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WHAT IS RELIGION?
A FIRST LOOK
Don E. Peavy, Sr., J.D.,M.Div.
Lesson 3: The Sacred and the Profane
The History of Religion
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
• Think on This ...
• That there have been many problems and many questionings is true;
yet when the entity has allowed or does allow itself to meditate upon
the principles of the prompting which come from its study, its
application of the law of the Lord which is manifested in the precepts,
the commandments, the psalms and the promises of Jesus, little has
been the fear of what the man-force has to offer as to disturbing factors
in the earth.
Then, as would be given, keep that faith . . .
Do not let those things which may not in the present be understood
weary thy soul, but know that sometime, somewhere, you, too, will
understand. Keep the faith.
Edgar Cayce Reading 5369-2
OBJECTIVES
• (1) Differentiate among the primary
religious worldviews, analyze each into
universal components, and provide
contrasting illustrations of each component.
(2) Analyze and classify accounts of
religious experience using such standard
categories as numinous, possessional,
contemplative, prophetic, introvertive, and
extrovertive.
SACRED AND
PROFANE
• “Most scholars today agree that religion is a
system of activities and beliefs directed toward
that which is perceived to be sacred or of ultimate
value and power.” (Livingston 39)
• The sacred is that which evokes some type of
power that ordinary things do not evoke.
• The sacred, while evincing some degree of power,
also projects a sense of taboo – that is “a source of
wonder and purity as well as of fear and danger.”
FIRST LOOK
• The manifestation of the sacred is a
hierophany. (40)
• The manifestation of the sacred in the form
of a divine being is an epiphany.
• The manifestation of the sacred as a god is a
theophany.
• The profane is anything ordinary and
powerless.
Contd.
• Historically, all types of things have been
considered sacred: rocks, streams, animals,
plants, etc.
• When the sacred appears as spirit it is called
animism – worship of spirits, of which
ancestor worship is the oldest form.
THE GENESIS OF
RELIGION
• I do not believe that humans have always
been religious, but religion evolved.
• “Every religious phenomenon has its history
and its derivation from natural antecedents.”
(James Lecture I, p. 12)
• Religion may have emerged out of “the
inner experiences of great-souled persons
wrestling with the crises of their faith…”
James (Contd.)
• (James 13)
• Thus, in order for us to get behind the
genesis of religion, “We must make search
… for the original experiences which were
the pattern-setters to all this mass of
suggested feeling and imitated conduct.”
(James 14)
• We turn now to that original experience.
Genesis (Contd.)
• Please keep in mind that the following is a
vision rather than fact or theory.
• I am of the opinion that humans developed
religion as follows. Somewhere in ancient
history before humans could write, there
was a group of people who depended on
hunting and the gathering of food for
survival.
First Encounter
Note that this “tree among trees” is different from all the other trees. How
do we account for that difference?
THE BEGINNING
• One day, a group of men went hunting and after
the first day they had not run across any game.
The next day was the same so they split up to
cover more ground. On the third day, one of the
men encountered a tree in which an animal was
caught in the branches. At first, the man did not
know what to make of this phenomenon. He could
have said the animal was stuck in the tree.
However, he seized on the idea that the tree had
caught the animal for him. He took the animal
back to the village where he was praised as a hero.
SACRED AND
PROFANE
• The next day the man had a similar experience. He
then said that the tree possessed a power that other
trees did not possess and thus was born the idea of
the sacred and the profane. This idea of the sacred
and the profane represented the first development
in religious belief in human history. Because the
tree had caught the animals for this particular man,
he became a shaman and founded what is in fact
the oldest profession -- shamanism (sorry to those
of you who have always believed it was
prostitution!).
TOTEM AND TABOO
• the As the community began to celebrate the tree
and its power, the shaman begins to put in place
rules regarding the tree. He persuades the
community to adopt the tree as its totem and it
becomes taboo for anyone to touch it but him.
This idea of totem and taboo becomes the next
development in the history of religion. Don't
worry if you are not sure what these words mean.
They will be made clear to you as the course
progresses
SACRIFICE – THE
FIRST RITUAL
• Continuing with our history, one day a woman of the
village decides that there is no truth to the shaman's claims.
She sneaks out of the village and goes to the tree and
touches it. No animal appears. In fact, no animal appears in
the tree for the next several days. The shaman surmises
that someone has violated the taboo and so a system is
devised to determine who the violator is. The woman soon
confesses and the first rite of religion comes into being -sacrifice. An elaborate ceremony is devised at the end of
which the woman is put to death and her blood is sprinkled
along the trunk and base of the tree.
A PATTERN EMERGES
• The next day, an animal is caught in the branches
of the tree and so whenever an animal does no
appear, another sacrifice is conducted. At this
point, skeptics among you might ask, "Well, how
do we know the animal was really caught in the
tree? Why couldn't it be stuck in some sticky
substance on the tree branches? Isn't it possible
that the aroma of the blood of the woman attracted
the animal and it then got stuck in the tree?"
Unfortunately, we have no way of answering these
questions.
MAGIC OR RELIGION?
• Durkheim and Weber, as well as others, write at length
about different forms of magic and whether or not it really
works. However, the truth remains that we lack a reliable
basis for testing these claims. For instance, how do we
know that Moses' account of hearing a voice come out of a
burning bush was not the result of some Egyptian playing a
joke on him by throwing his voice? How do we know that
John who claims to have been "in the spirit" when he saw
the visions that are recorded in Revelation was not
"tripping" or suffering from hallucinations or poisoning?
• We cannot get “behind” the claims of religious founders
and this is why we cannot judge their truthfulness.
CRITICAL
THINKING!
• See, we can't say for sure! Likewise, we
have to take our shaman at his word that he
encountered some phenomenon and his
religion is a result of his attempt to explain
that encounter. In fact, we can say the same
about all religions -- all religions are made
up by humans in an attempt to explain some
encounter with phenomenon. Returning to
our narrative.
ANIMISM
• The shaman soon dies and his son ascends to his
office. One day while at the tree, the son
encounters his father. He wonders how this can be
when his father is dead. It is not clear from the
historical record whether the son is asleep or not
when he encounters his father. At any rate, this
encounter leads to the next development in the
history of religion -- animism or the worship of
spirits of which ancestor worship is the oldest
form
FINAL STAGES
• The next development is the worship of
goddesses, then gods, then God, then nothingness
as represented in the original form of Buddhism. It
should be clear from this brief history that
religion's first concern was problems of this world.
Weber agrees with this assessment. Long before
humans were concerned with an afterlife, they
were concerned with this life and how to feed their
families and control the forces of nature. Concerns
about the afterlife, in fact the very notion of an
afterlife, occur very late in the history of humans.
EPISTEMOLOGY
• How do individuals and communities come
to hold the religious views, beliefs, and
ideas they hold?
A. Historical Developments – The
vision shared by the instructor is an
example of this approach to investigating
religious belief/knowledge/experience.
B. Psychological – William James
C.
PSYCHOANALYTIC
• Sigmund Freud
-- 1856-1939
-- Born in what is now part of Czech
Republic
-- Spent most of his life in Vienna
-- Lecturer in neuropathology
-- Became interested in hypnosis to
FREUD (Contd.)
• Treat hysteria, which we now call, thanks to
Freud, phobia
• 1886 returns from France where he studied
psychology
-- uses hypnosis to try to uncover
traumatic events in childhood
-- comes to view dreams as greatest
resources for analyst
FREUD (Contd.)
• 1910 “Origins and Development of
Psychoanalysis”
• 1907, his first published work is an essay,
“Obsessive Actions And Religious Practices”
-- Religion is a universal obsessional
neurosis
-- Ceremonial practices are obsessive practices
1. elaboration by small additions – close
attention to detail
FREUD (Contd.)
• 2. rhythmic character
• 3. everything has meaning and can be
interpreted
• 4. guilt plaques pietist and neurotic
• 5. Actions serve as defense and protection
• Neurosis is individual religiosity and
religion is universal obsession
FREUD (Contd.)
• His next religious work was “Totem and Taboo”
-- Part One deals with the horror of incest and
totemism
1. Incest seems to be the original forbidden
thing and underlies a lot of religious prohibitions
2. Totemism is natural phenomenon that has
relationship to whole clan; this is usually an
animal or natural phenomenon such as a tree.
FREUD (Contd.)
-- Part Two discusses taboo which is
similar to obsessional neurosis; its true
source is instinctual fear of demonic powers
-- Final Section attempts to account for
origins of totem and taboo
1. Drive for Freud is origin of a thing
2. Oedipus Complex is formulated here
OEDIPUS COMPLEX
• Killing of father by several sons is such an event
that it leaves an indelible mark on society
• This event is the beginning of religion, society,
art, and morality
• The problem of social psychology can be solved
on basis of man’s relationship to his father
• Sense of guilt has persisted in collected minds of
humanity
OEDIPUS COMPLEX
• Freud calls OC a vision rather than a theory
• In his last religious work, Moses and
Monotheism,” he argues that the OC is the
source of Judaism
• Next important contribution to religion is
his work, “Future of An Illusion” where he
sets forth the cultural influences of religion
“ILLUISION”
• Is different from mistake or an error; illusion is
believed in and is not so easily corrected
• Also distinct from delusion which is belief in a
proven error
• Illusion is belief in something that may or may not
be true but cannot be proven either way
• Religious belief is psychological illusion and thus
is not susceptible to proof
“ILLUSION”
• Civilization rests upon the renunciation of
instinctual wishes of humans
• Renunciation is privation and frustration
• Religious ideas were created to help
humans cope with their frustration by
protecting believers from dangers of fate
and human society
“ILLUSION”
• Religious beliefs are highly prized because
they give us information about what is
highly prized in life
• Religious beliefs are illusions because they
are rooted in human wishes
• Religion is obsessional neurosis that
attempts to take the place of the rational
intellect
D. PHILOSOPHICAL
• Philosophy of Religion is an academic
discipline that attempts to investigate
religious knowledge using the tools of
philosophy.
• There are philosophers who are religious
and others who are not religious.
• We will have more to say about philosophy
on later in the course.
SOCIOLOGICAL
•
•
Sociology of Religion is the study of the beliefs, practices and organizational
forms of religion using the tools and methods of the discipline of sociology.
This objective investigation may include the use of both quantitative methods
(surveys, polls, demographic and census analysis) and qualitative approaches
such as participant observation, interviewing, and analysis of archival,
historical and documentary materials.
Sociologists of religion study every aspect of religion from what is believed to
how persons act while in worship and while living out their stated convictions.
They study the changing role of religion both in the public arena (political,
economic and media) and in intimate interpersonal relationships. Global
religious pluralism and conflict, the nature of religious cults and sects, the
influence of religion on racial, gender and sexuality issues, and the effect of
the media and modern culture has on religious practices are all topics of
interest in current sociology of religion research.
http://hirr.hartsem.edu/sociology/sociology_about_the_field.html
SOCIOLOGICAL
• Both Durkheim and Weber are sociologists,
although their methodologies differ
• Weber (1864-1920)
• Western part of Germany
• Educated as an economist
• 1904 wrote first segment of “Protestant
Ethic and Spirit of Capitalism” 1906
THE NUMINOUS
• Scene from “Wizard of Oz.”
• “Religious forces are of two kinds. Some are
benevolent, guardians of physical and moral order,
as well as dispensers of life, health, and all the
qualities that men value.
• “On the other hand, there are evil and impure
powers, bringers of disorder, causes of death and
sickness, instigators of sacrilege.” (Durkheim 412)
• However, though at once opposites, these are akin
to one another.” (413)
REPORT (Contd.)
• “So the pure and impure are not two
separate genera but two varieties of the
same genus that includes all sacred things.
… The impure is made from the pure, and
vice versa. The possibility of such
transformation constitutes the ambiguity of
the sacred.” (415)
EPISTEMOLOGY
•
•
F. Cultural Criticism – we will discuss this method later in the course.
G. Phenomenological
modern school of philosophy founded by Edmund Husserl. Its influence extended
throughout Europe and was particularly important to the early development of
existentialism. Husserl attempted to develop a universal philosophic method, devoid of
presuppositions, by focusing purely on phenomena and describing them; anything that
could not be seen, and thus was not immediately given to the consciousness, was
excluded. The concern was with what is known, not how it is known. The
phenomenological method is thus neither the deductive method of logic nor the
empirical method of the natural sciences; instead it consists in realizing the presence of
an object and elucidating its meaning through intuition. Husserl considered the object of
the phenomenological method to be the immediate seizure, in an act of vision, of the
ideal intelligible content of the phenomenon. Notable members of the school have been
Roman Ingarden, Max Scheler, Emmanuel Levinas, and Marvin Farber. 1See E.
Husserl, Ideas: General Introduction to Pure Phenomenology (tr. 1931, repr. 1989) and
Cartesian Meditations (tr. 1960, repr. 1970); M. Farber, The Foundation of
Phenomenology (1943, repr. 1967); R. Zanes, Way of Phenomenology (1970); M. A.
Natanson, ed., Phenomenology and the Social Sciences (2 vol., 1973); H. Spiegelberg,
The Phenomenological Movement (1981); R. Grossman, Phenomenology and
Existentialism (1984). The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition.
Functions of Religion
• One way we can approach the study of religion is
to ask just what it is religion does for people.
• That is, how does religion help people to get on
with their daily lives.
• Weber writes that economic concerns are at the
basis of religion. Religion enables people to feed
their families and helps them to deal with those
harsh times when food is either scarce or
unavailable.
Functions (Contd.)
• What Weber is pointing to is what we have
labeled in this course as existential terrors.
Feeding ourselves and our families is a
terrifying necessity we all face.
• Did you notice that in our history of
religion, it was the need for food which
gave rise to religion?
WRAP UP AND LOOK
AHEAD
• What have we learned this week?
• Hopefully, we have deepened our
understanding of religious beliefs and
practices.
• We have looked at a vision of the origin of
religion and seen how religion helps people
to get on with the demands of living in a
sometimes unkind universe.
Wrap-Up (Contd.)
• We have also explored ways by which we
can investigate religious beliefs and
practices.
• Next lesson, we turn our attention to a
consideration of some observers of religious
beliefs and practices who have concluded
that humans would be better off without
religion.
References
• Livingston, James C., Anatomy of the
Sacred: An Introduction to Religion, 5th
ed., Pearson Education (2005). ISBN:
0131835645.
• James, William, The Varieties of Religious
Experience, ed. and with an intro. by Martin
E. Marty.