RLG201H5 Study Guide - Final Guide: Clifford Geertz, Bhavacakra, Didacticism
Religion Exam review
Potential Topics for Inclusion (as multiple-choice questions)
Tibetan Thangka Paintings
• Buddhist painting typically on cotton or silk material that Buddhist deity, scene or a
mandala
• Traditionally unframed
• Intended for personal meditation or instruction of monastic students
• They often have elaborate compositions including many very small figures. A central
deity is often surrounded by other identified fig=ures in a symmetrical composition
Mantra
• Sacred sound
• a word or sound repeated to aid concentration in meditation.
• originally in Hinduism and Buddhism (in Sanskrit)
• believed to have psychological or spiritual powers
• ie. OHM
• Meaningful expressions for: praising divinity, asking forgiveness, asking guidance,
recounting religious narratives
• Common sounds: tone system (diatonic scale), repetitions (for emphasis; ease; sacred
numbers), repetitions (for emphasis; ease; sacred numbers), simple (thus easy to
understand, easy to learn and repeat), slow and meditative, limited instrumentation
Bhavachakra
• the wheel of life or wheel of becoming
• bhava: life/becoming
• chakra: wheel
• yama is the lord of death holding the wheel
• life is a good thing but the concept of being trapped in a repetitive cycle of life or
negative cycle is a bad thing
• wheel of life is repetitive, rebirth idea of karma
Didactic art
• didactic art works: that act to instruct
• expressing complex concepts visually
• ie. bhavachakra
• meant to teach and have some kind of behavioral response
Geertz’s definition of religion
• Clifford Geertz is an anthropologist his lens on the world is human construction for
human reason
• Interested in religion in the context of a community not an individual level
• For Geertz, symbols have to be indicated all religious symbols are cultural symbols but
not all cultural symbols are religious symbols
• Symbols: function as a cultural symbol, ie. logos and behaviors
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• Religious moods and motivations are categories for embodies responses
• Moods happen in a moment, various levels
• Religion for Geertz happens in the shaping of our behaviors and feelings in a society that
makes these things meaningful
• Symbols for Geertz are a way to understand the world
• a religion is:(1) a system of symbols which acts to (2) establish powerful, pervasive, and
long-lasting moods and motivations in men by (3) formulating conceptions of a general
order of existence and (4) clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that
(5) the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic
• religion as a cultural system
• Culture is “a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms by means of
which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and attitudes
toward life
Acheiropoesis/ acheiropoeita
• Powerful device for legitimating the authority of images
• Made without hands
• Ie. Jesus face on cloth (Shroud of Turn, linen burial cloth, 1st cent.) ,A “self arisen” image
of Tara in a cave in Nepal .Kaaba, Mecca, 629/30 CE, Muhammad cleansed the sanctuary
of idols from pre- Islamic times
• Kamoulianai icon of Christ
o Kamouliani icon of Christ, Christ wiped his face with a towel leaving behind an
image of his face
o 574: brought to capital city of Constan8nople, imperial palladium
o Helped save city from invading armies (Persians)
o Behaved like Christ would have, potent proxy
Icon
• From eikon: greek work for image, representation material or immaterial, “living” in the
minds eye; reflection in mirror; person imbued with holiness
• Icons (from the Greek eikones) are sacred images representing the saints, Christ, and the
Virgin, as well as narrative scenes such as Christ's Crucifixion. While today the term is
most closely associated with wooden panel painting, in Byzantium icons could be crafted
in all media, including marble, ivory, ceramic, gemstone, precious metal, enamel, textile,
fresco, and mosaic.
• Iconic can describe a static style of devotional image
• Not a portrait, an idol, or a relic
• Cult of images
• Ie. Achieropoeita
• Today the term is most closely associated with wooden panel painting
Iconoclasm
• Iconoclasm Controversy (rehash of Christological debates about the relationship between
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the divine and human natures in the person of Christ)
• Greek works: eikon= image, klasm=breaking
• Iconoclasm is the social belief in the importance of the destruction of icons and other
images or monuments, most frequently for religious or political reason
• Fear of the idolatry: the viewer directs veneration to the image rather than the divine
person represented
• Fear that increasing devotion to cons erodes the distinction between the material image
and its spiritual prototype, blurring distinction between the sacred and profane
Controversies:
ERA : CE
Past views
• Icons = main way of accessing in the holy Byzantium, versus relics in the
West
• Icons=painted panels
• Iconoclasm= violent outburst out of the blue, initiated by emperors, with
lots of casualties and international repercussions; interruption of a long
tradition of image veneration by Christians
New views
• Relics were important in Byzantium
• Icons= all media, and multimedia 3-D ones the most appreciated
• Iconomachy = image struggle
• Debates simmered for centuries; first iconoclasts = churchmen; violence
overstated, evidence often tinkered with after the fact (“heavily
reworked”; Brubaker)
• Image veneration was a new thing in the 7th century, new channels of
access to the holy; yes there were images before ca.680 but they were not
venerated in a consistent way, ie. no cult of icons before the 7th centuy
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Document Summary
Tibetan thangka paintings: buddhist painting typically on cotton or silk material that buddhist deity, scene or a mandala, traditionally unframed, they often have elaborate compositions including many very small figures. Intended for personal meditation or instruction of monastic students deity is often surrounded by other identified fig=ures in a symmetrical composition. Didactic art: didactic art works: that act to instruct, expressing complex concepts visually, meant to teach and have some kind of behavioral response ie. bhavachakra. Geertz"s definition of religion: clifford geertz is an anthropologist his lens on the world is human construction for human reason. Acheiropoesis/ acheiropoeita: powerful device for legitimating the authority of images, made without hands. Jesus face on cloth (shroud of turn, linen burial cloth, 1st cent. ) Icon: from eikon: greek work for image, representation material or immaterial, living in the minds eye; reflection in mirror; person imbued with holiness. Icons (from the greek eikones) are sacred images representing the saints, christ, and the.
