Understanding Ritual Hand Gestures of the Ancient World: Some Basic Tools

Abstract: The ritual use of hand gestures in covenant-making in ancient times is a topic of peculiar interest to Latter-day Saints. In this article, David Calabro summarizes results drawn from his doctoral research, providing readers with some tools to evaluate ancient gestures. The questions he suggests are novel, as is the way they are couched in an organized scheme. The author concludes that Latter -day Saints, who belong to a tradition saturated with ritual gestures, should be among those most educated about them.