what is religion? methodological approaches to the study of religion
TRANSCRIPT
HistoricalReligions “evolve”
Animism: Nature is alive
Naturism: Nature Worship
Polytheism
Monotheism
Metaphysics
Discreditedhttp://sguforums.com/index.php?topic=21846.15
Theorists
Sir Edward Burnett Tylor (1832-1917)
Herbert Spencer (1896-1909)
http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/richard.robbins/Belief/anthropology_and_religion-iimages.htm
Psychological
God is a projection of human needs
Wish-fulfillment
We created God in our image, not the reverse
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.artchive.com/artchive/m/michelangelo/creation.jpg&imgrefurl=http://artchive.com/artchive/M/michelangelo/creation.jpg.html&usg=__7I_aRH0KHztB_GaTHRmL5YDkKuo=&h=657&w=1152&sz=200&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=EEZCne1Khno46M:&tbnh=120&tbnw=210&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcreation%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den%26biw%3D1204%26bih%3D665%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=125&vpy=135&dur=4748&hovh=169&hovw=297&tx=164&ty=84&ei=fO8lTaiFL8T68AaYy9XZDQ&oei=fO8lTaiFL8T68AaYy9XZDQ&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=16&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0
Theorists
Sigmund Freud
Karl Marx
Carl Jung
William James
http://www.nndb.com/people/736/000029649/ http://www.enchantedmind.com/html/creativity/inspiration/creative_power_myth.html
http://www.nndb.com/people/569/000087308/
William JamesFounding theorist
Drew important distinctions:
Institutional and personal religion
Healthy-minded and sick-minded religiousness
Healthy-minded individuals tend to focus on the positive and the good, ignoring or de-emphasizing the evil
Hypothesis of pragmatism: if it works, people do it
http://toilet-shoppingmall.blogspot.com/2009_05_01_archive.html
http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/sites/pew.htm
FreudReligion is Pathological
Religion exists because of human psychological needs and processes
Fear of death, loneliness, meaninglessness
Oedipal Complex
“God” arises from individual experiences with primary caregivers
Oedipal Development leads to image of God as Father
http://www.paredes.us/edipo.html
Carl JungAgnostic: Impossible to know whether God exists
Theory: Collective Unconscious is source of “archetypes”
Collective Unconscious: an inherited awareness of human experience
Source of dreams
Archetypes are basic images that are universal in that they recur regardless of culture
Religion arises from the irruption of these images into consciousness
Also the source of artistic creativity
http://semantink.com/wordpress/tag/collective-unconscious/
Contemporary Theorists
Allen Bergin
Robert Emmons
Kenneth Pargament
James Hillman
http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/faculty/Emmons/
http://thinkinginamarrowbone.wordpress.com/2008/05/30/allen-bergin-encounters/
http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/44/23/33.1.full
http://www.jungatlanta.com/DecodingHillman.html
Psychology of Religion
Sociological ApproachExamines the role/purpose/ function of religion in society
Examines the relationship between religion and all aspects of society (interconnected and mutually reinforcing)
How does religion function?
Provides language for identifying and understanding relationship between religion and society (Denomination, Sect, Cult)
http://www.whyguides.com/why-is-sociology-important.html
SociologicalTheorist: Emile Durkheim
Religion arises from collective (social) needs and processes (vs. individual)
Thus religion “functions;” every aspect of it serves a purpose
Every culture “produces” religion
Thus to study religion is to study society
http://www.phillwebb.net/topics/society/durkheim/durkheim.htm
Marx
Religion is pathological
“the Sign of the oppressed creature, the opiate of the people”
Spirituality may arise from psychological processes, but RELIGION is created and used by the elite to control the masses
Economic and political influence religion, which alters culture
http://www.independentamerican.org/2008/08/04/government-schools-“the-opiate-of-the-people”/
http://www.green-blog.org/2010/02/19/karl-marx-and-the-metabolic-rift-theory/
Contemporary Theorists
Peter Berger
Robert N. Bellah
Thomas Luckmann
Rodney Stark
Robert Wuthnow
Christian Smith
Bryan R. Wilson
Catherine Albanese
Sociological
http://www.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&biw=732&bih=690&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=sociological+theor&aq=f&aqi=g2&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=
Phenomenological
Accepts that religion is real
Focuses on accurately describing religious experience
Emphasis on adherent’s language/perspective
Assumes that religion is comprised of different components
Assumes that comparing religious components across diverse religious traditions helps us gain deeper understanding
http://www.murray-gordon-consulting.com/Reality_and_Fantasy_in_Online_Groups.htm
PhenomenologicalTheorist: Micea Eliade
Theory of Hierophanies (manifestations of the sacred)
Distinct from Theophanies (manifestations of God)
Religion exists because of the interplay between the sacred and the profane
Theory of “Eternal Return”
Myths and rituals not only commemorate hierophanies, but also enable adherents to re-enact/ participate in them
http://www.alternativaonline.ca/Mircea%20Eliade_the%20sacred%20journey.html
Structuralism
Universal Brain Structure
Human culture the product of universal cognitive developmental processes and stages
Context and experience creates diverse details, but underlying patterns that create, shape, and sustain religion are universal
Patterns emerge through close observation and comparison
Claude Levi-Strauss
The “savage mind” is structurally identical to the “civilized mind”
Myths present a paradox: Specific features of mythic narrative are diverse and seemingly arbitrary, yet overall myths are remarkably similar across different cultures
Proposed: Universal Laws (of cognition) arising from human brain structure must govern mythical thought
http://geopolicraticus.wordpress.com/category/strictly-theoretical/page/2/
Myth
“Mythical thought always progresses from the awareness of oppositions toward their resolution”
Structurally, myths consist of Elements that:
Oppose/contradict each other
Mediate/resolve those oppositions
If myths, as examples of the most fantastic/ arbitrary products of religion, are developed according to universal cognitive laws, then ALL areas of human thought are governed by universal laws
http://www.fitnesscafe.in/web/
Analysis of Trickster myths
Trickster= mediator
Contradictory and unpredictable personality
Raven or coyote
Mediates between polar opposites-- Life and Death
Agriculture/Hunting
Herbivore/Predators
Ravens and Coyotes eat carrion-- neither predator nor herbivore
Mediation of Opposites
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Levi-strauss1.jpg