Anatomy

of the Sacred
An Introduction
to Religion

Sixth Edition

James C. Livingston
The College of William & Mary

PEARSON

Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458

 CHAPTER I
What Is Religion?

KEY WORDS AND NAMES

propitiation ontology
monotheism ultimate concern
polytheism self-transcendence
genetic fallacy archetypal

Overview
We begin our exploration of the anatomy of religion with the observation that
religion is a universal and abiding dimension of human experience. This is fol-
lowed, however, by a rather embarrassing admission, for when we attempt to
define this phenomenon, we immediately run into difficulties. We look, then, at
the problems connected with some of the influential definitions of religion. We
will see that, while none of them is fully adequate, they do give us valuable in-
sight into some essential aspects of religion.
The clue to the religious dimension of human life is likely to be found
in those characteristics that set us apart from other living species. This leads
us to a second question—"Why are we religious?"—and an attempt to answer
the question by looking at some unique features of human self-consciousness,
what is sometimes called our capacity for "self-transcendence" and what that
means.
A further preliminary question explored in this opening chapter is why we
should study religion, and why it is an important subject of study at this partic-
ular time in history. No doubt you will be able to come up with some additional
reasons of your own.

3
4 Pa r t I THE STUDY OF RELIGION Ch a pt e r I WHAT IS RELIGION? 5

DEFINING RELIGION definitions, these are not capable of serving as inclusive definitions. Here are our
examples:
Few aspects of experience reveal the wealth, variety, and complexity that we
encounter in a study of the religions of humankind. The playwright George
A. Religion is the belief in an ever-living God, that is, in a Divine Mind and Will ruling
Bernard Shaw once remarked, "There is only one religion, though there are the Universe and holding moral relations with mankind.
hundreds of versions of it." We wonder, however, what Shaw had in mind —James Martineau
when he spoke of one religion cloaked in a hundred forms. St. Augustine was
closer to the mark when he observed, "If you do not ask me what time is, I B. The essence of religion consists in the feeling of an absolute dependence.
know; if you ask me, I do not know." Religion, like time, is something we take —Friedrich Schleiermacher
for granted. We never doubt that we know what it is—until, of course, we start
thinking about it. Then we encounter some uncertainties. There are, however, C. Religion is that which grows out of, and gives expression to, experience of the holy in
some things about which we are certain. One is that religion is as old as hu- its various aspects.
mankind. The evidence of Neanderthal* and Cro-Magnon life—representing —Rudolf Otto
the earliest members of our own species Homo sapiens—is clear. From as long as
100,000 to 25,000 years ago, these humans practiced burial rites that indicate a D. Religion is the recognition of all our duties as divine commands.
—Immanuel Kant
belief in an afterlife. They also apparently practiced rites of propitiation**, that
is, made efforts to appease or conciliate spirits or powers. All cultures and so-
E. The religious is any activity pursued in behalf of an ideal end against obstacles and in
cieties about which we possess reliable information clearly reveal some form of spite of threats of personal loss because of its general and enduring value.
this behavior. There do not appear to be any modem societies without religious —John Dewey
beliefs and practices; however, there are individuals in modem societies who
do not exhibit conventional religious activity. Nevertheless, anthropologists F. Religion is the state of being grasped by an ultimate concern, a concern which qualifies
would agree that religion is a universal human phenomenon—a pervasive and, all other concerns as preliminary and which itself contains the answer to the question
as we shall see, enduring reality. A human being is rightly called Homo religio- of the meaning of our life.
sas, a religious animal. —Paul Tillich
If I speak so assuredly of the fact that humanity has practiced religion
everywhere and at all times, we would expect that I should be able to iden- G. Religion centers upon an awarenes and response to a reality that transcends ourselves
and our world whether the 'direction' of transcendence be beyond or within or both...
tify the meaning of the term or at least to describe the range of phenomena this object is characterized more generally as a cosmic power, or more specifically as a
to which the word religion applies. But here the difficulties already begin to personal God.
appear. It is a strange quandary: Unless we can define religion—that is, un- —John Hick
less we can indicate its reference range—it does not seem possible that we
can begin to inquire into its nature or history. It is the definition that desig- H. Religion is comparable to a childhood neurosis.
nates or delimits the type of phenomenon to be investigated. If we do not —Sigmund Freud
know what constitutes observations of religious phenomena as opposed to
other'phenomena—say, kinship, politics, or medicine—how can we begin I. Religion is the sign of the oppressed creature. ... It is the opium of the people. . . .
our study? Religion is only the illusory sun which revolves around man as long as he does not
revolve around himself.
Religion has been studied extensively, but those studies, by and large, have —Karl Marx
been based on rather intuitive and conventional notions of what defines reli-
gion. To indicate something of the problem, we can look at several influential
definitions or descriptions of religion. We will begin with two that assume some Each of these definitions or descriptions of religion is informative, and each
form of theism or belief in God or gods, but we will see that, in light of other has been influential. However, not one of them may strike us as fully adequate.
Obviously, they are not all compatible; some appear to be too limited in terms of
what we know about the variety of historical expressions of religion. Certainly,
the philosopher James Martineau would limit religion to monotheism and thus
’Words and names in boldface type are defined for you in the Glossary. would exclude the polytheism of much Greek and Roman religion, and popu-
”Words in boldface italics are Key Words and Names that are especially important in your under- lar Hinduism, as well as Theravada Buddhism and Confucianism, which are
standing of the concepts and themes in each chapter. nontheistic. This is hardly an adequate definition.
6 Pa r t I THE STUDY OF RELIGION Ch a pt e r I WHAT IS RELIGION? 7

a very informative concept. The definition offered by John Hick attempts to

emphasize that religion sees the object of its belief, loyalty, and hope as real, and
as transcendent of our human psychological or sociological needs, although
necessarily portrayed in human images and language.
The definitions—or, rather, theories—of Freud and Marx suffer from differ-
ent limitations. They are explanatory in intent; that is, they claim to explain why
or how religion came into being or why it persists—in these instances, as a psy-
chological neurosis or as an illusory happiness. They are essentially reductive in
that they seek to reduce religion to either psychological processes or socioeco-
nomic factors. Such an approach can be guilty of the genetic fallacy, the con-
fusing of the essence, value, or truth of religion with an explanation of its origin.
They may also, of course, be considered prejudicial because they regard religion
as something infantile and illusory that must be overcome.
This brief survey of influential definitions of religion has made us aware
that any one definition will likely have its difficulties and that there are certain
definitional characteristics that should be avoided. An adequate definition
should, for example, avoid narrowness, that is, not overlook or dismiss features
that are characteristic of religious traditions. Vagueness, a problem encountered
with Schleiermacher's definition, is also to be avoided. An adequate definition
should include both distinctiveness and generality; it should be distinctive
Monk in solitary meditation by a Zen rock garden inside a Temple complex in enough for us to be able to distinguish religious phenomena from other forms
Kyoto, Japan. This reflects the often-solitary dimension of religion. (Source: Courtesy of cultural life and expression, and yet it should be general enough to avoid be-
of Catherine Kamow, Corbis/Bettmann.) ing provincial, that is, relevant to only one religion or to religious life in one cul-
tural setting or one time period. Monotheism would be an example of a
The definitions of theologians Schleiermacher and Otto focus on the definition that lacks appropriate generality. It is also important that a definition
affective, or emotional and feeling, dimension of religious experience that is so of the nature or essence of religion not be confused with a causal explanation of
important. They point especially to the profoundly real and pervasive human why humans are religious, as we saw with the descriptions of Marx and Freud.
experiences of finitude and dependence, awe, fear, and mystery as essential to Finally, it should be evident that an adequate definition of religion should avoid
religious life. They appear correct in what they affirm but again narrow in what being reductive or prejudicial.
they leave out. The critical place of belief and the ritually and ethically active di- Perhaps the lesson to be learned is that we should give up the effort to
mensions of religion are left in the shade. In a different way, the definition of the define religion. Why, after all, should we think that the many religions of the
philosopher Kant also is too narrow in scope. Kant perceives the profound world have some "essence" in common? There are legions of particular reli-
moral dimension of religion, but he essentially reduces religion to the function gions, but perhaps no such thing as "religion." This sounds plausible, but there
of moral regulation; thus he leaves out important affective, aesthetic, social, and are two good reasons to pursue the quest for a working definition.
ritualistic dimensions of religious life. First, many scholars in the field will argue that the various religions do
The difficulty that we encounter in the valuable but problematic definitions share certain characteristics, structures, and analogies that set them apart as "re-
of the philosopher Dewey and the theologian Tillich is that they may be too in- ligion," that is, as distinct from other human activities. Following the philoso-
clusive. Dewey says that “the religious" is a quality of experience, a quality that pher Ludwig Wittgenstein's influential discussion of language games, it has
may be found in aesthetic, scientific, or political activity. For Tillich, the research been suggested that while religions may not share a discernible substantive
scientist or the political zealot whose commitment represents a "state of being essence they, like languages or games, share a family resemblance or certain
grasped by an ultimate concern" is, by his definition, religious. It was said of structural similarities. For instance, the philosopher John Hick draws the anal-
Dewey—not entirely in jest—that, for him, everything can be religious except ogy between "games" and religions and points out that each game or religion is
religion! It does appear, however, that for Dewey and Tillich almost everything similar in important respects to some others in the family, though not in all re-
and anything is capable of being religious. But if everything human is religious, spects. What they share is a network of overlapping similarities. In other words,
then it would seem to be synonymous with politics or artistic endeavor and not "there are no characteristics thatevery member must have; but nevertheless there
8 Pa r t I THE STUDY OF RELIGION Ch a pt e r I WHAT IS RELIGION? 9

are characteristics . . . which together distinguish [religion] from a different denies that anything is sacred, and that the latter is essentially a system of social
family."1 In the following chapters, numerous examples will be cited of the ethics. Both, however, are clearly worldviews. That is, they hold encompassing
structural features or "family resemblances" shared by otherwise seemingly claims regarding, for example, the path to and nature of liberation, or, in the case
quite different religions. of Confucianism, the social and moral Mandate of Heaven. They also include
A second reason to pursue a more adequate definition of religion is, quite ritual behavior and/or meditative practices; patterns of life; and certain, if only
simply, to avoid confusion and bias in an important field of study. If we are to implicit, metaphysical or philosophical claims. It is also the case that the same
study religion, we must have some sense of its defining features and bound- family resemblances to religions can be observed in ideologically secular soci-
aries. Definitions are a tool, like hypotheses or working models. They need not eties such as Russian Communism under Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924) and
claim immutability or perfect universality. Because our definitions must always Joseph Stalin (1879-1953) and the Chinese nation under the Communist ideol-
seek greater precision, comprehensiveness, and adequacy, no definition can ogy of Mao-Tse-tung (1893-1976). The latter includes Mao's "sacred" Red Book,
claim permanence. But that does not argue for falling back on conventional, un- the Sayings ofChairman Mao; Mao's image displayed everywhere; devotions and
reflective, often inconsistent and biased, usage. songs offered to Mao and veneration as a charismatic leader. Maoism involved
A currently influential and rather more satisfactory definition of religion is liturgical practices; it demanded purity of doctrine; and it proclaimed an
one proposed by the anthropologist Clifford Geertz. It is primarily a functional- eschatology.3
ist definition, but one that also attempts to recognize the "realistic" character of This also applies, to a degree, to some secular and atheist ideologies, for ex-
the objects of religious experience without attempting to speculate about their ample, the claims of some sociobiologists, behavioral psychologists, and popu-
status or nature. Geertz offers the following rich, manifold definition: lar scientific writers. While they do not exhibit traditional religious behavior,
they do zealously maintain beliefs in a comprehensive worldview that entails a
Religion is (1) a system of symbols which acts to (2) establish powerful, perva- faith in and a commitment to materialist and/or determinist doctrines of nature
sive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in [people] by (3) formulating and human life. Not infrequently this form of scientism includes moral ideas that
conceptions of a general order of existence and (4) clothing these conceptions are inconsistent with their ontology or theory of being.
with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely In this text we will examine ideologies that, while not reflecting all the com-
realistic.2
mon features of traditional religion, will nonetheless show a "family resem-
blance" to some religious traditions. Here Paul Tillich's definition of religion as
This definition includes a number of noteworthy features. First, a religion is the depth dimension of a life, as "the state of being grasped by an ultimate
a holistic system, a many-faceted model or envisionment of the world and hu- concern," is especially illuminating in that it perceives the resemblance among
man life. Second, such a system of symbols profoundly influences the moral ideologies, worldviews, and religions.
ethos, that is, human action, both in terms of the intensity of moral feeling and
the direction of human behavior. Third, religion creates not only deep-felt moral
dispositions and behavior but also a worldview, a set of beliefs or more devel- WHY ARE HUMANS RELIGIOUS?
oped conceptions of a general order of nature and society. Finally, a religion
clothes its system of symbols in "an aura of factuality" that gives to the symbols If we are correct that religion is both universally common and unique to our
their "realism" or quality of pointing to an objective order or reality outside of species, then we might expect to find the clue to why human beings are religious
and independent of the subjective experience of the religious community. As a in those characteristics that distinguish us from other species. Through the cen-
social scientist, Geertz naturally remains within the interpretive sphere of the turies, thinkers have attempted to suggest what is unique about humankind. We
human symbol system and does not philosophize about the symbol's transhu- are called Homo sapiens, a Latin term indicating that we humans are essentially
man nature or reality. But he recognizes this "aura of factuality" as crucial to any sapiential, that is, possessed of wisdom or rationality. Others have spoken of
religious ethos. Homo faber, human beings as makers or creators; Homo ludens, human beings as
This text adopts Sacred as the term that best conveys, in the most general players or actors; or Homo viator, humans as those beings who hope.
way, that objective reference or ultimate reality about which the religions speak All these terms imply that we humans possess a distinct form of self-
or to which their symbols point. The working definition of religion that I then consciousness. The human self is unique in that it can be an object to itself. We
propose is the following: "Religion is that system of activities and beliefs di- are not only conscious, like other animals, but also self-conscious. We can stand
rected toward and in response to that which is perceived to be of sacred value clear of ourselves, of our immediate environment, even of our entire world—
and transforming power." and look at ourselves, our environs, and the cosmos and make judgments about
The question, however, has been asked: Is the Theravada Buddhism in south them. We can contemplate and reflect not only about means but also about ends,
Asia, or traditional Chinese Confucianism a religion? Some argue that the former about the meaning, value, and purpose of life. We can look about us and say, for
IO Pa r t 1 THE STUDY OF RELIGION Ch a pt e r I WHAT IS RELIGION? II

example, "Vanity, vanity, all is vanity"; or we can come to a very different con-
clusion and rejoice, "God's in His Heaven and all's right with the world." WHY STUDY RELIGION?
It is from this fact of self-consciousness, or self-transcendence, that the press- We began this chapter by asking "What is religion?” We found that the question
ing questions of life come flooding in on us: "Why am I here?" "Why do right- does not lend itself to a simple answer and that it may be wiser for us first to de-
eous people suffer?" "To whom or what do I owe my ultimate loyalty and scribe a rather wide range of religious belief and practice before we try to say
devotion?" "Is death the end?" These are what philosophers call the existential definitively what constitutes the essentials of religion. Why human beings are
questions of life; they are universal and perennial; they are part of what it means religious, we found, is more readily answerable, in view of our unique capacity
to be human. To deny such questions concerned with life's meaning—moral for self-transcendence, which provokes those urgent and perennial existential
obligation, guilt, injustice, finitude, and what endures—is to be less than human. questions about life, death, evil, and obligation.
That is why much recent talk about secularization or the widespread rejection of Before we examine some of the classic forms of religious belief and expres-
religious belief and institutions is, at a fundamental level, merely superficial. sion as exhibited in diverse traditions, there are three additional questions that
We as human beings need sets of coherent answers to our existential ques- are important to consider. The first is why we should study religion and the sec-
tions as well as archetypal patterns of behavior and frames of reference because ond is how we should undertake the study of such a rich and manifold phe-
our lives, unlike those of other animal species, are not definable solely in terms nomenon. Third, we need to examine some of the issues that arise when we
of the satisfaction of the basic biological needs of food, shelter, and sex. While a attempt to interpret and to explain religious belief and behavior. We will discuss
fully human life obviously includes the satisfaction of these drives, they are not the first question here and will explore the second and third in Chapter 2.
sufficient to satisfy such a life. We have other rational, moral, social, aesthetic, There are some very good reasons why it is especially important, even
and religious needs that, strangely, have no limits and cannot easily be satisfied. crucial, to study religion at the present time.
We are a union of nature and spirit and our consciousness of the tension be-
tween our spiritual or religious aspirations and our finitude and creatureliness— 1. To understand Homo religiosus. First, religion should be studied because we
that we are both free of nature and yet bound by nature—leads to our existential are Homines religiosi. As we have seen, part of what it means to be human is
anxiety but also to our spiritual quests. reflected in our capacity for spiritual self-transcendence. We ought, there-
As humans, we are all too conscious of those things that challenge and fore, to study humans as religious beings just as we study humans as a bio-
threaten to destroy our deepest commitments and values—things such as logical species, as political creatures, or as beings possessed of aesthetic
moral failure, tragedy, inexplicable evil, and death itself. These realities can fill sensibility—if we are to understand human life in its fullness.
us with dread and terror, in part because they lie outside our ability to control. 2, To overcome our ignorance. Despite the rather high standard of education in
The sociologist Thomas O'Dea has spoken of religion as a response to three Europe and North America, most of us remain surprisingly ignorant of the
fundamental features of human existence: uncertainty, powerlessness, and history and current beliefs and practices of the world's great religious
scarcity. Religion is rooted, certainly, in a wider range of human experience traditions—even of our own. In high school or in college, we may have
and emotion than these, including such positive experiences as wonder, trust, done advanced work in mathematics or chemistry, English literature or
love, and joy. But O'Dea is correct as far as he goes. The brute facts of our ex- American history, but most students have not been exposed to a rigorous
istence do bring us face to face with questions about which our normal prac- study of religion in its various manifestations. If we have grown up in a
tical techniques and scientific know-how are powerless to provide answers or religious tradition, we may have attended Sunday school or have taken
solutions. instruction for our bar mitzvah, but very often this proved too elementary
Unless these questions receive adequate answers—unless these "limit situ- and did not progress beyond our early teen years—and, of course, had lit-
ations" of finitude, uncertainty, suffering, guilt, and failure are capable of being tle to do with religious traditions other than our own. We often have a nar-
seen in some larger system of meaning or transcendent perspective—then row, ethnocentric view because we naturally tend to identify religion with
morale may founder and cynicism and despair may begin to eat away at trust experience of our own tradition or with those conventional forms of reli-
and hope. Religions are the vindicators of a holy and moral order in the face of gious behavior that we observe in our own communities. We are reminded
the world's chaos and evil. If we ask, then, "Why are human beings religious?" of Parson Thwackum in Henry Fielding's novel Tom Jones: "When I men-
the answer is that humans want to be delivered from the loss of meaning, from tion religion, I mean the Christian religion; and not only the Christian
moral guilt, and from the threat of finitude and fatedness. Humans want to ex- religion, but the Protestant religion; and not only the Protestant religion,
perience the joy and the moral animation accompanying the trust that we live but the Church of England." Needless to say, this can result in uninformed
in a spiritual world of moral meaning whose current leads not to death but to or poorly informed views, or, worse, in dangerously parochial or prejudi-
life and hope. cial attitudes.
12 Pa r t I THE STUDY OF RELIGION Ch a pt e r I WHAT IS RELIGION? 13

3. To comprehend our culture. A third good reason for studying religion is to demands a thorough knowledge of the other party and genuine willing-
understand better our own history and culture as well as those of others. ness to be open and receptive to what that party is saying. It requires that
The American experience is not fully comprehensible without understand- all those engaged in dialogue seek real understanding. The effort to
ing, for example, the effect of Puritanism on the early history of the nation, achieve such interreligious communication and a more global perspec-
the spread of the evangelical "Protestant ethic" westward in the nineteenth tive on world affairs is not a mere luxury of a liberal-arts education. It
century, or the role of the Bible in shaping the life and character of the is critically necessary to maintain world peace and to ensure human
American South. Similarly, it is not possible to comprehend European or survival in the years ahead.
South Asian culture without appreciating how, in each instance, Christian 5. To help us formulate our own religious belief or philosophy of life. A final reason
or Buddhist ideas have informed cultural beliefs about nature, self, that can be suggested (this list is not exhaustive) for studying religion is that
family, government, and work. We can easily forget that it is only in recent it can help us to reflect more systematically on some of the ultimate ques-
times, and outside the Third World, that there has been a conscious effort tions of life and death, and thereby it can help us to formulate our own
to distinguish between a society's religion and its culture. Religious beliefs religious beliefs or philosophy of life. Socrates was right in saying that "the
nevertheless continue, largely unconsciously, to shape the values and unexamined life is not worth living," although Woody Allen pointed out
institutions of a society that may no longer hold a common religion or that the examined life is not a bed of roses either. As persons who claim to
maintain an established church. We may be fairly certain that the complex be educated, we should make every effort to see that our fundamental
yet ordered fabric of any culture is woven from the loom of fundamental beliefs and convictions about life are brought to consciousness, are made
religious assumptions, loyalties, and hopes. explicit, and then are carefully examined and critically tested.
4. To achieve a global perspective. Due to the modern scientific and technolog-
ical revolution—particularly in mass communication and transportation— It is not easy to be reflective about our own beliefs since these beliefs are
we find ourselves today living in a rapidly shrinking world. Space often so basic as to be taken for granted. What is required is to step back and
exploration has made us acutely conscious of the fact that we are traveling see ourselves from a different perspective—to see ourselves, perhaps, as
on a small globe called Earth and that we humans may be endangering life others see us. Unless we look at our beliefs from a fresh and different
itself on this remarkable planet. Technology certainly has proved ambigu- perspective, we may not even notice them. They remain unconscious and un-
ous. The knowledge explosion can liberate human lives, but it can also cre- critical guides and energizers of our actions. We can learn a great deal about
ate resentment, distrust, and fear. Nuclear power can warm our homes, the strengths and deficiencies of our own religious beliefs and behavior by
and it can destroy civilization as we know it. Technology has made us more looking at them from other points of view, especially those of an honest and
conscious of our human interdependence, but that can be threatening. If we friendly critic. The Protestant can learn much about his own religion from a
are to maintain peace and establish a stable world order among the nations, Catholic, as can a Catholic from the experience of a Protestant. The Buddhist,
it is imperative that we achieve a knowledge and understanding of and an for example, can awaken Christians to the rich resources of meditation in
empathy for beliefs and ways of life that we now find very foreign to our their own tradition.
own. We cannot possibly understand another people or culture without a We are often hesitant to look at other faiths or to examine our own critically
thorough knowledge and appreciation of the role of religion in its life. The because we feel that, in so doing, we are being disloyal to our own deeply felt
failure of the U.S. government to grasp fully the religious dimensions of the convictions. That is a natural and healthy reaction. And yet our beliefs are not
conflicts in Southeast Asia and Iran explains, in part, our serious miscalcu- worth very much if they cannot stand up to any scrutiny. Also, without exam-
lations and errors of judgment in those regions in recent history. Many of ining our beliefs, without looking at them from new and different perspectives
the tragic conflicts in the world today are rooted in long-standing religious and possibilities, we cannot expect our minds and spirits to grow, or to move on
differences and animosities. We need only think of the conflicts between to deeper levels of insight, understanding, and sympathy. It would be foolhardy
Arab and Israeli, Indian and Pakistani, and Protestant and Catholic in in any other field of human endeavor to think that our knowledge and under-
Northern Ireland. standing should remain frozen at a particular stage or level of maturity. It is, in
It is paradoxical that our growing awareness of our proximity to, and fact, rather presumptuous to think that we have already plumbed the depths of
dependence on, other peoples and nations has fueled disputes and wars even our own religious tradition.
at the same time that it has made us conscious that we are now living in To be self-conscious and reflective about our beliefs does not mean, of
a genuinely ecumenical, that is, worldwide or global, age. For the first course, that we become so open that our minds begin to resemble the proverbial
time in history, there is a real opportunity for contact and dialogue among sieve that cannot retain anything and through which all beliefs pass as though
the great religious traditions of the world. True dialogue, however, equally true and valuable. That is spiritual promiscuity. Our temptation today
 14 Pa r t I THE STUDY OF RELIGION

appears to be to fall into either an uncritical and slothful relativism or an

uncritical and slothful dogmatism. To remain both committed and yet open, to
hold a critical faith, takes real courage.
CHAPTER 2
The honest exploration of others' beliefs usually will lead to a deepening

Ways of Studying Religion

and broadening of our own, but this is not a foregone conclusion. Honest ex-
ploration of a variety of religious beliefs and practices not only may cause us to
reconceive our own religion in new ways, but also may force us to a painful
réévaluation of long-held and deeply felt convictions and perhaps to a change
of allegiance. It is a risk, but it is the risk of being educated and of living in a dy-
namic world of competing beliefs and values. The philosopher Nietzsche was
correct when he said that real courage is not the courage of our convictions but
the courage to examine our convictions.

NOTES
1. John Hick, An Interpretation of Religion (New Haven, Conn., 1989), 4. See also, KEY WORDS AND NAMES
Robert McDermott, "The Religion-Game: Some Family Resemblances," Journal of the
American Academy of Religion 6 (1970). theology psychology
2. Clifford Geertz, "Religion as a Cultural System," in Reader in Comparative Religion: An Sigmund Freud
literary criticism
Anthropological Approach, William A. Lessa and Evon Z. Vogt, eds. (New York, 1979),
79-80. textual criticism Carl Jung
3. Robert J. Lifton, Revolutionary Immortality: Mao Tse-tung and the Chinese Cultural documentary criticism Gordon Allport
Revolution (New York, 1968). historiography intrinsic and extrinsic religion
anthropology philosophy
Emile Durkheim the falsification principle
REVIEW QUESTIONS functionalism the phenomenological method
sociology hermeneutics
1. How would you have defined religion prior to reading this chapter? What factors do Max Weber descriptive and explanatory reduction
you think influenced your choice of this definition?
2. According to the author, what are some of the problems with the definitions listed on
page 5? Do you see these as problems?
3. What does the author think are the characteristics of an adequate definition of
religion? Do you agree? Why or why not? Overview
4. What is the working definition of religion proposed by the author?
5. Why does the author think human beings are religious? Can you think of other We begin this chapter by examining the various ways of studying religion. Reli-
reasons? Do you think humans are inherently religious? gion is not an academic discipline in the sense that we can speak of the scientific
6. Summarize the five reasons the author gives for studying religion. Can you offer method or of historiography as a discipline or a methodology. Rather, it includes
other reasons? many disciplines or scholarly methodologies. Each discipline is used because of
its appropriateness and its fruitfulness in answering certain kinds of questions.
For example, if we want to find out if a sacred text is the work of one or of sev-
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING eral authors, we need to apply the tools of literary-documentary criticism. If we
want to find out how a ritual functions in the larger cultural life of an African
(See Chapter 2) tribe, we would best employ the methods used by the anthropologist. This
chapter examines disciplines or methods widely used (our study cannot survey
all the methodologies available) in the scholarly study of religion. But before we
do this, we must say a word about the study of religion and theology.

15
 16 Pa r t I THE STUDY OF RELIGION Ch a pt e r 2 WAYS OF STUDYING RELIGION 17

apply to other, possibly quite alien, traditions. The scholarly legitimacy of their
THE WAYS RELIGION IS STUDIED
work depends, then, not on whether they are, for example, an agnostic or a
Religion and Theology Lutheran, but on their commitment to those scholarly tools and methods widely
How does one go about the study of religion? Religion constitutes afield of study agreed on by scholars who work in the field.
that includes many disciplines, including a variety of types of literary analysis There are, to be sure, some Bible and theological schools that reject the ap-
or criticism; history; the tools of sociology, anthropology, psychology, and phi- plication of those literary, historical, and social-scientific methods that have
losophy; and many more subfields, such as archeology. come to be accepted by the scholarly community. They see their task as simply
In our present culture, we often associate, even identify, religion with the uncritical transmission of a tradition or indoctrination. While such organi-
theology (from the Greek logos, "speech" or "inquiry," concerning theos, or the zations have the fullest freedom to carry out their educational mission, this mis-
"gods"). We already encountered a difficulty in this equation since not all reli- sion must not be identified or confused with the academic study of religion or
gions are theistic. Theology is, however, an accredited and respected academic with the critical study of theology.
pursuit in our society. A number of great universities have distinguished theo- A discipline is used in the study of religion because of its appropriateness
and its fruitfulness in answering certain kinds of questions. For example, if we
logical faculties or schools attached to them with renowned theologians en-
gaged in scholarship and teaching. Is not theology, then, an appropriate subject want to find out if a sacred text is the work of one or of several authors, we need
to apply the tools of literary-documentary criticism. If we want to find out how
within the broad academic field of religion? The answer, perhaps surprisingly,
is a qualified yes. This requires some explanation. a ritual functions in the larger cultural life of an African tribe, we would best
For a subject to claim to be open to scholarly study, certain rules need to be employ the methods used by the anthropologist.
A rather brief description of some of the academic disciplines used in the
agreed on. One critical scholarly rule is that persons studying a subject cannot
study of religion is sufficient here to introduce you to these fields. (For further
appeal to criteria of analysis or evidence that are, in principle, unavailable to
information, see the "Suggestions for Further Reading" for this chapter.)
others who, though perhaps not believers, possess the requisite scholarly tools,
empathy, and understanding. A second rule of academic scholarship is that a
study should involve some form of critical analysis, that is, that it not consist Literary Criticism
merely of rote memorization, simple indoctrination, uncritical advocacy, or the Literary criticism is important in the study of religion because the events, be-
effort to proselytize. liefs, and authoritative teachings of a religion are often found in a collection of
Furthermore, a science of theology cannot remain at the level of merely sacred writings, such as the Bible, the Qur'an, the Buddhist Sutras, or the
describing and transmitting the teachings of a religious tradition or community. Analects of Confucius. The literary critic asks certain highly important questions
As a science, theology must be prepared to deal with explanatory questions of var- regarding these sacred texts or scriptures: Is it a version or translation of a more
ious kinds. These impose certain requirements on the theologian: (a) No "limits original and reliable text? Who was the author? When was the text composed?
can be set on who can participate in this examination, even though some may Where was it written and to what audience? What was the author's specific pur-
be more qualify as experts than others . . .." (b) No solution can be based on pose? What types or genres of literature are used by the writer(s)? How was the
privileged beliefs. "Clearly, we hold certain basic beliefs on which we base other work received, edited, interpreted, and passed on? If we can gain answers
beliefs. . . . But when basic beliefs are called into question, rational discourse to these kinds of questions, we have come a long way toward understanding a
requires that reasons be given on their behalf.... (c) Consequently, all [scientific] particular sacred text.
beliefs must ultimately be treated as hypotheses. As hypotheses they must be
internally coherent (consistent) and clearly criticizable."1 Now, many departments Textual Criticism The work of the literary critic often is divided into two distinct
or schools of theology are open to and employ those same academic tools and critical tasks: lower, or textual, criticism and higher, or documentary, criticism.
methods, such as literary and historical criticism, approved and used by schol- Textual criticism uses a number of methods and procedures to try to determine
ars of religion. It would be perfectly legitimate, for example, to include in a whether we are reading the original or the most authentic version of a particular
department of religion a philosophical theologian—a person who, using beliefs text—or a later copy that may have been altered, revised, ör edited.
and forms of experience drawn from her or his own religious tradition, applies The Christian Bible is an excellent example because sometimes we forget
to these materials the tools of philosophical analysis. The same would hold for that the Bible was originally composed in Hebrew and in koine, or common
a historical theologian a Catholic, for example, who, is an expert on the thought Greek, not in English. What we presently have are translations. Furthermore,
of Thomas Aquinas, or a Jew whose specialty happens to be nineteenth-century our English, French, or German translations are not based on the original
Jewish theology in Europe. What is crucial is that they be willing to apply to copies—"autograph" copies—of the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts. The earliest,
their own tradition the same critical tools and forms of analysis that they would yet incomplete, texts of the entire Bible are Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus,
18 Pa r t I THE STUDY OF RELIGION Ch a pt e r 2 WAYS OF STUDYING RELIGION 19

both in Greek script from no earlier than the fourth century, c.E. Sinaiticus was eyesight, coupled with poor light, was the likely cause of mistakes in spelling
discovered in 1859. It contains the entire New Testament but only part of the Old and punctuation, or in omissions. The scribe frequently found it difficult to dis-
Testament. It was very influential in establishing the text of the Revised Version tinguish between Greek letters that resemble one another.
of the New Testament in 1881. Vaticanas lacks 46 chapters of Genesis, 30 Psalms, Some changes in scriptural texts resulted from scribal errors of judgment.
and several minor epistles and the Book of Revelation from the New Testament. Words and notes standing in the margin of an older copy occasionally, due to
Scholars do, of course, have access to many papyri manuscripts and fragments uncertainty, were incorporated into the text. Zealous copyists often sought to
of New Testament books dated before the fourth century, but nothing as early improve spelling and grammar, and sometimes they even harmonized discor-
as the first century, c.E. dant parallels of important passages or attempted to clear up historical or geo-
The textual critic, therefore, has the formidable task of attempting to estab- graphical discrepancies. The shorter form of the Lord's Prayer in Luke 11:24, for
lish a text that comes closest to the original so that it will more completely reflect example, was assimilated in many copies to agree with the familiar longer form
the author's words and enhance the reader's understanding of early Christian- in Matthew 6:9-13. Many intentional changes were made, of course, in good
ity. Part of the textual critic's difficulty is that an early manuscript is not neces- faith, the scribe believing he was improving or correcting the text. Changes of a
sarily the most original or authentic. Copies were made by hand before the doctrinal nature were less frequent but usually more serious. We know, for in-
invention of the printing press. Since errors, deletions, and additions can be stance, that in the second century, Marcion, an early Christian heretic, removed
made in hand copying, they can occur early just as well as late in the transmis- from his copies of the Gospel according to Luke all references to the Jewish back-
sion of a text. Comparison of the earliest available manuscripts demonstrates ground of Jesus.
that this did in fact take place. Most errors in copying were unintentional. Bad To underline, as we have, the possible errors involved in the transmission of
the text of the New Testament is not meant to contest its spiritual authority or
its historical reliability; nor is it meant to give the impression that the early
KY I -CNKAJOyKI IftOI •a c i Yk u v iiu rn-rt, scribes were inept or unreliable. On the contrary, their work was usually metic-
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the Buddhist Tripitaka or the earliest Muslim traditions about Mohammed. The
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rative text possible as the first step to genuine interpretation and understanding
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of a sacred writing, whether it be the Bible or the Analects of Confucius.
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assuming a given text, the documentary critic is concerned with establishing
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whether a writing is a whole or a composite work of more than one author or
MU>ŷc«a>C<IAO4F v t ccjyKOia x i~ editor, when and where the work was composed, to whom it was addressed,
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they have made to our understanding of the Book of Isaiah in the Bible. For cen-
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turies, this book was thought to be the work of one writer, Isaiah of Jerusalem,
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łcHAf oAKNcrj-ł Today, it is almost universally recognized that Isaiah is the work of at least two
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or three distinct authors with different audiences and purposes in mind. Our
> »ƒ 'SA understanding of the book is, to say the least, much enhanced.
It is evident to the documentary critic that Chapters 1-39 of Isaiah are ad-
A vellum page of the Codex Sinaiticus from the fourth century C.E. (Source: Courtesy of dressed to a community resident in Palestine. The prophet focuses on the dynasty
the British Library.) of King David. Israel's neighbor, Assyria, is given a position of prominence.
20 Pa r t I THE STUDY OF RELIGION Ch a pt e r 2 WAYS OF STUDYING RELIGION 21

The situation described in Chapters 40-55 is very different, both temporally and Anthropology
geographically. The most striking feature of these chapters is the mention of
Anthropology has to do with the study of human beings and societies viewed
Cyrus, the king of Persia, as a victorious conqueror—a king and kingdom that
primarily as both the creators and the creations of culture. Since religious insti-
did not exist in the eighth century b .c .e . Jerusalem and Judah are now assumed
to be destroyed. tutions and practices are found in every known culture, the religious life of
societies is of great interest to anthropologists. This is especially true because
There now is scholarly agreement that the prophecies of Chapters 40-55
social institutions and beliefs never operate in a vacuum. Religious sentiments,
make no sense in the context of what we know of the period of Isaiah of
ideas, and behavior shape and, in turn, are shaped by family organization, the
Jerusalem in the eighth century, but that they are highly intelligible when seen
economic system, law, and politics. Anthropologists also recognize that religion
as addressed to the Jewish community in exile in Babylonia a century and a half
is an especially powerful factor in any culture because a society shapes and
later. The documentary evidence that Isaiah is a composite work of at least two
defines its world by reference to sacred stories, moral sanctions, and ritualized
primary authors, separated by considerable geographical distance and periods
patterns of behavior.
of time and addressed to distinct audiences in different circumstances, has
The "father" of modem anthropology is Edward B. Tylor (1832-1917). In his
greatly advanced our understanding and appreciation of this complex and
classic work, Primitive Culture (1871), he gave considerable attention to religion.
otherwise puzzling book.
This was also true of several others of the early anthropologists. However, it
was the sociologist Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) who was most responsible for
Historiography
The academic (critical) study of the history of religions essentially began in the
nineteenth century. The historian's task is to establish the facts in an effort to One of the giant totem
reconstruct "what really happened." The "facts," of course, are selected from a poles on display at
Thunderbird Park.
vast array of possible sources. In historiography the historian selects the ac- Totems are of great
counts or the evidence that she or he deems appropriate and relevant, based on interest to anthro-
some principle(s) of choice. The choice of relevant data will depend, in large pologists since they are
part, on the kinds of questions the historian puts to the past. Some of these ques- images of animals or
tions are the same as those that occupy the literary scholar: Who wrote what, other natural species
that are associated with
when, why, and to whom? But, also, what social, economic, cultural, or envi- clans or tribes and their
ronmental factors may have influenced a religion's beginnings, its develop- kinship and religious
ment, or its geographical dispersion? The historian calls on nontextual sources relations and rituals.
as well, such as archaeology, geography, demography, or population statistics. (Source: Courtesy of
More recently, the historian has used the tools and the findings developed in the Dorling Kindersley Media
Library.)
social sciences of sociology, anthropology, and psychology in an effort to recon-
struct and interpret "what really happened."
Modern historical science has helped the student of religion to distinguish
historical occurrences from myths, legends, and tales, but also how religions
have developed and how these traditions may differ from the earlier expres-
sions of that religion. The historian's interests—religious, intellectual, economic,
political—will, of course, be significant in his or her reconstruction and inter-
pretation of the history of a religion, or of religion generally. A Marxist historian
will likely argue that the origin and development of a religion can best be ex-
plained by material or economic considerations. Other historians will put
greater weight on purely religious factors, or intellectual and social influences.
This selectivity is not, as such, a bad thing for it can enable us to see the com-
plexity of history and its interpretation and the interdependence of various fac-
tors in the origin and growth of a religion such as Islam or Buddhism.
Anthropology and sociology also trace their methodologies to the work of
scholars in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
 22 Pa r t I THE STUDY OF RELIGION Ch a pt e r 2 WAYS OF STUDYING RELIGION 23

turning the interest of anthropologists to the study of the social functions of religion. Freud's psychological studies of religion—such as Totem and Taboo (1913)
Functionalism has been the method most widely used by anthropologists. As the and Moses and Monotheism (1938)—were applications of his famous theory of the
term would indicate, the anthropologist is interested in the question of what func- Oedipus Complex to primal religious history and institutions. Today scholars
tions particular institutions or activities serve in the total life of a community. consider the scholarship in these books as questionable and the theories there
Applied to religion, functionalism asks how the religious beliefs and insti- offered equally dubious. However, Freud's theory of religious belief and be-
tutions of a society elicit acceptance of or sanction certain behavior, and how havior "as bom of man's need to make his helplessness tolerable" and his view
these factors assist in the integration and cohesion of that society. Since religion of humanity's tendency to anthropomorphize the powers of nature and spiri-
is (particularly in the premodern periods) so crucial to social integration and sta- tual experience in order to enter into relations with them need to be taken seri-
bility, it is given a very significant place in the work of many anthropologists. ously. While not convincing as generalized explanations of religion, they do
explain some forms of religious experience. Freud's view of religion is, however,
Sociology fundamentally negative; he sees religion as rooted in human neuroses and calls
The sociology of religion, like anthropology, focuses its attention on social behavior religious beliefs "illusions, fulfillments of the oldest, strongest and most urgent
and the way in which religion interacts with other dimensions of our social expe- wishes of mankind."2
rience. Sociology, however, is generally concerned with the religious life of mod- Many of the more recent experimental psychological studies have pointed
em, developed, literate societies. Early in the twentieth century there was a great to the more positive and constructive aspects of religious life. An illustration is
flowering of interest in religion by eminent sociologists. These scholars perceived the work of Gordon Allport, especially his classic study of religion and preju-
in religions an enduring human phenomenon. Earlier they were interested in ex- dice in the United States. It was generally accepted as a fact that churchgoers
ploring the social origins of religion, but soon they largely abandoned that quest were more prejudiced than non-churchgoers regarding ethnicity and race. All-
and focused on functional questions (e.g., how the dynamics of human social life port's several studies demonstrated that this was too simplistic a judgment. His
and institutions effect changes in religious life and, in turn, how religious belief and research concludes that churchgoing has many motivations. There are those
behavior act on and transform social behavior). This latter interest was dominant whose religion is what he calls extrinsic. These churchgoers find religion useful,
in the work of the influential sociologist Max Weber (1864-1920). providing things such as solace, sociability, and social status. However, there are
One of Weber's great contributions—turning on its head Marxist social other churchgoers whose religious orientation is intrinsic; and these individu-
analysis of religion—was the demonstration that forms of social life deeply als have internalized their religion so that it is their "master motive." Such per-
reflect the decisive influence of religious belief and practice on societies both in the West sons authentically live their religion. Allport found that persons with an
and the East. In his most notable study, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Cap- extrinsic orientation more often tended to hold bigoted views while those per-
italism (1905), Weber analyzed how the Protestant ethic, which originated from sons with an intrinsic commitment to their religion more often exhibited ethnic
the Reformation in sixteenth-century Europe, proved to be decisive in shaping and racial tolerance. Studies such as Allport's are valuable since they can warn
the unique spirit of modem capitalist society. This religious ethic taught the im- us against too-simple conclusions about a subject such as religious belief and
portance of serving God in one's own vocation or work and emphasized the prejudice, or nonbelief and prejudice. Complex factors—social, psychological,
virtues of hard work and frugality, and the wise use of one's material re- geographic, economic, as well as religious—play a significant role in shaping a
sources—characteristics of modem capitalism. person's personality and beliefs.

Psychology Philosophy
The study of psychology is also a relatively recent academic study, having The word philosophy comes from the Greek philosophia or the love of wis-
achieved the status of a scientific discipline only in the late nineteenth century. dom. Philosophers are concerned with examining the principles and rules
A noted, early explorer m this field was the American psychologist, and later that govern logic, theories of knowledge, morals, aesthetics, and meta-
philosopher, William James (1842-1910), whose Varieties of Religious Experience physics, that is, the nature of being or reality. What distinguishes philosophy
(1902) remains a classic. James explored the psychological dimensions of such from theology is that the former does not appeal to revelation or authorita-
religious phenomena as conversion, mysticism, and saintliness. Interest in this tive doctrine but, rather, their logic, meaning, and truth claims. The philo-
type of psychological research on religious experience soon was, in the popular sophical scrutiny of religion is one of the oldest and most instructive ways
mind, outstripped by the new explorations in psychotherapy, especially in the of examining religious experience and belief. At least since the time of Plato
work of its best-known practitioners, Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) and Carl fung (4277-347? B.c.), philosophers have reflected on religious stories and beliefs
(1875-1961). We will discuss Jung's understanding of the religious aspects of the and have sought to establish their claim to knowledge regarding their meaning,
human psyche in Chapter 4. and their truth.
24 Pa r t 1 THE STUDY OF RELIGION Ch a pt e r 2 WAYS OF STUDYING RELIGION 25

The relationship between philosophy and religion has, however, varied sig- is not an assertion at all. Flew applies this principle to the claims or statements of
nificantly from century to century and from culture to culture. In India, philos- theists who freely assert that "God has a plan" or that "God loves us." Flew in-
ophy emerged from and has remained intimately associated with historical quires as to what would have to occur or have occurred to falsify such factual
developments in Hinduism. The same was true, at least until recently, in South claims. If "God loves us" is made compatible with any present or any possible
and East Asia with regard to Buddhism and Confucianism. In the West, from the state of affairs, then, Flew insists, since nothing is incompatible with the state-
appearance of the Christian Flatonist Origen in the second century c.E. to the ment, that is, does not deny anything, nothing possible could happen to entitle one
time of Tilomas Aquinas (1225-1274), philosophy played the role of hand- to say, "God does not love us." Since "God loves us" is not falsifiable, it is not a
maiden to religion. By this we mean that the claims of Jewish, Christian, and real factual assertion at all. It may only be an emotional feeling or one of Freud's
Islamic revelation were, in part, justified and defended by appeals to the doc- illusions based on a need or a hope, but it is not a fact.
trines of the ancient philosophers themselves. Thomas Aquinas, for example, More recently, philosophers have become critical of this type of religious lan-
used the language and concepts derived from Aristotle's philosophy to mount guage analysis, the reason being that their analysis presupposes a rather narrow
his proofs for the existence of God. scientific understanding of what constitutes "facts" and true knowledge.
Since the seventeenth century, philosophy has, not infrequently, been put Philosophers today recognize that there are plural forms of discourse: scientific,
to a different but, nonetheless, powerful service of religion. It can be called moral, artistic, religious. And the meaning of a word is dependent on its particu-
agnosticism, or the insufficiency of our knowledge, in the service of fideism lar use. Theistic language, for example, is a long-established form of discourse
(faith), a confident or reasonable trust. The philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724- and conveys many clear meanings to those who participate in this theistic form
1804) supports this position in the celebrated preface to his Critique of Pure of language and life. To participate in a particular form of life and language,
Reason, where he remarks that his task is "to deny knowledge in order to make whether it be scientific, moral, or religious, carries with it a certain ultimacy based
room for (moral) faith." Modern critical philosophy, in its uncompromising on certain foundational or basic beliefs that constitute what is intelligible, com-
scrutiny of the nature of reason, often has demonstrated the limits of rational- pelling, and true. In the case of religion, one could say that the theist, the atheist,
ity; that is, reason pushed far enough often reveals its own boundaries and and the polytheist simply hold certain "basic beliefs" and forms of life. One could
contradictions. say that a religious belief in a Last Judgment may not appear a "reasonable" be-
By early in the twentieth century, philosophy's relation to religion was nei- lief, but neither is it unreasonable to the theist. Why? Because its justifications (or
ther that of handmaiden nor that of philosophical skeptic making room for faith. "reasons") are not the same as scientific meteorological evidence that it will rain
The philosophical scrutiny of religion became more limited, analyzing the uses tomorrow. Nor is belief in a Last Judgment a blunder or mistake for, as one
of religious language to test its meaning, as well as its claims to genuine knowl- philosopher contends, "whether a thing is a blunder or not—it is a blunder in a
edge and truth. It asked whether a particular religious expression has the status particular system."4 It is within, say, a science or a religion that beliefs and actions
of a factual assertion, is performing an action ("I pronounce you husband and are to be judged logical or illogical. Not only philosophers but many other
wife"), or is simply evoking the emotions. Philosophers believed that many students of religion (for example, historians and anthropologists) often try to ad-
problems and obscurities in religion are related to confusing these distinct uses here to this interpretive principle. This leads us to consideration of another, and
of language. This philosophical clarification of religious discourse aimed to be final, academic discipline widely used in the study of religion.
neutral but, obviously, challenged conventional religious belief if, for example,
a certain purported religious assertion of fact failed to pass the analytical test. Phenomenology
To illustrate this type of philosophical analysis of religion, we look at one
A recent and, in some respects, most illuminating approach to the study of religion
philosopher's use of what is called the falsification principle to test the mean-
is called the phenomenological method. The word derives from the Greek
ingfulness of certain religious assertions. Anthony Flew formulates the principle
phainomenon, meaning "that which appears." Phenomenologists seek to concen-
as follows:
trate on types of religious experience as it directly presents itself to those engaged
Suppose that we are in doubt as to what someone who gives vent to an utter- in religious activity. He or she is not concerned with explaining experience, for ex-
ance is asserting, or suppose that, more radically, we are skeptical as to whether ample sociologically or psychologically, but in rigorous description only. It introduces
he is really asserting anything at all, one way of trying to understand his utter- the concept of epoche (from the Greek verb epecho, "I hold back"), or a suspension of
ance is to attempt to find what he would regard as counting against, or as being judgment, to indicate the "bracketing" from inquiry all attempts at explanation or
incompatible with, its truth.3
all philosophical or theological questions of a religious phenomenon's truth. For
If nothing is incompatible with the purported truth of a statement, then, example, the question asked in phenomenology is not "Does God exist?" or "When
Flew argues, the statement does not assert anything. In other words, if there is does belief in monotheism arise?" but, rather, "How is God present to human con-
nothing an assertion denies, then there is nothing that it asserts either. It really sciousness? What forms or characteristics do the experience of God exhibit?"
26 Pa r t I THE STUDY OF RELIGION Ch a pt e r 2 WAYS OF STUDYING RELIGION 27

The goal of phenomenology is to portray religion in its own terms as a dis- Scholars sought to establish the foundations and methods for the study of
tinctive expression, a reality not to be reduced to or explained in other—for ex- expressions of the human spirit that are not subject or reducible to the laws and
ample, psychological or sociological—terms. To avoid intruding judgments of explanations of the natural sciences, that is, expressions of intentions, purposes,
value or truth into this descriptive task, the phenomenologist must remain de- and meanings.
tached and impartial. Yet such insightful description and interpretation require This entails a kind of imaginative reexperience or empathetic identification
a genuine feel for and empathy with religious experience. Phenomenology thus of these human literary, artistic, or religious expressions, and can open up for us
represents the effort to reexperience a certain religious phenomenon's essential new possibilities of envisioning human life. As you can see, hermeneutical
character or structure. Phenomenology is, then, a study of the morphology (the method has much in common with phenomenology. Any human meaning
structures or forms) of religion as manifested in and across different cultures must, first of all, be understood in its own terms from "within."
and temporal periods. The forms that are studied vary, depending on each A religion does, of course, have numerous social and psychological mean-
scholar's particular interest; they might be creation myths, rites of sacrifice, ings and functions, but for the believer it is also something more. The "inside"
prayers, or forms of religious leadership. Parts II and III of this book undertake believer's and the "outside" observer's understanding therefore will likely dif-
to exemplify such a comparative typology of universal or classic forms of reli- fer at crucial points. As an anthropologist observes,
gious experience, belief, and practice.
As far as a study of religion as a factor in social life is concerned, it may make
little difference whether an anthropologist is a theist or an atheist, since in either
case he can only take into account what he can observe. But if either [the
INTERPRETINGAND EXPLAINING RELIGION believer or non-believer] attempts to go further than this each must pursue a
We briefly explored the question of whether the student of religion can truly un- different path. The non-believer seeks for some theory—biological, psycholog-
ical, or sociological—which will explain the illusion; the believer seeks rather
derstand a religion from the perspective of an outside observer. We also asked
to understand the manner in which a people conceive of a reality and their
whether a convinced believer is capable of achieving the necessary empathy to relation to it.5
do justice to another, foreign religion or, indeed, is able to see her or his own re-
ligion with sufficient objectivity. These questions touch on a related set of issues Understanding should, then, be a precondition of explanation. However,
that are of current interest among scholars of religion. The issues have to do both that is not the end of the matter. We must be alert to the possibility that the "in-
with the role of understanding or interpretation and the role of explanation in sider's" understanding may itself be partial, or distorted, or simply wrong. Fur-
the scholarly study of religion. These two topics frequently pit scholars in the thermore, there are many reasons why persons exhibit specific forms of religious
humanistic-interpretive disciplines (literary, historical, and phenomenological activity, and some of these may not only be unknown to the person but also
studies) against those in the social sciences (anthropology, psychology) who of- purely secular, involving economic or social status, geographic coincidence, or
ten seek to apply the methods and criteria of the natural sciences. We close the psychic needs. Efforts to provide historical and social-scientific explanations of
discussion of how one goes about the study of religion with a brief analysis of these forms of religious life cannot simply be dismissed or ignored. We have seen
these issues. in the analysis of the various methods used in the study of religion that they are
Religious experience and meanings are expressed and communicated capable of explaining a great deal about various aspects of religious behavior.
through symbolic sounds and gestures, ritual dramas, images, architecture, and It is not a question, then, of understanding or explanation but rather whether
sacred texts. But these sources require an interpreter to convey the often richly the explanation offered is partial, complete, or unjustifiably reductionistic. The
complex and often mysterious meanings. The act or science of interpretation distinction between descriptive and explanatory reduction is helpful here.
is called hermeneutics (from the Greek verb hermeneuein, "to interpret"). The Descriptive reduction is simply a failure to "identify an emotion, practice, or
interpreter of these various sources uses all the data and methods at hand, experience under the description by which the subject identifies it."6 To describe
including those methods described in this chapter. But as we have seen, read- a religious experience, for example, in nonreligious terms is to misdescribe it.
ing-off the meaning of a sacred text, for example, is not as simple as it might at A possible legitimate explanatory reduction, however, might involve offering "an
first appear. Hermeneutics has to do, then, with the presuppositions of inter- explanation of an experience in terms [e.g., sociological] that are not those of the
pretation and understanding. It asks what is required—what preconditions are subject and might not meet with [her or] his approval."7 To confuse these two
necessary—to make the interpretation of these human cultural expressions pos- forms of reductionism is to infer that the scholar-observer must employ only
sible and valid. Can we assume a commonality of human life that makes cross- those concepts or explanations that would meet the believer's approval, and
cultural understanding and interpretation possible? Are the methods applied in that the latter's description of her or his experience entails a compelling explana-
the interpretation of these human cultural forms (such as religious rituals and tion. We would, I believe, be skeptical of a psychotic's explanation of his killing
texts) distinct from those applied in the natural sciences? of his children as the result of a command received from God. Naturalistic
 28 Pa r t I THE STUDY OF RELIGION Ch a pt e r 2 WAYS OF STUDYING RELIGION 29

explanations must not be dismissed categorically. They are crucial to an under- persons cannot truly understand a system of religious beliefs and practices un-
standing of aspects of religion, if not essential components of some religions. less they do so from within that religion—from the sympathetic perspective of a
Autobiography is, after all, often less reliable than biography. participant and believer. Others would say that ardent faith or belief is not com-
Explanations of religion, like those in the fields of art, philosophy, or poli- patible with genuine knowledge and understanding. Both the devout believer
tics, will stand or fall according to how well they account for the complex data. and the detached, uncommitted observer have charged that the perspective of
One ought to be skeptical, however, of explanatory theories, for example, the other distorts what they are capable of seeing and interpreting. Are com-
"childhood neuroses," "totemism," and so on, that claim to completely account mitment and scientific objectivity opposed to one another? We will attempt to
for the complex origins or nature of religion itself, or of any religious tradition. show that they need not be—but that a very real tension does and should exist
Explanations often outrun the empirical evidence, for example, in the pseudo- between them—and that this tension does not admit of any easy solution one
historical explanations that Freud offers in Totem and Taboo. way or another. We can analyze this tension between commitment and detach-
The believer is therefore justified in insisting, when the observer attempts ment by looking at the question of the student's perspective along a continuum
to explain all of religious belief and practice in nonreligious terms, that the bur- from naïve, partisan religious belief at one extreme to a standpoint of conscious,
den of proof is on the person offering such a comprehensive and self-sufficient uncommitted relativity at the other.
explanation. Religious explanations must not be ruled out of court in principle At the first extreme, we can envision a person who is not only a believer and
any more than should nonreligious explanations. As one scholar has insisted, active participant in a particular religion but also is unaware that there are other
religious options. This is often the position, for example, of a tribesman in a
Participant explanations must always be seen, in the first instance, as legitimate
rivals to observer or causal explanations .. . [an approach] that has been revi- primal* society. The tribe's religious and cultural system is assumed to be the
talized and fortified by a renewed understanding of the role of the participant only "way things are." The possibility of adopting alternative beliefs or behav-
observer in the social studies. The point of the participant observer is, accord- ior is nonexistent. This could also be the position of a simple believer—for ex-
ing to many sociologists, crucially significant both for the collection of data and ample, a young person who has not yet developed genuine individuality—in
for its interpretation . .. [Unless] explanations in terms of concepts internal to our own pluralistic culture today. The beliefs and moral norms of the family or
the group are admitted as genuine explanations one has adopted, uncritically, a
philosophical reductionism.8 the community are taken as self-evident. They are not yet open to reflection or
to critical scrutiny. Such a person looks on or studies her or his religion as if none
It is perfectly reasonable, however, to suggest that multiple forms of expla- other existed. The sacred scriptures, the traditions, and the moral teachings of
nation are not mutually exclusive; indeed, they may be complementary. It may the individual's faith may be "studied," but only in the odd sense that these tra-
well be the case that in order to fully interpret a religion, both intrareligious and ditions and beliefs are learned and accepted as unquestioned authorities. Here
extrareligious explanations are required to account for the complex levels of the tension between commitment and objectivity does not exist.
meaning observed. As one commentator suggests, In contemporary developed societies, it is much more difficult, if not im-
possible, to evade the shocks of cultural pluralism and the challenges of new
The absence of a general explanatory theory of all the important aspects of reli- and foreign ideas and values. Attempts on the part of some religious groups—
gions characterizes the current situation in the history of religions. Equally char- for example, the Amish people in rural Pennsylvania or the Hasidic Jews in New
acteristic, but largely ignored, is the existence of a variety of fruitful explanatory York City—to isolate themselves and to keep outside influences at bay have
theories of a limited scope of application, each of which is capable of contribut-
ing to the overall understanding of the complexity of religious history.9 proved only partially successful. Even in the most homogeneous of communi-
ties, there is the individual who will ask, "Why do we believe that?" or "Why
As students who are, perhaps, approaching the academic study of religion for should we do this?" Someone is certain to question the accepted way. When
the first time, there is one final issue that you should examine, for it touches on your alternative beliefs and practices are proposed as reasonable options, the self-
own beliefs or deeply held commitments. The question is: What should be the evidence, and thus the simplicity, of our own belief is gone. To become aware of
proper relationship between my own personal beliefs and scholarly objectivity? another system of belief is, in a real sense, to have a new perspective on our own.
I suspect that this is where most of us find ourselves today. While we may iden-
tify ourselves as Jewish or Muslim, as Roman Catholic or Methodist, or as a secu-
THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE STUDENT— lar humanist, we nevertheless have some sense of seeing ourselves as others see us.
COMMITMENT AND OBJECTIVITY We are more self-conscious of our beliefs and aware that we might be called on to
give an account of them. While our religious or ideological beliefs may still largely
A basic question that we all must face in any inquiry involving the selection and
interpretation of any data is the relation between the scholar's own beliefs and
•The word primal is used throughout this book to refer to preliterate human societies, either
intellectual commitments and scholarly objectivity. Some would argue that primordial or contemporary.
 30 Pa r t I THE STUDY OF RELIGION Ch a pt e r 2 WAYS OF STUDYING RELIGION 31

inform our system of values and our actions, we now must take into account other or what constitutes evidence? Is not the gathering and organizing of data itself
truths—scientific, moral, or social—alternative beliefs that may require us some- a process of selection? Are not some things overlooked or left in the shade? Do
how to adapt our long-held beliefs to these newer insights. But how open and not the kinds or the forms of our questions set the boundaries and shape of the
adaptable can a system or belief be allowed to be and yet have it maintain a answers we can expect to receive?
coherent, recognizable shape? Here the tension between commitment to a set of Why should we think that our concepts of rationality can provide the model
beliefs and values, and disinterested openness to new truth is often very great. by which to measure the truth of all other forms of belief? Critics argue that there
It sometimes happens—rather often these days—that a believer will feel more is no universal norm of rationality. It follows that explanations or answers given
and more obliged to measure and to interpret her or his religious beliefs by norms to scientific questions require scientific answers, religious questions require re-
or criteria taken from outside the religion itself. Often this step is taken in an effort ligious answers. Religion, so the argument goes, can only be understood from
to defend a religion against charges of being antiquated, to show, for example, that within. A number of social scientists and philosophers have, however, chal-
the religious beliefs are not inconsistent with current scientific thinking. The per- lenged the claim that a genuine understanding of a system of beliefs requires
son, though remaining a believer, may—and perhaps not fully consciously— commitment to those beliefs. They point out, for example, that persons move
accept other standards of meaning or truth by which to measure or to interpret his from belief system A to a radically different belief system B and, having been a
or her own religious belief. This might be the case with a believer who also hap- believer in system A, retain a "feel" for and a genuine understanding of that be-
pens to be a philosopher or a historian. A philosopher may, for example, feel lief, although they are no longer committed to believing it.
obliged to judge the credibility or adequacy of her religion based on some philo- If we are really to appreciate different possibilities of making sense of human
sophical criterion of what counts as justified or reasonable belief. The historian, life, we may have to make a more rigorous effort to stand outside our own pre-
likewise, may reject certain teachings of his religion on the grounds that, based on conceptions and to enter empathetically into the culture or religion we are study-
certain historiographical criteria, there is not sufficient historical evidence to ing. But this is easier said than done. It demands not only an initial "suspension
maintain them. The tension between commitment and objectivity may simply be of disbelief" but also a thorough knowledge of how these seemingly alien beliefs
slackening or, more likely, the tension between our religion and a new set of beliefs and behaviors fit into a larger form of life taken as a whole. Such an effort at un-
may be heightened. The passion or concern is just as real, although now it is derstanding can be made, nevertheless, without demanding that we be naive be-
divided between two possibly competing criteria of rationality or truth. lievers or completely neutral observers. Commitment and understanding are not
The final position on our hypothetical continuum is that of the completely de- antithetical. Neither involves a total absence of criticism or a pure neutrality.
tached and "objective" scholar who has no existential—that is, personal—interest We can summarize our explorations in this chapter as follows. The academic
in religion, including the religion under study. Often this is the position associated study of religion is a secondary activity that attempts to discover, describe, and ex-
with the social scientist, the anthropologist, or the sociologist. Social scientists are plain the primary expressions of the religious life of a community—its rituals, its
not supposed to be interested in the attempt to determine the truth of a religion or sacred texts, its institutions, beliefs, and behavior. This second-order academic
its general value. Rather, their aim is purely interpretive and explanatory, for endeavor requires the use of many disciplines and methods—history; linguistic
example, to show how a religion functions in a certain social context in terms of and literary scholarship; the tools of anthropological, sociological, and psycholog-
the goals or ends it fulfills for that society. However, the "objective" observer can, ical research; philosophical analysis, phenomenology, and many subdisciplines—
often unconsciously, move from descriptive or interpretive statements of how a if we are to uncover and understand the rich complexity of meanings, functions,
religion functions to normative judgments about standards of what is acceptable, and developments in the history of religions, or in any single religious tradition.
good, or valuable. There are many examples of this kind of false move in social What these studies reveal is the universal and apparently enduring charac-
science. It is obvious to many astute critics that some studies are not descriptively ter of religious belief and behavior in human life. They also help us to appreci-
neutral. Rather, they give the impression that certain activity ought to be accepted ate how deeply embedded religions are in their social, cultural, and historical
as normative because it was widely practiced. The old maxim "Forty thousand contexts, and that religious belief and practice cannot easily be severed from
Frenchmen can't be wrong" is sometimes hard to resist, but it is false. Simply those contexts if we are to understand them in their many aspects. Religions are,
because most people suffer from the common cold does not make it normative. then, holistic organisms that interact collaboratively with their culture and, in
The question that needs to be explored, then, is whether a wholly disinter- important ways, reflect their cultural milieu. Religion and culture are like soul
ested neutrality is really possible. Can a person genuinely understand a foreign and body, a psychosomatic unity. This, of course, has both positive and negative
culture or another religion from the outside, from a perspective of complete consequences—like any great treasure enveloped in an earthen vessel. Religions
detachment? Or is it even possible to speak of complete detachment and neu- have been, and are today, not only the instruments of transcendent insight and
trality? Do we not bring to our observations and judgments certain preconceptions supreme good but also of horrendous evil. They liberate our souls, raise us to
and unexamined assumptions about what is important, possible, or intelligible, heights of moral and spiritual wisdom and sanctity—but they are also capable
32 Pa r t I THE STUDY OF RELIGION Ch a pt e r 2 WAYS OF STUDYING RELIGION 33

of enslaving the human spirit, and legitimizing and sanctifying racial, ethnic, 7. Characterize the phenomenological method in the study of religion. How does it
and sexual prejudice, hatred, and repression. differ from the work of the sociologist or the philosopher?
The academic study of religion can help us to see religion "whole," in its 8. Where would you place yourself on the spectrum of positions between an unstudied
commitment on the one extreme and the claim to uncommitted objectivity on the
heights and depths—its inhumane and dark side as well as its human and sub- other? Why are these issues important for the study of religion?
lime side. These scholarly disciplines also can help us as "insiders" to see aspects
of our own religion about which we may be ignorant or "blind," or which we
wish to deny. Through empathy, these studies can help us as "outsiders" to ap-
preciate aspects of other religious traditions quite foreign to our own. They can SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
teach us how, by an act of imagination, we can enter into, if only temporarily, an
insider's perspective without actually adopting the belief of that insider. Finally, For good analyses of the problem of defining and explaining the complex phenomenon
of religion, the following studies are recommended:
the several academic disciplines can teach us to understand that religions are
complex entities that can be studied on different levels or from different per- Al s t o n , Wil l ia m P. "Religion." In The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, vol. 7, ed. Paul Edwards.
spectives, and that this can allow us to understand why they may appear so very New York: Macmillan and Free Press, 2005.
By r n e , Pe t e r , a n d Pe t e r Cl a r k e . Definition and Explanation in Religion. Basingstoke,
different from different perspectives. Each of these perspectives, though partial,
England: Macmillan, 1993.
may provide us with insight, and from this we may learn some important things Ge e r t z , Cl if f o r d . "Religion as a Cultural System." The Interpretation of Cultures. New
about the complexity of religion in the life of both individuals and groups. York: Basic Books, 1973.
For interesting but advanced discussions of the problems involved in understanding
NOTES another culture or religion, see the following:
Ta m b ia h , S. ƒ. Magic, Science, Religion, and the Scope of Rationality. Cambridge: Cambridge
1. Philip Clayton, Explanation from Physics to Theology: An Essay in Rationality and
Religion (New Haven, CT, 1989), 161-62. University Press, 1990.
2. Sigmund Freud, The Future of an Illusion, tr. J. Strachey (London, 1927), 14, 25. Wil s o n , Br y a n , ed. Rationality. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1970.
3. Anthony Flew and Alaisdair McIntyre, eds., New Essays in Philosophical Theology
(London, 1955), 98. For an overview of approaches to the study of religion in the various disciplines, see
4. Ludwig Wittgenstein, Lectures and Conversations on Aesthetics, Psychology and the following:
Religious Belief, ed. C. Barrett (Oxford, 1966), 89. Ca pps , Wa l t e r H. Religious Studies: The Making of a Discipline. Minneapolis, Minn.:
5. E. E. Evans-Pritchard, Theories of Primitive Religion (Oxford, 1965), 121. Fortress Press, 1995.
6. Wayne Proudfoot, Religious Experience (Berkeley, Calif., 1985), 195. Co n n o l l y , Pe t e r , ed. Approaches to the Study of Religion. London and New York:
7. Ibid., 197.
Cassell, 1999.
8. Donald Wiebe, "Explanation and the Scientific Study of Religion," Religion 5 (1985),
39,45. Jo n e s , Lin d s a y , ed. The Encyclopedia of Religion. 16 vols. Detroit: MacMillan Reference
9. John Y. Fenton, "Reduction in the Study of Religion," Soundings 53 (Spring 1970), 64. USA, 2005. Excellent articles on "The Study of Religion," "Anthropology and
Religion," "Philosophy of Religion," "Phenomenology of Religion," "Psychology
of Religion," "Sociology of Religion," and so on.
REVIEW QUESTIONS Pa l s , Da n ie l L. Seven Theories of Religion. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
Excellent analysis and critique of Tylor and Frazer, Freud, Durkheim, Marx,
1. Why may the study of theology not be the same as the study of religion? What con- Eliade, Evans-Pritchard, and Geertz. Also good on issues of interpretation and
ditions would be necessary for theology to be recognized as a scholarly field of study? explanation.
2. Why does the study of religion make use of so many different methods and Sh a r m a , Ar v in d , ed. Methodology in Religious Studies: The Interface with Womens Studies.
academic disciplines? Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002.
3. What questions does the literary scholar of religious texts seek to answer? What are Wa a r d e n b u r g , Ja c q u e s . Classical Approaches to the Study of Religion. 2 vols. Berlin
some of the questions that the historian of religion might attempt to answer? and New York: Mouton, 1983. Readings and commentary on important
4. Describe functionalism as a method of investigation of religion in anthropology and scholars.
sociology. Try to give illustrations of a functional analysis of religion.
For short articles on the textual and literary criticism of the Hebrew Bible and the
5. What kinds of questions interest the philosopher of religion? Describe the "falsification New testament, see the following:
principle" as it is applied by Anthony Flew in his philosophical analysis of religion.
6. Describe some of the features of Freud's psychological interpretation of religious Ha y e s , Jo h n H. ed. Dictionary of Biblical Interpretation. Vol. 2. Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon
belief. Summarize the conclusions of Gordon Allport's empirical study of religion Press, 1999,541-551. Also, see articles and current bibliographies on Canonical,
with regard to ethnic and racial prejudice. Form, Redaction, and Reader-Response Criticism.
34 Pa r t I THE STUDY OF RELIGION

For an analysis of themes and theorists in the anthropological study of religion, see
the following:
Jo n e s , Lin d s a y , ed. Encyclopedia of Religion, 2nd ed. Detroit: MacMillan Refer USA, 2005,
Vol. 1,378-38. See above.
Mo r r is , Br ia n . Anthropological Studies of Religion. Cambridge, England: Cambridge Uni-
versity Press, 1990. A useful textbook.
For essays on typical themes in the sociology of religion and works by both classical
and contemporary sociologists of religion, see the following:
PART II
Be r g e r , Pe t e r . The Sacred Canopy. New York: Doubleday, 1967.
Jo n e s , Lin d s a y , ed. The Encyclopedia of Religion, 2nd ed. Detroit: MacMillan Reference
USA, 2005.
Mc Gu ir e , Me r e d it h . Religion: The Social Context. Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth, 1994.
Universal Forms of
A good introductory text.
For a recent work in the psychology of religion see the following:
Religious Experience
Ba t s o n , D. D., a n d W. L. Ve n t is . Religion and the Individual. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1993.
Spil k a , Be r n a r d , a n d D. M Mc In t o s h , eds. The Psychology of Religion. Boulder, Colo., 1997.
and Expression
Wu l f f , D. M. Psychology of Religion, Classic and Contemporary Views. 2nd ed. New York:
John Wiley and Sons, 1997.
For the philosophical scrutiny of religion, see the following:
Ch a r l e s w o r t h , M. J. Philosophy of Religion: The Historic Approaches. New York: Herder
and Herder, 1972.
Hic k , Jo h n . Philosophij of Religion. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1990. Ch a pt e r 3 The Sacred and the Holy
Jo n e s , Lin d s a y , ed. Encyclopedia of Religion, 2nd ed., 10, 7113-7128. Detroit: MacMillan Ch a pt e r 4 Sacred Symbol, Myth, and Doctrine
Reference USA, 2005.
Pe t e r s o n , M., W. Ha s k e r , B. Re ic h e n b a c h , a n d D. Ba s in g e r , eds. Reason and Religious Re- Ch a pt e r 5 Sacred Ritual
lief: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Ch a pt e r 6 Sacred Scripture
Wa in w r ig h t , Wil l ia m . Philosophy of Religion. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1999.
For examples of the comparative-phenomenological method and approach to the In Part II we will use the variety of approaches to the study of religion that were
study of religion, see the following: examined in Chapters 1 and 2 to explore some universal ways in which hu-
Al l e n , Do u g l a s . "Phenomenology of Religion." In Lindsay Jones, ed. The Encyclopedia manity experiences, expresses, and communicates religion. Since this book ap-
of Religion. 2nd ed. 10-70. Detroit: MacMillan Reference, USA, 2005. proaches the study of religion in terms of that which is perceived to be of sacred
El ia d e , Mir c e a . Patterns in Comparative Religion. New York: Sheed and Ward, 1958. value and power, Part II begins with an exploration of the nature of the sacred
Tw is t , Su m n e r , a n d Wa l t e r Co n s e r , eds. Experience of the Sacred: Readings in the Phenom- or holy as it is manifested in human experience.
enology of Religion. Hanover, N.H., 1992.
Va n d e r Le e u w , Ge r a r d u s . Religion in Essence and Manifestation. New York: Harper and
Row, 1963.
For a discussion of issues in the interpretation and explanation of religion, see the
following:
Cl a y t o n , Ph il ip . Explanation from Physics to Theology: An Essay in Rationality and
Religion. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1989. Advanced critical dis-
cussion of theories of interpretation and explanation.
Pa l s , Da n ie l . See above.
Pr e u s , J. Sa m u e l . Explaining Religion: Criticism and Theory from Bodin to Freud.
New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1987. Advanced study.
 CHAPTER 3
The Sacred and the Holy

KEY WORDS AND NAMES

taboo hierophany
totems axis mundi
fetish imago mundi
Rudolf Otto cosmogony
numinous stupa and pagoda
mysterium tremendum and fascinans mandala
Mircea Eliade Mount Zion-Jerusalem

Overview
When the scientific study of religion was fully established in the latter decades
of the nineteenth century, one of its principal concerns was to trace religion back
to its earliest expressions in history. A number of influential theories about the
origin of religion were proposed by scholars. Because the often-scanty evidence
did not go back very far into human origins and was not capable of being
applied universally to very different cultures, the search for the origin of religion
soon lost credibility and died out.
It is clear, however, that the search for origins was closely related to the
question of religion's essence. For example, when scholars sought the origin of
religion in animism or totemism, or when Sigmund Freud traced the source of
religion to infantile projection, these scholars were, at the same time, concerned
with what they thought they had discovered to be the root of religious experi-
ence. This interest in the root nature of religion—that is, what, if anything, is its
common, universal essence—remains a concern today. In Chapter 1, we
encountered some of the difficulties in attempting general definitions of reli-
gion. Despite this problem, most scholars today agree that religion is a system
37
 38 Pa r t II UNIVERSAL FORMS OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE AND EXPRESSION Ch a pt e r 3 THE SACRED ANDTHE HOLY 39

of activities and beliefs directed toward that which is perceived to be sacred or In traditional societies, however, sacred power always shows itself ambigu-
of ultimate value and power. Such things—be they spiritual beings, cosmic ously, simultaneously as awe and aversion, purity and danger. The sacred thus
laws, geographic places, persons, ideals, or ideologies—are thereby set apart as represents the two poles of a single dreadful domain: as both sanctity and
sacred or of ultimate significance. defilement. It has been pointed out that the Greek word for “defilement" also
Here we will discuss the sacred or the holy as the root of religious experi- means "the sacrifice which cleanses the defilement." So it is, in primal cultures,
ence and practice. We will explore the nature of sacred power and the ambigu- that the taboo against doing something prohibited is experienced as awe in the
ity of the sacred as both object of awe and adoration and as taboo (from the presence of sanctity, and is not distinguished from the fear inspired by defilement.
Polynesian word tapu, meaning "to make separate or reserve"), that is, as the The idea of defilement, pollution, or transgressing of a sacred taboo, and the
source of both wonder and purity as well as of fear and danger. We wil 1 also ex- quest for purity is almost universal in religion. In the Japanese Shinto religion,
amine the psychological or personal experience uniquely associated with the the reality of pollution and need for purification is central to its ritual traditions.
encounter with the holy, and how the sacred, or holy, is manifested in special But this is different from the sense of moral guilt and its amendment or atone-
places and times. ment that we find in the Western monotheistic religions. Shinto priests preside
at rituals only after having purified themselves by bathings and having
abstained from sex and from particular foods. For Shinto, ritual purification has
THE CONCEPT OF SACRED POWER personal, social, and even cosmic implications, for example, to resacralize the
In primal societies, there is no separation between the sacred and the natural world. This is central in its creation myths (see Chapter 9).
world. Most any natural object or human artifact can be the bearer of sacred The Roman Catholic Mass also includes ritual acts of purification. As the
power. "During an important expedition, for example, an African negro steps laity enter the church they, traditionally, dip their fingers in a font of holy water
on a stone and cries out: 'Ha! are you there?' and takes it with him to bring him and touch their forehead as a sign of purification. And upon kneeling and
luck. The stone, as it were, gives a hint that it is powerful."1 The important role receiving the consecrated bread, they are declared forgiven of their transgres-
that fetishes, amulets, totems, icons, and idols, as well as sacred personages, sions, and given hope of new life, by the priest who is vested in a white garment
sanctuaries, temples, and sacraments play in the history of religion, poir ts to signifying purity.
them as special vehicles or bearers of sacred power. Certain persons—such as While the sacred is also identified as within or related to the profane, modem
the king—and special times—such as the New Year's Festival—or specific scholars also distinguish between the realm of the sacred and that of the profane.
activities—such as planting or sexual relations—are regarded as set apart and It is important to note, however, that in primal religions there appears little, if any,
endowed with unique power, and therefore objects of awe, fear, and taboo. The notion of the sacred as separate from or transcendent of the natural world. When
distinction between such a uniquely effective power and that which is relatively we reach the religions of the Axial Age of history between 800 B.c .e . to 300 c.E. two
powerless is what characterizes the contrast between the sacred and the pro- features of tire sacred or holy become prominent. One, the sacred is not Only
fane. It is power that creates for the sacred a special place and value all its own. present in but also transcendent of the finite or profane. Second, the transcendent
sacred, that is, god or ultimate reality, often, but not always, is associated with the
moral attributes of wrath, justice, mercy, and love. When referring to the histori-
THE AMBIVALENCE OF SACRED POWER cal religions since approximately 800 b .c .e ., it is then more appropriate to dis-
A unique characteristic of sacred power is the fact that it evokes a mixed re- tinguish between the sacred or ultimate and the profane world. For our purposes
sponse. A person's impulse, in the face of the awesome and mysterious, is in- here, we will use the words sacred and holy interchangeably.
stinctively one of avoidance; and yet the sacred possesses a magnetic attraction
as well. "In the human soul," van der Leeuw writes,
THE HOLY AS MYSTERIUM TREMENDUM
... power awakens a profound feeling of awe which manifests itself both as fear AND FASCINANS
and as being attracted. There is no religion whatever without terror, but equally
none without love.... Physical shuddering, ghostly horror, fear, sudden terror, The primal experience of a sacred power with the accompanying feelings of
reverence, humility, adoration, profound apprehension, enthusiasm—all these awe, fear, purity, and danger is pursued with great psychological insight by
lie in nuce within the awe experienced in the presence of Power.2 Rudolf Otto in his classic and influential study, The Idea of the Holy. Otto regards
the holy as an experience peculiar to religion. He does acknowledge that the
This ambivalent quality of sacred power especially needs to be underlined holy often is associated with morality and that inevitably it does become con-
today, since modern life has tamed sacred power into something benign and ceptualized in the form of myths and doctrines. However, in Otto's view, the
benevolent. Modern society has little sense of the terror or dread of the sacred. holy is fundamentally a nonrational and ineffable datum of human experience.
 40 Pa r t JI UNIVERSAL FORMS OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCEAND EXPRESSION I Ch a pt e r 3 THE SACRED AND THE HOLY 41

In order to isolate the holy from either ethical or theological conceptions, Otfcl Otto points to the universal character of the experience of the holy by citing
coined the word numinous to describe this uniquely religious phenomenon. ThJ examples from a wide range of religious traditions, as well as from art, music,
word comes from the Latin munina and refers to those powers or spirits thai and poetry. A classic example is the biblical prophet Isaiah's awesome vision of
Latin farmers of ancient Italy associated with special places and functions. 1 the Lord God in the Temple of Jerusalem.
Since Otto regards the numinous as unique, it is not reducible to any other]
more primary experience. He points out that the history of religion is, from one] 1. ... sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, his train filled the temple.
perspective, simply the history of the ways in which the numinous experience! 2. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his
has been expressed in myth, ritual, and doctrine. I face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
Considered subjectively, a person's encounter with the numinous evokes al 3. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the
whole earth is full of his glory.
profound "creature-consciousness" or "creature-feeling." Otto describes it as!
4. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was
the emotion of a creature "submerged and overwhelmed by its own nothingness I filled with smoke.
in contrast to that which is supreme."3 Considered as an objective reality, the 5. Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and 1
numinous can be suggested only in terms of the way it grips and stirs the hu- dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King,
man mind and emotions. Otto attempts to describe the most fundamental of* the Lord of hosts.
these affective or emotional responses by the words mysterium tremendum and —(Isaiah VI)
fascinans. Each of these terms requires some comment.
The mysterium is the experience of a reality that, when encountered, is A similar numinous vision was experienced by Arjuna, the Hindu warrior-
perceived as lying beyond our capacity to comprehend or conceptualize fully; it hero, as recorded in the Bhagavad-Gita, a sacred text. The Gita tells the story of
is extraordinary, unfamiliar, and therefore mysterious "because in it we come Arjuna's request to Krishna—the God Vishnu in human form—that he, Arjuna,
upon something inherently 'wholly other,' whose kind and character are be allowed to see the Supreme Being Vishnu. Arjuna's wish is granted and the
incommensurable with our own... ."4 following terrible and yet majestic revelation is described:
The experience of the numinous can be better understood, hov ever, if we
9. Thus speaking Vishnu, the great Lord of the Rule, then showed to Pritha's son
also grasp what Otto seeks to convey by the words tremendum and fascinans. [Arjuna] his sovran form supreme ...
Tremor denotes fear but the tremendum is more than fear proper. It is a feeling of
12. If the light of a thousand suns should of a sudden rise in the heavens, it would be
peculiar dread and awe. Otto believes that religious dread lies at the root of the like the light of that mighty being ...
religious experience of the numinous. "It is this feeling which, emerging in the 14. Thereupon [Arjuna], smitten with amazement, with hair standing on end, bowed
mind of primeval man, forms the starting-point for the entire religious devel- ’ his head, and with clasped hands spoke to the God ...
opment in history."5 Religions have, of course, transcended the worship of spir- 17. I behold Thee bearing diadem, mace, and disc, massed in radiance, on all sides
its and "daemons," that is, has advanced beyond animism or the worship of glistening, hardly discernible, shining round about as gleaming fire and sun,
nature. Nevertheless, the peculiar feeling of the tremendum survives in more immeasurable...
sophisticated expressions of theistic religion, reflecting the transcendence, the 20. ... Seeing this Thy fearful and wonderful form, O great-hearted one, the three-fold
"otherness" and sublimity of the numinous. world quakes.
—(Bhagavad-Gita, Ch. II)
Otto describes two qualities of the tremendum in addition to the sense of awe
or dread. One is the aspect of "might" or "overpoweringness," which he signi- The experience of the holy often takes place in encounters with nature,
fies by the term majestas (majesty). In the experience of "aweful majesty," the especially in the silent presence of great mountains or the sea. It is a theme found
human consciousness of creature-feeling is especially vivid. Furthermore, the in the writings of many nature mystics, in Romantic poetry, and in Chinese land-
tremendum reveals itself as an "energy" that often is felt as holy "wrath." It is scape painting. Otto cites the English art critic John Ruskin, who recounts the
symbolized by such expressions as a deity's vitality, passion, might, or will. numinous experiences he had as a youth:
Encounters with the numinous are experienced not only by emotions of
dread, awe, majesty, and wrath. The numinous is also positively attractive, fas- ... Although there was no definite religious sentiment mingled with it, there was a
cinating, and even intoxicating. The positive feelings accompanying this capti- continual perception of Sanctity in the whole of nature, from the slightest thing to
vating side of the numinous include love, pity, mercy, joy, peace, and beatitude. the vastest; an instinctive awe, mixed with delight; an indefinable thrill.... 1 could
While the forms of worship that issue from the experience of "awe" and "dread" only feel this perfectly when I was alone; and tiren it would often make me shiver
from head to foot with the joy and fear of it... when I first saw the swell of distant
would include expiation and propitiation, the fascinans provokes expressions of land against the suriset, or the first low broken wall, covered with mountain moss.
joyful thanksgiving, praise, and adoration. I cannot in the least describe the feeling; but I do not think this is my fault nor that
 42 Pa r t II UNIVERSAL FORMS OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE AND EXPRESSION Ch a pt e r s THE SACRED ANDTHE HOLY 43

"Buddhist Monastery by Stream and is manifested in the history of religions. He begins, therefore, with the simpler
Mountains." The great landscape painters of
and more neutral distinction popularized by Emile Durkheim: the fundamental
the Sung dynasty in China evoked the
presence of sacred space and the infinite in contrast between the sacred and the profane.
their paintings of mountains, water, and According to Eliade, this contrast represents the two fundamental
mist. (Source: Courtesy of The Cleveland Museum modes of being in the world assumed by humankind throughout history.
of Art, gift of Katherine Holden Thayer.) First, and most basically, the sacred always manifests itself as something
nonordinary and thus wholly distinct from what is profane, common, or
simply utilitarian. At the same time, Eliade points out that anything—a stone,
a tree, or a building—can be set apart as disclosing the sacred. Both natural
objects and human artifacts are capable of and have been transformed from
a common use to a sacred presence. Eliade calls this act of manifesting the
sacred a hierophany (from the Greek hieros, meaning "sacred," and phanein,
meaning to "appear").

Sacred Space
For the religious, space is not uniform; some places are qualitatively different
from others. Eliade points to the experience of Moses on Mount Sinai and then
comments on its significance:

"Draw not hither," says the Lord to Moses; "put off thy shoes from off thy feet,
for the place whereon thou standestis holy ground" (Exodus 3:5). There is, then,
a sacred space, and hence a strong, significant space; there are other spaces that
are not sacred and so are without structure or consistency, amorphous. Nor is
this all. For religious man, this . . . finds expression in the experience of an
opposition between space that is sacred—the only real and real-ly existing
space—and all other space, the formless expanse surrounding it.7

The break between sacred and profane space is what actually founds or
establishes a world because sacred space reveals what the poet T. S. Eliot called
"the fixed point of the turning world," a central axis or pivot around which the
human world revolves. The revelation or discovery of a fixed point of sacred
space is equivalent, ontologically as well as psychologically, to founding or
creating a world. Through it, an orientation is given in the chaos of ordinary,
profane space. Eliade points out, furthermore, that it is not possible to live in a
completely profane, desacralized world. The setting apart and sacralizing of
certain places is borne out in the behavior of modern, secular individuals as well
as secular societies.

There are, for example, privileged places, qualitatively different from all others—
of the English language.... The joy in nature seemed to me to come of a sort of a man's birthplace, or the scenes of first love.... Even for the most frankly non-
heart-hunger, satisfied with the presence of a Great and Holy Spirit... .6 religious man, all these places still retain an exceptional, a unique quality; they
are the "holy places" of his private universe, as if it were in such spots that he
has received that revelation of a reality other than that in which he participates
SACRED SPACE AND SACRED TIME through his ordinary daily life.8

Mircea Eliade is an important historian of religion and the manifest ways in Sacred space implies a hierophany, an opening to the holy or divine, a place
which the sacred appears in space and time. Eliade wants to begin without any where communication with sacred power is made possible. Eliade refers to such
preconceptions about the qualities of the sacred and to explore how the sacred space as an axis mundi, the center of the world. It is the point around which,
 44 Pa r t II UNIVERSAL FORMS OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCEAND EXPRESSION Ch a pt e r 3 THE SACRED AND THE HOLY 45

The water in which the clay is mixed is assimilated to the primordial water; the
clay that forms the base of the altar symbolizes the earth; the lateral walls rep-
resent the atmosphere, and so on. And the building of the altar is accompanied
by songs that proclaim which cosmic region has just been created. Hence the
erection of a fire altar ... is equivalent to a cosmogony.9

Every breakthrough to the sacred is effected by a hierophany, symbol-

ized, for example, by a sacred pillar, tree, mountain, altar, temple, or city,
perceived as the center of the world. For Jews, such a center is Mount Zion—
Jerusalem; for Christians, it is the mount at Golgotha. Islamic tradition holds
that the highest place on earth is the holy ka'ba, the small cubic building in
the Great Mosque of Mecca that houses the sacred Black Stone, because, it
is claimed, the Pole star bears witness that it faces the center of Heaven.
The true world—sacred space—always lies at the Center, joining heaven
and earth.

The Buddhist Stupa and Pagoda as Sacred Space

An excellent example of a sacred axis mundi is the Buddhist stupa (India and
Sri Lanka) or pagoda (Burma, China, and Japan). Stupas first appear within
Buddhism in India as places where the cremated remains or relics of the
The KaT>a (the black rectangular shrine), the House of Allah, in Mecca is the p rincipal Buddha were interred. They functioned as reliquaries in homage to the
Islamic shrine and place of Pilgrimage. It is considered the geographic and religious
center of the Muslim world. (Source: Courtesy of Woodfin Camp and Associates, Inc.) Buddha and later to Buddhist holy persons who had realized enlightenment.
Originally, they were simple mounds surrounded by four railings represent-
ing the cardinal directions. In time, they became elaborate structures and
temples symbolizing, in rich variety, the Buddhist cosmos and the path to
symbolically speaking, the world rotates. The founding of sanctuaries, shrines, enlightenment. Every aspect of the stupa plan conveys symbolic meanings
and temples are illustrations of such sacred openings. The biblical story of and powers.
Jacob's dream at Haran is a classic example. In his dream, Jacob sees a ladder set The point on the ground selected for the center of the stupa is, at the terres-
on the earth and reaching up to heaven, with angels ascending and descending trial level, symbolic of the transcendent sacred Center. The stupa is the symbol
on it. The Lord then speaks to Jacob, saying, "Ï am the Lord God of Abraham thy of the navel of the world. This axial point of the stupa thus represents the gate-
father.. . . The land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed." way between the several planes of existence: the terrestrial, the celestial, and the
When Jacob awakes, he is afraid and cries out, "How dreadful is this place! This infernal realms.
is none other but the house of God, this is the gate of heaven." Jacob then takes Most strikingly, the stupa is planned as a mandala (see Chapter 10, p. 226).
the stone that he had used as a pillow and sets it up as a pillar (monument) and The Buddhist mandala is a circle, symbolizing the perfection of Buddhahood, in-
pours oil on top of it. He then vows that the stone "shall be God's house" and scribed within a square drawn in bright colors on the earth or as a painting on
"he called the name of that place Beth-el" (Genesis 28:12-22). cloth or paper. The square of the mandala is subdivided into smaller squares,
Consecrating a place is equivalent to founding a world, a cosmos out of all expressing a model of the cosmic pattern of the universe. The mandala
chaos. Often, however, the sacred place, be it a simple altar or an elaborate tem- marked out on the ground is, then, a compressed image of the total cosmos,
ple, represents not only an "opening" to heaven but also a reproduction, on the and is a symbolic representation of the spiritual meaning of the completed
human scale, of the cosmos or of Creation itself. It is an imago mundi, an image three-dimensional monument.
of the original world order. The symbolism of the altar or temple is often an ex- Above the stupa's foundation are terraced levels representing a variety of
plicit replica of the cosmogony—that is, a mirror of the original act of Creation, Buddhist faculties and powers, for example, the four types of Mindfulness and
a prototype of the work of God or the gods. This is apparent in the symbolic con- the four types of Renunciation. The terraces are topped by a hemispherical
struction of the ancient Hindu (Vedic) fire altar, consecrated to the god Agni. The dome. The Buddhists speak of the dome as the "womb" or "egg." It is the
ritual erection of the altar occurs, understandably, on the taking possession of a "womb of the elements," that is, the creative source and power of the universe
new territory. from whence all life flows. The dome is capped by a quadrangular harmiko that
46 Pa r t II UNIVERSAL FORMS OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE AND EXPRESSION
Ch a pt e r s THE SACRED AND THE HOLY 47
THE SYMBOLIC STRUCTURE OF THE STUPA

The parts of the stupa, each one representing an important Buddhist concept or psychic
power. (Source: Courtesy of Cornell University Press. From Adrian Snodgrass. The Symbolism of the
Stupa (Ithaca, NY). Cornell Southeast Program Studies on Southeast Asia, 1985, p. 162.)

symbolizes the eternal sacrificial altar and often contains relics. It later became
associated with the Buddhist Eightfold Path (see Chapter 13). The stupa is
crowned by a vertical cone-shaped spire or tower. This elongated cone is often
marked with several rings or umbrella-like notches that progressively diminish
toward the apex. The stupa's spire represents the tree of life or tree of enlight-
enment. The various notches of the cone-tree correspond to certain psychic
faculties or stages of consciousness on the way to enlightenment.
In the Buddhist countries of South and East Asia, the stupa appears in a
variety of regional forms. The principal feature of the stupas of Sri Lanka is the
beautiful bell-shaped dome (see diagram). The terrace stupas of Tibet and Nepal
do not feature the dome but appear rather like terraced pyramids. Tower-
shaped pagodas are common in China and Japan. Their distinctive feature is the
multiple stories set off by clearly articulated roofs. But whatever their form, the
stupas and pagodas of Buddhist Asia represent the axis mundi, the sacred tree or
cosmic mountain, that Center that joins earth and the realm of the transcendent
and the real.

Mount Zion as Sacred Space

In part through the stimulus of Eliade's work, scholars are now especially aware
of the religious significance of geography, of space. The great geographically Buddhist monks paying homage to Mount Fuji. Every year, thousands of
focused religions—such as the Egyptian, Babylonian, Indian, and Chinese— Japanese pilgrams climb the sacred mountain, where it is believed the shades of
developed their mythic and ritual symbolism around the constants of their ancestors dwell. (Source: Courtesy of Burt Glinn, Magnum Photos, Inc.)
48 Pa r t II UNIVERSAL FORMS OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE AND EXPRESSION Ch a pt e r s THE SACRED ANDTHE HOLY 49

geographic space, around their sacred rivers, mountains, and cities. But sacred The image of Mount Zion-Jerusalem as the Center of space is especially pro-
space also has played a formative role in the Western historical or "diasporic" nounced in later rabbinic literature and Jewish folklore. A famous rabbinic text
religions—that is, those dispersed throughout the world—as testified to by the maintains that
role of Jerusalem, Mecca, Golgotha, and Rome. Sacred mountains are common
in the symbolism of the three Western biblical religions—Judaism, Christianity, . .. just as the navel is found in the center of the human being, so the land of
and Islam—particularly the mountains and hills of Palestine and Arabia. It is Israel is found at the center of the world... and it is the foundation of the world.
Jerusalem is at the center of the land of Israel, the Temple is at the center of
noteworthy that the Hebrew word for mountain, har, appears 520 times in Jerusalem, the Holy of Holies is at the center of the Temple, the Ark is at the cen-
the Bible. ter of the Holy of Holies and the Foundation Stone is in front of the Ark, which
The pervasive symbolism of the cosmic mountain in Israelite and later Jew- spot is the foundation of the world.11
ish religion can serve to illustrate the importance of geography on the religious
imagination. Mountains are, of course, the nearest things to the sky and are ob- Because Mount Zion, and especially its Temple, served as their axis mundi,
vious symbols of those transcendent powers "on high," that is, the gods and the pious Jews regarded them as essential to the maintenance of the cosmos. As long
dwelling place of the gods—such as the Greek Mount Olympus, the Japanese as the services in the Temple were performed, there were blessings in the world,
Mount Fuji, or the Indian Mount Meru. Since mountains are the abode of the the crops were plentiful, and man and beast ate and were satisfied. When the
gods, they are the natural places of worship. The Israelite tribes each had their Jerusalem Temple was destroyed, God's blessings departed from the world. The
shrine or sanctuary on a mountain—Dan in the north; Schechem, Gibeon, Gilgal, Temple and its ritual were the two cosmic pillars—the sacred poles—that sup-
and Bethel in the center of Palestine; and Hebron and Beersheba in the south. port the world.
Mount Sinai, where Moses received the Law and sealed the Covenant with The destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple and the exile of the Jews to
Israel's God, Yahweh, and Jerusalem (Mount Zion), the site of the monarchy of Babylonia in the sixth century b .c .e . destroyed Israel's center and broke the link
the great King David and the Temple, became especially sacred to Israel and to between heaven and earth. Disaster and chaos ensued. For orthodox Jews, the
later Judaism. land of Israel, the city of Jerusalem, and Yahweh their God are inseparable. This
The sacred mountains served the Israelites, first, as an image of security. fact points to the full tragedy of the 1900 years of Jewish exile from their Holy
There the people were protected from their enemies by Yahweh. But the moun- Land. For Jews, the overcoming of exile and chaos is traditionally accom-
tains were a bulwark not only against the human enemy but also against the plished through the commemorative rituals of the Sabbath and the high holy
desolation and waste of the desert wilderness, against chaos. The mountain also days during which there is a renewal of original, sacred time. However, the
symbolized authority. The Law was given to Moses on Mount Sinai, and it was Zionist restoration of the land and the nation of Israel in 1948 represents the
on the mountains that Yahweh's spokesmen, the prophets, delivered the "Word actual recovery of the Jewish center, of sacred space itself. It also explains the
of the Lord," God's warnings, blessings, and judgments. The antiquity, security, dispersion of thousands of Palestinian Muslims from their lands, the ongoing
and authority of the mountain are joined in the image of the mountain as axis Palestinian-Israeli war, and the importance of sacred space in the history of
mundi, as the meeting place of heaven and earth and thus the sacred center, or both Israel and Islam.
navel, of the world. Moses goes up Mount Sinai to find God; there he receives To summarize this theme, we can say that sacred space establishes a world,
the divine Law, which in turn creates Israel into a people bound by shared val- a cosmos, a fixed point in profane or chaotic space. Communication and passage
ues and responsibilities. are thereby opened between heaven and earth, a passage from one mode of be-
Later, when King David brought the ark of the Covenant to Mount ing to another. Such a break in ordinary space creates a Center that makes ori-
Zion-Jerusalem, it became the "holy mountain," a second Sinai—the axis mundi entation, hence meaning, possible. For the religious person, neither space nor
and center of security, authority, fertility, and blessing. Yahweh's dwelling in time is ordinary.
Jerusalem (Mount Zion) protected Israel against the encroaching powers of
chaos: Sacred Time
Sacred times as well as sacred places are set apart for worship, holy days, and
Great is YHWH and much to be praised religious festivals. These break the unvarying profane, seemingly ordinary,
In the city of our God is his holy mountain;
The most beautiful peak, the joy of all the earth. even meaningless or chaotic time of temporal duration. Through these times
Mount Zion is the heart [that is, the navel] of Zaphon set apart, individuals and communities pass from ordinary, profane time into
Tile city of the great King. a sacred time.
God is her citadel, has shown himself her bulwark.,..
God will make her secure forever.10 One essential difference between these two qualities of time strikes us immedi-
—(Psalm 48) ately: by its very nature sacred time is reversible in the sense that, properly speaking,
 50 Pa r t II UNIVERSAL FORMS OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE AND EXPRESSION Ch a pt e r s THE SACRED AND THE HOLY 51

it is a primordial mythical time made present. Every religious festival, any liturgi-
cal time, represents the reactualization of a sacred event that took place in the n o t e s _____________________________ ______
mythical past, "in the beginning."12
1. G. van der Leeuw, Religion in Essence and Manifestation, Vol. I (New York, 1963), 37.
Since sacred time is mythical or primordial time, it is intimately con- 2. Ibid., 48.
3. R. Otto, The Idea of the Holy (New York, 1958), 10.
nected with origins. In many religions, the cosmos is ritually re-created or 4. Ibid., 28.
reborn annually on New Year's Day by returning to and reenacting the myth- 5. Ibid., 14.
ical time of the creation "in the beginning." The mythic time portrayed in the 6. Ibid., 215.
original creation is the prototype or model for all other times. Therefore, the 7. Mircea Eliade, The Sacred and the Profane, trans. W. R. Trask (New York, 1961), 20.
ritual reenactment of the Creation renews the cycle of the seasons and 8. Ibid., 24.
9. Ibid., 30-31.
thereby restores time and preserves the temporal process from passage into 10. Translation of M. Dahood, Psalms (Garden City, N.Y., 1966), 288.
chaos and death. Since the world does periodically retrogress toward stagna- 11. Midrash Tanhuma, Kedoshim, Vol. 10, quoted in A. Hertzberg, Judaism (New York,
tion and chaos, it must be ritually renewed. The New Year's ritual is just such 1963), 143. For this and other citations on Mount Zion as Center, I am indebted to
an act of purification and restoration. The impurities and sins of the past year J. Z. Smith's excellent essay, "Earth and Gods," The Journal of Religion 49 (1969),
are purged away and the threat of returning to the chaos of nonbeing is 103-127.
forestalled. 12. Eliade, The Sacred, 68-69.
Through the periodic ritual repetition of the original creation, time is
regenerated and temporal existence is restored and revitalized. Life can be
renewed only by the regular ritual repetition of the originating events. In a REVIEW QUESTIONS
similar way, the Christian, through participating periodically in the Eu-
charist or Holy Communion—which for the Christian reenacts an original 1. Why does the author begin the study of religious experience and forms of religious
yet eternal act of redemption through Christ—perceives that "old things are expression with a discussion of the sacred or holy? How does it fit in with the other
passed away," that sin is forgiven, life is renewed, and eternal life conferred. topics in the book?
(For full accounts of rituals of sacred times of origin and renewal, see 2. What are some of the important characteristics associated with the experience of
the sacred and what Rudolf Otto calls the "numinous" and the "mysterium tremendum
Chapter 5, Sacred Ritual, especially the sections on Life-Cycle Rites and andfascinans"?
Calendar and Seasonal Rituals.) 3. Several scholars point to the fact that in much religious experience "the sacred both
We can conclude this topic by reiterating that humankind has always lived fascinates and repels." Why might this be so? Do you think this is characteristic of
in a sacred world of space and time. It is a world made real and sanctified by a the experience of the sacred in modern life? Why or why not?
break with ordinary time and space, making it possible to found a world and to 4. In Mircea Eliade's discussion of sacred space, what does he mean by a hierophany,
model life after a sacred prototype, as it was "in the beginning." The essence of an axis mundi, and an imago mundi? Give an example of each of these features of
religion is the desire to live in relation to a sacred order that is expressed in a pre- sacred space.
scribed pattern of behavior and belief. Such a sacred order, as we have seen, is 5. Cite some examples of sacred places in some religions. Are there some places in the
United States that are, for Americans, sacred space?
distinct from the common or profane and is the source not only of meaning
6. Give examples of some sacred times that represent, for some religions, periods of
(value) but also of life-giving power. Such a sacred order, it should be pointed atonement, purification, change, renewal, or rebirth.
out, does not necessarily involve a division of the world into the "natural" and
the "supernatural." Such a separation is common in some theistic religions that
perceive reality as constituted by two distinct worlds, one a physical world gov-
erned by natural laws and the other a supernatural world of spiritual beings and SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
powers. However, a sacred world need not be an order distinct from the natural
world; rather, it can be seen as the natural world renewed, consecrated, and Du r k h e im , Em il e . The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life. New York: The Free Press,
made holy by special times and places. 1965. A classic study of the sacred and the profane.
El ia d e , Mir c e a . The Sacred and the Profane. New York: Harper & Row, 1961.
While it is appropriate to speak of the object of religion as the holy or the Gir a r d , Re n é . Violence and the Sacred. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press,
sacred that reality can only be pointed to, addressed, or communicated in the 1977. Examines the relation of violence to an understanding of the sacred.
language and gestures of our own social and historical experience. We turn, Ot t o , Ru d o l f . The Idea of the Holy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1958.
therefore, in Chapters 4,5, and 6 to a discussion of the distinct modes of religious Til l ic h , Pa u l . "Religion as a Dimension of Man's Spiritual Life." In Theology of Culture. New
expression and communication—to symbol, myth, ritual, and sacred text. York: Oxford University Press, 1964. "Ultimate concern" as a dimension of religion.