This paper will trace some tracks of a growing scepticism towards the still dominant paradigm of meaning and poiesis in humanities and social sciences. It starts with the largely forgotten study On the Sociology of Catholic Ideas of 1927, in which early on Gustav Gundlach expresses his dissatisfaction with concepts of action that overemphasize rationality and intellectuality and anticipates some current critique of sociological theories of action. As Gundlach is not the only author who is criticizing a volitive and actionistic understanding of action and is thereby referring to the catholic, this paper is asking for possible confessional preconditions of certain theories of action, in which a shift was made from intellectuality, reflexivity, and intentionality to practice, rituality, and corporeality. The works of Bruno Latour, Michel de Certeau, Victor Turner, and Mario Perniola will serve as examples.