Sociology 3301: Sociology of Religion
Overheads Lecture 5: Theoretical Perspectives on Religion 2:
The Cultural Construction of Religion
 We now turn to examine religion as a cultural system and
investigate the internal interrelationships between its elements.
 Rather than simply look at its cognitive aspects, we look at
“imaginative and narrative infrastructure” (e.g. experience,
symbols, stories, community, and ritual).
The Social Construction of Reality:
 Berger and Luckmann (1966) discuss how people’s conceptions
of reality were created and became institutionalized in society.
 Social order is a human product, an ongoing human production –
one that continually acts back upon its producer. It comes about
in a threefold dialectical process of (1) externalization; (2)
objectivation; and (3) internalization.
 Externalization: we create symbols and engage in symbolic acts
that help us to understand the world around us and communicate
with one another.
 Objectivation: this humanly externalized world comes to be
something “out there,” something that shapes and constrain the
actions of people.
 Internalization: the objectified world is reabsorbed into the
individual’s subjective consciousness through the process of
socialization.
 We now turn to explore the interrelated roles of religious
experience, myths, rituals, and symbol systems, and how these
relate to worldviews and ethos.
Experience of the Holy:
 Some, such as Otto (1923) argue that religious phenomena evolve
out of such seminal, non-rational experiences: the experience of
the holy (e.g. non-rational, mystical experiences).
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 Holiness cannot be reduced to intellectual concepts, and nobody
could ever fully understand it unless one had experienced it.
 According to Otto, rational and moral conceptions about religion
only come much later, as an outgrowth of attempts to make sense
of the experience itself.
 Otto elaborated on the quality of this experience, which he called
the mysterium tremendum et fascinosum. It is said to have 5
qualities:
(1) The individual is filled with a sense of awe and fear (e.g. Moses
confronted with the burning bush);
(2) One feels overwhelmed by the un-approachability of the holy
(e.g. the many ritual purifications required for the high priest to
enter the Jewish holy of holies once a year, and even then with
trepidation);
(3) Power, energy, or urgency. In this respect, people use symbolic
language like “vitality, passion, emotional temper, will, force,
movement, excitement, activity, and impetus”;
(4) The experience causes an awareness of the “wholly otherness” of
the holy. The holy is utterly like the familiar, profane world; and
(5) One feels a sense of fascination with and attraction to the holy.
According to Otto, all rational religious systems and theologies are
initially rooted in this non-rational religious experience.
 Yet, religiosity is multidimensional. While such experiences are
vital for some – and religious conviction is based on more than
mere ideas - they are not the only source of religious conviction.
 Greely (1972) notes that a sense of sacredness is not always the
same thing as religious commitment. People also have a tendency
to sacralize their ultimate systems of value, their systems of
ultimate explanation with much jealous reverence and respect.
 Greely thus separates two kinds of extraordinariness that have
been called religious: (1) the need to make sense out of life, to
enable for the meaningful interpretation of events; and (2) the
need for belonging, to feel connected to other persons, to
humanity, and the universe.
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 Thus, non-rational religious experiences:
(1) Vary greatly in intensity from one person to another;
(2) Vary in frequency and in one’s pursuit;
(3) Vary in context;
(4) Vary in content;
(5) The people who value and expect a religious experience are
those who report having had one; and
(6) A social group’s definition of what is normal or desirable
influences both the way individual members interpret their
experiences, and the kind of experiences they try to bring about.
 Ultimately, some form of non-rational religious experience seems
to be at the root of religious behavior for many people, but it is
not the only possible source.
Myth:
 Religious beliefs are usually expressed in the form of myths.
 Myths are stories or belief systems that help people understand
the nature of the cosmos, the purpose and meaning of life, or the
role and origin of evil and suffering.
 Myths explain and justify specific cultural values and social
rules. More than stories that lack empirical validation, they serve
as symbolic statements about the meaning and purpose of life in
this world.
 Myths have a powerful effect on the subjective, mental
organization of people because they communicate and
emotionally reinforce a particular worldview or a particular
outlook on life.
Ritual:
 Ritual appears to be at least as important to belief; there is
something about humans to which ritual and pageantry appeal.
 Religious ritual often involves affirmation of the myths and gives
emotional impulse to the belief system. Enthusiasm and mood
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can become contagious for many, while acceptance and
understanding of the belief system may be attained through
continual practice of the ritual.
 Ritual may involve the enactment of a story or myth, or may
symbolically remind one of the mythology of the faith by moving
participants through a series of moods (e.g. Communion; the
Protestant liturgy structure).
 Ritual and belief are often closely intertwined and tend to be
mutually reinforcing, yet the link between attendance and
orthodoxy is less than perfect for various reasons.
The Relationship Between Myth and Ritual:
 No generalization can be made about whether myth or ritual is
primary, for there is a wide variation among cultures, and even
within them. There may even be variations within a religion.
 Beliefs, ritual, and religious experience are important
components of religion, they are usually interrelated and
mutually supportive, and the integration of the three is itself
largely a matter of interpretation by believers and community.
The Importance of Symbols:
 Myths and rituals normally have a close relationship because
both are manifestations of a larger phenomenon: a system of
symbols.
 Sharing common symbols is a particularly effective way of
cementing the unity of a group of worshipers because their
meaning is multivalent. Rather than everyone sharing precise
intellectual definitions, they may be shared on the basis of nottoo-closely-defined-feeling (Nottingham, 1971).
 Meanings can only be stored in symbols (Geertz, 1958).
Religious symbols, dramatized in rituals or related to myths, are
felt to sum up what is known about the way the world is.
 Leach (1972) sees symbols as economical “storage systems” that
encapsulate knowledge, which ritual dramatizes in a manner
analogous to loading hardware with cultural software.
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 As such, rituals are vessels that carry powerful symbols and that
authoritatively transmit a worldview and an ethos.
 Symbols store meaning and can elicit certain attitudes or
dispositions. Hence, symbol systems are important in that,
together with their expression in ritual and myth, they act in
people’s lives.
Worldview, Ethos, and Symbols:
 Worldview refers to the intellectual framework within which one
explains the meaning of life. It refers to one’s mode of perceiving
the world and one’s general overview of life. It is often taken for
granted and seldom questioned.
 Ethos refers to attitudes or evaluations of life (moods,
motivations), while worldview refers more to an intellectual
process (the general order of existence). Both are necessary to the
establishment of a sense of meaning in life.
 The worldview is confirmed and made to seem objective by the
ethos. It is placed beyond question and is made absolute by the
sacred mood in which it is transmitted. In turn, the ethos is
justified and made reasonable by the worldview. In a wellintegrated religious system, these are mutually reinforcing.
 Symbols relate the worldview to the ethos, transforming fact into
value. They summarize the system of meaning and deliver that
meaning system with power and authority at appropriate times.
 The feeling of a firmly rooted worldview, with certain and
definite moral rules and regulations, is a compelling need for
many. Anomie can be very disturbing to people.
 One’s worldview must seem authoritative, certain, and
compelling. In the midst of alternative paradigms and
cosmologies, one’s worldview may become fragile and
vulnerable. Hence, the vulnerability of a worldview gets
concealed in an aura of sacredness.
 Without a basis in a compelling worldview, social values would
not seem compelling and social stability itself may be threatened.
 In the end, I summarize with the following four points:
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(1) Ritual and myth tend to be mutually reinforcing as symbol
systems;
(2) Symbols (including rituals, myths, and artifacts) encapsulate the
worldview and ethos of a people, and can elicit powerful
emotional responses and reinforce a general worldview;
(3) The ethos and worldview are themselves mutually reinforcing;
and
(4) Together, all of these elements provide a compelling basis for
social values.

Again, Problems, of course, can arise when a religious system is
not so well integrated and mutually reinforcing, or when these
various components do not harmonize.
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