SOC250Y1 Lecture : lecture notes
Document Summary
Aspects of primal/aborignal religion a synthesis: what can be inferred from prehistory (archeology, linguistics, etc. ) and the ethnographic study of contemporary preliterate societies. we find: 1) belief in supernatural powers/forces--->religions of gods and goddesses. It"ll be the political figure head of the state itself thats what makes it a state. Emperors kings pharoahs claim this political superiority they have armies, guards, laws etc. The advice of the ancestor spirits are desgined to bring back harmony and order/diffuse tensions. if there isa dispute b/w 2 diff. families, ancestor spirits are involved, the sacred authority(ancestors) will settle that. Misfortunes are interpreted as occuring in consequence of breaches in the moral order. the ancestor spirits- communicating through the ritual mediums-- are thus censors www. notesolution. com. The ancestors contain weather, health illness etc. offerings are made for them. Ancestors help bind together the group. durkheims emphasis as religion as a kind of social solidarity. we are actually just extending reverence to our own ancestors.
