Old & New Religions:
the Search for Salvation
Chapter 9
Lehman & Myers
Old & New Religions:
The Search for Salvation


Culture- in social groups, culture is continuously
changing, fast at times, and slow at others.
Religion change is also continuous and
universal.
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
Changes in society, through culture and religion have
resulted in various forms of Revitalization
movements.
Revitalization Movements: “are deliberate &
organized attempts by some members of a society to
construct a more satisfying culture by rapid
acceptance of a pattern of multiple innovations”
(Lehman)
Types of Religious Movements

Revitalization Movements- most dramatic:
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Reactionary character- a result of real or imagined conditions that
create a demand for change.
Nativistic Movements- emphasis on the elimination of alien
persons, customs, values & material from the *mazeway.
Cargo Cults- emphasis on the importation of alien values,
customs & material into the mazeway, arriving as a ship’s
cargo.
Millenarian Movements- emphasis on the changes in the
mazeway through an apocalyptic world transformation by a
supernatural being.
Messianic Movements- emphasis on the actual
participation of a divine savior in human flesh, bringing the
desired changes to the mazeway
*Mazeway- mental image of society and its customs by adapting one’s
body and behavior to fit this system.
Revitalization Movements
Revitalization- bringing new vigor &
happiness to society.
 The religious character may also be that
traditional institutions are not able to adopt
& respond to social changes.

European colonists imposing Christianity
 Spaniards imposing Catholicism to Latin
American indigenous people

Religious Terms

Church- larger community’s view of the
acceptable type of religious organization
(Lehman).
Cult- a more casual, loosely organized
group with fluctuating membership sharing
with other religious organizations.
 Sect- refers to a protest group generally
small, defiant to the world. (4 types of
sects)

4 Types of Sects- based on
ideologies
1.
2.
3.
4.
The Conversionist- goal is to convert
others.
The Adventist- anticipates a drastic
divine intervention
The Introversionists- eager to develop its
inner spirituality
The Gnostic- based on esoteric religious
knowledge
Why do people join these
movements?

Five type of deprivations
1.
2.
3.
4.
Economic deprivation
Organismic deprivation
Psychic deprivation
Social deprivation
Cargo Cults
By
Peter M. Worsley
Cargo Cults


New Guinea 1946
Central Theme

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Mansren Myth
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End of the world
Paradise
Extinction of evil & suffering
Reversal of system
Bible similarities
The Cargo
Disappointment & reappearance
Ghost Dance
By
Alice Beck Kehoe
The Ghost Dance
Region
 Wovoka’s background
 Eclipse of 1889

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Supernatural experience
Jack Wilson as a prophet
The dance
 The gospel

The Ghost Dance
Rapid Spread
 Last congregations
 Why “Ghost Dance”

Resurrection of the dead
 Renewal of the earth


Wounded Knee Massacre
Revitalization Movements
by Anthony Wallace

Result form severe disorganization of the sociocultural system.

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Climatic/faunal changes
Epidemic disease
Wars
Internal conflict (generating social inequalities)
Individual experiences: panic-stricken anxiety,
shame, guilt, depression, &/or apathy.
Two Psychological Mechanisms
1.
2.
Mazeway Resynthesis
Hysterical Conversion
- Beginning of the Revitalization
Movements.
In-Class Activity
Form a group of 3-4 people and answer the following
questions:

How did the Seneca Indians of New York respond
the social chaos?

Define the stages of revitalization process:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Steady State
Period of Increased Individual Stress
Period of Cultural Distortion
Period of Revitalization (including 6 functions)
New Steady State