Lecture 4: Religion Flashcards
1
Q
Religion and the Real
A
- did God create the darkness and the deep? or was that there at the beginning of the world?
- the formlessness of the earth is important; it’s an image of Lacan’s the Real (even though Lacan doesn’t want his ideas connected to religion).
- what language was God speaking in when He said, “Let there be light”?
- separating the light from the darkness is creating categories; He’s creating reality.
- important: understand the difference between the Real and reality.
- in the Real there are no categories, no language, etc.
- we can’t talk about it, because once we do we start putting things into categories.
2
Q
Etymology and Clifford Geertz (1962-2006)
A
Etymology—Re-linking
- one possible interpretation is “re-link” (but it’s not likely). but what are we re-linking?
- perhaps it’s re-linking God with man.
- or linking reality with the Real.
- this is why everyone is religious in a sense; we all must strive to re-link the divide between our own existence and what transcends it.
- all religion is about the relationship between reality (as we discussed it) and something beyond it.
Clifford Geertz (1926-2006)
- religion is concerned with the “really real”.
- most of us would like to believe that there’s something beyond what we understand.
3
Q
The Enchanted World and “Double Belief”
A
The Enchanted Word
- the religious attitude (typically) recognizes sources of knowledge other than reason.
- enchanting; there’s some un-manifested force at work (esoteric).
- enchanted world: reality includes signs of (parts of) the Real.
- Bruno Latour; to modern people they world may seem disenchanted, but—without knowing it—they still see it as enchanted.
- people, even if they’re atheist, still have transcendental feelings about their connection between the Real and reality.
“Double Belief”
- it’s possible to believe and not believe in enchanted things such as: the magic identity of signifier and signified.
- e.g. there’s a magical board with the number 7988 on it in the lecture hall. what does this number mean? that the Messiah will arrive in 7988 minutes? why not?
- e.g. if I gave you a picture of your mother and a pair of scissors, why wouldn’t you cut out her eyes from the picture? there’s no connection with the signifier (photo) and the signified (your mother).
- rationally, you reject any mystical connection, but at the same time there’s enough irrationality in you to believe it.
- this doesn’t have anything to do with whether or not you’re religious, but it relates to the transcendental feeling you get from religion.
- “I don’t believe in God, but I don’t want him to know that.”—Naomi Gur (Kalmar’s Aunt)
- “I do not believe in God, but I believe God is man’s greatest idea.”—Camille Paglia (Author)
- how can you believe something’s a good idea if you don’t believe in it?
4
Q
Superstition, Idolatry, and Blasphemy
A
Is it possible to define religion?
- we don’t want to try and define religion because definitions are just translations of other words.
- probably everything we call “religion” is about re-linking with the real, but not everything that is about re-linking with the real would be necessarily called “religion”.
Superstition, Idolatry, and Blasphemy
- there’s a desire to keep religion pure from religion-like things (e.g. superstition, idolatry, and blasphemy).
- wrong forms of religion; a major concern in Abrahamic religions (i.e. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, in order of appearance in the world) especially.
- superstition aims to obtain favourable results from the sacred sphere (from outside Lacanian “reality”).
- it’s difficult to make a line between religion and superstition because of our relationship with the Real, where we expect things to act on us.
- 19th century Christians (among others) emphasized the difference between religion and superstition.
-
idolatry: worshipping signs (icons) of God as if they were God.
- these are (perhaps) specific to the Abrahamic religions.
- idol: a representation of a divinity that is mistaken by the idolater for the divinity itself.
- yet Abrahamic religions tend to accuse many Indigenous religions of practicing idolatry.
- icons are still holy; the practicers don’t see themselves as praying to a picture, but the signified.
- observed religions are concerned with linking us with the Real, but not with if it’s legitimate.
5
Q
Religion vs. Other Forms of “Re-linking”
A
- to some extent, what is or isn’t religion is a matter of arbitrary definition.
- it may be that the very concept of “religion” is a modern, western one.
examples: (refer to the assigned reading; Eller, Chapter 10)
- “belief”—some religions are about what you practice, not what you believe;
- “god”—Confucius and Taoism are not related to gods;
- “good over evil”—e.g. Balinese Hinduism in Indonesia portrays the eternal battle over good or evil, not the triumph of good;
- there’s no evidence to suggest that religious people are any more “good” than atheists.
6
Q
Universal Features of Religion
A
(refer to the assigned reading; Eller, Chapter 10)
- reaching beyond reality (as reality was defined in Week 3).
- reaching beyond culture (Lambek, U of T Professor)
- extending social relations beyond society (Robin Horton, Author)
- ritual
7
Q
Anthropological Attitude to Religion
A
- the goal is not to judge or to establish truth or falsehood.
- we don’t believe that one religion is better than another.
- recognize the nature and role of a religion in its cultural and social context.
- discover what “religion” might mean as a general characteristic of human society.
8
Q
Spirit Possession in Mayotte
A
(refer to the assigned reading; Eller, Chapter 10)
- Mayotte” a part of the French Republic island in Southeast Africa.
- they identify as Muslims.
- they believe in lulu (spirits); have a stable relationship with individuals they possess (about 25% of the population is inhabited by a lulu).
- these spirits are felt to be in the here and now, in their reality, not in another world.
- the lulu are not supernatural but extracultural.
Janice Boddy (U of T Professor)
- she studies spirit possession in Sudan; these spirits are called zar.
- also stable characters, associated with specific individuals.
- spirits are a part of the community.
9
Q
Trance Dance in Bali
A
- Bali: island in Indonesia with its own religion, related to Hinduism.
- powerful spirits that will enter anyone.
- two important ones: Rangda (mostly evil) and Barong (mostly good); they are eternally fighting one another so that the universe can have a balance.
- Rangda (often a woman-like monster) puts men in a trance and orders them to stab themselves with daggers, but Barong (often a man-like tiger) steps in and stops them.
- are they really in a trance, or are they faking it? is this even a good question?
- it is a “spiritual” (religious?) performance; it’s more than make-believe.
- Geertz; Balinese kingdoms were organized to produce plays.
- everyone participates, even now, it’s a civic duty.
10
Q
Religion and the Social Order: The Divine Right of Kings
A
- dei gratia regina: D.G. Regina on the back of our coins means “by the grace of God”.
- the title of the queen is Queen Elizabeth, by the Grace of God
- or Defender of the Faith
