MRB Chapter 2 - Religious Specialists

Religious Specialists

those more skilled/knowledgeable in religious task and traditions than others.

Priests

full-time or permanent religious practitioners

Priest Primary Role

performance of rituals and interpretation/maintenance of religious tradition.

Prophets

not a formal position; emerges in opposition to prevailing religious authority.

Prophets tend to appear when:

1. social class frictions increase

2. small-scale societies are oppressed by large-scale societies (colonization).

Shamans

a part-time practitioner interacting with the spirit world through altered state of consciousness.

Shamans are mostly found in…

animism and animatism

Shamanic Ecstasy

altered state of being, lucid, out-of-body experience; achieved through drugs, drumming, dancing, fasting, sensory deprivation, bloodletting, and autohypnosis.

Core Beliefs of Shamanism (4):

1. communicate and develop relationships with spirits and provide religious support by healing, knowledge, or guidance.

2. individual’s perception of the web of life.

3. fulfill the role of spirit medium, magician, metaphysician, or healer.

4. Serve the community, NOT themselves.