Download Chapter Four

Chapter 10
 Religion: Interacting with the Non-Human World
1
© David Eller 2009
Religion has received much anthropological attention, but the
anthropological study of religion has also been difficult and
controversial
 often focused on the strange and exotic aspects of religion
 often felt the need to distance itself from strange exotic religions
 often used the language of one religion (Christianity) to understand
and judge others
2
© David Eller 2009
Religion is part of the cultural ontology of societies
 what kinds of beings or entities—non-human and super-human—
exist
 what are their qualities or powers
 what is the correct human relationship with and behavior toward
them
Geertz called religion the realm of the “really real”
3
© David Eller 2009
Studying religion anthropologically means
 describing the full range of religions cross-culturally
 relating each religion holistically to its wider social context
 understanding each religion in its own terms: not judging other
religions by the standards of one’s own, not treating religions as
“true” or “false,” not applying the concepts and categories of one
religion to another
4
© David Eller 2009
One of the key problems in studying religion anthropologically is
developing a cross-cultural analytical language
 not all religions have terms or concepts like “god” or “sin” or “soul”
or “heaven,” etc.
 when they do have such terms, the local meaning may be quite
different (e.g. the Greek gods did not have the same qualities as the
Christian god)
5
© David Eller 2009
Each religion has its own set of terms and concepts, which the
anthropologist must learn, understand, and use in describing it
 Hinduism: karma, dharma, samsara, moksha
 Warlpiri: jukurrpa, kuruwarri, pirlirrpa
 Scientology: clear, engram, E-meter, thetan, isness
6
© David Eller 2009
There are many definitions of religion, inside and outside
anthropology. Each definition to emphasize one aspect of religion
 E.B. Tylor’s minimal definition of religion: “belief in spiritual
beings”—essentially cognitive, an attempt to understand uncanny
experiences like dreams and visions
7
© David Eller 2009
 Emile Durkheim defined religion in terms of sacred vs. profane and
the establishment of a religious community:
“a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that
is to say, things set aside and forbidden—beliefs and practices which
unite into one single moral community called a Church, all those
who adhere to them”
8
© David Eller 2009
 Clifford Geertz defined religion in term of symbols that motivate
and guide us:
“a system of symbols which act to establish powerful, pervasive, and
long-lasting moods and motivations in men by formulating
conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing these
conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and
motivations seem uniquely realistic”
9
© David Eller 2009
An emerging view regards religion as not a single unified
phenomenon at all but as a composite of different bits or modules
 Anthony Wallace: 13 behavioral elements or building blocks
 Scott Atran and Pascal Boyer: basic psychological and social
capabilities and habits, especially the attribution of agency or
mind/will/intelligence to non-humans
10
© David Eller 2009
Anthropologically, religion is the parts of culture that involve ideas,
and the associated actions and objects and institutions, about nonhuman and often “super”-human being(s) and/or force(s) that enter
into “social” relationships with humans
Robin Horton: “In short, Religion can be looked upon as an extension
of the field of people’s social relationships beyond the confines of
purely human society”
11
© David Eller 2009
Anthropology is less interested in the truth or falseness of religion than
in its diversity, its social construction, and its social function
Religions can perform many functions, including fulfilling individual
needs (Malinowski) and social needs (Radcliffe-Brown)
12
© David Eller 2009
The main functions of religion can be condensed to three:
1. Explanation
of origins (including the universe, human life, and society)
of specific phenomena or events
2. Control
of humans
of nature
of non-human/super-human agents
13
© David Eller 2009
3.
Legitimation
of natural conditions (like pain in childbirth)
of social relations and institutions (like kingship, class system, or
heterosexual marriage
Not why these facts exist, but why they should exist, why they are good
and right and justified and legitimate
The authority of natural and social facts comes from their superhuman author
14
© David Eller 2009
Types of Religious Systems
In the next few slides, the author of your textbook, David Eller, makes the
case that few, if any, religious systems are ‘purely’ one type or another, that
most religious systems combine various components or building block.
However, many Anthropologists, myself included, find that while many
supernatural systems combine various elements, they tend to be
predominantly of one type or another.
So, a familiarity with the broad types of supernatural systems is necessary
in order to understand how a given system may differ from an ‘ideal’ type.
Dr. Freeman
Types of Religious Systems
 Animism-souls or spirits (Dani)
 Animatism-impersonal spiritual force that infuses the universe
(mana, “the force”-Tahiti)
 Theism-belief in named beings that create or control
 Monotheism-belief in a singular god (Islam, Judaism, Christianity)
 Polytheism-belief in many gods (Hinduism, Greek & Roman)
 Atheism-belief in powers not in beings (Naturalists)
 Agnosticism-supernatural exists but in what form?
The Elements of Religion
Rather than “types” of religions, there are recurring elements or
building blocks or modules of religion
The elements or modules can occur in any combination and
orientation, defying simple typologies of religion (like animism vs.
theism)
17
© David Eller 2009
Religious Entities/Agents
All religions make reference to (“belief in”) one or more kind of
religious or “spiritual” entity

beings: “personal” entities, with personality or will or mind

forces: “impersonal” entities, lacking personality or will or mind
(1)
In some cases, forces do have some personal qualities, and beings are
not always fully realized persons
18
© David Eller 2009
Beings
 “souls” of living human
 spirits of dead ancestor
 spirits of natural being/object/phenomenon (animal, plant, lake,
hill, sun, moon, wind, rain, death)
sometimes called “animism”
 various monsters, ogres, and demons
 god(s)
sometimes called “theism”
19
© David Eller 2009
Forces
 mana (in Polynesian cultures)
 chi (in Chinese culture)
 n/um (in Ju/hoansi culture)
 diyi (in Apache culture)
 karma (in Hindu culture)
 arguably, concepts like luck, fate, or destiny
sometimes called “animatism”
20
© David Eller 2009
It is incorrect to think of animism or theism or animatism as distinct
“kinds” of religion
Any particular religion may have any combination of ancestor spirits,
nature spirits, gods, impersonal forces, and other nonhuman/super-human beings at the same time—with various
powers in various relationships
Humans may become ancestors or gods or other beings, and vice
versa
21
© David Eller 2009
(2) Human Specialists
Religion is ideas or knowledge, but it is also power
Some humans have more knowledge of or power over religious
subjects and beings/forces than others
Given religious explanations and control of various phenomena,
human specialists may have various religious tasks to perform
22
© David Eller 2009
Common religious tasks include:
 diagnosis and healing of disease
 performance of religious rituals
 leadership in religious or other matters
 teaching and instruction
 discerning or interpreting the will of non-human/super-human
agents
 helping other people or harming other people
23
© David Eller 2009
There are not rigid types of specialists based on absolute distinctions of
function:
 a religion may divide a task across two or more specialists (e.g. one
to diagnose illness, one to cure illness—even different specialists to
cure different illnesses)
 a religion may combine two or more tasks in one specialist (e.g. one
specialist may be both curer and ritual leader)
24
© David Eller 2009
Anthropology conventionally distinguishes between several main kinds
of specialists:
 shaman
 priest
 sorcerer
 witch
 diviner/oracle
 prophet
25
© David Eller 2009
Witchcraft vs. Sorcery
Your textbook does not draw as strong a distinction between the
categories of ‘witch’ and ‘sorcerer’ as I would like. There is usually
some confusion between the two, and I want to spell out a much
more clear distinction.
 As Anthropologists generally understand it, there is a difference
between ‘witches’ who are:
 Born as witches (that is, they are born with their power);
 Inherently malevolent (that is they always bring harm to their victims
or community);
 And who may not even realize they are witches.
Understood in that way, no society is ever comfortable with the idea
that a witch lives among them.
Witchcraft vs. Sorcery
There are many Wiccans and Neopagans who practice a form of
naturalistic religion (or magic) that is designed to use existing
natural powers to influence the lives of the members of the group in
positive ways. In Anthropological terms, they would be classified as
sorcerers, not witches (even though they use the term witch and
witchcraft to refer to themselves and their practices).
Witchcraft vs. Sorcery
In contrast, a sorcerer (who can be either a male or female) is an
individual who chooses (or is ‘called’ in some way) to become a sorcerer.
The sorcerer learns to use his or her power (typically different forms of
magic), usually from a powerful mentor.
A sorcerer is a valuable member of a community, because a sorcerer is
often the first person a group turns to when they have need of powerful
magic (healing, protection from harmful magic, etc.).
However, a sorcerer can be an ambiguous figure precisely because, while
they know powerful beneficial magic, they may also know powerful
malevolent magic, so they may also be capable of working against the
members of the community.
(3) Religious Symbols and Objects
Human and non-human/super-human agents operate with and through
a number of immaterial (like words) and material media
 sacred places and spaces
 buildings (churches, mosques, stupas, etc.)
 images and icons
 clothing, costumes, masks, etc.
 altars
 bells, candles, books, crosses, stones, prayer wheels, and so on
29
© David Eller 2009
Many religious objects are symbols—storehouses of meaning
However, members of religions do not always regard their objects as
symbolic
Dan Sperber asked the question, Why do we call something symbolic?
Answer: because we cannot see the practical reason for it…even
because we think it is “literally” false
30
© David Eller 2009
The historian of religion Mircea Eliade recognized that, for members,
some objects are not symbols but hierophanies—actual
appearances of, eruptions of, breakthroughs of the sacred dimension
into the material dimension
 for Warlpiri, a jukurrpa tree or churinga board is not a symbol but a
manifestation of spirits
 for traditional Catholics, the communion wafer is not a symbol of
Jesus but the actual presence and body of Jesus
31
© David Eller 2009
(4) Religious Behavior: Ritual
Religious ritual is a special case of ritual behavior in general
 formalized and routinized
 associated with particular occasions and relationships
 communicative but also effective—has some goal and/or seeks some
response
32
© David Eller 2009
According to Skorupski, ritual behavior is an instance of “interaction
code” behavior
 behavior designed to establish, maintain, and terminate a social
interaction
 especially prevalent when the status differences between
participants is great, when the stakes of interaction are high, and
when the communication and response is uncertain
33
© David Eller 2009
Religious behavior is especially ritualized because
 the status differences between humans and non-humans/superhumans is especially great
 the stakes in religious communication are especially high
 the problems of communicative uncertainty are especially large (is
the other party there? hearing? understanding? responding?)
34
© David Eller 2009
Types of religious rituals (Wallace 1966):
 Technical rituals—to achieve certain specific ends
 Therapeutic or anti-therapeutic rituals—to cure or cause illness and
misfortune
 Ideological rituals—to express or achieve social goals
 Salvation rituals—to work changes in individuals, particularly at
moments of personal crisis
 Revitalization rituals—to improve society
35
© David Eller 2009
According to Victor Turner, most rituals are intended to effect changes
in the participants or the objects of ritual
The “ritual process” is essentially a change or “passage” from one status
to another
 child to adult
 single to married
 sick to well
 alive to dead
36
© David Eller 2009
Rites of passage begin with individuals in a particular status
 individual is removed from the status (often a symbolic death)
 individual enters a “liminal” state with ambiguous status or no
status
often indicated by silence, nakedness, ordeals and painful
operations, or absence of social distinctions
 individual is re-introduced to society in a new status
37
© David Eller 2009
(5) Religious Language: Myth
Myth is a narrative of the actions and events concerning nonhuman/super-human actors, or early humans or culture heroes
Myth is “sacred history”
Myth is often thought to explain things, like origins
38
© David Eller 2009
But Malinowski challenged the notion that myths are explanatory, or
even symbolic:
“Studied alive, myth…is not symbolic, but a direct expression of its subject
matter; it is not an explanation in satisfaction of a scientific interest, but a
narrative resurrection of a primeval reality, told in satisfaction of deep
religious wants, moral cravings, social submissions, assertions, even
practical requirements. Myth fulfills in primitive culture an indispensable
function; it expresses, enhances, and codifies belief; it safeguards and
enforces morality; it vouches for the efficiency of ritual and contains
practical rules for the guidance of man. Myth is thus a vital ingredient of
human civilization; it is not an idle tale, but a hard-worked active force; it
is not an intellectual explanation or an artistic imagery, but a pragmatic
charter of primitive faith and moral wisdom.”
39
© David Eller 2009
As a charter, myth makes social relations and institutions seem real
(even “really real,” as Geertz said)—myth becomes a model or
paradigm or constitution for how we should live
Anthropologists notice that, when social relations and institutions
change, the underlying myths often change to “explain” and justify
the new arrangements
40
© David Eller 2009
Myth is not the only form of religious language, and religions do not
necessarily “tell” myths like they tell stories
 myth may be chanted or sung or acted out
 other forms of religious language include prayer, spells, or special
ritual words or phrases or entire languages (like Latin for traditional
Christianity)
 religions may also use secrecy or silence for ritual effect
41
© David Eller 2009
The ideas or “meaning” or “content” of myth and other religious
speech are not the only important aspects. Religious language is
also performed:
 particular speakers and/or audiences
 rules for particular time of day or of year
 unique performance qualities like special vocabularies, voice
qualities, metaphor, repetition, rhyme, rhythm, and standard
openings or endings
 may require costume, movement, and dance
42
© David Eller 2009
R. R. Marett said that religion is not so much thought out as danced
out
Irving Goldman (2004) was discussing a mourning song with a Cubeo
shaman “when the traditional dance leader rose from his chair to
dance a few steps while illustrating [the] song. He turned to me and
said, ‘It cannot be done this way. I cannot sing without dancing.’ Then
after a long pause he said, ‘I cannot dance without wearing the
mask’”
43
© David Eller 2009
Supplementary Slides
Characterized by the Supernatural
 Types
 Anthropomorphic-human form (Christian God)
 Zoomorphic-animal form (Grandmother Spider)
 Naturalistic-features of the natural world (Sprites)
 Anthropopsychic-personality similar to humans
Types of supernatural systems
 Animism-souls or spirits (Dani)
 Animatism-impersonal spiritual force that infuses the universe
(mana, “the force”-Tahiti)
 Theism-belief in named beings that create or control
 Monotheism-belief in a singular god (Islam, Judaism, Christianity)
 Polytheism-belief in many gods (Hinduism, Greek & Roman)
 Atheism-belief in powers not in beings (Naturalists)
 Agnosticism-supernatural exists but in what form?
Characterized by Ritual
 Rites of Passage-rites of public ceremony or ritual
recognizing and marking a person’s transition from one
group or status to another
 Separation
 -removed from status
 Liminality
 In between, ritually dangerous
 Reincorporation
 Returned with new status
 Death, Marriage, Graduation
Characterized by Ritual
 Magic-produce a mechanical effect by supernatural means
 Malinowski & Trobriand Islanders-fishing
 Gmelch-Baseball Magic
Witchcraft
 Witchcraft Practitioners
 Wiccans & neo-pagans
 Witchcraft accusations
 Keeping social control
 Salem late 1600’s
 Azande