ANTH 1150 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Putto
2 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Discuss a number of working definitions of what religion is
1.
Compare diverse features of patterns of religious behaviour
across cultures
2.
Describe some functionalist, social and psychological
explanations of religion
3.
Discuss the characteristics of some supernatural beings and
forces at the center of many religions
4.
Distinguish between common points of belief and behaviour
regarding religion and magic and witchcraft
5.
Discuss religious syncretism and change by analyzing examples
6.
Learning Outcomes:
Reading: Chapter 12 (pages 271-296)
Minimal definition: a belief in spiritual beings
○
Anthony Wallace (page 274): religion is a set of rituals
rationalized by myth which mobilizes supernatural powers for
the purpose of achieving or preventing transformations of state
in man and nature
•
Thought that animism or a belief that humans, animals or
things may have spiritual doubles was the basic thing
behind religion
○
Thought that people had dreamed, hallucinated and had
altered states of consciousness, but experience is difficult
to account for
○
Seeing the dead in dreams may lead to belief in spirits of
the dead
○
Also used the term for an energy (=mana) that
seems akin to virtue or good luck (page 279)
!
Robert Marret also commented on religion and used the
term animatism to describe disembodied spiritual energy,
both good and malevolent
○
Edward Tyler in late 19th century was one of England's most
preeminent anthropologists
•
There are many similarities among large-scale
monotheistic religions particularly Christianity, Islam,
Judaism…etc.
○
Some societies have no belief in a creator or god-like
character
○
Anthropologists tend to be interested in small religions
practiced by few people
○
Comparison of the religions of indigenous people has
been one area of anthropology that has received quite a
bit of attention
○
People sometimes believe that all religions are essentially the
same
•
The rather endless sectarian conflict we observe among
the world's religion is often more about ethnicity and
social groups than religion itself
○
Religion, like politics, provides a point of discrimination and
division among people as people's beliefs can often be mutually
exclusive
•
Essentially truth in religion is irrelevant
○
As long as people are willing to believe in a God and be
willing to die/kill in the name of that God, does it even
matter whether there is or is not ultimately a God?
○
Regardless of the empirical status of belief, if people are
motivated to action it is socially and anthropologically
significant
○
Content of any particular religion may be of interest to
anthropologists regardless of whether they think it may or may
not be true or relevant
•
This ritualistic side of religion seems to continue to be
relevant whether or not people literally believe the
philosophical tenants of a particular religion
○
Many anthropologists are atheistic, or without belief in a
divine power, yet recognize the importance of religion in
people's lives
○
In the 19th century many anthropologists though science
would surpass religion as the explanation to ultimate
questions
○
Despite tremendous progress made in science, religion
continues to thrive in the modern world
○
Social side of religion helps people cope with birth, death, and
rites of passage (adulthood, marriage) by bringing people
together for mutual support and celebration
•
Role of faith and belief is always central in religious
systems, regardless of other empirical explanations for
who we are and where we came from
○
Recently, a number of authors have written books that can be
descibred as atheistic fundamentalism which makes many good
points in criticizing religion for the problems it can create
•
Ancestral spirits may also provide benefits, or be evil and
dangerous
○
Ancestral spirits is a common scene in religion and many
societies honor one's ancestors as the central function of ritual
behaviour (page 279)
•
Another set of individuals that frequently are found in the
context of religion are various religious specialists,
priests/priestesses, shamans and sorcerers (pages 280-283)
•
Defining Religion
State-level societies are generally ruled by an elite class, a
monarch or an elected official (generally male)
○
Likewise the religious belief of people in state societies
are often monotheistic with a powerful male God ruling
the affairs of humans
○
Tribute must be made to the Gods in the form of sacrifice
or financial contribution, just as taxes must be paid to the
state leadership
○
Many early civilizations combined political and
theological rule in the form of a priest/ King or Queen
whose authority was seen to be divinely sanctioned
○
The identification of the sun as God principle was
common in many early civilizations
○
When we compare religions around the world we are struck by
the similarity between religious beliefs and other aspects of
culture
•
This concrete identification of the source of all energy on earth
is fairly rational and tangible compared to some other God ideas
•
The spiritual beliefs of many aboriginal North Americans
revolve around respect for the animals and plants that
provide sustenance for humans by giving their lives
○
When we look at small-scale foraging societies we are more
likely to find religious beliefs revolve around the forces of
nature, animal and plant spirits and a respect for nature
•
Religion and Social Structure
See pages 283 to 288
•
Common social rituals called rites of passage generally mark
important transitions from one stage of life to another
•
These rituals are observed in many human cultures
•
Rates of intensification are generally conduced to help a society
through a time of real or perceived crisis
•
Cultic movements often surface when people have no hope and
rational means
•
These movements were referred to as revitalization
movements (pages 293-295)
○
Several such movements, such as the ghost dance, emerged
among North American natives as persecution intensified and
their cultures were under attack
•
These may be based on ideas of supernatural or
extraterrestrial power playing a role in the lives of
individuals
○
Today we also see similar cults emerge as offshoots of other
religions or religions created by one charismatic individual
•
Rituals and Ceremonies
Human sacrifice by Aztec was thought to be necessary to
perpetuate the sun's power
•
The idea that people can do harm through sorcery or
magic may be one of the basic forms of religious belief
○
Magic is when one takes supernatural forces into
their own hands and tries to compel supernatural
force to do good or evil on one's behalf
!
Essentially the distinction between religion and magic is
that in most religious contexts one must appease the gods
and ask or pray for results
○
*see pages 288-292 which outlines differing aspects of
witchcraft and magic
○
Religion has an aspect of magic and witchcraft in most societies
•
The largest persecution of witches was conduced in
Europe between the 12th and 17th century initially by the
Catholic Church and later (after Reformation) by
Protestants
○
It is likely that hundreds of thousands were put to death
for a crime that we know think is impossible
○
One of the last instances of witch executions took place in
Salem Massachusetts in 1692
○
Closer scrutiny reveals that the witch trials were really
the result of the imaginations of young girls fooling
around with the supernatural
○
Belief in witchcraft is not confined to small-scale societies and
tribal religions
•
Why do people place blame on other people when bad
things happen?
○
The idea of isolating bad things in the being of another
human and getting rid of it has a long history in many
cultures
○
Social scientists look at things like Senator McCarthy's
persecution of communists as witchcraft accusation type
behaviour
○
People often think witchcraft is about Satanism, however
Satan is only a character in a few religions based on the
old testament
○
More realistically, people who were accused of witchcraft
were likely into earlier pagan forms of religion that
worship nature, herbs and plants as supernatural conduits
○
Today's neopagan typified by Wicca are relatively
harmless people that celebrate nature itself
○
For social scientists, the accusation of witchcraft is the
interesting part
•
Religion and Magic and Witchcraft
Religion is often associated with social change (pages 293-295)
•
Forms of religion that we often labeled cults have at their core
the spirit of revitalization
•
Essentially, the idea is that the world is about to change in some
way and believers will be included in some new order brought
about by supernatural beings, aliens, or other forces
•
This culture contact came from out of the blue from the
perspective of the Islanders and introduced them to
technological marvels
○
After the war the outsiders left and did not return
○
This sparked intense religious behaviours independently
in many places where the native invested religions based
on bringing back the outsiders and their cargo = cargo
cult
○
There are interesting examples because we see humans
resorting to religious/supernatural behaviour based on
things that we understand
○
During WWII, many Pacific Islands that had barely seen
outsiders were occupied by Japanese and American forces
•
Ex. Religious change in Papua New Guinea as it went
from tribal religion to Catholicism and then to
Protestantism under Anglicans, and then to
fundamentalist Christians from the US
○
Mission work sometimes involves several shifts in belief
over decades
○
Generally, people integrate their own religious ideas and
what they end up with is not what missionaries intend
○
It is hard to separate the secular benefits missionaries
bring from their spiritual message
○
The process of missionary work conducted primarily by
Christian and Moslem people is another aspect anthropologists
are interested in
•
Religion and Cultural Change
Religious specialists are often though to have the power to heal
through supernatural or herbal remedies
•
This is always popular despite existence of rational medicine
alternatives
•
Note: use of non-rational techniques in healing among North
Americans
•
Our fascination with Eastern religion, new age ideas and herbal
medicine are also an interest to anthropologists
•
The complexity of the mind body connection in medicine and
Western medicine's failure to address many human problems
leaves this an open field
•
Ex. Things associated with yoga have become one of the largest
businesses in North America
•
Has disillusionment with Christianity and Judaism in
North America motivated people to look elsewhere for
their spirituality?
○
Can religion be removed from its cultural context?
•
*see Chapter 14 for more on health and religion
•
Religion and Healing
Religion and the Supernatural
Friday,)March)30,)2018
4:50)PM
Discuss a number of working definitions of what religion is1.
Compare diverse features of patterns of religious behaviour
across cultures
2.
Describe some functionalist, social and psychological
explanations of religion
3.
Discuss the characteristics of some supernatural beings and
forces at the center of many religions
4.
Distinguish between common points of belief and behaviour
regarding religion and magic and witchcraft
5.
Discuss religious syncretism and change by analyzing examples6.
Learning Outcomes:
Reading: Chapter 12 (pages 271-296)
Minimal definition: a belief in spiritual beings
○
Anthony Wallace (page 274): religion is a set of rituals
rationalized by myth which mobilizes supernatural powers for
the purpose of achieving or preventing transformations of state
in man and nature
•
Thought that animism or a belief that humans, animals or
things may have spiritual doubles was the basic thing
behind religion
○
Thought that people had dreamed, hallucinated and had
altered states of consciousness, but experience is difficult
to account for
○
Seeing the dead in dreams may lead to belief in spirits of
the dead
○
Also used the term for an energy (=mana) that
seems akin to virtue or good luck (page 279)
!
Robert Marret also commented on religion and used the
term animatism to describe disembodied spiritual energy,
both good and malevolent
○
Edward Tyler in late 19th century was one of England's most
preeminent anthropologists
•
There are many similarities among large-scale
monotheistic religions particularly Christianity, Islam,
Judaism…etc.
○
Some societies have no belief in a creator or god-like
character
○
Anthropologists tend to be interested in small religions
practiced by few people
○
Comparison of the religions of indigenous people has
been one area of anthropology that has received quite a
bit of attention
○
People sometimes believe that all religions are essentially the
same
•
The rather endless sectarian conflict we observe among
the world's religion is often more about ethnicity and
social groups than religion itself
○
Religion, like politics, provides a point of discrimination and
division among people as people's beliefs can often be mutually
exclusive
•
Essentially truth in religion is irrelevant
○
As long as people are willing to believe in a God and be
willing to die/kill in the name of that God, does it even
matter whether there is or is not ultimately a God?
○
Regardless of the empirical status of belief, if people are
motivated to action it is socially and anthropologically
significant
○
Content of any particular religion may be of interest to
anthropologists regardless of whether they think it may or may
not be true or relevant
•
This ritualistic side of religion seems to continue to be
relevant whether or not people literally believe the
philosophical tenants of a particular religion
○
Many anthropologists are atheistic, or without belief in a
divine power, yet recognize the importance of religion in
people's lives
○
In the 19th century many anthropologists though science
would surpass religion as the explanation to ultimate
questions
○
Despite tremendous progress made in science, religion
continues to thrive in the modern world
○
Social side of religion helps people cope with birth, death, and
rites of passage (adulthood, marriage) by bringing people
together for mutual support and celebration
•
Role of faith and belief is always central in religious
systems, regardless of other empirical explanations for
who we are and where we came from
○
Recently, a number of authors have written books that can be
descibred as atheistic fundamentalism which makes many good
points in criticizing religion for the problems it can create
•
Ancestral spirits may also provide benefits, or be evil and
dangerous
○
Ancestral spirits is a common scene in religion and many
societies honor one's ancestors as the central function of ritual
behaviour (page 279)
•
Another set of individuals that frequently are found in the
context of religion are various religious specialists,
priests/priestesses, shamans and sorcerers (pages 280-283)
•
Defining Religion
State-level societies are generally ruled by an elite class, a
monarch or an elected official (generally male)
○
Likewise the religious belief of people in state societies
are often monotheistic with a powerful male God ruling
the affairs of humans
○
Tribute must be made to the Gods in the form of sacrifice
or financial contribution, just as taxes must be paid to the
state leadership
○
Many early civilizations combined political and
theological rule in the form of a priest/ King or Queen
whose authority was seen to be divinely sanctioned
○
The identification of the sun as God principle was
common in many early civilizations
○
When we compare religions around the world we are struck by
the similarity between religious beliefs and other aspects of
culture
•
This concrete identification of the source of all energy on earth
is fairly rational and tangible compared to some other God ideas
•
The spiritual beliefs of many aboriginal North Americans
revolve around respect for the animals and plants that
provide sustenance for humans by giving their lives
○
When we look at small-scale foraging societies we are more
likely to find religious beliefs revolve around the forces of
nature, animal and plant spirits and a respect for nature
•
Religion and Social Structure
See pages 283 to 288
•
Common social rituals called rites of passage generally mark
important transitions from one stage of life to another
•
These rituals are observed in many human cultures
•
Rates of intensification are generally conduced to help a society
through a time of real or perceived crisis
•
Cultic movements often surface when people have no hope and
rational means
•
These movements were referred to as revitalization
movements (pages 293-295)
○
Several such movements, such as the ghost dance, emerged
among North American natives as persecution intensified and
their cultures were under attack
•
These may be based on ideas of supernatural or
extraterrestrial power playing a role in the lives of
individuals
○
Today we also see similar cults emerge as offshoots of other
religions or religions created by one charismatic individual
•
Rituals and Ceremonies
Human sacrifice by Aztec was thought to be necessary to
perpetuate the sun's power
•
The idea that people can do harm through sorcery or
magic may be one of the basic forms of religious belief
○
Magic is when one takes supernatural forces into
their own hands and tries to compel supernatural
force to do good or evil on one's behalf
!
Essentially the distinction between religion and magic is
that in most religious contexts one must appease the gods
and ask or pray for results
○
*see pages 288-292 which outlines differing aspects of
witchcraft and magic
○
Religion has an aspect of magic and witchcraft in most societies
•
The largest persecution of witches was conduced in
Europe between the 12th and 17th century initially by the
Catholic Church and later (after Reformation) by
Protestants
○
It is likely that hundreds of thousands were put to death
for a crime that we know think is impossible
○
One of the last instances of witch executions took place in
Salem Massachusetts in 1692
○
Closer scrutiny reveals that the witch trials were really
the result of the imaginations of young girls fooling
around with the supernatural
○
Belief in witchcraft is not confined to small-scale societies and
tribal religions
•
Why do people place blame on other people when bad
things happen?
○
The idea of isolating bad things in the being of another
human and getting rid of it has a long history in many
cultures
○
Social scientists look at things like Senator McCarthy's
persecution of communists as witchcraft accusation type
behaviour
○
People often think witchcraft is about Satanism, however
Satan is only a character in a few religions based on the
old testament
○
More realistically, people who were accused of witchcraft
were likely into earlier pagan forms of religion that
worship nature, herbs and plants as supernatural conduits
○
Today's neopagan typified by Wicca are relatively
harmless people that celebrate nature itself
○
For social scientists, the accusation of witchcraft is the
interesting part
•
Religion and Magic and Witchcraft
Religion is often associated with social change (pages 293-295)
•
Forms of religion that we often labeled cults have at their core
the spirit of revitalization
•
Essentially, the idea is that the world is about to change in some
way and believers will be included in some new order brought
about by supernatural beings, aliens, or other forces
•
This culture contact came from out of the blue from the
perspective of the Islanders and introduced them to
technological marvels
○
After the war the outsiders left and did not return
○
This sparked intense religious behaviours independently
in many places where the native invested religions based
on bringing back the outsiders and their cargo = cargo
cult
○
There are interesting examples because we see humans
resorting to religious/supernatural behaviour based on
things that we understand
○
During WWII, many Pacific Islands that had barely seen
outsiders were occupied by Japanese and American forces
•
Ex. Religious change in Papua New Guinea as it went
from tribal religion to Catholicism and then to
Protestantism under Anglicans, and then to
fundamentalist Christians from the US
○
Mission work sometimes involves several shifts in belief
over decades
○
Generally, people integrate their own religious ideas and
what they end up with is not what missionaries intend
○
It is hard to separate the secular benefits missionaries
bring from their spiritual message
○
The process of missionary work conducted primarily by
Christian and Moslem people is another aspect anthropologists
are interested in
•
Religion and Cultural Change
Religious specialists are often though to have the power to heal
through supernatural or herbal remedies
•
This is always popular despite existence of rational medicine
alternatives
•
Note: use of non-rational techniques in healing among North
Americans
•
Our fascination with Eastern religion, new age ideas and herbal
medicine are also an interest to anthropologists
•
The complexity of the mind body connection in medicine and
Western medicine's failure to address many human problems
leaves this an open field
•
Ex. Things associated with yoga have become one of the largest
businesses in North America
•
Has disillusionment with Christianity and Judaism in
North America motivated people to look elsewhere for
their spirituality?
○
Can religion be removed from its cultural context?
•
*see Chapter 14 for more on health and religion
•
Religion and Healing
Religion and the Supernatural
Friday,)March)30,)2018 4:50)PM
Document Summary
Discuss a number of working definitions of what religion is. Compare diverse features of patterns of religious behaviour across cultures. Describe some functionalist, social and psychological explanations of religion. Discuss the characteristics of some supernatural beings and forces at the center of many religions. Distinguish between common points of belief and behaviour regarding religion and magic and witchcraft. Discuss religious syncretism and change by analyzing examples. Anthony wallace (page 274): religion is a set of rituals rationalized by myth which mobilizes supernatural powers for the purpose of achieving or preventing transformations of state in man and nature. Edward tyler in late 19th century was one of england"s most preeminent anthropologists. Thought that animism or a belief that humans, animals or things may have spiritual doubles was the basic thing behind religion. Thought that people had dreamed, hallucinated and had altered states of consciousness, but experience is difficult to account for.
