Sometimes getting fooled again is good for you, as in healing good. Shamans have been healing people for tens of thousands of years, using their considerable powers of persuasion and that most efficacious of treatments: placebo.
While shamanic healing methods are varied, there is a great deal of ritual similarity across time and space: trance, sucking, [...]
Tags:Bali·Balian·Balinese healers·cultural tourism·Daniel McGuire·Ketut Liyer·Mangku Pogog·New Age·placebo·ritual healing·shamanic healing·suggestion·traditional healers
Until recently, I knew nothing about Dhammakaya Buddhism, which is considered to be part of the Theravada tradition. For over a decade, this Thai-based movement has been making waves for its alleged commercialization of Buddhism. Some observers attribute its considerable success to the dislocations brought on by Thai modernization. Whatever the attraction, Dhammakaya is fulfilling many [...]
Tags:Buddhism·Buddhist·Close Encounters of the Buddhist Kind·cult·David Koresh·Dhammakaya·Dhammakaya Foundation·ethics·evangelical·globalization·Jim Jones·Khun Yay Ubasika Chandra Khonnokyoong·Lebensraum·Leni Riefenstahl·Luke Duggleby·meditation·modernity·morality·Nazis·Nuremburg·Ron Gluckman·Thailand·Theravada·Wat Phra Dhammakaya
It is no secret that economic debates often have a religious flavor and similar passion; sometimes this flavor is metaphorical but other times is direct. Indeed, there many people — especially in the United States, who explicitly equate their economics with morals and religion.
Some worship at the altar of gold (the gold standard to be [...]
Tags:Adam Smith·Ben Friedman·Bill O'Reilly·David Ricardo·deism·deist·economics·Economics as a Moral Science·economy·free markets·Friedrich von Hayek·Glenn Beck·gold standard·invisible hand·Ludwig von Mises·Mike Huckabee·Milton Friedman·morals·Ron Paul·Rush Limbaugh·Sarah Palin·Theory of Moral Sentiments·Wealth of Nations
In the NYT’s Art & Design section, Nicolai Ouroussoff has a fascinating report (and nice slideshow) on the controversial construction boom in Mecca, the holiest city in Islam. The Saudi royals seem so impressed by Sin City’s overwhelming and kitschy architecture, they have imported Vegas sized and styled buildings to better serve the (very rich) [...]
Tags:architecture·capitalism·class·class conflict·commerce·consumerism·Grand Mosque·hajj·Islam·jihad·jihadists·kaaba·Las Vegas·Mecca·modernity·Muslims·Nicolai Ouroussoff·pilgrimage tourism·pilgrims·Saudi Arabia
The irony is deep but not delicious: the world’s most important database for dead and dying languages — Ethnologue — began as a missionary project and continues to pursue (Christian) religious goals. Despite the religious colonialism and imperialism inherent in missionary projects, academic linguists concede that Ethnologue is one positive that has emerged from the [...]
Tags:colonialism·culturcide·dead languages·dying languages·Ethnologue·imperialism·language database·language extinction·languages·Laura Spinney·linguicide·linguistics·linguists·missionaries·missions·Summer Institute of Linguistics
One of the great tragedies associated with Afghanistan’s recent history — aside from all the killing, which is both obvious and horrific — is our inability to explore this region’s rich, varied, and fascinating past. In this time of war, it is easy to forget that Afghanistan has always been a crossroads and meeting place [...]
Tags:Afghanistan·Bamiyan·Bamyan·Buddhas·Buddhism·Chinese mining·destruction·dynamite·idolatry·intolerance·Mes Aynak·mineral wealth·monastery·monks·Mullah Omar·radical Islam·Silk Road·stupas·Taliban·trade route
Just the other day, I commented on the origin of ritual and noted that Jonathan Z. Smith sees “the thrill of coincidence” as at least a partial explanation. Before rationalists dismiss this thrill as mere superstition, Smith also notes that the same kind of coincidence resides at the heart of scholarship:
The discovery that two events, [...]
Tags:Africa·Assembly of God·Catholics·charismatics·charms·coincidence·evangelicals·exorcism·Foursquare Gospel·Geoffrey MacDonald·Glimpses of African Belief·indigenous beliefs·Johann Hari·Jonathan Z. Smith·Massachusetts·mediums·pagans·Pentecostals·possession·psychics·ritual·rituals·rosaries·saints·Salem·secret interconnection·spells·spiritual tourism·spiritualism·superstitition·The Gathering·The Masque of Africa·The Vault·transubstantiation·V.S. Naipaul·voodoo·Wicca·witchcraft
Over at Slate, Jeremy Stahl has written a fabulous piece — Inside the Bizarre Tourist Trade at Harlem’s Sunday Church Services — that will greatly interest cultural anthropologists. The article hits on several hot button concepts for culturals — tourism, commoditization, race, authenticity, tradition, identity, ritual, gazing, etc. Sensing these issues, Stahl is reluctant:
Though I [...]
Tags:authenticity·commoditization·cultural anthropology·Daniel Bell·drama·Frederic Jameson·Harlem churches·Harlem worship services·Jeremy Stahl·postmodernism·race·religion as commodity·spectacle·The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism·The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism·theater·tourism·tourist trade
As my readers know, there is no such thing as “Buddhism” — there are multiple kinds of buddhisms, some of which eschew spirits and deities while emphasizing consciousness and compassion, whereas others are highly ritualized and enthusiastically enjoin the supernatural realm of gods and souls.
I was reminded of this the other day while reading Electa [...]
Tags:Boulder Shambhala Meditation Center·Buddhism·Buddhisms·credulous Boulderites·Dalai Lama·emanation·Holden Caulfield·holiness·incarnation succession·Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche·Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche·reincarnation·Rinpoche·Tibetan Buddhism
In a competitive religious marketplace, producers are becoming increasingly savvy and perhaps even post-modern. Although some old-timey producers bemoan this commercial development, others are embracing it.
Over at Rupert Murdoch’s transformative Wall Street Journal, the 20-something Brett McCracken churlishly warns his cohort about the “Perils of Hipster Christianity,” and discusses some of the uncool ways in [...]
Tags:Brett McCracken·competition·fashion·hijab·iChurches·Imam Idol·Islam·Jean Baudrillard·Jean-Francois Lyotard·Malaysia·marketing·marketing religion·MyNakedPastor.com·Nicola Abe·Perils of Hipster Christianity·postmodern·postmodernism·producers of religion·religious marketplace·religious pluralism·sex and religion·Sex God·sharia·simulacra·simulacrum
