1. World Religions, Sixth Edition Warren Matthews
Chapter One:
Religions of the Americas
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2. Characteristics of World Religions as Analyzed in the Text
The absolute, the world, and humans
The problem and solution for humans
Community and ethics
An Interpretation of history
Rituals and symbols
Life after death
Relationship to other religions
Objections to older scholarship

3. Religions of North America
Naskapi of Canada’s Labrador Peninsula near Arctic Circle – hunters with a spiritual view in a world of few resources
Powhatan of Virginia / Chesapeake Bay area – hunters, gatherers, and farmers who learned to use what the land offered them
Cherokee of Appalachian Mountains (North Carolina and Tennessee) forced to move to Oklahoma area – hunters and warriors who dealt with white settler encroachment and government interference
Hopi of the Southwest – Pueblo people who focused on religious rituals and ceremonies with costumes and masks

4. Naskapi (Northeast Canada)‏
Fishing/hunting society of the harsh Northeast Canadian climate
Understood the world as limited in resources
Saw all living things united by the world of souls – Mantu
Soul world provided the key to survival in harsh conditions
Gave the incentive to humans to live moral lives
Gave animals the will to provide for human needs
Led to dependence upon and gratitude toward nature

5. Naskapi (Northeast Canada)‏
People depend upon their Mista´peo (Great Man)
Active living soul of the person
Contact with animal souls, which provided for humans
Religious stories teach Naskapi understanding of the universe
Souls do not die, but are born and reborn
Unborn souls may be seen in natural phenomena

6. Area of Naskapi Inhabitation

7. Powhatan (Virginia coastal area)
Highly organized society
Hierarchical dictatorship
Mamanatowick (“great king”) sovereign over Powhatan tribes
Subordinate weroances / weroansquas
Temple priesthood
Hunting and agricultural society

8. Powhatan (Virginia coastal area)
Organized priesthood
Provided medicine – wisakon
Presided over formal worship
Included sacrifices to images
Recognized beneficent deity Ahone, malevolent deity Okeus
Life after death is pleasant and well defined
Without work, they go to fields to dance and play
They eventually die there, and are later reborn

9. Area of Powhatan Inhabitation

10. Cherokee (Southeast U.S.)
Larger group
Informal or clan organization
Open to many “Anglo” customs
Hunting and agricultural society
Matriarchal family descent
Proper activities based on gender, with provisions for working across gender

11. Cherokee (Southeast U.S.)‏
Religion organized by clan
Presided over by priests
Centered on rituals of remembrances and new beginnings
Sacred stories told at special times and circumstances

12. Area of Cherokee Habitation

13. Hopi (Southwest U.S.) Pueblo peoples of the Southwest U.S.
Lived in desert country
Were traditionally surrounded by enemies

14. Hopi (Southwest U.S.) Religion supports the community
Sacred underground religious sites – kivas
Special priests – kachinas
Costumed and masked figures
Animated by dancing
Represented ancestors, animals, or spirits
Assisted in training children in the rules of Pueblo society

15. Common Features of Native North American Religions
Society is henotheistic (one top deity among multiple deities)‏
Earth is a complex changing environment
Acted to separate sky above and waters below
Allowed life, humans, and animals to emerge on the earth from below
Was filled with spirit powers
Humanity and animals are kin
Suffering is attributed to human error or as the result of a human- sounding trickster deity

16. Common Features of Native North American Religions
Significant practices as seen throughout North America
Healing as a religious practice
Rites of passage as salient features of community life
Individual behavior evaluated in terms of tribal norms, including norms regarding appropriate sexual behaviors
Time understood as cyclical
Conception of reincarnation
Expectation of religious diversity

17. Religions of MesoAmerica and South America
Aztecs of Mexico – builders of stone-covered mounds, pyramids, and temples who believed in human sacrifices to the gods
Incas of Peru – wanderers who were directed to a sacred place to build and settle, who believed they were god’s people, chosen to rule the world

18. Aspects of MesoAmerican and South American Religions
The absolute, the world, and humans
The problem and solution for humans
Relationship to other religions

19. Aztecs (Mexico)‏ Highly organized society Agricultural base
Militarized
Major cities of thousands with monumental stone architecture
Tenochtitlán is major city

20. Aztecs (Mexico) Religious principles
Huitzilopochtli recognized as the preeminent deity
Human sacrifice practiced, seen as necessary to maintain the sun’s daily cycle
Agricultural concerns very important

21. Incas (Peru)‏ Highly organized Militaristic
Built cities with monumental stone architecture
Cuzco is capital city
Religious
The Inca is a religious figure
Sun and earth regarded as objects of veneration
Inti (and later Viracocha) recognized as the preeminent deity

22. The Empire of the Incas

23. Common Features of Native Mesoamerican Religions
Human beings, the earth, and cosmic forces/gods seen as interacting on an epic scale
By maintaining lawful life, humanity did its part to retain cosmic order and prosperity
Cities had their own patron deities
A diversity of gods was recognized