Religion
What is religion?
• 1.Stories that members believe are important
• 2.Use symbols and symbolism
• 3.Nonempirical – propose the existence of
beings, powers, places and qualities that cannot
be measured scientifically
• 4.Rituals and means of addressing the
supernatural
• 5.Society has religious experts
• 6.Religions are subject to change
History of study of religion
• E.B. Tylor, a founder of anthropology believed
religions progressed
– Animism – all objects, living and non-living have
spirits
– Polytheism
– Monotheism
– Evolving to be more logical and rational
History of study of religion
• E.B. Tylor, a founder of anthropology believed
religions progressed
• This view now discredited
• Anthropologists study how religion operates
within society and how it creates meaning for
people
What religion does in society
• Searching for order and meaning
– Explain the world and give meaning
– Provide cosmology – system of beliefs about
fundamental questions
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Nature of life and death
Creation of the universe
Origin of society
Relationships
– Gives the feeling people have some control
What religion does in society
• Searching for order and meaning
– Giving meaning to life can be one way to help
survive hard times
– The meaning found does not always bring peace
• Group suicides eg. Jonestown, Heaven’s Gate
• Oppression or genocide
What religion does in society
• Reducing anxiety and increasing control
– Rituals, prayer, sacrifice, performed to please
supernatural beings and to control forces
– These practices alter the emotional state
– Anthropologists are now working to understand
connection between prayer and mental state,
health
What religion does in society
• Reinforcing or modifying social order
– Religion usually works to preserve society
• Rationale for present social order
• Brings people together through common identity
• Education, passing culture on
– Can also be catalyst for social change when
prophets with new ideas change practices
– Or may preserve society by providing an outlet for
frustration
Characteristics of Religion
• 1. Stories, Sacred Narratives, and Myths
– Stories held to be holy and true by members of a
religion, tell historical events, origins, heroes, gods,
spirits. Terms us vs them
– Validate beliefs, reinforce tradition, solidarity
– Hopi ancient sacred blue corn farmed by clans
Characteristics of Religion
• 2. Symbols and Symbolism
– Multivalent – many different conflicting meanings
– Allows people to grasp complex abstract ideas
– Evoke emotions, feel close to god
Characteristics of Religion
• 3. Supernatural Beings, Powers, Qualities
– Beings apart from humans, not scientifically
measured
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Anthropomorphic – human form
Zoomorphic – animal form
Naturalistic – associated with features of nature
Anthropopsychic – personality similar to human
– Spirits can be happy /unhappy, stingy/generous eg.
Netsilik Inuit give soul of animal ritual so soul will
inhabit another animal and let hunter succeed un
hunt again
Characteristics of Religion
• 3. Supernatural Beings, Powers, Qualities
– God – a named spirit who is believed to have created
or to control some aspect of the world
– High gods- creator with ultimate power- only present
in half of all societies
• In one-third of these high gods are distant and withdrawn
• For example, Igbo of Nigeria – high god is accessible only
through prayer to lesser gods
Characteristics of Religion
• 3. Supernatural Beings, Powers, Qualities
– Polytheistic – many gods
– Monotheistic – one god
– Combination –
• many gods as many aspects of one god eg. India
• One god with many aspects eg. Roman Catholic trinity
Characteristics of Religion
• 3. Supernatural Beings, Powers, Qualities
– Trickster spirits are interested in their own benefit,
not human
• Some pure evil, devil
• Some more sympathetic, monkey, hyena, coyote
– Enlightenment – quality or state that is not subject to
measurement and verification
– Mana – religious power or energy concentrated in
people or objects, can be dangerous-taboos, mana
strong in transitional areas, doors, hair
Characteristics of Religion
• 4. Rituals and Addressing the Supernatural
– Ritual – a ceremonial act or gesture through which
people enact their religion
– Rites of passage
– Rites of intensification
– Prayer
– Sacrifice
– Magic
– Divination
Characteristics of Religion
• 4. Rituals and Addressing the Supernatural
– Rites of passage
• Mark the transition from one social status to another
• Birth, puberty, marriage, death
• Separation, liminal, reincorporation
Characteristics of Religion
• 4. Rituals and Addressing the Supernatural
– Rites of intensification
• A ritual to reinforce values and norms and strengthen
group identity
• Totem – object, animal species, or natural feature
associated with a group
• Australian aborigine totemism
• College sports
Characteristics of Religion
• 4. Rituals and Addressing the Supernatural
– Prayer
• Communication between people and spirits in which
people praise, plead or request without assurance of
results
• If prayers not answered then spirits didn’t want to
Characteristics of Religion
• 4. Rituals and Addressing the Supernatural
– Sacrifice
• An offering to increase effectiveness of a prayer or purity of
an individual
• Offerings of food, animal lives
– cattle sacrifices are community feasts for Nuer, East Africa,
• Sacrifice in form of changed behavior
– Giving up for Lent
Characteristics of Religion
• 4. Rituals and Addressing the Supernatural
– Magic
• A religious ritual believed to have mechanical control over
supernatural forces
• If done properly spirits will be compelled to follow
• Imitative magic – procedure looks like result
– Voodoo doll
– Baptism – wash away original sin
• Contagious magic – object that has been with a person
retains a connection
– Attach clothing or hair to voodoo doll
Characteristics of Religion
• 4. Rituals and Addressing the Supernatural
– Divination
• Ritual for getting information from supernatural spirits
• Predict future, diagnose disease, learn about past, find
objects, solve crime
– Scapulomancy – scorched scapula as map of hunt
– Willow branch divination for water
• Helps people make choices when they don’t have enough
information, all options are equal, group disagrees
Characteristics of Religion
• 5. Religious practitioners
– Shamans
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Hunt, garden, live like everyone else
Chosen by and able to enter spirit world by trance
Connection to spirits used for healing, divination
Most societies have shamans, shamans are only religious
leaders in band and tribal societies
Characteristics of Religion
• 5. Religious practitioners
– Shamanic curing
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Before modern medicine illness seen as spiritual imbalance
In trance shaman finds problem, attacks evil spirits
Pharmacopoeia – traditional medicinal preparations
Model of sickness and health is cultural and ceremonies
reinforce these and help heal
Characteristics of Religion
• 5. Religious practitioners
– Priests
• Person who is formally elected, appointed, or hired to full
time religious office
• In state societies, religion is an institution with ranked
offices
• Priests where religion has high gods and lay people are
separated from gods, priest mediates
Characteristics of Religion
• 6. Religion and change
– Religion explains the world, gives meaning, order,
relationships
– when the ideal is too different from people’s daily
experience change likely
– Religious movements
• Identify what is wrong with the world
• Present a vision of a better world
• Describe transition
Characteristics of Religion
• 6. Religion and change
– Nativistic – religious movement to restore golden age
believed to have existed in the past
– Vitalistic – looks to future utipoa
– Messianic – coming of an individual who will usher in
a new stage
– Millenarian – a disaster will destroy current world
and establish a just utopia