World Religions
Explaining the Unexplainable
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Relationship with a Deity
◦ Deity – god figure
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Expression of Goodness
Sacred Frame of Mind
Moral Exchange of Power
Ethical Practice
Set of Beliefs and Practices
What is Religion?
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Atheistic - no deity
Monotheistic - one deity
Polytheistic - multiple deities
Pantheistic - everything is deity
Animism – ancestors become spiritual
forces
Henotheism – believing in many gods, but
one of them is supreme
Types of Religions
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Belief in Supernatural
Sacred/Secular Divide
Communal/Individual Rituals
Moral/Ethical Code
Communication with Divine
Mythical (sacred) stories
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Social Organizations
Promise of Inner Peace/Harmony
Offer future hope
Propagate themselves
◦ Myth – story that attempts to explain the reality of
the world in which a person lives
Attributes of Religions
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Give Answers
Address Morality
Offer Control
Provide Society, Structures, and Values
Give Meaning to Existence
Show guidance of how to live
Function of Religion
Adherent - looking from the inside
 Opponent - from outside to prove
against
 Scholar - from inside to understand
 Seeker - from the middle with intent to
follow or not follow
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Perspectives of Religion
Began to view religion from outside in
1500’s
 Why Religious Studies?
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◦ Understand new cultures in travel
◦ Modernity (worldview of reason and rational
explaining)
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Responses to Religions:
◦ Exclusivism – only ours is right
◦ Inclusivism – ours is true, but others could be
right too
◦ Pluralism – every religion has truth
◦ Universalism – all willed be “saved”
History of Religious Studies
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French Wars of Religion (Cath./Protest.)
◦ French diplomat - peacemaker
◦ Didn’t believe Christians could solve war
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Wrote “Colloquium”
◦ Best religion is closest to Adam and Eve
◦ Earliest religion is the best religion
◦ Concerned with the best version of Christianity
Jean Bodin (1530-1596)
Lived during 30 Years War (Cath./Prot.)
 Diplomat
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◦ Seek religion accepted by majority
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Found common religious themes:
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One God
God is Worshipped
Virtue is Key
Repent of Sins
Afterlife Consequences
Edward Herbert (1582-1648)
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Studied myths and rituals of other groups
◦ “Primitive Mind” seeks to explain nature
 Gods are in control
 A basic mind cannot handle complexity, so a
simple concept must be presented (gods)
◦ Concludes that religion will be trumped by
Science
◦ Because religion was an attempt to explain
reality, science is the ultimate way in which one
explains reality
Brenard Fontenelle (1657-1757)
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Scottish Empiricist (no instinctual
knowledge)
◦ No spiritual realm
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“Natural History of Religion”
◦ Sources of Religion:
◦ 1) Nature’s Power
◦ 2) Anthropomorphism – assigning human
characteristics to a deity
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“No progression in religion”
David Hume (1711-1776)
“Religion is the opiate of the masses”
 Focused on the Economic Aspect
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◦ Have’s and Have Not’s
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Divides Social Functions:
◦ Sub-Structure - physical needs
◦ Super Structure - arts, philosophy, religion
History Is between Workers and Owners
 Religion is the Owners’ attempt to calm
the Workers
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Karl Marx (1818-1883)
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Founder of Sociology
◦ Sociology – the study of personal interactions
and the systems of those interactions
Religions based on Social Behavior
 Looks at Totemism
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◦ Sacred things are related to society
◦ Totem is unifying mark
◦ Religions worship themselves
Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)
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Founder of Psychoanalytical Technique
“Totem and Taboo”
◦ Monotheistic religion arises from mythical and
primal murder of father figure
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“Future of an Illusion”
◦ Religion is a coping mechanism
◦ Religion is illusion of wish-fulfillment
◦ Religion forces neurosis (deal with issues)
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
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Naturalism
Animism
Ghost Theory
Totemism
4 Theories of Origins
Naturalism – the idea that worship
originated with the fact that nature is
unexplainable, and therefore worthy of
worship
 Max Muller
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◦ Humans are in awe of nature
◦ Lightening, Rain, Fire, etc.
◦ Religion is personification of nature
Naturalism
Animism – the idea that religion
originated because all things had a spirit
that must be controlled
 Edward Burnett Taylor
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◦ “everything is inhabited by a spirit”
 Religion is interaction between human and spirit
 Many spirits but few gods
 Worship is control of unique spirits
Animism
Ghost Theory – the idea that religion
originated by seeing spirits/ghosts in a
dream state, thus the people’s spirit still
exists
 Herbert Spencer
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◦ People are confused by Real and Dreams
 You see dead people in dreams
◦ Ghosts must be alleviated
 Leads to ancestor worship
◦ Therefore, we are surrounded
Ghost Theory
Totemism – religion originated by means
of communities needing to control their
worlds and sacrificing to the group’s
icon/mascot
 W. Robertson Smith
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◦ Religion begins with sacred animal
◦ In times of need, sacrifice the animal
 Origin of sacrifice system
◦ Tribes have different animals as unifying
Totemism
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Indigenous - originating locally
◦ Traditional, aboriginal, tribal, primal, native,
oral, non-literate
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Common Features
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Oral/Spoken Religion
Connection to the Land
Life and Sacred Connected
Time is a Circle
Seasonal and Generational Cycles
Taboo – a rule that forbids a specific behavior
Indigenous Religions
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Relationship to Spirits
◦ Presence of Supreme Being
◦ Unseen Powers (human-like, nature, ancestors)
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Kinship to Creation
◦ Everything has spirit
◦ Earth as Mother (land is sacred)
◦ All creatures are kin (brother bear…)
Indigenous Religions
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Relationship with Power
◦ Sacred Sites
 Places have higher concentration of power
◦ Sacred Objects
 Power built through sacred practices
 Ritual objects retain power
◦ Women= mysterious and dangerous
Indigenous Religions
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Spiritual Specialists
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Storyteller - maintain oral tradition
Instrumentalist - communication with spirits
Sacred Dancers - make unseen visible (hula)
Shaman - heals phys/psych/spirit problems
 Techniques: herbs, sweat bath, massage
 Divination – the act of determining the past,
present, and future will of the god(s)
 Prayer, and chanting
 Altered Consciousness (drum, sing, drink,
drugs, etc.)
Indigenous Religions
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Group Rituals
◦ Rites of Passage (birth, manhood, womanhood,
etc.)
◦ Rituals of Survival (hunting, feasting, etc.)
◦ Rituals of Purification (marriage, errors, etc.)
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Individual Rituals
◦ Seek Visions
◦ Vision Quest
Indigenous Religions