r&c03-primal folk religions
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Folk Religions
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Formal
Formal, High, Universal Religion:
1. Universal cosmic truth
2. Describe the nature of reality
3. Concern for the purpose and destiny of theuniverse, society and the self
4. Institutionalized
5. Authoritative written texts
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Formal
Formal, High, Universal Religion (cont):
6. Defined theologies, and philosophies
7. Prescribed rites, rules and regulations8. Trained, often professional, specialists
9. A celebrated great tradition
10.May take folk expression
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Folk
Folk Religion:
1. Religion of common people
2. Closed systems versus universal3. Very diverse
4. Particularistic each clan or tribe has its
own gods, spirits, ancestors, practices,
beliefs
5. An animated world of spirits
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Folk
Folk Religion:
1. Concern for the meaning ofthis life and theproblem of death
2. The pursuit of well-being and success, andthe avoidance of misfortunes
3. The pursuit of a knowledge of the unknownto aid ones life in the present
4. Employ a wide variety of manipulativestrategies: shamans, rituals, amulets,charms, offerings, medicines, magic, etc.
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Terms
Other terms:
Primal
Prior to the universal or formal religions
Contains the basic features found in all religions
Assumes an evolutionary account of the origin of
religion
Preliterate
No literary tradition
No suggestion of evolutionary development from
a previous or earlier religion
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A Perspective
Oglala Sioux Indian, John Lame Deer through biographer Richard
Erdoes:What do you see here, my friend? Just an ordinary old cooking pot,
black with soot and full of dents. It is standing on the fire on top of that oldword stove, and the water bubbles and moves the lid as the white steamrises to the ceiling. inside the pot is boiling water, chunks of meat with boneand fat, plenty of potatoes.
It doesn't seem to have a message, that old pot, and I guess you don'tgive it a thought... But I'm an Indian. I think about ordinary, common thingslike this pot. The bubbling water comes from the rain cloud. It representsthe sky. The fire comes from the sun which warms us all - men, animals,trees. The meat stands for the four-legged creatures, our animal brothers,who gave of themselves so that we should live. The steam is living
breath. It was water; now it goes up to the sky, becomes a cloud again.These things are sacred. Looking at that pot full of good soup, I am
thinking how, in this simple manner, Wakan Tanka takes care of me. WeSioux spend a lot of time thinking about everyday things, which in our mindare mixed up with the spiritual... We Indians live in a world of symbols andimages where the spiritual and the commonplace are one... We try to
understand them not with the head but with the heart, and we need no morethan a hint to give us the meaning.
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Folk Religions
What characterizes the religion and
worldview of John Lame Deer?
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Definition
Folk religions are localized spiritual
expressions of a pre-scientific and pre-
technological milieu with a deep link with
nature and oral tradition.
The religion of the common people.
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The Formal and the Folk
Folk Islam
Chinese folk religions
Japanese folk religions Christian folk religions
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Characteristics
Localized
Are smaller in scale and self-contained
Tied to a particular geography Develop in close connection and
dependence with particular land and/or
water. The land shapes the people.
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Characteristics
Holism
Unity of experience lacking the
fragmentation of modern cultures intosecular and sacred. The sacred orspiritual is pervasive.
The whole of existence is sacred.
Interrelationships, cause/effectbetween gods/spirits humans andnature.
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Characteristics
Orality
No literary tradition, yet may have well
developed narrative tradition. Common in pre-scientific and pre-
technological cultures.
Mythological
Stories which attempt to express ultimate divinereality, basic truths, or inner meaning of life forbelievers.
The power of words and sounds
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Characteristics
Ritualistic
Rehearsals or performances of mythssuch as the original creative act.Reenactments.
Prescribed celebrations for greatmoments of life, such as birth, puberty,
marriage, sickness, planting, war, anddeath rites of passage
Fertility rites
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Characteristics
Shamanism
The key spiritual figure is usually the
shaman who is the tribal healer and whohas traveled the "geography" of the
spiritual realm and of death and has
returned to guide the people.
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Characteristics
Timelessness
Time not thought of in terms of linear
distance and inaccessibility.A presentbackdrop in which the gods and
ancestors simply are and are
accessible by people and peopleaccessible to them.
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Characteristics
Animism the natural world is alive withspirits,
Fetishism protection is sought by thepower of special objects,
Taboos prohibitions of certain behaviorsfor fear of dangerous contact with spiritual
powers.
Totemism - a tribal or personal associationwith an animal or plant as a source of identity
and spiritual power.
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What Happens?
What happens to primal religion when they encounteruniversal religions?
1. They die out
2. Affirmed in some modified form
3. Appropriated to the primal religion
[Filipinos] actively appropriated Western Catholicism according totheir cultural-religious way of feeling, thinking andbehaving. What happened here is a local example of the truth ofthe dictum, quidquidrecipitursecundummodum recipientisrecipitur(Whatever is perceived is perceived according to the
mode of perception of the perceiver.). In this way Christianitybecame part, no matter how unsystematically, of Filipino reality.Popular religiosity confirms in its own way the real acceptance ofChristianity by the people. But there is today a continuingdiscussion as to whether Filipinos had been truly Christianized, orwhatever Christianity had simply been Filipinized.
(Jos M. de Mesa, http://eapi.admu.edu.ph/eapr00/Mesa.htm)
God has the characteristics of Bathala, the primal deity.
Saints are spirits that control nature. Priests are regarded as shamans.
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What Happens?
Folk religion and Christian mission
Roman Catholic
High religion and low religionProtestant
Secularization
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Evangelistic Approaches
Establish relational bridge.
Credibility - cultural
Friendship Respect
Establish a conceptual bridge.
Build on existing ideas
Bring the truth across.
Be biblical
Be aware of your own cultural framework for
understanding Christianity.
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Evangelistic Approaches
Ask questions regarding the Supreme
Being.
What is the supreme God like?
Was there a time when He was close to
humanity?
What caused this separation?
Why does God seem distant now?
How do we offend Him?
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Evangelistic Approaches
Ask questions regarding the Supreme
Being
What are the consequences of offending
him?
Is there any way we can divert these?
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Worldview Assessment
Contrasting elements
Primal religions have a multiple gods.
Christia
nity
has
only
one God.
Primal religions believe that gods and
humans belong to one cosmic system,
depending on each other.
ChristianitybelievesthatGodisunique andnotdependentupon anything.
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Worldview Assessment
Primal religions believe in efficacy throughsacrifice and ritual.
In Christianity God does not depend on our sacrifices
because He provided for us the once and forall sacrifice of his Son.
He is not moved or manipulated by charms andrituals.
Gods power is not localized in any fetish objectnor does he identify himself or peoples withspecial totemic symbols.
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Worldview Assessment
Primal religions believe in mixing religion andmagic.
Christianityviewsmagicasincompatible with
beliefin the one true God. Primal religions have no revelation through
history.
Christianityishistoricalin thatitpointsto
importanteventsin which Godhasactedinhistory.
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Evangelistic Approaches
Teach the Bible storylineA sovereign transcendent Personal God exists
and created the heavens and the earth.
Man was created in some ways like God, the
creation centerpiece and therefore having
intrinsic worth.
Man rebelled against God and corruption and
perversion are the result. God has taken the initiative to save humanity
through his Son.
History is nearing Gods appointed conclusion