Among scholars and historians of religion, there has long been an unfortunate tendency to treat myth as mere text — disembodied, free-floating, timeless, and ahistorical. In such non-contexts, myth is considered to be something universal or essential, that which captures and expresses archetypes, or even worse, an archaic and tentative approach to monotheism.
In the fifth [...]
Entries Tagged as 'History of Religions'
Myth as History — On Religious Texts
September 4th, 2010 · No Comments · History of Religions, Methodology of Religion
Tags:ahistorical·archaic·archetype·Carl Jung·disembodied·history·Homo faber·Homo religiosus·Imagining Religion·incipient monotheism·interpretation·Io·Io myth·Jonathan Z. Smith·Karl Marx·Maori cosmology·Maori creation myth·Mircea Eliade·monotheism·myth·native·primordial·text·timeless·universal
Dolphins, Chimps & Japanese Religions
September 3rd, 2010 · No Comments · Classifications of Religion, Cultural Evolution of Religion, Definitions of Religion, History of Religions, Magic and Religion
After recently watching “The Cove” and a Mad Men episode titled “The Chrysanthemum and the Sword” — a clever allusion to Ruth Benedict’s justly famous cultural study of Japan, I decided it was time to bone up on Japanese religions. Japan is a multi-faceted nation and getting your head around its history, culture and people [...]
Tags:Buddhisms·cetaceans·chimp abuse·chimp colonies·chimp experimentation·chimp research·chimpanzees·Confucianism·dolphins·Japan·Japanese·Japanese religion·Mad Men·magic·National Institute of Health·primitive religion·Robert Bellah·Ruth Benedict·Shintoism·syncretism·Taoism·The Chrysanthemum and the Sword·The Cove·Tokugawa Religion
Phylogeny of Religions
September 2nd, 2010 · No Comments · Classifications of Religion, Cultural Evolution of Religion, Definitions of Religion, History of Religions, Religion as Evolutionary Adaptation, Religion as Evolutionary Byproduct
Sooner or later any serious student or historian of religion will encounter Jonathan Z. Smith, he of the infamous quip — “there is no data for religion. Religion is solely the creation of the scholar’s study.” A curious statement indeed coming from one of the most prominent historians of religion, whose entire career and oeuvre [...]
Tags:classification schemes·costly signaling·essentializing·F. Max Muller·group level selection·Imagining Religion: From Bablyon to Jonestown·increased fertility·Jonathan Z. Smith·moral glue·multilinear evolution·religious cartography·religious classification·religious history·religious phylogeny·religious taxonomy·ritual signaling·science of religion·social cohesion·unilinear evolution
Hitchens on Anti-Semitism
September 2nd, 2010 · No Comments · Axial Age Religions, History of Religions
Provocative and thoughtful as he usually is, Hitchens opines on anti-semitism for The Atlantic:
There is, probably first and certainly foremost, religious anti-Semitism. Unlike other nations or peoples, Jews were among the witnesses to the alleged lives and preachings of Jesus and Muhammad, and turned away from men they deemed false Messiahs. It is inconceivable that [...]
Tags:anti-semitism·Christians·Christopher Hitchens·false messiahs·false prophets·Jesus·Muhammad·Muslims
Viking Gate & Pagan Berserkers
August 28th, 2010 · No Comments · Archaeology and Religion, History of Religions, Pagans and Polytheism
Over at Spiegel, Matthias Schulz reports on a “sensational” archaeological find in Northern Germany. In 808 CE, King Gottrik of Denmark ordered the construction of the longest earthwork in Europe. It was approximately 19 miles long and had only a single gate (the “Danevirke”), which archaeologists are now excavating.
This was a turbulent time in Europe, [...]
Tags:berserkers·Charlemagne·Clash of the Gods·Danevirke·Denmark·Franks·King Gottrik·Loki·Matthis Schulz·Molly Hatchet·Norse pagans·Norse religion·Northern Germany·Scandanavia·Thor·Thor and the Fall of Paganism·Vikings
Iranian Jews, Zoroastrians & Bahai
August 28th, 2010 · No Comments · Axial Age Religions, History of Religions, Recent and New Religions
Over at The Atlantic, Elizabeth Weingarten reports on Iranian Jews in America. I was surprised to learn there is still a community of Persian Jews in Iran and that so long as they are silent on the issue of Israel, they are free to do as they please. Iran truly is a fascinating country with [...]
Tags:Elizabeth Weingarten·Iran·Iranian Jews·Mazdaism·monotheism·Persia·Roxana Saberi·Zoroaster·Zoroastrianism
Undergraduates and Religion
August 24th, 2010 · No Comments · Atheism and Religion, Cognition and Religion, History of Religions, Philosophy of Religion
Over at HuffPo Religion, Princeton’s dean of religious affairs explains how entering freshmen can “find their religion” during their four years at college by asking (and attempting to answer) three questions:
1. What do you believe?
2. What does your neighbor believe?
3. How do those beliefs affect the choices you and your neighbor are making about how [...]
Tags:college freshmen·entering class·finding religion·interrogating religion·losing religion·Paul Raushenbush·Princeton dean·skepticism
Bourdieu & Symbolic Power: The Archaeology of Proto-Religion
August 22nd, 2010 · No Comments · Archaeology and Religion, Cognition and Religion, History of Religions, Shamans and Shamanism
I just finished reading David Swartz’s superb article, “Bridging the Study of Culture and Religion: Pierre Bourdieu’s Political Economy of Symbolic Power” (open access), and must recommend it not only to cultural theorists but to archaeologists as well. Several aspects of Bourdieu’s thought lend themselves readily to novel interpretations of what otherwise might appear to [...]
Tags:archaeological theory·behavorial modernity·Bridging the Study of Culture and Religion·cultural theory·David Swartz·embodiment·Foucault·Marx·materialist history·Nietzsche·paleolithic hominids·Pierre Bourdieu·political economy·ritual objects·sociology of religion·spiritualist history·symbolic power·symbolism·Weber
Koran Burning & Christian History
August 21st, 2010 · 2 Comments · Axial Age Religions, History of Religions
The inaptly named Dove World Outreach Center (an evangelical church) in Gainesville, Florida wants to create a bonfire of Korans but has been denied a permit by the fire marshal. Incredibly, Gainesville’s “burning ordinance” prohibits the open air torching of books — either some city councilman was worried about global warming or wanted to prevent [...]
Tags:apostasy·book burning·burning ordinance·Christian Bible·Christian colonialism·Christian history·Christian imperialism·content neutral·Crusades·Dove World Outreach Center·First Amendment·Florida·Gainesville·heresy·Inquisition·intolerance·Islam·Islamic colonialism·Islamic imperialism·Koran·Koran bonfire·Muslims·Nazis·Ten Reasons to Burn a Koran·Thirty Years War·zealotry
Literacy & Books: Shaping Religious Experience
August 21st, 2010 · No Comments · Axial Age Religions, Cultural Evolution of Religion, Definitions of Religion, History of Religions
Over at The Atlantic, Heather Horn interviews Andrew Pettegree, who has just written a history of the book titled The Book in the Renaissance. After pondering the (bright) future of books, they discuss the profound ways in which vernacular books and a literate public forever changed religious experience:
But one mustn’t ignore that the mainstay of [...]
Tags:Andrew Pettegree·definition of religion·Heather Horn·paradigm shift·religions of the book·religious experience·religious writings·sacred texts·sacred writings·The Book in the Renaissance·the concept of religion
