The Christian Meaning of Rituals as Discipline (Cross reference to WEDDING)

From Talal Asad’s “Genealogies of Religion: Discipline and Reason of Power in Christianity and Islam”, 1993, Baltimore MD: Johns Hopkins (p.78)

[T]he idea of the sacraments as metaphorical representations inhabits an entirely different world from the one that gives sense to Hugh of St.Victor’s theology: “Sacraments,” he stated, “are known to have been instituted for three reasons: on account of humiliation, on account of instruction, on account of exercise.” according to the latter conception, the sacraments are not the representation of cultural metaphors; they are parts of a Christian program for creating in its performers, by means of regulated practice, “the mental and moral dispositions” appropriate to Christians.