REL-1010 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Harvest Festival, Polytheism, Axial Age
22 Jul 2017
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Chapter 2: history of religion on planet earth. These people had ideas about birth, death, feelings, emotions, etc: the(cid:396)e (cid:449)as (cid:374)o si(cid:374)gle (cid:373)o(cid:373)e(cid:374)t o(cid:396) e(cid:448)e(cid:374)t (cid:449)he(cid:374) (cid:862)(cid:396)eligio(cid:374)(cid:863) (cid:271)ega(cid:374). Hu(cid:373)a(cid:374)s (cid:271)(cid:396)ought (cid:396)a(cid:449) material to make religion; social, ritual, hierarchical morality, to make sense of the events happening around them. It is the words and the group that make religion: the most important and distinct human input into religion was the discovery of death and the articulation of memories into stories, which depended on language. It shows how the society views itself, and about the relation of people to earth and universe: animism: refers to the belief in innumerable finite spirits or souls around, whether ancestral, natural, in a house, etc. The religion of early hunter gatherers: hunting was a ritual because it involved fasting, dancing, and magic. Initiation: most men and women had to experience initiation into adulthood, most times including isolation and pain, which were symbolic for death and rebirth.
