Define

Religious Studies

Define Theology

Define Exegesis

Define Eisegesis

 What can be read into the text

(interpretation)

Clifford Geertz's Hypothesis

Religion helps answer...

 Who am I

Where am I

What is the purpose of life and what , if anything, am I to do about it

What do ethnographies provide?

 1. records of religious rituals

2. explanations of how religious knowledge is transmitted over the generations

3. an understanding of religion-as-it-is-lived through the methologu of participants

4. comparisons of relgious knowledge as evidenced through interviews with key informants (native ethnologists) and "lay persons"

5. videos upon which key informants can offer commentaries

What are Scupin's Analytical Categories of Religious Expression?

(7)

 1. material

2. values

3. beliefs

4. theodicity

5.Cosmologists

6. Norms

7. Mores

Define Scupin's Material

Define Scupin's Values

Define Scupin's Beliefs

Define Scupin's Theodicy

Define Scupin's Norms

Define Scupin's Mores

 are much stronger norms than folkways. They are norms that are seen as crucial for the maintenance of a decent and orderly way of life. People who violate mores are to be punished severly

ex. The 10 commandents

What are the Sources of Human Experience?

Private Apprehended Reality (dreams, premonitions, out of mody expierences

Shared Apprehended Reality (shared visions or apparations, ghosts)

Natural Environment (physical input from the 5 senses, cycles of nature, natural events)

Social Life (gender differences, marriage, celebrations, explanations of loss etc, culinary and healing practices)

Clifford Geertz's Definition of Religion?

 a system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, pervasive and long lasting moods and motivations in which men [and women] formulating conceptions of general order of existence and clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factulity that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic

avoids use of the word supernatural

150-100 years ago.. anthropologists saw religious beliefs as ___.

Characteristics of the age of enlightenment

(3)

 reason and rationality

unilineal evolution

supported concepts of european superiority

animism

who?

what? 

critique?

 Edward Burnett Tylor

a system of belief that assumes all living things are created by a spiritual force and have souls themselves

depnds primarily on a form of primordial stupidity ~ on a brain incapable of distinguishing between sleeping and waking reality

unilineal evolution

 Edward Burnett Tylor

Animism

Polytheism

Monotheism

Frazers Unilional evolution of religion

 Magic

Religion

Agnosticism

Classification of magical practices

who

what (2)

critique

 Sir James Frazer

1. imitative or homepthatic magic (like creates like - ex. rain sticks = sound of rain = rain)

2. contagious or sympathetic magic (an onkect once in contact with a person can serve as a psychic link)

*can also be combined as a poppet

critique: magical practices and belief ina nd worship of god(s) is still very much part of the human experience and expression

 Major Critisms of Early Theorists?

(5)

 1. armchair theories (no solid evidence)

2. Flaw by assumption of unilineal evolution

3. Reduced relgios expierence to purely psychological and social

4. Acceptance of European Superiority

5. Most imply that religion is pathological

Neurophysiology

assumption

question

"anomalous" expierences are associated with the temporal lobe region of the brain 

            The assumption:  “thin boundaries” between the hemispheres creates

           awareness of spiritual entities.

            Question:  Is the brain a transmitter or a receiver?  If a receiver, as in

           experiments based on electrode stimulus, what triggers it in everyday life? 

Venus Figurines

The Sanctuary

• Trois-Frères, in France
• are suggestive of ritual attempts at influencing the fertility of the game animals or success in the hunt ~ or possibly both
• Were the people of the European Paleolithic painted caves trying to influence the natural world in their art? 

Survival Responces

                        Sympathetic NS                  Parasympathetic  NS

                  Flight                           or                         Rest          

                                                                                     and Digest

                  or                                                      or

                         Fight                                             Freeze

                              (Adrenaline)                                 (Norepinephrine)

Australian Ritual?

Australian Bone Pointing Ritual

same process appears to be operative in PTSD

1  a personal magic of leadership arousing special popular loyalty or enthusiasm for a public figure (as a political leader)

2  a special magnetic charm or appeal.

They want to transform, not merely maintain.

That is why all religious traditions in their founding are said to be liberation movements.

an aura of heightened value, interest, or meaning surrounding something, arising from attitudes and beliefs that impute special power or mystery to it. A quality not entirely understood. A puzzle.

salvation

 release from:

Loneliness

Feelings of worthlessness

Alienation

Oppression

Estrangement

Emptiness

Meaninglessness

Samson Itoje

contemporary corporations look for “charismatic leadersleadership is like fatherhood.” in other words, it is paternalistic.

Visions which offer release into a better world or state

any altered state of consciousness indigenously interpreted in terms of the influence of an unseen force or entity.

Institutionalized Possession:

a common and intentional means of communicating with forces that transcend the mundane world.

the oracle was done for the purpose of divining the future

in trance, may predict the future, battle with harmful spirits, or retrieve the soul of a person who is ill.

• sub-Saharan Africa through the Middle East and into Southern Iran.    
• first developed among black female slaves in Ethiopia
• the group dance thing that women get in church

article (5) the Production of Possession

the female factory workers who are 'possessed' to relieve tention in the work place

'Amok' - extreme cases

Pre World War II:  Funerals were to honour the ancestors of large extended families.

Post World War II: Funerals are for the living.  Funerals now “celebrate individual achievement and memory.”

James McClenon

idea for anth

idea for folklore 

For Anthropology, he suggests using questionnaires to determine who would benefit from hypnosis in healing.

For Folklore, he suggests cross-culture consistency suggests a physiological basis.  This denies emic explanations.

all ancient medical systems had religious basis.

Good Muslim Bad Muslim (article)

a dominant political power enables and enlists a weaker friendly “vassal” or “client” state to assist it in an imperial war; an that eventually that friendly state becomes an enemy.

Black Hills 

The Lakota look at the Black Hills (Dakotas) as having spiritual power (all plains tribes do)

1852 Black Hills treaty - no settlers should enter the sacred area

gold was found there so the treaty was disregarded

David Swallow: land was lost, but more importantly, a way of life

mountain was sacred to the Lakatoa

In a symbolic re-appropriation of their land, Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear commissioned the sculpting of Crazy Horse.

Pharaohs claimed divinity in their own right to legitimize their control over the people, the water, and the distribution of the harvest. This became the Human Mega-machine.

the Water Temples assumed responsibility for managing the irrigation system.Hobart countered that in his study the local rituals 

So water temples are also protective in function.

Spreading out from the central temple is a system of smaller local temples.

The rituals do represent the cycle of rice cultivation.  

Marvin Harris 

developed the theory of cultural materialism “based on the simple premise that human social life is a response to the practical problems of earthly existence.”

Without cow dung for fuel, India would soon be stripped of its remaining forests.

Cow dung is also the most important source of fertilizer.

A mixture of 75% dung and 25% ash is used for building bricks.

Oxen and Water Buffalo are also Draught Animals.

Sacred Terrain in Anloga Ghana

The Ewes of Ghana [ey-wey]gather in Anloga to celebrate the Hogbetsotso in November of every year.  This festival is to commemorate their exodus from the walled-city of Notsie in present Togo, West Africa.

Sacred rights trump civil laws.

a tax was introduced

The conflict erupted in full in 1953 when it was announced that only the children of parents who brought proof of tax payment would be allowed to go to school.

The people of Anloga responded to the drums to close all the schools in protest.

People were killed in the following riots, while those kidnapped were taken to the grove.  When the government destroyed the grove, burning and looting erupted.

Syncretism

refers to a reconciliation or fusion of differing systems of belief, usually in the context of occupation of a group by a colonizing agent.

Tribal Religion in India

The Bhil were originally forest dweller known for their hunting skills and their prowess as warriors.

4,000,000

divided into a number of endogamous territorial divisions, which in turn have a number of clans and lineages.

is marriage within one's own tribe or group as required by custom or law.

is a descent group whose members trace their genealogical links to a common ancestor.

are descent groups whose members claim descent from a common ancestor without knowing the genealogical links to that ancestor

is a belief that people are related to particular animals, plants, or natural objects by virtue of descent from common ancestral spirits.  

examples of a goddess who was formed when needed

one should invoke Kali in only the most dire situations, when all other hope of achieving justice has been lost.

hindu lord of creation

and goddess of Ultimate knowledge

together they bring souls into the cycle of life

lord of maintenance and the goddess of wealth

together they sustain souls in the cycle of life

lord of destructions and the goddess of disintegration

they take back the primeval engery of the creator upon the physical death of souls

bestows power and fertility, and removes obstacles.  He is one of the deities best-known and most widely worshipped in the Hindu pantheon.

shares a common motif with other creator gods who bring the universe into existence, and then withdraw, leaving it in the care of lesser gods. 

Sitla Mata

deities

Protectress of villages, averts disasters.

deity

patrof of robers (manifests as chickenpox)

deity

brings sickness to humans and cattle

deity

the god responsible for human fertility ad worshipped by barren women

deity

god of wonders and travel

deity

most popular and least harmful, associated with the dead

“Salvation” within Hinduism 

is union with the ultimate. 

Religious specialists 

    (i)   a theory of the etiology (causation) of disease;

   (ii)   a method of diagnosis on the etiological   system; and

   (iii)  the prescription of appropriate treatment based on the diagnosis.

Munsami’s death 

attributed by Fijians and Indians to his attempt at moving a sacred rock.

girls start acting weird = thought to be possessed: most healed by hindu prayer, one who was treated only by western medicine did not recover

The Mexican Sun “God”  ≅  The Christian Lord of Light

named Tonatiuh

(both good and evil)

this is syncretism

result from a process in which two belief systems merge to form one that is different from either of the original systems or in which a new belief system overlies an older one that has not disappeared. 

Sufism is a mystical form of Islam focused on ecstatic experiences that grant their practitioners direction experience of God

is the most commonly recognized image associated with the Sufi.

It is through the dance that they enter a “trance” or “ecstatic” state.

• is deemed to be the “oldest” (“original”?) religious specialistis the
• acquire their spiritual power by virtue of their spiritual calling,            and serve as “conduits” of spiritual power between the physical and spiritual realms. 
• ability to journey into the spirit realm for the purpose of seeking help from the spirit world to resolve human problems.  The shaman may work on behalf of a single individual or an entire community.

Theories about the origins of shamanism

(3)

1. The upper Paleolithic Origin: 

• based on certain horned or masked male figures found painted on the walls of caves of Western Europe

acquire their spiritual authority by virtue of learning

acquire their spiritual authority by virtue of their demonstrated ability to serve as conduits of information been the physical and spiritual realms.

founded on their charisma 

late 1800 revitalization movement led by Paiute Prophet Wovoka

belief that the battle would have the Creator open the ground, swallow up the white people and return the ancestors and buffalo

wore shirts that they thought would protect them from bullets: over 100 killed

• expected to focus on economic as well as physical health.
• In the Paleolithic, the shaman was responsible in the first place for locating the herd
• the actual function of the shaman has changed little in Korea.
• In short, shamanic performances both support and resist globalization.   

Three different ways of understanding prophecy:

    1.  Responses to radical social change (as with Wovoka);

    2.   After-the-fact explanations of events (as with current use of Nostradamus);

    3.   A regular part of aboriginal life (as with the Athapaskan people of the Yukon).

is an integral part of making sense of the world, including giving meaning to events that are disruptive to the social and economic life of a group.

• The Yoruba number approximately 3,000,000, mostly in West Africa.    
• The relationship between male and female power is symbolized in the calabash. (the interdependence of males and females - the king needs the priestess to recharge)

   

• ceremony promtes fertility and surpresses witchcraft

behavior that is formal, stylized, repetitive, and stereotyped, performed earnestly as a social act; rituals are held at set times and places and have liturgical orders

the etic definition

• is a satire on body rituals in America
• “Nacirema” is used as a cautionary tale within the discipline to remind anthropologists how easily the beliefs, customs, and rituals of others can be exoticized

What does Praxis comprise of?

(4)

self-determination (as opposed to coercion),

intentionality (as opposed to reaction),

creativity (as opposed to homogeneity), and

rationality (as opposed to chance). 

are rituals that mark a transition from one social status to another, especially prominent upon the birth, marriage, and death of individuals within a society.  

Approximately every four years an “age set,” including boys from 10-14 are taken into the bush for a several day rite of passage.

                 1.  The domain of the nature spirits and lesser gods;

            2. The domain of the ancestral spirits;           

            3. The domain of living human beings.

• Northern Nigeria
• It is also punctuated by gboune, a form of humorous behaviour not a part of western funerals. 

refers to the behavioral norms and social distinctions of everyday "official" life.

with its "equality" represented by the oneness of the state of communitas refers to an absence of social distinctions and to behavioral norms that stand outside of everyday official life. 

ex. Robin Hood 

Within the three phases of ritual, ant-structure is associated with the intermediate phase.

            1.Separation ~ the process out of one’s normal state within the social structure.

           2.Liminal Phase ~ within which a state of communitas is achieved and a transformation takes place. 

            3. Reintegration is the process through which one, once transformed by the

              ritual, returns to his or her society.

are performed for the welfare of a group of society, including those performed in a time of crisis in response to a group's real or perceived crisis.

They are designed to emphasize the common interests of disparate groups; and as such they serve either to hold the fabric of society together or repair it when it is damaged.

offers examples of rites of intensification and the use of amulets or talismans to bring good fortune in high-stress situations where the outcome is uncertain and the stakes are high.

in which social values and customs are literally reversed. (Anti-structure)

Some scholars have characterized these rights as safety valves designed to allow people to “let off steam” in a controlled manner.

is the middle phase in our three-part model of the ritual process.

It is the peak of the ritual. 

During this phase participants are farthest from their normal states of awareness or normal social roles, and so it is in this phase that we see the most extreme forms of experience or behaviour. 

is an effect that can occur during the liminal phase of a ritual.

Evidence from mummies have shown both Type I and Type III FGC present

has no basis in core Islamic law

”Female Circumcision is tied to identity (womanhood), and in the case of Chad, 

Given that failure to circumcise is understood to leave a female a perpetual child, there is considerable social pressure to comply.

The tropane alkaloid Atropine, derived from “Deadly Nightshade,” “Jimson Weed,” and “Mandrake Root, is hallucinogenic.

now used in anesthetics to render a patient unconsciousness during surgery.

 natural form is a harmless and mild stimulant that suppresses hunger, thirst, pain, and fatigue. It also helps overcome altitude sickness.

Use of Datura among the Chumash

high doses for one purpose (dream helper -especially during rituals) and low for another (ease pain, to heal and devine the future)

One theory as to the source or the imagery in San Rock Art postulates that is phosphenes involved in an entoptic phenomenon characterized by the experience of seeing light without light actually entering the eye. 

They are said to be maps of the dreamtime-long-ago, as well as records of shamanic journeys.

flashes of light, induced by mechanical, electrical, or magnetic stimulation of the retina, rhythmic dancing, music, sensory deprivation, and by hallucinogenic drugs.

“Popof” is a French D.J/composer/arranger/rave “techno shaman.”

unlike the experiences of the shaman that involve an outward journey into the world of spirit, the Holy Ghost encounter involves a pouring of spirit into the individual.

receiving the Holy Spirit is assurance of one’s salvation.