Term
| How does Wallace define religion? |
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Definition
| a belief and ritual concerned with supernatural beings, power, and forces. |
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Term
| Limitations to Wallace's definition |
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Definition
Distinction between supernatural and natural is not always consistently made in society
Does not distinguish religion and spirituality or religion and cults
or religion and magic
Does not address issue of who gets to say what is “religious,” or “spiritual,” “magic,” or a “cult” |
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Term
| Other Definition's of Religion |
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Definition
1) Groups of people who gather regularly for worship (Reese)
2) Social gathering with collective effervescence (Durkheim) or communications (Turner)
Problem) None exclusive to religion |
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Term
| Tylor's Evolutionary View of Religion |
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Definition
Animism
Polytheism
Monotheism
Science |
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Definition
| Belief in sould or doubles, all animated with spirit, from attempts to explain dreams |
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Definition
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Definition
| Belief in single, all-powerful deity |
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Definition
| better explanations than religion; would cause religion to die out |
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Term
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Definition
Each descent group claims descent from an animal, plant, or geographical feature
Old Example) Australian Aborigines
Modern Example) Sport Mascots |
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Definition
Belief in immanent supernatural domain or life-force, pot. subject to human manipulation
Polynesia: in Hawaii, mana was associated with the person of the aristocracy; sever kapus (taboos) required commoners to prostrate selves, not touch chiefs / royalty
Melanesia: mana in the Trobrainds could be had by anyone; sacred impersonal force like Western concept of luck; less hierarchical than Polynesia |
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Term
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Definition
Supernatural techniques intended to accomplish specific aims (+/-)
Imitative Magic: Produce a desired effect by imitating it
Contagious Magic: whatever is done to an object is believed to affect a person who once had contract with it |
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Term
| Functions of Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion |
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Definition
Explain things, help accomplish utilitarian goals, &
Serve emotional and soteriological needs:
Ritualistic or magical behavior can help one feel in c control in risky situations, e.g., pitching, batting
Collective rituals help people work through emotional losses and support and comfort each other; e.g., funerals, memorials, burial services
Give meaningful answers to life’s ultimate questions |
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Term
| What does Evans-Pritchard’s example of the Azande granary incident illustrate? |
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Definition
| Evans-Pritchard, granary tower fell, killed person in Azande village; they said: witchcraft; E-P: termites; they: duh, but why that instant/person |
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Term
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Definition
- Formal, stylized, repetitive, and stereotyped behavior with social meaning
- Convey information about participants + culture |
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Term
| Examples of Complexity of Labeling Ritual Religious vs. Secular |
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Definition
Religious Ritual: liturgical order
- Praying to Allah in Islam
Secular Ritual: in non-religious context
- Run for the Wall pilgrimage of Vietnam veterans and other U.S. veterans |
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Term
| Rites of Passage and Their 3 Phases |
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Definition
Rites marking transitions between stages of life
Stages:
1) Separation: withdraws from group and begins moving from one place to another
2) Liminality: betwixt and between; left on place, not yet in another; communitas, social solidarity, temporary suspension / reversal of social distinctions
3) Incorporation: Participant(s) reenter(s) society with a new status having completed the rite |
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Term
| Cultural Example of Rites of Passage / 3 phases |
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Definition
| Maasai boys in age set separated, taught by eders, circumcised, reenter village as warriors |
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Term
| Difference Between Liminality and Normal Social Structure |
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Definition
(Study Page 291)
The exist apart from ordinary distinctions and expectations, living in a time out of time. They are cut off from normal social contacts. |
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Term
| Religion and Cultural Ecology (Sacred Cattle in Inida) |
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Definition
Interpretivist approach: Ahimsa,
Hindu doctrine of nonviolence forbids killing animals
Western economic development experts use as example of how religion can hinder development
But this is ethnocentric and decontextualized
Cultural materialist/Cultural ecology approach: cattle play important adaptive role in Indian ecosystem that evolved; Hindus use cattle for milk, transportation, traction, manure |
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Term
| Examples of Religion Being Used as a Form of Social Control |
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Definition
Many religions:
• Have code of ethics - prohibit/promote certain behaviors
• Set norms of what is good/normal versus bad/abnormal
• Stress fleeting nature of this life – e.g., Buddhism
• Put sanctions on deviance– e.g.,Salemwitch hunt |
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Term
| Examples of Religion Being Used as a Form of Social Control (2) |
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Definition
Sometimes used by governments for legitimacy + control
E.g., US pledge of allegiance – “one nation under God” despite official separation of Church and State
E.g., Cooptation of Islam by Taliban in Afghanistan |
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Term
| Wallace's 4 Types of Religion |
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Definition
1) Monotheistic
2) Olympian
3) Communal
4) Shamanic |
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Term
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Definition
Priests, ministers
Supreme being
--Chukchee in Siberia
States |
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Definition
Priesthood
Hierarchical pantheon with powerful deities
Chiefdoms and archaic states
--Maasai in K & T, but some foragers like Australian aborigines |
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Definition
Part-time specialists; occasional community-sponsored events, including rites of passage
Several deities with some control over nature
Food-producing tribes
--archaic states and chiefdoms, classic Greece and Rome, Aztecs |
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Term
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Definition
Shaman = part-time
Zoomorphic Practitioner
Foraging Band
--Christianity in U.S. |
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Term
| Protestantism and the Rise of Capitalism |
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Definition
Capitalism required traditional attitudes of Catholic peasants be replaced by values fitting industrial economy
Weber linked spread of capitalism to values of Protestantism
-Independent
-Entrepreneurial
-Hard working
-Future-oriented
-Free thinking |
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Term
| World 5 Largest Religions Today Measured by Percentage |
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Definition
1) Christianity
2) Islam
3) Hinduism
4) Chinese Traditional
5) Buddhism |
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Term
| Percent of Total Population that Claim to be Non-Religious |
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Definition
| 16% - More than a Billion People |
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Term
| Role of Religion in Social Change |
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Definition
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