In Memoriam: Catherine Bell (1953 - 2008)

The notice below is posted on Santa Clara University's website (http://cms.scu.edu/cas/religiousstudies/catherinebell.cfm):

Catherine M. Bell, Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies at Santa Clara University, an internationally renowned expert on ritual and Chinese religions, died on May 23, 2008, after a long illness. She was 55.

Professor Bell joined the Santa Clara faculty in 1985, and was named the Bernard Hanley Professor of Religious Studies in 1998. After serving as Chair of the Religious Studies Department from 2000 through 2005, she retired last year due to the burdens of illness.

A native of New York, Professor Bell was a 1975 graduate of Manhattanville College. After taking her Ph.D. at University of Chicago under Joseph Kitagawa, she taught in Japan and then took a post-doctoral fellowship for Chinese language study in Taiwan. She was also awarded fellowships from the Mellon Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the National Endowment for the Humanities, where she served as a Fellow of the Center for Chinese Studies at University of California, Berkeley, and an Honorary Fellow of the Chinese Popular Culture Project at Berkeley. This activity led to Professor Bell's 1992 major work, _Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice_, which changed the framework for understanding the nature and function of ritual within religious and ethnographic structures. The book, which has become a classic in the field, won the 1994 American Academy of Religion Book Award in the History of Religions.

A legendary teacher and mentor of students, Professor Bell regularly taught introductory courses in the Religious Studies Department, as well as an array of courses on Asian religions (Buddhism, Hinduism, and Chinese and Japanese religions). Her seminar, "Magic, Science & Religion: The History of the Social Study of Religion," was much sought after among serious students. Many of Professor Bell's students, who benefitted from her careful and encouraging mentorship, have pursued academic careers in religious studies. Professor Bell was widely known and respected in the profession. At various times she had served on the editorial boards of major academic journals: Religion, Journal of Ritual Studies, Journal of Chinese Religions, and Journal of the American Academy of Religion.

She was Editor of History of Religions, published by the University of Chicago Divinity School. In 2005 she was named Alumna of the Year by the University of Chicago Divinity School.

In addition to Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice, Professor Bell authored another book, Ritual: Dimensions and Perspectives, and edited Teaching Ritual for the American Academy of Religion series on teaching religion.

She was the author of several articles, some of which ventured from ritual studies into liturgical theory and practice, for which she was recognized by the North American Academy of Liturgy. In 2007 she was awarded another NEH fellowship for her final, unfinished project,
"Believing: Assuming Universality, Describing Particularity in the Study of Religion."

At Santa Clara, Professor Bell was instrumental in the design and implementation of the faculty governance system that has distinguished the University for its degree of faculty participation in institutional governance. Her work on curricular innovation, which included a redesign of the structure of the Religious Studies department, was acknowledged in 1996 with the Brutocao Award for Excellence in Curriculum Innovation. In 1998 she received the College of Arts and Sciences Beyma Research Award, and in 2001, the President's Award for distinction.

Professor Bell is survived by her husband, Steven Gelber, Professor of History at Santa Clara, by her mother Blanche Coogan, and her siblings, James Bell, Linda Whalen, Daniel Bell, and Edward Bell. Memorials may be made to one of the following: National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Northern California Chapter, 150 Grand Avenue, Oakland, CA 94612; National Breast Cancer Coalition, 1101 17th Street, NW, Suite 1300, Washington, DC 20036; or the Catherine Bell Award Fund, Department of Religious Studies, Santa Clara University, 500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA 95053.
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Her Works:

Ritual theory, ritual practice (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992)
ISBN 0195069234 (alk. paper); 0195076133 (pbk. : alk. paper)

Ritual : perspectives and dimensions (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997)
ISBN 019511051X (cloth : alk. paper); 0195110528 (pbk.)

Teaching ritual, (editor). (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2007)
[Series AAR teaching religious studies series]
ISBN 9780195176452 (cloth : alk. paper); 0195176456 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-13 9780195176469 (pbk. : alk. paper) 0195176464 (pbk. : alk. paper)