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.