In English and American law, “force majeure” clauses are standard in most contracts. These clauses simply recognize that the world can be a chaotic place and that when a contracting party cannot perform due to such chaos, the lack of performance will not constitute a breach of contract. Such clauses typically include a standard list [...]
Tags:acts of God·Africa·American law·angry God·Azande·Bangui·Bartolomé Goroth·Central African Republic·chance·chaos·contracts·covens·E.E. Evans-Pritchard·force majeure·Graeme Wood·Hex Appeal·jurisprudence·law·magic·Mbutu·Pygmies·spells·witchcraft·witches
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
Over at Live Science, Benjamin Radford stereotypically reports — with no irony and little thought — that “Belief in Witchcraft Widespread in Africa” is prevalent:
A new Gallup poll found that belief in magic is widespread throughout sub-Saharan Africa, with over half of respondents saying they personally believe in witchcraft. Studies in 18 countries show belief [...]
Tags:Africa·Africans·angels·Benjamin Radford·Christianity·demons·Gallup Poll·helplessness·Islam·Ivory Coast·lack of control·magic·propitiation·religiosity·sorcery·spirits·supernatural beings·supernatural forces·Uganda·witchcraft
Archaeologists working in Europe have it good, really good. Depending on one’s interests, you can research just about anything. Paleoanthropologists can work on hominid evolution (i.e., Homo heidelbergensis, H. antecessor, H. neanderthalensis), while their colleagues can study a host of fascinating subjects, including the Upper Paleolithic transition, mesolithic hunter-gatherers, incipient agriculturalists, and the usual smattering [...]
Tags:afterlife·axes·barrows·celts·complex hunter-gatherers·cosmology·European archaeology·flints·folk beliefs·grave goods·hominid evolution·Homo antecessor·Homo heidelbergensis·Homo neanderthalensis·Iron Age·Kate Ravilious·Kwakiutl·magic·megaliths·mesolithic·mortuary practices·mythology·myths·Neanderthals·oldest house in Britain·pagans·ritual objects·ritualism·Romans·Sean Coughlan·sedentism·shamanist·shamans·soul·spirit·Stone Age·superstition·talismans·thunderstones·Upper Paleolithic·Vikings
Reuters reports that “specialists” in prayer writing and ritual are doing a booming business in Iran. The whole business — or commodification of prayer — reminds one of the prayer and dispensation trade that existed in the Catholic Church for hundreds of years, and which so incensed Martin Luther:
In Islamic Iran where clerics rule, [...]
Tags:Catholic Church·dispensations·doctrine·Imam·intercession·interpretation·Iran·Islam·Islamic law·legitimacy·magic·Martin Luther·Mullah·Muslim·prayer·prayer sellers·prayer selling·ritual·sharia·Stanley Fish·superstition·supplication
In keeping with the themes from my previous posts on prayer/probabilities and supplication/statistics, it would be remiss not to discuss B.F. Skinner’s classic 1948 study in which he demonstrated that the regular delivery or occurrence of something — or what might be called consistency of experience over time — can result in the (mistaken) perception [...]
Tags:B.F. Skinner·causation·chance·contingency·correlation·David Hume·magic·pigeons·prayer·probability·ritual·rituals·statistics·superstition·supplication
For nearly a century, scholars have been debating whether cultural practices called “magic” are distinct or separate from “religion.” Several scholars have observed that there appear to be few principled distinctions between magic and religion, and that people who characterize themselves as “religious” often derogate different religious practices by labeling them as mere “magic.” This [...]
Tags:magic
