ANTH 111 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Cultural Learning, Syncretism, Polytheism
Defining Religion
Consists of beliefs and behaviours related to supernatural beings and forces
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Anthropologists study religion to study people
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Anthropologists understand that religious beliefs offer a roadmap for
behavior and create meaning for people through the use of powerful rituals
and symbols
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The ideas and practices that make up religion are social
It is a social system that is socially enacted through theses rituals and
other aspects of life
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Religion seeks to give is answers to life's "big questions"
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Why are we here?
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What happens when we die?
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What does it all mean?
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So What is Religion?
Religion: a symbolic system that is socially enacted through rituals and other
aspects of social life, including these four elements:
Existence of things more powerful than human beings
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Beliefs and behaviors that surround, support, and promote the
acceptance that those things more powerful than humans actually
exist
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Symbols that make these beliefs and behaviours seem both intense
and genuine
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Social settings, usually involving important rituals, that people share
while experiencing the power of these symbols of belief
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Religion and Worldview and Magic
Worldview: a general approach to or set of shared unquestioned
assumptions about the world and how it works
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Magic is the attempt to compel supernatural forces and beings to act in
certain ways
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Modern day Wiccas or Neo-Pagans may use magic as part of their religion
which is centred on the Earth, nature, and the seasonal cycle
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Others may also use magic or superstition especially in times of uncertainty
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Directions of Religious Change
Syncretism
The synthesis of old religious practices (or an old way of life) with new
religious practices (or a new way of life) introduced from outside,
often by force
Latin America
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Revitalization
A conscious, deliberate, and organized attempt by some members of a
society to create a more satisfying culture in a time of crisis
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Religious Specialists
Someone with extensive, formal training
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Receive 'authorization' for the ritual from outside themselves
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Shaman (or shamanka) - a religious specialist who has a direct relationship
with the supernaturals, often by being 'called'.
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Priests or priestess are full time religious specialists whose position is based
mainly on abilities gained through formal training
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Other specialists - can include diviners, prophets, and witches
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Studying Religion
Anthropological perspective on the study of religion is relativistic
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Do not judge
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Study each religion in its own cultural context and in comparison with one
another cross culturally
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Religious Beliefs and Practices
Monotheism - belief in a singly deity
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Polytheism - belief in many gods or goddesses
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Animism - belief that nature (trees, rocks, cliffs, hills, rivers) are animated by
spiritual forces or beings
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Animatism - nature itself is enlivened or energized by an impersonal spiritual
power
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Four Main Functions of All Religions
Behaviour - guides behaviour of practitioners by informing on what is right
and wrong
This shifts the burden of decision making from the individual
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1)
Community - it brings people together and gives them a sense of community
and solidarity
2)
Cultural learning - enhances learning of traditional lore3)
Goal attainment - it is used in hope of reaching a specific goal, such as
healing
Social, physical and mental ills have a spiritual connection
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Heal the spirit and heal the ill
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4)
How Religious Beliefs are Expressed
Myths
Myths are stories about supernatural forces or beings
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Embedded in virtually every aspect of the people's popular culture:
stories (written and oral), songs, dances, games, music, theatre, film
and art
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Often taught informally or passively
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Often tell why people should or should not act in a certain way - and
what happens
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Rationalizes and justifies the way things are
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Doctrine
Direct statements about religious beliefs
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Defines the supernaturals, the world an how it came to be, and
people's roles in relation to the supernaturals and to other humans
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Written and formal
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Close to law because it links incorrect beliefs and behaviours with
punishments
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Can and does change
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Why? Myth as a Charter for Social Action
Anthropologists ask why myths exist
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Malinowski - myth expresses core beliefs and teaches morality
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Acts as a way to justify present day social arrangements
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Why society is as it is and why it cannot be changed
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If the social arrangement justified by the myth are challenged, the myth can
be used as a weapon against the challengers.
Gay marriage
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Why? Myth as a Conceptual Tool
Claude Levi Strauss - myths have meaningful structures that are worth
studying in their own right and that they function in a philosophical and
psychological way
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Myths help people deal with deep conceptual contradictions
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Myth might propose that the beings who transcend death (do not die) are so
horrific and tortured that death is preferable
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Why? Managing Economic Crisis
A way to store and transmit information related to making a living and
managing economic crisis
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How to cope with hunger, food storage, resource diversification, resource
conservation, spatial mobility, reciprocity, and supernatural forces.
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Week 11, Lecture 18/19
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
Document Summary
Consists of beliefs and behaviours related to supernatural beings and forces. Anthropologists understand that religious beliefs offer a roadmap for behavior and create meaning for people through the use of powerful rituals and symbols. The ideas and practices that make up religion are social. It is a social system that is socially enacted through theses rituals and other aspects of life. Religion seeks to give is answers to life"s "big questions" Religion: a symbolic system that is socially enacted through rituals and other aspects of social life, including these four elements: Existence of things more powerful than human beings. Beliefs and behaviors that surround, support, and promote the acceptance that those things more powerful than humans actually exist. Symbols that make these beliefs and behaviours seem both intense and genuine. Social settings, usually involving important rituals, that people share while experiencing the power of these symbols of belief.
