From 1974–2008 Ron Grimes was Professor of Religion and Culture at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, where he taught courses on religion and the performing arts, field research in the study of religion, and ritual studies. He was Professor of Ritual Studies at Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands from 2005-2010. He has held visiting professorships at the University of Colorado, the University of Pittsburgh, and Notre Dame University.
Grimes co-edits the Oxford Ritual Studies Series for Oxford University Press and is one of the editors of the volume, Ritual, Media, and Conflict. He is the author of several books on ritual, most recently, Rite Out of Place: Ritual, Media, and the Arts (Oxford University Press). Among his other works are Deeply into the Bone: Re-Inventing Rites of Passage (University of California Press), Readings in Ritual Studies (Prentice Hall), Reading, Writing, and Ritualizing (Pastoral Press), Marrying & Burying (Westview) Ritual Criticism, and Beginnings in Ritual Studies (both by University of South Carolina Press). Currently, he writing Querying Ritual: A Theory, Method, and Case Study for Oxford University Press.
With colleagues Grimes initiated the Ritual Studies Group of the American Academy of Religion and founded the Journal of Ritual Studies. He has been a consultant on ritual and performance for organizations such as the Sundance Institute, the Cranbrook Institute of Science, and the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance. In addition, he has worked on several documentary film series, including Ocean Entertainment’s Reinventing Ritual and Sleeping Giant's Death: A Personal View.