Studies of Religion II

1. Studies of Religion II Preliminary Nature of Religion and Beliefs

2. What is religion? • Religion has been defined in many ways: • “Belief in, worship of or obedience to a supernatural power or powers considered to be divine or to have control of human destiny” Collins Australian English Dictionary • “Belief in and response to, God or the gods” • “A system of beliefs and practices” • “A state being grasped by an ultimate concern” Paul Tillich

3. The Common Elements • Religion often involves • Belief in something beyond the ordinary • The use of ordinary things to help people see the ultimate concern • A way of helping people through life’s obstacles and difficulties • Origins, purpose and significance of things • What happens after death • Explanations for things • Beliefs and practices

4. The word ‘religion’ • The Latin word ‘religio’ translates as ‘religion’ • It comes from two other Latin words: • Relegare - to gather up or turn to constantly • Religare - to bind together • Some people think that religion means constantly turning to and being bound to some ultimate concern such as God or gods which bring meaning to people’s lives • Others see ‘religion’ binding people together as they share a common set of beliefs and practices

5. How has science helped us to understand the nature of religion and beliefs?

6. Richard Leakey, a paleontologist investigated a burial site at the Shanidar Cave in Iraq The Shanidar Cave shows us something about religion in prehistory

7. Shanidar Cave in Iraq has been the site of human living and dying for 100 000 years

8. Looking out from Shanidar Excavation in cave Skull of Neanderthal in cave

9. A reconstruction of a burial scene at Shanidar Cave. What evidence of a religious world view can you see here?

10. Shanidar Cave Bunches of flowers were strewn over the dead man by grieving members of his tribe. The amount of pollen present could not have been brought in by the wind or animals. Neandethals sensed the preciousness of life and that some elements continues after death.

11. Early European people called the Cro-Magnons buried people in caves. They covered the bodies in red ochre and decorated the body with bracelets and a necklace of animal teeth. This skeleton has been covered in red ochre earth. Red may have represented blood or life. Tools and ornaments were often buried with the dead.

12. Burial Scene This burial scene from northeast France was made in about 4500 BCE at the time when farming had started in the area. The farmers were buried in small cemeteries, often with shell ornaments, adzes and stones for grinding grain. What is the significance of these practices?

13. Burial Feast The dead body of an old man is propped up against a rock and sent into the afterlife with a burial feast. These events happened 40000 years ago at La Chapelle-aux-Saints, France. The grave of an old man, propped against a stone was found in 1908 together with the bone from a chunk of meat. How did this help Neanderthals to think about life and death?

14. Cave Burial While the mother and other child mourn, the father places three flint offerings on the grave of their child. The grave later domed over is one of nine discovered in 1909 in La Ferrassie, France. This scene shows rituals associated with the burial of the dead with meaning for after life.

15. What might this picture tell us about primal religion? Scientists suggest that the skull had some particular significance since it was placed on a pole and surrounded by a circle of rocks. It seems to have been a shrine of some sort. Its eyes look over the family. It may have been a symbol of an honoured spirit? Skull Cave MontoCirceo, Italy

16. A family grave in southern England built around 3700 BCE. Not only used for burying the dead but also for ceremonies concerning the dead. Corpses were placed outside to rot and then skeletons were broken up and bones placed in tomb. Some skulls and other bones were removed for ceremonies elsewhere. The entrance was blocked and opened many times.

17. Hunters carefully place a cave bear’s head in a stone chest. Later they will place six others in the chest – all facing the cave entrance. They may have believed that the skulls possessed magic power. Neanderthal Hunters Swiss Alpine Cave

18. Bear Cave • Stone chests with bear heads were not just trophy cases since other animals would have been much easier to capture and other food was available in abundance • Rites involving bears still occur among hunter peoples, e.g. Siberian tribes worship the bear as the mythical first man and apologise to the animal profusely before killing it. • Other consider the bears to be intermediaries between people and the reigning spirits of the land.

19. The Ainu of Northern Japan • Ainu hunters of northern Japan capture a bear cub and treat it as an honoured guest (sometimes the women even nurse the cub on their own breast milk) • In winter the bear is sacrificed and after a long ceremony the men drink the bear’s blood while the shaman (holy man) prays to the creator • The people believe the spirit of the sacrificed bear will return to the forest and report on the hospitality it received. • A favourable report from the bear persuades the forest gods to arrange good hunting next year.

20. Ainu Hunter The Ainu Ainu woman with young child Ainu man

21. Sending back the spirit of the bear A dance is part of the ceremony of sending back the bear’s spirit. In Japanese ‘iyomante’ Ceremony for sending back the bear spirit

22. Ancestor Mummy Some Pacific islanders still mummifytheir dead ancestors and use them as part of the ancestor worship they practise. Why do you think these people honourthe dead? Do we still do this in perhaps a different way?

23. For discussion • Do people in our modern Australian society still wonder about the possibility of life after death? • Do you think people still care about proper treatment of people after they have died? • What do we do to honour the dead? • What purpose does this serve?

24. Some Celtic Religious Practices

25. This gigantic outline of a horse, about 100 metres long from head to tail was cut into the chalk deposit underlying Uffington in southern England and can be seen in its entirety from the air. The Celts who carved it here in the 1stcentury BCE saw it as a symbol of a horse god.

26. At dawn Celtic Druids (priests) celebrate rites to bring in a fruitful year. Beneath oak branches hung with sacred bracelets offered by faithful people, the chief Druid lifts his arms in prayer to an image of the god. A younger ‘seer’, kneeling, divines omens from a human skull. The Druids invoked the gods of herd and harvest to ensure prolific herds and abundant harvests.

27. Ritual Shafts with Divine Offerings The Celts dug ritual shafts in the ground. The one on the right was 10 metres deep and the one on the left was 13 metres deep and are about 2000 years old. Some were 35 metres deep. The Celts believed that some of their gods lived inside the earth and so they dug deep shafts in the ground and filled them with votive offerings to propitiate the underground gods. Often many shafts were in one place suggesting that this was special holy ground where people came to worship.

28. Religious Practices of Farming People and those who lived in Cities

29. Mother Goddess This baked clay sculpture from Turkey was made in about 6000 BCE. She may have been worshipped as a goddess of motherhood, as indicated by exaggerated breasts and stomach. Mothers were seen as godlike because they gave birth. The Earth Goddess or Great Mother gave life to the world and so ensured the future of the human race

30. The Mother Goddess Shown here giving birth, the mother goddess is monumental in appearance but is actually only about 17 centimetres tall. The clay figure symbolised fruitfulness and was meant to signify bountiful harvests. This figure comes from an area in south-central Turkey, called CatalHuyuk, where people lived up to 8500 years ago.

31. The Norse God Reykjavik This Norse god from around 1000 CE comes from Iceland and represents quite a different tradition to the Mother Goddess. In cultures such as the Norse, the achievements and activities of men, especially war and conquest were emphasised and so the gods reflected these activities.

32. As life became more settled substantial stone temples were built like this one on the island of Malta. This temple was built between 3600 BCE and 2500 BCE. Stonhenge in England was built over many centuries from 2800 BCE to 1400 BCE. The circle of stones aligned with the midsummer sunrise and midwinter sunset and were used for ceremonies

33. A special holy person often emerged to oversee religious matters. This was his special role in the tribe. This is a modern day shaman (or holy man) of South American indians. He is the key figure in human supernatural interaction.

34. CatalHuyuk At an altar-like platform blazoned with plaster leopards, two women make a harvest offering, placing wheat spears and a basket of seeds before statuettes of the mother goddess of fertility. This was a ritual of late summer when crops began to ripen.

35. A massive structure built by King Ur-Nammu in 2100 BCE, testifying to his power and to the glory of Nanna, the moon god. The huge religious centre rose three tiers to a height of 20 metres above shrines, storehouses, courtyards and homes of the temple staff. Only the crumbling lower tier survives. It is 70 metres long, 50 metres wide and 15 metres high. How may this have been used? The terraced Ziggurat of Ur Southern Iraq

36. Im-dugud, the Sumerian god of storms, with a stag Sumerian culture (2800 BCE Middle East) was dominated by many gods – more than 3000. Originally the gods were associated with natural phenomena (like storms) and were depicted in non-human form, like Im-dugud, the god of storms – a lion headed eagle.

37. The temple of Ramses II at Abu Simbel in Egypt was part of the worship of the god-king known as the Pharaoh. The Pharaoh were mummified after death in preparation for the afterlife.

38. The ancient Greeks and Romans built temples for their gods. This temple in Rome called the Pantheon still exists and is now used a Christian Church.

39. Who was Ninian Smart?What is the phenomenological approach to understanding the nature of religion?

40. Ninian Smart – died 2001 Professor Ninian Smart was the Professor of Religious Studies at Lancaster University in England. He spent a lifetime in the study of religion. His work established a theory of seven dimension of religion.

41. The Phenomenological Approach • Ninian Smart is the pioneer of modern religious studies. • His work concentrated on the characteristics common across various religious traditions – this is called the phenomenological approach • Religion is so vast that this approach allows us to break it down a little and understand it • Smart described this as “getting to know the trees before trying to depict the forest” • We become familiar with the bits and pieces (the phenomena or characteristics) of religion so that we can understand the whole religion

42. Smart’s Dimensions of Religion • Practical and Ritual Dimension • Practices of religion – worship, preaching, prayers and rituals • Experiential and Emotional Dimension • Experiences and emotions of adherents • Narrative or Mythical Dimension • ‘story’– experience expressed through ritual, sacred narrative or myth – e.g. creation narrative • Doctrinal and Philosophical Dimension • Doctrine and philosophies are organised system of beliefs and values – an intellectual statement of the basis of faith

43. Smart’s Dimensions of Religion • Ethical and Legal Dimension • A set of commands or rules which guide the behaviour of adherents of religion • Social and Institutional Dimension • This refers to the way the religion is in place in the world – e.g. the Church for Christians or the Umma(the Muslim Community) or tribes • Also sacred people, such as saints, gurus, mystics or prophets • Material Dimension • Social or institutional – visible and symbolic forms of religion – buildings, art, special places

44. Smart’s Dimensions of Religion • Practical and Ritual • Experiential and Emotional • Narrative and Mythical • Doctrinal and philosophical • Ethical and Legal • Social and Institutional • Material

45. Phenomenological Approach • The phenomena of religion have been categorised as: • Rituals • Stories • Beliefs • Space and time structures • Persons • Experiences • These phenomena are the ‘vocabulary’ of religion – they are the raw data with which analysis of religion is carried out

46. Benefits of Phenomenology • Scientific – tries to find out in an objective and impartial way what are the ‘bits’ of religion • Educationally oriented – tries to break a huge topic down in smaller pieces which people can manage in their attempt to understand what religion is

47. Perspectives on Religion • Religion is complex but some perspectives are often common to all religious experience: • Something beyond the ordinary • Supernatural • Natural • Transcendent • Immanent

48. Something Beyond the Ordinary • Typically religion speaks of ‘something’ beyond the ordinary - it connects people to and binds them to this ‘something’ • This ‘something’ is complex and difficult to define - often referred to as God • It is this ‘something’ that helps people to map a course through life and its obstacles • This ‘something’ looks beyond the limitations of human existence and helps to provide meaning both in the world ‘beyond’ and the world ‘here’

49. Supernatural • ‘super’ means ‘above’ or ‘beyond’ so ‘supernatural’ means above or beyond the natural • Supernatural power is above or beyond the power of humans and ordinary human existence • Supernatural power is not explained by natural or scientific laws • Supernatural sometimes involves the miraculous or beyond the ordinary

50. In 2003 people went to Coogee Beach to see an apparition of the Virgin Mary reported to be seen in a fence post - thousands flocked to see it.