholieke kerkdiensten in inrichtingen van justitie in Nederland, 7 dec. 2011)

- Dr. L. Sparks (Ambiguous Spaces: A Contextualisation of Shared Pilgrimage in Ephesus, 16 dec. 2011)

- Dr. A. Ossewaarde (Beelden van hoop en verwachting. Een onderzoek naar de afbeeldingen en hun betekenis op Romeinse christelijke kindersarcofagen uit de 3^e en 4^e eeuw, 12 dec. 2012)

- Dr. J. Schoenmakers (Officia propria. Liturgische rituelen en gebruiken in het sticht voor adellijke dames in Thorn, 25 juni 2014)

- Dr.drs. L. Faro (Postponed memorials, 28 jan. 2015)

- H. Leijten MA (Objects with power: toe-eigeningen van Afrikaanse cultische voorwerpen)

- B.R. Monte (Tiny Zion. Harvest Hiolls. An intentional Zionic community, 2 dec. 2015)

- I. Schippers (Sacred places in the suburb. Casual sacrality in the Dutch VINEX-district Leidsche Rijn, 14 dec. 2015)

- Sh. Du Plooy, MA (promotie aan University of the Free State, Bloemfontein SA, faculty of Humanities, Centre for African Studies) (Pilgrimage to sacred sites in the Eastern Free State SA, July 2015)

- L. Wijnia MA (Festival Musica sacra Maastricht: discourses on sacrality, 12 sept. 2016) [cum laude / with distinction]

- Drs. M. de Ruijter (Confining frailty. Making place for ritual in rest and nursing homes, 16 nov. 2016)

[in 2015/6: 5 PhD's promotor ex officio as director of the TSH Graduate School, formal replacement of prof.dr. A. de Ruijter]

- S. van der Beek MA (New pilgrim stories. Narratives – Identities – Authenticity, 18 June 2018)

PhD supervisons in progress [8]:

- stopped K. Ghonem MA (religieuze verhalen en cultural literacy) †2016

- P. Kouwenberg MA (pilgrim’s experience and landscape)

- N. Stoppelenburg (historische religiografie in Oudewater)

- G. ten Berge (pelgrimage met een missie naar Heilig Land)

- J. Mollenhorst (muziek in crematoria)

- J. Sandriman (ritual transfer, afscheidsritueel Java, Suriname, Nederland)

- al furqon mthi (Indonesian shrines between religion and tourism)

- M. Beumer (rituele dynamiek, historiografie en thematisering via tempelslaap)

Postdoc-projects:

- Dr. W.M. Speelman (liturgie en media, publ. 2004)

- Dr. E. Postma (positie kerkgebouw in actueel Europa, pilot project) (2008/2009)

Grants (2000ss.; not included: publication, conference, translation, travel grants):

- PhD position Van der Ven: Huwelijksliturgie, 3 jaar [PhD 2000]

- KNAW: project Disaster Ritual/Rituelen na rampen: 3 senior research positions [2000-2001]

- SOBU PhD project Kerkarchitectuur ir. S de Jonge, 4 jaar [with TUE, PhD 2002]

- finances for PhD project R. Bot (Geschiedenis Nederlandse kerkmuziek) [PhD 2003]

- idem PhD project Huwelijksliturgie (with WeWi KUB/UvT), 4 years, drs. T. Michels [PhD in 2004]

- various funding MA and PhD study C. Wepener from Stellenbosch [PhD 2004]

- KRO/RKK NRL/BCLMK: postdoc-project Liturgie en media, dr. W.M. Speelman [publ. 2004]

- idem PhD project drs. M. Hoondert, Om de parochie, 4 years [PhD 2006]

- NWO Holy Ground programme in setting of NWO programme ‘The Future of the Religious Past’, 2 PhD projects, 1 project of senior partners, with RUG (prof.dr. A.L. Molendijk) [2006-2009]

- SANPAD-projects: [2007ss]: 3 PhD projects in Bloemfontein (University of the Free State), 1 counter project DRT/UvT (with prof.dr. W. van Beek)

- postdoc pilot project on church buildings in current culture [2008/9]

- grant voor project ‘Voorbij het kerkgebouw’, Kenniscentrum Ritualiteit, L. Faro (2009-) (Steunfonds UvT)

- grant project PILNAR: Pilgrimage Narratives, CLARIN.nl, in samenwerking met Meertens Instituut en Nederlands Genootschap van Sint Jacob (2012-2013)

- grant research project Rituelen van herdenken en vieren van 4/5 mei (2016), Nationaal Comité 4 en 5 Mei, uitvoerder dr. L. Faro [stopped 2017]

- grant (with dr. M. Hoondert) research project Palliatieve zorg en rituelen in de eerste lijn, ZonMw (hoofdaanvrager: ErasmusMC) (2017-2018)

see PDF file: CV+Publications.Paul.Post.actueel