Old & New Religions: the Search for Salvation

1. Old & New Religions:the Search for Salvation Chapter 9 Lehman & Myers

2. Old & New Religions: The Search for Salvation • Culture- in social groups, culture is continuously changing, fast at times, and slow at others. • Religion change is also continuous and universal. • Changes in society, through culture and religion have resulted in various forms of Revitalization movements. • Revitalization Movements: “are deliberate & organized attempts by some members of a society to construct a more satisfying culture by rapid acceptance of a pattern of multiple innovations” (Lehman)

3. Types of Religious Movements • Revitalization Movements- most dramatic: • Reactionary character- a result of real or imagined conditions that create a demand for change. • Nativistic Movements- emphasis on the elimination of alien persons, customs, values & material from the *mazeway. • Cargo Cults- emphasis on the importation of alien values, customs & material into the mazeway, arriving as a ship’s cargo. • Millenarian Movements- emphasis on the changes in the mazeway through an apocalyptic world transformation by a supernatural being. • Messianic Movements- emphasis on the actual participation of a divine savior in human flesh, bringing the desired changes to the mazeway *Mazeway- mental image of society and its customs by adapting one’s body and behavior to fit this system.

4. Revitalization Movements • Revitalization- bringing new vigor & happiness to society. • The religious character may also be that traditional institutions are not able to adopt & respond to social changes. • European colonists imposing Christianity • Spaniards imposing Catholicism to Latin American indigenous people

5. Religious Terms • Church- larger community’s view of the acceptable type of religious organization (Lehman). • Cult- a more casual, loosely organized group with fluctuating membership sharing with other religious organizations. • Sect- refers to a protest group generally small, defiant to the world. (4 types of sects)

6. 4 Types of Sects- based on ideologies • The Conversionist- goal is to convert others. • The Adventist- anticipates a drastic divine intervention • The Introversionists- eager to develop its inner spirituality • The Gnostic- based on esoteric religious knowledge

7. Why do people join these movements? • Five type of deprivations • Economic deprivation • Organismic deprivation • Psychic deprivation • Social deprivation

8. Cargo Cults By Peter M. Worsley

9. Cargo Cults • New Guinea 1946 • Central Theme • End of the world • Paradise • Extinction of evil & suffering • Reversal of system • Mansren Myth • Bible similarities • The Cargo • Disappointment & reappearance

10. Ghost Dance By Alice Beck Kehoe

11. The Ghost Dance • Region • Wovoka’s background • Eclipse of 1889 • Supernatural experience • Jack Wilson as a prophet • The dance • The gospel

12. The Ghost Dance • Rapid Spread • Last congregations • Why “Ghost Dance” • Resurrection of the dead • Renewal of the earth • Wounded Knee Massacre

13. Revitalization Movementsby Anthony Wallace • Result form severe disorganization of the socio-cultural system. • Climatic/faunal changes • Epidemic disease • Wars • Internal conflict (generating social inequalities) • Individual experiences: panic-stricken anxiety, shame, guilt, depression, &/or apathy.

14. Two Psychological Mechanisms • Mazeway Resynthesis • Hysterical Conversion - Beginning of the Revitalization Movements.

15. In-Class Activity Form a group of 3-4 people and answer the following questions: • How did the Seneca Indians of New York respond the social chaos? • Define the stages of revitalization process: • Steady State • Period of Increased Individual Stress • Period of Cultural Distortion • Period of Revitalization (including 6 functions) • New Steady State