FinaExam2

eschatology

a religion's belief about the end of days

theodicy

explanation of why a perfectly good

soteriology

plan of salvation, to save ourselves from this failed world

polytheism

belief of multiple Gods/deities

henotheism

belief of one God being bigger and more powerful than the other ones

monotheism

only one God

pantheism

belief that the world has no beginning or end, creator and creation are identical

theories of religion's purpose

• biological/evolutionary (adaptive)

• psychological/psychoanalyti

• sociological/behavioral

• symbolic/linguistic

• Richard D. argues that humans are the products of other genes (biology) and memes (ideas

neurotheology

• the study of subjective experiences which may be termed "religious" or "spiritual" in relation to brain anatomy and biochemistry

the Good Friday experiment

• - at Marsh Chapel, Boston University, in 1962, researcher Walter Pahnke gave 10 divinity students a tab of psilocybin and 10 a placebo, right before the Good Friday worship service. (The placebo user were given sugar and told it was the drug.)
  - most (9) of the non-placebo divinity students reported that they had some type of mystical experience or feeling of deep religious insight during the service. Only one placebo taker described something similar.
  - U.S. laws have prevented replication of this experiment. But, it is a "classic" in the neurotheology literature.

Frazer's Golden Bough

• - true classic of the 19th century, Frazer's immense erudite work revolutionized anthropology, folklore, and religious study
  - has influenced countless of books, including Robert Graves' own classic White Goddess: a historical grammar of poetic myth

types of myth

• - creation myths (Popul Vuh, Genesis)
  - apocalypse myths (Ragnarok, Revelation)
  - national identity myths (Kalevala)
  - origin myths (Arachne)
  - not like the creation myth, origin myth tends to be very specific
  - theodistic myths (Pandora, Eden)
  - parables (The Good Samaritan)

theories of myth

• - functionalist (Malinowski): purpose of myth is to help people function
  - structuralist (Levi-Strauss): contained in myths are binary structures; studying myths of other cultures could give you an insight by looking at binary structures that underlie it.
  - euhemerist
  - psychoanalytic (Jung, Campbell)
  - ethnoscientific (Santillana)
  - social-charter (Didactic): people use myth to legitimize the social order

performance/discourse analysis

look at the story telling through the ethnography of speaking - examine myths as oral performance and behavior

taxonomic/motifistic analysis

compare motifs within variants of the myth to determine how and where it originated and understand is underlying structure

oral myths

in oral cultures, many variants of a myth, some contradictory, will exist. it is not necessarily assumed, other than locally, whether one variant is "right" and another is not.

"Game of Telephone"

written myths

when myths are written down in literate cultures into sacred texts, then canons must be formed, and contradictory narratives excluded

Claude Levi-Strauss

in his "Raw and the Cooked" he says Chinese mythology structures the world into a binary set of oppositions. Chinese Mandarin civilization is cooked (finished); the surrounding barbarian societies are raw (uncivilized, incomplete, unrefined). all things fall on one side or the other of this cultural divide.

disjunction

Raymond Firth - anthropologist

difference between an objects literal existence

icons

resemble sacred things

relics

have physical contact with the sacred

idols

embody divinity

iconoclasm

image breakers

Jungian archetypes

• mother archetype: maternal goddess

• shadow archetype: demon figures

• father archetype: patriarchal/paternal deities

• anima archetype: Aphrodite/Venus/etc.

• self archetype: mandalas

• wise old man (grandfather archetype): merlin

Joseph Campbell

• mythology emerges from archetypal unconscious

• hero's journey usually started by the wise old man

• mythological objects are projections of unconscious archetypes

• mythological stories represent psychological conflicts and needs

• mythology makes the unconscious mind knowable to the conscious mind

• the hero's journey is in fact the journey all of us must make toward individuation

Garden of Eden

• Eve created

• the serpent

• expulsion

• women more vulnerable to fall into temptation

• secret way back into garden: kabbalah

The Flood

Genesis contains its own apocalypse: the destruction of the world via a flood

Noah's sons & the "races"

- Noah and his three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth are the only survivors and they found the three major races of the planet- semite-asian, african-egyptian, european-greek
- Noah is really father of humankind; another race, known as the nephilim or watchers (enochian tradition), giants born of angels mating with mortal woman, perishes in the flood

Abraham's tree

• - a genealogy of mankind
  - a genealogy of the middle east
  - a genealogy of the Israelites
  - Islam, Christianity, Judaism -the three world monotheistic faiths - are all part of the Tree of Abraham

primogeniture

the right of succession belonging to the firstborn child, especially the feudal rule by which the whole real estate of an intestate passed to the eldest son

- genesis myth repudiates primogeniture; Jacob gets the birthright, first born son doesn't

apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM)

• - Virgin of Guadalupe (1520)
  - Lourdes, France (1858)
  - Fatima, Portugal (1917) - three principles
  - Medjugorje, Bosnia (1981)
  - Most recently: Miami, Florida (March 2000) - during Elian Gonzalez crisis: on Totalbanc Window on 27th avenue

Shrine of Fatima

she appears to three children and gives them each a prophecy. the first prophecy: the nature of hell

stigmata

• manifestation of the mystical wounds of Christ's passion

• first (known) stigmata: St. Francis of Assissi

glossolalia

• "speaking in tongues"

• at Charismatic/Pentecostal services

hematidrosis

tears, sweat, or blood generated from statues

Shroud of Turin

mysterious relic

** centuries old linen cloth that bears the image of a crucified man. A man that millions believe to be Jesus...

apocalypse

• - means revelation, often a showing of the final things
  - in cultures that have a cyclical view of time, the world is continually destroyed and re-created. Native Americans, such as the Aztec and the Maya, had such a view - there were other "Suns" or worlds before this one, and after its destruction there will be more.
  - but in cultures with a linear view of time, the timelines of history will come to an end, and afterwards will only be... the final judgements and eternity. Western cultures have tended to view time this way. The Book of Revelation provides Christianity with its eschatology
  
  four horsemen: famine, plague, war, death

armageddon

at Mount Megiddo, in Northern Israel, where Solomon and others had fought many battles, John of Patmos says the war between the fallen angels and the sons of Light will occur. "Armageddon" has now become synonymous with apocalypse.

tribulation

• cause of great trouble or suffering

• much of what John of Patmos is referring to is prefigured by earlier events

milleniannialism

• a period of 1000 years -millennialist/millernarian/chiliast: someone approaches at millennial intervals

• this is because John of Patmos' prediction of the 1000 year reign of Christ

messianism

• "Moshiach" = "anointed one"

• there were two Messiahs in ancient Israel - the Davidic King and the Zadokite High Priest.

• in Jesus' time

William Miller

• based on his calculations

structure of the bible

Old Testament = "Tanakh"

• Torah = Law (Genesis-Exodus-Leviticus-Numbers-Deuteronomy)

• N' vim = Prophets (Jeremiah

noncanonical literature

are early Christian documents that are not found in the New Testament

?

Dead Sea Scrolls

• found in caves near Qumran

Gnostic Gospels

• most were found in a scriptorium at Nag Hammadi

Septuagint

the earliest extant Greek translation of the Old Testament from the original Hebrew:

1. Septuagint notes

2. Library of Alexandria

3. Sages meet

4. Facsimile page`

Council of Nicaea

the first ecumenical council of the Christian church

urban legends

• these modern folk tales seem to spread most now via the Internet... if you ask people where they heard of them

freemasonry

a not so secret allegiance with many secrets. George Washington along with 11 American Presidents were a part of the group. they are said to have started the Illuminati. they teach moral precepts through the allegorical use of building tools. all members must believe in a supreme being.

Illuminati

said to have been started by the Freemasons and according to Robert Anton Wilson "you don't know you are a member until it's too late"

conspiracy theories

myths

Knight's Templar

is the Freemasons temple where the allegiance began as a ritual practice

principles of magic

sympathetic contagious

sufism

• mystical side of Islam

• purification of the heart from the recurrence of base temptations

famous mystics

Plato Saint John

eastern mysticism

monistic

western mysticism

dualistic

limits of rationality

• which encompasses both

• rationalism and mysticism

Gematria

numeric values are generated for each Hebrew letter a sum is made for the word, phrase then an equivalent word or phrase is found. this establishes an esoteric equivalence. then an equivalent word or phrase is found. this establishes an esoteric equivalence.

Tetragrammaton

• 
  - Yod He Vahv He - The Shem HaMeforash or Sacred Name - there is a longer, secret 72-letter name
  - the four-letter biblical name of the God of Israel.

Golem of Prague

• - a clay creature, with the word "Emeth" (truth) written on its forehead, loses control and has the "E" and the "h" erased from its head creating the word "Met" (death). once this happens the creature seizes to exist
  - this clay creature was supposedly created by a Rabbi of Prague

Tree of Life

ten fears (Attributes of the Divine)

Isaac Luria

• revised the Kabbalah in the 16th century Safed

types of altered state of consciousness (ASCs)

• REM dreaming - lucid dreaming

• out of body experiences - 'astral projection-

• hypnotic trance - mesmerism

• hypnagogic (the experience of the transitional state from wakefulness to sleep)/hypnopompic - "night hag"

• psychedelic/hallucinogenic states

• automatism - somnambulism

brainwave states

beta alpha theta delta

beta

waking consciousness

alpha

daydreaming

theta

REM dreaming

delta

deep sleep

hypnosis

• originally known as mesmerism after Anton Mesmer

• "putting people into trance"

brain structures

reticular activating formation pineal gland left & right hemispheres temporal lobes

reticular activating formation

at the base of he brain

pineal gland

frontal area of the brain

left & right hemispheres

brain is split into spheres of analytic and creative activity

temporal lobes

above the ears on the sides of the brain - stimulation causes visions and feelings of "sensed presence"

Doors of Perception

• Aldous Huxley experiments with mescaline and concludes the brain functions as a "reducing valve" - ASCs lower the constriction function normally needed for sensory processing

• he names his book about these experiments

• it's from Huxley's book that the 60s rock bank The Doors takes its name

Ayahuasca

used by Santo Daime and Amazonian Shamans

Fly Agaric

used by the first Tungus shamans of Siberia

Ergot

• is a fungus that grows on grains and when consumed causes people to have demonic visions

• "St. Anthony's Fire"

• chemist Albert Hoffman synthesized LSD from ergot in the 1940s

Peyote

• a cactus that contains mescaline

• has been used by Native American shamans in the SW U.S. and northern Mexico for millennia

Blue Lotus

• recen evidence suggests it is psycho active

• Egyptian rel. (?)

spiritualism

• these syncretistic religions have undoubtedly been influenced by Western European Spiritualism.

• spiritualist churches believe in a progressive afterlife and contact with spirits through mediumship. most do not believe in Hell but instead in reincarnation and several levels of spiritual existence.

• spiritualism began with the Fox sisters in 1848 and their table-rappings.

• ouija boards

Santeria

• origin: Cuban slaves

• practitioners: santeros - but more properly babalaos

• shrines: usually altars in peoples' home but ritual paraphernalia can be found at botanicas

• controversies: Animal Sacrifice (Church of Babalu-Aye vs. City of Hialeah

Voundoun

• origin: Haiti (independent as of 1804)

• practitioners: houngans and mambos

• shrines: the peristyle (poteau-mitan) or sanctuary

• controversies: are zombies real? (Wade Davis and Serpent & the Rainbow)

• intercessors: the Lwa - o Legba - lord of the crossroads o Erzulie - mistress of the waters (Virgin Mary) etc.

Candomble

• origin: Brazilian slaves

• related faiths: Umbanda (mixed with European Kardecism and Spiritualism)

• practitioners: umbandistas

• shrines: usually

Ras Tafari

• origin: Jamaican preachers attracted to the message of Marcus Garvey

• beliefs: Haile Selassie I was (is) the African Messiah

Zombis

• the "living dead" of Haiti - are they real?

• according to Wade Davis

spirit possession

• - Santeria, Voudoun, and Candomble all use the ritual of spirit possession.
  - the spirits speak through the "horse" or body of a "mounted" or possessed person.
  - possession is voluntary and temporary - people seek it and consider it an honor.
  
  - the rhythmic drumming and singing at the ceremony are perfect for putting people into trance.
  - possessed people often report no memory of what they did while possessed, or that they watched their own actions from "outside".
  - possessed people often show remarkable changes of physical appearance and physical potential.

ghost dance

• founder: Jack Wilson (Wovoka)

cargo cults

• - examples: John Frum movement, etc.
  - found: Pacific Melanesian Island cultures, post-WW II posted
  - rituals: used effigies of soldiers and planes to magically compel "cargo" to return
  - beliefs: attacked back "cargo"
  - some of these are still around today...

revitalization movement characteristics

• nativist and nationalist

• millenarian and apocalyptic

• messianic

• reactionary - traditionalist

• prophetic (founded by trance-prophet)

• syncretistic

• caused by deprivation: economic

revitalization stages of formation

1. Steady State

2. Increased Individual/Social Stress

3. Cultural Distortion

4. Period of Revitalization (substages)

5. New Steady State

period of revitalization

1. Formulation of Code

2. Communication of Code

3. organization (through 'hysterical conversion')

4. adaption

5. cultural transformation ('mazeway resynthesis')

6. routinization (of charisma)

origins of shamanism

• Mircea Eliade: began 100

World Tree/Axis Mundi

• shamans worldwide believe in a great tree or axis that connects the three worlds

1. the Underworld (realm of the chthonic nature powers)

2. Middle-Realm (the everyday world)

3. Celestial Realm (the realm of the star and sky-spirits)

• via "spirit flight" the shaman can ascend or descend this world-tree

Carlos Castenada

• how many people have first come to know about shamanism

• real surname: Arana (from Peru)

• author or The Eagle's Gift

sun dance

• a Lakota ceremony

• a dance that lasts four days in the sun while fasting. creating a hallucinogenic trance.

Devil's Tower

sacred site in the Native American religion

evil eye

• almost every society believes in the existence of female sorcerers (witches) who can cause harm to others through hexes or curses... beliefs in witchcraft is universal

• they are said to have a gaze or Evil Eye that can cause crops to wither