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Chapter 15

Chapter 15. Religion. Chapter Questions. What is religion? What does religion do in a society? How are religious beliefs and rituals different in various cultures? What roles do sacred stories and symbols play in relation?. Chapter Questions.

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Chapter 15

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  1. Chapter 15 Religion

  2. Chapter Questions • What is religion? • What does religion do in a society? • How are religious beliefs and rituals different in various cultures? • What roles do sacred stories and symbols play in relation?

  3. Chapter Questions • What are some common key elements in religious rituals? • What are the differences between prayer, sacrifice and magic? • How do priests differ from shamans? • Under what conditions do religions change, and when do new religions form?

  4. A Human Universal • Religion dates back to the beginnings of the human species. • No religion is more evolved than another.

  5. Functions of Religion in Society • Explains aspects of the physical and social environment. • Helps people understand the world. • Preserves the social order. • Includes practices aimed at ensuring success.

  6. Religion Preserves Social Order • Sacred stories and rituals provide a rationale for the present social order. • Ritual creates an atmosphere in which people experience their common identity in emotionally moving ways. • Religion is an important educational institution.

  7. Sacred Narratives • Stories of historical events, heroes, gods, spirits, and the origin of all things. • Have a sacred power that is evoked by telling them or acting them out ritually. • Validate or legitimize beliefs, values, and customs.

  8. Ritual • Act involving the manipulation of religious symbols. • Certain patterns of religious behavior are extremely widespread, if not universal.

  9. Rite of Passage Three phases: • Separation - individuals are removed from their community or status. • Liminal - stage when one has passed out of an old status but not yet entered a new one. • Reincorporation - participants are returned to their community with a new status.

  10. Addressing the Supernatural • Prayer • Sacrifice • Magic • Divination

  11. Prayer • Communication between people and spirits or gods. • People believe results depend on the spirit world rather than on actions humans perform. • Prayer may involve a request, a pleading, or merely praise for the deity.

  12. Magic Among the Asaro Examples: • When a child is born, its umbilical cord is buried (so it can’t be used by a sorcerer to cause the child harm). • When a young boy kills his first animal, his hand is magically “locked” into the position of the successful kill.

  13. Vision Quest • Individual, emotionally intense search for a spirit that will provide protection, knowledge, and power. • Although the vision quest was an intensely individual experience, it was shaped by culture.

  14. Witch Craze of Europe • Plague swept through Europe, and the medieval social and religious order collapsed in war and chaos. • People believed witches were the cause of their misery. • Thousands of suspected witches were put to death.

  15. Religions and Change • Revitalization movements are efforts to construct a new culture and personal identity. • They arise when people have been oppressed and suffered cultural loss and loss of identity. • Examples: Native American Ghost Dance and Native American Church

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