1. Spirituality, Religion, and the Supernatural
Chapter 13
Spirituality, Religion, and the Supernatural

2. Worldview
The collective body of ideas that members of a culture generally share concerning the ultimate shape and substance of their reality.

3. Religion Organized belief in the supernatural.
Fulfill numerous social and psychological needs.
No known group of people anywhere on the face of the earth, at any time over the past 100,000 years, have been without religion.

4. What Are Religion and Spirituality?
Religion is an organized system of ideas about spiritual reality, or the supernatural, along with associated beliefs and ceremonial practices.
Spirituality, which also concerns the supernatural, involves less formalized spiritual beliefs and practices and is often individual rather than collective.

5. Religion All cultures have religion
Deals with supernatural on some level
Some cultures do not have a specific word for religion, it is tied to everyday life
Religion is tied to the natural world

6. Religion and Symbols Religion has symbols
Actions, words, ideas, objects that represent something else
Symbols put together become a system of knowledge

7. Myths Sacred stories with supernatural explanations
A culture will see their myths as real
Usually concerns ideology and worldview

8. Rituals Anything you do in a repetitive nature Religion has rituals
2 types of rituals
Calendric
Crisis

9. Supernatural
The supernatural is around you all of the time, especially in non-industrialized societies
In a lot of cultures, health, wealth and daily things are related to supernatural.

10. Forms of Religion
Animatism – impersonal – impersonal power that exists out there – does not care about people
Deitys – Cares about people
Different forms
Anthropomorphic
Zoomorphic
Biomorphic
Most cultures are polytheistic

11. Dealing with Supernatural
Religion per se system – supernatural very removed and powerful
Magic per se system – deals with things on a small scale
Uses recipes
2 ways to use magic –
Contagious – obtain something from a person
Imitative – imitate desired effect

12. Functions of Religion Explain things Establish order Justifies things
Provides support
Socializes people
Vehicle for passage

13. Theories of Religion
Cognitive – give sense of meaning and purpose to the world
Psychological – how people cope with stress
Social Function – Looks at socialization and cohesiveness. Promotes conformity.

14. Non-industrial Cultures
Supernatural intervenes all of the time
Breaking a taboo
Angered ancestor spirit
Someone using magic

15. Levels of Religion
Individualistic – individual has direct contact with supernatural
Shamanistic – Shaman(s) deals with supernatural
Communal system – a lot of part-time specialists
Ancestor worship
Totem worship

16. Levels of Religion (con’t)
Ecclesiastical – religious bureaucracy. Full-time religious specialists

17. Examples of Religion Australian Aborigines and Dream Time
Maori of New Zealand

18. Major Religions of the World

19. Anthropological Approach to Religion
Religion is an organized system of ideas about the spiritual sphere, along with ceremonial practices by which people try to interpret and/or influence aspects of the universe otherwise beyond their control.
Spirituality is also concerned with the sacred, as distinguished from material matters, but it is often individual rather than collective and does not require a distinctive format or traditional organization.

20. Polytheism
Belief in several gods and/or goddesses (as contrasted with monotheism–belief in one god or goddess).
Pantheon
The several gods and goddesses of a people.
Animism
A belief in spirit beings thought to animate nature.

21. Judeo-Christian Theology
The patriarchal nature of Euramerican society is expressed in its Judeo-Christian theology, in which a supreme male deity gives life to the first man, as depicted here on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Only later is the first woman created from the first man.

22. Sacred Places
Pilgrims at Mount Kailash in Tibet. Rising 22,000 feet, this mountain has been held sacred for thousands of years by Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and followers of Bön.
Year after year pilgrims follow the ancient tradition of circling the mountain on foot, a holy ritual they believe will remove sin and bring good fortune.

23. Rites of Passage
Arnold Van Gennep rites of passage into the following:
Rites of separation
Rites of transition
Rites of incorporation

24. Rites of Passage Rites of separation Rites of transition
In rites of passage, the ritual removal of the individual from society.
Rites of transition
In rites of passage, isolation of the individual following separation and prior to incorporation into society.

25. Rites of Passage Rites of incorporation Rites of intensification
In rites of passage, reincorporation of the individual into society in his or her new status.
Rites of intensification
Religious rituals enacted during a group’s real or potential crisis.

26. Rites of Intensification
Rituals to mark occasions of crisis in the life of the group.
Functions:
Unite people.
Allay fear of the crisis.
Prompt collective action.

27. Witchcraft
An explanation of events based on the belief that certain individuals possess an innate psychic power capable of causing harm, including sickness and death.
Divination
A magical procedure for determining the cause of a particular event, such as illness, or foretelling the future.

28. Functions of Witchcraft
Effective way for people to explain away personal misfortune without having to shoulder any of the blame themselves.
Provides an outlet for feelings of hostility and frustration without disturbing the norms of the larger group.

29. Revitalization Movements
Social movements, often of a religious nature, with the purpose of totally reforming a society.

30. Sufism
A Sufi sema (prayer dance) in Istanbul, Turkey. Sufism, a mystical Muslim movement that emerged in the late 10th century, borrowing ideas from Buddhism, Christianity, and Neoplatonism, emphasizes the surrender of individual ego and attachment to worldly things in order to be receptive to God’s grace.

31. Cargo Cult
Spiritual movements in Melanesia in reaction to disruptive contact with Western capitalism promising resurrection of deceased relatives, destruction or enslavement of white foreigners, and the magical coming of utopian riches.