ANTH 100 Lecture 12: Chapter 13 (Supernaturalism) (Autosaved)
12 Oct 2016
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Religion: a set of beliefs and behaviors that pertain to supernatural forces or beings, which transcend the observable world. Religious belief systems have four components: they share an interest in the supernatural, use rituals, are guided by myths, and are symbolic. Supernatural: refers to those things outside of a scientific understanding that we cannot measure or test. Rituals: symbolic practice that is ordered and regularly repeated. It provides people with a way to practice their beliefs in a consistent form, connecting them to other in the same community. This does(cid:374)"t (cid:373)ake the(cid:373) u(cid:374)t(cid:396)ue (cid:271)ut a(cid:396)e outside of (cid:396)e(cid:272)o(cid:396)ded histo(cid:396)(cid:455) Finally, religion is symbolic because it is based on the construction of meaning between a person and their beliefs and among people within a community. However, cultural practices may leave physical evidence that can be found by archaeologists, who seek to understand cultural practices through cultural remains.
