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E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F
RELIGION
S E C O N D E D I T I O N


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E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F
RELIGION
S E C O N D E D I T I O N
10
NECROMANCY
LINDSAY JONES

EDITOR IN CHIEF
PINDAR

eorel_fm 3/2/05 8:36 AM Page iv
Encyclopedia of Religion, Second Edition
Lindsay Jones, Editor in Chief
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1. RELIGION—ENCYCLOPEDIAS. I. JONES, LINDSAY,
1954-
BL31.E46 2005
200’.3—dc22
2004017052
This title is also available as an e-book.
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E D I T O R S A N D C O N S U L T A N T S
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Program in Religious Studies,
SIGMA ANKRAVA
LINDSAY JONES
University of Wisconsin—Madison
Professor, Department of Literary and
Associate Professor, Department of
C
Cultural Studies, Faculty of Modern
HARLES H. LONG
Comparative Studies, Ohio State
Professor of History of Religions,
Languages, University of Latvia
University
Baltic Religion and Slavic Religion
Emeritus, and Former Director of
Research Center for Black Studies,

DIANE APOSTOLOS-CAPPADONA
BOARD MEMBERS
University of California, Santa Barbara
Center for Muslim–Christian
DAVÍD CARRASCO
Understanding and Liberal Studies
MARY N. MACDONALD
Neil Rudenstine Professor of Study of
Program, Georgetown University
Professor, History of Religions, Le
Latin America, Divinity School and
Art and Religion
Moyne College (Syracuse, New York)
Department of Anthropology, Harvard
DIANE BELL
DALE B. MARTIN
University
Professor of Anthropology and Women’s
Professor of Religious Studies, and
Studies, George Washington University
GIOVANNI CASADIO
Chair, Department of Religious
Australian Indigenous Religions
Professor of History of Religions,
Studies, Yale University
Dipartimento di Scienze
KEES W. BOLLE
AZIM NANJI
Professor Emeritus of History,
dell’Antichità, Università degli Studi
Professor and Director, The Institute
University of California, Los Angeles,
di Salerno
of Ismaili Studies, London
and Fellow, Netherlands Institute for
WENDY DONIGER
JACOB OLUPONA
Advanced Studies in the Humanities
Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service
Professor, African American and
and Social Sciences
Professor of the History of Religions,
African Studies Program, University
History of Religions
University of Chicago
of California, Davis
MARK CSIKSZENTMIHALYI
GARY L. EBERSOLE
MICHAEL SWARTZ
Associate Professor in the Department
Professor of History and Religious
Professor of Hebrew and Religious
of East Asian Languages and
Studies, and Director, UMKC Center
Studies, Ohio State University
Literature and the Program in
for Religious Studies, University of
Religious Studies, University of
INÉS TALAMANTEZ
Missouri—Kansas City
Wisconsin—Madison
Associate Professor, Religious Studies
Chinese Religions
JANET GYATSO
Department, University of California,
RICHARD A. GARDNER
Hershey Professor of Buddhist Studies,
Santa Barbara
Faculty of Comparative Culture,
The Divinity School, Harvard
Sophia University
University
CONSULTANTS
Humor and Religion
GREGORY D. ALLES
CHARLES HALLISEY
Associate Professor of Religious Studies,
JOHN A. GRIM
Associate Professor, Department of
McDaniel College
Professor of Religion, Bucknell
Languages and Cultures of Asia and
Study of Religion
University and Co-Coordinator,
v

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vi
EDITORS AND CONSULTANTS
Harvard Forum on Religion and
TED PETERS
Religion, University of Chicago
Ecology
Professor of Systematic Theology,
Law and Religion
Ecology and Religion
Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary
TOD SWANSON
JOSEPH HARRIS
and the Center for Theology and the
Associate Professor of Religious Studies,
Francis Lee Higginson Professor of
Natural Sciences at the Graduate
and Director, Center for Latin
English Literature and Professor of
Theological Union, Berkeley,
American Studies, Arizona State
Folklore, Harvard University
California
University
Germanic Religions
Science and Religion
South American Religions
URSULA KING
FRANK E. REYNOLDS
MARY EVELYN TUCKER
Professor Emerita, Senior Research
Professor of the History of Religions
Professor of Religion, Bucknell
Fellow and Associate Member of the
and Buddhist Studies in the Divinity
University, Founder and Coordinator,
Institute for Advanced Studies,
School and the Department of South
University of Bristol, England, and
Asian Languages and Civilizations,
Harvard Forum on Religion and
Professorial Research Associate, Centre
Emeritus, University of Chicago
Ecology, Research Fellow, Harvard
for Gender and Religions Research,
History of Religions
Yenching Institute, Research Associate,
School of Oriental and African
GONZALO RUBIO
Harvard Reischauer Institute of
Studies, University of London
Assistant Professor, Department of
Japanese Studies
Gender and Religion
Classics and Ancient Mediterranean
Ecology and Religion
DAVID MORGAN
Studies and Department of History
HUGH B. URBAN
Duesenberg Professor of Christianity
and Religious Studies, Pennsylvania
Associate Professor, Department of
and the Arts, and
State University
Comparative Studies, Ohio State
Professor of Humanities and Art
Ancient Near Eastern Religions
University
History, Valparaiso University
SUSAN SERED
Politics and Religion
Color Inserts and Essays
Director of Research, Religion, Health
CATHERINE WESSINGER
JOSEPH F. NAGY
and Healing Initiative, Center for the
Professor of the History of Religions
Professor, Department of English,
Study of World Religions, Harvard
and Women’s Studies, Loyola
University of California, Los Angeles
University, and Senior Research
University New Orleans
Celtic Religion
Associate, Center for Women’s Health
New Religious Movements
M
and Human Rights, Suffolk University
ATTHEW OJO
Healing, Medicine, and Religion
R
Obafemi Awolowo University
OBERT A. YELLE
African Religions
LAWRENCE E. SULLIVAN
Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, University
of Toronto

J
Professor, Department of Theology,
UHA PENTIKÄINEN
Law and Religion
Professor of Comparative Religion, The
University of Notre Dame
History of Religions
University of Helsinki, Member of
ERIC ZIOLKOWSKI
Academia Scientiarum Fennica,
WINNIFRED FALLERS SULLIVAN
Charles A. Dana Professor of Religious
Finland
Dean of Students and Senior Lecturer
Studies, Lafayette College
Arctic Religions and Uralic Religions
in the Anthropology and Sociology of
Literature and Religion
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

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A B B R E V I A T I O N S A N D S Y M B O L S
U S E D I N T H I S W O R K
abbr. abbreviated; abbreviation
3 Bar. 3 Baruch
2 Chr. 2 Chronicles
abr. abridged; abridgment
4 Bar. 4 Baruch
Ch. Slav. Church Slavic
AD anno Domini, in the year of the
B.B. BavaD batraD
cm centimeters
(our) Lord
BBC British Broadcasting
col. column (pl., cols.)
Afrik. Afrikaans
Corporation
Col. Colossians
AH anno Hegirae, in the year of the
BC before Christ
Colo. Colorado
Hijrah
BCE before the common era
comp. compiler (pl., comps.)
Akk. Akkadian
B.D. Bachelor of Divinity
Conn. Connecticut
Ala. Alabama
Beits. Beitsah
cont. continued
Alb. Albanian
Bekh. Bekhorot
Copt. Coptic
Am. Amos
Beng. Bengali
1 Cor. 1 Corinthians
AM ante meridiem, before noon
Ber. Berakhot
2 Cor. 2 Corinthians
amend. amended; amendment
Berb. Berber
corr. corrected
annot. annotated; annotation
Bik. Bikkurim
C.S.P. Congregatio Sancti Pauli,
Ap. Apocalypse
bk. book (pl., bks.)
Congregation of Saint Paul
Apn. Apocryphon
B.M. BavaD metsiEaD
(Paulists)
app. appendix
BP before the present
d. died
Arab. Arabic
B.Q. BavaD qammaD
D Deuteronomic (source of the
EArakh. EArakhin
Bra¯h. Bra¯hman.a
Pentateuch)
Aram. Aramaic
Bret. Breton
Dan. Danish
Ariz. Arizona
B.T. Babylonian Talmud
D.B. Divinitatis Baccalaureus,
Ark. Arkansas
Bulg. Bulgarian
Bachelor of Divinity
Arm. Armenian
Burm. Burmese
D.C. District of Columbia
art. article (pl., arts.)
c. circa, about, approximately
D.D. Divinitatis Doctor, Doctor of
AS Anglo-Saxon
Calif. California
Divinity
Asm. Mos. Assumption of Moses
Can. Canaanite
Del. Delaware
Assyr. Assyrian
Catal. Catalan
Dem. DemaDi
A.S.S.R. Autonomous Soviet Socialist
CE of the common era
dim. diminutive
Republic
Celt. Celtic
diss. dissertation
Av. Avestan
cf. confer, compare
Dn. Daniel
EA.Z. EAvodah zarah
Chald. Chaldean
D.Phil. Doctor of Philosophy
b. born
chap. chapter (pl., chaps.)
Dt. Deuteronomy
Bab. Babylonian
Chin. Chinese
Du. Dutch
Ban. Bantu
C.H.M. Community of the Holy
E Elohist (source of the Pentateuch)
1 Bar. 1 Baruch
Myrrhbearers
Eccl. Ecclesiastes
2 Bar. 2 Baruch
1 Chr. 1 Chronicles
ed. editor (pl., eds.); edition; edited by
vii

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viii
ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS
EEduy. EEduyyot
Hung. Hungarian
Lith. Lithuanian
e.g. exempli gratia, for example
ibid. ibidem, in the same place (as the
Lk. Luke
Egyp. Egyptian
one immediately preceding)
LL Late Latin
1 En. 1 Enoch
Icel. Icelandic
LL.D. Legum Doctor, Doctor of Laws
2 En. 2 Enoch
i.e. id est, that is
Lv. Leviticus
3 En. 3 Enoch
IE Indo-European
m meters
Eng. English
Ill. Illinois
m. masculine
enl. enlarged
Ind. Indiana
M.A. Master of Arts
Eph. Ephesians
intro. introduction
Ma Eas. MaEaserot
EEruv. EEruvin
Ir. Gael. Irish Gaelic
Ma Eas. Sh. MaE aser sheni
1 Esd. 1 Esdras
Iran. Iranian
Mak. Makkot
2 Esd. 2 Esdras
Is. Isaiah
Makh. Makhshirin
3 Esd. 3 Esdras
Ital. Italian
Mal. Malachi
4 Esd. 4 Esdras
J Yahvist (source of the Pentateuch)
Mar. Marathi
esp. especially
Jas. James
Mass. Massachusetts
Est. Estonian
Jav. Javanese
1 Mc. 1 Maccabees
Est. Esther
Jb. Job
2 Mc. 2 Maccabees
et al. et alii, and others
Jdt. Judith
3 Mc. 3 Maccabees
etc. et cetera, and so forth
Jer. Jeremiah
4 Mc. 4 Maccabees
Eth. Ethiopic
Jgs. Judges
Md. Maryland
EV English version
Jl. Joel
M.D. Medicinae Doctor, Doctor of
Ex. Exodus
Jn. John
Medicine
exp. expanded
1 Jn. 1 John
ME Middle English
Ez. Ezekiel
2 Jn. 2 John
Meg. Megillah
Ezr. Ezra
3 Jn. 3 John
Me Eil. MeEilah
2 Ezr. 2 Ezra
Jon. Jonah
Men. Menah.ot
4 Ezr. 4 Ezra
Jos. Joshua
MHG Middle High German
f. feminine; and following (pl., ff.)
Jpn. Japanese
mi. miles
fasc. fascicle (pl., fascs.)
JPS Jewish Publication Society trans-
Mi. Micah
fig. figure (pl., figs.)
lation (1985) of the Hebrew Bible
Mich. Michigan
Finn. Finnish
J.T. Jerusalem Talmud
Mid. Middot
fl. floruit, flourished
Jub. Jubilees
Minn. Minnesota
Fla. Florida
Kans. Kansas
Miq. MiqvaDot
Fr. French
Kel. Kelim
MIran. Middle Iranian
frag. fragment
Ker. Keritot
Miss. Mississippi
ft. feet
Ket. Ketubbot
Mk. Mark
Ga. Georgia
1 Kgs. 1 Kings
Mo. Missouri
Gal. Galatians
2 Kgs. 2 Kings
MoEed Q. MoEed qat.an
Gaul. Gaulish
Khois. Khoisan
Mont. Montana
Ger. German
Kil. Kil Dayim
MPers. Middle Persian
Git.. Git.t.in
km kilometers
MS. manuscriptum, manuscript (pl.,
Gn. Genesis
Kor. Korean
MSS)
Gr. Greek
Ky. Kentucky
Mt. Matthew
H
. ag. H
. agigah
l. line (pl., ll.)
MT Masoretic text
H
. al. H
. allah
La. Louisiana
n. note
Hau. Hausa
Lam. Lamentations
Na. Nahum
Hb. Habakkuk
Lat. Latin
Nah. Nahuatl
Heb. Hebrew
Latv. Latvian
Naz. Nazir
Heb. Hebrews
L. en Th. Licencié en Théologie,
N.B. nota bene, take careful note
Hg. Haggai
Licentiate in Theology
N.C. North Carolina
Hitt. Hittite
L. ès L. Licencié ès Lettres, Licentiate
n.d. no date
Hor. Horayot
in Literature
N.Dak. North Dakota
Hos. Hosea
Let. Jer. Letter of Jeremiah
NEB New English Bible
H
. ul. H
. ullin
lit. literally
Nebr. Nebraska
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ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS
ix
Ned. Nedarim
pop. population
sp. species (pl., spp.)
Neg. Nega Eim
Port. Portuguese
Span. Spanish
Neh. Nehemiah
Prv. Proverbs
sq. square
Nev. Nevada
Ps. Psalms
S.S.R. Soviet Socialist Republic
N.H. New Hampshire
Ps. 151 Psalm 151
st. stanza (pl., ss.)
Nid. Niddah
Ps. Sol. Psalms of Solomon
S.T.M. Sacrae Theologiae Magister,
N.J. New Jersey
pt. part (pl., pts.)
Master of Sacred Theology
Nm. Numbers
1Pt. 1 Peter
Suk. Sukkah
N.Mex. New Mexico
2 Pt. 2 Peter
Sum. Sumerian
no. number (pl., nos.)
Pth. Parthian
supp. supplement; supplementary
Nor. Norwegian
Q hypothetical source of the synoptic
Sus. Susanna
n.p. no place
Gospels
s.v. sub verbo, under the word (pl.,
n.s. new series
Qid. Qiddushin
s.v.v.)
N.Y. New York
Qin. Qinnim
Swed. Swedish
Ob. Obadiah
r. reigned; ruled
Syr. Syriac
O.Cist. Ordo Cisterciencium, Order
Rab. Rabbah
Syr. Men. Syriac Menander
of Cîteaux (Cistercians)
rev. revised
TaE an. TaEanit
OCS Old Church Slavonic
R. ha-Sh. RoDsh ha-shanah
Tam. Tamil
OE Old English
R.I. Rhode Island
Tam. Tamid
O.F.M. Ordo Fratrum Minorum,
Rom. Romanian
Tb. Tobit
Order of Friars Minor
Rom. Romans
T.D. Taisho¯ shinshu¯ daizo¯kyo¯, edited
(Franciscans)
R.S.C.J. Societas Sacratissimi Cordis
by Takakusu Junjiro¯ et al.
OFr. Old French
Jesu, Religious of the Sacred Heart
(Tokyo,1922–1934)
Ohal. Ohalot
RSV Revised Standard Version of the
Tem. Temurah
OHG Old High German
Bible
Tenn. Tennessee
OIr. Old Irish
Ru. Ruth
Ter. Terumot
OIran. Old Iranian
Rus. Russian
T
. ev. Y. T
. evul yom
Okla. Oklahoma
Rv. Revelation
Tex. Texas
ON Old Norse
Rv. Ezr. Revelation of Ezra
Th.D. Theologicae Doctor, Doctor of
O.P. Ordo Praedicatorum, Order of
San. Sanhedrin
Theology
Preachers (Dominicans)
S.C. South Carolina
1 Thes. 1 Thessalonians
OPers. Old Persian
Scot. Gael. Scottish Gaelic
2 Thes. 2 Thessalonians
op. cit. opere citato, in the work cited
S.Dak. South Dakota
Thrac. Thracian
OPrus. Old Prussian
sec. section (pl., secs.)
Ti. Titus
Oreg. Oregon
Sem. Semitic
Tib. Tibetan
EOrl. EOrlah
ser. series
1 Tm. 1 Timothy
O.S.B. Ordo Sancti Benedicti, Order
sg. singular
2 Tm. 2 Timothy
of Saint Benedict (Benedictines)
Sg. Song of Songs
T. of 12 Testaments of the Twelve
p. page (pl., pp.)
Sg. of 3 Prayer of Azariah and the
Patriarchs
P Priestly (source of the Pentateuch)
Song of the Three Young Men
T
. oh. t.ohorot
Pa. Pennsylvania
Shab. Shabbat
Tong. Tongan
Pahl. Pahlavi
Shav. ShavuEot
trans. translator, translators; translated
Par. Parah
Sheq. Sheqalim
by; translation
para. paragraph (pl., paras.)
Sib. Or. Sibylline Oracles
Turk. Turkish
Pers. Persian
Sind. Sindhi
Ukr. Ukrainian
Pes. Pesahim
Sinh. Sinhala
Upan. Upanis.ad
Ph.D. Philosophiae Doctor, Doctor
Sir. Ben Sira
U.S. United States
of Philosophy
S.J. Societas Jesu, Society of Jesus
U.S.S.R. Union of Soviet Socialist
Phil. Philippians
(Jesuits)
Republics
Phlm. Philemon
Skt. Sanskrit
Uqts. Uqtsin
Phoen. Phoenician
1 Sm. 1 Samuel
v. verse (pl., vv.)
pl. plural; plate (pl., pls.)
2 Sm. 2 Samuel
Va. Virginia
PM post meridiem, after noon
Sogd. Sogdian
var. variant; variation
Pol. Polish
Sot.. Sot.ah
Viet. Vietnamese
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ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS
viz. videlicet, namely
Yad. Yadayim
* hypothetical
vol. volume (pl., vols.)
Yev. Yevamot
? uncertain; possibly; perhaps
Vt. Vermont
Yi. Yiddish
° degrees
Wash. Washington
Yor. Yoruba
+ plus
Wel. Welsh
Zav. Zavim
minus
Wis. Wisconsin
Zec. Zechariah
= equals; is equivalent to
Wis. Wisdom of Solomon
Zep. Zephaniah
× by; multiplied by
W.Va. West Virginia
Zev. Zevah.im
→ yields
Wyo. Wyoming
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N





v o l u m e t e n
o r t r a i t s
p
P O R T R A I T S
Portraits have the singular advantage of presenting to the
votive eye the person whose personality, office, stature, or
authority shape a relationship that often goes to the heart of religious belief. Ances-
tors, teachers, saints, heroes, and deities are made available in their portraits for
veneration and petition. The devotional relation that portraiture enables with these
venerable figures is perhaps most observable in icons, which are a visual device found
in many religious traditions. The term is most closely associated with Orthodox
Christianity, which makes extensive liturgical use of icons in its formal
worship and devotion. The power of icons consists in their ability to
act as apertures or windows through which the devout gaze. Rather
than opaque surfaces, icons are experienced as openings in the
fabric of the present that enable access to sacred realities such as
persons and events. These avenues or conduits conduct devo-
tion and petition from the believer to the venerated person
and often act as the route of return to deliver blessing, guid-
ance, or comfort. Although the idea of the Christian icon
should not be applied normatively to forms of portraiture
in other religions, the icon is a visual category that is not
exclusive to Christianity. Fundamental to the sacred portrait
is the presumption that faces are the signature of personality,
the most reliable and communicative register of the human soul.
To see the face is to see the person, to remember him as he actually
was, or to see her as she is now in the next world as saint or ancestor.
Faces are relics, the enduring countenance of spiritual power, the place
to which the devout go to see the sacred looking back at them in the
cherished guise of someone they know and trust.
The link between faces and relics is tangible in masks as diverse
as Melanesian ritual imagery (a and b) and the death masks made in
(a) A Tatanua mask for inhabitation by the soul of the deceased in Malagan
funerary rites. New Ireland, Papua New Guinea, wood, fiber, shell, lime, and
trade-cloth. [©Galerle Meyer-Oceanic Art, Paris; photograph by M. Gurfinkel, Paris]
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N
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PORTRAITS
Europe (c). In the case of Melanesian ceremonies, masks
were sometimes made from the skulls and hair of the
recently deceased, serving to establish their presence as
ancestors in nocturnal dances of secret medicine societies
on the island of New Britain. Although the mask is not
an imitative portrait (its sculpted and painted features are
similar to other masks), its actual constituents create its
link to the ancestor. So it is a “portrait” in an ontological
sense. Yet another manner of “portrait” is the New Ireland
uli figure (b), which serves as the residence of an ances-
tor spirit. After a village leader died, an uli was invested
with the spirit of the leader by a shaman. The image was
then able to provide assistance to the new chief and vil-
lage. Although the figure bore no visual similarity to the
deceased leader, it contained his spirit and therefore acted
as the means of access to him and his blessing.
(b) ABOVE. A memorial ceremony figure (uli) of a deceased
leader, made of wood, shell, fiber, and pigment, collected in the
early twentieth century in New Ireland, Papua New Guinea.
[©Christie’s Images/Corbis] (c) RIGHT. Togato Barbarini, a life-
sized marble sculpture of the Roman patrician, with busts of his
ancestors, late first century bce or early first century ce.
[©Araldo de Luca/Corbis]
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PORTRAITS

The marble sculpture of a Roman patrician with the
busts of his ancestors (c) recalls the importance of por-
trait relics among later Europeans. Patricians in ancient
Republican and Imperial Rome installed their ancestors
in a practice of veneration that focused on wax effigies
made from the face of a patriarch at death. These images
were carried in funeral processions and kept by the family
for some time. The marble figure transposes two masks,
as well as the proud display of them by a living head of a
family. The masks vouched for the pedigree of aristocratic
Roman families. The right to use them was guaranteed
by law for aristocrats alone. Wax masks of ancestors were
kept in the atriums of patrician families and were worn by
actors during funerals to perform the parts of ancestors.
As Romans established aristocratic practices of collecting
and displaying works of art in their homes near the end
of the Republican period, the wax masks were replaced by
marble sculptures like the image reproduced here.

The use of death masks was common in modern
Europe as a way of remembering the appearance of writers
and leaders, and the masks were commonly consulted by
artists who wished to produce “authentic” portrait paint-
ings or sculptures of the famous person. In the twentieth
century the American revivalist preacher Billy Sunday
had photographs of himself posed in dramatic preaching
gestures made into postcards (d), which were distributed
at his massive urban revival meetings across the United
States. But carefully rendered, faithful portraits of teach-
ers, philosophers, and religious figures are hardly modern
or Western in origin. Naturalistic techniques were used
by Chinese and Japanese artists to depict Daoist and
(d) A 1908 postcard of American revivalist preacher Billy Sun-
day. [Courtesy of the Billy Graham Center Museum, Wheaton, Ill.]
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PORTRAITS
Buddhist historical figures, though in each case natural-
istic technique served a larger purpose. In the case of the
Daoist immortal, Zhongli Quan (e), the painter infused
the portrait with an intensity that conveyed the spiritual
attainments of this figure who had been a general during
the Han dynasty, but abandoned his military career when
he encountered a Daoist sage and then a zhenren, or
perfected being, who disclosed to him the great secrets of
Daoism. He appears here walking over the ocean. When
the Buddhist Chan master, Wuzhun, from Szechwan
province was invited to the imperial court of the Song
dynasty to present a discourse to the emperor, he was
named abbot of a monastery and given an official title.
The occasion was marked by an official portrait that
shows Wuzhun invested with imperial recognition that
(e) Late-fifteenth-century hanging scroll of The Immortal Zhongli
Quan
, attributed to Zhao Qi. [The Cleveland Museum of Art; pur-
chase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1976.13]

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PORTRAITS
extended to Chan Buddhism an official recognition and
status, which was identified with the person of Wuzhun.
The cultural work of portraits can have much to do with
the presentation of the person as more than individual.
The dress and gesture in Wuzhun’s portrait signal the
office of the sitter and construct a likeness suitable to his
official function and stature.

Portraits often present sitters performing their official
deeds and exercising characteristic duties for which they
are remembered or sought out by those who venerate their
images. Portraits of a Mouride caliph and of a scholar
(f1 and f2) depict each man with the accoutrements of
piety, ethnicity, and authority, including prayer beads,
text, and costume. Many portraits seek to authorize the
religious legitimacy of those they portray. The Egyptian
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PORTRAITS
relief carving (g) of the pharaoh Akhenaton and his
queen, Nefertiti, displays the two controversial promoters
of a new monotheistic cult in ancient polytheistic Egypt
receiving divine approbation in the form of solar rays
descending from Aton and delivering the virtues and pow-
ers of authority. Similarly, a German Protestant painter
vindicated the cause of the Reformation in an altar paint-
ing of the crucifixion (not pictured) by placing Martin
Luther at the foot of the cross, pointing to scripture in a
gesture that corresponds to John the Baptist’s pointing to
the savior on the cross.

In another use of portraiture to establish lineage and
authority, African American clergy of the African Meth-
odist Episcopal Church (h) were celebrated in 1876, the
national centennial, in a commemorative print that links
them to the cultural achievements of the church in its
sixty years of existence (it was founded in Philadelphia
in 1816). Their portraits are surrounded by the church’s
(g) LEFT. Stone relief of the Egyptian god Aton offering life
and gifts to the pharaoh Akhenaton and his queen Nefertiti, c.
1353–1335 bce, Tell el-‘Amarna, Egypt. [©Archivo Iconografico,
S.A./Corbis]
(h) BELOW.
A commemorative print depicting bish-
ops of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, 1876. [Courtesy
of the American Antiquarian Society]

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PORTRAITS
cultural institutions and projects, which were established
and undertaken by many of the clergy pictured in the
image. A print manufactured in India inverts this motif
by gathering ten Sikh gurūs in commemorative portraits
around a scriptural collection of poems and hymns (i).
The text, cradled in a throne, is itself known as the Gurū
Granth Sāhib
(Great Reverend Teacher) and is regarded by
Sikhs as the sacred embodiment of the gurūs’ wisdom and
spiritual authority. The gurū portraits and the holy text are
presented by the print as versions of one another.

The Sangye Yarjon, the abbot of an important Tibet-
an monastery not far from Lhasa, is shown in a painting
(j) that visually presents his lineage extending back all the
way to the historical Buddha himself (seen in the upper
left in his easily recognizable pose). Several important
Indian and Tibetan teachers and bodhisattvas appear as
part of the descent to the main figure of the abbot, who
occupies the center of the image. Sangye Yarjon shares the
(i) ABOVE. The Ten Gurūs, a print by an unknown artist pur-
chased at a Punjabi bazaar in 1965 by W. H. McLeod. [Repro-
duced by permission of Oxford University Press India, New Delhi; W.

H. Mcleod, Popular Sikh Art (1991)] (j) LEFT. Thirteenth-century
lineage painting of Sangye Yarjon, the abbot of Taklung Monas-
tery in Central Tibet, pigment and gold on cotton. [The Walters
Art Museum, promised gift of John and Berthe Ford]

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PORTRAITS
gesture and established iconography of Buddhism, as well
as the markings of the enlightened teacher, suggesting that
this is as much a portrayal of the individual in his particu-
larity as the office of a revered teacher and abbot. An even
greater reliance on stylization occurs in the Jain statue of
Lord Bāhubali (k), one of the twenty-four Jina, located
at the most holy of Jain shrines in southern India. This
colossal sculpture clearly recalls the Buddhist portrayal
of the Buddha and Hindu depictions of Vis.n.u, but the
nudity is unmistakably Jain, indicating that the Jina has
moved beyond all desire and the stain of karmic bondage
and is therefore free of rebirth.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Brilliant, Richard. Portraiture. London, 1991.
Brown, Kerry, ed. Sikh Art and Literature. London, 1999.
Cormack, Robin. Painting the Soul: Icons, Death Masks, and
Shrouds. London, 1997.
Strong, Donald. Roman Art. 2d ed. Edited by Roger Ling. Lon-
don, 1988.
Walker, Susan, ed. Ancient Faces: Mummy Portraits from Roman
Egypt. 2d ed. New York, 2000.
Wardwell, Allen. Island Ancestors: Oceanic Art from the Masco Col-
lection. Seattle and Detroit, 1994.
David Morgan ()
(k) A Jain worshiper prays before a monumental stone sculpture
of Lord Bāhubali in Karkal, India. [©Chris Lisle/Corbis]
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C N
O N T I N U E D
NECROMANCY, the art or practice of magically conjuring up the souls of the dead,
is primarily a form of divination. The principal purpose of seeking such communication
with the dead is to obtain information from them, generally regarding the revelation of
unknown causes or the future course of events. The cause of the death of the deceased
who is questioned may be among the facts sought.
More generally, necromancy is often considered synonymous with black magic, sor-
cery, or witchcraft, perhaps because the calling up of the dead may occur for purposes
other than information seeking, or because the separation of divination from its conse-
quences is not always clear. There is also a linguistic basis for the expanded use of the
word: the term black art for magic appears to be based on a corruption of necromancy
(from Greek necros, “dead”) to nigromancy (from Latin niger, “black”).
Limited to the practice of magical conjuration of the dead, necromancy does not in-
clude communication employing mediums, as in spiritualism or spiritism. Nor does it
include encounters with the souls of the departed during the spirit journeys of shamans,
apparitions of ghosts, or communications in dreams, with the possible exception of those
in dreams resulting from incubation.
Divination is undoubtedly a universal phenomenon found in all cultures. In the form
of necromancy, however, it is relatively infrequent, though widespread. Only limited de-
scriptions and documentation of the phenomenon are available, and only for certain peri-
ods and regions. Necromancy presupposes belief in both a form of life after death and
the continued interest of the dead in the affairs of the living. As such it may well be associ-
ated with complex funerary and postfunerary customs and with ancestor worship.
TECHNIQUES OF NECROMANCY. Necromancy is a theme often found in myths, legends,
and literary works. Such texts may describe communications with the dead or state their
messages, but they seldom provide information on actual techniques that might have been
employed in a given community. With regard to classical antiquity, Greek and Roman
accounts deal with cases described in myth and legend, but there is no evidence of actual
C LOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT CORNER. Thai bronze Buddha in meditation under a na
¯ga. [©Michael
Freeman/Corbis]; A lion-headed Imdugud bird above two stags in a twenty-fifth-century BCE
Mesopotamian relief from the temple of Ninhursaga. British Museum, London. [©Erich
Lessing/Art Resource, N.Y.]
; Detail of an Apache “Kan” god painted on a warrior’s cloak.
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. [©Werner Forman/Art Resource, N.Y.]; Stonehenge.
Wiltshire County, England. [©Roger Ressmeyer/Corbis]; Double-headed Neolithic idol, 5000–
2000 BCE. Historical Museum, Targoviste, Romania. [©Erich Lessing/Art Resource, N.Y.] .
6451

6452
NECROMANCY
necromantic practices, whether in inscriptions or in docu-
with diviners of all sorts. The concerns of medieval Chris-
mentation of specific historic events. More generally, where
tianity with necromancy and magic have their roots in this
actual descriptions exist of rites in other societies rather than
period as well as in biblical prohibitions.
fabulous accounts or rumors and accusations, inquiries are
Numerous divinatory techniques are mentioned in the
connected with burial and burial preparation. Here the ques-
Bible. The account of the so-called Witch of Endor (1 Sm.
tioning of the corpse may concern the cause of death and the
28) is frequently cited as an example of necromancy and of
identification of a murderer. Other necromantic practices in-
the prohibitions attached to it (cf. Deuteronomy, Leviticus,
volve rites at the grave site with the use of the name or some
and Isaiah). Necromancy is mentioned in the Talmud
part of the deceased, often his or her skull. The response may
among other divinatory practices. Although it is severely
be in the form of an utterance produced by the diviner, either
condemned, several examples are cited. The practice appears
in a trance state or through ventriloquism. It may also be re-
to have been rare, but it left its trace in rabbinic sources and
vealed in the form of a sign; this may involve the interpreta-
medieval Jewish magical beliefs, perhaps reinforced by the
tion of an omen or the drawing of lots.
beliefs of the Christians among whom the Jews lived. Magi-
The concept of necromancy is of limited utility for at
cal beliefs, many of pre-Christian origins, continued
least two reasons. First, it is linked to its history in the West-
throughout the Middle Ages.
ern tradition and therefore difficult to employ in analyzing
L
beliefs and practices of other cultures with different tradi-
ATE MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE NECROMANCY. The pri-
mary use of the term refers to the period between the late
tions. Second, necromancy is also only one of several types
Middle Ages and the early Renaissance. This was a time of
of divinatory practices, and these tend to shade into each
great social and political instability and change. It was also
other. For both of these reasons the term is of limited value
the time when fear of and persecution of witches took hold
in cross-cultural research, and it is not generally utilized in
in Europe. In England the several shifts between Catholicism
modern ethnographic studies.
and Protestantism were linked to fears of resistance and re-
NECROMANCY IN ANTIQUITY. The ancient Greeks believed
pression.
that the dead had great prophetic powers and that it was pos-
sible to consult them by performing sacrifices or pouring li-
One of the crimes of which witches were accused was
bations at their tombs. Such offerings were also part of the
necromancy, conjuring up the dead as well as (or with the
funerary and postfunerary ceremonies. The legendary visit of
help of) the devil. It was in this context that the term necro-
Odysseus to Hades to consult the seer Tiresias, as described
mancy came to be used as synonymous with demonic magic;
in Book 11 of the Odyssey, has also been classified as an in-
that is, magic performed with the devil’s assistance. It no lon-
stance of necromancy. Various other classical texts include
ger referred exclusively or even principally to magic using bo-
references to formal oracles of the dead; however, these gen-
dies of the dead or conjuring up the spirits of the dead. There
erally speak of practices not among Greeks but in remote lo-
are two major sources of information about these beliefs and
cations or among barbarians. They cannot be considered reli-
practices. These are the instructions used by witch-hunters
able reports of actual practices.
and exorcists, on the one hand, and the surviving manuals
and books of magic, on the other. Possession of such books
Most information on necromancy among Nordic and
itself was a basis for prosecution. The introduction of print-
Germanic peoples comes from the sagas. A number of refer-
ing and the resulting availability of books to a larger number
ences appear, for example, in the Eddas. Odin (Óðinn) is,
of people were in part responsible for the wider diffusion of
among other things, god of the dead, and in one account he
such texts.
awakens a dead prophetess in order to consult her. It is not
known whether or not such conjurations took place. Inter-
Manuals such as the Munich Book of Necromancy, which
pretation of the movement of rune-inscribed sticks appears
dates from the fifteenth century, are rich sources of informa-
to have been practiced. Necromancy was only one of numer-
tion on the general subject of the magic of the period. The
ous techniques of divination and one considered to be partic-
Munich Book contains detailed information of what magi-
ularly dangerous, especially when the dead were not family
cians claimed to be able to do and said they actually did. In-
members. It appears to have been prohibited even prior to
terestingly, this concerns not only specifics on how to gain
the conversion of these peoples to Christianity.
magical powers through conjurations, and about the spirits
that could be conjured up, but also provides information on
Necromancy appears to have been unknown, or at least
various forms of stage magic, particularly illusionist experi-
unreported, among the Etruscans and in the earlier periods
ments that could be performed for entertainment, such as
of Roman history. It may have been introduced with other
producing the appearance of banquets, horses, and castles.
Hellenistic and Oriental divinatory and magic practices, all
Some aspects of modern illusionist stage magic seem to have
of which were prohibited by Augustus (63 BCE–14 CE). Like
a long tradition behind them.
other forms of divination and magic, which might include
the use of poisons, necromancy was perceived as a potential
Reading and owning books in themselves gave rise to
political tool, dangerous in a world of personal power and
suspicions, and the possession of such books of magic was
ambition. The emperors, however, surrounded themselves
often sufficient for a person to be accused and prosecuted for
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NECROMANCY
6453
necromancy. Suspect books were confiscated and burned.
or using other divinatory techniques. The Haitian example
Lower-level clergy (men with some literacy) were frequently
suggests the difficulty in drawing clear lines between sorcery,
accused of practicing necromancy by the use of books.
divination, diagnosis, and healing—that is, between rituals
Women, who were less likely to be literate, seem generally
with positive or negative intent, or even among the various
not to have been suspected of manual-based necromantic
divinatory techniques. As a result it is doubtful that the term
practices. Rather, they were accused of using spells, of mak-
necromancy is used appropriately for any of these practices.
ing pacts with the devil, and of having animal familiars. The
From the perspective of research methods, it is impor-
fear of black magic and legislation against it often reflected
tant to distinguish between studies based on written sources,
anxiety over its possible use for political purposes. An exam-
often of a fragmentary nature, and ethnographic studies of
ple is King James’s 1604 decree of death for anyone using
living people, their beliefs, and their customs. In contrast to
the body of a dead person or any of its parts for purposes of
written sources, living people can be observed and ques-
magic. This fear is also seen in writings of the period. Shake-
tioned, so a larger context for their understandings can be
speare’s Macbeth shows witches conspiring to practice necro-
discerned.
mancy: they collect body parts on a battlefield, and in Act
IV they use the dead to prophecy.
The term necromancy has changed meaning in the
course of time. The practices described as necromantic were
NECROMANCY IN ARCHAIC CULTURES. Spanish chronicles,
seen as the very essence of evil in the period of the Renais-
composed shortly after the conquest of Peru, record that the
sance. Calling up the dead to question them, as described in
Inca had two special classes of diviners who consulted
Greek literature and myth, was not necessarily evil but might
the dead, one group specializing in dealing with mummies
be concerned with decision making about the future and
of the dead and another consulting various spirit beings and
practical matters. How the dead are understood as potential-
their representations, which the Spaniards referred to as
ly active in the world of the living has varied not only from
idols. The reports are written from the perspective of six-
culture to culture but also from period to period. Distinc-
teenth-century Spaniards at a time when, in their own coun-
tions are often made between those who died a natural death
try, the Inquisition searched out necromancers and others
and those who did not. In modern times, faith healing by
considered sorcerers and heretics.
means of calling on the help of the dead has been referred
to as necromancy in the United States. This gives the term
In the Huon Gulf region of New Guinea, throughout
a different meaning, unrelated to black magic. As interest in
the nineteenth century and prior to the arrival of missiona-
various aspects of the occult has seen a revival in the United
ries, all deaths were attributed to magic. The identification
States, curiosity about necromancy has also grown.
of the sorcerer who had caused the death was carried out by
a diviner, who conjured the spirit of the deceased into one
SEE ALSO Divination.
of several types of objects. It was then questioned, and “yes”
or “no” responses were obtained from the motion of the ob-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ject. The most common object used was a stunned eel, whose
Callaway, Henry. The Religious System of the Amazulu in the Zulu
convulsions were interpreted as “yes” responses. Other ob-
Language with Translation into English and Notes in Four
jects might be an upturned shell or a piece of bamboo held
Parts (1870). Africana Collectanea, vol. 35. Cape Town,
in the hand. The movements of these objects were subject
South Africa, 1970.
to some manipulations, and the answers were often used to
Caquot, André, and Marcel Leibovici, eds. La divination. 2 vols.
confirm suspicions held by popular opinion.
Paris, 1968.
Caro Baroja, Julio. The World of the Witches. Translated by O. N.
In Haiti a tradition exists that is derived from both Eu-
V. Glendinning. Chicago, 1964.
ropean influences of the colonial period and West African
Godwin, William. Lives of the Necromancers. London, 1834.
traditions. As part of postfunerary rites of Vodou initiates,
one of the two souls with which every person is endowed is
Hogbin, Herbert Ian. The Island of Menstruating Men: Religion in
removed from a temporary sojourn underwater and settled
Wogeo, New Guinea. Scranton, Pa., 1970.
in a family shrine. During this ceremony the soul is ques-
Hughes, Pennethorne. Witchcraft (1952). Baltimore, 1965.
tioned on various matters of interest. At a later time it may
Institoris, Heinrich, and Jakob Sprenger. The Malleus Malefi-
be called into a jar for purposes of consultation. Like conver-
carum of Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger (1928). Trans-
sations with the dead in parts of Africa, as, for instance,
lated by Montague Summers. New York, 1971.
among the Zulu, this process appears to involve ventrilo-
Junod, Henri A. The Life of a South African Tribe. 2d ed., rev. and
quism by the performing ritual specialist. It is also believed
enl. 2 vols. London, 1927. The 1912 first edition has been
that sorcerers can send the spirit of one or more dead persons
reprinted, New Hyde Park, N.Y., 1962.
into the body of a victim to cause illness and eventual death
Kieckhefer, Richard. Forbidden Rites: A Necromancer’s Manual of
if appropriate counter-rites are not performed. These involve
the Fifteenth Century. Stroud, U.K., 1997.
the identification of both the dead and the sender. The diag-
Métraux, Alfred. Voodoo in Haiti. New York, 1959.
nostic process may involve the direct questioning of the dead
Trachtenberg, Joshua. Jewish Magic and Superstition: A Study in
using the patient as a medium or by scrying (water gazing)
Folk Religion. New York, 1939; reprint, New York, 1982.
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6454
NEGRITO RELIGIONS: AN OVERVIEW
Williams, Charles. Witchcraft. New York, 1941; reprint, New
sonified and individualized deities are those associated with
York, 1959.
weather, especially destructive storms. Most groups have dei-
Wills, Garry. Witches and Jesuits: Shakespeare’s Macbeth. New
ties responsible for making thunder, and even some of the
York, 1995.
names given them are similar: Karei in the Malay Peninsula,
Kayai and Kadai in the Philippines, and Tarai in the Anda-
ERIKA BOURGUIGNON (1987 AND 2005)
mans. These beings are thought to bring thunderstorms as
punishment for breaking prohibitions against such diverse
acts as incest and burning leeches. The Semang and some of
NEGRITO RELIGIONS
the Philippine groups attempt to avert the storms by offering
This entry consists of the following articles:
their own blood to the thunder god. Such common features
AN OVERVIEW
are striking, but they form only part of each group’s religion.
NEGRITOS OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
In other respects their beliefs and rituals diverge, sometimes
NEGRITOS OF THE ANDAMAN ISLANDS
NEGRITOS OF THE MALAY PENINSULA
so radically as to place even the common features in different
lights. For this reason it is best to treat the religions of the
Andamanese, Semang, and Philippine Negritos as separate
NEGRITO RELIGIONS: AN OVERVIEW
entities, although certain similarities will be apparent.
The term Negrito (Spanish for “little Negro”) has been used
by some Western scholars to indicate those inhabitants of the
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Malay Peninsula, the Philippine Islands, and the Andaman
The most complete survey and comparison of the cultures of the
Islands (off the coast of Myanmar) who are characterized by
Asiatic Negritos is Paul Schebesta’s three-volume work Die
small stature, dark skin, curly hair, and generally “negroid”
Negrito Asiens (Vienna, 1952–1957). Comprising volumes 6,
facial features. Scholars disagree regarding a possible genetic
12, and 13 of “Studia Instituti Anthropos,” Schebesta’s work
has been partially translated into English by Frieda Schütze
connection between these small and widely separated popu-
for the Human Relations Area Files (New Haven, Conn.,
lations. The traditional view is that they are all remnants of
1962). The great bulk of this material is based on Schebesta’s
a single ancient race that was once widespread in Southeast
extensive fieldwork among the Semang. A similar, although
Asia but has now been largely exterminated or absorbed by
much briefer, comparison can be found in Marcelino N.
more powerful and populous immigrant groups. A second
Maceda’s The Culture of the Mamanua (Northeast Mindanao)
view, put forward by some biological anthropologists, is that
as Compared with That of the Other Negritos of Southeast Asia,
the distinctive features of the Negritos are examples of “par-
2d ed. (Cebu City, Philippines, 1975), which takes the Phil-
allel evolution,” similar physical changes among unrelated
ippine Negritos as its point of departure. A valuable article
local populations resulting from their common adaptation
pointing out the religious similarities among the three divi-
to the tropical rain forest. Although plausible hypotheses
sions of Negritos is John M. Cooper’s “Andamanese-
Semang-Eta Cultural Relations,” Primitive Man (now An-
have been advanced as to why that environment might favor
thropological Quarterly) 13 (April 1940): 29–47. William C.
“negritoid” characteristics, it is still not clear why such fea-
Boyd’s “Four Achievements of the Genetical Method in
tures have not arisen in similar environments elsewhere, such
Physical Anthropology,” American Anthropologist 65 (April
as the Amazon Basin of South America. The genetic relation-
1962): 243–252, provides a useful introduction to the opin-
ship between the Asiatic Negritos, then, remains an open
ion on the question of whether the Asiatic Negritos consti-
question.
tute a single race or represent parallel adaptations to similar
environments.
The cultures of the various Negrito groups have many
similarities, but whether these are due to a common ancestral
KIRK ENDICOTT (1987 AND 2005)
culture, to contact between the different groups, or to paral-
lel adaptations to similar environments is often unclear. Be-
fore 1900 almost all Negritos lived by hunting and gathering,
NEGRITO RELIGIONS: NEGRITOS OF THE
supplemented in some places by small-scale trade in forest
PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
products. Their hunting-gathering economy produced such
The Negritos of the Philippines comprise approximately
social consequences as small living groups, a lack of wealth
twenty-five widely scattered ethnolinguistic groups totaling
accumulation, and informal leadership. Most groups were
an estimated fifteen thousand people. They are assumed to
also nomadic, although the rich environment of the Anda-
be the aboriginal inhabitants of the archipelago. Many of
man coast permitted its inhabitants to become partially sed-
these Negrito groups still live by hunting and gathering,
entary.
trading wild meat and forest products to the Filipino farmers
The religions of the Andamanese, the Semang (Malayan
around them in exchange for rice or corn. They also practice
Negritos), and the Philippine Negritos have many features
some marginal cultivation.
in common, some very general but others highly specific and
The traditional religion of all Philippine Negritos is ani-
undoubtedly due to contact or common origin. The similari-
mism. Today, most of them remain animists, although some
ties are most striking with respect to deity conceptions and
of their beliefs have been modified by Roman Catholic
the corresponding prohibitions and rituals. The most per-
Christianity.
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NEGRITO RELIGIONS: NEGRITOS OF THE ANDAMAN ISLANDS
6455
One salient feature of Negrito religion is its noticeable
chants are not in the normal Agta language but are sung in
lack of systematization. Consequently, it has a secondary
a form of glossolalia.
place in Negrito ideology. Because the animistic beliefs and
It would be incorrect to say that Agta worship the spirits
practices of Philippine Negritos are individualistic and spo-
in their environment. Rather, they fear them, and placate
radic, they exert less control over the people’s daily lives than
them. The Agta do not have a sacrifical system as do other
do the religious systems of other, non-Negrito animistic so-
Philippine tribal groups, but they do occasionally offer small
cieties in the Philippines. Likewise, the minor function of re-
gifts to the hayup spirits if they are taking something from
ligion in most Philippine Negrito cultures contrasts marked-
the forest. These gifts may consist of a few grains of rice, a
ly with the important role of religion among the Negritos of
few ounces of honey, or just a piece of thread from a man’s
Malaysia, which is reported by Kirk Endicott in Batek Negri-
G-string. In some areas, when a new garden is cleared a sha-
to Religion (Oxford, 1979).
man may set up a small table with spirit offerings of betel
Nevertheless, there is a universal belief among Philip-
quid or food.
pine Negritos in a spirit world, containing many classes of
Agta religious practices are done haphazardly, when it
supernatural beings. These beings are seen to have some in-
is convenient, and usually on an individual basis. Most such
fluence over processes of nature, as well as over the health
practices revolve around the prevention or treatment of ill-
and economic success of humans. Negritos especially have
ness. Agta have only a vague interest in the afterlife, the realm
a preoccupation with malignant ghosts of deceased humans.
of the dead, creation of the world, immortality, or the future.
Most Negritos also hold to a belief in a supreme deity. Schol-
They do not seek religious experiences. Rather, it is the
ars have debated the question of whether this “monotheism”
chronic fear of sickness and death that activates Agta reli-
is of pre-Hispanic origin or is merely the result of Christian
gious behavior. While it would be wrong to say that religion
influences.
is unimportant to the Agta, it does play a lesser role in their
AGTA RELIGION. The Agta, or Dumagat, of northeastern
culture than it does in other animistic groups.
Luzon are typical of the least acculturated Philippine Negrito
societies. They show little inclination to adapt to the domi-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
nant Roman Catholic religion of their peasant Filipino
There are to date no complete studies on any of the religious sys-
neighbors. The Agta believe in a single high god and in a
tems of any Philippine Negrito society. Brief sketches appear,
large number of supernatural spirit beings that inhabit their
however, in many of the more general descriptions of such
groups. Much of this material on such religious systems is re-
surrounding natural environment. Depending on the class
viewed in A Primer on the Negritos of the Philippines, com-
of spirit, these various beings live in trees, underground, on
piled by Daisy Y. Noval-Morales and James Monan (Manila,
rocky headlands, or in caves.
1979).
There are two general classes of spirit beings in the Agta
Three other important sources, which attempt to generalize on
worldview: hayup (“creature”) and bélet or anito (“ghost”).
Philippine Negrito religions, are John M. Garvan’s The Ne-
The latter are always malignant. Ghosts are wandering dis-
gritos of the Philippines (Vienna, 1964), edited by Hermann
embodied souls of deceased humans. The ghosts of recently
Hochegger; Marcelino N. Maceda’s The Culture of the Ma-
deceased adult relatives are especially feared, as they are
manua (Northeast Mindanao) as Compared with That of the
Other Negritos of Southeast Asia
, 2d ed. (Cebu City, Philip-
prone to return to the abode of their family during the night,
pines, 1975); and a three-volume work in German by Paul
causing sickness and death.
Schebesta, Die Negrito Asiens (Vienna, 1952–1957).
There are several varieties of hayup creatures. Although
New Sources
these are nonhuman, they are bipedal and may appear in
Rae, Navin K. Living in a Lean-To: Philippine Negrito Foragers in
human form. Most varieties of hayup beings are malignant;
Transition. Ann Arbor, 1990.
others are neutral, and a few can be called upon for help in
Rahman, Rudolf. “The Nocturnal Prayer Ceremonies of the Ne-
curing disease.
gritos of the Philippines.” Philippine Quarterly of Culture and
AGTA SHAMANS. In Aurora province, 8 percent of Agta
Society (Cebu City) 26, nos. 1–2 (1998): 192–211.
adults are shamans, of whom two out of ten are women.
Shimizu, Hiromu. “Communicating with Spirits: A Study of the
They practice only white magic. A shaman (bunogen) is de-
Manganito Seance among the Southwestern Pinatubo Negri-
fined by the Agta as an individual who has a familiar spirit
tos.” East Asian Cultural Studies (Tokyo) 22, nos. 1–4 (1983):
“friend” (bunog) who aids him or her in diagnosing and treat-
129–167.
ing disease. The primary role of shamans is curing. They do
THOMAS N. HEADLAND (1987)
not practice black magic. (Agta do not practice sorcery, al-
Revised Bibliography
though they are aware of the custom among other Filipino
societies.) Shamans may treat their patients with herbal med-
icines and simple prayers to their spirit “friends.” For diffi-
NEGRITO RELIGIONS: NEGRITOS OF THE
cult cases, they may conduct a séance. In such cases, shamans
ANDAMAN ISLANDS
will enter into a trance state, chanting prayers over the pa-
The Andaman Negritos are extremely primitive hunter-
tient until they are possessed by their familiar spirits. These
gatherers representing a prelithic stage of cultural develop-
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6456
NEGRITO RELIGIONS: NEGRITOS OF THE MALAY PENINSULA
ment. They fall into two separate divisions, the Great Anda-
superior spirit or high god, heaven and hell, virtue and sin,
manese and the Onge-Jarawa-Sentinelese. As a result of colo-
are conspicuously absent among the Andaman Negritos.
nization and the introduction of syphilis and other diseases,
the Great Andamanese tribes have already become extinct;
BIBLIOGRAPHY
only a hybrid group of some twenty-eight individuals sur-
Although the literature on the religious life of the Andamanese
vives on a tiny islet called Strait Island. The Jarawa and the
Negritos is small, the reader may profitably consult John M.
Sentinelese live in complete isolation and eschew all external
Cooper’s “Andamanese-Semang-Eta Cultural Relations,”
contacts. Consequently, nothing is known about their reli-
Primitive Man (now Anthropological Quarterly) 13 (April
gion. The remaining tribe, the Onge, lives on Little Anda-
1940): 29–47.
man Island.
New Sources
The universe as conceived by the Onge is a multilayered
Basu, Badal Kumar. The Onge, Negrito Hunter-Gatherers of Little
Andaman. Calcutta, 1990.
structure with Little Andaman at its center. There are six lay-
ers above Little Andaman and six layers below, and each is
Ghosal, Samit. “Past and Present of the Negrito Tribes in the An-
inhabited by a different class of spirit. These spirits are nei-
daman Islands: A Critical Appraisal.” Journal of the Anthropo-
ther divine nor immaterial. They eat, drink, marry, multiply,
logical Survey of India (Calcutta) 43, no. 1–2 (1994): 25–30.
and die just like human beings. The most important among
Sudarsen, V., and D. Venkatesan. “Life Cycle Ceremonies among
them are the onkoboykwe, a class of benevolent spirit inhabit-
the Onge of Little Andaman.” In Religion and Society in
ing the first layer above Little Andaman, and the eaka, a class
South India: A Volume in Honour of Prof. N. Subba Reddy,
of harmful spirit living immediately beneath the island.
edited by V. Sudarsen, G. Prakash Reddy, and M. Surya-
Above the Onge universe there is a limitless void and below
narayana, pp. 163–173. Delhi, 1987.
there is Kwatannange, the primary sea, which is full of
PRANAB GANGULY (1987)
turtles.
Revised Bibliography
The sun, moon, stars, and clouds are believed to be the
creation of the onkoboykwe. The Onge do not personify and
worship the heavenly bodies. There are two monsoons in the
NEGRITO RELIGIONS: NEGRITOS OF THE
Andamans, the southwest and the northeast; spirits living in
MALAY PENINSULA
distant islands across the sea send the monsoonal winds.
The Negritos of the Malay Peninsula, who are generally
The Onge believe that one’s life after death depends on
called the Semang in the literature, numbered about two
how a person has met his death. If he dies of illness, he be-
thousand in 1974. They live in small groups scattered about
comes an eaka and goes below the earth. If an Onge is killed
the foothills in the northern half of the peninsula (4°N–
by a wild boar, by snakebite, or by a fall from a tree, he be-
6°30’N; 100°E–103°E). They speak a number of related lan-
comes an onkoboykwe and lives above the sky. If drowned,
guages in the Mon-Khmer language family. Until about
he becomes a sea spirit.
1950 most of the Semang were nomadic hunter-gatherers.
The staple of their diet was wild yams, and their main source
The Onge hold that all non-Negrito people are the spir-
of meat was arboreal animals—monkeys, gibbons, squirrels,
its of dead Onges. The term inene is collectively applied to
and birds, which they hunted with blowpipes and poisoned
them. In the event of death from illness, one day before the
darts. They also carried on some trade with neighboring
emergence of eaka from the dead body, another miniature
Malay farmers, exchanging such forest produce as rattan and
human form called embekete comes out from the corpse and
resins for iron tools, salt, cloth, and cultivated foods. They
swims across the sea to the land of inene where he soon trans-
lived in camps of five to fifteen related nuclear families, mov-
forms himself into another inene. Thus, according to the
ing every week or two when the local resources were exhaust-
Onge, we the outsiders were Onge in our previous birth. The
ed. Each family was politically independent, the only leader-
belief in the existence of two spirits, embekete and eaka, in
ship in a group being the informal influence of a particularly
one individual probably emanated from their attempts to ra-
wise or persuasive person. Since 1950 well over half the Se-
tionalize the origin of non-Negritos and find a place for them
mang have settled down, often under the direction of gov-
in their scheme of the universe.
ernment agencies, and adopted shifting agriculture. Yet even
in these changed conditions, they have clung to their tradi-
From the fragmentary data that are available on the reli-
tional religion, which has served as an important symbol of
gion of the Great Andamanese, it appears that they, like the
their ethnic identity.
Onge, believed in different classes of spirit living above the
sky, below the earth, and in the sea. There is, however, an
In the cosmology of the Semang, the land forms a disk
important difference between the Great Andamanese and the
that is surrounded and underlaid by sea. It rests on the back
Onge. The former believed that the sun was the wife of the
of a giant snake, called Naga’, which by shifting position can
moon and that the stars were their children, whereas the
cause eruptions of water from underground. The firmament
Onge hold that the sun and the moon are flat, disc-shaped,
is a solid dome or series of layers, on top of which live the
inanimate things created by the onkoboykwe. Concepts of a
benevolent superhuman beings, called chinoi in the west and
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NEMBUTSU
6457
hala’ in the east, who bring the seasonal fruit blossoms to
known for rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. In the twentieth
earth. After death the shadow-souls of the Semang are be-
year of the reign of Artaxerxes I (445 BCE), Nehemiah re-
lieved to join these beings, on top of the firmament or on
ceived a commission from the Persian king to return to
an island in the western sea. A stone pillar rises at the center
Judah and take on the task of rebuilding the walls of Jerusa-
of the world and reaches the firmament. Near its top is a
lem. The Book of Nehemiah gives an account of his activity
cave, the home of the thunder god. The thunder god, whom
in the first-person style of memoirs. It begins with his recep-
most Semang groups call Karei, is generally regarded as
tion of distressing news from the homeland while he is in the
male—sometimes a single being and sometimes a pair of
royal service in Susa. This leads to his petitioning the king
brothers. The Semang believe that Karei causes thunder-
for support in repairing the walls and gates of Jerusalem and
storms to punish persons who have broken prohibitions
to his appointment as governor to carry out the task. In spite
against disruptive or disrespectful behavior. Karei is aided by
of opposition from Sanballat, governor of Samaria, and other
a female earth deity, sometimes pictured as a pair of sisters,
local authorities of the region, the work is successfully com-
who is occasionally identified with the earth-supporting
pleted. With the walls rebuilt, the city was repopulated with
snake.
settlers from the countryside.
The rituals of the Semang are few and simple. The best-
Nehemiah is credited also with social and religious re-
known rite is the blood sacrifice—throwing blood from the
forms. He is presented as showing concern for the poor while
leg to the thunder god and earth deity—which is used to
maintaining a modest administration. In his second term as
avert thunderstorms. Most groups also have singing and
governor, which is not precisely dated, Nehemiah carried out
dancing sessions in which they thank the superhuman beings
a series of religious reforms having to do with Temple regula-
for the fruit and request their general support. These sessions
tions and provisions for the priests, observance of the Sab-
may culminate in trancing and journeys of the shadow-soul
bath, and the dissolution of mixed marriages. These reforms
to the haunts of the superhumans. Among the western Se-
emphasize a tradition of religious conservatism and concern
mang, a shaman may perform a séance in a special hut called
for ethnic purity that eventually leads to the Samaritan
a panoh, in which he calls down the chinoi. Semang rituals
schism.
are intended to promote the fecundity of nature and to avert
the dangers of their forest world.
Nehemiah 8–9, having to do with the mission of Ezra,
does not properly belong to the “memoirs” source and has
BIBLIOGRAPHY
seriously confused the historical relationship between Ezra
We are fortunate to have several reliable and detailed sources of
and Nehemiah. It seems preferable to view Ezra’s activity as
information on the religions of the Semang. The most exten-
subsequent to that of Nehemiah, building on the latter’s
sive is Paul Schebesta’s Die Negrito Asiens: Religion und
work of restoration.
Mythologie (Vienna, 1957), which has been partially translat-
ed into English by Frieda Schütze for the Human Relations
Nehemiah is recognized by tradition (Sir. 49:13) and by
Area Files (New Haven, 1962). This work, volume 13 of
modern scholarship as largely responsible for restoring Jeru-
“Studia Instituti Anthropos,” focuses especially on the Jahai
salem to a place of political prominence and semiautonomy
and other groups of the north-central and northwestern parts
with a chance to grow into a city of destiny.
of the Malay Peninsula. Schebesta gives a fascinating popular
account of his fieldwork and findings in Among the Forest
Dwarfs of Malaya
, translated by Arthur Chambers (London,
SEE ALSO Ezra.
1928). Ivor H. N. Evan’s The Negritos of Malaya (Cam-
bridge, 1937) also contains a great deal of material on Se-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
mang religion. It is based on numerous visits to Semang
groups in all parts of the peninsula between 1913 and 1932.
For the historical treatments of Nehemiah, one should compare
For a detailed account of the religion of a Semang group
John Bright’s A History of Israel, 3d ed. (Philadelphia, 1981),
from the east-coast state of Kelantan, see my book Batek Ne-
and Peter R. Ackroyd’s Israel under Babylon and Persia (Ox-
grito Religion: The Worldview and Rituals of a Hunting and
ford, 1970). See also the commentary by Jacob M. Myers in
Gathering People of Peninsular Malaysia (Oxford, 1979).
Ezra, Nehemiah, vol. 14 of the Anchor Bible (Garden City,
N. Y., 1965).
New Sources
Endicott, Kirk. “The Batek of Malaysia.” In Endangered Peoples
New Sources
of Southeast and East Asia, edited by Leslie E. Sponsel,
Eskenazi, Tamara Cohn. In an Age of Prose: A Literary Approach
pp. 101–121. Westport, Conn., 2000.
to Ezra-Nehemiah. Atlanta, Ga., 1988.
KIRK ENDICOTT (1987)
Revised Bibliography
JOHN VAN SETERS (1987)
Revised Bibliography
NEHEMIAH (mid-fifth century BCE), or, in Hebrew,
Neh:emyah; a governor of Judah in the Persian period,
NEMBUTSU SEE NIANFO
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6458
NEO-HASIDISM
NEO-HASIDISM SEE JEWISH RENEWAL
farmed, and fished with great delight. Then they allowed the
MOVEMENT
Europeans to settle, gave away or sold their land, and became
dependent on the white people’s goods. The result of their
own follies and English acquisitiveness was migration, frag-
mentation, and deterioration. If they followed the instruc-
NEOLIN, known as the Delaware Prophet; a religious
tions of the prophet, however, they could have their land and
leader active among the Ohio Delaware Indians in the 1760s.
their old ways back again.
Neolin (whose name means “the enlightened”) was one of
several Delaware prophets who arose in the latter part of the
Neolin played an essential role in helping his people in-
eighteenth century along the Susquehanna and Allegheny
terpret their situation. In Neolin’s image of heaven, the Del-
rivers in Pennsylvania and the Cuyahoga and Muskingum
aware saw their own recently lost state. In his image of the
rivers in Ohio. The teachings of the prophet were widely
evil spirit’s land, the Delaware perceived the despoiled land
known throughout the tribes of the frontier. Pontiac, the
of the white settlements. The entry into paradise was not
famed Ottawa chief, saw in the prophet’s message divine au-
only a difficult eschatological event, it necessitated a histori-
thority for his own attempts to unite the frontier tribes.
cal expulsion of the whites. A further dimension of Neolin’s
Through Pontiac, Neolin affected the policies of nearly
message was not always grasped by Pontiac, that is, that the
twenty tribes from Lake Ontario to the Mississippi, includ-
Great Spirit had allowed the whites to control the land and
ing among them the Ojibwa, Ottawa, Potawatomi, Seneca,
had taken away game animals as a punishment for the immo-
Huron, Miami, Shawnee, and Delaware. Pontiac may have
rality of the Indians. Neolin’s map depicted not only the bar-
tempered Neolin’s message somewhat by affirming the rights
riers on earth and in heaven but also within the hearts of the
of the French and opposing the British. Nevertheless, what-
people. They had corrupted themselves by their dependence
ever setbacks the British suffered during the 1760s west of
on the whites. More importantly, the increasing dependence
the Alleghenies were the result not only of Pontiac’s leader-
on the whites eroded the Indians’ previous dependence on
ship but also of the appeal of the Delaware Prophet’s mes-
the spirit-forces of forest, field, stream, and sky. Only a spiri-
sage.
tual purification and moral reform could give them the inner
strength to cut loose from the whites and supply them with
This message came from a great dream-vision journey
the capacity to enter again into the paradisal state they had
of the prophet to the mountain home of the Master of Life,
abandoned. The prophet interpreted the social and historical
or Great Spirit. The Master instructed him to tell the people
situation using the religious symbolism of death and rebirth.
that they must give up their drunkenness, sexual promiscu-
His paradigm allowed for no compromise. This rite of pas-
ity, internecine fighting, witchcraft, and medicine songs ded-
sage from a state of degeneration and chaos to one of rebirth
icated to the evil spirit. In addition, they were to cast off all
and a new order could not be entered halfheartedly. Nor
of the influences of the whites and return to hunting with
could it be successful if halted before completion. The recov-
bow and arrow. Ritually, they were to purify themselves
ery of lost innocence and the regaining of lost land were inti-
through sexual abstinence and the use of emetics, and they
mately linked.
were to reinstitute sacrifices. These reforms would result in
a revitalization of their power that would enable them to
The prophet had faced squarely the problem that con-
drive the whites from the continent.
fronted his people, a problem that would continue to con-
front Native Americans: how does a people recover its identi-
The Master of Life also gave the prophet a stick on
ty and pride in the face of social, cultural and economic
which was written a prayer, in native hieroglyphs, to be recit-
deterioration and a calculatingly aggressive foe? Yet, Neolin’s
ed by all of his followers every morning and evening. John
answer was not necessarily wrong; it came, however, too late.
Heckewelder, a Moravian missionary who lived with the
Nevertheless, it was a course that others would follow, even
Delaware at this time, reported seeing a map used by the
when they knew it was too late, for it seemed to them the
prophet in his preaching. In the center of the map was a
only honorable course to take.
square that represented the dwelling place of the Great Spirit.
This land, full of game and forests, had been the goal of the
BIBLIOGRAPHY
soul’s journey after death. Now, however, it was all but inac-
Gregory Evan Dowd’s A Spirited Resistance: The North American
cessible because of the barriers set by the whites, and only
Indian Struggle for Unity, 1745–1815 (Johns Hopkins, 1992)
a very few souls could reach that land. Most fell into the
masterfully interprets Neolin and other prophets of the era
hands of the evil one when attempting to overcome these
within the context of the Indian worldview and the pressures
barriers and were taken to his land of emaciated game ani-
from Euro-American expansion. Neolin’s mission is situated
mals and parched soil.
within the context of other Delaware revitalization move-
ments in Anthony F. C. Wallace’s “New Religions among
East of the inner square the prophet had drawn a map
the Delaware Indians, 1600–1900,” Southwestern Journal of
of the lands formerly occupied by the Delaware but now in
Anthropology 12 (1956): 1–21. A paraphrase of Pontiac’s ver-
the control of the British. Once the Delaware had dwelt be-
sion of the prophet’s teaching recorded by Robert Navarre,
side the ocean and in the coastal areas, where they hunted,
a Frenchman witnessing the siege of Detroit, may be found
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NEOLITHIC RELIGION
6459
in Henry R. Schoolcraft’s Algic Researches, vol. 1 (New York,
Neolithic cultures differed not only in their chronology
1839), pp. 239–248. The prophet’s teachings as summarized
but, much more important for the study of religion, in their
by a Moravian missionary may be found in John Hecke-
basic content: their methods of production, technological
welder’s History, Manners and Customs of the Indian Nations
skills, social relations, and achievements in art. The earliest
(1819; rev. ed., 1876; reprint, New York, 1971). A standard
ware was produced in Japan by the Jomon culture during the
if occasionally biased account of the life of Pontiac and the
eighth millennium BCE, long before communities of that re-
influence on and use by him of the Delaware Prophet’s
gion had mastered the cultivation of plants and the domesti-
teaching is Howard H. Peckham’s Pontiac and the Indian
Uprising
(Princeton, 1947).
cation of animals. Finds from the Spirit Cave in northern
Thailand, however, suggest that the beginnings of the Neo-
DONALD P. ST. JOHN (1987 AND 2005)
lithic period in southeastern Asia (the Hoa Binh culture of
the ninth and eighth millennia BCE) was characterized by the
cultivation of leguminous plants; pottery was made only
from the end of the seventh millennium, and general farming
NEOLITHIC RELIGION comprises the religious
was practiced beginning in the fourth millennium. In north-
concepts, cults, and rituals of the early farming communities
ern Mesopotamia, the beginnings of the Neolithic period
that sprang up throughout the world in the Early Holocene
were marked by the domestication of sheep (as evident at
period (8000–3000 BCE). Unlike the Paleolithic and Meso-
Zawi Chemi during the Shanidar phase, c. 8000 BCE), and
lithic periods of prehistory, the Neolithic period was charac-
in Palestine (Jericho, eighth millennium BCE) and Anatolia
terized by climatic conditions, very similar to those of the
(Hacilar, seventh millennium BCE), by the cultivation of
present, that directed human activity chiefly to the soil and
grain. In the Iron Gate region of Europe (the Lepenski Vir
its fruits. Attention that previously had been focused on
culture), dogs and pigs were domesticated and grain was cul-
stone now shifted to earth, which became not only the basic
tivated as early as the seventh millennium BCE. These two
raw material but a multivalent symbol. These preoccupations
basic achievements of the “Neolithic Revolution” were fully
gave rise to a specific ideology, to sedentary ways of life and
utilized only in the middle of the sixth millennium BCE.
the construction of permanent settlements, to the domestica-
tion of plants and animals, and to important technological
The Neolithic world was not uniform but, as these di-
inventions such as pottery making—developments identified
verse developments indicate, varied and very dynamic. It is
as the basic achievements of the “Neolithic Revolution.”
therefore necessary to modify the general assessment of the
period as one in which the economy was limited to farming,
The association of complex ideas and numerous activi-
social relations were limited to tribal organization and the
ties with earth was not, however, a process completed rapid-
matriarchate, and religion was confined to a fertility cult and
ly. It took Neolithic communities centuries to learn to use
the worship of a supreme female deity (Magna Mater, Moth-
earth as a new material and to find it more necessary, more
er Earth, and the like). One cannot really speak of a Neolith-
valuable, and more meaningful than stone. Since, in the Pa-
ic religion, but only of Neolithic religions. Lack of evidence
leolithic and Mesolithic periods, not only everyday activities
that might enable people to define each of these religions
but complex religious beliefs, cults, rituals, and probably
does not justify generalization or neglect.
myths were also associated with stone, this “Neolithic Revo-
lution” may be defined, from the point of view of the history
Archaeological artifacts, which constitute the main
of religions, as a gradual process of the desacralization of
sources for the study of Neolithic religions, for the most part
stone and the sacralization of earth.
still lie buried; those that are known are usually fragmented
and ambiguous. The material at our disposal documents
Because the basic achievements of the Neolithic period
chiefly the places and objects used for cult and ritual pur-
were attained neither simultaneously nor in a particular area
poses within these religions, rather than the words and ges-
only, the chronological and territorial boundaries of the
tures that were their most essential and explicit expressions.
Neolithic world are very flexible. Its beginnings date from
Two other major obstacles preclude a fuller reconstruction
the eighth millennium BCE at the earliest, but only in a few
of Neolithic religions: large areas of the world (parts of Aus-
comparatively limited and mutually distant territories (in
tralia, South America, and the Pacific islands) are still archae-
Asia: Palestine, northern Mesopotamia, Thailand, and
ologically unexplored, and evidence concerning the other
Japan; in Europe: Crete, Thessaly, and the central Danubian
spheres of Neolithic life with which religion was closely asso-
region). It was only in the period between 6500 and 5000
ciated, such as the economy, social relations, and art, is frag-
BCE that the Neolithic cultures established themselves and
mentary.
began to expand and influence one another (in the Near
East, northern China, southeastern Europe, and the western
Attempts have been made to compensate for these limi-
Mediterranean). The period between 5000 and 3000 BCE
tations and to use, as clues to the meaning of Neolithic reli-
was a particularly dynamic one; while Neolithic cultures in
gious concepts, cults, and rituals, ethnographic materials re-
the Near East and southeastern Europe began to disintegrate,
lated to the psychology and behavior of farmers, the
others began to emerge and take root in northern Africa,
mythology of ancient civilizations, and the scientific recon-
southwestern Europe, India, Mesoamerica, and Peru.
struction of the earliest known Indo-European and Semitic
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6460
NEOLITHIC RELIGION
languages. Although the usefulness of these approaches
tolia, and disintegrated between 5000 and 3000 BCE in the
should not be denied, the most reliable method is to study
lowlands of Mesopotamia.
the religion of Neolithic communities on the basis of what
Evidence of a sedentary way of life, a basic trait of the
has been discovered in their settlements and graves. The
Neolithic period, is clearly discerned in the Natufian culture,
most relevant of these finds are cultic places and objects, ritu-
which developed in Palestine and Syria between 10,000 and
al instruments, remains of sacrifices, and various symbols.
8300
However, these material expressions of the religious con-
BCE. Excavations of Natufian settlements have yielded
indirect evidence of the use and cultivation of grain (for ex-
sciousness of Neolithic communities have not been discov-
ample, stone mortars, pestles, and sickles). Such evidence, to-
ered in all Neolithic cultures; in some, they have been docu-
gether with the remains of dogs, marks the Natufian as the
mented only sporadically. Accordingly, this narrows down
dawn of Neolithic culture in the Near East (the so-called
even more the chronological and territorial boundaries with-
Proto-Neolithic). Although no objects of an undoubtedly sa-
in which it is possible to study the origin, distinctive traits,
cred character have been discovered at Natufian sites, it is
and evolution of Neolithic religious conceptions.
nevertheless possible to form some idea, on the basis of sur-
The fullest evidence for the study of Neolithic religion
viving houses, graves, and art objects, of the religious con-
comes from Asia Minor and Europe, the two regions that
cepts, cults, and rituals extant in this period.
have been best explored. Within this large territory, which
No cult places have been found in Natufian settlements,
extends from the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea to Den-
with the possible exception of the remains of a large oval
mark and the British Isles, three religious spheres can be dis-
structure discovered in Jericho. Its isolated location on virgin
tinguished: the Near East, southeastern Europe, and the
soil beside a spring indicates that this may have been a cult
western Mediterranean with northwestern Europe. The re-
site visited at certain times of the year.
maining regions of Europe either were under the direct influ-
ence of these spheres or, as in northeastern Europe, were in-
That all of the figural representations belonging to this
habited by hunting-gathering communities that held on to
culture were carved from pebbles suggests beliefs associated
the traditional religious concepts of the Paleolithic and
with water and its creative potential. These representations
Mesolithic periods. The latter was also true of communities
include schematized human heads from Ain Mallaha and Al-
inhabiting the forest zone of northern Asia, primarily Siberia.
Oued and an “erotic” statuette from Ain Sakhri showing an
embracing couple, perhaps illustrating the concept of the
In spite of the scarcity of relevant archaeological finds,
“holy marriage.” Sexual attributes are not marked on any of
three religious spheres can also be distinguished in southern
the figures, and the relationship of the sexes is expressed in
and eastern Asia: the Malay archipelago, northern China and
an allusive way: the large stone mortars with circular recipi-
Manchuria, and the Japanese islands with Korea. The inhab-
ents in their middles probably represent the female principle,
ited regions of central Asia probably did not constitute a sep-
as the phallus-shaped stone pestles probably represent the
arate religious zone. In Africa, only two Neolithic religious
male principle.
spheres can be distinguished, one in northern Africa and the
other in the Nile Valley. Nothing is known of developments
These mortars, used for the grinding of grain, were
south of the Sahara. The situation is similar in the New
sometimes sunk into the floor of circular houses, next to the
World, where only one sphere of Neolithic religion, com-
hearth (as at Ain Mallaha). They were also frequently associ-
prising Middle America and the coastal zone of Peru, is
ated with burials and used either as grave markers (Wadi Fal-
known.
lah) or as altars around which graves were arranged in a semi-
circle (Al-Oued). Frequent burial of the dead in pits used for
Of the nine religious spheres that may be distinguished
the storage of grain, and the occasional building of hearths
on the map of the Neolithic world, those in Asia Minor and
above graves (Ain Mallaha) or in cemeteries (Nahal Oren),
southeastern Europe were the earliest, the most long-lived,
emphasizes a close connection between the dead and the pro-
and the most influential. Future investigations will probably
cesses of providing, keeping, and preparing grain food. There
show that Neolithic religions in southeastern and eastern
is also evidence to suggest some link between certain animals,
Asia were much more specific and influential than present
the dead, and the underworld: for example, a grave in Ain
evidence suggests. In the western Mediterranean area and in
Mallaha contained a human skull framed with the horns of
northwestern Europe, religion acquired specific traits at an
a gazelle; another grave at the same site contained the skele-
early date but began to radiate far and wide only in the Late
ton of a dog; and seven human skulls, each accompanied by
Neolithic. The other Neolithic religions appeared compara-
an equid’s tooth, were found in Erq el-Ahmar. These finds
tively late and were mainly of brief duration and local impor-
may indicate that the Natufians believed that ancestors pro-
tance.
vided all the basic sources of food, that they looked after
plants and animals and caused them to multiply.
THE NEAR EAST. The Neolithic religion of the Near East
originated between 8300 and 6500 BCE in the zone of the
Evidence of a cult of ancestors is also found in the com-
so-called Fertile Crescent (Palestine, Syria, northern Iraq,
plex funeral customs of the Natufians, especially in their
and Iran). It flourished between 6500 and 5000 BCE in Ana-
burial of detached skulls, sometimes grouped in fives or
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NEOLITHIC RELIGION
6461
nines. At Ain Mallaha, two graves lay beneath a circle of
found in the middle of the Neolithic village, and in Murey-
stone with a diameter of two and one-half meters; upon it
bet rooms were discovered in which horns of wild oxen, per-
a quadrangular hearth was built. A skull and two uppermost
haps bucrania (sometimes flanked by the shoulder blades of
vertebrae lay on the hearth, an indication perhaps of human
oxen or asses), were embedded in the walls.
sacrifice. This structure and a hearth in the cemetery at
These rooms were mostly house shrines, for they were
Nahal Oren, with a deposit of ashes one-half meter thick,
directly linked with dwelling rooms. Only the group of three
present reliable evidence of a chthonic cult. Here were altars
oval structures in Beida and the building with wooden posts
on which sacrifices were offered to the heroic dead or to the
in Jericho might have been communal shrines. The cult ob-
forces governing the underworld. There is, however, no evi-
jects from these shrines suggest that the powers venerated in
dence of a transition from the chthonic to an agrarian cult
them had not yet acquired an anthropomorphic shape and
in the Proto-Neolithic period.
that their presence was expressed by aniconic forms, mostly
Throughout the entire zone of the Fertile Crescent, the
by upright stones or the heads of bulls or rams. Two finds
period between 8300 and 6500 BCE saw the appearance of
only, dating from the very end of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic,
villages in which cereals were cultivated and animals domes-
might be associated with anthropomorphic deities. These are
ticated, as is now known through the discovery of remains
the remains of three plastered human statues from Jericho
of barley, wheat, sheep, goats, and pigs at scattered sites. Pot-
and the deposit of at least ten human statues, 80 to 90 centi-
tery was very rare, and therefore this period has been termed
meters high, and twelve busts, 30 to 45 centimeters high,
the Pre-Pottery Neolithic. The number of finds associated
found in Ain Ghazal (Palestine). The Jericho statues make
with religion is comparatively large, but they were discovered
up a group representing a man, a woman, and a child, possi-
chiefly in Palestine, Syria, and northern Mesopotamia.
bly a divine triad. The Ain Ghazal statues have stylized bo-
dies but individualized heads; one of them represents a man,
The traditional cult of ancestors, manifested primarily
and the others have female breasts.
in the detachment and special treatment of skulls, developed
further, culminating between 7500 and 6500
The meaning of these statues, and of the busts that were
BCE. Complete
burials or detached skulls, sometimes placed in special struc-
found surrounding them, is difficult to decipher. Since min-
tures, were discovered beneath the floors of houses in almost
iature clay figurines of pregnant women, often deliberately
all sites from this period. In Mureybet, skulls were placed on
damaged, were also found in Ain Ghazal, we may surmise
clay benches along the walls of the houses, so that they were
that the small anthropomorphic figurines were used in fertili-
always within reach. In Jericho, a skull might be covered with
ty rites or in some chthonic-agrarian cult; the larger statues
a kind of plaster, and then a face, sometimes with individual-
may have been representations of particular deities and there-
ized features, was modeled upon it. Evidence of the same
fore objects of the greatest veneration.
practice exists at Beisamoun and Tell Ramad (both in Syria),
The cults performed in individual households became
where each plastered skull was placed on a clay support in
clearly distinct from those in the care of the broader commu-
the form of a seated human figure.
nity or of persons specially chosen by the community (priests
and priestesses) only in the period of the full consolidation
Cult centers discovered in Palestine (Jericho and Beida),
of the Neolithic culture, between 6500 and 5000
in the upper Euphrates Valley (Mureybet), and in western
BCE. A gap
between the sacred and the profane opened during this time,
Iran (Ganjadareh) provide more detailed evidence for the re-
as is evidenced by the very limited number of sacred objects,
ligion of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic. In Jericho, two rooms
mainly fragmented anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figu-
and a structure are supposed to have served cult purposes,
rines, found in villages from this period, in conjunction with
primarily because of their unusual shapes: a room with a
their high concentration in some settlements; this causes
niche in which a block of volcanic rock stood on a stone sup-
people to speak of religious centers.
port was discovered in a house; a pit filled with ashes was
found in the middle of another house, which suggests that
The best example of such a center is Çatal Hüyük in An-
some ritual was performed in that place; finally, figurines
atolia, where fourteen building horizons, dating from 6300
representing oxen, goats, and, perhaps, pigs were found in
to 5400 BCE, were discovered. Each of these levels consists
a large structure with wooden posts placed in an unusual ar-
of dwelling rooms linked with storage spaces and shrines, of
rangement. In Beida, a group of three enigmatic oval struc-
varying size, that contain sacred representations (reliefs and
tures, located some fifty meters distant from the settlement
frescoes), stone and clay figurines, and graves of privileged
and approached by a paved path, were explored. In the mid-
members of the community, possibly priests and priestesses.
dle of the central structure, a large block of sandstone was
A certain consistency in the arrangement of representations
set upright; a large slab with a parapet built around the edge
on walls suggests the existence of a coherent religious concept
lay against the southern wall, and a triangular basin, made
or myth in which the character and mutual relationship of
of a large slab and partly filled with ashes, soot, and charred
superior powers were clearly defined. We may assume that
animal bones (probably the remains of a sacrifice or a ritual
the reliefs depicted the divine powers, the frescoes described
feast), was found outside the wall. In Ganjadareh a room
the sacred activities (religious ceremonies, sacrifices, and ritu-
with a niche containing fixed, superimposed rams’ skulls was
al scenes), and the statuettes represented the chief actors in
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6462
NEOLITHIC RELIGION
the myth. Scenes associated with the world of the dead were
All these traits already are evidenced clearly in the cul-
always shown on the northern and eastern walls of the
tures from the first half of the fifth millennium BCE. In
shrines, scenes related to the giving of birth were depicted
northern Mesopotamia (the Halaf-Hassuna-Samarra cul-
on the western walls, and representations of the goddess and
tures), the dead were buried mainly outside the settlements,
the bull appeared on all of the walls. The most common mo-
and only children were interred beneath the floors of houses
tifs used in the reliefs were bulls heads and the so-called “twin
or shrines. Anthropomorphic figurines either disappeared or
goddesses,” whereas most of the frescoes depicted bulls and
underwent a change in significance. The number of feminine
vultures. In addition, there were various other symbols, such
figurines was comparatively large in the Samarra and Halaf
as representations of the human head, the boar’s head, and
cultures, and costly materials (for example, alabaster) were
the female breast. Viewed as a whole, these complex motifs
frequently used for their manufacture, but they were usually
represent the confrontation between the creative powers (the
placed in graves. Shrines from this period can be identified
bulls, the twin goddesses) and the destructive forces (the
by their special position in the settlement rather than by their
boars, the vultures), and the opposition of birth and death
decoration or by the objects found in them. In Eridu (south-
or light and darkness. The statuettes express a similar opposi-
ern Mesopotamia), the shrine formed the nucleus around
tion: they are representations of the great female deity (some-
which the settlement was built; in Pessejik and Dashliji
times in her positive and sometimes in her negative aspect)
(Transcaspian lowlands), shrines were distinguished not only
and of the goddess’s son or male consort.
by their size and rich decoration but also by their position.
Representations of the same female deity were discov-
In the cultures of the second half of the fifth and the
ered in the Neolithic settlement of Hacilar (southwestern
fourth millennium BCE, the processes manifested earlier de-
Anatolia), dating from around 5500
veloped further. In the Al-Ubayyid culture, there is evidence
BCE. Statuettes, mod-
eled in a naturalistic way and frequently colored, represent
of monumental temples on platforms and of cult places sepa-
a young or mature woman, naked or clothed, in a standing,
rated from settlements. Some temples (for example, the tem-
seated, or reclining position, sometimes with a child or an
ple from Layer VIII in Eridu) already resembled ziggurats.
animal in her lap or arms. Plastered bulls’ heads, as well as
No statues or figurines of deities were found in these temples,
stone amulets in the shape of bulls’ heads, were also found,
but there were altars around which rites, probably similar to
but there were no shrines. Some houses, however, had niches
those shown on the seals of the Gawra type (processions, rit-
with stone slabs, a type of which had a human face with large
ual dances, the adorning of altars, and the like), were per-
eyes incised on it. These may have been figures of ancestors,
formed. Burials were made in cemeteries separated from set-
household spirits, the guardians of the family. The later set-
tlements (Tell Arpachiya, Eridu, Al-Ubayyid), and grave
tlements of Hacilar, dating from 5400 to 5000
goods included both feminine and masculine figurines as
BCE, yielded
two shrines associated with the cult of the dead, standardized
well as a type of figurine representing a woman with a child
in her arms. These figurines did not represent deities; rather,
feminine statuettes, almost violin-shaped masculine figu-
they were instruments used in funerary rites. It is obvious
rines, and anthropomorphic and zoomorphic ritual vessels.
that deities became remote and abstract toward the end of
Over the following two millennia, the number of figurines
the Neolithic period. The religion of the Al-Ubayyid culture,
decreased, but painted pottery became very common, and its
as well as that of other contemporaneous cultures of the
decoration frequently incorporated basic religious concepts.
Near East, was basically transcendental. In this respect, it an-
At the beginning of the fifth millennium BCE, Anatolia
ticipates the religion of the early urban civilization of Meso-
lost its importance, and the centers of culture and spiritual
potamia.
life were transferred to Mesopotamia, Khuzestan, and the
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE. The Neolithic religion of south-
Transcaspian lowlands. The intensive migratory movements,
eastern Europe was based on local traditions and the religion
exploitation of new materials (copper and gold), and in-
of the Epi-Paleolithic hunting-gathering communities, the
creased exchange of goods transformed the traditional reli-
presence of which is attested on numerous sites from Pelo-
gion in almost all of the regions of the Near East and led,
ponnese to the northern fringe of the Pannonian plain, and
at the end of the fourth millennium BCE, to the disintegra-
from the western shores of the Black Sea to the Alps and the
tion of all Neolithic cultures. Although a number of distinct
eastern coast of the Adriatic. As early as the twelfth millenni-
and frequently unrelated cultures emerged in the period be-
um BCE, this extensive territory was incorporated into the
tween 5000 and 3000 BCE, the religion of this period was
sphere of the Mediterranean Gravettian culture, in whose re-
characterized by three general features: the separation of the
ligion the most important artifacts were pebbles colored with
world of the living from the world of the dead, as manifested
red ocher and engraved objects of bone and antler. When the
in the increasing practice of burying the dead in special cem-
climate became gradually warmer at the end of the ninth mil-
eteries outside the settlements; the separation of cult centers
lennium BCE, the Tardi-Gravettian culture began to disinte-
from dwellings and the establishment of communal shrines;
grate. This disintegration had different consequences in dif-
and the abandonment of figural representations of deities
ferent regions: in the southwestern part of the Balkan
and the tendency to suggest their potency and activity by
Peninsula, the traditional culture was impoverished and
means of abstract symbols, signs, and ornaments.
gradually became extinct; in the Aegean and, particularly, in
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NEOLITHIC RELIGION
6463
the Danubian region, it became richer, developing, between
ization. The figural sculptures probably represent only what
7000 and 6500 BCE, into the culture of the first farming
was born out of that intertwining: hybrid, fishlike beings,
communities.
water spirits, lords of the great river, and primeval ancestors.
Regardless of how we interpret these stone figures, their close
As in the Near East, the beginning of the Neolithic cul-
association with the hearth (on which food was prepared for
ture in the Danubian region and the Aegean was marked by
the living and where sacrifices were offered to the dead)
a sedentary way of life. The first permanent open-space set-
shows that the religion of the Lepenski Vir culture was based
tlements appeared at the beginning of the eighth millennium
on the cult of the domestic hearth.
BCE, in the central part of the Danubian valley, on low river
terraces near large whirlpools abounding in fish. The local
In the period when religion and art in this region
Epi-Paleolithic culture began to change rapidly and, at the
reached their apogee, two major advances were made in the
end of the same millennium, evolved into the Proto-
sphere of economy: the cultivation of some sorts of grain and
Neolithic Lepenski Vir culture. The shrines of this culture
the domestication or selection of some animals (dogs, pigs,
were associated not only with the earliest monumental sculp-
deer) were mastered, so that the Lepenski Vir culture as-
tures in Europe but also with the first achievements in the
sumed the traits of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic. The uniform
domestication of plants and animals.
character of its shrines and sculptures shows that all ancestral
knowledge was combined into an integral system and incor-
The earliest settlements of the Lepenski Vir culture were
porated into cult, myth, and ritual.
small. No places used for cult purposes were discovered in
them, but finds did include ritual instruments and pebbles
In the middle of the seventh millennium BCE, in the pe-
colored with red ocher. Later settlements, dating from the
riod when the cultivation of plants and the keeping of ani-
beginning of the seventh millennium BCE, yielded varied ma-
mals were taken out of the ritual context, the Lepenski Vir
terial. Some contained a number of specialized implements
culture lost its specific traits and developed into the culture
and a great quantity of bones of fish and game animals,
of the earliest Danubian farmers, the so-called Starcˇevo-
whereas others (for example, Lepenski Vir and Hajducˇka Vo-
Körös-Cris culture. Concurrently or a few centuries later,
denica) had shrines, sculptures made of very large boulders,
Early Neolithic cultures appeared, either autonomously or as
and graves containing evidence of complex funerary rites.
a result of acculturation, in other regions of southeastern Eu-
This turning of human faculties toward different goals led,
rope as well. However they came into being, an almost uni-
on the one hand, to the transition from a gathering economy
form sacred world, centered again on the domestic hearth,
to a food-producing one, and, on the other hand, to the ap-
established itself throughout the whole of southeastern Eu-
pearance of monumental sculptures and the cults and myths
rope as early as around 6000 BCE.
associated with them.
The sixth millennium was a period of stabilization for
A total of 147 dwelling places were discovered at Lepen-
Neolithic cultures in southeastern Europe. The most creative
ski Vir, the religious center for the entire central Danubian
regions were Thessaly-Macedonia (the Proto-Sesklo and
region between 7000 and 6500 BCE. About fifty of them had
Sesklo cultures), the Danubian region (the Starcˇevo culture)
small shrines, each consisting of a rectangular hearth sur-
and the Maritsa Valley (the Karanovo culture). No shrines
rounded by large stone slabs embedded in a floor made of
have been discovered in any of these regions; the only possi-
limestone mortar, an altar with a circular or ellipsoid recipi-
ble exception is a building in Nea Nikomedeia (Aegean Mac-
ent, and anywhere from one to five sculptures made of large
edonia), which, because of its large dimensions, was probably
boulders. Directly against the stones surrounding the hearth,
a shrine. Some houses in northwestern Macedonia (in Po-
one to fifteen triangular openings were sunk into the floor,
rodin, Madzare, and Zelenikovo) had stoves next to which
framed with small slabs of red stone and, sometimes, with
stood richly decorated clay tables (perhaps altars) and some-
human mandibles.
times also clay models of houses with head-shaped chimneys
or breast-shaped roofs. These finds, as well as the considera-
All of these dwelling places with shrines had a uniform
bly more modest models of houses from Thessaly and the
ground plan in the form of a truncated sector of a circle, with
Danubian region, suggest that the entire house was consid-
an angle of about sixty degrees. Skeletons of infants (from
ered to be under the protection of a household deity.
one to five) were found beneath the floors, and secondary or
partial burials (consisting mainly of skulls) were made within
Anthropomorphic figurines, mostly representing preg-
the shrines. In each shrine, the hearth structure and the altar
nant women, were common only in Thessaly, Macedonia,
lay on an axis extending from east to west, whereas the dead
and the Danubian region, usually at places where utensils for
and the sculptures had a north-south orientation. This fixed
everyday use were also found. Feminine figurines were the
orientation implies a clear division of the world. The shrines
more numerous, but they are not earlier than masculine
probably reproduced the world’s structure, and the sculp-
ones. Zoomorphic figurines (mostly representations of oxen
tures, both abstract and figural, probably illustrated the myth
and deer) were produced in great numbers, as were amulets,
of its creation. Abstract sculptures were more numerous, and
each in the shape of a stylized bull’s head. Types of sacrifices
the intertwining on their surfaces of rounded, “female” signs
can be deduced on the basis of several finds in Crete and
with open, “male” ones suggests the idea of continuous fertil-
Thessaly, where narrow, deep pits filled with ashes, animal
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6464
NEOLITHIC RELIGION
bones, and occasional anthropomorphic figurines have been
incorporate the powers presiding over the household, grana-
found. These were probably places where sacrifices were of-
ry, flocks, or farmed land. The relationship between these
fered to chthonic deities, and the figurines were probably
powers and the community seems to have been direct, so that
placed there as substitutes for human sacrifice, indications
the religion of this period was, in fact, a popular one. It was
of which are evident only in the hilly and marginal areas of
manifested in the performance of rites associated with rain,
southeastern Europe. The cult of the dead was not particular-
sowing, reaping, the seasons of the year, birth, sickness, and
ly important. The deceased were buried in contracted posi-
death, rather than with the veneration of particular deities.
tion in various places—in the settlements, outside them, or
The discovery of copper and gold in the Carpathian
in caves. They were buried without rich gifts and without
Mountains at the end of the fifth millennium BCE, and the
any fixed orientation. The idea of death apparently did not
later inroads of nomads from the southern Russian steppes,
play an important role in the life of the Neolithic communi-
caused a crisis in the old values and goals; as a result, tradi-
ties of southeastern Europe.
tional shrines lost some of their importance. In the fourth
The fifth millennium BCE was the period of the flower-
millennium BCE, the centers of sacred life were transferred
ing of Neolithic cultures in southeastern Europe, especially
to the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula (the Boian-
in the inland regions of the Balkan Peninsula and in the Pan-
Gumelnita culture) and to Moldavia and the southwestern
nonian plain, where the Vincˇa culture was dominant. There
Ukraine (the Cucuteni-Tripol’e culture). It was only in this
were no essential innovations in the religious sphere, but the
period of crisis that special attention was devoted to the
traditional elements of religious life became more clearly de-
dead—separation of cemeteries from settlements, fixed ori-
fined and more numerous. There is no evidence of shrines;
entation of burials, exceptionally rich funerary gifts—and
cultic life was still associated with households, especially with
that special rooms in the houses were set apart for cult pur-
the rooms for the storage and grinding of grain or for the
poses. The cult of the bull continued to be practiced (shrines
preparation of food. Rooms with bucrania on the walls and
with bucrania, amulets in the form of bulls’ heads) as did the
an abundance of cult objects have been found on several sites
cult of the household hearth (concentration of sacred objects,
of the Vincˇa culture. The geographical distribution of these
especially of anthropomorphic figurines, around a stove used
sites shows that in the entire territory of the Vincˇa culture,
for baking bread).
covering some 120,000 square kilometers, there were only
At Ca˘scuiareke (Romania), however, a shrine was found
five or six large settlements that were major religious centers.
that contained evidence of the cult of the sacred pillar and,
Vincˇa itself was certainly one of them, for each change in the
possibly, of the sun. A group of miniature clay objects (altars,
sacred objects produced in it was reflected in the surrounding
stools, figurines in positions of adoration, and ritual vessels)
territory up to about one hundred kilometers in diameter.
with painted decoration (concentric circles, triangles, and
Several thousand anthropomorphic figurines and hundreds
spirals) representing the sun and other celestial bodies was
of ritual vases, amulets, and various cult instruments have
discovered at Ovcharevo (Bulgaria). Similar ornaments
been found at Vincˇa.
found on painted ware suggest that religious thought was pri-
The anthropomorphic figurines were very varied and in-
marily directed to the sky and was concerned with cosmogo-
cluded naked and clothed human figures, figures in flexed,
ny. These ornaments consist of ideograms for the sun, moon,
kneeling, or seated positions, two-headed figures, figures of
four sides of the world, heavenly spheres, earth, air, fire, and
musicians, and masked figures. Some scholars have seen in
the like. Later they came to include human, animal, and fan-
them representations of particular deities, such as the Great
tastic figures (giants with two pairs of arms, winged dogs, and
Goddess, the Bird and Snake Goddess, the Pregnant Vegeta-
so on); one may thus surmise that a special mythology was
tion Goddess, and the Year God. But these figurines were
being evolved in southeastern Europe during the fourth mil-
not found in ritual contexts, and the differences in their ap-
lennium BCE. This mythology could not be fully developed:
pearances probably resulted from aesthetic rather than reli-
in the middle of the fourth millennium BCE, southeastern
Europe was overrun by nomadic horsemen who destroyed
gious considerations. Only about five percent of them are
the shrines of local farming communities and paralyzed their
clearly defined as feminine or masculine. All examples whose
creativity.
place of discovery is known have been associated with various
elements of the household (for instance, the stove, the
OTHER REGIONS. The separate religious spheres of the Neo-
hearth, the guern, the weaving loom, and the storage pit) or
lithic world were the western Mediterranean with northwest-
with particular domestic activities. A number of figurines
ern Europe; the Sahara; the Nile Valley; China; Japan; and
have been found in graves but these are exceptions confined
Middle America. The hunting-gathering communities of
to some local cultures (for example, the Hamangia culture
Italy, the Iberian Peninsula, and the adjacent islands became
in Dobruja). The fact that they were commonly found to-
acquainted with the main achievements of the “Neolithic
gether with objects of everyday use, and that they had fre-
Revolution” at the end of the seventh millennium BCE, but
quently been fragmented and discarded, suggests that they
they mostly continued to live in caves and rock shelters and
lost their value once the ritual had been performed and the
to hold on to ancient customs. In coastal districts and the
desired end achieved. These figurines were probably held to
adjacent hinterlands the preoccupation with earth was first
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NEOLITHIC RELIGION
6465
established through pottery making rather than farming.
farming communities paid greatest attention to their dead
Something of the spiritual life of these communities is re-
and to the Nile. The earliest Neolithic graves (middle of the
flected in the ornaments on their pottery, which includes
fifth millennium BCE) already had a fixed orientation. The
such motifs as wavy lines, flamelike patterns, and crescents.
dead were buried facing east, with grains of wheat in their
These motifs may have symbolized objects of the greatest
mouths (the Merimde culture). In some cases, models of
veneration—the moon, sun, and sea—and may be taken as
boats and anthropomorphic figurines made of clay or ivory
evidence of the cult of waters and celestial bodies.
were placed in graves (the Badari culture). Vases from the
second half of the fourth millennium BCE (the Naqada II cul-
In the fifth millennium BCE, influences from the Aegean
ture) show processions of decorated boats, probably depict-
began to modify the culture of the Apennine Peninsula,
ing the rite of offering sacrifice to the Nile.
while the Iberian peninsula saw the beginning of processes
that in time led to the emergence, throughout western and
The Neolithic religion in the countries of the Far East
northwestern Europe, of cultures characterized by megalithic
also had distinct features. The Yang-shao culture of China
tombs for collective burial (such as dolmens, passage graves,
seems to have fostered the cult of ancestors and fertility.
and gallery graves) and by sacred architecture consisting of
Judging from motifs on painted ware, an important role was
large stone uprights (menhirs) set in parallel alignments or
also accorded to the cult of evergreen trees (fir and cypress)
in circles (cromlechs). These were the basic forms, but some
and, perhaps, mountaintops. A significant role was accorded
other types of sacred stone structures were built in other re-
as well to the dynamic forces of the universe and cosmic radi-
gions, for example, shrines with a U-shaped plan in Den-
ation, which influence nature and the destiny of man. The
mark and temples with niches and a central courtyard in
Neolithic population of Japan, which had long remained in
Malta. The dominant cult was that of ancestors. Highly styl-
complete isolation, also left some traces of its religion. They
ized idols with large eyes in the form of rosettes (the “all-
include enigmatic stone circles—the so-called sundials, with
seeing goddess”) have been found in megalithic graves in
a radius of up to forty-five meters—and figurines with large
Spain and Portugal. Special places for sacrificial offerings
protruding eyes and stone phalli, sometimes of large dimen-
have also been discovered at certain sites, such as the ceme-
sions. These represent mere fragments of a Neolithic religion
tery in Los Millares, Spain. Gravestones were frequently dec-
based on the worship of stone, the sun, and the phallus.
orated with abstract engravings and reliefs, more rarely, with
The Neolithic religions of the Malay archipelago and of
representations of snakes, oxen, or double-edged axes. At the
Mesoamerica must have been equally specific, since the de-
end of the Neolithic period, some upright gravestones were
velopment of a Neolithic culture in these regions was specific
modeled in the form of human figures (statue menhirs).
and autonomous. The archaeological evidence is, however,
All these megalithic shrines were surrounded by the
so slender that it does not permit poeple to form any definite
graves of ancestors; since they were placed far apart, it is cer-
conclusions about the religious ideas of Neolithic communi-
tain that they marked sites at which large groups of farming
ties in these areas.
communities gathered on special occasions. The gigantic
cromlech Stonehenge (southern England), as well as the
SEE ALSO Agriculture; Ancestors; Earth; Goddess Worship;
alignment of stone monuments in Carnac (Brittany, France),
Hieros Gamos; Megalithic Religion; Metals and Metallurgy;
Prehistoric Religions.
must have attracted thousands of believers who gathered to
establish contact with ancestral or divine powers. Malta, with
its numerous temples, was probably a holy island (isola sacra)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
to which believers came from all parts of the world to be ini-
No comprehensive account of Neolithic religion has yet been
tiated into the mysteries of the Great Goddess, whose colos-
written. The general surveys of prehistoric religion devote
sal fragmented statue has been discovered under one of the
comparatively little space to Neolithic religion and present
only the material from the Neolithic sites in Europe and the
temples. Each Maltese temple has a ground plan in the form
Near East; see, for example, E. O. James’s Prehistoric Religion
of a uterus or the silhouette of the Great Goddess. Figurines
(London, 1957), Johannes Maringer’s The Gods of Prehistoric
with deformed bodies and representations of the so-called
Man (New York, 1960), and Étienne Patte’s Les hommes pré-
sleeping ladies found in these temples suggest that they were
historiques et la religion (Paris, 1960). Some new and sti-
also healing places and oracles where believers could, through
mulating ideas concerning Neolithic religion have been in-
a period of sojourn (incubation), obtain cures for the body
troduced by Karl J. Narr in the chapter “Kunst und Religion
or soul. The very act of walking through these uterus-shaped
der Steinzeit und Steinkupferzeit,” in his Handbuch der Ur-
temples, between alignments, or through the circles of crom-
geschichte, vol. 2 (Bern, 1975), pp. 655–670, and by Mircea
lechs had the significance of an initiation.
Eliade in A History of Religious Ideas, vol. 1 (Chicago, 1978),
pp. 29–52 and 114–124.
The religion of the Neolithic populations of Africa was
A rich and systematic collection of documents for the study of
based on quite different concepts and cults. The predomi-
Neolithic religion is provided by Hermann Müller-Karpe in
nantly pastoral communities of the Sahara left rock paintings
his Handbuch der Vorgeschichte, vol. 2 (Munich, 1968). Sev-
and drawings that usually represent oxen or human figures
eral books discuss, in a rather uncritical way, the problem of
in the position of adoration. Farther east, in Egypt, the first
the meaning of anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figurines
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6466
NEOORTHODOXY
in the Neolithic world: Olaf Höckmann’s Die menschenges-
formed by the great themes of the Protestant Reformation.
taltige Figuralplastik der südosteuropäischen Jungsteinzeit und
Since its leaders had no interest in producing a new ortho-
Steinkupferzeit, 2 vols. (Hildesheim, 1968); Marija Gim-
doxy along the lines either of seventeenth-century Protestant
butas’s The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe, 6500–3500
scholasticism or of twentieth-century fundamentalism, the
B.C., rev. ed. (London, 1982); Elena V. Antonova’s Antropo-
neoorthodox movement could more accurately be called
morfnaia skul’ptura drevnikh zemledel’tsev Perednei i Srednei
neo-Reformation theology, but the former term has pre-
Azii (Moscow, 1977); and Nándor Kalicz’s Clay Gods (Buda-
vailed in common usage.
pest, 1980). A correct methodological approach to these
problems is demonstrated by Peter J. Ucko in “The Interpre-
In its broadest sense neoorthodoxy is an umbrella term
tation of Prehistoric Anthropomorphic Figurines,” Journal of
that includes a number of diverse but related theologies and
the Royal Anthropological Institute 92 (January-June 1962):
theologians. Among them are dialectical theology, or “theol-
38–54, and in his Anthropomorphic Figurines from Egypt and
ogy of crisis” in Switzerland and Germany (Karl Barth, Emil
Neolithic Crete with Comparative Material from Prehistoric
Brunner, Friedrich Gogarten, Rudolf Bultmann); motif re-
Near East and Mainland Greece (London, 1968).
search at Lund, Sweden (Gustaf Aulén, Anders Nygren); re-
The great spiritual centers of the Neolithic world are outlined in
constructionist theology in Scotland (John Baillie, Donald
detail in Kathleen M. Kenyon’s Digging Up Jericho (London,
M. Baillie, Thomas F. Torrance); and realistic theology, or
1957), James Mellaart’s Çatal Hüyük (London, 1967),
Christian realism, in the United States (Reinhold Niebuhr,
Jacques Cauvin’s Religions néolithiques de Syro-Palestine
H. Richard Niebuhr, Paul Tillich). Related to these are a
(Paris, 1972), and my own book Europe’s First Monumental
multitude of others who, from the 1920s to the 1950s,
Sculpture: New Discoveries at Lepenski Vir (London, 1972).
joined in the tasks of overcoming the weaknesses perceived
A. Rybakov’s “Kosmogoniia i mifologiia zemledel’tsev en-
eolita,” Sovetskaia arkheologiia 1 (1965): 24–47 and 2
in liberalism and of finding a more adequate way of express-
(1965): 13–33, is an important contribution to understand-
ing the gospel of Jesus Christ in the social setting of the twen-
ing the semantics of pottery decoration. The Neolithic
tieth century.
shrines of southeastern Europe are discussed by Vladimir
Because of its emphasis on the Bible as the written wit-
Dumitrescu in “Édifice destiné au culte découvert dans la
ness to God’s self-revelation and on the church as the locus
couche Boian-Spantov de la station-tell de Ca˘sciorele,” Dacia
of God’s continuing revelation, neoorthodoxy provided
(Bucharest) 15 (1970): 5–24; by Henrieta Todorova in
stimulus and support for two significant parallel develop-
“Kultszene und Hausmodell aus Ovcˇarevo,” Thracia (Sofia)
ments: the biblical theology movement, which strove to ex-
3 (1974): 39–46; and by Marija Gimbutas in “The Temples
of Old Europe,” Archaeology 33 (November-December
press the unity of scripture, and the ecumenical movement,
1980): 41–50. Megalithic monuments have been the subject
which was established to foster church unity.
of many recent monographs and papers; however, they dis-
The characteristic themes of neoorthodoxy, as well as its
cuss the problems of the systematization, distribution, and
divergent emphases, are found in two prophetic books that
chronology of these monuments rather than their religious
shocked theological communities in Europe and America
meaning. There are no comprehensive studies of Neolithic
and sparked the neoorthodox movement. The first was the
religion in eastern and southeastern Asia, although some at-
publication in 1919 of Der Römerbrief (The Epistle to the Ro-
tention has been devoted to the significance of ornamenta-
mans) by Karl Barth (1886–1968); the second was the ap-
tion on the pottery of the Yang-shao culture and of figurines
from the Jomon period.
pearance in 1932 of Moral Man and Immoral Society, by Re-
inhold Niebuhr (1892–1971). Both men had had extensive
New Sources
experience in the parish ministry (Barth in the Swiss village
Cauvin, Jacques. The Birth of the Gods and the Origins of Agricul-
of Safenwil, Niebuhr in the American industrial city of De-
ture. Cambridge, 2000.
troit), direct encounter with movements advocating the so-
Gimbutas, Marija Alseikaite, and Miriam Robbins Dexter. The
cial responsibility of the churches (Barth with Swiss religious
Living Goddesses. Berkeley, 1999.
socialism, Niebuhr with the American Social Gospel), educa-
North, John David. Stonehenge: Neolithic Man and the Cosmos.
tion in the liberal tradition (Barth at Berlin and Marburg,
London, 1996.
Niebuhr at Eden and Yale), probing intellects, and powerful
personalities. Barth’s commentary on Romans was written
DRAGOSLAV SREJOVIC´ (1987)
with the problem of the preacher in mind; he discovered the
Translated from Serbo-Croatian by Veselin Kosti´c
Revised Bibliography
message of God’s sovereign grace that declares divine judg-
ment upon all human pretension, especially that of bourgeois
society and its religion of human perfectibility. Niebuhr’s
book was written with the problem of the ethicist in mind;
NEOORTHODOXY. Neoorthodoxy is the term used
he probed the difference between the social behavior of indi-
mainly in the English-speaking world to designate a theologi-
viduals and that of social groups, in light of the Reformation
cal movement within Protestantism that began after World
doctrines of sin and justification by faith. Barth’s theology
War I as a reaction to liberal theology and broadened into
tended to move from God to humanity, Niebuhr’s from hu-
diverse attempts to formulate afresh a theology of the Word
manity to God; they found their common ground in the cen-
of God grounded in the witness of holy scripture and in-
trality of Jesus Christ.
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NEOORTHODOXY
6467
Neoorthodoxy erupted as a fresh theological movement
a German Lutheran New Testament professor, Rudolf Bult-
during the period of social upheaval caused by World War
mann (1884–1976), began contributing articles to the jour-
I and the Great Depression. Liberal assumptions about
nal. All of these prominent collaborators eventually attained
human goodness and historical progress were shaken, if not
professorships, so that the neoorthodox movement, which
destroyed, by the sudden outbreak of evil in the midst of a
had begun in the pastorate, gradually reached the universi-
modern civilization that had considered itself enlightened
ties. From there its influence spread abroad, especially to
and humane. Liberal theology was closely allied with Ger-
Scandinavia and Scotland, and then to the United States. Be-
man idealistic philosophy, and therefore assumed a basic
tween the two world wars, neoorthodoxy was the dominant
continuity between the human and the divine. God was to
force in Protestant theology and was influential in Roman
be found in human consciousness, in the human sense of
Catholic and Orthodox circles as well. Despite serious theo-
morality, and in the progressive evolution of human society
logical divisions that caused them to cease publishing Zwi-
toward the kingdom of God. Belief in the immanence of the
schen den Zeiten in 1933, the originators of the movement
divine within the human self and in world history led to an
and their followers remained united in their opposition to
optimistic view of human progress and a focusing of theolog-
certain elements of liberalism and in their commitment to
ical attention upon the religious experience of individual
a theology of the Word of God.
Christians and the historical experience of the religious com-
Since neoorthodoxy began as a reaction within liberal
munity. The result was a blending of Christian perspectives
theology and at first intended to provide a mere corrective,
with those of so-called modern, scientific society. Liberalism
it is not surprising that the movement retained some of its
tried to hold on to the Christian tradition while adjusting
liberal heritage: respect for the scientific method of investi-
it to the changing worldview; modernism, a more radical op-
gating the natural world, acceptance of historical-critical re-
tion, accepted the worldview of science and then attempted
search on the Bible, and aversion to metaphysics and natural
to reclaim as much of Christianity as possible. As Karl Barth
theology. Nevertheless, the following characteristic emphases
and his colleagues discovered in the midst of a culture in cri-
of neoorthodoxy were all formulated in opposition to posi-
sis, both liberalism and modernism inevitably distorted bibli-
tions common in liberal theology:
cal faith and the theology of the Protestant reformers.
1. the transcendence and otherness of God instead of
Barth began to study Paul’s Letter to the Romans because
God’s immanence in nature and history, and thus a fun-
of his disillusionment with the theology and ethics of his lib-
damental discontinuity between the divine and the
eral theological professors in Germany, especially after one
human that can be overcome by God alone;
“black day” in August 1914 when he learned that they, to-
gether with other intellectuals, had declared their support for
2. divine revelation rather than human religious experience
Kaiser Wilhelm’s war policy. In Paul’s letter to the Romans
as the source of the knowledge of God, and thus the
Barth discovered what he later referred to as “the strange new
Word of God—incarnate in Jesus Christ, attested in
world within the Bible,” a world concerned not with the
scripture, and proclaimed in the church—as the seat of
right human thoughts about God but with the right divine
authority for Christian thought and action;
thoughts about humans, not with what people should say
3. the Christ of faith rather than the Jesus of history as the
about God but with what God says to people, not with how
basis and/or object of Christian faith, and thus the ac-
people can find God but with the way God has taken to find
ceptance of the conclusion of the eschatological inter-
people. The Bible speaks not of human religious experience
pretation of the New Testament that the quest for “the
but of God—God’s sovereignty, God’s glory, God’s incom-
historical Jesus” is fruitless and unnecessary;
prehensible love, God’s covenant with humankind, sealed
4. the meaning of history as hidden and thus not to be
once and for all in Jesus Christ.
viewed as a progressive movement in which humans co-
Barth likened the 1919 edition of his commentary on
operate in the building of the kingdom of God; rather,
Romans to the unexpected ringing of a church bell at night.
Christ provides the only clue to history’s ultimate mean-
It awakened the theological world, especially in postwar Ger-
ing, and the kingdom of God is an eschatological event
many, and won Barth an invitation to teach theology at the
that depends solely upon the action of God;
university at Göttingen. He accepted the position in 1922;
5. sin as a rebellion against God caused by the abuse of
the same year he published a completely rewritten, more rad-
human freedom rather than a result of human ignorance
ical second edition of The Epistle to the Romans.
or failure to curb natural impulses; thus, the self-
Other theologians had come to similar conclusions
centeredness and alienation resulting from sin cannot be
about the inadequacy of liberal theology. In 1923 another
overcome by education but only by an act of divine for-
Swiss Reformed pastor, Eduard Thurneysen (1888–1974),
giveness that calls forth repentance and new life.
and a German Lutheran pastor, Friedrich Gogarten (1887–
Behind the rise of neoorthodoxy lay a number of factors.
1967), joined Barth in publishing the journal Zwischen den
First was the general cultural crisis of Western bourgeois so-
Zeiten (Between the times) as the organ of their movement.
ciety that was reflected in two world wars. The nineteenth
Soon another Swiss pastor, Emil Brunner (1889–1966), and
century’s optimistic view of the future, based on scientific
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6468
NEOORTHODOXY
advances, evolutionary theory, and idealistic philosophy, was
and with what some considered to be an unwarranted super-
seriously undermined by historical events. There were other
naturalism. Each in his own way declared the dialectic to be
important factors as well: scholarly investigations of the New
not between two separate worlds (God’s and ours) but within
Testament that established apocalyptic eschatology as the
human existence (unfaith and faith, the “old man” and the
framework for interpreting Jesus and his message of the king-
new). Thus each affirmed the necessity of incorporating into
dom of God and viewed the Gospels as products of the early
theology an analysis of human existence prior to faith,
church for preaching and worship rather than as biographies
whether it be based on a personalist philosophy of I-Thou
of Jesus; the thesis of Martin Kähler (1835–1912) that
relationships (Gogarten), on the phenomenon of human “re-
church and faith are dependent not on the results of histori-
spondability” as the formal image of God that remains even
cal inquiry into the life of the so-called historical Jesus but
in sinful humanity (Brunner), or on a human “pre-
on the preaching of the early church’s kerygma of the risen
understanding” derived from existentialist philosophy (Bult-
Christ, who is known in faith; the renaissance of interest in
mann and Tillich). In response, Barth, who in his early work
the study of the theology of the Protestant reformers, espe-
had agreed that God’s self-revelation was “the answer to
cially of Luther; the writings and preaching of Christian so-
human existence,” determined henceforth to free his theolo-
cialists (on the continent, Christoph Blumhardt, Leonhard
gy from any dependence on an analysis of the “existential
Ragaz, Hermann Kutter; in America, Walter Rauschen-
question of man” and to base it solely on God’s self-
busch); the literary explorers of the ambiguity of human exis-
revelation in one man: Jesus Christ.
tence, such as Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821–1881) and, above
Subsequent events in Germany tended to confirm
all, So⁄ren Kierkegaard (1813–1855), the Danish “father of
Barth’s suspicion of any theology that appealed to a revela-
existentialism,” whose writings were first translated during
tion of God “outside Christ,” in the natural order or in histo-
the early decades of the twentieth century; and the personal-
ry. With the rise of Nazism, the so-called German Christians
istic philosophy of Ferdinand Ebner (1882–1931) and Mar-
hailed the advent of Hitler and his policies as a new revela-
tin Buber (1878–1965), who insisted that God always re-
tion of God. Their attempt to blend Nazism with Christiani-
mains a subject with whom humans can have an I-Thou, but
ty was decisively repudiated at a meeting of the representa-
never an I-It, relationship.
tives of the Lutheran and Reformed traditions at Barmen in
All these factors supported the neoorthodox attack on
1934, when it was declared that the Christian church must
the nineteenth century’s legacy of anthropocentric religion
listen to Jesus Christ as the one Word of God, and to him
and helped to turn the church’s attention to the God of the
alone.
Bible, who is “wholly other” than the world and whose word
Barth’s split with Gogarten over the latter’s initial sup-
enters the world “from outside” and never comes under the
port of the German Christians led to the cessation of publica-
control of humans—not even in the sphere of religion. In-
tion of Zwischen den Zeiten in 1933, and the following year
spired by his biblical studies, by the religious socialists’ cri-
Barth repudiated Brunner’s call for the development of a
tique of present-day society in the light of God’s coming
Christian natural theology. Thenceforth this group of “dia-
kingdom, and by Kierkegaard’s message of the infinite quali-
lectical theologians,” who had found their closest unity in
tative difference between the eternal God and finite, sinful
what they opposed, followed their own paths toward mature
humanity, Barth led the attack on the pious religiosity and
theological positions that in many respects differed markedly
cultural captivity of the church. He emphasized the “God-
and yet in the broad perspective of theological history still
ness” of God (God is not “man writ large”), the difference
shared the basic characteristics of neoorthodoxy.
between the Word of God and the word of humans, and the
judgment (Krisis) that God’s word pronounces on human
Barth’s Kirchliche Dogmatik (Church dogmatics), con-
pretension and hypocrisy, whether in civil or religious affairs.
sisting of thirteen volumes originally published between
Barth stressed that God pronounces a No to human sinful-
1932 and 1967, represents the premier intellectual expres-
ness, but in and through that No comes the unexpected and
sion of neoorthodoxy. In it Barth conducted a critical exami-
incomparable Yes of God’s mercy and forgiveness. This word
nation of the church’s present teaching in the light of the
of judgment and grace, which breaks into the world “from
scriptural attestation to God’s self-revealing Word become
above,” he insisted, can be understood by humankind in his-
flesh in the man Jesus of Nazareth. While not relinquishing
tory only in a dialectical manner, and this in two senses: first,
his earlier stress on the deity of God, Barth more and more
as the dialectical relation between eternity and time, and, sec-
centered his focus on the “humanity of God,” that is, on the
ond, as the dialectical movement from God’s No to God’s
triune God’s covenental relationship with humankind that
Yes.
is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, in whose person one encounters
both the true God as humanity’s loyal partner and the true
Barth’s appeal to revelation and his attack on the psy-
human being as God’s loyal partner. God and humankind
chologism and historicism of liberal theology generated early
are thus reconciled in Christ, and those who respond to
support from Gogarten, Brunner, Bultmann, and even Til-
God’s word of free, self-giving love become participants in
lich (1886–1965), but it soon became evident that they dis-
Christ’s earthly, historical body—the church—and witnesses
agreed with Barth’s stringent opposition to natural theology
of the Word to the world. Barth’s biblical, Christ-centered
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NEOORTHODOXY
6469
theology reinterprets for today all of the doctrinal themes of
as it is manifested in the structures of society, plus his keen
classic Protestantism: God’s sovereign grace, the lostness of
sense of God’s action in history, made his writings significant
humankind, Christ’s reconciling deed, and renewed life
for both church and political constituencies. H. Richard
under the rule of God.
Niebuhr in his best-known book, Christ and Culture (1951),
applied his knowledge of sociology and theology to illumi-
Brunner, whose apologetic, or “eristic,” interest on be-
nate the relationship between faith and culture. The thought
half of the church’s mission was expressed in a number of
of both Niebuhrs was enriched by their association with Til-
theological and ethical monographs, ultimately summarized
lich, who emigrated to America in 1933. In his three-volume
his theology in a three-volume Dogmatik (1946–1960),
Systematic Theology (1951–1963), Tillich attempted to corre-
which is representative of neoorthodox thinking. He empha-
late the questions raised in modern culture with the answers
sized that for sinners who are living in contradiction to their
provided in the Christian tradition.
true being, truth comes in the personal encounter with the
Word of God that evokes the response of faith and new life
By the end of the 1950s the influence of neoorthodoxy
in the church, which he considered to be a spiritual commu-
had begun to wane. Critics questioned its sharp separation
nity rather than an institution.
of sacred history from world history, its pronounced discon-
Unlike Barth and Brunner, both of whom were in the
tinuity between Christianity and humanity’s secular experi-
Swiss Reformed tradition, Bultmann and Gogarten were
ence, its seeming lack of interest in the historical Jesus, its
German Lutherans who, ostensibly guided in their thinking
tendency to collapse eschatology into Christology, its failure
by Luther and the apostle Paul, emphasized the nonobjective
to address sufficiently the challenge of world religions, and
character of the revelatory event of faith. For Bultmann,
the inadequacy of its answers to the ethical problems of a nu-
whose Theologie des Neuen Testaments (1948–1953) sets
clear age. In spite of these questions, however, all subsequent
forth a demythologized, or existentialist, interpretation of
theology has acknowledged its enormous indebtedness to
the New Testament, the event of faith produces a new self-
neoorthodoxy, realizing that it can ignore the neoorthodox
understanding that enables the believer to live authentically
legacy only at its own peril.
in the present. Gogarten, who after World War II produced
a number of significant books on the relation of Christian
SEE ALSO Barth, Karl; Brunner, Emil; Bultmann, Rudolf;
Modernism, article on Christian Modernism; Niebuhr, Re-
faith to secularism, proposed in his magnum opus, Der Men-
inhold; Protestantism; Tillich, Paul Johannes.
sch zwischen Gott und Welt (1952), that the Christian gospel
itself leads to a secularizing of the world insofar as it depopu-
lates the world of its “principalities and powers” and calls hu-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
mans to assume the responsibility of ordering and caring for
Important primary resources regarding the beginnings of neoor-
the world as mature sons and daughters of God.
thodoxy, beyond Karl Barth’s Epistle to the Romans, translat-
ed by Edwyn C. Hoskyns (Oxford, 1933) and Reinhold Nie-
Echoes of continental neoorthodoxy in Great Britain
buhr’s Moral Man and Immoral Society (New York, 1932),
were strongest in Scotland, where John Baillie (1886–1960)
mentioned above, are the following: The Beginnings of Dia-
entered into the debate between Barth and Brunner over nat-
lectic Theology, vol. 1, edited by James M. Robinson and
ural theology in his book Our Knowledge of God (1939); his
translated by Keith R. Crim and Louis De Grazia (Rich-
brother Donald M. Baillie (1887–1954) wrote a profound
mond, 1968); Karl Barth’s The Word of God and the Word
essay on incarnation and atonement, entitled God Was in
of Man, translated by Douglas Horton (New York, 1928);
Christ (1948), in which these doctrines were interpreted as
Brunner’s The Theology of Crisis (New York, 1929); Rudolf
Bultmann’s Faith and Understanding, vol. 1, edited by Rob-
“paradoxes of faith.” In Swedish Lutheranism, neoorthodoxy
ert W. Funk and translated by Louise Pettibone Smith (New
is represented by two studies: the seminal treatise of Anders
York and Evanston, Ill., 1969); Reinhold Niebuhr’s An In-
Nygren (1890–1978), Eros och Agape (1930, 1936), in which
terpretation of Christian Ethics (New York, 1935); and Paul
Nygren stressed the radical difference between agap¯e as
Tillich’s The Religious Situation, translated by H. Richard
God’s self-giving love and eros as human love fueled by de-
Niebuhr (New York, 1932).
sire; and the monograph of Gustaf Aulén (1879–1977), Den
The best systematic expressions of neoorthodox theology are
kristna försoningstanken (1930), translated as Christus Victor,
found in the following works: Karl Barth’s Church Dogmat-
which argued for the superiority of the classic view of the
ics, 13 vols. plus index, edited by G. W. Bromiley and T. F.
atonement held by Irenaeus and Luther over Latin and
Torrance (Edinburgh, 1936–1977); H. Emil Brunner’s Dog-
moral-influence theories.
matics, 3 vols., translated by Olive Wyon (vols. 1–2) and
Reinhold Niebuhr and his brother H. Richard Niebuhr
David Cairns (vol. 3) (Philadelphia, 1950–1962); Gustaf
Aulén’s The Faith of the Christian Church, translated from
(1894–1962), both Christian ethicists, led the neoorthodox
the fifth Swedish edition by Eric H. Wahlstrom (Philadel-
battle against liberalism in the United States. Influenced by
phia, 1960); Paul Tillich’s Systematic Theology, 3 vols. (Chi-
the Augustinian-Lutheran understanding of the profundity
cago, 1951–1963); Reinhold Niebuhr’s The Nature and Des-
of sin, Reinhold Niebuhr probed the Christian understand-
tiny of Man, 2 vols. (New York, 1941, 1943); and Rudolf
ing of humankind in his two volumes, The Nature and Desti-
Bultmann’s Theology of the New Testament, 2 vols., translated
ny of Man (1941, 1943). His realism regarding sin, especially
by Kendrick Grobel (New York, 1951, 1955).
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NEOPAGANISM
Distinguished writings on particular themes are Gustaf Aulén’s
Neopaganism’s historical origins lie in nineteenth-century
Christus Victor: An Historical Study of the Three Main Types
religious movements such as Theosophy, folk practices such
of the Idea of the Atonement, translated by A. G. Hebert
as tarot and astrology, studies in folklore and anthropology,
(1931; reprint, New York, 1969); Anders Nygren’s Agape
the theatrical rituals of an Edwardian occult group called the
and Eros, pt. 1, A Study of the Christian Idea of Love, and pt.
Order of the Golden Dawn, and the countercultural milieu
2, The History of the Christian Idea of Love, translated by Phil-
of North America in the 1960s. Neopagans’ images of god
ip S. Watson (London, 1932, 1939; rev. in 1 vol., Philadel-
phia, 1953); Friedrich Gogarten’s The Reality of Faith: The
and goddess emerged from nineteenth-century British folk-
Problem of Subjectivism in Theology, translated by Carl Mi-
lore and literature and were influenced by the armchair an-
chalson et al. (Philadelphia, 1959); and Donald M. Baillie’s
thropology of scholars like Sir James Frazer (1854–1941),
God Was in Christ: An Essay on Incarnation and Atonement
author of the sweeping Golden Bough (1890), and the my-
(New York and London, 1948).
thology of Robert Graves (1895–1985), author of The White
Of the innumerable secondary resources regarding neoorthodoxy
Goddess (1948). In Europe, contemporary pagan organiza-
and its theologians, the following are recommended as lucid
tions usually claim a lineage that is ancient and unbroken,
and fair interpretations: James D. Smart’s The Divided Mind
often tied to nationalism and ethnic pride. American, Cana-
of Modern Theology: Karl Barth and Rudolf Bultmann, 1908–
dian, British, and Australian “Neopagan” communities differ
1933 (Philadelphia, 1967); Nels F. S. Ferré’s Swedish Contri-
in that they have been influenced by feminist and environ-
butions to Modern Theology (New York, 1939); Mary Frances
mentalist movements and are self-conscious revivals created
Thelen’s Man as Sinner in Contemporary American Realistic
to be egalitarian and individualistic.
Theology (New York, 1946); John B. Cobb, Jr.’s Living Op-
tions in Protestant Theology: A Survey of Methods
(Philadel-
HERITAGE. Neopagans tend to emphasize newness, creativi-
phia, 1962); Christof Gestrich’s Neuzeitliches Denken und die
ty, imagination, and invention over tradition, creed, estab-
Spaltung der dialektischen Theologie: Zur Frage der natürlichen
lished doctrine, and institutionalized religion, but they also
Theologie (Tübingen, 1977); James C. Livingston’s Modern
claim ancient traditions as their heritage. Neopaganism did
Christian Thought: From the Enlightenment to Vatican II
not emerge directly from ancient pagan cultures, even
(New York, 1971), chaps. 11, 12, and 15; Alasdair I. C.
though a few Neopagans would argue that their religion de-
Heron’s A Century of Protestant Theology (Philadelphia,
scended through the centuries from a pre-Christian goddess
1980), chaps. 3–6; and the essays on individual theologians
religion. According to scholarly consensus, there is no direct
in A Handbook of Christian Theologians, edited by Dean G.
lineage from ancient goddess cultures to Neopaganism. Con-
Peerman and Martin E. Marty (Cleveland, 1965).
temporary Pagans (pagan was originally a term that referred
New Sources
to non-Christians or country dwellers) are “neo” in the sense
Cross, Terry L. Dialectic in Karl Barth’s Doctrine of God. New
that they are revising and updating what they can learn from
York, 2001.
ancient traditions to meet the needs of modern people. They
Dorrien, Gary J. The Baritone Revolt in Modern Theology: Theology
believe that, in some aspects of life, ancient cultures have
without Weapons. Louisville, 2000.
much to teach contemporary people, such as respect for the
Gilkey, Langdon Brown. On Niebuhr: A Theological Study. Chica-
earth and maintaining a balance between humans and na-
go, 2001.
ture. They search for alternatives to the gods they were raised
with by looking to Asian and Native American religions, and
Hart, John W. Karl Barth vs. Emil Brunner: The Formation and
Dissolution of a Theological Alliance. New York, 2001.
they claim that spiritual beings from other cultures are more
accessible to humans than the Western monotheistic god.
Schuurman, Douglas James. Creation, Eschaton, and Ethics: The
Ethical Significance of the Creation-Eschaton Relation in the
The various forms of Neopaganism share a desire to re-
Thought of Emil Brunner and Jürgen Moltmann. New York,
vive ancient pre-Christian nature religions. In the process of
1991.
creating new religions in the cast of old ones, Neopagans bor-
Warren, Heather A. Theologians of a New World Order: Reinhold
row from Native American and other available religious cul-
Niebuhr and the Christian Realists. New York, 1997.
tures. They tend to be tolerant of eclectic uses of other cul-
Webster, John, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Karl Barth.
tures’ myths and traditions, but borrowing from Native
Cambridge, U.K., and New York, 2000.
American religions has been more controversial. Some Neo-
pagans, for instance, argue that “white people” should only
JOHN D. GODSEY (1987)
borrow myths and deities from their “own” cultural heritage,
Revised Bibliography
such as Witchcraft or ancient Druidism of the British Isles.
Druids, for instance, often learn ancient Celtic languages and
focus on their roles as caretakers of the woods. Neopagans
NEOPAGANISM. The term Neopagan covers a wide
who are intrigued by specific ancient cultures look to Tibet-
variety of traditions that include re-creations of ancient Celt-
an, Greek, West African, Roman, and Egyptian pantheons.
ic Druidism (a British organization of sun worshippers who
They find ritual texts, usually in translation, and fashion
gathered in sacred groves), Wicca or Witchcraft, ceremonial
their rituals after mythological stories, such as the descent of
magic, and neoshamanism (revivals of ecstatic journeys into
the goddess Persephone into the underworld. Neopagans
the spirit world in indigenous and pre-Christian cultures).
dressed as Aphrodite and Dionysos put in appearances at
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NEOPAGANISM
6471
Neopagan festivals, and festival rituals encourage partici-
(1954), are founding documents for contemporary Witch-
pants to explore divine archetypes from ancient pantheons
craft that have influenced many other Neopagans as well.
of deities.
Although organizations like the OTO and Gardnerian
Witches, or “Wiccans,” form the largest religious cul-
Witchcraft offer structured guidelines for their members and
ture under the Neopagan umbrella and include, at one ex-
levels of initiation based on the secret societies of the Freema-
treme, separatist feminist Witches who worship a great god-
sons, many Neopagans choose to create their own spiritual
dess in women-only covens, and at the other, traditional
practice by drawing on information from a rich array of
Gardnerian Witches who worship a god and a goddess to-
teachers and traditions. Hierarchical structures were com-
gether, claim to have the oldest lineage, and pass down their
mon in the earliest Neopagan groups and still characterize
rituals from teachers to students who are instructed to per-
some contemporary Neopagan communities, but by the
form them in exactly the same way. Gardnerian rituals em-
twenty-first century many ritual groups had become more
phasize the dual nature of divinity in the form of a paired
loosely structured and egalitarian. Elders are still acknowl-
god and goddess. An increasingly common kind of Witch is
edged for their wisdom and experience but not viewed as all-
the man or woman who is an “eclectic Witch” or “Wiccan”
powerful. One of the ways in which American Neopagans
and borrows from British traditional Witchcraft as well as
adapt religious traditions of the past and other cultures is to
from a variety of other religious cultures. Witches are some-
make them more democratic and inclusive, and this is partic-
times trained and initiated through covens, but they are also
ularly evident in the new rituals they create.
self-taught or guided by correspondence courses and books,
R
like Raymond Buckland’s (1934–) Complete Book of Witch-
ITUALS. Ritual is the touchstone of Neopagan religious
identity and community. Neopagans honor the cycles of na-
craft (1986), which includes lists of ritual tools, directions for
ture with rituals at new and full moons and on eight seasonal
how to make ritual robes, simple explanations of Witch-
festivals, including the solstices and equinoxes. Regular ritu-
craft’s moral principles, and guidelines for basic rituals. Do-
als are often held in small groups for any number of pur-
it-yourself Witchcraft has to some extent replaced traditional
poses, including healing and personal spiritual growth. Ritu-
covens that included several levels of initiation. Another pop-
als are usually held in circles and are facilitated by ritual
ular Neopagan title derived from traditional Wiccan teach-
leaders, who explain the purpose of the ritual, invite deities
ings is the feminist Witch Starhawk’s The Spiral Dance
or spirits to be present, monitor the group’s energy, and end
(1979), which encourages individuals to tailor their rituals
the ritual in such a way that everyone returns to a normal
to suit personal needs and preferences and includes sections
state of consciousness. Ritual spaces are generally oriented in
on herbal charms, chants, blessings, spells, and myths.
relation to the four cardinal directions and feature altars that
Witches have only a few beliefs that almost all of them
hold statues of deities and symbols of water, air, fire, and
adhere to, and these include “The Witches Rede: An it harm
earth. Neopagans also periodically hold rituals to mark life
none, do what you will” and “The Law of Threefold Effect,”
passages, including death rites, baby blessings, and marriage
the belief that any action a person commits will return to that
vows. Rituals and festivals held as seasonal celebrations in-
person threefold. These beliefs, or similar versions of them,
clude retellings of ancient myths, theater, ritual perfor-
are also held by other Neopagans, such as ceremonial magi-
mances, music, feasting, and storytelling.
cians and Druids, who share Witchcraft’s or Wicca’s origins
in early twentieth-century British magical groups.
Because of their interest in bringing back the past, Neo-
pagans perform Egyptian rites based on ancient texts, dress
Ceremonial magicians, another important community
like Renaissance mages, and engage in Yoruba divination,
of Neopagans, are more likely to turn to late-nineteenth- and
replicating the original as best they can. In 1993 large num-
early twentieth-century occultists for inspiration, especially
bers of Neopagans attended a festival in Nashville, Tennes-
the writings of the British occultist Aleister Crowley (1875–
see, to honor the goddess Athena, whose statue there is the
1947) and the Order of the Golden Dawn (started in 1888),
largest indoor statue in the Western world (according to a
which included the Irish writer William Butler Yeats (1865–
report in the Neopagan magazine Green Egg). The recon-
1939) among its members. Ceremonial magic also draws
structed ancient Greek games included a ritual to pay tribute
heavily on Qabbalah, a Jewish mystical tradition. Ceremoni-
to Athena. Rites of Spring, a Neopagan gathering that is held
al magicians may blend these traditions with their own inter-
annually in western Massachusetts, hosts a “Medieval Feast,”
ests in religious cultures as diverse as Haitian vodou and Ti-
during which medieval music is played and festivalgoers are
betan Buddhism, while others stay within the bounds of
served by “wenches” dressed in period costumes. Some men
organizations like the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO), which
and women have become Neopagans as a result of their inter-
Crowley joined in 1912 and which involves lengthy study
est in historical reenactment and are involved with the Soci-
and specific rites of initiation. Where ceremonial magicians
ety for Creative Anachronism (SCA), a medieval reenact-
emphasize their Golden Dawn heritage, Witches identify
ment society. Historical re-creation and science fiction,
with the work of the English civil servant Gerald Gardner
especially Robert Heinlein’s (1907–1988) Stranger in a
(1884–1964), whose novel, High Magic’s Aid (1949), and
Strange Land (1961), contribute to the colorful aesthetics of
pseudo-anthropological study of a coven, Witchcraft Today
Neopagan rituals and gatherings.
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NEOPAGANISM
CONNECTION TO NATURE. Because of their close identifica-
can status quo, while others focus inward on personal
tion of deity with nature, Neopagans often travel from cities
changes. In contrast, some Neopagans are not pacifists or
and towns to worship in the woods and to establish nature
countercultural activists but instead feel comfortable serving
sanctuaries to honor their gods. Several Neopagan organiza-
in the military.
tions have established retreats and sanctuaries, where stone
altars and ritual circles are constructed in the woods to facili-
Regardless of their political preferences, Neopagans gen-
tate interactions between Neopagans and the natural world.
erally have a tendency to privilege internal over external au-
Circle Sanctuary in southwestern Wisconsin is a prominent
thority and experience over belief. They focus on self-
Neopagan organization that in the 1980s bought land specif-
exploration as the best route to truth and knowledge. The
ically set aside for the enjoyment of the Neopagan communi-
explosion of information available on the Internet and in
ty as a retreat and sanctuary from the outside world. Gather-
bookstores makes it seem unnecessary to rely on religious el-
ings and other ritual events held at the sanctuary include
ders, though they are still sought out for their ritual experi-
caring for the land, planting flowers, and learning about local
ence, charismatic presence, and detailed knowledge of specif-
edible plants and the healing properties of herbs. Lothlorien
ic traditions. The process of self-exploration through
in southern Indiana was also established as a Neopagan re-
techniques that shift one’s consciousness, such as meditation
treat and, like Circle, is open to people of all faiths as long
and visualization, is similar across the diverse forms of Neo-
as they are tolerant of others. Named after the novelist
paganism. Neopagan religious practices are flexible and can
J. R. R. Tolkien’s land of the elves, the Neopagan Lothlorien
be personalized to fit individual needs. This is in part because
is envisioned as a magical place, where spiritual beings are
of how Neopagans understand the relationship between
free to roam, and it is accessible to humans who treat the land
human and divine. Starhawk, for example, teaches that the
properly. Nature sanctuaries are one way that Neopagans put
goddess who guides human beings dwells in the earth and
their religious ideas into practice, because these sites are set
in the world all around. According to her view, the goddess
up to facilitate ongoing relationships among humans, spiri-
looks at “each of us unique and natural as a snowflake, each
tual beings, and nature.
of us her own star, her Child, her lover, her beloved, her Self”
B
(Starhawk, 1979, p. 29). This belief, commonly echoed by
ELIEFS. Neopagans create rituals and establish nature sanc-
tuaries to provide what they see as much-needed alternatives
other Neopagans, is that the self has all the necessary re-
to other available religious options. They believe their special
sources for spiritual advancement and that the divine is with-
role is not to maintain tradition, though there may be some
in as well as without. It is this view that, in part, accounts
who try to do this, but rather to change self and society. They
for the diversity of religious identities among Neopagans.
practice “magic” with the understanding that it means
Neopagan beliefs and practices highlight the centrality
changing consciousness in accordance with will, thus taking
of the relationship between humans and nature. An impor-
charge of their lives instead of relying on institutional reli-
tant element of Neopagan theology is the belief in imma-
gions. Because they begin with the assumption that the self
nence, the idea that divinity permeates the world and runs
is sacred or divine, Neopagans place the responsibility for
through other humans, the earth, and all living beings. For
change with each individual. Even when social and political
some Neopagans, divine power is personified by a great god-
structures are seen to need changing, the self and not the in-
dess or the planet Gaia, and for others divinity is polytheis-
stitution is the agent and locus of change.
tic—assorted deities are available to help and teach humans.
Many Neopagans see the self as flawed and the world
They may be seen as spirits or gods and goddesses represent-
in which they live as desperately in need of transformation,
ing the forces of nature or anthropomorphized into arche-
but their approaches to cultural change vary. According to
types that represent particular aspects of human personality,
some Neopagan authors, destructive ways of relating to each
such as the “wild man” or the “trickster.” Neopagans are like-
other, ongoing interpersonal and global violence, and envi-
ly to reject monotheistic understandings of deity, except for
ronmental devastation are some of the ills that need to be ad-
those who worship one great goddess or remain nominally
dressed as personal healing takes place. That said, it is impor-
Christian or Jewish and believe in one god. Deities are typi-
tant to point out that such beliefs do not necessarily lead to
cally identified with forces of nature—the earth goddess Gaia
social and political activism in Neopagan communities. Neo-
is one example—and the four elements—earth, air, water,
pagans participate in a range of activist activities. On one end
and fire—are almost always invoked in Neopagan rituals.
of the spectrum is the entirely private pursuit of transforma-
Another popular Neopagan deity is the god Pan, who
tion, in which one consults information in books and on the
emerged as an archetype in mid-twentieth-century Britain
Internet for guidance. At the other end is involvement with
and was incorporated into the magical subculture in the form
public protest actions, such as the Neopagans who marched
of a “horned god,” paired with a goddess derived from Arte-
as a “living river” at the World Bank meeting protests in Ot-
mis and other Greek deities. Many Neopagans continue to
tawa in 2001 and a group of Witches that gave an “earth-
interact with the god and goddess, while others have re-
based blessing” when they joined other religious groups at
turned to Pan in his Greek form. Morning Glory Zell, a
the School of Americas Protest in Columbus, Georgia, that
Neopagan elder and representative of the Church of All
same month. Some Neopagans publicly challenge the Ameri-
Worlds, explains in her article “Pan” that “our word panthe-
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NEOPAGANISM
6473
ism is derived from that idea, that all Nature is God and that
and to further self-knowledge. They appropriate the spiritual
God is all Nature” (Zell, 1994, p. 13).
riches of other religious cultures, including Tibetan, Hindu,
Taoist, Buddhist, Egyptian, Native-American, and even
Neopagans enjoy intimate and highly personalized rela-
some Christian beliefs and practices. They put statuettes of
tionships with spiritual beings. They frequently make con-
the Buddha or Hindu and Egyptian deities on their home
tact with the spirit world or another level of reality and com-
altars alongside pentacles, candles, crystals, and goddess figu-
municate with deities through home altars and group rituals.
rines. In these ways Neopagans attempt to synthesize new re-
Spiritual beings are approached for help with everyday con-
ligious identities from the old and the new, drawing from
cerns, like finding jobs and lovers, as well as more generally
tradition as well as the imagination.
for spiritual growth and global healing. Neopagans assert
that their spirituality is based on experience and a direct rela-
SEE ALSO Wicca.
tionship with deities. Images of deities are gateways to an ex-
perience of other realities, and meditating on them is meant
BIBLIOGRAPHY
to transport the meditator into another state of consciousness
Adler, Margot. Drawing down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-
or onto the “astral” plane, an unseen dimension of reality.
Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today (1979).
Because Neopaganism is decentralized and has no founding
Boston, 1986. The National Public Radio reporter’s journal-
text or teacher, participants vary greatly in how they under-
istic account of a wide variety of Neopagan organizations. A
stand their interactions with the gods and spirits. Spiritual
general introduction to people, organizations, and central is-
beings can be images that “take you someplace” or friendly
sues of belief and practice in Neopaganism
guides leading seekers on spiritual journeys, but what they
Buckland, Raymond. Buckland’s Complete Book of Witchcraft. St.
have in common is being accessible to humans rather than
Paul, Minn., 1986. A how-to book for Witches and Neopa-
distant.
gans by one of the important founders of Witchcraft in the
United States. The book includes directions for setting up
The Internet has played an important role in populariz-
altars, making ritual tools, and conducting ritual practices.
ing Neopagan traditions and making them accessible to seek-
Gardner, Gerald B. Witchcraft Today. London, 1954. A founding
ers everywhere. Websites for Neopagan organizations
document for contemporary Witchcraft that describes Gard-
abound and are designed to guide the uninitiated to informa-
ner’s knowledge of a folk religion of the English countryside
tion on the strange religion they heard about in the news.
that venerated nature and worshipped a god and a goddess.
The website of the Covenant of the Goddess, a national ecu-
Griffin, Wendy, ed. Daughters of the Goddess: Studies of Healing,
menical Neopagan organization, includes resources for teen-
Identity, and Empowerment. Walnut Creek, Calif., 2000.
agers, families, and solitary practitioners as well as schedules
This edited volume includes essays by both scholars and par-
of events taking place throughout the country. Websites for
ticipants on a variety of Neopagan and feminist spiritual
Neopagan communities like Circle Sanctuary and the
practices.
Church of All Worlds have similar content, with the addi-
Harvey, Graham. Contemporary Paganism: Listening People, Speak-
tion of resources on religious freedom and religious persecu-
ing Earth. New York, 1997. A scholarly overview of Neopa-
tion, such as Circle’s Lady Liberty League. Neopagan Inter-
gan beliefs and practices with a focus on Neopaganism in
net discussions have been in existence since the early 1990s,
Great Britain.
a reflection of the disproportionate technoliteracy among
Hutton, Ronald. The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern
Neopagans. Such groups remain one of the important ways
Pagan Witchcraft. Oxford, and New York, 1999. An exhaus-
that Neopagans, especially young Neopagans, stay in contact
tive history of the origins, leading figures, beliefs, and prac-
with others who share their spiritual concerns.
tices of Neopaganism from 1800 to the late 1990s.
Luhrmann, T. M. Persuasions of the Witch’s Craft: Ritual Magic in
Most Neopagans believe in reincarnation (rebirth—the
Contemporary England. Cambridge, Mass., 1989. A psycho-
continuity of the soul through many lives) and karma (de-
logical anthropologist reports on her experiences as a partici-
rived from the Hindu belief that the condition to which each
pant-observer with an emphasis on psychological explana-
soul is reborn is the result of good or bad actions performed
tions for magical beliefs.
in previous lives), and they look to past lives to help them
Magliocco, Sabina. Neo-Pagan Sacred Art and Altars: Making
understand the present. In order to heal wounds from the
Things Whole. Jackson, Miss., 2001. In this book the folklor-
past and past lives and to live more fully in the present, some
ist Magliocco describes the role of the arts in Neopagan ritual
Neopagans engage in holistic healing practices, such as herb-
life and showcases photographs of a wide range of Neopagan
al therapies, aura cleansing, psychic healing, and massage and
altars and artwork.
other types of body work. Healing practices tend to be fo-
Pike, Sarah M. Earthly Bodies, Magical Selves: Contemporary Pa-
cused on cleansing and purifying the self and healing old and
gans and the Search for Community. Berkeley, Calif., 2001.
new physical and emotional wounds. The goal of these prac-
An ethnography of Neopagan rituals and festivals, including
tices is to usher in a more peaceful, tolerant, healthy, and
discussion of rituals, self-identity, sacred space, and conflicts
spiritually enlightened society. They consult astrologers and
between Neopagans and other religious cultures.
tarot cards, the I ching (a type of Chinese divination),
Salomonsen, Jone. Enchanted Feminism: Ritual, Gender, and Di-
and other divinatory techniques for guidance in life choices
vinity among the Reclaiming Witches of San Francisco. London
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6474
NEOPLATONISM
and New York, 2002. The Norwegian theologian Salomon-
identify with one’s higher, true self, there is opportunity for
sen focuses on the theology, feminist ideals, and ritual life of
a mystical union. Plotinus had frequent mystical experiences
one important Neopagan organization.
(IV.8.1). Neoplatonists separated their pagan philosophy
Starhawk. The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of
from pagan worship, allowing intellectual Christians to be
the Great Goddess. San Francisco, 1979. A description of the
philosophically educated and yet remain orthodox believers.
basic beliefs and practices of a feminist version of Witchcraft
Nevertheless, one cannot assume that all borrowing between
by the Neopagan leader and social activist Starhawk. One of
Christians and pagans came from the Christian side. Ploti-
the first Neopagan books to achieve widespread popularity
nus’s teacher, Ammonius, was reputed to have once been a
and to function as a kind of sacred text for many women and
Christian. In the third century CE the goal of philosophy be-
men discovering Neopaganism for the first time.
came more explicitly religious, but according to human rea-
Zell, Morning Glory. “Pan.” Green Egg 27 (1994): 12–13. An
son. The philosopher’s role was to guide his followers, with-
essay by one of the leaders of the Neopagan organization the
out using religious myths and oracles as premises, to the
Church of All Worlds that explores the deep connection
experience of the divine. Christians thereby found in Neo-
Neopagans feel between divinity and nature.
platonism a purer notion of God than was available in Classi-
SARAH M. PIKE (2005)
cal Greek religion.
The Enneads present an ordered structure of living reali-
ty eternally proceeding from the One and descending in con-
NEOPLATONISM is the Platonic philosophy inter-
tinuous stages from the Divine Intellect, with its living
preted by Plotinus (205–270
forms, intelligences, through Soul, ruling through World
CE), systematized in his Enne-
ads and further developed by others through the sixth centu-
Soul to the forms of bodies, made from formless matter. No
ry. From the first century
dualism here.
BCE, the “divine Plato” had been
revived as the supreme religious and theological guide by
DEVELOPMENT OF NEOPLATONIC THEORIES. Post-Plotinian
pagan Middle Platonists; simultaneously Neo-Pythagorean
Neoplatonism developed in four stages, largely through
philosophers were active. Plotinus was receptive to both
modifying the Plotinian structure.
these theistic and apophatic (negative) schools. He liked the
1. The first stage is the teaching of the disciples, Porphyry,
Middle Platonist teaching of the transcendence of a Supreme
Amelius, and Eustochius. Most influential was Porphy-
Mind and Being called theos (God) possessing the Platonic
ry (c. 234–c. 305), who taught a more monistic philoso-
Forms as divine Ideas. These Ideas became the basis for
phy than that of Plotinus by conflating the hypostases
kataphatic (positive) theology and a doctrine of divine provi-
into a unity of being, life, intelligence, thus departing
dence for a later period, not for Plotinus.
from Plotinian subordinationism.
Realizing that unity must always precede plurality, how-
2. The fourth-century Syrian and Pergamene schools were
ever, Plotinus taught that the First Principle of reality, the
influenced by the teaching of Iamblichus (d. 326) that
One, or Good, transcends being and thought and is ineffa-
theurgy (ritual magic), invoking demons rather than
ble, indefinable, thereby contradicting Middle Platonism.
philosophizing, was the way to God. Iamblichus and
This theory, original with Plotinus, was repeated by his
followers rejected Plotinus’s doctrine of the undescend-
pagan successors, especially Iamblichus and Proclus, but not
ed part of the soul and stressed a need for divine help
by Porphyry.
to reach the Intelligible World. Julian the Apostate
Conflict between Christians and pagan philosophers
(332–363) sought to downgrade Christianity when as
began in the second century with an anti-Christian treatise
a two-year sole Roman emperor he declared Iam-
of the Platonist Celsus, to which the Christian theologian
blichus’s version of Neoplatonism to be the State reli-
Origen responded in the third century; the opposition con-
gion.
tinued with Porphyry’s fourth-century treatise Against the
3. During the predominance of the fifth and sixth century
Christians. Yet Origen considered philosophy and Plato as
Athenian school, Neoplatonism became the official
natural defenders of some Christian doctrines. By openness
teaching of Plato’s Academy, the chief member being
to Greek culture but not to Classical Greek religion, the
Proclus (410?–485), who continued pagan worship
Cappadocian fathers who succeeded Origen fruitfully related
against imperial policy. For Proclus, theurgy, rather
Hellenism to Christianity, with increased ability to discuss
than philosophy, brought salvation to souls. The last
Christianity with educated pagans.
head of the Academy when Justinian closed it in 529
The Neoplatonic One, or Good, was the object of reli-
was Damascius.
gious aspiration. It was described as transcendent, infinite,
4. The Neoplatonism of the Athenian school was influen-
overflowing goodness and spiritual freedom, and reachable
tial over the Alexandrian school (fifth and sixth centu-
through mystical experience. The One pours love (eros) into
ries) of commentators on Plato’s and Aristotle’s psychol-
all souls, a love leading each soul, aided by intellectual and
ogy and logic. Both schools depended on Iamblichus.
moral effort, to mystical union with their Source. The One
The Alexandrians, however, preferred philosophical
is present everywhere, and whenever one turns within to
scholarship to theurgy.
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NEOPLATONISM
6475
EARLY CHRISTIAN THOUGHT. Plotinus and the Christian
(Plotinus/Porphyry) into Latin, Augustine became aware of
Origen, who studied under Ammonius (Saccas), influenced
the spirituality of human souls and of God, thus freeing him
the Cappadocian fathers—Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of
from Manichaean materialism. Some Porphyrian positions
Nazianzus, Gregory of Nyssa—who saw Christianity and its
on the divine triad and on the body-soul union impressed
mission as the fulfillment of Classical Greek education
Augustine. In the City of God Augustine seems to take Por-
(paideia). Reading the Bible rather than classical Greek litera-
phyry’s version of Neoplatonism as the empire’s main pagan
ture, they believed, would mold humankind into the form
philosophy. Boethius was familiar with texts of both Vic-
of Christ. Like Neoplatonists, the Eastern Church valued the
torinus and of Proclus.
material world as a theophany, or manifestation of the di-
Until Plato’s dialogues Meno and Phaedo were translated
vine.
into Latin in the twelth century, the western medieval world
Proclus influenced the fifth-century thinker known
had a Middle Platonic view of Platonism, their awareness of
under the name of the apostle Paul’s first Athenian convert,
Platonism coming only from Chalcidius’s fourth-century
Dionysius the Areopagite, as well as Michael Psellus (1018–
commentary on the Timaeus, greatly influenced by Numeni-
1078?), who stimulated the eleventh-century Byzantine re-
us. An indirect influence of Neoplatonism upon medieval
naissance. At the Council of Florence (1438), called to unite
thought came through Augustine, Dionysius the Areopagite,
Eastern and Western churches, George Plethon (1360–
and Boethius.
1450), from the Platonic school at Mistra, inspired Cosimo
In medieval Jewish thought, Neoplatonism is evident in
de’ Medici to open a Platonic academy in Florence. Its head,
the Qabbalah and in the teachings of Shelomoh ibn Gebirol
Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499), translated Platonic dialogues
(Avicebron) (1021–1058), who developed Plotinus’s views
and the Enneads into Latin and wrote commentaries to har-
on intelligible matter. Maimonides (1135/8–1204) accepted
monize Platonic and Chaldean traditions with Christianity.
Neoplatonic negative theology while remaining predomi-
Some scholars consider the Renaissance to have been more
nantly Aristotelian.
Neoplatonic than Platonic, with Aristotle also influential.
After the fall of Constantinople (1453), the literary tradition
Only in the twelth century also did the West recover the
of the Byzantine East was brought to Italy by Greek scholars.
complete Aristotle through translations of the Arabic texts
The Christian humanism of Erasmus is rooted in the theolo-
into Latin. But among these texts was the Theology of Aristotle
gy of the Greek fathers.
(Enneads) and Liber de causis (Proclus’s), attributed by the
Arabs to Aristotle. In translating Aristotle’s texts, these trans-
ISLAMIC NEOPLATONISM. The Alexandrian School, moving
lators would assume a harmony between them and these two
to Antioch in 720 CE and to Baghdad in 900, was active with
pseudo-texts. Therefore, in the thirteenth century William
commentaries on Plato and Aristotle. The Arabic interpreta-
of Moerbeke translated from the original Greek Aristotle’s
tion of these two thinkers was affected by two works, pur-
works. But he also translated Proclus’s Elements of Theology
ported to be by Aristotle but actually based on the writings
and his commentaries on the Parmenides and Timaeus. These
of Plotinus and Proclus. The so-called Theology of Aristotle
translations enabled Thomas Aquinas to identify the Liber
was mainly composed of extracts of Enneads IV–VI; the Liber
de causis as non-Aristotelian. This freed Aristotle from the
de causis, attributed to Aristotle, reproduced parts of Pro-
Neoplatonic additions and interpretations of the Muslims.
clus’s Elements of Theology. Accepting the two pseudo works
Neoplatonism reached Thomas Aquinas chiefly through Au-
of Aristotle as authentic led the Arabic philosophers to inter-
gustine, Dionysius, Boethius, and Proclus. Meister Eckhart
pret Neoplatonically the actual texts of Aristotle. They inter-
(c.1260–1327) embraced Neoplatonism, as indicated by his
preted Aristotle’s First Principle as an efficient as well as final
distinction between God and the unknowable godhead as
cause of the world. This helped Muslims to harmonize phi-
well as by his doctrine of the uncreated element in the soul.
losophy with the QurDa¯n. Later, under the influence of Ibn
Also influenced by Neoplatonism and Dionysius were the
Rushd (Averroës), some Muslim philosophers separated phi-
other Rhineland mystics, Tauler (c. l300–1361) and Suso
losophy from religion, holding that one could contradict the
(1295–1366), as were Nicholas of Cusa and Giordano
other. This is the so-called double-truth theory.
Bruno.
NEOPLATONISM IN THE MIDDLE AGES. Marius Victorinus
NEOPLATONISM IN MODERN THOUGHT. Neoplatonism
(fourth century) in his work on the Trinity against the Arian
may be lurking in the background of Descartes’s philosophy
heresy conflated the Porphyrian triad of Being, Life, Intelli-
of consciousness, although Plotinus made room for a sub-
gence into Absolute Being at rest and in motion, expressed
conscious and superconscious activity as more significant
infinitively as to einai (Esse) (To Be), a triad discoverable in
than ordinary consciousness. Neoplatonism is present in the
the Sentences of Porphyry and in the anonymous Commen-
Cambridge Platonists, Henry More (1614–1687) and Ralph
tary on the Parmenides, considered by Pierre Hadot (Porphyre
Cudworth (1617–1688), as well as in Berkeley’s Siris. It is
et Victorinus, 1968) to be authored by Porphyry. Both the
detectable in Spenser, Coleridge, Blake, and Yeats. It is evi-
Sentences and the Parmenides Commentary were influenced
dent in Spinoza’s monism and in Leibniz’s monadism. In the
by the Chaldaean Oracles as well as by Middle Platonism.
nineteenth century Schelling learned from Plotinus, and
Through Victorinus’s translation of some Neoplatonic works
Hegel from Proclus. In the twentieth century Bergson at-
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6476
NERGAL
tempted the reconciliation of Plotinus’s philosophy of soul
Harris, R. Baine, ed. The Significance of Neoplatonism. Albany,
with modern science.
N.Y., 1976.
Only in the nineteenth century was Plato recognized for
Harris, R. Baine, ed. Neoplatonism and Indian Thought. Albany,
his authentic thought and clearly distinguished from Ploti-
N.Y., 1982.
nus and his followers who were henceforth called Neoplato-
Lloyd, A. C. The Anatomy of Neoplatonism. Oxford, 1990.
nists. Neoplatonism was the first philosophical theology
O’Meara, Dominic J., ed. Neoplatonism and Christian Thought.
based on religious experience. Although it gave mixed mes-
Norfolk, Va., 1981.
sages regarding the value of the body and the material world,
Smith, A. Porphyry’s Place in the Neoplatonic Tradition. The
its cosmic religion—the veneration of star-gods—entailed
Hague, 1974.
respect for the sensible world. Neoplatonism benefited reli-
Victorinus, Marius. Theological Treatises on the Trinity. Translated
gion by adocating interiority, negative theology, and both
by M. T. Clark. Washington, D.C., 1984.
God’s transcendence and immanence as ground for mystical
Wallis, Richard T. Neoplatonism. London, 1972. Discusses the in-
experience. Christians and Jews freely borrowed Neoplatonic
terrelationships of all the Neoplatonic schools of thought.
principles to express revealed truths, those accessible to rea-
Wallis, Richard T., and J. Bregman, eds. Neoplatonism and Gnosti-
son. This made possible dialogue with educated nonbeliev-
cism. Albany, N.Y., 1992.
ers. The presence of an intellectual Greek culture in the em-
pire gave to Christian teaching, expressed in contemporary
Whittaker, Thomas. The Neo-Platonists: A Study in the History of
philosophical concepts, some universality. Christians saw
Hellenism, 4th ed. Hildesheim, 1928, 1968. Before Wallis’s
book, this was the only survey of Neoplatonism.
human wisdom as God’s own natural revelation before di-
vine Revelation through the Law and the prophets and the
MARY T. CLARK (1987 AND 2005)
teachings of Christ.
Christianity was not Hellenized, but with divine Revela-
tion guiding the choice of Greek concepts, Christianity, at
NERGAL was a Mesopotamian god of the underworld.
first a Jewish sect, became a world religion. Christians re-
Nergal (properly, Nerigal) is a phonetic rendering of the Su-
spected the Greek classical tradition, as did the Romans.
merian Enirigal(a) (“lord of the big city [i.e., the under-
Through the Christian classicists of the fourth century, such
world]”). Nergal was also called Meslamtaea (“one who
as Augustine in the West and the Cappadocians in the East,
comes out of the Meslam [temple]”). His consort was Eresh-
classical culture and literature survived and was made avail-
kigal (“queen of the big place [i.e., the underworld]”). How
able to the future. Philosophy was enriched by Neoplatonic
he came to be king of the underworld is described in the Ak-
reasoning, but philosophy as a human activity was without
kadian myth Nergal and Ereshkigal. His cultic center was
saving power. Neither does it even claim to give positive
Cuthah, in central Babylonia, where his consort was Laz
knowledge of an ineffable God. But since “faith seeks under-
(Akk., la asu, “no exit [i.e., the underworld]”), also called
standing,” philosophy, and especially Neoplatonic philoso-
Mamma, Mammi, and Mammitum. Because of the com-
phy, contributes greatly to that understanding.
plete identity of Nergal with Cuthah, that city’s name be-
came synonymous with the underworld.
SEE ALSO Plotinus.
The myth of Nergal and Ereshkigal is preserved in three
versions, the first coming from Tell El-Amarna, with two
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Armstrong, A. Hilary, ed. The Cambridge History of Later Greek
later versions from Sultantepe and Uruk. The story of how
and Early Medieval Philosophy. Cambridge, U.K., 1957,
Nergal became the husband of Ereshkigal begins with the de-
1970.
cision of the heavenly gods to hold a banquet and to send
their messenger Kaka to the underworld, so that Ereshkigal
Armstrong, A. Hilary, and Robert A. Markus. Christian Faith and
Greek Philosophy. London, 1960. The tension and interplay
(for whom it is impossible to go up to heaven, just as it is
of revealed doctrine and philosophical ideas, a dialogue that
impossible for the heavenly gods to descend to the under-
continues.
world) can receive her due portion of the banquet foods.
Blumenthal, Henry J., and Robert A. Markus, eds. Neoplatonism
Kaka makes the journey, presents himself to the gatekeeper,
and Early Christian Thought: Essays in Honor of A. H. Arm-
and asks him to open the gate. The latter welcomes him, lets
strong. London, 1981. Emphasis on Plotinus’s dialogue with
him pass through the seven gates of the underworld, and
his contemporaries, the Neoplatonic background of Augus-
takes him to see Ereshkigal. Kaka bows before the queen of
tine, and the encounter between later Neoplatonism and the
the underworld and passes on the message he has been given.
Christian tradition.
Ereshkigal is given greetings from the heavenly gods,
Dodds, E. R. Pagan and Christian in an Age of Anxiety. Cam-
and Kaka tells her that the gods of the heavenly pantheon
bridge, U.K., 1965.
are well. After these conventional greetings the queen of the
Gersh, S. Middle Platonism and Neoplatonism: The Latin Tradi-
underworld appoints Namtar to go to heaven to retrieve her
tion. 2 vols. Notre Dame, Ind., 1986.
portion of the food. After a lacuna in the text, the god Ea
Hadot, Pierre. Porphyre et Victorinus. Paris, 1970.
severely chastises Nergal for being disrespectful to the mes-
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NERGAL
6477
senger from the underworld by not bowing down before him
When Namtar enters heaven for the second time, he is
like all the other gods. After another lacuna, we are told Ner-
welcomed by Ea and the gods bow down before him, but he
gal’s reply, which is unfortunately fragmentary, but which
is unable to identify the sacrilegious god from those present.
seems to concern a plan by which Nergal must descend to
Namtar returns to the queen and tells her of a strange, bald,
the underworld, where he would “split his divine character
cross-eyed, deformed god amongst the divine assembly.
in two.” Ea agrees that Nergal should go to the kingdom of
Ereshkigal realizes that this is a trick by Ea and sends her her-
Ereshkigal, and advises Nergal not to enter the underworld
ald to seize and bring back the deformed god. The previous
with hostile intent, but to go to the forest beforehand and
scene is repeated: Namtar looks at the gods, one by one, but
cut down various kinds of wood to make a throne to offer
without success. Meanwhile, Nergal/Erra tries to persuade
to the gods Anu, Ningizzida, and Ea himself. Nergal carries
Ea to have Namtar drink divine water and clean his body,
out the orders, builds a throne, and decorates it green, gold,
obviously intending to make him one of the heavenly gods.
and yellow. Not satisfied with this, Ea further advises Nergal
to accept nothing that is offered to him in the underworld,
After another lacuna the text resumes with a conversa-
no throne, no food, and no drink, but above all not to look
tion between Nergal/Erra and Namtar, from which we learn
lustfully upon Ereshkigal.
that the fate of the heavenly god is sealed and he must return
to the underworld. Ea apparently chooses the talismans that
After a gap in the text, there is a description of Nergal’s
the god should take with him. Nergal/Erra descends the long
journey to the underworld, which is portrayed as a dark, ter-
stairway of heaven and requests entrance to the underworld,
rifying place. When he arrives, the gatekeeper makes Nergal
but at each gate the gatekeeper takes a talisman from the visi-
wait while he gets instructions. Despite the fragmentary state
tor. As soon as the god arrives in the presence of Ereshkigal,
of the text it is clear that Ereshkigal directs Namtar to identi-
he smiles at her, then he pulls her from the throne and lies
fy the newcomer; Namtar looks at the god and recognizes
with her again for six days, just as he did during the first visit.
that it is the same one who had offended him. For the first
On the seventh day, the heavenly gods realize that Nergal/
time, Namtar calls the newcomer Erra rather than Nergal,
Erra is inextricably bound to the underworld, and An sum-
and speaks about him not in the singular but the plural. Ex-
mons his envoy and sends him to Ereshkigal with a message
pressing unease, Ereshkigal orders Namtar to let “the gods
that seems to confirm the new arrangement for the future.
Erra” enter. Erra passes through the seven gates of the under-
world, then comes into the presence of Ereshkigal, immedi-
Based upon careful study of two versions of the story,
ately bowing down before her. Following his greeting, she
Silvia Maria Chiodi (1998) draws the conclusion that Nergal
offers him a throne, as well as food and drink, and finally,
never actually enters the underworld, but rather his twin
after taking a bath, she shows him her beautiful body. Mind-
brother Erra does so. When the god from heaven goes back
ful of Ea’s advice, Erra refuses the various offers and does not
to the underworld for the second time, Namtar carefully ex-
allow himself to be seduced by the beauty of the goddess.
amines the newcomer, and at this point the scribe inserts a
very important piece of information. The god whom Namtar
The next passage is fragmentary and difficult to recon-
is looking at is not called Nergal, as might be expected, but
struct. When the text becomes readable again, the situation
Erra: “Namtar went and from behind the gate he looked at
is completely reversed: Nergal/Erra gives in to the seductions
Erra.” Namtar becomes as pale as a tamarisk cutting when
of Ereshkigal and lies with her for six days. On the seventh
he sees Erra, the god who had offended him and had not
day the god tells his lover that he wants to return to heaven
bowed down before him when he visited heaven. Namtar
for a short time, much to her disappointment. After he has
then rushes to Ereshkigal and reveals the newcomer’s identity
decided upon this course of action, Nergal/Erra goes to the
with these words: “The gods who offended me, now went
gates of the underworld and gains his freedom through trick-
down to the land of no return.”
ery. He returns to heaven, where the gods ask Ea to give him
a deformed body, so that Ereshkigal, who will certainly look
The use of the plural in reference to Erra in the Uruk
for him, will be unable to recognize him.
version is problematic. This is not an error, however, but
probably a device to allow the audience to understand that
Meanwhile Ereshkigal, unaware that her lover has fled,
a god, who is in fact a double, is crossing the threshold of
orders that her house be cleaned in preparation for the wed-
the underworld. In other words, Nergal, in order to try and
ding, by which the “imprisoned” god will be given a specific
escape the laws of the underworld, was split in two and be-
role in the underworld. Namtar informs her that all these
came “the Erra,” even if he apparently remains a single being.
preparations are pointless because the god from heaven left
Furthermore, the name that the writer chooses for the god
her realm at dawn. Ereshkigal is in complete despair and la-
is interesting. He could easily have said that the “gods Ner-
ments at length for the love she has lost and the outrage she
gal” were crossing the threshold of the underworld, but in-
has suffered. She then orders Namtar to go to heaven and
stead prefers, at this precise point in the story, to change the
bring back her lover, and furthermore to convey to the gods
name, as if he wanted to indicate further the change in the
of heaven the threat that, if this does not happen, she will
status of the god. Besides, if Erra were simply a synonym for
open the gates of the underworld and let the dead emerge
Nergal, it would be hard to understand why the person re-
and overrun the earth.
sponsible for the myth should swap the two names at this
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6478
NERSE¯S OF CLA
critical moment of the narrative. The Uruk editor uses the
tholicos Grigor, Nerse¯s was consecrated catholicos of the Ar-
plural at this point as well, which fits what was stated previ-
menian church in 1166. He died in 1173 and was buried in
ously when he described “the gods” who turned up in the
Hromcla.
underworld: “now they went down to the land of no return.”
Nerse¯s is considered one of the great literary figures in
S
the ecclesiastical history of the Armenian church. He com-
EE ALSO Heaven and Hell; Mesopotamian Religions, over-
view article; Underworld.
posed prayers, liturgical songs, and chants, sometimes writ-
ten acrostically (consisting of thirty-six verses after the order
B
of the Armenian alphabet or according to the alphabetical
IBLIOGRAPHY
Burns, John B. “Namtaru and Nergal.” Vetus testamentum 43
arrangement that spells his name). Uniquely impressive is
(1993): 1–25.
Nerse¯s’s prayer, Havatov Khosdovaneem (I Confess with
Chiodi, Silvia Maria. “Studi Mesopotamici I: Nergal un dio dop-
Faith), currently available in thirty-six languages. Chief
pio.” Rivista di studi fenici 26 (1998): 3–20.
among his literary achievements is Vipasanoutyoun, a novel
in poetic form; Voghb Yedesyo (Lamentation of Edessa); and
Gurney, Oliver R. “The Sultantepe Tablets, VII: The Myth
of Nergal and Ereshkigal.” Anatolian Studies 10 (1960):
commentaries on the first five chapters of the Gospel of Mat-
105–137.
thew, Gregory of Nyssa’s discourse On Evil, and the dis-
course of the Neoplatonist Armenian philosopher David the
Hunger, Hermann. Spätbabylonische Texte aus Uruk. Berlin,
Invincible. Also renowned is Toukht Enthanrakan, an exhor-
1976.
tation on Christian behavior and a treatise on pastoral theol-
Hutter, Manfred. Altorientalische Vorstellungen von der Unterwelt:
ogy. It also supplies information concerning the hierarchy of
Literar- und religionsgeschichtliche Überlegungen zu “Nergal
the Armenian church, the stratification of society, and the
und Ereshkigal.” Freiburg, Germany, 1985.
manner of life in twelfth-century Cilician Armenia.
Lambert, Wilfred G. “Studies in Nergal.” Bibliotheca orientalis 30
(1973): 355–363.
Nerse¯s always struggled to maintain the autocephalicity
Lambert, Wilfred G. “The Theology of Death.” In Death in Meso-
of the Armenian church, defining the important issues facing
potamia, edited by Bendt Alster, pp. 23–66. Copenhagen,
church unity in eight letters to the Byzantine emperor Man-
1980.
uel I Comnenus (c. 1122–1180). Nerse¯s remarked that unity
cannot come by imposing royal force but through love, toler-
Pettinato, Giovanni. Nergal ed Ereshkigal: Il poema assiro-
babilonese degli Inferi. Rome, 2000.
ance, and humility, thus indirectly warning the Byzantines
not to impose their Chalcedonian faith on other churches.
Saporetti, Claudio. Nergal ed Ereshkigal: Una storia d’amore e di
He saw the truths of Christianity in the unity of its parts,
morte. Pisa, Italy, 1995.
since no single church may consider the Christian faith its
von Weiher, Egbert. Der babylonische Gott Nergal. Neukirchen-
sole possession. His approach regarding unity was slowly
Vluyn, Germany, 1971.
finding adherents when his death halted the progress of fur-
DAVID MARCUS (1987)
ther negotiations.
GIOVANNI PETTINATO (2005)
Translated from Italian by Paul Ellis
Nerse¯s dominated the thought and orientation of the
Armenian church in twelfth-century Cilician Armenia, thus
crowning its silver age in literary achievements. In due time,
Nerse¯s received the appellation Shnorhali (“grace-filled”) in
NERSE¯S OF CLA (1101–1173), also known as Nerse¯s
recognition of his deep Christian faith and accomplishments.
Clayatsi and Shnorhali; theologian, catholicos, and saint of
the Armenian church. Born in the province of TloukE in Cili-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
cian Armenia (the central part of southern Turkey), Nerse¯s
Nerse¯s’s Hisous Vordi (Constantinople, 1824), written in 1152, is
lost his father at an early age. Together with his elder brother
a reproduction of the Old and New Testaments in poetic
Grigor, he was entrusted to the guardianship of his maternal
form, containing episodes from church history and ending
granduncle, the catholicos Grigor II Vekayaser who com-
with the events that are to ensue during the second coming
mended them to the Monastery of Shoughri. Grigor’s succes-
of Christ. It is available in English, translated by Jane S. Win-
sor then placed them under the tutelage of the monk Ste-
gate, as Jesus Son (New York, 1947). Toukht Enthanrakan is
panos Manouk, a renowned scholar and theologian.
available in classical Armenian (Jerusalem, 1871) and in ver-
nacular Armenian translated by Anoushavan Vardapet Dani-
Ordained a celibate priest when he was seventeen years
alian (Beirut, 1977). For discussion of Nerse¯s’s life, see vol-
old, Nerse¯s was consecrated a bishop at the age of thirty-five.
ume 30 (1973) of the Armenian journal Echmiadzin.
He then served his church and nation in numerous capaci-
Mal’achia Ormanian’s Azgapatowm, 3 vols. (1912–1927; re-
ties, including contributing to the establishment of peace in
print, Beirut, 1959–1961), is a comprehensive study of the
Cilician Armenia. Endowed with a keen mind and a Chris-
Armenian church as well as of the politics of the Armenian
tian spirit, he became the architect in developing intercom-
nation. Of particular relevance to the study of Nerse¯s are
paragraphs 927, 931, 936, 939, 944, 948–953, 961–992.
munion and reconciliation between the Armenian and the
Greek churches. Following the death of his brother, the ca-
AVAK ASADOURIAN (1987)
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

NESTORIAN CHURCH
6479
NERSE¯S THE GREAT, a saint of the Armenian
NESTORIAN CHURCH. The proper name of the
church and chief bishop of Armenia from circa 353 to 373.
church that is called Nestorian or Assyrian is the Ancient
During his youth Nerse¯s was brought up and educated in
Church of the East. Nestorian is an appellation dating from
Caesarea Mazaca (modern-day Kayseri, Turkey). He was
the fifth century and Assyrian from the nineteenth. By East
married and served as a chamberlain in the court of King Ar-
is meant those ancient territories lying east of the former By-
shak II of Armenia. Because the office of bishop of Armenia
zantine empire comprising modern-day Iraq, Persia, and the
was the patrimony of the family of Gregory the Illuminator,
southeastern part of Turkey. These territories had their reli-
Nerse¯s’s great-great-grandfather, Nerse¯s was chosen chief
gious center at Edessa (Orhoi in Syriac), known as Urfa in
bishop and returned to Caesarea to receive episcopal ordina-
present-day Turkey. Edessa was the capital of a small Syriac-
tion from the metropolitan bishop of that city. He called a
Aramaic principality ruled by Syriac toparchs (rulers or
council of bishops at Ashtishat, where his see was located.
princes), known also as Abgarites. According to the Doctrine
The council established general discipline in the Armenian
of Addai, a late fourth-century church document attributed
church and set rules and regulations. At Nerse¯s’s urging, pro-
to Thaddaeus (known in Aramaic as Addai, one of the seven-
visions were made to found hospices for the sick, to open
ty evangelists and the twin of the apostle Thomas), Thad-
schools, to build hospitals, and to establish other benevolent
daeus, following the Resurrection and at the behest of Christ,
institutions.
went to Edessa and healed its toparch, Abgar V (d. 50 CE).
Thaddaeus stayed to preach the gospel, made converts, and
The fifth-century sagas of P’awstos Buzand refer to a rift
ordained his disciple, EAggai, a bishop. He then journeyed
between Nerse¯s and King Arshak that brought about the
to and preached the gospel in Mesopotamia, southern Tur-
downfall of the bishop. The reason for the conflict is said to
key, Iraq, and southwestern Persia.
have been the immoral conduct of the king, who had his
By the second century, Christianity had spread through-
Greek wife poisoned and his nephew killed, and then mar-
out the East, from Najran in southwestern Arabia, through
ried the latter’s wife. The actual reason for the rift, however,
southern Turkey and Iraq, to southwestern Persia. In the
was probably political. Nerse¯s represented the pro-Byzantine
third century, Christianity also spread to the island of Soco-
faction in Armenia. He had headed a delegation to Constan-
tra in the Indian Ocean and to Riyordash¯ır, the capital of
tinople in the mid-fourth century and had reinforced the alli-
Fars in extreme southern Persia, as well as to the Sasanid cap-
ance between the Byzantine empire and his sovereign, who
ital of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, where the bishopric was founded
remained faithful to the empire until the treaty of 363, when
under Phafa. By the latter part of the fifth century, the bish-
the emperor Jovian agreed not to interfere in the internal af-
ops of Seleucia-Ctesiphon (by that time followers of Nestori-
fairs of Armenia and left the country exposed to the Persians.
us) were claiming that the see had been established by Thad-
Nerse¯s was forced to abdicate from his office and was imme-
daeus and his disciple Mari.
diately replaced by another bishop, who was probably the
candidate of the pro-Persian faction in Armenia. Nerse¯s re-
The bishop (metropolitan) of Seleucia-Ctesiphon was
appeared as chief bishop circa 370, when the Byzantines suc-
recognized as being under the jurisdiction of the patriarch
ceeded in restoring the kingdom of Armenia and placed Pap,
of Antioch. At a synod convened in 410 by Marutha of
son of Arshak II, on the throne. During his second tenure
Miya-farqin, who was sent by the emperor and the patriarch,
of office, Nerse¯s participated in a council of bishops held at
the metropolitan of Seleucia-Ctesiphon was made a catholi-
Caesarea in 372. He came into conflict with King Pap, pre-
cos (a church position higher than a metropolitan and lower
sumably because of the latter’s Arian leanings. The king is
than a patriarch). Given the authority to ordain bishops in
said to have poisoned Nerse¯s. This detail, however, is not
the name of the patriarch of Antioch, and using his new pow-
supported by most sources. Nerse¯s probably died from natu-
ers to advantage, the catholicos was able to bring under his
ral causes.
jurisdiction all the dioceses in the East except the metropoli-
tan see of Riyordash¯ır. This see remained independent until
the ninth century when Catholicos Timothy I (d. 823)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
brought it under his aegis after offering its metropolitan
The major source for Nerse¯s’s life is the fifth-century compilation
some special privileges.
of legends by P’awstos Buzand, Buzandaran patmut’iwnk’
Meanwhile, under the Sasanid kings Sha¯pu¯r II (309–
(Venice, 1889). These are also available in French as volume
1 of Victor Langlois’s Collections des historiens anciens et mod-
379) and his brother Ardash¯ır II (379–383) the Ancient
ernes de l’Arménie (Paris, 1868) and in German, translated by
Church of the East suffered persecution and martyrdom be-
Max Lauer as Des Faustus von Byzanz Geschichte Armeniens
cause of its ties to the Byzantines whom the Persians consid-
(Cologne, 1879). Other useful sources are Mal’achia Or-
ered enemies. Persecution continued sporadically until the
manian’s The Church of Armenia, 2d rev. ed. (London,
conquest of Persia by the Arabs in the first part of the seventh
1955), and Nina Garsoïan’s “Quidam Narseus? A Note on
century.
the Mission of Nerse¯s the Great,” in Armeniaca (Venice,
969).
In the first half of the fifth century the Church of the
East was rocked by a theological controversy so serious that
KRIKOR H. MAKSOUDIAN (1987)
it resulted in schism. This was the so-called Nestorian con-
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

6480
NESTORIAN CHURCH
troversy. Nestorius, a Syrian by origin, became patriarch of
ac liturgy and honored the memory of Nestorius and Theo-
Constantinople in 428. Fully developing the theological im-
dore of Mopsuestia. From 1599 to 1663 they were recon-
plications of the school of Antioch, he taught that Jesus
verted to Roman Catholicism through the efforts of Jesuit
Christ had two distinct natures: divine and human. Nestori-
missionaries. Many however returned to Nestorianism when
us was condemned at the Council of Ephesus in 431 but his
the power and influence of the Portuguese empire began to
teaching spread, and by 451 most of the eastern part of the
fade.
Church of the East had become “Nestorian,” rejecting the
In the fifteenth century the small Nestorian community
Council of Ephesus. By 451 the Nestorians were almost
on the island of Cyprus joined the church of Rome. Power
completely cut off from the rest of the patriarchate of Anti-
struggles within the ecclesiastical hierarchy of the mother
och, and Nestorians controlled the see of Seleucia-
Nestorian church also caused large segments of it to join
Ctesiphon.
Rome. The struggle in the East began in 1450 when the ca-
Between 484 and 486 Bishop Bar Sauma convened sev-
tholicos, Shimon Bas:¯ıdi, restricted the election of future
eral councils that issued new canons for the foundation of
catholicoi to men of his own family. This interdiction con-
the new Nestorian church. Those bishops in the East who
tinued for the next hundred years. After the death of the ca-
did not accept Nestorian teachings met in 487 and ordained
tholicos in 1551, a group of Nestorians who opposed his suc-
Accacius as their catholicos. However, through threats and
cessor met in Mosul and chose a monk, Yu¯h:anna (John)
coercion by Bar Sauma and his group, Accacius yielded to
Su¯la¯qa, to send to Rome to be ordained. Arriving in Rome,
the Nestorians. What gave added strength to the Nestorians
Su¯la¯q:a professed the Roman Catholic faith before Pope Ju-
in the East is that many students of the celebrated school of
lius III, who ordained him a bishop and then a catholicos
Edessa became Nestorian partisans. When the emperor
in April 1553. It is most likely that it was Julius who gave
Zeno, in retaliation, closed it in 489, many of these Nestori-
the name Chaldean (in reference to ancient Chaldea) to
an students left for Persia, where they spread their beliefs
Su¯la¯q:a and his followers; thus was born the “Chaldean”
under the protection of the Persian state. Thus, the Church
church. Su¯la¯q:a returned to Diyarbakır, Turkey, where he
of the East came also to be known as the Persian church. By
made few converts. He was assassinated by the Kurdish chief
498, at the Council of Seleucia, the Nestorians severed forev-
of EAmadiyya, allegedly at the instigation of his rival, Shimon
er their ties with the patriarchate of Antioch.
Ba¯r Ma¯ma. Several catholicoi served at Diyarbakır, not all
of whom were ordained by popes and whose loyalty to Rome
After the Arab conquest of Iraq in the beginning of the
was dubious.
seventh century, the Nestorians, like other Christians, be-
came dhimm¯ıs under the protection of the Muslims. Under
About this time, a Nestorian bishop, Shimon Dinbah,
the Abbasid caliphs (750–1258) the Nestorians enjoyed rela-
united his congregation with Rome, and the Chaldeans
tive peace, and in 762 their catholicoi moved their see to
made him their catholicos. He moved his seat from Diyar-
Baghdad, the Abbasid capital. In Baghdad, the Nestorians
bakır to Urmia in northern Persia where many Nestorians
were the first to promote Greek science and philosophy by
lived. In 1670 one of his successors renounced the church
translating Greek texts into Syriac and then into Arabic.
of Rome, returned to Nestorianism, and was accepted as ca-
They were highly favored by the caliphs and were the first
tholicos by the Nestorian catholicoi, one in Urmia and the
to introduce Greek medicine into Baghdad.
other in Alq:osh.
Although the Nestorians were generally favored, there
In the middle of the eighteenth century a Nestorian
were times when they, like other Christians, were persecuted
bishop, Mar Yu¯suf (Joseph) of Diyarbakır, joined the church
or humiliated by the caliphs. The Nestorian church generally
of Rome and was ordained by the pope as a successor to the
prospered until the fall of Baghdad to the Mongols in 1258,
line of Su¯la¯q:a as catholicos of the Chaldeans in Diyarbakır.
when the widespread disruption in the Middle East drained
In 1778 a Nestorian bishop, Yu¯h:anna (John) Hormizd, em-
its vitality. The Nestorian catholicoi left Baghdad and settled
braced Roman Catholicism and began to contend for the of-
in northern Iraq (Kurdistan) in the vicinity of Mosul and
fice of catholicos with his cousin, Mar Eliyya XI of Alq:osh.
Alq:osh.
Rome could not ordain Hormizd catholicos of the Chaldean
community because Mar Yu¯suf was already catholicos in Di-
The most detrimental effect of the Muslim conquest on
yarbakır. When Yu¯suf died in 1779, Rome entrusted the
the Nestorian church in the countries lying between Persia
Chaldean church to his nephew, Augustine Hindi. Finally,
and China was that its missionary activity, begun among the
after long waiting and through the machinations of Roman
Mongols, Turks, and Chinese, was cut off. Eventually the
Catholic missionaries, Hormizd was confirmed by Pope Pius
early blossom of Christianity in China died. The inscriptions
VIII as the catholicos of the Chaldean community. By then
in both Syriac and Chinese on the stone at Chou-chih, fifty
most of the Nestorians of the plains of Mosul had become
miles southwest of Sian Prefecture, China, containing a long
Roman Catholics. Since then, the Nestorian community has
list of Nestorian clergymen, is evidence of the expansion of
retreated into the mountains of Kurdistan.
the Nestorian church in China. Nestorianism also reached
the coast of Malabar in South India and made converts
Since 1820 the Protestant churches in the West have
among the Christians there. The new converts used the Syri-
taken a rather special interest in the Nestorian communities
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NESTORIAN CHURCH
6481
of the East. The American Presbyterian church became the
Mar Shimon from acting as if he were head of a state within
first to organize missions among them when, in 1830, the
a state but failed. Finally, in 1933 it notified the Assyrians
Presbyterian Board of Missions sent the first missionaries.
either to behave as Iraqi citizens or leave. About a thousand
The mission headquarters were located in Urmia, where
Assyrians decided to leave and crossed the Euphrates into
there were doctors as well as a printing press.
Syria, which was occupied by the French. The French au-
thorities turned them back, where they faced an Iraqi army
The Church of England became involved with the Nes-
force. A stray shot was fired, and the Iraqi army used the oc-
torians when in 1842, George P. Badger, chaplain of the East
casion to massacre most of the Nestorian contingent. Subse-
India Company, was sent to Iraq. He wrote two volumes
quently, Mar Shimon was stripped of his Iraqi nationality
(published in 1852) on the Nestorians and their church. The
and deported to Cyprus. From Cyprus he went to England,
interest of the Church of England continued until after
and then to the United States, where he became an American
World War I and the establishment of the national govern-
citizen.
ment of Iraq (1921).
In 1973 Mar Shimon resigned because of a conflict with
For more than a hundred years (1830–1933), the Nes-
his community over his violation of some church rules. After
torian community in Kurdistan and Iraq suffered continuous
his death in 1975, he was succeeded by Mar H:a¯nania
tragedies. Being Christians they were always prey to Kurdish
Dinkha IV, who was installed in London in 1976 as catholi-
chieftains, who plundered their villages. The activity and ex-
cos patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East. The Assyri-
istence of Western missionaries among the Nestorians most
an community, which numbered about 500,000 in 1980,
probably motivated the Kurds and their patrons, the Otto-
still has many members living in Iraq and Iran, but their
mans, to agitate against them.
greatest concentration is in the United States, especially in
The outbreak of World War I saw the Nestorians hope-
Chicago, Illinois. This latter group is mostly composed of
ful of an eventual Allied victory. This happy consequence
immigrants who left Iraq after 1933 and their descendants.
would certainly alleviate the persecution aimed at them by
The Nestorian church in the latter part of the twentieth
both Kurds and Ottomans. Encouraged by the Russian ad-
century forms the extreme eastern branch of the Syriac-
vance into eastern Turkey in 1915, the Nestorians revolted
speaking church of Antioch. Its liturgical language is Syriac-
against the Turks and assisted the Russians. But when the
Aramaic with a distinct dialect and script. It recognizes only
Bolshevik revolution erupted and Russia withdrew from the
the first two ecumenical councils and rejects the Council of
war in 1917, they were in great danger. Consequently, about
Ephesus, which condemned Nestorius. Its rite is the Old
twenty thousand Nestorians struggled to reach the British
Eastern Syriac rite, and it has three main liturgies: those of
lines in Iraq to avoid reprisal by Kurds and Ottomans. With
the evangelist Thaddaeus and his disciple Mari, of Nestorius,
fear of reprisal haunting the rest of the Nestorians of Urmia,
and of Theodore of Mopsuestia. Other liturgies, such as
in the summer of 1918 some hundred thousand of them at-
those of Bar Sauma, Narsai, and Diodore of Tarsus, are pre-
tempted to reach the Kerma¯nsha¯h-Qazv¯ın region, which was
sumed lost. The liturgy begins with the practical making and
then under British occupation. Less than half made it
baking of the bread for communion but does not contain the
through; the rest were rounded up and settled by the British
words of institution. The communion is given in both ele-
authorities in the mountains of northern Iraq.
ments, bread and wine. The hierarchy consists of the catholi-
As a result of their association with the British, the Nes-
cos, also called patriarch, who always takes the name Mar
torians (“Assyrians”) developed nationalistic feelings. They
Shimon. Under him come the metropolitans, bishops,
asserted that the northern part of Iraq, the ancient land of
priests, and deacons. The church is essentially iconoclastic,
Athur, was their ancestral and rightful home. They fostered
although the Cross is revered. Through the vicissitudes of
the hope of an independent Assyrian state in Iraq. This
time, schism, persecution, and apostasy, this once grand
dream was probably encouraged by minor British army offi-
church of the East has been reduced to a tiny community,
cers, and, in 1919, a group of Assyrians, including many
living for the most part in a Western diaspora. It has become
from the United States, submitted a petition to the peace
a member of the World Council of Churches.
conference in Paris outlining their nationalistic aspirations.
There was no response.
SEE ALSO Christianity, article on Christianity in Asia; Nes-
torianism; Nestorius; Theodore of Mopsuestia.
After the establishment of national rule in Iraq in 1921,
the Iraqi government granted autonomy in internal and reli-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
gious affairs to the Nestorian community (in northern Iraq)
Perhaps the most important ancient source on the theological
led by their catholicos, Mar Isha¯ Shimon XXI. But Mar Shi-
teaching and views of Nestorius is the Bazaar of Heracleides,
mon, barely thirteen years old, was ill advised by members
translated by Godfrey R. Driver and Leonard Hodgson (Ox-
of his household and demanded complete independence
ford, 1925). Other sources are the “Opera and Literae” of
from Iraq on the premise that northern Iraq was the ancestral
Cyril of Alexandria in Patrologia Graeca, edited by J.-P.
land of the Assyrians. This demand was not acceptable to ei-
Migne, vols. 126–127 (Paris, 1859); the Acts of the Council
ther Iraq or Britain. The Iraqi government tried to dissuade
of Ephesus in Sacrorum counciliorum nova et amplissima collec-
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

6482
NESTORIANISM
tio, edited by Giovanni Domenico Mansi, vols. 4 and 5
Kannookadan, Pauly. The East Syrian Lectionary: An Historico-
(Florence and Venice, 1758–1798); Giuseppe Simone Asse-
Liturgical Study. Rome, 1991.
mani’s Bibliotheca Orientalis, vol. 3, pt. 2 (Rome, 1728); and
Moffett, Samuel Hugh. A History of Christianity in Asia, Vol. I:
Friedrich Loofs’s Die Fragmente des Nestorius (Halle, 1905)
Beginnings to 1500. San Francisco, Calif., 1992.
and Nestorius and His Place in the History of Christian Doc-
trine
(Cambridge, 1914).
Thottakara, Augustine, ed. East Syrian Spirituality. Rome, 1990.
The earliest sources on the Nestorian catholicoi are The Chronicle
Yousif, Patros. An Introduction to East Syrian Spirituality. Rome,
of Mshiha Zkha, in Sources syriaques, edited by Alphonse
1989.
Mingana (Leipzig, 1907); Chronique de Michel le Syrien, ed-
MATTI MOOSA (1987)
ited by Jean-Baptiste Chabot (Paris, 1890); Bar Hebraeus’s
Revised Bibliography
Chronicon ecclesiasticum, 3 vols., edited by J. B. Abbeloos and
T. J. Lamy (Paris, 1872–1877); and Chronique de Seert, his-
toire nestorienne
(in Arabic and French), edited by Addai
Scher, in Patrologia Orientalis, vol. 4 (Paris, 1907).
NESTORIANISM is a doctrinal position on the nature
For the role of the Nestorians in spreading Christianity among the
of Jesus Christ. In its extreme form the doctrine has been
Turks, Mongols, and Chinese, see Alphonse Mingana’s “The
condemned by Christian councils, but the ideas associated
Early Spread of Christianity in Central Asia and the Far
with Nestorianism have come to represent one of the two
East,” Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 9 (1925): 297–
main traditions of Christological thought in Christianity and
371; Adolf von Harnack’s The Mission and Expansion of
have been ably defended and articulated by successive gener-
Christianity in the First Three Centuries, vol. 2, 2d ed. (New
ations of Christian thinkers. The name goes back to Nestori-
York, 1908); and The Nestorian Monument: An Ancient Re-
cord of Christianity in China, with Special Reference to the Ex-

us, a patriarch of Constantinople in the early fifth century
pedition of Frits V. Holm, edited by Paul Carus (Chicago,
who was deposed at the Council of Ephesus in 431 and ex-
1909). For the Nestorians in India, consult John D. Mac-
iled to Egypt in 436. Nestorius was not, however, an original
bride’s The Syrian Church in India (Oxford, 1856) and Wil-
thinker, and the theological views that came to be associated
liam J. Richards’s The Indian Christians of St. Thomas, Other-
with his name had arisen late in the fourth century among
wise Called the Syrian Christians of Malabor (London, 1908).
Christian thinkers in eastern Asia Minor and Syria (in the
For the general history of the Nestorians, old and modern, see As-
vicinity of ancient Antioch), notably Diodore of Tarsus and
ahel Grant’s The Nestorians, or The Lost Tribes (1841; re-
Theodore of Mopsuestia. The distinctive features of Nestori-
print, Amsterdam, 1973) and History of the Nestorians (Lon-
anism can be made clear by contrasting it with another tradi-
don, 1855); George Percy Badger’s The Nestorians and Their
tion of thought associated with the city of Alexandria in
Rituals, 2 vols. (London, 1852); Henry Holme’s The Oldest
Egypt.
Christian Church (London, 1896); Jerome Labourt’s Le chris-
tianisme dans l’empire perse sous la dynastie sassanide, 224–632

After the councils of Nicaea (325) and Constantinople
(Paris, 1904); William A. Wigram’s An Introduction to the
(381), the majority of Christians affirmed that Christ was
History of the Assyrian Church, or The Study of the Sassanid
fully God and was one with God the Father, creator of the
Empire, 100–640 A. D. (London, 1910); George David Ma-
world. The question then arose of the relation between this
lech’s History of the Syrian Nation and the Old Evangelical-
divine Son of God, the eternal Logos, and the human person
Apostolic Church of the East (Minneapolis, 1910); Adrian
Jesus of Nazareth who lived in the first century and is por-
Fortesque’s The Lesser Eastern Churches (1913; reprint, New
trayed in the Gospels of the New Testament. The Alexandri-
York, 1972); William C. Emhardt and George M. Lamsa’s
an theologians, led by Cyril of Alexandria (d. 444), taught
The Oldest Christian People: A Brief Account of the History and
that Jesus Christ was the eternal Logos under the conditions
Traditions of the Assyrian People and the Fateful History of the
Nestorian Church
(1926; reprint, New York, 1970); Eugène
of humanity. All the actions predicated of Jesus (e.g., human
Tisserant’s “Nestorienne (L’église),” in Dictionnaire de
birth, growth in wisdom, suffering, and death) were predi-
théologie catholique, edited by Alfred Vacant and Eugène
cated of the divine Logos as well. The Antiochene theolo-
Mangenot (Paris, 1931), vol. 2; George Graf’s Geschichte der
gians (the forerunners of Nestorianism) believed that Jesus
christlichen arabischen Literatur, “Bibliotica Apostolica Vati-
Christ was the result of a union between the divine Son of
cana,” vol. 2 (Rome, 1947); and John Joseph’s The Nestori-
God and the man Jesus. They explained this union by analo-
ans and Their Muslim Neighbors: A Study of Western Influence
gy with the Jewish prophets, outstanding men on whom the
on Their Relations (Princeton, 1961).
spirit of God descended, except that in the case of Christ,
New Sources
God indwelt as in a Son, and the union between God and
Coakley, J. F. The Church of the East and the Church of England:
the Son was inseparable and perfect.
A History of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Assyrian Mission.
In the early fifth century these two ways of thinking, Al-
Oxford, 1992.
exandrian and Antiochene, clashed over the issue of whether
Ferguson, Everett, Michael P. McHugh, and Frederick W. Norris.
Mary was theotokos, the one who gave birth to God, or chris-
The Encyclopedia of Early Christianity. New York, 1990.
totokos, the bearer of Christ. After Nestorius became bishop
Hill, Henry, comp. and ed. Light from the East: A Symposium on
of Constantinople, one of his priests, without Nestorius’s ob-
the Oriental Orthodox and Assyrian Churches. Toronto, 1988.
jection, criticized the concept of theotokos as theologically er-
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NESTORIUS
6483
roneous. He urged the use of the term christotokos, which
Grillmeier, Aloys, and Heinrich Bacht, eds. Das Konzil von
conformed to the Antiochene way of thinking of Mary as
Chalkedon: Geschichte und Gegenwart. 3 vols. Würzburg,
having given birth to the man Jesus, not to the eternal son
1951–1954.
of God. The term theotokos, however, had begun to be used
ROBERT L. WILKEN (1987)
by Christians and had the sanction of recent tradition. To
Cyril of Alexandria, as well as to the bishop of Rome, denial
of the concept of theotokos implied that Mary was not the
NESTORIUS (381?–451?), Christian bishop after whom
Mother of God, and hence that God had not become human
was named one of the major heresies concerning the doctrine
in the birth of Jesus Christ and that Mary was simply the
of Christ. The figure of Nestorius is much less significant
mother of an exceptional man. Nestorius appeared to teach
than the teachings associated with his name and the theologi-
that there were two persons in Christ, the man Jesus and the
cal developments after his deposition. He was born in Ger-
divine Son of God. A flurry of theological polemics and po-
manicia in Cilicia, a Roman province in southeastern Asia
litical maneuvering ensued. In 430 Celestine, bishop of
Minor (modern-day Turkey). In the Syrian city of Antioch,
Rome, condemned Nestorius, and a year later Cyril presided
he distinguished himself by his asceticism and skill in preach-
over the Council of Ephesus, which also anathematized him.
ing. When the clergy of the capital city of Constantinople
Emperor Theodosius supported the decision.
could not agree on a replacement for the patriarch Sisinnius,
Nestorius’s writings survive only in fragments, except
the emperor invited Nestorius to accept the post. As bishop
for an obscure work, Bazaar of Heracleides, discovered in
he was zealous in stamping out heresy, particularly Arianism
1895 in a Syriac translation from the original Greek. Nesto-
and Novatianism. He soon became embroiled in controver-
rius wrote the Bazaar some years after the controversy as a
sy, however, initially because of the preaching of his assistant
defense against the charges of his opponents.
Anastasius, a presbyter he had brought with him from Syria,
but later through his own lack of judgment.
Nestorianism, however, is not to be identified with the
teaching of Nestorius, though he is venerated by the Nestori-
Nestorius criticized the term theotokos (“God bearer”),
an church (i.e., the church of eastern Syria and Persia). Nes-
a slogan for the idea that Mary, in giving birth to Jesus
torius’s supporters thought that their views were vindicated
Christ, had given birth to God. He preferred christotokos
by the Council of Chalcedon in 451. During the course of
(“bearer of Christ,” i.e., the human being Jesus Christ). Since
the fifth century, they constituted themselves as an indepen-
the term theotokos had become a sign of orthodox teaching,
dent Christian body, with a school in Edessa under the lead-
Nestorius’s imprudence made him vulnerable to the charge
ership of Ibas, bishop of Edessa (435–457) and an ecclesiasti-
of heresy, as his opponents swiftly recognized. Cyril of Alex-
cal center and see of the patriarch (who is called catholicos)
andria, the ambitious patriarch of a rival see and the expo-
at Seleucia-Ctesiphon on the Tigris River. A small body of
nent of the theological ideas behind the concept of theotokos,
Nestorians has survived into modern times.
obtained copies of Nestorius’s sermons and initiated pro-
ceedings against him.
Under the leadership of distinguished theologians such
as Babai the Great (d. 628), the Nestorians forged an alterna-
Nestorius was deposed, and in 436, after spending sev-
tive to the way of thinking about Christ that had become
eral years in a monastery in Constantinople, he was exiled
normative for most Christians in the East and West. They
to Egypt, where he remained for the rest of his life. He lived
believed that the dominance of the Alexandrian tradition,
until the Council of Chalcedon (451), which he and others
with its stress on Christ’s unity with God, jeopardized the
saw as a vindication of his views and a repudiation of Cyril.
integrity of his human nature. One of their favorite biblical
Nestorius was not, however, rehabilitated. His name has
texts was Luke 2:52, “Jesus increased in wisdom and in stat-
been associated with the view that there are two separate per-
ure, and in favor with God and man,” a passage that is ex-
sons in Christ, the one divine and the other human (ortho-
tremely difficult to interpret if one does not allow genuine
dox teaching is that there were two “natures”), but his theo-
human growth in Jesus. Other texts came from passages in
logical contribution is insignificant. Of his writings a few
Hebrews (2:10, 3:1–2) that suggest that Jesus had become
sermons remain, as well as some fragments from theological
perfect by what he had accomplished as a human being.
works and an amorphous and difficult book, Bazaar of Hera-
Long after the ancient disputes a systematic presentation of
cleides, a defense of his views written long after the controver-
Nestorian theology was written by Abdisa (d. 1318), metro-
sy and discovered in 1895 in a Syriac translation from the
politan of Nisibis, in The Book of the Pearl.
original Greek. He is revered by the Nestorian church,
and his tomb in Egypt was venerated by his followers for cen-
SEE ALSO Nestorian Church; Nestorius.
turies.
SEE ALSO Nestorian Church; Nestorianism.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abramowski, Luise, and Alan E. Goodman, eds. A Nestorian Col-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
lection of Christological Texts. 2 vols. Cambridge, 1972.
Driver, G. R., and Leonard Hodgson, eds. and trans. Nestorius:
Grillmeier, Aloys. Christ in Christian Tradition. Atlanta, 1975.
The Bazaar of Heracleides. Oxford, 1925.
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6484
NETHERWORLD
Loofs, Friedrich. Nestoriana: Die Fragmente des Nestorius. Halle,
The Origins and History of Consciousness aims to illus-
Germany, 1905.
trate archetypal stages in the development of human con-
Scipioni, Luigi I. Nestorio e il concilio di Efeso. Milan, 1974.
sciousness by interpreting basic mythologems drawn from
several religious traditions. Neumann argues that individual
ROBERT L. WILKEN (1987)
consciousness passes through the same developmental stages
that mark the history of human consciousness. Published in
the same year, Tiefenpsychologie und neue Ethik (1949, trans-
NETHERWORLD SEE UNDERWORLD
lated as Depth Psychology and a New Ethic, 1969) demon-
strates the impact that the idea of psychological wholeness
had made on Neumann, on whom self-realization seemed to
NETS SEE WEBS AND NETS
impose a new ethical outlook and an obligation beyond con-
ventional ethical concepts. The book aroused controversy;
Jung commented, “If Neumann recommends the ‘inner
NEUMANN, ERICH (1905–1960), German-Israeli
voice’ as the criterion of ethical behavior instead of the Chris-
analytical psychologist and writer. Neumann’s upbringing in
tian conscience . . . [he] stands on the best footing with very
Berlin was Jewish but not orthodox; he was influenced, nev-
many Christian mystics” (Letters, vol. 1, 1973, p. 519). The
ertheless, by Hasidism, in response perhaps to his strong
Great Mother (1955), a study of the archetypal feminine, is
mystical leaning. Long before the rise of Hitler, Neumann
based on images from numerous cultures that were collected
was drawn to the Zionist ideal of the renewal of Jewish life
in Froebe-Kapteyn’s Eranos Archive. Feminine psychology
in Palestine. At the University of Erlangen, he earned his
here becomes a focus of Neumann’s interest, vying for priori-
Ph.D. degree with a dissertation on J. A. Kanne, a mystical
ty with the psychology of creative art. Both concerns are ef-
philosopher of the time of the Enlightenment who, although
fectively blended in The Archetypal World of Henry Moore
a Christian, had been deeply influenced by Jewish esoteric
(1959). In his later years, essays, lectures, seminars, and ana-
thought. In his youth Neumann wrote a novel, Der Anfang
lytical training preoccupied Neumann, and he produced no
(The Beginning), a story of self-fulfillment, which was par-
more longer works.
tially published in 1932. He also wrote poetry and literary
When an illness he had was diagnosed as terminal in
essays, notably on Franz Kafka and biblical themes.
October 1960, Neumann returned from London to Israel,
Neumann’s growing interest in psychology led to his
where he died a month later, leaving many projects unfin-
choice of profession; he started medical training and com-
ished. In Gerhard Adler’s words, “Neumann was the one
pleted his studies in 1933, but Nazi restrictions blocked his
truly creative spirit among the second generation of Jung’s
qualifying as a physician. In 1958, however, the University
pupils, the only one who seemed destined to build on Jung’s
of Hamburg awarded Neumann an M.D. degree in absentia,
work and to continue it” (preface to Neumann’s Creative
having accepted his book Die Ursprungsgeschichte des Be-
Man: Five Essays, 1979, p. xv).
wussteins (1949, translated as The Origins and History of Con-
sciousness
, 1954) as his thesis. Neumann opted for immigra-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
tion to Palestine in 1934, pausing on the way in Zurich for
Neumann’s longer writings in English translation are the follow-
a period of analysis and study with C. G. Jung. Gerhard
ing: Depth Psychology and a New Ethic (New York, 1969);
Adler has written: “Here, in Jung’s approach, he found the
The Origins and History of Consciousness (New York, 1954);
dynamic focus of his various interests and gifts. Analytical
The Great Mother, 2d ed. (New York, 1963); Amor and Psy-
psychology provided the instrument that helped him to
che: The Psychic Development of the Feminine (New York,
translate his creative insight into practical work with other
1956); The Archetypal World of Henry Moore (New York,
people, and for them” (preface to Neumann’s Creative Man:
1959); and The Child (New York, 1973). An Eranos lecture,
Five Essays, 1979, p. xiii).
“Art and Time,” was included in Papers from the Eranos Year-
books
, vol. 3, edited by Joseph Campbell (New York, 1957),
In Palestine, Neumann devoted himself to building a
pp. 3–37. Essays by Neumann on Leonardo da Vinci, Marc
practice and to pursuing studies that, after the enforced isola-
Chagall, and creative transformation are collected in Art and
tion of World War II, brought forth an enormous burst of
the Creative Unconscious (New York, 1959), and essays on
creative work. He revisited Europe only in 1947, for a family
Kafka, Chagall, Trakl, Freud, and Jung appear in Creative
holiday in Ascona, Switzerland, where he had two crucial en-
Man: Five Essays (Princeton, 1979).
counters—with Olga Froebe-Kapteyn, the director of the
The journal Analytische Psychologie (Basel) 11 (1980) devoted a
Eranos Conferences, and with John D. Barrett, the editor of
double issue (nos. 3–4) to Neumann in commemoration of
the Bollingen Series. Neumann lectured the following year
his seventy-fifth birthday. It contains articles, letters of Neu-
at Eranos on “mystical man” and at each of the conferences
mann and Jung, and a list of publications in German.
thereafter as keynote speaker. His last lecture there was deliv-
New Sources
ered in 1960, shortly before his death. In 1948 he was award-
Giskin, Howard. “Art as Transcendence: Seeing the Divine
ed a Bollingen Foundation fellowship, which continued for
through the Creative Act in Taoism and Erich Neumann.”
twelve years and supported his copious literary activity.
Studia Mystica 15, no. 4 (1992): 99–110.
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NEUROSCIENCE AND RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
6485
Neumann, Erich. The Fear of the Feminine and Other Essays on
made possible, in part, by the large number of war casualties,
Feminine Psychology. Princeton, N.J., 1994.
who made ideal test subjects for neuroscientists studying the
Neumann, Erich. The Place of Creation: Six Essays. Princeton,
relationship between brain and thought. The period of the
N.J., 1999.
1950s through the 1970s was one of tremendous growth,
Weiler, Gerda. Der enteignete Mythos: Eine feministische Revision
particularly in the area of functional neuroanatomy and in
der Archetypenlehre C.G. Jungs und Erich Neumanns. Frank-
the understanding of the basic functioning of the neuron. By
furt/Main; New York, 1991.
the 1980s these findings began to come together to make a
WILLIAM MCGUIRE (1987)
coherent whole. This process was abetted by the use of com-
Revised Bibliography
putational models for understanding the brain and mind and
by the use of new scanning technologies (most notably mag-
netic resonance imaging, or MRI) that allowed images of liv-
NEUROSCIENCE AND RELIGION
ing brains and, eventually, imaging of the brain in action,
This entry consists of the following articles:
enabling neuroscientists to see what areas of the brain be-
AN OVERVIEW
NEUROEPISTEMOLOGY
come active during specified tasks.
NEUROTHEOLOGY
For most of this history, religion has rarely been the sub-
ject of theorizing by neuroscientists, but this is not to say that
NEUROSCIENCE AND RELIGION: AN
there were no interactions between neuroscience and reli-
OVERVIEW
gion. Descartes’s mechanistic understanding of the brain and
Neuroscience is the study of the nervous system, including
body can be understood to fall within the context of a larger,
the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral systems. As a disci-
religious worldview. The important discoveries about the
pline, it reached maturity only in the twentieth century. De-
nervous system made by Hermann von Helmholtz (1821–
velopments in brain-scanning technologies, in particular,
1894)—showing, among other things, that it takes time for
have revolutionized neuroscience, and it can only be expect-
nerve signals to communicate over distances—were driven
ed that the existing and growing body of literature will con-
by his materialistic convictions. Furthermore, two of the
tinue to expand. As neuroscience develops, its findings are
twentieth century’s most famous psychologists of religion,
increasingly seen to have implications for religious world-
Sigmund Freud and William James, both had significant ex-
views and the study of religion.
posure to the advances in neuroscience in their day. Religious
HISTORY. Awareness of the nervous system and its role in the
beliefs (or the lack of them) thus played an important back-
human body dates back at least to the Roman physician
ground role in shaping the field of neuroscience, while the
Galen (third century BCE), who understood movement to be
findings of neuroscience (real or putative) were sometimes
controlled by the nerve cords extending through the body.
used to justify positions about religion.
By the end of the eighteenth century, the major anatomical
features of the brain were known, as well as the central rela-
CURRENT CHARACTER OF NEUROSCIENCE. Knowledge of
tionship of mind and brain. This knowledge was most fa-
the brain and how it works grew enormously in the second
mously reflected in the work of René Descartes (1596–
half of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, so
1650), who understood the motions of the body to be con-
much so that the U.S. Congress designated the 1990s as the
trolled by mechanistic animal spirits originating from the
“decade of the brain” to commemorate and further brain re-
brain, connected to the nonmaterial mind through the pineal
search. It is now estimated that the brain is composed of ap-
gland.
proximately 100 billion nerve cells. In turn, each nerve cell
It was not until the mid- to late nineteenth century that
is typically connected to 3,000 to 10,000 other nerve cells,
neuroscience began to emerge as a separate discipline, thanks
and it has been suggested that there are on the order of 100
to new experimental techniques and the increasing refine-
trillion such connections. It is important to note the stagger-
ment of the microscope. It came to be realized that the cen-
ing complexity that this implies: that there are more neuron
tral building block of the brain and nervous system was the
connections than there are stars in the Milky Way Galaxy.
neuron, a kind of cell that appeared designed to communi-
Neurons communicate by sending electronic impulses facili-
cate by electrical impulses. In addition, studies in functional
tated by chemical reactions that are still not fully understood.
neuroanatomy had begun to associate specific forms of brain
Chemicals known as neurotransmitters play an essential role
damage with specific kinds of mental deficits. Paul Broca
in this communication. Imbalances in neurotransmitter pro-
(1824–1880), for instance, showed that damage to a region
duction and uptake play important roles in some forms of
in the left hemisphere of the brain (now known as Broca’s
mental illness (such as schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease,
area) resulted in the inability to produce speech. Findings of
and depression) and altered states of consciousness (due, for
this kind were capitalized on for dubious purposes, most no-
instance, to drug use).
tably the pseudo-science of phrenology, but the work of
Much of the functional organization of the brain has
Broca and his colleagues has since been well substantiated.
been mapped out. It is now known that, for most individu-
Despite these advances, neuroscience did not truly be-
als, the majority of language processing occurs in the left
come established until after World War II. This progress was
hemisphere of the brain. Visual processing occurs in the oc-
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6486
NEUROSCIENCE AND RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
cipital lobe in the rear, motor control is centered along the
search or therapeutic purposes (to alleviate depression, for in-
midline of the brain, and complex rational thought seems to
stance). Work with rhesus monkeys has shown that a ma-
be concentrated in the frontal and prefrontal cortexes imme-
chine interface can be used to control a mechanical device
diately behind the forehead. Emotional responses seem to be
by a thought command alone, suggesting help for individuals
controlled by a collection of brain structures known as the
with physical disabilities but also raising questions about the
limbic system. In many cases the correspondence between a
relationship of human beings and machines.
specific behavioral ability and the specific area of the brain
NEUROSCIENCE, THE MIND-BODY RELATION, AND PER-
responsible for it has been mapped out in considerable detail.
SONHOOD. There are a number of ways in which neuro-
When damage to an area of the brain occurs, the correspond-
science might be said to relate to or have an impact on reli-
ing ability is lost, sometimes permanently and sometimes
gious traditions and religious thinking. The most obvious
with counterintuitive results. Prosopognosia (the inability to
concerns the relationship of mind to body. Religious beliefs
recognize faces) is the result of one such instance of brain
about the nature and relation of the mind and the body have
damage. People with this condition are unable to tell one face
been varied and complex. In the earliest forms of Judaism,
from another, even though they may recognize people by
Christianity, and Islam, the tendency was to think of persons
other means (e.g., by the sound of their voice or the clothes
as wholes, distinguishing between body and spirit but main-
that they are wearing).
taining their essential unity. As a result, these traditions
It has become common among some scientists to com-
looked forward to a resurrection of the dead that united (or
pare the mind and brain to a computer. Though this meta-
reunited) spirit and body. Later thought, especially in the
phor has proven useful in some ways, it is also exceedingly
Christian tradition, was profoundly influenced by Plato-
misleading in others. Individual neurons function somewhat
nism, with the result that emphasis was placed on the surviv-
analogously to the individual logic gates of a computer chip,
al of an immortal soul separate from the body. This distinc-
but there is no central processor as is typical on modern desk-
tion was accentuated by later Christian philosophers and
top computers. A closer analogy has been computers that uti-
theologians, most notably Réne Descartes. Other religious
lize decentralized parallel distributed processing (PDP) or
traditions have subscribed to quite variant understandings of
neural networks, and it has been shown that individual neu-
the human person and mind-body relationship. Hinduism
ronal groups are capable of such processing. However, the
speaks of the a¯tman, or self, but sometimes in quite different
analogy between brains and computers has been a conten-
ways than the monotheistic traditions (as is most obviously
tious one, with some neuroscientists utilizing computational
reflected in the Upanishads and the Advaita Vedanta tradi-
metaphors and others strongly denying any such link.
tion). Buddhism has historically subscribed to a doctrine of
ana¯tman, or no-self, and so has traditionally denied the exis-
Among recent areas of development, three may be seen
tence of a soul in any straightforward sense.
as particularly important. First, a growing body of research
has helped to reveal the centrality of emotion in brain pro-
As a science, neuroscience does not address the broader
cessing and cognition. Research by Antonio Damasio (1994)
question of mind and body, although its findings can be said
has shown that rational thought and emotion are not com-
to have consequences for particular religious views. Neuro-
science does seem to rule out any straightforward account of
pletely distinct from one another, and to think rationally one
mind-body dualism. Damage to the brain leads to loss of
must have a proper repertoire of emotional responses as well.
cognitive function, often in fairly predictable ways. Such po-
This has contributed to a move away from thinking of the
tential damage is not limited to motor functions, but can also
brain as simply a computer-like thinking machine. Second,
affect higher-order thinking and emotional response. Brain
research in brain development is helping to show how the
damage or alteration of brain chemistry can lead sometimes
brain comes to organize itself in relation to its environment.
to rather profound alterations of personality. It should be
The brain goes through dramatic changes in the early periods
noted that this damage affects not simply the behavior of the
of childhood, and there is good evidence that the brain con-
individual but one’s subjective experience as well. Someone
tinues to change in subtle ways throughout a person’s life.
who suffers a stroke and is afflicted with temporary aphasia
The prefrontal cortex (responsible for reasoning) continues
(the inability to speak) because of brain damage is not simply
in its development through late adolescence. Increasing
prevented from speaking the words. When recovered, they
knowledge of genetics is also beginning to illuminate the
will testify they were unable to even think of the words (or
ways in which specific genes influence brain development,
think in words) while having the disability. With a few, early,
suggesting the potential for providing links between assem-
and prominent exceptions (most notably Wilder Penfield
blies of genes and specific human behaviors. Furthermore,
and John Eccles, two of the more famous neuroscientists of
individual neurons have been shown to be exceedingly plas-
the twentieth century), few neuroscientists now count them-
tic, changing their receptivity to communication from and
selves dualists, and most would argue that mind and body
to other neurons throughout one’s life. Third, some research
are intimately linked.
has indicated the possibility of brain-machine interfaces in
the not-so-distant future. Magnetic fields, for instance, can
It is important to note, however, that neuroscientists re-
be used to stimulate specific areas of the brain, either for re-
main perplexed by the phenomenon of consciousness. Begin-
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NEUROSCIENCE AND RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
6487
ning in the late 1980s, neuroscientists began to consider con-
a base of willing test subjects. The primary concern of this
sciousness as a legitimate subject of inquiry. Most efforts at
research has been to link meditational states with heightened
explanation have been devoted to the function of conscious-
or lowered activity in specific regions of the brain. Research
ness rather than its very nature. Philosopher David Chalmers
done by Eugene D’Aquili and Andrew Newberg (1999) has
(1997) has usefully distinguished between the “easy prob-
shown that such meditation consistently correlates with
lems” of consciousness and the “hard problem.” The easy
heightened activity in some areas of the brain (the prefrontal
problems deals with cognitive functions associated with con-
cortex, for instance) and lowered activity in others (most spe-
sciousness (such as attention, bodily representation, and the
cifically areas in the parietal lobes associated with spatial ori-
ability to think about one’s thoughts and so be self-
entation). D’Aquili and Newberg theorize that it is the alter-
conscious), but they do not tell us why there is a subjective
ation of these brain states that leads to the particular
quality to consciousness at all. This latter question, to date,
experiences (e.g., a sense of unity and a loss of distinction be-
remains better suited to philosophy than science, and it may
tween self and other) that meditation is traditionally said to
be permanently so.
give rise to.
Beyond the mind-body relationship, neuroscience may
There are deep divides as to how to interpret such re-
be seen to have repercussions for more general understand-
search. Some argue that studies that correlate brain states
ings of personhood. Research into the physical factors linked
with religious experiences show that these religious experi-
to specific behaviors and personality, particularly when tied
ences are not real, i.e., religious experiences are nothing but
to advances in developmental biology and behavioral genet-
a form of brain dysfunction or even mental illness with no
ics, stand to have fairly profound implications for doctrines
basis in any kind of higher reality. On this account, religious
of free will and the meaning and nature of personal transfor-
experience is necessarily illusory in character, and such re-
mation. The advent of subtle, personality-altering drugs such
search can be taken as evidence for a more general reductive
as Prozac and the increasing trend toward diagnosing and
account of religion. D’Aquili and Newberg, however, have
using drugs to treat personality variants such as attention def-
argued that their research shows that religious experience is
icit disorder (ADD) reveals the complex relationship of per-
part of the normal functioning of the brain and should not
son, biology, and environment in ways that have implica-
be characterized as a form of mental illness, as has often been
tions for religious doctrines of health and happiness. Such
the case in psychology. They also argue that the implications
implications have, to date, led to little in the way of religious
of such research are not reductive. Rather, they claim, it
reflection, but will become increasingly important in the
should be admitted that the realities such brain states reveal
coming decades.
are just as real as those of ordinary experience, and so one
should not be privileged over the other.
NEUROSCIENCE AND RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. A recent area
of neuroscientific exploration has been the nature of religious
Some important limitations of these studies should be
experience itself and its possible roots in the brain. There has
noted. To date, the studies done have been small, involving
been a long tradition of scientific speculation on the nature
few subjects, thus raising the probability of error or variant
of religious experience. For much of its history, when neuro-
results in further trials. In addition, it is important to note
science has on rare occasion turned its attention to the topic
that meditational practices vary from tradition to tradition,
of religious experience, the tendency has been to associate it
and what holds true for one form of meditational practice
with one or another form of mental illness. William James,
may not hold true for all. Furthermore, it would be a mistake
for instance, chided medical materialists (as he called them)
to suppose that religious experiences arising from meditation
for attempting to reduce religious experience to mental ill-
can simply and straightforwardly be used as a model for ex-
ness. One early favorite candidate has been temporal lobe ep-
plaining all religious experiences. Religious experience is di-
ilepsy, which has been known to produce in some individuals
verse and complex, and there are likely multiple factors
profound religious experiences prior to the onset of seizures.
involved.
The Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky is probably the
most famous example of this phenomenon. Knowledge of
NEUROSCIENCE, UNIQUENESS, AND DIGNITY. Issues of
such instances has been used by some neuroscientists (Robert
uniqueness and human dignity may also be raised by neuro-
Persinger in 1987, for example) as a general explanation for
science and its related fields. Evidence reveals that human be-
religious experience. Research by V. S. Ramachandran (Ra-
ings evolved from ape-like ancestors approximately six mil-
machandran and Blakeslee, 1998) has shown this to be un-
lion years ago. There is now a significant amount of fossil
likely, however, as religious individuals with no epilepsy
data with which to construct key aspects of this evolutionary
seem to respond differently in tests using religious imagery
history, although the details remain contentious and ongoing
than individuals with temporal lobe epilepsy.
discoveries have revealed the complexity of the evolutionary
links. The evidence does show, however, a gradual rise in cra-
Beginning in the 1990s, some neuroscientists turned
nial size from very old fossils like Australopithecus afarensis
their attention to Buddhist meditation as a subject of re-
(about five million years ago with brain size equivalent to
search. Meditation has proven to be a congenial subject of
that of a modern chimpanzee) to Homo erectus to Homo sapi-
research because it is largely stationary, predictable, and has
ens. Because the brains themselves are not preserved, brain
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NEUROSCIENCE AND RELIGION: NEUROEPISTEMOLOGY
development can only be inferred from the size and shape
Russell, Robert J., Nancey Murphy, Theo C. Meyering, and Mi-
of the brain case and other physiological clues. One impor-
chael Arbib. Neuroscience and the Person: Scientific Perspec-
tant issue has been determining when the brain reached its
tives on Divine Action. Chicago, 1999.
current state of development, with some suggesting that
GREGORY R. PETERSON (2005)
changes were still taking place as recently as 40,000 years ago
(about the time that we see some of the first cave art).
Greater understanding of the minds and brains of other
NEUROSCIENCE AND RELIGION:
animals may also provoke religious reflection. Research with
NEUROEPISTEMOLOGY
dolphins and apes (particularly chimpanzees and bonobos)
Neuroepistemology is a relatively new discipline that consid-
in particular has shown sometimes surprising intellectual
ers questions of the theory of knowledge in terms of the
abilities. A dolphin brain is about the size of a human brain,
structure and function of the brain. In order to consider
although its different organization suggests that it would be
neuroepistemology, it is necessary to review how the human
a mistake to assume this to mean equivalent intellectual abili-
brain organizes sensory input and how it “constructs” the
ty. Although their brains are smaller than ours, chimpanzees
subjective representation of reality that is called knowledge.
are capable of some symbolic communication and are capa-
The process by which the brain enables a perception of reali-
ble of recognizing themselves in a mirror (an ability compar-
ty lies at the heart of neuroepistemology and provides a
atively rare among animals), which has been taken to suggest
unique perspective for the scientific, philosophical, and theo-
some level of self-consciousness. Moreover, genetic studies
logical evaluation of reality.
indicate that chimpanzees share up to 98 percent or more of
PRIMARY EPISTEMIC STATES. The various perceptions of re-
their genes with human beings.
ality can be grouped into several primary epistemic states. A
primary epistemic state may be defined as the state in which
The extent to which these findings will be important for
a person has an experience and interpretation of reality. Such
religious belief will clearly vary from tradition to tradition.
primary epistemic states can be considered along three
Monotheistic traditions have been much more inclined to in-
neurocognitive dimensions: (1) sensory perceptions of ob-
sist on an absolute division between human beings and ani-
jects or things that can be manifested as either multiple dis-
mals than, for instance, Hinduism and Buddhism. Distinc-
crete things or a holistic union of all things; (2) cognitive re-
tions are observed, however, even in these latter traditions.
lationships between objects or things that are either regular
From a neuroscientific perspective, any claim of an absolute
or irregular; and (3) emotional responses to the objects or
divide between human beings and animals would be difficult
things that are either positive, negative, or neutral. The emo-
to support, especially when evolutionary histories are taken
tional responses do not refer to the usual feelings of happi-
into account. Rather, it seems much more likely that a con-
ness, sadness, and so on, but to the overall emotional ap-
tinuum exists, albeit one with important leaps along the way.
proach of a person to his or her reality. It is likely that one’s
overall affective response to reality is to a large degree set by
BIBLIOGRAPHY
the brain’s limbic system, which includes such structures as
Andresen, Jensine, ed. Religion in Mind: Cognitive Perspectives on
the amygdala, hippocampus, and hypothalamus. Further-
Religious Belief, Ritual, and Experience. Cambridge, U.K.,
2001.
more, scholars such as Antonio Damasio (1999) have sug-
gested that emotional responses, even in relation to the
Chalmers, David. The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental
body’s perceptions, play a critical role in the human experi-
Theory. New York, 1997.
ence of reality. It is also important to mention that each of
Churchland, Patricia Smith. Neurophilosophy: Toward a Unified
these parameters is set along a continuum. In other words,
Science of the Mind/Brain. Cambridge, Mass., 1986.
one’s reality may be based primarily on multiple discrete ob-
Damasio, Antonio. Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the
jects, but it may also include some holistic attributes.
Human Brain. New York, 1994.
Based upon the dimensions described above, nine possi-
D’Aquili, Eugene G., and Andrew B. Newberg. The Mystical
ble primary epistemic states that are internally consistent can
Mind: Probing the Biology of Religious Experience. Minneapo-
be considered. These nine states should actually be consid-
lis, Minn., 1999.
ered a continuum of states with those mentioned below as
Gazzaniga, Michael S., Richard B. Ivry, and George R. Mangun.
nodal points along the continuum.
Cognitive Neuroscience: The Biology of the Mind. 2d ed. New
1. Multiple discrete reality—regular relationships—
York, 2002.
neutral affect
Persinger, Michael A. Neuropsychological Bases of God Beliefs.
Westport, Conn., 1987.
2. Multiple discrete reality—regular relationships—
positive affect
Peterson, Gregory R. Minding God: Theology and the Cognitive
Sciences. Minneapolis, Minn., 2002.
3. Multiple discrete reality—regular relationships—
negative affect
Ramachandran, V. S., and Sandra Blakeslee. Phantoms in the
Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind. New York,
4. Multiple discrete reality—irregular relationships—
1998.
neutral affect
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5. Multiple discrete reality—irregular relationships—
to humankind’s place within the universe. This purposeful-
positive affect
ness is not derived logically, it is simply intuited because of
6. Multiple discrete reality—irregular relationships—
the positive emotional state. The onset of this state is usually
negative affect
sudden and is often described as a conversion experience, es-
pecially in religious thought. In psychiatric literature, Rich-
7. Unitary being—neutral affect
ard Bucke called this state “Cosmic Consciousness”; it is
8. Unitary being—positive affect
characterized by overwhelming happiness, comprehension,
universal understanding, and love. Although this state may
9. Unitary being—negative affect
have a sudden onset, it can last for many years and even for
Unitary being cannot be perceived as having either regular
the person’s entire life. This state of Cosmic Consciousness
or irregular relationships since relationships can only be con-
is a primary epistemic state because the person perceives this
sidered to exist between discrete independent things, and in
understanding of the universe as fundamentally real (it is not
unitary being there are no discrete independent things that
an illusion) and sometimes will look with a sense of pity at
can be related to each other. Furthermore, it might be argued
those who have only the baseline perception of reality. Peo-
that unitary being cannot be associated with affect until after
ple in this state are not psychotic, nor do they have any emo-
an individual actually has the experience of unitary being.
tional or mental disorder. They perceive objects and relation-
Thus, the final three states might ultimately be considered
ships between objects in the universe in the same way as
one; for the purposes of this entry, however, it will be helpful
those in baseline reality. They simply have a different emo-
to maintain the symmetry of these states.
tional understanding of this perception.
The first six primary epistemic states could all be consid-
Negative reality. The third primary epistemic state is
ered to represent the experience of a reality with multiple dis-
comprised of discrete objects with regular relationships, but
crete objects. In other words, a person in one of these states
it is associated with a profoundly negative affect. It is a state
perceives individual and independent objects in that reality.
of exquisite sadness and futility, as well as the sense of the
These objects can be related to other objects in terms of time,
incredible smallness of humankind within the universe and
space, causality, or many other possible relationships.
the suffering inherent in the human condition. In this state,
Neurophysiologically, there are specific brain structures
the universe may be understood as one vast pointless ma-
that appear to underlie the ability to order reality along these
chine without purpose or meaning. In the full-blown state,
different relationships. In particular, the parietal lobe, in
people often seek psychiatric help because of the extreme de-
conjunction with the temporal and frontal lobes, appears to
pression associated with this state, even though they perceive
play a critical role in the perception of spatial and temporal
this state to be fundamentally real. Essentially, they are ask-
orientation, as well as the establishing of causal relationships
ing to be taught to think in an “illusory” way so that they
between objects and events. The first three primary epistemic
can survive. They are not asking to be restored to reality. As
states refer to realities in which there are regular relationships
with Cosmic Consciousness, this overly negative state can
between things. Thus, these relationships are logical and
last many years. However, people do revert back to baseline
have a logical ordering. It may be said that these regular rela-
reality and anecdotal evidence suggests that reversion occurs
tionships are predictable and allow for a consistent under-
more frequently from the negative state than from the posi-
standing of reality.
tive state, perhaps because the negative state is in many ways
Baseline reality. This regularity helps scientists under-
incompatible with survival from a psychological perspective.
stand what is typically called reality or baseline reality. Base-
Irregular relationships. The next three states are asso-
line reality generally carries a neutral affect and refers to that
ciated with discrete objects and beings, but contain irregular
state in which there are discrete objects with regular relation-
relationships between the objects in that reality. Thus, the
ships. This is the primary epistemic state that most people
time, space, and causal relationships between various objects
are in most of the time. Furthermore, few individuals would
are distorted, bizarre, and unpredictable. Examples of this
question the fundamental reality (or the sense of that reality)
type of state include dreams, drug-induced states, and schizo-
of the state that they are usually living within. It is precisely
phrenia. Further, the state of irregular relationships can be
because this state appears certain while an individual is in it
associated with negative, positive, or neutral affect. For ex-
that it can be called a primary epistemic state. In fact, most
ample, the experience of using LSD or other hallucinogenic
people would consider this state to be the true reality, with
drugs can either be incredibly elating or profoundly disturb-
nothing beyond this reality.
ing. Quite literally, these states can be described as either
Cosmic consciousness. The second primary epistemic
heaven or hell. Schizophrenia is similar in that the bizarre
state is one in which there are discrete objects with regular
patterns of relationships between objects can be associated
relationships between objects, but an overwhelmingly posi-
with negative, positive, or neutral emotion, and patients can
tive affect. It is a state associated with an elated sense of being
suffer from both a mood disorder and psychotic symptoms.
and joy, in which the universe is perceived to be fundamen-
In these cases, the patient may be extraordinarily depressed
tally good. There is a sense of purposefulness to all things and
while also experiencing delusions or hallucinations.
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All of these states involving discrete being are perceived
(usually with neutral affective valence) as an experience of the
as real while the person is in them. Of course, once an indi-
absolute, the ultimate, or the transcendent. In the Buddhist
vidual lapses into another primary epistemic state, he or she
tradition the experience (also with neutral affective valence)
recognizes the original state as an illusion, delusion, or hallu-
is interpreted as the “void,” or nirva¯n:a, and is generally ex-
cination. This judgment is consistent with the nature of pri-
pressed as impersonal. It is also theoretically possible to enter
mary epistemic states, for once a person has entered into a
into a state of unitary being associated with negative affect.
different primary state, they perceive the new state as real.
However, there are no references to this type of experience
It is the nature of a primary epistemic state to perceive that
in any religious, philosophical, or psychological literature. It
state as reality. A person would therefore necessarily under-
may be that such a state is not neurophysiologically possible.
stand what they remember from a drug experience or from
Perhaps it cannot come about because the experience of all
a dream as an illusion or a distortion.
things as an undifferentiated oneness is so powerfully posi-
tive and integrative that it cannot be perceived in negative
Unitary states. The final three states involve the experi-
terms. At worst (so to speak) unitary being can be perceived
ence of a totally unitary reality. There is no point in referring
neutrally. It may be argued that such a state of unitary being
to regular or irregular relationships regarding the primary ep-
with negative affect is incompatible with life, the brain, or
istemic states of unitary being, since there are no discrete ob-
the mind. Thus, until actual evidence can be brought for-
jects that can be related to each other. In unitary being there
ward to demonstrate the existence of this theoretical state,
is no sense of individual objects, there is no self–other di-
it must be assumed that it is just that, theoretical.
chotomy, and everything is perceived as undifferentiated,
unified oneness. Thus, the state of unitary being can be di-
It is also interesting that the perception of the logical op-
vided into three possible states that include positive, nega-
posite of ultimate wholeness—that is, ultimate fragmenta-
tive, or neutral affect. However, even these emotional per-
tion—does not seem to be possible. For anything to be
spectives can be considered only after the fact, since while
known at all, however chaotic it may be, some sense of
an individual is actually in a unitary state, there theoretically
wholeness or form must be perceived or imposed. The post
can be no distinction between objects, including even
hoc description of ultimate wholeness may be of an experi-
emotions.
ence of a personal God or of a completely nonpersonal expe-
rience of total being, but in any case the experience is always
This unitary state has been studied to some degree using
interpreted as absolutely transcendent, or ultimate, or in
neuroimaging of individuals in meditation or prayer. The re-
some sense beyond ordinary experience.
sults of early studies appear to support the original neurophy-
siological model suggested by Eugene d’Aquili and Andrew
Whether or not the phenomenon is interpreted as the
Newberg (1993), in which the experience of unitary states
experience of God or as the experience of a philosophical ab-
may be associated with the deafferentation, or blocking of
solute tends to depend on the a priori conceptual frame of
sensory input, into the areas of the brain typically responsible
the individual having the experience. But there can be no
for the perception and ordering of reality. However, more
doubt as to the reality of the unitary experience for those few
studies will need to be performed to better differentiate the
who have had it; furthermore, these people are absolutely
neurophysiological correlates of the primary epistemic states,
certain of the experience’s objective reality. This experience,
including that of unitary being.
for those individuals, contains at least the same subjective
GOD AND THE WHOLE. The experience of reality associated
conviction of reality as does the subjective conviction of the
with unitary being yields the subjective perception of abso-
reality of the external world. Although it is true philosophi-
lute and total unity of being without a temporal dimension.
cally that we cannot prove the existence of the external world
Reality is perceived as “ultimate wholeness” without any ad-
as perceived (or even of the external world at all) based upon
mixture of fragmentation. When absolute unitary and atem-
a completely neuropsychological perspective, nonetheless
poral being is perceived as suffused with positive affect after
each of us carries a subjective and pragmatic certainty of its
the fact, it is generally perceived as personal (d’Aquili, 1982).
existence. The experience of absolute unity carries to the sub-
This perceived experience of unitary atemporal being is in-
ject the same, or perhaps even a greater, degree of certainty
terpreted in most world religions as either a direct perception
of its objective reality. Research indicates that this is true
of God or as the unio mystica of the Christian tradition,
even in people whose orientation is materialist, reductionist,
which, though a manifestation of God, is not considered a
or atheistic prior to the experience of absolute unitary being.
revelation of God’s innermost nature. The experience tran-
As noted above, it seems likely from recent research that
scends any perception of multiple, discrete being, and the
the experience of unitary being arises from the integrated
awareness of the subject-object difference is obliterated. The
functioning of several brain structures resulting in the deaf-
unitary experience is ineffable, but it is frequently interpreted
ferentation of orienting areas such as the parietal lobe. These
(when experienced with strong positive affect) in terms that
parts of the brain may have evolved to yield such transcen-
express a union with, or a direct experience of, God.
dent experiences, or perhaps such experiences are merely a
The experience of ultimate wholeness does not have to
byproduct of cortical machinery that evolved for other pur-
be theistically labeled. It can be understood philosophically
poses. In any case, the experience of absolute unity can be
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described in terms of the evolution of the present structure
hyperlucid consciousness of unitary being (called hyperlucid
and function of the central nervous system. An important
here since it is perceived as more clear and more real than
point is that such an explanation, while legitimate from a sci-
other primary epistemic states of reality). Baseline reality
entific perspective, in no way alters the subjective sensation
demonstrates the following four fundamental properties:
of the objective reality of the experience. So strong is this
1. A strong sense of the reality of what is experienced.
feeling of objective reality that, for most people, even a de-
tailed neuroepistemological analysis does not alter the con-
2. Endurance of that reality through very long periods of
viction that something objectively real has been experienced.
time, usually only interrupted by sleeping.
For those few who have experienced both realities—the reali-
3. The sense that when elements in baseline reality disap-
ty of the day-to-day world (and objective science) on one
pear from all forms of sensory detection, they have
hand and the reality of transcendent unitary states on the
ceased to be.
other—the problem is not one of trying to decide which real-
ity is real. These people feel that they know both are real.
4. High cross-subjective validation both for details of per-
Rather, the problem is one of reconciling the two drastically
ception and core meaning (in other words, other people
different and seemingly contradictory perceptions of reality.
corroborate one’s perceptions of the world—reality is a
collective hunch).
Several important neuroepistemological issues can now
be considered: the meaning of what it is to know at all; the
The essential characteristics of hyperlucid unitary being are
nature and consequence of the certainty of reality, however
the following:
reality is perceived; and the neurophysiological limitations
1. An extremely strong sense of reality, to the point of its
and constraints on knowing anything whatsoever. To con-
being absolutely compelling under almost all circum-
sider the meaning of knowing is to be forced into the heart
stances.
of subjective experience, of which objective reality is but a
subset (and science but a subset of this subset). It is probably
2. Endurance for short periods of time relative to the sense
impossible to resolve the conflict between the two realities
of time of baseline reality.
as experienced. Given the phenomenology of the experience,
3. A sense of its underlying persistence and continued exis-
it is clearly impossible to undercut the certainty of the “abso-
tence even when the perception of the overall state has
lute” in those people who have experienced it. Research indi-
ended.
cates that they cannot be dissuaded from their conviction of
the objective reality of absolute unity no matter how often
4. High cross-subjective validation for core perceptions;
the adaptive value of the transcendence-generating parts of
moderate to low cross-subjective validation for percep-
the brain is pointed out to them. Science is a product of the
tual detail in those hyperlucid states where discrete
everyday world, but the experience of an absolute unitary
being is perceived (as in near-death experiences).
state is an experience of another world, and this world is es-
It is probably impossible to determine whether the hyperlu-
sentially cut off from the world of discrete reality (unlike hal-
cid unitary state or baseline reality is more “real” (i.e., which
lucinations and delusions, which are epistemically part of the
state represents the ultimate objective reality without making
world of discrete, transient being). It would seem, therefore,
gratuitous and unsubstantiated assumptions). Clearly, base-
that the absolute unitary state, whatever its significance may
line reality has some significant claim to being ultimate reali-
be in post hoc religious description, has in itself an epistemo-
ty. However, unitary being is so compelling that it is difficult
logical status equivalent to baseline everyday reality and, at
to write off assertions of its reality. Actually, for individuals
least from a neuroepistemological perspective, must be dealt
having experienced unitary being, it seems virtually impossi-
with accordingly.
ble to negate that experience, no matter what level of educa-
UNITARY STATE VERSUS BASELINE REALITY. To simplify the
tion or sophistication such individuals may have. This being
issue somewhat, it is helpful to contrast the unitary state with
the case, it is a misguided reductionism to state that because
baseline reality. In such an exercise there is no question that
hyperlucid unitary consciousness can be understood in terms
the unitary state wins out as being experienced as “more
of neuropsychological processes, it is therefore derivative
real.” People who have experienced unitary being, and this
from baseline reality. Indeed the reverse argument might just
includes some very learned and previously materialistically
as well be made. Neuropsychology can give no answer as to
oriented scientists, regard such a state as being more funda-
which state is more real, baseline reality or hyperlucid unitary
mentally real than baseline reality. Even the memory of it is,
consciousness (often experienced as God). It may be most ac-
for them, more fundamentally real. When individuals who
curate to state that each is real in its own way and for its own
have had this experience are interviewed, there is no doubt
adaptive ends.
that it, and even the memory of it, carries a greater sense of
The essential characteristic of different states of reality
fundamental reality than that generated by their experiences
are eventually reducible only to the strength of the sense of
of day-to-day living.
reality, the phantasia catalyptica of the Stoics or the Anwesen-
To further clarify this point, compare four characteris-
heit (compelling presence) of certain modern German phi-
tics of baseline reality (coherent lucid consciousness) with the
losophers. A vivid sense of reality may be the only thing that
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NEUROSCIENCE AND RELIGION: NEUROTHEOLOGY
can be used to help determine what is really real until some-
brain activity during religious and spiritual practices, such as
one discovers a method for going beyond the brain’s percep-
meditation, prayer, or ritual. This analysis also includes the
tion of reality. This conclusion may not be epistemologically
spiritual or religious experiences associated with such prac-
satisfying, but at this time all alternatives seem untenable.
tices, as well as those that arise spontaneously, such as near-
Therefore, the brain can be conceived of as a machine
death experiences. The overall purpose of this area of neuro-
that operates upon whatever it is that fundamental reality
theology is to generate a substantial theoretical base from
may be, and the brain produces, at the very least, two basic
which to explore the other aspects of religious and spiritual
versions. One version is a world of discrete beings, usually
phenomena. Models typically build upon both the known
baseline reality, and the other version is the perception of
neuropsychological and neuroscientific literature to deter-
unitary being, usually experienced as God. Both perceptions
mine exactly how various brain structures function both in-
are accompanied by a profound subjective certainty of their
dividually and as an integrated whole. Models typically in-
objective reality. Whatever is prior to the experience of either
clude not only general brain function but changes in a variety
unitary being or the baseline reality of everyday life is in prin-
of neurotransmitter and hormonal systems. An analysis of
cipal unknowable, since that which is in any way known
various types of neuropsychiatric disorders, such as schizo-
must be translated, and in this sense transformed by the
phrenia or temporal lobe epilepsy, as they relate to religious
brain.
and spiritual phenomena, must also be considered as a way
of helping to understand various aspects of religious experi-
B
ence. The work of Andrew Newberg and Eugene d’Aquili,
IBLIOGRAPHY
Damasio, Antonio R. The Feeling of What Happens: Body and
for example, demonstrates one method for developing a
Emotion in the Making of Consciousness. New York, 1999.
complex integrated model in which various aspects of brain
d’Aquili, Eugene G. “Senses of Reality in Science and Religion:
function are correlated with religious experiences. The brain
A Neuroepistemological Perspective.” Zygon 17 (1982):
structures that have already been shown to be involved in re-
361–364.
ligious practices such as meditation or prayer include the
d’Aquili, Eugene G., and Andrew B. Newberg. “Religious and
frontal lobes (involved in attention focusing and emotional
Mystical States: A Neuropsychological Model.” Zygon 28
processing), the limbic system (part of the temporal lobes
(1993): 177–200.
and involved in emotional responses), the parietal lobe (in-
Gazzaniga, Michael S. The Bisected Brain. New York, 1970.
volved in spatial and body orientation), the thalamus (a main
sensory relay), and the hypothalamus (regulating basic body
Gazzaniga, Michael S., ed. The New Cognitive Neurosciences. Cam-
functions, hormones, and the immune system).
bridge, Mass., 2000.
Luria, Aleksandr R. Higher Cortical Functions in Man. Translated
EMPIRICAL TESTING OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. Once the-
by Basil Haigh. New York, 1966; 2d rev. ed., 1980.
oretical models of religious and spiritual experiences are de-
veloped, they provide a hypothetical framework from which
Luria, Aleksandr R. The Working Brain: An Introduction to
Neuropsychology. Translated by Basil Haigh. New York,
significant empirical testing can be performed. Much of the
1973.
theoretical and empirical work depends upon a strong
neuroscientific background with regard to how the brain
Newberg, Andrew B., Eugene G. d’Aquili, and Vince P. Rause.
Why God Won’t Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Be-
functions in general, and then how such functioning can be
lief. New York, 2001.
applied to religion and theology. The brain must handle tre-
mendous amounts of sensory, cognitive, and emotional in-
EUGENE G. D’AQUILI (1987)
formation to provide human beings with a reasonable repre-
ANDREW B. NEWBERG (2005)
sentation of the “external world.” It may be helpful to
simplify the understanding of how the brain abstracts ele-
ments of meaning from various input by considering basic
NEUROSCIENCE AND RELIGION:
approaches to organizing this information. Such basic brain
NEUROTHEOLOGY
functions have sometimes been called cognitive modules or
Neurotheology is an emerging field of study that seeks to in-
cognitive operators. Cognitive modules refer to brain struc-
tegrate in some manner cognitive neuroscience with religion
tures with specific functions for manipulating input into the
and theology. Its development as a field is attested to by sig-
brain. Cognitive operators typically refer to more generalized
nificant interest in both the academic and lay population.
brain functions that operate on input with the understanding
Neurotheology is multidisciplinary in nature and includes
that there are underlying brain structures or groups of struc-
the fields of theology, religious studies, religious experience,
tures that subserve such functions. A partial list of the cogni-
philosophy, cognitive science, neuroscience, psychology, and
tive operators initially developed by d’Aquili that are relevant
anthropology. Each may contribute to neurotheology, and
to neurotheology are given below. It should be noted that
conversely, neurotheology may ultimately contribute to each
a number of brain-imaging studies, including studies of posi-
of these fields.
tron emission tomography (PET), single photon emission
Individuals engaged in neurotheology can help develop
computed tomography (SPECT), and functional magnetic
theoretical models of the neurophysiological mechanisms of
resonance imaging (fMRI), have demonstrated more specifi-
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cally how the brain processes input along a variety of differ-
ligiousness and religious experiences. A number of studies
ent functions.
have shown positive (and sometimes negative) effects of reli-
(1) The causal operator permits reality to be viewed in
gion on physical and mental health (Koenig, 1998, 2001).
terms of causal sequences of abstract elements.
In general, studies have linked religiousness with an overall
lower mortality rate and specific decreases in the incidence
(2) The abstractive operator permits the formation of a gen-
of cardiac disease, liver disease, and some types of cancer.
eral concept from the perception of empirical indi-
Studies of mental health have shown that religion is a prima-
viduals.
ry source of coping for many individuals, and practices such
(3) The binary operator permits the extraction of meaning
as meditation and prayer may have beneficial effects on de-
by ordering abstract elements into dyads involving vary-
pression and anxiety. On the other hand, some studies have
ing degrees of polarity so each pole of the dyad derives
indicated that, when an individual has a conflicted perspec-
meaning from contrast with the other pole.
tive of religion or perceives God as punishing them, there can
be negative outcomes. Furthermore there are many examples
(4) The formal quantitative operator permits the abstrac-
of religious-type behaviors associated with cults and other
tion of quantity per se from the perception of empirical
groups in which there is a negative worldview often ending
individuals, generating arithmetic and mathematics.
in mass suicides. While many more clinical studies need to
(5) The emotional value operator permits an affective va-
be performed, an understanding of the associated physiologi-
lence to be assigned to various elements of perception
cal and neurophysiological effects of religiousness and reli-
and cognition.
gious experience may help provide a clearer link to health.
(6) The holistic operator permits reality to be viewed as a
This area of neurotheology can help clarify why religion is
whole or as a gestalt. It is responsible for the generation
sometimes a positive force and sometimes a negative force
of absolute unitary being discussed in the second part
in an individual or community’s life.
of this article.
THE SCOPE OF NEUROTHEOLOGY. One of the criticisms of
The causal operator has much scientific support and likely
neurotheology is that the field focuses too much on individu-
resides at the junction of the superior temporal and inferior
al religious experiences, particularly the mystical ones, people
parietal lobes (Pribram and Luria, 1973; Mills and Rollman,
have and that it does not take into account the other aspects
1980). The abstractive operator likely resides in the region
of religions. For neurotheology to achieve its full potential
of the left inferior parietal lobe, most likely near the angular
as a field of study, it is important for any investigator to un-
gyrus, and forms an important part of the language axis
derstand the complexity and diversity of experiences that are
(Luria, 1966; Joseph, 1996). The binary operator may arise
religious or spiritual. In other words, religion is much more
near the region of the inferior parietal lobe in close proximity
than just the experiences that individuals can have, especially
to the area that underlies the ability to formally quantitate
the strong mystical experiences that are not common. Reli-
objects (Dahaene, 2000). However, with regard to quantita-
gions typically have many different rituals, holidays, and cog-
tion, evidence suggests that the left hemisphere is more asso-
nitive, emotional, and behavioral components that all can be
ciated with specific mathematical functions, whereas the
evaluated from a neuropsychological perspective. Even issues
right appears better equipped for comparing numbers. In
such as forgiveness, love, or altruism can be considered from
terms of the emotional value operator, much evidence for the
a neuropsychological perspective to gain better insight into
importance of emotions in human behavior and reason has
how and when such feelings and behaviors take place. It is
come from the research of Antonio Damasio (1994, 1999).
this ability to explore the neuropsychological basis of such
His somatic marker hypothesis suggests that emotions are
concepts that can ultimately be a strength of neurotheology.
critical in helping human beings make decisions and think
Finally, neurotheology must be able to address theologi-
rationally. Furthermore, emotions appear necessary to assign
cal concepts. The cognitive operators mentioned above, as
relative value to all of the other products of the cognitive op-
well as other aspects of brain function, can be utilized to con-
erators. Evidence for the holistic operator derives from
sider a wide variety of theological concepts (d’Aquili and
studies that have explored the functions of the right hemi-
Newberg, 1999). In neurotheology this analysis is based
sphere, demonstrating more holistic applications to percep-
somewhat on an interpretation of religious myth and ritual
tions and problem solving (Nebes and Sperry, 1971; Gaz-
and how these elements affect or are affected by the human
zaniga and Hillyard, 1971; Gazzaniga, 2000). Other
brain. For example, the causal operator described above may
physiological information relevant to the study of religious
play a prominent role in the conception of God as the funda-
experiences may be provided by measuring parameters, in-
mental cause of all things. The binary operator is crucial to
cluding blood pressure, heart rate, and reaction times. Future
developing concepts such as good and evil, justice and injus-
studies will likely measure the effects of various hormones
tice, and even humankind and God. These opposites are a
and neurotransmitters as they relate to the religious practices
focal point of many myth structures and are of fundamental
and experiences.
importance in religion and theology. The quantitative abili-
RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE AND HEALTH. Another area within
ties of the brain may help explain why numbers have had
neurotheology is the study of the health-related effects of re-
such important meaning in the human understanding of
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NEUROSCIENCE AND RELIGION: NEUROTHEOLOGY
most religions, with specific numbers having a special status.
theology, on the other hand, should contain content of such
Thus certain quantities and numbers have special religious
a universal nature that it could be adopted by most, if not
meaning depending on the particular tradition. The holistic
all, of the world’s great religions as a basic element without
operator is likely to be deeply tied to the notion of God as
any serious violation of their essential doctrines. Since brain
infinite and inclusive of all things. Furthermore, the holistic
function is universal and necessarily has an impact on how
functions of the brain appear particularly tied to the mystical
human beings understand and practice religion, a fully devel-
experiences in which an individual perceives a union with
oped neurotheology may provide a basis for a megatheology.
God or ultimate reality.
Overall, neurotheology seeks to facilitate a dialogue be-
It is important to state that these brain functions do not
tween religion and science with the eventual goal of helping
necessarily constrain the reality of a particular concept but
to integrate these perspectives around the nexus of neuropsy-
may have an important impact on the human understanding
chology. That neuropsychology provides some universal per-
of these issues. As an example, one might consider the notion
spective on human behavior and thought that can also be uti-
of God as the fundamental cause of all things. It can be asked
lized in an approach to the study of religions and theology
whether or not such a conception is related to the human
lies at the heart of neurotheology. Furthermore neuro-
brain’s ability to perceive causality. If an individual had dam-
theology seeks to integrate theoretical development, empiri-
age to the areas of the brain responsible for perceiving causal-
cal studies, and philosophical and theological interpretation.
ity, he or she may no longer perceive God from a causal per-
Neurotheology as a field of study thus holds many opportu-
spective. God might be perceived as the fundamental love in
nities for expansion and may play a critical role in future
the universe rather than the cause. Again, such a perception
theological and religious study.
would not alter what God’s actual nature is, only the human
perception of this nature.
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The emotional elements of religion are also an impor-
tion.” In The New Cognitive Neurosciences, edited by Michael
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Damasio, Antonio R. Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the
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Damasio, Antonio R. The Feeling of What Happens: Body and
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D’Aquili, Eugene G., and Andrew B. Newberg. The Mystical
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Gazzaniga, Michael S. The Bisected Brain. New York, 1970.
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Capacity of the Right Hemisphere.” Neuropsychologia 9
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Koenig, Harold G., ed. Handbook of Religion and Mental Health.
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principles describing, and implicitly the rules for construct-
son, eds. Handbook of Religion and Health. New York, 2001.
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Luria, Aleksander R. Higher Cortical Functions in Man. New York,
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Luria, Aleksander R. The Working Brain. New York, 1973.
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Mills, L., and G. B. Rollman. “Hemispheric Asymmetry for Audi-
and why foundational, creation, and soteriological myths are
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formed; how and why such myths are elaborated into com-
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plex theological systems; and how and why the basic myths
Nebes, R. D., and R. W. Sperry. “Hemispheric Deconnection
and certain aspects of their theological elaborations are objec-
Syndrome with Cerebral Birth Injury in the Dominant Arm
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Area.” Neuropsychologia 9 (1971): 249–259.
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NEW AGE MOVEMENT
6495
Newberg, Andrew B., Eugene G. d’Aquili, and Vince P. Rause.
oughly corrupted by materialism, they would resist this
Why God Won’t Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Be-
change. As a result, the transition to a new cycle of evolution
lief. New York, 2001.
would necessitate the destruction of the old civilization by
Pribram, K. H., and Aleksander R. Luria, eds. Psychophysiology of
violent causes such as earthquakes, floods, diseases, and the
the Frontal Lobes. New York, 1973.
like, resulting in global economic, political, and social col-
A
lapse. Those individuals whose consciousness was already in
NDREW B. NEWBERG (2005)
tune with the qualities of the new culture would be protected
in various ways and would survive the period of cataclysms.
In due time they would become the vanguard of the New
NEW AGE JUDAISM SEE JEWISH RENEWAL
Age, or Age of Aquarius: an age of abundance, bliss, and spir-
MOVEMENT
itual enlightenment when humanity would once again live
in accordance with universal cosmic laws.
NEW AGE MOVEMENT.
These beliefs were inspired by occultist teachings of var-
“New Age” was originally
ious provenance, but especially by the writings of the Chris-
a buzzword that achieved widespread popularity in Europe
tian Theosophist Alice Bailey (1880–1949) and, in some re-
and the United States during the 1980s. It referred to a wide
spects, the anthroposophical metaphysics of the German
array of spiritual practices and beliefs perceived as “alterna-
visionary Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925). In 1937, Alice Bailey
tive” from the perspective of mainstream Western society.
“channeled” a spiritual prayer known as “The Great Invoca-
To many observers, the increasing visibility of “things New
tion,” which is still used by some New Age adherents to in-
Age” in the media and popular culture conveyed the impres-
voke the New Age and which reflects the pronounced Chris-
sion of something radically new: the birth of a grassroots
tian elements that still informed the occultist millenarianism
movement of social and spiritual innovation, prophesying a
of the early New Age movement. These elements would re-
profound transformation of Western society that some
main prominent during the second, countercultural stage of
claimed would culminate in a vastly superior culture—the
its development. During the 1960s, the basic belief system
“Age of Aquarius.”
and millenarian expectations of the UFO groups were adopt-
The phenomenon that came to be known as the New
ed by various utopian communities, the most famous of
Age movement during the last two decades of the twentieth
which is the Findhorn community in Scotland. The mem-
century actually had its immediate roots in the countercul-
bers of these communities were trying to live in a new way,
ture of the 1960s and some of its immediate predecessors,
in tune with the laws of nature and the universe. They were
while its fundamental ideas had much more ancient origins.
trying, in the spirit of “The Great Invocation,” to be “Cen-
New Age religion is neither something completely new nor
ters of Light,” or focal points in a network from which spiri-
just a revival—or survival—of something ancient. While its
tual illumination would eventually spread out and encom-
fundamental ideas have origins that can be traced far back
pass the globe.
in history, these ideas are interpreted and put to use in a
manner that makes New Age a manifestation par excellence
In the attitude of these early New Agers, represented by
of postmodern consumer society. In order to gain a balanced
popular spokespeople such as David Spangler (b. 1945) or
view of the New Age movement, we therefore need to con-
George Trevelyan (1906–1996), there can be seen an impor-
sider both dimensions: its historical foundations as well as
tant change from the perspectives of the 1950s UFO groups.
its specific modernity.
Whereas the pronounced apocalypticism of the latter en-
tailed an essentially passive attitude of “waiting for the great
THE NEW AGE MOVEMENT IN A STRICT SENSE (1950S–
events” that would destroy the old civilization and usher in
1970S). The immediate roots of the New Age movement
a New Age, utopian communities of the 1960s, such as Find-
may seem surprising at first. Shortly after World War II,
horn, increasingly emphasized the importance of an activist,
popular curiosity was attracted by unexplained phenomena
constructive attitude: Spangler noted in The Rebirth of the
in the sky referred to as unidentified flying objects (UFOs).
Sacred: “Instead of spreading warnings of apocalypse, let
In various places in Western Europe and the United States,
Findhorn proclaim that the new age is already here, in spirit
study groups were formed by people who wanted to investi-
if not in form, and that anyone can now cocreate with that
gate these phenomena, and some of those groups rapidly pro-
spirit so that the form will become manifest” (London, 1984,
ceeded to take on cultic characteristics. Typically, such
pp. 34–35). This became the perspective typical of the New
groups believed that UFOs were in fact spaceships inhabited
Age movement of the 1960s and its sympathizers in later
by intelligent beings from other planets or other dimensions
decades.
of outer space. Representing a superior level of cultural, tech-
nological, and spiritual evolution, they now made their ap-
THE CULTIC MILIEU. This early New Age movement, born
pearance to herald the coming of a New Age. The Earth was
in the context of the postwar UFO cults and flowering in the
entering a new evolutionary cycle that would be accompa-
spiritual utopianism of the 1960s and 1970s, was only one
nied by a new and superior kind of spiritual consciousness.
manifestation of the countercultural ferment of the times.
However, since the present cultures of humanity were thor-
More generally, this ferment found expression in a wide-
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NEW AGE MOVEMENT
spread “cultic milieu” (Campbell, 1972) in Western society:
radical change (Ferguson, 1980, p. 23). Physicist Fritjof
a diffuse phenomenon consisting of individuals who feel dis-
Capra saw it as the “rising culture” destined to replace the
satisfied with mainstream Western culture and religion and
declining culture of the modern West (Capra, 1982,
are looking for alternatives. This cultic milieu proved to be
p. 419). But eventually what they were referring to came to
fertile soil for a plethora of new religious movements of vari-
be known as the New Age movement: by the late 1970s and
ous provenance. Some of these movements took the form of
early 1980s the term New Age was adopted from the specific
relatively stable social entities, including an internal hierar-
occultist-millenarian movement known under that name
chy of power and authority, definite doctrines and rules of
and came to be applied as a catchall term for the much more
conduct, clearly defined boundaries between members and
extensive and complex cultic milieu of the 1980s and be-
nonmembers, claims of exclusive truth, and so on. Other
yond. This is how the New Age movement in a strict sense
movements were more ephemeral and fluid, with relatively
was absorbed into the New Age movement in a general sense.
few demands on members and an inclusive and tolerant atti-
tude. The latter type of cultic groups may come into exis-
This development has been a cause of concern for some
tence quickly and vanish as quickly again, and their member-
representatives of the original movement, who perceived in
ship may sometimes be very small. Members may participate
it a cheapening of the idea of a New Age. While the original
in several such groups at the same time—displaying an activi-
New Age movement had been carried by high-minded ideal-
ty known as “spiritual shopping”—without feeling commit-
ism and an ethic of service to humanity, the movement of
ted to making a choice in favor of one at the expense of the
the 1980s quickly developed into an increasingly commer-
other. This type of spiritual activity is most characteristic of
cialized “spiritual marketplace” catering to the tastes and
the development of the “cultic milieu” that spawned and
whims of an individualistic clientele. While the original
supported the New Age movement of the 1980s.
movement had espoused a reasonably coherent theosophical
metaphysics and philosophy of history, the movement of the
It is helpful to distinguish the latter movement from the
1980s seemed to present a hodgepodge of ideas and specula-
original New Age movement described above. The spiritual
tions without a clear focus and direction. While the excited
perspectives associated with the UFO cults of the 1950s and
expectation of a radical New Age dominated the earlier
the utopian communities of the 1960s and 1970s may collec-
movement, this expectation ceased to be central to the move-
tively be referred to as the New Age movement in a strict
ment of the 1980s, which, in spite of its name, tends to con-
sense (Hanegraaff, 1996/1998, pp. 94–103). This move-
centrate on the spiritual development of the individual rather
ment is characterized by a broadly occultist metaphysics
than of society. The development might also be described in
(with special prominence of the forms of Theosophy
terms of cultural geographics: while the original movement
founded by Alice Bailey and, to some extent, Rudolf St-
was England-based and relied upon occultist traditions that
einer), a relatively strong emphasis on community values and
had long been influential there, the new movement was
a traditional morality emphasizing altruistic love and service
dominated by the so-called metaphysical and New Thought
to humanity, and a very strong millenarian emphasis focused
traditions typical of American alternative culture. The move
on the expectation of the New Age. This New Age move-
from community-oriented values to individual-centered ones
ment “in a strict sense” still exists, but its membership is rath-
is a reflection of that development.
er strongly dominated by the baby-boomer generation and
tends to be perceived as somewhat old-fashioned by new-
Indeed, the New Age movement in a general sense has
generation New Agers. By the end of the 1970s this New Age
been dominated by American cultural and spiritual ideas and
movement in a strict sense came to be assimilated as merely
values, and the most important spokespersons have been
one aspect within the much more complex and widespread
Americans. While many names could be mentioned, two
phenomenon that may be referred to, by way of contrast, as
stand out as symbolic of the 1980s and the 1990s, respective-
the New Age movement in a general sense.
ly. During the 1980s the most vocal representative of the
THE NEW AGE MOVEMENT IN A GENERAL SENSE (1980S–
New Age idea may have been the movie actress Shirley Mac-
1990S). This New Age movement in a general sense may be
Laine. Her autobiographies, published between 1983 and
defined as the cultic milieu having become conscious of it-
1989, in which she describes her spiritual quest, and the tele-
self, by the end of the 1970s, as constituting a more or less
vision miniseries Out on a Limb based upon the first of these
unified movement (although not a New Religious Move-
books, encapsulate the essential perspective of the New Age
ment in the normal sense of the word; Hanegraaff, 1996/
movement of the 1980s. For the 1990s the same thing may
1998, p. 17). In other words, people who participated in var-
be said of the best-sellers of James Redfield: The Celestine
ious “alternative” activities and pursuits began to consider
Prophecy, with its accompanying Celestine Workbook, and a
themselves as part of an international invisible community
succession of follow-up volumes capitalizing on the success
of like-minded individuals, the collective efforts of whom
of the first one. While MacLaine’s autobiographies were cer-
were destined to change the world into a better and more
tainly easy to read, Redfield’s books carried the New Age per-
spiritual place. American sociologist Marilyn Ferguson re-
spective to a new level of simplicity, thereby broadening the
ferred to this phenomenon as the Aquarian Conspiracy: a
potential market for New Age beyond the audiences already
“leaderless but powerful network” working to bring about
reached by earlier authors.
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6497
These developments contributed to the fact that by the
addition, popular practices of magnetic healing, also referred
beginning of the 1990s more and more people attracted to
to as mesmerism, reached the United States as early as 1836
alternative spirituality began to distance themselves from the
and spread widely in the following decades, eventually pro-
label New Age, which they perceived as loaded with unwant-
viding a popular basis for the emergence of the so-called New
ed associations. During the 1980s it was still possible to in-
Thought movement of the later nineteenth century. Each
vestigate the New Age movement (in a general sense) simply
one of these various currents—Spiritualism, modern theoso-
by questioning people who identified themselves as involved
phy, and the American New Thought movement—has taken
in New Age; during the 1990s participants increasingly re-
on a multitude of forms, and their representatives have min-
fused to identify themselves as such, preferring vague and
gled and exchanged ideas and practices in various way. The
noncommittal terms such as “spirituality.” It is a mistake to
result of all this alternative religious activity was the emer-
conclude from this, as has sometimes been done, that the
gence, during the nineteenth century, of an international
New Age movement is declining or vanishing. Rather, the
“cultic milieu” with its own social networks and literature;
movement has been moving away from its traditional status
relying on an essentially nineteenth-century framework of
as a “counterculture” that proclaims the New Age in a ges-
ideas and beliefs, this cultic milieu has continued and further
ture of rejecting the values of the “old culture.” Attempts to
developed during the twentieth century, eventually to pro-
replace the term New Age by a term such as spirituality fit
vide the foundation after World War II for the emergence
within a new strategy of adaptation and assimilation instead
of the New Age movement.
of rejection and confrontation, as a result of which the New
Age movement is now securing its place as an increasingly
The occultist or secularized esoteric milieu of the nine-
professionalized spiritual wing within the cultural main-
teenth and twentieth centuries differs from traditional West-
stream.
ern Esotericism in at least four respects, which are crucial for
S
understanding New Age religion. First, Esotericism was orig-
ECULARIZED ESOTERICISM. From the perspective of intel-
lectual history, the basic ideas of New Age religion have their
inally grounded in a worldview where all parts of the universe
origins in the traditions referred to as modern Western Es-
were linked by invisible networks of noncausal correspon-
otericism, which took shape since the early Renaissance. The
dences and a divine power of life was considered to permeate
foundational worldviews of Western esoteric religiosity were
the whole of nature. Although esotericists have continued to
thoroughly transformed, however, under the impact of vari-
defend such holistic view of the world as permeated by invisi-
ous processes of modernization since the eighteenth century,
ble forces, their actual statements demonstrate that they
resulting in a new phenomenon that may be referred to as
came to compromise in various ways with the mechanical
secularized Esotericism and that comprises “all attempts by
and disenchanted world models that achieved cultural domi-
esotericists to come to terms with a disenchanted world or,
nance under the impact of scientific materialism and nine-
alternatively, by people in general to make sense of Esoteri-
teenth-century positivism. Accordingly, secularized Esoteri-
cism from the perspective of a disenchanted secular world”
cism is characterized by hybrid mixtures of traditional
(Hanegraaff, 1996/1998, p. 422). Although there is a risk of
esoteric and modern scientistic-materialist worldviews: while
terminological confusion, the term occultism will be used
originally the religious belief in a universe brought forth by
below as a synonym for secularized Esotericism.
a personal God was axiomatic for Esotericism, eventually this
belief succumbed partly or completely to popular scientific
The first signs of a secularization of Western Esotericism
visions of a universe answering to impersonal laws of causali-
may be perceived in the perspectives of Swedish visionary
ty. Even though the laws in question may be referred to as
Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772) and German physician
spiritual, nonetheless they tend to be described according to
Franz Anton Mesmer (1734–1815), both of whom exerted
models taken from science rather than religion.
an incalculable influence on the history of Esotericism dur-
ing the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Theurgical prac-
Second, the traditional Christian presuppositions of
tices, spiritual manifestations, and psychic phenomena of a
modern Western Esotericism were increasingly questioned
type already present in some esoteric societies of the later
and relativized because of new translations of Asian religious
eighteenth century as well as in the popular practice of mag-
texts and the emergence of a “comparative study of the reli-
netic healing achieved mass popularity in the second half of
gions of the world.” Asian religions began to display mission-
the nineteenth century in the movement known as Spiritual-
ary activities in Western countries, and their representatives
ism. Spiritualism provided a context within which a plethora
typically sought to convince their audience by using Western
of more or less sophisticated occultist movements came into
terms and concepts to present the spirituality of religions
existence. Among these manifestations of alternative religios-
such as Hinduism and Buddhism. Conversely, since esoteri-
ity, the Theosophical Society founded in 1875 by Helena P.
cists had always believed that the essential truths of esoteric
Blavatsky (1831–1891) and Henry Steel Olcott (1832–
spirituality were universal in nature and could be discovered
1907) is certainly the most important in terms of its influ-
at the heart of all great religious traditions East and West,
ence, and the basic metaphysical system of modern theoso-
it was natural for them during the nineteenth century to in-
phy may be considered the archetypal manifestation of oc-
corporate Asian concepts and terminology into already-
cultist spirituality at least until far into the 1970s. In
existing Western esoteric frameworks. One excellent example
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NEW AGE MOVEMENT
is the concept of karma that Blavatsky adopted from Hindu-
are competing with more traditional forms of religion (in-
ism as a welcome alternative to Christian concepts of divine
cluding the Christian churches as well as other great religious
providence, whereas Blavatsky’s essential understanding of
traditions such as Islam or Buddhism) and with a great num-
reincarnation depended on Western esoteric rather than
ber of so-called new religious movements. However, in this
Asian sources (see discussion in Hanegraaff, 1996/1998,
universal battle for the attention of the consumer, the New
pp. 479–482).
Age movement enjoys certain advantages over most of its
competitors, which seem to make it the representative par
Third, the well-known debate between Christian crea-
excellence of the contemporary spirituality of the market.
tionism and the new theories of evolution became highly rel-
Whereas most other spiritual currents that compete for the
evant to esotericists as well, and in this battle they generally
attention of the consumer in modern society take the form
took the side of science. But although popular evolutionism
of (at least rudimentary) organizations, enabling their mem-
became a crucial aspect of Esotericism as it developed from
bers to see themselves as part of a religious community, New
the nineteenth into the twentieth century, and although this
Age spirituality is strictly focused on the individual and his
evolutionism was generally used as part of a strategy of pre-
or her personal development. In fact, this individualism
senting occultism as scientifically legitimate, the actual types
functions as an in-built defense mechanism against social or-
of evolutionism found in this context depended less on Dar-
ganization and institutionalization: as soon as any group of
winian theory than on philosophical models originating in
people involved with New Age ideas begins to take up “cul-
German Idealism and Romanticism. The idea of a universal
tic” characteristics, this very fact already distances them from
process of spiritual evolution and progress, involving human
the basic individualism of New Age spirituality. The more
souls as well as the universe in its entirety, is not to be found
strongly they begin to function as a cult, or even as a sect,
in traditional Western Esotericism but became fundamental
the more other New Agers will suspect that they are becom-
to almost all forms of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Es-
ing a church (that is, that they are relapsing into what are
otericism.
considered old-fashioned patterns of dogmatism, intoler-
Finally, the emergence of modern psychology (itself de-
ance, and exclusivism), and the less they will be acceptable
pendent partly on mesmerism and the Romantic fascination
to the general cultic milieu of New Age spirituality. Within
with the “night-side of nature”) has had an enormous impact
the present social context of a democratic free market of ideas
on the development of Esotericism from the second half of
and practices, the New Age’s strict emphasis on the self and
the nineteenth century on. While psychology could be used
on individual experience as the only reliable source of spiritu-
as an argument against Christianity and against religion gen-
al truth, the authority of which can never be overruled by
erally by arguing that God or the gods are merely projections
any religious dogma or considerations of solidarity with com-
of the human psyche, it also proved possible to present West-
munal values, functions as an effective mechanism against in-
ern esoteric worldviews in terms of a new psychological ter-
stitutionalization of New Age religion into a religion. This
minology. Most influential in this respect was Swiss psychia-
essential individualism makes the New Ager into the ideal
trist Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961), whose spiritual
spiritual consumer. Except for the very focus on the self and
perspective was deeply rooted in the esoteric and occult cur-
its spiritual evolution, there are no constraints a priori on a
rents of German Romantic Naturphilosophie but whose
New Ager’s potential spiritual interests; the fact that every
theories could be used to present that spirituality as a scientif-
New Ager continually creates and re-creates his or her own
ic psychology. Apart from Jung, the pop psychology of the
private system of symbolic meaning and values means that
American New Thought movement has been a major
spiritual suppliers on the New Age market enjoy maximum
influence on the mixtures of occultism and psychology
opportunities for presenting him or her with ever-new com-
typical of New Age spirituality (Hanegraaff, 1996/1998,
modities.
pp. 482–513).
As indicated above, that New Age as a spiritual super-
POSTMODERN SPIRITUALITY: THE RELIGION OF THE SELF.
market caters to an individualistic clientele primarily inter-
To the four main aspects of the secularization of Western Es-
ested in personal growth and development is not only a fact
otericism, perhaps a fifth one may be added that became
of social observation but also reflects beliefs that are basic to
dominant only after World War II and is fully characteristic
the movement. At the symbolic center of New Age world-
of the New Age movement of the 1980s and 1990s: the im-
views, one typically finds not a concept of God but, rather,
pact of the capitalist market economy on the domain of spiri-
the concept of the (higher) Self, so that New Age spirituality
tuality. Increasingly, the New Age movement has taken the
has indeed sometimes been dubbed Self Religion (Heelas).
shape of a spiritual supermarket where religious consumers
The symbolism of the self is linked to a basic mythology,
pick and choose the spiritual commodities they fancy and use
which narrates the growth and development of the individual
them to create their own spiritual syntheses, fine-tuned to
soul through many incarnations and existences in the direc-
their strictly personal needs. The phenomenon of a spiritual
tion of ever-increasing knowledge and spiritual insight. Strict
supermarket is not limited to the New Age movement only
concentration on personal spiritual development rather than
but is a general characteristic of religion in (post)modern
on communal values is therefore not considered a reflection
Western democracies. Various forms of New Age spirituality
of egoism but, rather, of a legitimate spiritual practice based
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NEW AGE MOVEMENT
6499
on listening to your own inner guidance: only by following
Likewise, specialized New Age centers for healing and per-
one’s inner voice may one find one’s way through the chaos
sonal growth predictably become less necessary to the extent
of voices that clamor for attention on the spiritual supermar-
that at least a part of their therapeutic services are becoming
ket and find one’s personal way to enlightenment.
more acceptable in mainstream medical and psychological
contexts. One might well interpret such developments as re-
A final remark is in order about the question of a global-
flecting not the decline of the New Age movement but, pre-
ization of New Age religion beyond the confines of Western
cisely, its development from a countercultural movement set
democracies. From what has been said, it will be clear that
apart from the mainstream to a significant dimension of the
New Age religion is a product of specific historical develop-
spiritual landscape of contemporary Western society in gen-
ments in Western culture and that its present manifestations
eral.
are impossible to separate from the internal dynamics of
(post)modern consumer societies. Furthermore, as a move-
Whether or not the label New Age will eventually sur-
ment that owes its identity to a consistent pattern of criticism
vive, there is no evidence that the basic spiritual perspectives,
directed against certain dominant aspects of mainstream
beliefs, and practices characteristic of the movement of the
Western culture, it is difficult even to imagine New Age reli-
1980s and 1990s are losing popular credibility. Quite the
gion existing in non-Western societies. It has often been
contrary: all the evidence indicates that they are becoming
claimed that New Age is spreading to continents other than
more acceptable to great numbers of people in contemporary
North America and Europe (such as Africa, South America,
Western societies, whether or not the latter identify them-
or Asia); but on closer scrutiny one discovers that scholars
selves as “New Agers.” Again, the phenomenon is anything
who describe such processes of alleged acculturation tend to
but surprising, for the highly individualized approach to spir-
use the term New Age in a too vague and intuitive sense, and
ituality traditionally referred to as New Age simply accords
that they are usually speaking of the spread, not of New Age
too well with the demands of the contemporary consumer
religion, but of various Western new religious movements to
culture in a democratic society where citizens insist on their
non-Western societies (Hanegraaff, 2001). To the extent
personal autonomy in matter of religion.
that non-Western cultures and societies resist socioeconomic
That the social dynamics of postmodern consumer soci-
pressures tending toward a global Americanization, there is
ety happen to favor a particular type of religion (referred to
no particular reason to refer to new forms of spiritual syncre-
above as secularized Esotericism) is a fact of recent history,
tisms that may emerge on their soil as New Age religion; this
but once again it is not a surprising one. That traditional
is true regardless of whether or not these syncretisms happen
forms of religion—the Christian churches and their theolo-
to owe something to the influence of Western New Age
gies—are in decline at least in the contemporary Western
ideas. Rather, such local new spiritualities must be consid-
European context is a generally known fact. The vogue of
ered as products of the specific culture and society in ques-
postmodern relativism indicates that the grand narratives of
tion, and one should not prejudge the question of whether—
progress by science and rationality are shaken as well. If more
and if so, to what extent—they can be compared to the
and more people feel that traditional Christianity, rationali-
Western phenomenon of New Age religion.
ty, and science are no longer able to give sense and meaning
WHITHER THE NEW AGE? For quite some time now, it has
to human existence, it is to be expected that a spiritual per-
been claimed by scholars and critics that the days of the New
spective based on personal revelations by means of gnosis or
Age movement are numbered, that the New Age is over, or
personal religious experience will profit from the circum-
that the movement has already yielded to a follow-up phe-
stances (Van den Broek and Hanegraaff, 1996/1998,
nomenon sometimes referred to as the Next Age. Whether
pp. vii–x). As long as the grand narratives of the past fail to
this is true depends very much on one’s definition. There are
regain their hold over the population while no new ones are
indeed clear signs that New Age religion is losing its status
forthcoming, and as long as Western democratic societies
as a countercultural movement and is now increasingly as-
continue to emphasize the supreme virtue of individual free-
similated by the mainstream of society. Such a development
dom, the “self religion” traditionally known as New Age will
is anything but surprising: rather, it may be seen as the predi-
remain a force to be reckoned with.
cable result of commercial success. From one perspective, the
fact that New Age is developing from a distinct countercul-
SEE ALSO Blavatsky, H. P.; Esotericism; Jung, C. G.; New
ture to merely a dimension of mainstream culture may in-
Religious Movements, article on New Religious Movements
deed be interpreted as the end of the New Age movement
and Millennialism; New Thought Movement; Occultism;
as we have known it; but from another one, it may be seen
Olcott, Henry Steel; Spiritualism; Swedenborg, Emanuel;
as reflecting the commonsense fact that New Age is develop-
Swedenborgianism; Theosophical Society; UFO Religions.
ing and changing, just like any other religious movement
known to history. The idea of a decline of New Age is largely
BIBLIOGRAPHY
the result of optical illusion. There are some indications that
Bednarowski, Mary Farrell. New Religions and the Theological
the phenomenon of specialized New Age bookstores is de-
Imagination in America. Bloomington and Indianapolis,
clining, but at the same time one notices a substantial in-
Ind., 1989. Probably the first book to take New Age theolo-
crease of spiritual literature on the shelves of bookstores.
gies seriously.
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6500
NEW CALEDONIA RELIGION
Bochinger, Christoph. “New Age” und moderne Religion: Religion-
NEW CALEDONIA RELIGION is best known
swissenschaftliche Analysen, Gütersloh, 1994. The most ambi-
from the work of Maurice Leenhardt, a former Protestant
tious study of the German context; it interprets New Age as
missionary (Société des Missions Évangéliques Pratique de
a “phantom” created by book publishing enterprises rather
Paris), who was Marcel Mauss’s successor as professor of
than an actual “religious movement.”
comparative religions at the École Pratique des Hautes
Campbell, Colin. “The Cult, the Cultic Milieu, and Seculariza-
Études.
tion.” A Sociological Yearbook of Religion in Britain 5 (1972):
119–136. A classic article that made theoretical and termino-
Because each local group (mwaro) in New Caledonia is
logical distinctions essential to an adequate analysis of the
linked with an animal or plant or other natural phenome-
New Age movement.
non, Western observers have described the religion of the is-
Capra, Fritjof. The Turning Point: Science, Society, and the Rising
land as “totemism.” Though this term is now less fashionable
Culture. New York, 1982.
than it was in the period from 1880 to 1940, it can still, for
convenience’ sake, be applied to the New Caledonia religious
Corrywright, Dominic. Theoretical and Empirical Investigations
system. The local groups have divided among themselves all
into New Age Spiritualities. Oxford and New York, 2003.
One of the most recent sociological studies.
the aspects of nature that either can be utilized or need to
be feared, with each group becoming the master of a particu-
Ferguson, Marilyn. The Aquarian Conspiracy: Personal and Social
lar aspect. Within each group, one of the members of the
Transformation in the 1980s. Los Angeles and New York,
most junior line, referred to as the group’s “master,” is in
1980.
charge of performing the ritual that will protect or benefit
Hammer, Olav. Claiming Knowledge: Strategies of Epistemology
all the mwaro. Thus, the master of the yam ensures a good
from Theosophy to the New Age. Leiden and Boston, 2001.
crop over the whole of the valley. Along the sea one finds
Analyzes in depth the argumentative strategies by which con-
masters of the trade winds, the shark, the whale, or the mos-
temporary esotericists seek to present their beliefs as “reason-
quito, while masters of the thunder are to be found nearer
able.”
the mountain range.
Hanegraaff, Wouter J. New Age Religion and Western Culture: Es-
otericism in the Mirror of Secular Thought. Leiden, 1996; Al-
Each master not only ensures prosperity and wards off
bany, N.Y., 1998. The most complete study of New Age be-
natural disasters, but also controls the specific sickness
liefs and their historical backgrounds.
thought to be linked with the totemic entity assigned to him.
If someone is ailing, word is sent to a seer, who divines the
Hanegraaff, Wouter J. “New Age Spiritualities as Secular Reli-
gion: A Historian’s Perspective.” Social Compass 46, no. 2
cause of the sickness. A messenger is then sent to the master
(1999): 145–160. Discusses further aspects of New Age not
in charge of the force responsible for the sickness. The master
treated in Hanegraaff 1996/1998.
prays and gives the necessary herbal remedies to the patient;
many of these medications are quite effective in treating at
Hanegraaff, Wouter J. “Prospects for the Globalization of New
Age: Spiritual Imperialism versus Cultural Diversity.” In
least those illnesses that were not brought by Europeans.
New Age Religion and Globalization, edited by Mikael Roth-
The natures of the New Caledonia gods are complex,
stein, pp. 15–30. Aarhus, 2001. Analyzes what is at stake in
and Leenhardt spent considerable time attempting to under-
studying the spread of New Age ideas to non-Western con-
stand them. R. H. Codrington, in The Melanesians (1891),
texts.
distinguished two principal types of gods: those who were
Hanegraaff, Wouter J. “Spectral Evidence of New Age Religion:
once human and those who have never been human. The
On the Substance of Ghosts and the Use of Concepts.” Jour-
New Caledonians, however, make no linguistical distinction,
nal of New Age Studies 1 (2004). Discusses theoretical and
both types of gods being referred to either as bao or due. The
methodological issues suggested by recent social-science
two kinds of deities are linked in the figure of Teê Pijopac,
studies of New Age.
a god who has himself never been human but who controls
Heelas, Paul. The New Age Movement: The Celebration of the Self
the subterranean or submarine land of the dead, where all
and the Sacralization of Modernity. Cambridge, Mass., 1996.
must go. According to local belief, the dead reach the en-
The best sociological study of New Age.
trances to this land by following ridges that lead down to the
Spangler, David. Emergence: The Rebirth of the Sacred. New York,
sea. At one of these entrances, known as Pucangge (near
1984.
Bourail), the goddess Nyôwau examines all those who wish
Sutcliffe, Steven J. Children of the New Age: A History of Spiritual
to enter to make sure that their left earlobe is pierced. She
Practices. London and New York, 2003. Methodologically
pierces any unpierced lobe with the mussel-shell knife that
problematic and unreliable as regards the general New Age
she also uses to peel yams.
movement, but contains good discussions of the England-
There is constant communication between the living
based “New Age in a strict sense.”
and the dead. The dead can be seen and spoken with when
York, Michael. The Emerging Network: A Sociology of the New Age
needed. They can be called upon to help in a crisis such as
and Neo-Pagan Movements. Lanham, Md., and London,
sickness or war, or to favor the results of family labors. Myths
1995. The first book-length sociological study of New Age.
speak of the living going to the land of the dead and of the
WOUTER J. HANEGRAAFF (2005)
dead acting in the land of the living. There are, for example,
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NEW CALEDONIA RELIGION
6501
various versions of a myth in which a loving husband at-
various forms depending on the setting: thus, for some chief-
tempts to bring his young wife back from the land of the
ly families of the so-called Naacuwe-Cidopwaan group the
dead. He either succeeds in his quest through the help of a
rhë e takes the form of a lizard if seen inland, but becomes
bird (a common link for communication with the dead), or
a water-snake on the beach, or a shark in the sea, and is also
he fails. Among the stories about people from the under-
thought of as a masked male dancer said to emerge from the
world acting among the living there are those that describe
sea.
an unsuspecting husband who might find, for example, that
his new wife snores at night, or that she is double-jointed,
Missionaries who worked among the New Caledonians
both of which are characteristics of people from the under-
attempted to find the natives’ idols in order to destroy them;
world. There are also numerous versions of a myth about a
they discovered objects resembling idols that had been care-
goddess, usually Toririhnan, who, after drowning the preg-
fully preserved by clan leaders over the course of centuries.
nant wife of a chief, disguises herself as the wife by filling her
Pierre Lambert (1900) has published illustrations of some of
belly with pots. The true wife, however, is saved by a miracle
these items. They are stones of various shapes about which
and taken away to a distant island. Later, this woman returns
little is actually known except that they turn up from time
with her grown sons; their identity is revealed, and the usurp-
to time in yam gardens, are linked with the clan’s totem enti-
er is killed.
ty, and are in some way connected with success in farming,
fishing, weather control, and so forth, as were the thunder-
Other gods preside over agriculture, such as Kapwangwa
stones (meteorites) of the Europeans of old. It has been ob-
Kapwicalo, who protects irrigated taro terraces in the Gomen
served that when these artifacts are used as repositories of the
area, or Toririhnan, who causes it to rain each time she blows
divine presence for sacramental purposes—and not as repre-
her nose at the top of the Hienghène Valley. There are also
sentations of gods—they can be replaced if lost or confiscat-
a great number of gods whose function is the protection of
ed. This provision allows for the indefinite preservation of
a given clan, protection that is often traced back to the clan’s
this type of link with the divine.
mythical origin. Gods can have sexual relations with hu-
mans, an event that either can have terrifying conse-
It is important to recognize that the mythical systems
quences—such as the death of the mortal or the turning
of the hundreds of different clans are highly diversified, a di-
backward of his head—or can resemble normal human sexu-
versity that appears most clearly in the origin myths of the
al acts. Myths in which families trace their origins to in-
various groups. Some clans believe their spiritual origin to
stances of intercourse between gods and humans record both
be the mountain that is called Souma (in the Ajië language)
types of occurrences.
or Caumyë (in the Paici language). The vernacular texts ob-
tained by Leenhardt demonstrated that the mountain had a
Indeed in Melanesia, as in Polynesia, all genealogies
connection with the creation of mankind and that its impor-
have divine origins, and although the religion of New Cale-
tance stems from the gods who live in the various principal
donia is totemistic in appearance there is no available evi-
mountains. For instance, Ka To Souma, the god associated
dence that any of the kinship groups believe that they are de-
with Souma, guards one of the possible entrances to the sub-
scended from the animal species or natural phenomenon
terranean land of the dead. So great is the respect for, and
with which they are spiritually associated. These totem enti-
fear of, this god that his proper name (Gomawe or Kavere)
ties—called rhë re (sg., rhë e)—represent the “spiritual be-
is never uttered. Other clans, usually those living near the
longing” of the group and are passed along through the male
watershed, claim a spiritual link with one or another of the
line. When a woman marries outside of her totem group, her
forms of thunder. These different forms are grouped in dis-
rhë e is sometimes said to follow her. This does not mean,
tinctive ways according to the local theology, thereby giving
however, that the rhë e has left its original abode; because
each clan a powerful mythical protector. Clans can thus be
mythical beings are understood to be ubiquitous they are
classified according to their myths; conversely, mythical be-
thought to be able to dwell in the two places at once.
ings in charge of protecting the various clans may be classi-
fied according to the patrilineal marriage moieties with
There are occasions on which the rhë re and the bao
which they are associated in the Paici area or, in the north,
(who were formerly human) meet. Such a meeting will take
according to the political phratries to which they belong.
place in part of the landscape that is outside of human con-
trol, such as the bush, the forest, or the mountain range. The
The nearby Loyalty Islands (Uvéa, Lifou, and Maré)
dead, those bao who were formerly human, can merge with
present a different set of problems. Although the inhabitants
the rhë e that is linked with their clan. Thus, for example,
have been Christians for a century and a half (twice as long
if thunder is associated with a particular group, the rumbling
as the natives of New Caledonia proper) sacred groves still
of the thunder is also the voice of the dead of that clan. Also
exist there, the old deities are remembered, and the cult of
in accordance with this pattern, no ancestor of the octopus
the dead continues to surface from time to time. However,
group, for example, will appear in the form of a shark, unless
the distribution of mythical beings among the families of the
they have what early authors referred to as “linked totems,”
islands is significantly different from what prevails in New
that is, clusters of symbols all of which are linked to a certain
Caledonia. One essential aspect of the religion of the Loyalty
mwaro. In some cases a group’s rhë e will manifest itself in
Islands is that direct relations with the invisible world are the
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NEW GUINEA RELIGIONS [FIRST EDITION]
prerogative of the oldest established clans. These privileged
NEW GUINEA RELIGIONS [FIRST EDI-
clans, called ten adro (on Lifou), wäi (on Uvéa), or èlè-tok
TION]. Any summary of traditional religions in New
(on Maré), act as hosts to visiting gods. It is this status as host
Guinea must address itself to two issues: the people’s subjec-
to the gods that provides legitimacy to the chiefly lines of
tive view of the phenomena, and outside observers’ arbitrary
today. The senior clans are also, however, the wardens of the
definitions of them, which are often at odds with each other.
invisible road along which the dead travel, eventually diving
Melanesians as a whole appear to have no collective term for
into the sea and reaching the island of Heo (Beautemps-
religion as a separate cultural category in their own lan-
Beaupré), where the entrance to the world of the dead is lo-
guages, so that it is difficult to specify the limits of inquiry.
cated. At the court of each of the paramount chiefs, a special
In their eyes, however important to them, “religion” is mere-
person (called Atesi on Lifou and, on Maré, Acania) has the
ly one facet of their generalized sociocultural system. The
role of being the representative of these clans. He acts as their
foreign observer has to select and concentrate on those fea-
intermediary, for neither they nor their yams can enter a
tures that most closely resemble religion in his own society.
chief’s house since their presence would endanger his life. On
It must also be asked what the foreign observer’s most appro-
these islands there is thus a formalized distinction between
priate approach to the study of religion would be. During
families having the privilege of communicating with the di-
the last hundred-odd years anthropology has been rich in
vine world—each ten adro has its own god, to which only
definitions of religion, three of which—the intellectualist,
it can pray—and those who must be satisfied with praying
the economic or technological, and the social—dominated
to their own dead. The latter use diviners to discover whom
field inquiry. Before I survey New Guinea religions, I will
they must negotiate with in order to ward off any invisible
consider the theoretical relevance of these three approaches,
power which is causing injury to the clan.
especially with regard to their one common tenet: the strict
dichotomy between religion and magic.
SEE ALSO Codrington, R. H.; Leenhardt, Maurice.
For E. B. Tylor and James G. Frazer, writing in the last
BIBLIOGRAPHY
third of the nineteenth century, religion was man’s belief in
The oldest, but still quite illuminating, work on the subject of
superior spirit-beings (such as gods and ghosts), whom he
New Caledonia religion is R. P. Gagnère’s Étude ethnologique
sur la religion des Néo-calédoniens
(Saint-Louis, France,
had to placate by means of prayer and sacrifice, whereas
1905). It vividly describes the man and lizard cult relation
magic was his belief that he himself, ideally without the aid
in the Pouebo area of northeastern New Caledonia. Pierre
of spirit-beings, could use sympathetic techniques to control
Lambert’s Moeurs et superstitions des Néo-calédoniens (Nou-
nonpersonalized occult forces. Although this approach is
méa, New Caledonia, 1900) is interesting, although Lambert
consistent with the great intellectual importance New Guin-
is at times less than accurate in his descriptions of the reli-
eans attach to religion and magic, the dichotomy it posits be-
gions of the Belep Islands in the north and the Isle of Pines
tween religion and magic often cannot be substantiated.
in the south. The monumental, two-volume Ethnologie der
Many New Guinea rituals are designed not to placate spirit-
Neu-Caledonier und Loyalty-Insulaner (Munich, 1929) by the
beings but to place them in morally binding relationships
Swiss ethnographer Fritz Sarasin contains an indispensable
which leave them no option but to comply with human
atlas. The classic works in the field are Maurice Leenhardt’s
wishes. Indeed, some sympathetic techniques are believed to
two volumes: Notes d’ethnologie néo-calédonienne (Paris,
1930) and Documents néo-calédoniens (Paris, 1932). Admired
derive their power from spirit-beings, who gave them to
for their precision at the time of their publication, Leen-
mankind. Clearly, this definition would continually produce
hardt’s books are full of information, and continue to be
unsatisfactory hybrid forms.
valuable research tools. My own contributions to the subject
Bronislaw Malinowski, whose approach derived from
include the following: Structure de la chefferie en Mélanésie du
sud
(Paris, 1963), Mythologie du masque en Nouvelle-
fieldwork in the Trobriand Islands (now part of Papua New
Calédonie (Paris, 1966), Des multiples niveaux de signification
Guinea) during World War I, distinguished religion from
du mythe (Paris, 1968), and Naissance et avortement d’un mes-
magic on the basis of the ends sought by those engaged in
sianisme (Paris, 1959). Recent publications in the field in-
a ritual. A religious rite, on Malinowski’s view, is an end in
clude Marie-Joseph Dubois’s Mythes et traditions de Maré,
itself with no obviously pragmatic objective, while the aim
Nouvelle Calédonie: Les Elètok (Paris, 1975) and Alban Bensa
of magic, vitally important for economic production, is “al-
and Jean-Claude Rivière’s Les chemins de l’alliance: L’orga-
ways clear, straightforward, and definite.” Although its stress
nisation sociale et ses représentations en Nouvelle-Calédonie
on economic affairs is quite correct, this approach pays too
(Paris, 1982).
little attention to a people’s intellectual life. Again, Malinow-
New Sources
ski’s dichotomy between religion and magic is not supported
Lenormand, Maurice H., and Léonard Drilë Sam. Lifou: Origine
by later research in New Guinea: virtually every ritual ob-
des Chefferies de la Zone de Wé: Quelques Éléments de la Société
served and described has a specific end in view, which those
Traditionnelle. Nouméa, 1993.
performing it can explain without difficulty.
Métais, Eliane. Au Commencement Était la Terre: Réflexions sur un
Mythe Canaque d’Origine. Talence, France, 1988.
Finally, Émile Durkheim, in the early twentieth centu-
JEAN GUIART (1987)
ry, differentiated religion from magic on the grounds of the
Revised Bibliography
human personnel holding particular beliefs and performing
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NEW GUINEA RELIGIONS [FIRST EDITION]
6503
particular rites. Religion was seen as social and cohesive: its
Guinea and Irian Jaya) has about a thousand distinct lan-
beliefs symbolize and validate, and its rituals reinforce, the
guage groups, each one virtually a separate society. The eco-
social order. Magic is individual and isolative: its beliefs and
nomic system is generalized: most of the people are settled
rituals do not symbolize or reinforce any social collective.
agriculturalists with few specialized skills apart from religious
Once again, this approach has two weaknesses. Although its
ritual, which a limited number of adult males (the leaders)
reference to society is justified, it tends to reduce religion to
monopolize. Without specialized occupational groups, social
an oblique and almost secular replica of the social order at
structure has to be based on kinship, marriage, and descent,
the expense of human economic and cognitive interests. As
although even within this broad framework there is much
will appear, most New Guineans would reject this. Further-
variation. Some groups are congeries of relatively large phra-
more, Durkheim’s dichotomy between religion and magic
tries or tribes, while others consist of small clans or even lin-
also cannot be sustained. In virtually every New Guinea soci-
eages. Some have over 100,000 members and others as few
ety, even if they are not privy to all its secrets, all its members
as 150.
share and more or less endorse its beliefs, and the personnel
involved in any ritual depends on the number of people nec-
Diversity of social structures is paralleled in religions,
essary to carry it out efficiently. This varies according to each
which, although based on common principles, show a degree
situation.
of heterogeneity. In general terms, most New Guineans rec-
ognize the following kinds of spirit-beings: autonomous cre-
Although none of these approaches on its own offers a
ative or regulative spirit-beings (deities or culture heroes); au-
comprehensive answer to the problem or a convincing dis-
tonomous noncreative or malevolent spirit-beings (demons,
tinction between religion and magic, with due modification
tricksters, and pucks); and spirits of the dead. Many also rec-
each makes a contribution. It is possible to select from them
ognize clan totems and practice sympathetic magic. Varia-
and combine those features that make sense in New Guinea.
tions of belief are most marked with respect to deities and
At the outset it is wise to dismiss the idea of a dichotomy
spirits of the dead. Some peoples, such as the Huli and the
between religion and magic and retain a single concept, reli-
Kainantu of the Highlands, claim relatively few gods, to each
gion, of which magic forms a part. Thus from Tylor and Fra-
of whom they attribute multiple creative or regulative func-
zer, I adopt the principle of intellectualism, which stresses re-
tions. Others, such as the inhabitants of the southern Ma-
ligion’s contribution to a people’s mental life by helping
dang Province littoral and Karkar Island, have a few major
them interpret the world around them. With Malinowski,
deities and a large number of minor ones with limited pow-
I emphasize religion’s role in the economic system. With
ers. Yet others, such as the Mae Enga of the Highlands and
Durkheim, I examine religion’s relation to society.
the peoples inland from Madang, believe in many deities, no
Broadly I define traditional religion as man’s beliefs
one of whom has primacy and each of whom has only one
about and putative interaction with what Westerners call
creative or regulative function. Again, although belief in
“the supernatural” or “the transcendental,” although, as I
ghosts is ubiquitous, some peoples (especially Highlanders)
shall argue, these terms have little relevance to New Guinea.
distinguish between the recent and remote dead, while others
To explain this I shall outline the total cosmic order that the
(especially those on the coast) do not. One group inland
people conceive to exist: its general structure, the types and
from Madang, the Garia, assert that after three generations
location of spirit-beings within it, and its dynamics, especial-
ghosts turn into fruit bats or pigeons and cease to have any
ly the methods by which humans believe that they communi-
religious significance.
cate with spirit-beings to consolidate their own interests.
Yet despite this heterogeneity, New Guineans appear to
THE GENERAL STRUCTURE OF THE COSMOS. New Guine-
hold one concept in common, that the cosmos is essentially
ans’ conceived cosmic order has two parts: the empirical—
a finite physical realm with, as hinted, almost no supernatu-
the natural environment, its economic resources (including
ral or transcendental attributes. Gods, ghosts, demons, and
animals), and its human inhabitants; and the nonempiri-
totems are superhuman but terrestrial. They are more power-
cal—spirit-beings, nonpersonalized occult forces, and, some-
ful than humans but still corporeal, taking human or animal
times, totems. Theoretically it has three analytically separate
form with normal physical attributes. They normally live on
systems: men in relation to the natural environment and its
the earth in special sanctuaries near human habitations.
resources, or the economic system; relationships among
There are a few exceptions, such as the Mae Enga sky people,
human beings themselves, or the sociopolitical system; and
who live in the clouds but who are in easy contact with the
men in relation to spirit-beings, occult forces, and totems,
earth. This stress on earthliness gives New Guinea religions
or religion. In fact, these systems interdepend, so that it is
a quality of nearness and immediacy lacking in some of the
essential to understand how religion impinges on economic
higher religions, as is especially apparent in ritual. The signif-
and social life and, in so doing, how it contributes to intellec-
icance of this will emerge later.
tual life and leadership.
THE FUNCTION OF RELIGION. As the criticism of Tylor and
The traditional economic and sociopolitical systems of
Frazer’s approach indicates, it is inadequate to concentrate
New Guinea must be summarized, insofar as religion directly
on the form of New Guinea religions, as if they were purely
relates to them. The whole of New Guinea (Papua New
philosophical systems; it is necessary to consider also their
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NEW GUINEA RELIGIONS [FIRST EDITION]
functions. Melanesians believe that they have inherited a
Whether the people attribute creation to few or many deities
generally predictable cosmic order, which is anthropocentric
is irrelevant. Except in the few societies that do not acknowl-
and materialistic. It exists for man’s benefit, and its material
edge deities, there is normally a myth cycle or set of discur-
resources (crops, livestock, and artifacts) are concomitants of
sive myths telling how specific gods and goddesses invented
his existence. Hence religion has two principal functions.
economic resources —staple crops, pigs, dogs, wild animals,
First, myths (regarded as the source of ultimate truth) explain
and important artifacts—and gave them to human beings.
and thereby validate the cosmic order. Second, just as the ful-
fillment of obligations between human beings maintains the
Yet, as is implicit in the foregoing argument, explana-
secular social structure, the observance of ritual duties assures
tion and validation on their own, however necessary, are not
men that superhuman beings will guarantee the success of
enough. People also want knowledge that they can use to
their major undertakings and protect the cosmic order from
their advantage, knowledge that will make sure that econom-
unforeseeable dangers.
ic resources do not fail. Crops may wither, livestock remain
barren, and newly made artifacts prove faulty. Ritual should
Religion, therefore, is a technology, and, more particu-
eliminate these risks. It is performed for both the relevant de-
larly, ritual is man’s means of contacting superhuman beings
ities and spirits of the dead.
so as to exploit it. Ritual techniques, which I describe later
on, again tend to vary. For deities they may involve placa-
The performance for economic ends of ritual in honor
tion, bargaining, coercion, or striking moral relationships
of the dead is very common in New Guinea. Specifically, it
through invocation or esoteric spells. Sympathetic magic,
consists of formal keening at funerals, food offerings, danc-
sometimes used on its own, is said to be more effective if
ing, and the celebration of the male cult (which I shall discuss
taught to men by gods. For demons ritual is based on placa-
later). In response, ghosts are said to help their living descen-
tion and bargaining, although some say it is futile and will
dants by protecting gardens from wild pigs and landslides,
never use it. Ritual directed at spirits of the dead is usually
helping hunters find game, bringing presents, and, especially
an expression of honor, often involving mourning, feasting,
in dreams, by giving messages about impending events.
and music. For totems there is no specific ritual but only
These ceremonies are particularly important among peoples
avoidance behavior: taboos against harming, killing, and eat-
who either do not acknowledge deities, or have no elaborate
ing. As indicated, ritual knowledge is the prerogative mainly
ritual for propitiating them. Yet there are two differences in
of leaders or big men. Women have limited access to it, and
this context. First, as noted, Highlanders tend to distinguish
then principally to contraceptive and abortifacient tech-
between the recent and remote dead. They regard the recent
niques. Yet although Melanesians use ritual to approach su-
dead as minatory—interested mainly in punishing transgres-
perhuman beings, there are grounds for believing that they
sors—and expect economic benefits from the remote dead,
regard it as a substitute for face-to-face interaction. Many of
to whom, with the exception of mortuary ceremonies, they
them have assumed that their first European visitors were ei-
address their rituals. Most seaboard peoples, who do not hold
ther deities or ghosts appearing in their midst, but there is
this belief, honor the recent dead, many of whom they re-
no evidence that they performed ritual in their honor. Rath-
member as living persons. Second, there are different inter-
er, they engaged in ordinary social behavior, offering food,
pretations of the likely responses of the dead to the rituals
and trying to create beneficial exchange relationships.
performed in their honor. Some Highlanders, noted for their
general aggressiveness, are said to apply to ghosts the same
Throughout New Guinea the use of myth and ritual to
techniques they apply to the living: bargaining and bribery,
explain and maintain the cosmic order is uneven. The people
in which the aim is to manipulate and curb pugnacious egali-
tend to ignore the aspects of it that they can take for granted
tarian rivals. Ghosts are said to respond in kind. Seaboard
and concentrate on those that involve risk and cause anxiety.
peoples are less assertive. Their view is that ritual should
I shall examine this in the context of the economic and socio-
create strong ties between men and ghosts; as long as
political systems and then discuss religion’s role in the intel-
men fulfill their obligations, ghosts should automatically
lectual system.
reciprocate.
The natural environment and economic resources.
The sociopolitical order. Likewise, total sociopolitical
Not many New Guinea religions are greatly concerned with
systems receive irregular treatment in religion. Some groups
the natural environment as a whole. Except for occasional
(for example, the Mae Enga, the Kainantu people, and the
volcanic eruptions and droughts it is never seriously threat-
inhabitants of Wogeo Island) have myths that attribute soci-
ened, so that the people do not fear for its continuance.
ety’s existence and forms to their deities. Others, like the
Hence elaborate accounts of its origin and rituals to preserve
Ngaing, do not. They see no need to validate the social order
it are rare. In most cases there are only short, albeit some-
in its entirety: they are unaware that any other kind of social
times explicit, statements to the effect that the earth always
order exists, and theirs is not threatened by conquest from
existed or suddenly came into being in some miraculous way.
outside or revolution from within. Nevertheless such peoples
Mythology and ritual are generally more detailed and
are by no means unconcerned about society; they implicitly
complex for the economic system, which, for reasons given
realize that it has sensitive areas—key institutions, groups,
below, is more uncertain and thus needs to be buttressed.
and relationships that must be buttressed at all costs. Thus
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NEW GUINEA RELIGIONS [FIRST EDITION]
6505
the Ngaing have war gods, who protect their bush groups,
lance of the dead, who punish the infringement of any rule.
their main political units, and a myth of origin for the male
In other societies, such as the Wogeo and the Ngaing, good
cult, which binds together the inhabitants of a whole locality,
conduct is said to be enforced only by secular sanctions.
as described below.
Belief in sorcery is virtually universal. The art has many
In this context, spirits of the dead are most important.
forms: contagious magic (theft and destruction of personal
They validate the social order in a number of ways. Among
leavings such as cast-off clothing, hairclippings, or excre-
the Garia, the life of the dead replicates that of human be-
ment); projection of missiles into a victim; figurative removal
ings. Ghosts build and live in ordinary settlements with their
and replacement of a victim’s head or entrails; and actual im-
kin; they plant gardens and celebrate exchanges. Again,
mobilization of a victim by inserting slivers of bamboo (or,
throughout New Guinea, ghosts are the ultimate custodians
nowadays, lengths of wire) into vital parts of his body. With
of their living descendants’ land rights, a vital component of
possible exception of the last example, which is in fact physi-
the social system, and they punish trespass. Yet it is above
cal murder, the efficacy of sorcery is guaranteed by the per-
all the ceremonies of the male cult—exchanges of pigs, food,
formance of ritual, often to harness the power of a deity or
and valuables coupled with feasting and dancing to solem-
familiar spirit.
nize birth, initiation, marriage, and death—that induce
It is difficult to state precisely the reasons for belief in
ghosts to preserve and strengthen the sociopolitical order.
sorcery. The degree to which a religion does or does not up-
hold the moral code and to which it is or is not intellectually
The primary function of the male cult is the initiation
elaborated seems to be irrelevant. Sorcery is found in socie-
of boys into manhood. After they are about ten years old,
ties whose religions either stress or ignore ethics and are ei-
boys in adjacent settlements are assembled, segregated from
ther closely or loosely articulated. Hence it is wiser to consid-
women, placed under the supervision of adult males (espe-
er two issues: the forces that promote belief in sorcery and
cially leaders) in a cult house, and given special instruction.
the intellectual climate that allows it to flourish.
They are taught the rudiments of myths and ritual. They ob-
serve stringent taboos and are subjected to a physical ordeal
Belief in sorcery is motivated by personal anxiety. This
that may include beating, scarification, penile incision, or
is immediately intelligible in societies that have weak group
forced nose bleeding. Thereafter they are returned to village
structures and unstable, ever-changing patterns of local orga-
life. The severity of initiation appears to correlate with soci-
nization—for example, the Dobu (of Papua), Huli, Tangu,
ety’s pattern of male-female relations. In general, men are
and Garia. As individuals continually move in and out, set-
dominant in both secular and ritual affairs. Where this is par-
tlement and neighborhood populations are never permanent.
ticularly marked, as in the eastern Highlands and among the
A person can never be sure where his friends and foes are.
Ilahita Arapesh (in the East Sepik Province) and the Garia,
Unless he can attribute illness or bad luck to an angry god,
initiation is either traumatic or protracted over many years
ghost, or demon, he will search for a human enemy lurking
and stresses sexual antagonism. Where women are less subor-
in his locality. Yet, by way of contrast, belief in sorcery is
dinate, male initiation rites are less exacting and less shroud-
found also in societies with territorial organizations based on
ed in secrecy and may be paralleled, as on Manam and
stable, permanently localized descent groups. Possibly sor-
Wogeo islands and among the Ngaing, by special puberty
cery has come to be regarded as more important than it was
rites for girls. Nevertheless, despite these differences of em-
since modern centralized government banned traditional
phasis, in most of New Guinea boys during their initiation
warfare, leaving it as the only way to relieve feelings of
are said to be under special protection of the spirits of the
aggression.
dead, who guarantee their safety, health, physical maturity,
There appear to be two prerequisites for an intellectual
and ability to attract wives and thereby perpetuate society.
climate in which the belief in sorcery will thrive. First, the
The male cult has also a latent function: it promotes the soli-
belief must be integrated with other aspects of religion, tak-
darity of the clans or other local units that must assemble all
ing a normal place in both myth and ritual. Thus the Garia
the wealth going out in exchange and reaffirms the kinship
believe that the god Yeyaguliba invented it and taught men
or marriage relationships, which link these groups and pro-
his secret names as spells to make it effective. From a techni-
vide the network for its distribution.
cal point of view, sorcery is no different from agricultural rit-
The last two important aspects of religion in the context
ual. Second, the belief helps solve the perpetual emotional
of the sociopolitical order are (1) religion’s impingement on
and cognitive problem of death. Thus, although the Garia
moral obligation, and (2) the role of sorcery. Once again, the
claim that the goddess who first gave birth to human beings
relationship between religion and moral obligation has no
was responsible also for human mortality, they regard this
standard pattern: for some groups it is an important issue,
as a sufficient explanation only in the case of old people. The
but for others it is not. Thus the Huli insist that their prima-
young should not die. Sorcery, by offering the solution of
ry god Datagaliwabe enjoined moral precepts on them, while
the hidden enemy, at least removes the agony of an impene-
the Kai-nantu people have a secondary mythology devoted
trable riddle.
to the inculcation of ethics, and the Manus of the Admiralty
Leadership and the intellectual system. Myth and rit-
Islands believe themselves to be under the continual surveil-
ual are for many New Guineans the principal means of un-
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NEW GUINEA RELIGIONS [FIRST EDITION]
derstanding the cosmic order and maintaining their central
BIBLIOGRAPHY
position in it. Everyday experience largely endorses their cer-
Allen, M. R. Male Cults and Secret Initiations in Melanesia. Mel-
titude of the truth of religion. Normally crops do mature,
bourne and London, 1967. The most detailed general analy-
livestock and human beings reproduce their kind, and arti-
sis of initiatory ceremonies for males in New Guinea so far
facts meet their owners’ expectations. The rituals used are
published. A standard text.
obviously effective, so that their acquisition is an essential
Baal, Jan van. Dema. The Hague, 1966. An important Irian Jaya
prerequisite of leadership. Big men are those who “know”:
ethnography, including a detailed account of traditional
they are experts in mythology and, particularly, in harnessing
religion.
the power of gods and spirits of the dead that will ensure the
Berndt, Ronald M. Excess and Restraint. Chicago, 1962. A general
success of their followers’ purely secular activities. Secular
ethnography of the Kainantu people of the Papua New
skills are “knowledge” but at a low level: they are something
Guinea Highlands. Provides background to Berndt’s essay in
anybody can acquire by imitation. It takes a special kind of
Lawrence and Meggitt (1972).
man, however, to master “true knowledge,” the religious se-
Burridge, Kenelm. Tangu Traditions. Oxford, 1969. A thorough
crets that are the core of the instruction given boys during
study of a New Guinea people’s traditional mythology.
initiation. Thereafter, those who aspire to leadership must
Fortune, Reo F. Sorcerers of Dobu (1932). Rev. ed. New York,
undergo a long and exacting apprenticeship under acknowl-
1963. An early and classic analysis of religion and sorcery in
edged experts until they are accepted as qualified practition-
a traditional Papuan society.
ers. Yet it would be false to conclude from this that the peo-
Hogbin, Ian. The Island of Menstruating Men: Religion in Wogeo,
ple’s thought is mystical. Rather, it is pragmatic, even
New Guinea. Scranton, Pa., 1970. Another important ac-
mundane, because of their conviction that the cosmos is a
count of a traditional religion, written nearly forty years after
purely terrestrial realm. Gods and ghosts live on the earth,
the field work was done.
and their interaction with men and women in response to
Lawrence, Peter. “Statements about Religion: The Problem of Re-
ritual is not illusory but as real as cooperation among human
liability.” In Anthropology in Oceania, edited by Lester R.
beings themselves.
Hiatt and Chandra Jayawardena, pp. 140–154. Sydney,
1971. A discussion of the difficulty of assessing the validity
Inevitably, the intensity of intellectual commitment to
of personal belief in and commitment to religion in New
religion is not found to be consistent throughout New Guin-
Guinea.
ea. The peoples of the northeastern seaboard and hinterland
from Lae to Bogia typify the paradigm I have sketched. Tra-
Lawrence, Peter. “Religion and Magic.” In Encyclopaedia of Papua
and New Guinea, edited by Peter Ryan, pp. 1001–1012.
ditionally they have always been theologians, and it is signifi-
Melbourne, 1972. A general introduction to traditional reli-
cant that they have provided many of the leaders of the
gions in New Guinea. Reprinted in Anthropology in Papua
Christian churches since Papua New Guinea’s independence
New Guinea, edited by Ian Hogbin (Melbourne, 1973),
in 1975. Others, such as the Ilahita Arapesh, are perhaps
pp. 201–226.
more skeptical. Yet about one area there has been particular
Lawrence, Peter. The Garia. Melbourne and Manchester, 1984.
controversy. The first anthropologists in the Highlands after
An analysis of a traditional cosmic system in New Guinea,
World War II depicted its peoples as if they had relatively
with emphasis on religion.
little interest in religion—that is, the Highlanders were por-
trayed as hard-working and secular-minded with leaders who
Lawrence, Peter, and M. J. Meggitt, eds. Gods, Ghosts, and Men
in Melanesia (1965). Oxford, 1972. A symposium of essays
relied for their positions more on tough negotiation and mil-
on a number of traditional religions in New Guinea and
itary prowess than on ritual expertise. The early absence of
Vanuatu. The best collection available.
cargoism, so prevalent on the seaboard, seemed to confirm
their argument. Recently, however, we have been forced to
McArthur, Margaret. “Men and Spirits in the Kunimaipa Valley.”
In Anthropology in Oceania, edited by Lester R. Hiatt and
reconsider it. There are now more numerous outbreaks of
Chandra Jayawardena, pp. 155–189. Sydney, 1971.
the cargo cult as well as Pentecostalism and other eccentric
quasi-Christian movements. This suggests that, even allow-
Tuzin, Donald F. The Voice of the Tambaran: Truth and Illusion
ing for random differences of degree, the dominantly secular
in Ilahita Arapesh Religion. Berkeley, 1980. A detailed and so-
image of all the peoples in the Highlands is unjustified and
phisticated analysis of a New Guinea traditional religion.
Pays special attention to male initiation rites and the prob-
may have been the result of uncritical addiction to the
lem of individual belief and commitment.
Durkheimian social approach to the study of religion at the
time the field research was carried out. Certainly the issue
Williams, Francis E. Orokaiva Society. Oxford, 1930. An early
is unresolved. Yet it is still justifiable to conclude that for the
monograph that provides much valuable information about
traditional religion.
great majority of New Guineans religion has been not merely
an important part but the very quintessence of their sociocul-
Williams, Francis E. Drama of Orokolo. Oxford, 1940. Williams’s
tural systems. It represents the final rationale of their cosmic
most mature work; a carefully documented account of an
experience.
elaborate ceremonial and ritual complex in western Papua.
A classic.
SEE ALSO Cargo Cults.
PETER LAWRENCE (1987)
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NEW GUINEA RELIGIONS [FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS]
6507
NEW GUINEA RELIGIONS [FURTHER
tianity and the value of land. For example, in 1995 Benny
CONSIDERATIONS]. Since Peter Lawrence wrote
Giay, a Papuan pastor who has been active in opposition to
on the indigenous religions of New Guinea—the area en-
the Freeport-McMoran mine, submitted his Ph.D. disserta-
compassing Papua New Guinea and Papua (formerly Irian
tion for Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam on the topic
Jaya)—for the first edition of the Encyclopedia of Religion
“Zakheus Pakage and his Communities: Indigenous Reli-
(1987), further studies have been undertaken providing an
gious Discourse, Sociopolitical Resistance, and Ethnohistory
even greater wealth of material concerning myth, ritual,
of the Me of Irian Jaya.” He dwelt on the passionate hopes
knowledge, morality, and religious innovation in New Guin-
of Pakage (1920–1970) of establishing a reciprocity between
ea. More attention has been given to personal experiences
indigenous wisdom and Christian wisdom and of integrating
such as dreams, trance, and spirit possession. Moreover, the
Dutch development plans with the work of local Me com-
religious landscape has continued to change as a result of po-
munities, hopes that were thwarted both by the mission
litical and economic innovations and through interaction
agency and Dutch authorities.
with Christianity. New religious movements, many empha-
Religious studies has been taught in the History Depart-
sizing relationship to the Holy Spirit, have emerged. At the
ment at the University of Papua New Guinea since 1972,
same time, changing approaches and emphases in anthropol-
first by lecturers from overseas and then by Papua New
ogy and religious studies have influenced the ways that schol-
Guineans. It is also taught at the University of Goroka and
ars understand religion. For instance, feminism has occa-
Divine Word University in Madang. Moreover, the theolog-
sioned a new look at rituals for the making of men and
ical seminaries in both Papua New Guinea and Papua give
women, while transcultural studies have suggested that the
attention to the study of indigenous religions in relation to
movements earlier labeled cargo cults may have been mis-
Christianity. The mainline churches tend to look on indige-
named.
nous religions as a preparation for the Christian gospel, while
Lawrence outlined three approaches to the study of
fundamentalist groups have a more negative evaluation of in-
New Guinea religions, which he called the intellectualist, the
digenous religions. The outsiders who study New Guinea re-
economic or technological, and the social. He stressed intel-
ligions include social scientists (mainly anthropologists), his-
lectualist approaches and defined traditional religion as “be-
torians of religion, and theologians. Some missionary
liefs about and putative interaction with what Westerners
scholars (e.g., Mantovani, Gesch, Zöllner, Gibbs) are trained
call the ‘supernatural’ or the ‘transcendental’.” He outlined
in social sciences or religious studies as well as in theology.
the general structure of the cosmos in New Guinean societies
as three interrelating systems: people in relation to the natu-
ECOLOGY AND PLACE. Roy Rappaport’s fieldwork among
ral environment and its resources (the economic system), re-
the Tsembaga Maring in the highlands of Papua New Guin-
lationships among human beings themselves (the sociopoliti-
ea in the 1960s led him to develop an ecological theory of
cal system), and people in relation to spirit beings, occult
religion. In the first edition of Pigs for the Ancestors in 1968
forces, and totems (religion). He saw myth and ritual as
he argued that the ritual cycle that culminates in large scale
means of explaining and maintaining the cosmic order. Most
pig kills is a homeostatic mechanism regulating the relation-
scholars accept this framework. However, more recent works
ship of pig populations to other environmental factors such
have emphasized the significance of place (Munn, Rumsey
as human energy, land use, and warfare. He maintained that
and Weiner), religion as an ecological process (Rappaport),
when pig herds reach a size at which pigs become a hin-
and fertility as focus of both practical and symbolic work
drance, invading gardens and requiring large amounts of
(Meigs). Scholars have attended to the construction of gen-
food and human attention, then people decide to kill them,
der (Gillison, Herdt, Lutkehaus and Roscoe, Tuzin) and to
conceptualizing their action as killing pigs for the ancestors.
personal experience, consciousness, and sentiment (Herdt
A second edition of the book, in 1984, placed more stress
and Stephen, Feld, Schieffelin, Lohmann). Some have
on the reciprocity of ecological order and ritual order, allow-
looked on religion as a process of exchange (MacDonald) or
ing that culture may drive ecological processes, which in turn
reciprocity (Trompf). A number of scholars have explored
may sustain culture. In Ecology, Meaning, and Religion, pub-
Christianity in New Guinean contexts (Barker, Robbins)
lished in 1979, Rappaport elaborated his theory of religion
and given attention to new religious movements.
as an ecological process. Shortly before his death, in 1997,
he completed Ritual and Religion in the Making of Humanity,
INSIDERS AND OUTSIDERS. Most studies of New Guinea reli-
in which he explores the significance of ritual for relating
gions that reach publication are the work of outsiders. How-
human beings to nature.
ever, indigenous religions and local forms of Christianity
have also been studied by insiders, mainly by those with
Several anthropologists, including Roy Wagner, have
theological, pastoral, and social commitments. Some of their
given attention to the religious importance of land. The in-
research and reflections have been published as journal arti-
trusion of mining companies in both Papua New Guinea
cles within New Guinea and have found their way into ser-
and Papua has led local communities to reassert claims to
mons, workshops, and speeches. A number of B.D. and
land in terms of ancestral cosmologies. Confrontations over
M.A. theses and Ph.D. dissertations written by New Guine-
land have provided occasion for researchers to consider the
ans explore the relationship of indigenous religion and Chris-
impact of mining on local ecosystems and to give attention
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NEW GUINEA RELIGIONS [FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS]
to the narratives in which peoples tell of the journeys of cul-
Ivar Lohmann, which brings together case studies from New
ture heroes and ancestors who shaped their place and their
Guinea, aboriginal Australia, and Indonesia to make a case
way of life. The edited volume Emplaced Myth (Rumsey and
that dreams are, in some not well-understood sense, ways to
Weiner, 2001) provides several case studies from Papua New
knowledge.
Guinea and others from Aboriginal Australia that reflect on
RECIPROCITY. Peter Lawrence understood the indigenous re-
space and place in local and regional domains and on envi-
ligions of New Guinea to consist of beliefs about, and puta-
ronmental ethics in times of change. Papua New Guineans
tive interaction with, the supernatural. The understanding
Simeon Namunu and Bernard Narokobi assert that the rela-
of religion as an extension of social interaction beyond the
tionship to land is a religious issue with which Christians
human community to include gods, ghosts, and a variety of
should concern themselves. Pamela Stewart and Andrew
nonhuman beings works well for New Guinea and for tradi-
Strathern’s Remaking the World: Myth, Mining, and Ritual
tions that posit the presence of such beings. It accords with
Change among the Duna of Papua New Guinea (2002) con-
Marcel Mauss’s ideas on gift exchange. Human beings make
siders the ways in which a community reconstructs its place
gifts to the gods; the gods respond with benefits for human
and way of life.
beings. Or human beings neglect the ancestral ghosts, and
FERTILITY AND GENDER. While there are no universally ac-
they respond by afflicting their living kin.
ceptable definitions of gender and marriage, all cultures have
Garry Trompf, who taught at the University of Papua
ideas about sexual difference, female/male complementarity,
New Guinea in the 1970s and served as professor of history
and fertility, which they take as models for thinking about
there from 1983 to 1985, developed an approach to religion
human and cosmic relationships. Early work by Margaret
that he called a logic of retribution. He was concerned not
Mead and Gregory Bateson pointed to the social and cosmo-
only with positive reciprocity but also with revenge and with
logical significance of gender in the Pacific. In New Guinea
the explanation of events in terms of praise and blame or in
the relationship of woman and man is often seen as homolo-
terms of reward and punishment. This logic may be seen in
gous to the work of gardening, to the arrangement of village
indigenous traditions, and it is also possible to see it in the
space, and to roles in traditional exchanges. Early anthropol-
moral reflections of Christian communities in New Guinea.
ogists in the highlands recorded antagonism between the
sexes in many societies, and later studies that described the
CHRISTIANITY AND NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS. From
“making of men” elaborated on notions of masculinity and
the latter part of the nineteenth century, when the Nether-
the ritual means of achieving it (Barth, Herdt, Tuzin). The
lands, Germany, and Great Britain divided the large island
“making of women,” which is a matter for ritual in some so-
of New Guinea among themselves, missionaries arrived, first
cieties (Lutkehaus and Roscoe) has received less attention.
in the coastal areas and much later in the highland regions,
to preach the Christian message. As a result, at the beginning
In her work on the Hua, Anna Meigs focuses on the
of the twenty-first century some 90 percent of the population
concept of nu or “vital essence” of a person or thing and the
of Papua New Guinea claimed to be Christian, and in Papua
ways it can be increased or depleted, leading her to explore
the large majority of the indigenous people were also Chris-
ideas about food and sexual activity. In New Guinea, fertili-
tian. Since Indonesia took over Papua from the Dutch in
ty—of crops, of sea creatures, of forest animals and domestic
1962, the presence of government officials and the resettle-
animals, and of people—is a desired outcome of personal and
ment of landless people from other parts of Indonesia, espe-
group rituals. The juxtaposition of male and female elements
cially from Java, have brought Islam to the region. However,
in ritual is part of the management of a gendered world.
Islam has remained more the religion of government officers
RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. Michele Stephen and Gilbert
and new settlers than of the indigenous peoples.
Herdt have taken a lead in the study of personal religious ex-
The study of New Guinea’s forms of Christianity was
perience in New Guinea. In their introduction to The Reli-
first of all the concern of missiologists and other theologians
gious Imagination in New Guinea (1989) they say that they
who were concerned with whether, and how, God might
see the “inner world of religious experience as emerging from
speak through indigenous religions. As more and more New
an interaction between individual experience and culture,
Guineans became Christians, Christianity in a variety of de-
mediated by autonomous imagination” (p. 4). The contribu-
nominational forms became part of the cultures that anthro-
tors to their volume explore altered states of consciousness
pologists came to New Guinea to study. In tracing the transi-
in dreams, trances, possession, spirit mediumship, sorcery,
tion from indigenous religion to Christianity, some see the
witchcraft, prophetism, and shamanism. While recognizing
new religion being incorporated into the indigenous cosmos,
cultural variation the editors point to psychological univer-
but indigenous religion and Christianity may also appear as
sals underlying it and assert that each person must “create
competing moral discourses. For example, Joel Robbins, in
his or her own cultural world through the process of imagi-
his study of the Urapmin of the West Sepik, says he observed
nation” (p. 235). They urge that altered states of conscious-
“the interplay between two cultures that are operative in the
ness be taken seriously as modes of cognition.
same place at the same time” (2004, p. 6). In considering the
Another important contribution to the study of subjec-
changes experienced by the Urapmin, who had never been
tive experience is Dream Travelers (2003), edited by Roger
directly missionized, Robbins tells how they first experienced
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

NEW GUINEA RELIGIONS [FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS]
6509
the law introduced in the colonial period by Australian patrol
Herdt, Gilbert H., ed. Rituals of Manhood: Male Initiation in
officers and found themselves deficient in relation to it, how
Papua New Guinea. Berkeley, 1982.
they decided in the 1960s to send young men to study with
Kamma, Freerk C., collector and trans. Religious Texts of the Oral
Baptist missionaries in neighboring communities, and how
Tradition from Western New-Guinea (Irian Jaya). Leiden,
they underwent a charismatic renewal, and adopted a Chris-
1975.
tianity focused on human sinfulness and millennial expecta-
Lattas, Andrew. Cultures of Secrecy: Reinventing Race in Bush Kaliai
tion. The Urapmin, he concludes, have opted for a hybrid
Cargo Cults. Madison, Wis., 1998.
culture that leaves them with a sense of moral failure but also
Lawrence, Peter. Road Belong Cargo: A Study of the Cargo Move-
with an openness to change.
ment in the Southern Madang District, New Guinea. Mel-
bourne, 1964.
Peter Lawrence’s Road Belong Cargo (1964), a study of
Lohmann, Roger Ivar. Dream Travelers: Sleep Experiences and Cul-
cargo cults in the Madang area of Papua New Guinea, be-
tures in the Western Pacific. New York, 2003.
came a classic for the study of social and religious change.
Lutkehaus, Nancy C., and Paul B. Roscoe, eds. Gender Rituals: Fe-
Hundreds of religious movements, some resembling the
male Initiation in Melanesia. New York, 1995.
“cargo cult” documented by Lawrence and others appealing
MacDonald, Mary N. Mararoko: A Study of Melanesian Religion.
to the Holy Spirit for empowerment, have emerged in New
New York, 1991.
Guinea. In writing of the God Triwan movement in the
Mantovani, Ennio, ed. An Introduction to Melanesian Religions: A
Enga province of Papua New Guinea, a movement that has
Handbook for Church Workers. Goroka, Papua New Guinea,
remained within the Catholic Church, Philip Gibbs regards
1984.
it as part of a process of inculturation of the gospel.
Meigs, Anna S. Food, Sex, and Pollution: A New Guinea Religion.
It seems likely that future studies will grapple not only
New Brunswick, N.J., 1984.
with what is referred to within New Guinea as “traditional”
Merrifield, William R., Marilyn Gregerson, and Daniel C. Aja-
religion—religion that is practiced to some extent, yet in
miseba, eds. Gods, Heroes, Kinsmen: Ethnographic Studies
many places is more a tale that is told about the ways of the
from Irian Jaya, Indonesia. Jayapura, Irian Jaya, and Dallas,
Tex., 1983.
ancestors—but also with the Christianities that occupy a
powerful position in personal and communal life.
Munn, Nancy. The Fame of Gawa: A Symbolic Study of Value
Transformation in a Massim (Papua New Guinea) Society.
SEE ALSO Cargo Cults; Christianity, article on Christianity
New York, 1986; reprint, Durham, N.C., 1992.
in the Pacific Islands; Melanesian Religions; Oceanic Reli-
Namunu, Simeon B. “Melanesian Religion, Ecology, and Mod-
gions; Rappaport, Roy A.
ernization in Papua New Guinea.” In Indigenous Traditions
and Ecology: The Interbeing of Cosmology and Community,
ed-
B
ited by John A. Grim, pp. 249–280. Cambridge, Mass.,
IBLIOGRAPHY
Barker, John., ed. Christianity in Oceania: Ethnographic Perspec-
2001.
tives. Lanham, Md., 1990.
Narokobi, Bernard. The Melanesian Way. Port Moresby, Papua
New Guinea, 1983.
Barth, Fredrik. Ritual and Knowledge Among the Baktaman of New
Guinea. Oslo and New Haven, 1975.
Rappaport, Roy. Pigs for the Ancestors: Ritual in the Ecology of a
New Guinea People. Rev. ed. New Haven, 1984.
Feld, Steven. Sound and Sentiment: Birds, Weeping, Poetics, and
Robbins, Joel. Becoming Sinners: Christianity and Moral Torment
Song in Kaluli Expression. Philadelphia, 1982; 2d ed., 1990.
in a Papua New Guinea Society. Berkeley, 2004.
Gesch, Patrick F. Initiative and Initiation: A Cargo Cult-Type
Rumsey, Alan, and James Weiner, eds. Emplaced Myth: Space,
Movement in the Sepik Against Its Background in Traditional
Narrative, and Knowledge in Aboriginal Australia and Papua
Village Religion. Saint Augustin, Germany, 1985.
New Guinea. Honolulu, 2001.
Gibbs, Philip. “The God Triwan Movement: Inculturation Enga
Schieffelin, Edward L. The Sorrow of the Lonely and the Burning
Style.” Catalyst 34, no. 1 (2004): 3–24.
of the Dancers. Saint Lucia, Queensland, Australia, 1977.
Gillison, Gillian. Between Culture and Fantasy: A New Guinea
Stewart, Pamela J., and Andrew Strathern. Remaking the World:
Highlands Mythology. Chicago, 1993.
Myth, Mining, and Ritual Change Among the Duna of Papua
Godelier, Maurice. The Enigma of the Gift. Translated by Nora
New Guinea. Westport, Conn., 2002.
Scott. Chicago, 1999.
Trompf, G. W. Melanesian Religion. Cambridge, U.K., 1991.
Goldman, L. R., and C. Ballard. Fluid Ontologies: Myth, Ritual,
Trompf, G. W. Payback: The Logic of Retribution in Melanesian
and Philosophy in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. West-
Religions. Cambridge, U.K., 1994.
port, Conn., 1998.
Tuzin, Donald. The Cassowary’s Revenge: The Life and Death of
Habel, Norman C., ed. Powers, Plumes, and Piglets: Phenomena of
Masculinity in a New Guinea Society. Chicago, 1997.
Melanesian Religion. Bedford Park, South Australia, 1979.
Wagner, Roy. Habu: The Innovation of Meaning in Daribi Reli-
Hayward, Douglas James. Vernacular Christianity among the
gion. Chicago, 1972.
Mulia Dani: An Ethnography of Religious Belief among the
Zöllner, Siegfried. The Religion of the Yali in the Highlands of Irian
Western Dani of Irian Jaya, Indonesia. Lanham, Md., 1997.
Jaya. Translation and synopsis by Jan A. Godschalk. Goroka,
Herdt, Gilbert, and Michele Stephen, eds. The Religious Imagina-
Papua New Guinea, 1988.
tion in New Guinea. New Brunswick, N.J., 1989.
MARY N. MACDONALD (2005)
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6510
NEWMAN, JOHN HENRY
NEWMAN, JOHN HENRY (1801–1890), Anglican
was ordained a Catholic priest and entered the Congregation
and Roman Catholic controversialist and cardinal.
of the Oratory. Upon his return to England he founded an
oratory at London and another at Birmingham, which in
LIFE AND WORKS. Newman was born in London. He was
1852 was transferred to nearby Edgbaston. There Newman
raised an Anglican, but in 1816, under evangelical influence,
remained until his death.
he underwent a profound religious experience that trans-
formed his understanding of his faith. The same year he en-
As a Catholic preacher and controversialist Newman
tered Trinity College, Oxford, and in 1822 was elected a fel-
wrote a novel, Loss and Gain, the Story of a Convert (1848);
low of Oriel College. There, formative contacts with the so-
two collections of talks, Discourses Addressed to Mixed Congre-
called Noetics Edward Hawkins and Richard Whately, who
gations (1848) and Lectures on Certain Difficulties Felt by An-
freely applied logic to traditional Christian doctrines, intro-
glicans in Submitting to the Catholic Church (1850); and a
duced him to rationalist analysis of religious concerns. After
masterpiece of defensive controversy, Lectures on the Present
1828 illness, bereavement, and personal friendships with
Position of Catholics in England (1851), which occasioned the
Richard Hurrell Froude, John Keble, and Edward Bouverie
Achilli trial in which Newman was prosecuted for libel. In
Pusey drew him toward the high church tradition. At this
1851 he accepted the rectorship of the Catholic University
time he began to read the documents of the patristic church;
of Dublin, but he resigned in 1859, believing that he had
this interest led to the publication of The Arians of the Fourth
been unsuccessful in attaining his goals. His university publi-
Century, Their Doctrine, Temper and Conduct as Exhibited in
cations, however, are among the best achievements of En-
the Councils of the Church (1833) and The Church of the Fa-
glish prose: Discourses on the Scope and Nature of University
thers (1833–1836).
Education (1852) and Lectures and Essays on University Sub-
jects
(1859), later published as Idea of a University and Office
Newman was ordained an Anglican priest in 1825 and
and Work of Universities. Callista, a Sketch of the Third Centu-
was appointed vicar of the university church Saint Mary the
ry (1855) reflects his own path from conscience to steadfast
Virgin, where he gained fame as a preacher. His sermons
Christian faith.
there were collected in Parochial and Plain Sermons (8 vols.,
1834–1843), Sermons Preached before the University of Oxford
In 1859 Newman founded the Oratory School and ac-
on Faith and Reason, 1826–1843 (1843), and Sermons Bear-
cepted the editorship of The Rambler, a magazine opposed
ing on Subjects of the Day (1843).
by the Catholic bishops, in which Catholic laity and converts
independently judged ecclesiastical affairs. Newman, who
In 1833 Newman traveled to the Mediterranean. He fell
sympathized with the cause of lay emancipation and educa-
ill in Sicily, and there experienced a special vocation, which
tion, contributed to the magazine his famous article “On
he expressed in the words “I have a work to do in England.”
Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine.” This article
In September 1833, with publication of the first Tract
was delated to Rome and, at the request of his bishop, New-
for the Times, Newman launched the Oxford Movement, a
man resigned the editorship in October 1859. He lived
high church movement within Anglicanism that emphasized
under the cloud of suspicion until his Apologia pro vita sua
Catholic elements in the Church of England and continuity
(1864), written in response to attacks by Charles Kingsley,
with the early church. Editor of the series, he contributed
at once won over public opinion. Henceforth Newman actu-
twenty-nine tracts. During this period, he also wrote two im-
ally became the main authority in Catholic public affairs.
portant works: Lectures on the Prophetical Office of the Church
Roman mistrust, manipulated by Cardinal Henry Manning,
Viewed Relatively to Romanism and Popular Protestantism
defeated his last attempt to found a Catholic college at Ox-
(1837), which argued for the via media, or foundational po-
ford in 1865, but Ambrose St. John, an Oratorian and his
sition, of the Church of England as true representative of the
dearest friend, in 1867 cleared him of suspicion in Rome.
unbroken tradition of the Fathers; and a theological master-
Newman answered E. B. Pusey’s criticism of the Roman
piece, Lectures on Justification (1838). In 1841 his Tract 90,
Catholic cult of Mary in his Letter to Rev. E. B. Pusey on his
in which he tried to give a Catholic interpretation of the
Recent Eirenicon (1866).
Thirty-nine Articles, touched off national alarm and was cen-
Although invited, Newman refused to assist at the First
sured by the university and condemned by twenty-four An-
Vatican Council. He believed in the pope’s infallibility but
glican bishops.
strongly opposed its definition as unripe and inopportune.
But when former prime minister William Gladstone at-
Research in patristics, together with his philosophy of
tacked Catholics for being unable to remain loyal British
development, at last led Newman to conclude that his via
subjects, Newman countered by giving, on solid theological
media existed only on paper and that the Anglican church
grounds, the now generally accepted minimizing interpreta-
was in fact schismatic. In 1841 he retired to Littlemore, near
tion of papal infallibility in his Letter to the Duke of Norfolk
Oxford; he resigned the care of Saint Mary’s in 1843 and his
on Occasion of Mr. Gladstone’s Recent Expostulation (1875).
Oriel fellowship in 1845. That year he confirmed his posi-
tion in An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine. In
Newman revealed his deepest Catholic feelings in his
the same year he converted to Roman Catholicism. After
longest poem, The Dream of Gerontius (1865), and presented
study at the College of Propaganda Fide in Rome, Newman
his basic philosophical ideas on the working of the human
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NEWMAN, JOHN HENRY
6511
mind in his Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent (1870). His
The principle of providence. All things and events—
last important publication was the “Preface to the Via
visible and invisible, natural and historical—are part of an
Media” (1877), the introduction to a new edition of his main
almighty creator’s universal providence. All are directed to
Anglican controversial writings. In 1877 he was elected the
one end: the manifestation of the creator’s justice (reflected
first honorary fellow of Trinity College. Pope Leo XIII creat-
in the painful experiences of a bad conscience) and of his
ed him cardinal deacon of San Giorgio in Velabro in 1879.
goodness (reflected in the joyful experiences of a good con-
He died on August 11, 1890, and was buried at Rednal.
science). Newman’s concept of God, stressing providence,
has as counterpart his concept of the universe as a process
THOUGHT. Newman’s thought reflects the nature and devel-
of constant development. To be, to live, is to develop.
opment of his individual personality. An introverted and
self-conscious man, he engaged in constant self-analysis, as-
The principle of nature. God governs all things in con-
similating scholarship and personal experience to germinate
formity with their nature. Hence the supreme universal rule
the religious and philosophical insights that characterize his
and method in the attempts to know the truth and to act
work. Hence his writings manifest those opposing forces and
rightly and adequately is to consider “the nature of the
tendencies that made his mind “from opposition grow”—
things” and to submit to what is required by “the nature of
reason versus imagination, love of detail versus comprehen-
the case.”
siveness, doubt versus certitude, faith versus sight, reserve
The principle of analogy. The universe as governed by
versus frankness, emotionalism versus self-control, strategy
God is a unity of extreme diversity. Unity implies conformity
versus honesty. These conflicting tendencies gave rise to a
of part to part; diversity implies degrees of similarity. Hence
false image of Newman as sentimental, resentful, paradoxi-
Newman generally justifies a judicious use of argument from
cal, mysterious, and even deceitful, but in their integration
analogy and fittingness.
they yield a thinker of greater complexity and genius, whose
worldview combines the consistency of a logical system with
Epistemology. In accordance with the principle of na-
the organic wholeness and beauty proper to a work of poetic
ture, Newman’s epistemology rests on a descriptive analysis
imagination. This view was grounded in two basic religious
of the nature of the mind and its actual operational patterns.
experiences: that of conscience as the inner witness of God,
The logic of the human mind cannot be established a priori;
and that of the material world’s merely relative reality, which
rather, mind must be scrutinized in all its complexity; one
directs the soul to communication with an invisible world.
must ask how the mind generally proceeds in its quest for
truth, and how it actually attains to certitude. The mind is
Conscience. For Newman, conscience is an original
spontaneously, instinctively, aware of an objective world of
and irreducible “moral sense”; by it, without logical medium,
particular things, persons, and events. It apprehends the
people instinctively discriminate the morally good and bad
meaning of propositions about them and assents to these
in concrete situations. Its essential characteristic, through
propositions if it feels them to rest upon convincing grounds.
which it differs from all other inner spiritual senses (such as
Inference is this movement of mind from premise to con-
the sense of beauty), is an adjoined yet distinct “sense of
clusion.
duty” grasping the unconditional demand of doing the good
and avoiding the evil. As such, conscience bears witness to
Assent is real (termed also “imaginative”) when the
the inner presence of an omniscient and almighty master.
meaning grasped strikes the imagination as a concrete reality,
But it must develop from an implicit and confused feeling
rousing the individual’s powers of affection and action. As-
to an explicit and distinct apprehension and assent. Con-
sent is notional when the meaning grasped conveys to the
science may be silenced, although never extinguished,
intellect alone combinations of general concepts. These two
through infidelity and thoughtlessness. It grows in clarity
aspects may and should go together, giving the mind depth
and scope through faithfulness and attention, so that the
and holding power combined with breadth and clarity of
inner voice of nature becomes recognized beyond doubt as
view. Inference differs from assent in that inference is by its
an echo of the voice of God.
nature conditional and admits of degrees, whereas assent is
by its nature unconditional and does not admit of degrees.
Sacramentality. At first doubting the reality of the exte-
rior material world, Newman came to recognize its genuine
Inference is either formal or informal. Formal inference
reality as an instrumental one. The material world is the me-
is deduction from general principles and can neither prove
dium of communication between the soul and the invisible
its first principles nor reach conclusions regarding concrete
world of God and his heavenly court. Hence, Newman be-
states of affairs. This gap must be bridged by informal infer-
lieved that God revealed himself in and through the visible
ence, at its most spontaneous and implicit termed “natural”
historical world and that people communicate with him
inference. An individual mind, at the convergence of inde-
through sacramental actions.
pendent probabilities, indications, and clues—often too nu-
merous and too subtle to be exhaustively analyzable—grasps
First principles. Three principles derive from the expe-
the concrete pattern of evidence and its conclusion per
rience of conscience and of world as sacramental medium.
modum unius, by an act of intuitive comprehensive imagina-
These ruled Newman’s thought and judgment in all matters.
tion. Newman calls this mental power the “illative sense.” It
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6512
NEWMAN, JOHN HENRY
is a power of judgment, in part a gift of nature, in part the
troversial writings, especially his Apologia, fostered among
result of experience and exercise. As a power of concrete, and
the British people a better knowledge of and higher esteem
not merely notional, judgment, it may depend upon mastery
for his religion and his coreligionists. Moreover, his minimiz-
in a specific field of endeavor.
ing theological attitude in matters of faith and his critical
open-mindedness with regard to difficulties and disagree-
Newman’s account of inference stresses its status as
ments prepared that spirit of dialogue and conciliation in the
mental attitude; it is an attitude toward the conclusion as fol-
Roman Catholic church that characterizes so much of con-
lowing from its premises. Likewise, Newman contrasts certi-
temporary theological thought and is believed to have
tude with certainty. Certainty pertains to propositions in
strongly influenced the spirit of the Second Vatican Council.
their formal interrelation; certitude pertains to the living
mind in exercise of the illative sense.
Perhaps Newman’s most important influence is that
Theology and the sciences. Reality is one, but com-
which his ideas increasingly exercise on contemporary
plex. The conceptual knowledge of reality is one in its ulti-
thought, especially through his pioneering investigations
mate aim, but by virtue of its abstractive nature, knowledge
into the nature and workings of the human mind in the indi-
necessarily divides into an increasing number of sciences
vidual (Grammar of Assent) and in society (Development of
treating various parts and aspects of the whole. The intellect
Christian Doctrine). Further, his Idea of a University has be-
can neither take in the whole nor adequately reconstruct it
come a classic in intellectual education and the philosophy
by addition and composition of all the available sciences.
of the sciences. In this last regard it is widely known that
Each science has its own principles and methods imposed by
Newman influenced Alfred North Whitehead.
the nature of the subject matter. Hence a certain amount of
disagreement between scientific views is inevitable. The clash
BIBLIOGRAPHY
between the exact sciences and theological science may be ex-
A complete bibliography of works by Newman and concerning
pected. Scientists will easily imagine that their conclusions
him is available in Newman-Studien, a serial publication of
are irreconcilable with faith, for the experiences with which
the Internationales Cardinal-Newman-Kuratorium (Nurem-
theology starts are rather elusive, whereas the data of the
berg, 1948–). For works on Newman, see Vincent F. Blehl’s
exact sciences are clearer and more compelling; moreover,
John Henry Newman: A Bibliographical Catalogue of His
the prevailing methods of the exact sciences are inductive,
Writings (Charlottesville, Va., 1978). John R. Griffin’s New-
whereas those of theology are deductive.
man: A Bibliography of Secondary Studies (Fort Royal, Va.,
1980) is an almost complete list of publications on Newman,
As truth is one, the very evolution of scientific investiga-
comprising more than 2,500 entries. The main posthumous
tion may be expected to solve the difficulties that it raises.
documents are John Henry Newman: Autobiographical Writ-
Hence, total freedom, tolerance, dialogue, mutual esteem,
ings, edited by Henry Tristam (New York, 1957); The Philo-
and understanding should govern the relationship between
sophical Notebook of John Henry Newman, 2 vols., edited by
all the sciences in their living coexistence.
Edward J. Sillem (New York, 1970); The Theological Papers
of John Henry Newman: On Faith and Certainty
, edited by
Faith. For Newman, faith is both objective and subjec-
Hugo M. de Achaval and J. Derek Holmes (Oxford, 1976);
tive. As objective, faith is a doctrinal system of revealed
and The Letters and Diaries of John Henry Newman, 26 vols.,
truths, articulated in plain human language, inadequate yet
edited by Thomas Gornall (London, 1973–). The best com-
true. This is the principle of dogma, which Newman sternly
prehensive study is Henry Tristam and F. Bacchus’s “New-
opposed to all forms of religious or theological liberalism. It
man,” in Dictionnaire de théologie catholique (Paris, 1903–
is contained in scripture, gradually clarified in the life of the
1950). The most complete biography, though lacking quota-
church under the guidance of divine providence (the Holy
tions of sources, is Meriol Trevor’s Newman: Light in Winter,
2 vols. (New York, 1962).
Spirit), in the course of history confirmed, at least in its es-
sentials, by its magisterium, and proposed as a condition of
J. H. WALGRAVE (1987)
ecclesiastical membership by its present authority. In the
end, Newman saw this Catholic position as being in the na-
ture of a church called to survive substantially in the flux of
historical experience.
NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS
This entry consists of the following articles:
As subjective, faith is acceptance of dogma combined
with a personal surrender to the realities signified by dogma,
AN OVERVIEW
HISTORY OF STUDY
that is, real apprehension and assent. It is a gift of God’s “illu-
SCRIPTURES OF NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS
minating grace,” yet justified by reason.
NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AND WOMEN
NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AND CHILDREN
Influence. During his years in the Anglican church,
NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AND MILLENNIALISM
Newman was the most influential leader of the Oxford
NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AND VIOLENCE
Movement, defining the position of Anglo-Catholicism in
NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS IN THE UNITED STATES
NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS IN EUROPE
the Church of England and deepening the life of devotion
NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS IN JAPAN
through his sermons. In the Roman Catholic church his con-
NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS IN LATIN AMERICA
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: AN OVERVIEW
6513
NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: AN
converts in the West, as well as Christian groups in China
OVERVIEW
and Japan; religious groups that were brought into new cul-
Scholars adopted the term new religious movements (NRMs)
tural contexts by recent immigrants, such as Muslims in the
in order to avoid the pejorative connotations of the popularly
West; groups that evolved out of a more established tradi-
used term cult. Although the word cult originally referred to
tion, such as the Branch Davidians, which emerged from
an organized system of worship (and is still used in that sense
Seventh-day Adventism; reconfigurations of religious themes
by scholars in several disciplines), cult began to take on nega-
in traditional religions, such as Kurozumikyo¯, Tenrikyo¯, and
tive connotations in popular discourse in the 1960s and
other new religions in Japan; revivals of suppressed religious
1970s, when a variety of unconventional religions appeared
traditions, such as contemporary Pagan movements in east-
in North America. The word conveyed a stereotype that pre-
ern Europe; creative mergings of diverse religious traditions,
vented objective research into these religions; moreover,
such as the African Independent Churches (AICs; often
NRMs were so different from one another that it was impos-
called African Initiated Churches), which combined Chris-
sible to generalize about them. Instead, NRM scholars pre-
tianity with African beliefs and modes of worship, or the
ferred to investigate each new religion separately without im-
New Age movement’s blend of different religions and spiri-
posing the filter of a stereotype. Beginning in the 1970s,
tualities; imaginative and syncretistic re-creations of preexist-
people called “deprogrammers” began illegally kidnapping
ing religious traditions, such as Neopaganism in North
NRM members and attempting to undo their alleged “brain-
America; organizations that coalesced around new formula-
washing,” curtailing their civil liberties in the process. As a
tions of teachings found in alternative religious traditions,
result, many NRM scholars began to advocate freedom of re-
such as the Theosophical Society, which grew out of the
ligion for NRMs. While scholars admit that some members
Western Esoteric tradition and borrowed from virtually all
of NRMs have committed abusive and illegal acts (as have
the world’s religions; or millennial movements that formed
members of mainstream religions and people who have no
in response to new cultural conditions or oppression (such
religious commitments), they advise that law enforcement
as the Ghost Dance movement among Plains Native Ameri-
agencies exercise discipline when investigating claims of
cans in the nineteenth century) or innovations (such as the
wrongdoing, rather than overreacting.
UFO movement known as the Raelians). However innova-
New religious movements emerge from humans’ cre-
tive they may be, NRMs always utilize elements of earlier re-
ativity and capacity for religious expression, providing spiri-
ligious traditions as building blocks to construct their new
tual meaning and social connection for their members, just
theologies, practices, and organizations.
as mainstream religious groups do. Contemporary NRMs
NRMs are diverse in terms of their authority, organiza-
manifest the increasing pluralism associated with greater ease
tional structures, and levels of commitment required of their
of global travel and communications.
members. For example, ISKCON in the 1960s and 1970s
NRMs provide arenas for theological and social experi-
demanded much from its participants and had a communal
mentation. Some of these experiments are successful and re-
structure; on the other hand, the Theosophical Society has
sult in lasting religious organizations that exert broad cultural
organizational structures on the local, national, and interna-
and theological influences. Some experiments are less suc-
tional levels, is not communal for the most part, and does
cessful, resulting in small groups that are not influential or
not require prospective members to pledge a large commit-
lasting. A few produce groups whose beliefs and practices are
ment of resources. Falun Gong is a network of like-minded
deemed utterly abhorrent by the wider society.
people, and the New Age movement is an alternative milieu
in which people move from one group or teacher to another,
NRMs exist in varying degrees of tension within their
appropriating what works for them as individuals. Some
respective religious and cultural contexts. To survive for the
NRM members may make significant investments of time,
long-term, however, this tension must not become too great,
money, identities, marriages, families, and careers to a group,
and may indeed be mitigated over time. On the other hand,
only to find out later that leaving the group involves very
some degree of tension with society can attract converts who
high “exit costs.” These exit costs may make it difficult for
are dissatisfied with the spirituality and practices of main-
them to leave the group, even if they would like to. Many
stream religious institutions.
other NRM members, however, attend their alternative
NRMs may be alternative in terms of theology, leader-
group and imbibe its worldview only sporadically, enjoying
ship, authority structures, gender roles, family and sexual re-
the socializing once or twice a week, much the way members
lationships, and religious practices.
of mainstream religions attend their churches, synagogues,
and mosques.
DIVERSITY OF NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS. The term new
religious movements
covers many types of religious move-
NRMs also vary in terms of their size and influence.
ments and groups: religions that were introduced into a cul-
Many NRMs have remained small, localized groups, while
ture by missionary representatives from world religions
others have become large denominations, such as the Church
abroad, such as the International Society for Krishna Con-
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) and Church
sciousness (ISKCON) or other Asian-based religions with
of Christ, Scientist (Christian Science). A few NRMs have
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: AN OVERVIEW
become world religions, such as Buddhism, Christianity, and
Investigation into new religions is an extension of the
Islam. Many others remain diffuse milieus containing many
comparative and interdisciplinary study of religions. The
individuals and groups, such as Western Esotericism. Often,
study of new religions is the study of religions in all their di-
a NRM gives birth to its own movement, as additional
versity and creativity. Many NRM studies have focused on
groups and teachers continue the process of splitting off to
Western cultural contexts, but the field is increasingly be-
form separate organizations, while continuing to contribute
coming international in scope, examining numerous reli-
to an environment of shared ideas and practices, such as the
gious movements emerging from, and finding themselves in
Theosophical and the New Thought movements.
tension with, different cultures.
New religious movements also have different modes of
New religions studies is interdisciplinary. Most contrib-
origination. Many NRMs have been founded by prophets
utors to the field have been historians of religions and sociol-
with new revelations, or messiahs who claim to have the su-
ogists. Scholars who contribute to NRM studies also belong
perhuman power to create a millennial collective salvation;
to the fields of psychology, anthropology, folklore, and lin-
many others consist of movements of people who have con-
guistics.
tributed to an alternative worldview, such as Christian
CONTEXTS CONDUCIVE TO PRODUCING NRMS. Any con-
Identity.
text may produce NRMs, because nonconformists and inno-
vators exist in any culture. Certain contexts, however, involv-
New religions provide social spaces for experimentation
ing cultural disruption, change, and a high degree of
in alternative theologies, gender roles, sexual relations, lead-
exchange of ideas and people, seem particularly conducive to
ership structures, and group organization. Some of these ex-
producing NRMs.
periments, such as free love and polygamy, have not been
successful in the West because the wider society condemned
New religions have arisen in various times and places as
and opposed them. Other experiments have succeeded and
a result of the migration of peoples and the exchange of ideas.
influenced mainstream society, such as theologies that em-
This process has been accelerated in today’s world due to the
phasize the divine feminine, or imagine God to be both male
relative ease of travel and worldwide communication by elec-
and female, or view the ultimate reality as a neuter and im-
tronic means, including the Internet. The United States, and
personal force, counteracting the patriarchal conception of
Japan from the nineteenth century on, have been particularly
God. These alternative theological conceptions, such as the
fertile grounds for the creation of new religions, as people in
Christian Science Father-Mother God, the Wiccan Great
both countries have confronted the changes affecting work,
Goddess, or the Theosophical impersonal ultimate, have in-
family, technology, values, and the mobility of peoples
fluenced—directly or indirectly—mainstream Christian the-
throughout the world associated with modernity and post-
ologies; they have prefigured theological innovations in
modernity. Growth in the number of new religions is one
mainstream denominations. NRMs have experimented with
characteristic of the world’s increasing pluralism.
women’s religious leadership and feminist gender roles; con-
Oppressive contexts, in which an invading colonial
sequently, many mainstream religious institutions have pro-
power possessing advanced technology and military advan-
moted women’s equality and leadership. Yet many NRMs
tage seizes the land and wealth of an indigenous people, dis-
have opted to institutionalize patriarchal gender roles and
rupts their traditional way of life, and causes loss of life, are
traditional conceptions of God, often in reaction to changes
ripe for spawning new religious movements. A colonial
in society and religion.
power will import its own religion into the new context,
where it will be adapted to the values, concepts, and practices
New religions scholars will continue to observe a partic-
of the indigenous culture, giving rise to new religious move-
ular new religious movement and the changes that occur as
ments such as the numerous African Independent Churches
the new group matures, as long as the worldview, practices,
or the Latin American folk Catholic movements and Pente-
and organization remain alternative, unconventional, some-
costal churches. Millennial movements with new prophets
what marginal, and in some degree of tension with the main-
and messiahs are likely to emerge among indigenous peoples
stream cultural context. Thus, some NRMs will continue to
desperate for liberation from their oppressors and difficult
be studied by NRM scholars well past the time they are no
conditions. Some of these movements may be revolutionary,
longer “new.” The tension with the mainstream society may
such as Cuscat’s War (1867–1870) in Mexico, led by the
arise due to alternative theology or worldview, practices, or-
Mayan prophet Pedro Díaz Cuscat, while others may pro-
ganization, leadership, gender roles, sexual practices, or other
mote the expectation of salvation by divine intervention,
factors.
such as the Ghost Dance movement among Plains Native
N
Americans in the late nineteenth century. Many millennial
EW RELIGIONS STUDIES. New religions studies became an
emerging field in the late 1960s and 1970s, when numerous
movements reacting to poverty and oppression have set up
unconventional religions attracted attention from the general
separate communities, such as Joaseiro do Norte in Brazil or
public. In the early twenty-first century, this maturing field
Nueva Jerusalén in Mexico.
has produced scholarly analysis and many insights important
Newly opened or liberating contexts can also give rise
to the study of religions.
to a proliferation of NRMs. For instance, the demise of the
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6515
Soviet Union at the end of the 1980s created contexts in
Sho¯ko¯ (b. 1955) of Aum Shinrikyo¯, and Adolf Hitler (1889–
Russia, the former Soviet states, and eastern Europe that
1945). Although Adolf Hitler may appear to have been solely
were very receptive to the importation of NRMs, the resur-
a political leader, he was also the messiah of a revolutionary
gence of indigenous Pagan religious expressions, and the cre-
millennial movement (see below), and he claimed to be des-
ation of new religions. The fall of communism as a dominant
tined by “Nature” to lead the Germans into a collective salva-
worldview and state structure in these areas left a vacuum of
tion called the “Third Reich.”
meaning that people quickly filled.
Many NRMs, such as the Theosophical Society, have
CHARISMATIC LADERS AND THE BRAINWASHING DEBATE.
democratic structures of authority. These democracies often
Members of the general public, attempting to explain why
develop after the death of a charismatic founder. Also, it is
people join strange religious groups with unusual beliefs and
important to note that many, probably most, charismatic
behaviors, have often resorted to what James T. Richardson
leaders do not become totalitarian and do not lead their be-
has called “the myth of the omnipotent leader” and the cor-
lievers into disaster.
responding “myth of the passive, brainwashed follower”
(cited in Wessinger, How the Millennium Comes Violently,
Brainwashing Debate. Most social scientists studying
2000, 273–274). In subscribing to these perspectives, how-
NRMs have concluded that indoctrination practices in
ever, citizens forget that the beliefs and practices of any reli-
NRMs are not inherently different from those practiced in
gion appear to be bizarre from the outsider’s vantage point.
mainstream institutions, such as families, schools, churches,
Instead, people in the mainstream assume that the so-called
the military, and prisons. They reject the concept that any-
“charismatic leader” wields an invisible and irresistible power
one’s will can be overcome by a mysterious power of “mind
over his or her brainwashed followers.
control” or “brainwashing.” This is not to say that social and
interpersonal influence techniques are not present, as they
Charisma. Charisma, in the popular sense, refers to the
are in all social situations. Although most NRMs do not use
characteristics of an attractive individual gifted with excellent
coercive practices to retain members, a few have. An NRM
communications skills, but historians of religions and sociol-
cannot become coercive, however, without the willing com-
ogists use the term to designate a different quality often
plicity of at least some of its members.
found in religious leaders. In a religious studies and sociolog-
ical sense, charisma refers to an attribute possessed by an indi-
An example of an NRM that actively attempted to prac-
vidual whom people believe has access to an unseen source
tice brainwashing is Aum Shinrikyo¯, the criminal Japanese
of authority, such as revelation from God, angels, spirits, an-
new religion active in the late 1980s through the mid-1990s.
cestors, or even extraterrestrials. The source of the authority
Aum devotees kidnapped, imprisoned, starved, drugged,
is unseen, so people either believe or reject the claim. Charis-
subjected to electric shocks, and abused people in attempts
ma is socially constructed. If no one believes the individual’s
to convert them. None of these people became believers, al-
claim, then he or she does not have charisma in this sense.
though many of them were severely injured or killed. On the
No one can become a charismatic leader without the support
other hand, Aum members who willingly went through so-
and allegiance of believers, and the followers can withdraw
cialization processes, such as listening to the guru’s lectures,
their faith in the leader at any time.
working long hours for the organization, listening to audio-
taped affirmations, and enduring immersions in cold water
Not all NRMs are founded or led by charismatic lead-
and hot water as ascetic practices, were committed believers.
ers, but this type of leadership is common in the first genera-
The contrast between these two types of people illustrates
tion of a movement. Thereafter, authority usually becomes
that socialization processes are most effective when the indi-
“routinized” (Weber, 1946) into offices that people may ob-
vidual willingly participates in them.
tain by an institutionalized credentialing process.
People join new religions for numerous reasons: the
Given that followers can withdraw allegiance, Thomas
worldview makes sense to them; they find benefits in the reli-
Robbins and Dick Anthony (1995), following Max Weber,
gious practices; they have preexisting affective bonds with
have pointed to the inherent instability of charismatic leader-
family members and friends who are members; they like the
ship. The leader may go to great lengths to continue to win
people and the alternative community and “family” they
the faith of followers. If such faith is forthcoming, the charis-
have found; the group offers a sense of belonging and social
matic leader may be emboldened to demand even greater ac-
support; they enjoy the adventure offered in terms of travel
tions demonstrating commitment, involving sacrifices in re-
and new lifestyles; the new religion enables them to live out
lation to family, sexuality, property, and even acts of
their commitments to values and beliefs that were inculcated
violence. If followers carry out acts of coercion and violence
by their upbringing; they like the roles of men and women;
in support of the leader and the leader’s vision, he or she can
they become emotionally attracted to the leader for various
then exert totalitarian control, making it very difficult for
reasons; membership offers therapeutic benefits in dealing
people to leave the group. Examples of leaders possessing
with personal problems and life transitions.
charisma whose followers carried out coercive actions with
varying degrees and scopes of influence include Jim Jones
The rapid turnover of membership that is common to
(1931–1978) of the Peoples Temple and Jonestown, Asahara
most NRMs disproves the brainwashing theory, which
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: AN OVERVIEW
claims that people are unable to resist the mesmerizing influ-
the Raelian group. Neopaganism has been particularly
ence exerted by a charismatic leader. For instance, The Fami-
woman-affirming in its emphasis on a Great Goddess, multi-
ly (formerly the Children of God) had about fifty-seven
ple goddesses, and the sacredness of Earth.
thousand people join during its first twenty-five years, but
When patriarchal religious institutions are dominant in
only about three thousand adult members remained at the
the mainstream, women’s religious leadership is necessarily
end of that time (See statistics on NRMs summarized in
exercised on the margins of society in unconventional reli-
Richardson 2003 and Palmer 2003). People leave a new reli-
gions. Women have founded new religions, and women in
gion when they lose faith or become disenchanted with the
NRMs have been acknowledged as being prophets, messiahs,
group and its lifestyle and leadership.
theologians, and philosophers. For instance, Mother Ann
NEW RELIGIONS AND SCRIPTURES. New religions offer new
Lee (1736–1784), who in the late eighteenth century
interpretations of traditional scriptures, such as the Bible and
founded the Shakers—which promoted women’s liberation
the QurDa¯n, and often produce their own scriptures.
through men and women living together in celibate commu-
The scriptures of established religious traditions are so
nities—was regarded by the Shakers as the “Second Appear-
internally diverse that, for centuries, leaders, prophets, messi-
ing of Christ in female form.” Helena P. Blavatsky (1831–
ahs, and ordinary people have offered new interpretations of
1891), an unconventional Russian world traveler, articulated
them; these new readings have often led to the formation of
the philosophical basis for Theosophy and claimed to be in
new movements.
touch with enlightened masters via psychic means. Mary
Baker Eddy (1821–1910) received a healing and revelation
The founders of new religions claiming divine revela-
that led her to write her magnum opus, Science and Health,
tion often produce new scriptures themselves, while some-
With Key to the Scriptures (1875) and found the Church of
times people’s written memories of these individuals become
Christ, Scientist.
new scriptures. For example, Joseph Smith, Jr. claimed to
have translated a text engraved on golden tablets, which be-
Scholar Mary Farrell Bednarowski (1980) has pointed
came known as the Book of Mormon, a scripture important
out that NRMs founded by women or that have women as
to Mormons (along with the Bible).
leaders often develop a view of God that either promotes a
divine feminine, perhaps balanced with a divine masculine
New interpretations of established scriptures and the
aspect of God, or sees the ultimate reality as impersonal.
production of new scriptures is an important part of the cre-
ativity of religion-making. In the twenty-first century, addi-
CHILDREN IN NEW RELIGIONS. Children are a highly sensi-
tional scriptures may be found in nonwritten media, such as
tive topic with respect to NRMs, and the scholarly study of
movies, videos, audiotapes, CDs, and websites. Whatever the
children in NRMs is just beginning. Children in NRMs are
medium, scriptures address the meaning and purpose of life
often the subjects of custody battles between the parent who
and provide advice on proper living. Scriptures convey a
is a member and the parent who is not a member or who has
worldview in which meaningful human life is possible.
left the group. People in mainstream society often fear for
the welfare of children in NRMs because of their unorthodox
WOMEN AND GENDER ROLES IN NRMS. Many NRMs ex-
practices and beliefs. Under these circumstances, exaggerated
periment with gender roles and sexuality. Some NRMs en-
allegations are often made about the treatment of children
force conservative patriarchal gender roles (such as the Unifi-
in NRMs. Sometimes there is a real basis for these concerns,
cation Church and the Twelve Tribes), many are attractive
but often there is not. For instance, authorities have seized
primarily to heterosexuals, others welcome people of all sexu-
children from two alternative Christian groups, the Twelve
al orientations (such as the Raelians), some encourage free
Tribes and The Family, only to have to return them later
love within the group (such as The Family, Raelians, and the
when no evidence of abuse could be produced. On the other
followers of Rajneesh in the 1970s), while others promote
hand, the leader of the Nuwaubian Nation of Moors was
celibacy (such as the Shakers and the Brahma Kumaris).
convicted in 2004 for sexually abusing children, and the In-
A conservative NRM that follows the Bible or the
ternational Society for Krishna Consciousness in the late
QurDa¯n (such as the Twelve Tribes and the Nation of Islam,
1990s and early 2000s had to confront the damage caused
respectively) may encourage traditional heterosexual mar-
by abuse of children placed in ISKCON boarding schools.
riages and male headship of the family. Some NRMs have
The highly publicized pedophilia scandal in the Roman
experimented with polygamy, such as the nineteenth-century
Catholic Church in the early 2000s reminds us that abuse
Latter-day Saints (Mormons) and contemporary Mormon
of children can occur in mainstream religions and not only
splinter groups. The Branch Davidians practiced celibacy for
in the unconventional ones.
ordinary members, but their leader, David Koresh (1959–
Fears about children in NRMs can lead to overreactions
1993), took numerous wives, with whom he had children to
from law enforcement officials. The two assaults against the
fulfill his interpretations of biblical prophecies.
Branch Davidians in 1993 by federal agents purportedly
Other NRMs promote equality for women and do not
were motivated by concerns about the safety of the children,
restrict women to the roles of wife and mother. Often, these
but their actions resulted in the deaths of twenty-three chil-
religions welcome people of all sexual orientations, such as
dren under the age of fifteen (including two who were born
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: AN OVERVIEW
6517
in the fire when their pregnant mothers died and then died
forcement agents and other government officials, reporters,
themselves), five teenagers over fifteen, eighteen people in
psychologists and social workers, citizens, concerned rela-
their twenties, and their parents. A number of the young
tives, and anticultists—with members of a new religion helps
women who died in the fire were the mothers of the eighteen
determine whether or not tragic violence occurs. It is seldom
children who were eight years old or younger who died with
only the believers who contribute to a situation that culmi-
them. In the Branch Davidian case, the matter of child abuse
nates in violence, although their actions and the content of
did not fall under federal jurisdiction. The Branch Davidians
their faith certainly do affect the overall scenario.
had been investigated for child abuse by Texas authorities
and the case was closed for lack of evidence. While the allega-
Assaulted NRMs. Members of NRMs do not always
tions of severe corporal punishment remain unsubstantiated,
initiate the violence; sometimes, they are attacked by others.
David Koresh was, in fact, having sex with underage girls
When members of a new religious movement are assaulted,
with the permission of their parents, and the girls were bear-
they may or may not fight back. The early Christians did not
ing his children.
fight back when they were assaulted. Some of the early Chris-
tians, as well as some Falun Gong practitioners in the early
Religiously committed parents want their children to be
twenty-first century, may have deliberately put themselves in
raised in the lifestyle they deem best according to their deeply
danger of being harmed by the state. Conversely, the Branch
held beliefs. This is the case for parents who belong to main-
Davidians tried to defend themselves in 1993.
stream, as well as marginal, religions. Difficulties arise when
the values of parents in unconventional religions diverge rad-
Fragile NRMs. A few new religions become fragile in
ically from the values of mainstream society.
reaction to internal weaknesses and experiences of opposition
from society. Members of a fragile NRM initiate violence to
Sometimes parents in a new religion hold to a faith so
preserve their endangered religious goal. Their violence may
strongly that they permit their daughters to be married at
be directed outwardly against perceived enemies, inwardly
early ages, as with the Branch Davidians and contemporary
against members, or both. Jonestown in Guyana (1978); the
polygamous Mormons. On rare occasions, strongly commit-
Solar Temple in Switzerland, Quebec, and France (1994,
ted parents may kill their children to achieve an ultimate goal
1995, 1997); Aum Shinrikyo¯ in Japan (1995); and Heaven’s
by collective suicide, which occurred at Jonestown in 1978
Gate in the United States (1997) are examples of fragile
and with the Solar Temple in 1994 and 1995.
groups. The Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Com-
The vast majority of parents in NRMs do not go to
mandments of God (MRTCG) (2000), a Catholic Marian
these extremes, however. Scholars recognize the need for ad-
apparition group in Uganda involved in the deaths of about
ditional research into the benign situations of children in
780 people, also may have been a fragile millennial group.
NRMs, as well as in the cases where harm was done. Close
scholarly examinations of children in NRMs will likely reveal
Revolutionary NRMs. The most dangerous NRMs are
complex situations possessing both positive and negative fea-
the ones that are revolutionary. These are usually revolution-
tures.
ary millennial movements seeking to achieve a collective sal-
vation on Earth. They use violence to try to overthrow what
MILLENNIALISM. The religious patterns that scholars term
they see as the corrupt order to create a new one. The Tai-
millennialism—belief in an imminent transition to a collec-
ping Revolution in China from 1850 to 1864 and the Ger-
tive salvation (either earthly or heavenly) effected by a super-
man Nazis in the twentieth century can be seen as revolu-
natural or superhuman agent—are ideal for promoting new
tionary NRMs. Al-Qa¯Eidah is a contemporary example of a
religious movements. Persuading people that a catastrophic
revolutionary NRM. Even in the cases of revolutionary
destruction of the world is imminent, and that salvation can
NRMs, however, the quality of interactions of people in
be found only among the “elect” who join the new religion
mainstream society with nonbelievers is crucial for stimulat-
and have faith in its prophet or messiah and his or her mes-
ing the believers’ sense of being persecuted, thus confirming
sage, is a powerful factor in motivating people to convert.
their convictions that revolutionary violence is needed to
Likewise, an anticipation of an imminent, nonviolent, pro-
achieve a collective salvation for those who are identified as
gressive transformation into a new age in accordance with a
worthy of being included in the “elect.”
divine plan can motivate people to join the movement to fa-
cilitate the collective salvation. Millennial beliefs are often,
Dualism. A dualistic outlook usually contributes to epi-
but not always, found in new religious movements.
sodes of violence involving new religious movements. An ex-
NEW RELIGIONS AND VIOLENCE. It is well known that mem-
treme dualism entails a rigid perspective of good versus evil,
bers of dominant religious traditions often commit violence
or of us versus them. But dualism is not restricted to religious
or become caught up in violence While the vast majority of
believers. In these interactive conflicts, dualism can usually
NRMs do not become involved in violence, some have been
be discerned in the worldviews of reporters, anticult activists,
involved in spectacular cases of violence. Excluding the inevi-
law enforcement agents, politicians, and government offi-
table isolated incidents caused by deranged individuals, reli-
cials. Among the religious believers, the dualism is often asso-
gious violence is typically interactive in nature. The quality
ciated with a millennial outlook that expects catastrophic de-
of the interactions of people in mainstream society—law en-
struction before salvation is achieved for the elect.
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: AN OVERVIEW
GOVERNMENTAL OPPOSITION TO NRMS: FREEDOM OF RE-
The ideologies of the American anticult and countercult
LIGION ISSUES. It is a serious matter when a religion is called
(evangelical Christian) movements have been exported to
a “cult” or “sect” by a government and the general public.
other countries, where the anticult/countercult perspective
Labeling a group with the pejorative term cult or an equiva-
is utilized to curtail religious freedoms and justify state-
lent term promotes opposition, discrimination, and even
sponsored repression and violence against unconventional
persecution of the believers, with possible disastrous conse-
religious groups. Phillip Charles Lucas (2004) points out
quences. The believers become dehumanized by the pejora-
that the right to freedom of religion needs to be balanced
tive label, and outsiders may believe it is morally right to ex-
with the concern that some religious groups may be engaged
terminate them.
in illegal and harmful activities. The “cult” stereotype pro-
moted by the anticult and countercult movements has pro-
Scholarship on the Branch Davidian conflict in 1993
moted religious bigotry and has led to extreme actions on the
indicates that federal agents were motivated in great part by
part of authorities in various countries.
the “cult” stereotype to carry out two assaults against the
community. The media depicted the Branch Davidians as
When authorities suspect illegal activities on the part of
“cultists” during the fifty-one-day siege; as a result, much of
NRM members, they should conduct a careful investigation
the American public approved of the gas-and-tank assault
and ensure that the actions of law enforcement agents con-
carried out by the Federal Bureau of Investigation that result-
form to reasonable and moderate procedures to avoid caus-
ed in the deaths of seventy-four Branch Davidians. In all,
ing unnecessary harm. Furthermore, law enforcement agents
eighty Branch Davidians and four law enforcement agents
should consult with credentialed scholars of religions.
died in what was later determined to be an unnecessary con-
NRMs are religions. They represent the creativity of the
flict. David Koresh had consistently expressed his willingness
human spirit. They are novel, alternative, and unconvention-
to cooperate with authorities, from the initial investigations
al in their cultural contexts, and thus they live in some degree
to the fiery end, provided the Branch Davidians were permit-
of tension with society. At the same time, they express the
ted to remain faithful to their biblical concerns.
universal human yearning for contact with the sacred, and
During 1999 and the early 2000s, Falun Gong was the
in this regard they are neither novel nor unusual. Because
most visible among many persecuted religious groups in the
they are religions-in-formation, the study of them sheds light
People’s Republic of China. Falun Gong adherents, who
on all religions, as well as on the perpetual human quest for
practiced a form of qigong (exercises designed to enhance qi,
meaning.
or life force), surprised officials in the Chinese Communist
New religions studies is focused on emergent, alterna-
Party in 1999 by coordinating a protest gathering of more
tive, and unconventional religions in any given cultural con-
than ten thousand people near the Beijing residence of the
text, thus it is interdisciplinary in approach and multicultural
highest party leaders. Despite being labeled an “evil cult” and
in scope. Because of the cultural opposition that often con-
outlawed, Falun Gong practitioners continued to assert their
fronts NRMs, scholars in the field also study social control
right to freedom of religion by practicing their qigong exer-
efforts directed against NRMs. The field represents an
cises in public places, such as Tiananmen Square, where they
important extension of the study of religions in all their
were arrested. Reportedly, hundreds of Falun Gong practi-
diversity.
tioners died in custody. All of the official forces of the Peo-
ple’s Republic of China, including the media, were mobi-
SEE ALSO African Religions, article on New Religious
lized in the repression of Falun Gong practitioners.
Movements; Anticult Movements; Aum Shinrikyo¯; Blavat-
sky, H. P.; Brainwashing (Debate); Branch Davidians; Cha-
In the mid- to late 1990s, France and Belgium issued
risma; Christian Identity Movement; Christian Science;
reports and passed laws against sectes, the pejorative term
Cults and Sects; Eddy, Mary Baker; Esotericism; Falun
equivalent to cults. Minority religions of all types unfortunate
Gong; Family, The; Ghost Dance; Heaven’s Gate; Interna-
enough to be included on the lists of sectes were subjected to
tional Society for Krishna Consciousness; Jehovah’s Wit-
harassment and surveillance by law enforcement agents, and
nesses; Jones, Jim; Jonestown and Peoples Temple; Koresh,
members lost jobs and suffered other civil disabilities.
David; Law and Religion, article on Law and New Reli-
gious Movements; Lee, Ann; Mormonism; Movement for
Russia and former Soviet republics in the late 1990s and
the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God; Nation
early 2000s took steps to curtail the legal rights of minority
of Islam; Neopaganism; New Age Movement; New
religious groups and to favor traditional historical churches,
Thought Movement; Raëlians; Shakers; Smith, Joseph; So¯ka
such as the Russian Orthodox Church in Russia and the Ar-
Gakkai; Taiping; Theosophical Society; Twelve Tribes;
menian Apostolic Church in Armenia. In 2004, the city of
UFO Religions; Unification Church; Wicca.
Moscow banned the religious activities of Jehovah’s Witness-
es, including holding meetings and services in private homes.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
In Turkmenistan, all religions other than approved Islam
Barker, Eileen. “Perspective: What Are We Studying? A Sociologi-
and Russian Orthodoxy were banned; members of all other
cal Case for Keeping the ‘Nova.’” Nova Religio: The Journal
religions were treated harshly.
of Alternative and Emergent Religions. 8, no. 1 (2004): 88–
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: AN OVERVIEW
6519
102. Barker, a sociologist, argues for defining a new religion
edited by Phillip Charles Lucas and Thomas Robbins,
as being a first-generation group consisting of converts, and
pp. 341–357. New York, 2004. The important conclusion
that the cultural antagonism directed toward NRMs is a con-
to a significant set of essays on the status of new religious
sequence of their being novel.
movements in different countries and parts of the world.
Bednarowski, Mary Farrell. “Outside the Mainstream: Women’s
Melton, J. Gordon. “Perspective: Toward a Definition of ‘New
Religion and Women’s Religious Leaders in Nineteenth-
Religion.’” Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emer-
Century America.” Journal of the American Academy of Reli-
gent Religions 8, no. 1 (2004): 73–87. Melton, a historian of
gion 48 (1980): 207–231. Groundbreaking essay that illumi-
religions, opts for understanding a new religious movement
nates factors which promote ongoing women’s religious lead-
as being any religion that is assigned fringe status by the
ership in unconventional religions.
dominant religions in any given culture because of signifi-
Bromley, David G. “Perspective: Whither New Religions Studies:
cantly different beliefs and practices.
Defining and Shaping a New Area of Study.” Nova Religio:
Miller, Timothy, ed. When Prophets Die: The Postcharismatic Fate
The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions 8, no. 2
of New Religious Movements. Albany, N.Y., 1991. A collec-
(2004). In a discussion of the sociological development of
tion of essays on a variety of NRMs examining the processes
New Religions Studies (NRS) as an emerging interdisciplin-
of “routinization of charisma” after the death of the founding
ary area of study, Bromley argues that mainstream religions
charismatic leader.
are characterized by congruence or alignment with the domi-
Miller, Timothy. “Introduction.” In America’s Alternative Reli-
nant culture, while NRMs are characterized by a lack of
gions, edited by Timothy Miller, pp. 1–10. Albany, N.Y.,
alignment and are therefore in tension with the dominant
1995. Miller, a historian of religions, opts for the term “alter-
culture, values, and institutions.
native” to describe NRMs, and emphasizes that NRMs are
Campbell, Colin. “The Cult, the Cultic Milieu, and Seculariza-
not inherently inferior to mainstream religions.
tion.” A Sociological Yearbook of Religion in Britain 5 (1972):
119–136. Reprinted in The Cultic Milieu: Oppositional Sub-
Needleman, Jacob. The New Religions. New York, 1970. Probably
cultures in an Age of Globalization. Edited by Jeffrey Kaplan
the first title to use the term “new religions,” Needleman
and Heléne Lööw, 12–25. Walnut Creek, Calif., 2002.
studies Asian religions in the United States, especially Cali-
Campbell describes a milieu of “seekership” among alterna-
fornia, that attracted attention in the late 1960s.
tive ideas and practices associated with the Western Esoteric
Nova Religio Symposium: Falun Gong.” Nova Religio: The Jour-
tradition or Occultism, and often associated with the Theo-
nal of Alternative and Emergent Religions 6, no. 2 (April
sophical and New Age movements, which has incorporated
2003). A collection of eight scholarly articles on the history
influences from Asian religions.
and practice of Falun Gong, and its conflict with the govern-
Dawson, Lorne L. Comprehending Cults: The Sociology of New Re-
ment of the People’s Republic of China.
ligious Movements. Oxford, 1998. Excellent sociological
Palmer, Susan Jean. Moon Sisters, Krishna Mothers, Rajneesh Lov-
treatment of the main issues relating to new religions, includ-
ers: Women’s Roles in New Religions. Syracuse, N.Y., 1994.
ing typologies, causes of NRMs, conversion, the brainwash-
Examines women’s roles in a variety of NRMs—
ing debate, violence, and cultural significance.
International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Rajneesh
Dawson, Lorne L. “Who Joins New Religious Movements and
movement, Unification Church, Institute of Applied Meta-
Why: Twenty Years of Research and What Have We
physics, Messianic Community (Twelve Tribes), Raelian
Learned?” In Cults and New Religious Movements: A Reader,
movement, Institute for the Development of the Harmoni-
pp. 116–130. Edited by Lorne L. Dawson. Oxford, 2003.
ous Human Being, The Family—paying particular attention
Helpful summary of conclusions found in social scientific lit-
to gender roles and sexual expressions.
erature on why people join new religious movements
Palmer, Susan J. “Women’s ‘Cocoon Work’ in New Religious
Ellwood, Robert S. Introducing Religion: From Inside and Outside.
Movements: Sexual Experimentation and Feminine Rites of
3rd ed. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1993. A pioneering scholar
Passage.” In Cults and New Religious Movements: A Reader,
of new religions offers a focused treatment of “emergent reli-
pp. 245–56. Edited by Lorne L. Dawson. Oxford, 2003.
gion” on pages 129–133.
This summary of gender roles for women in a variety of
NRMs proposes that women’s temporary membership in an
Ellwood, Robert S. “Nazism as a Millennialist Movement.” In
NRM serves as a rite of passage.
Millennialism, Persecution, and Violence: Historical Cases,
pp. 241–260. Edited by Catherine Wessinger. Syracuse,
Palmer, Susan J., and Charlotte E. Hardman, eds. Children in
N.Y., 2000. Discussion of German Nazism as a revolution-
New Religions. New Brunswick, N.J., 1999. The first collec-
ary millennial movement.
tion of scholarly articles on children in new religions.
Gallagher, Eugene V. “Introduction.” The New Religious Move-
Puttick, Elizabeth. “Women in New Religious Movements.” In
ments Experience in America. Westport, Conn., 2004. Excel-
Cults and New Religious Movements: A Reader, pp. 230–44.
lent introduction to the study of NRMs in America and the
Edited by Lorne L. Dawson. Oxford, 2003. Illuminating dis-
issues involved, such as deprogramming, freedom of religion,
cussion of women’s gender roles and expressions of sexuality
the brainwashing theory, and typologies.
in “traditionalist” (patriarchal) new religions and more liber-
Lucas, Phillip Charles. “The Future of New and Minority Reli-
al “personal development” new religions; includes discussion
gions in the Twenty-First Century: Religious Freedom
of issues of abuse and sexual abuse of women.
Under Siege.” In New Religious Movements in the 21st Centu-
Richardson, James T. “A Critique of ‘Brainwashing’ Claims about
ry: Legal, Political, and Social Challenges in Global Perspective,
New Religious Movements.” In Cults and New Religious
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

6520
NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: HISTORY OF STUDY
Movements: A Reader, pp. 160–66. Edited by Lorne L. Daw-
religions had regularly populated the fringes of Western cul-
son. Oxford, 2003. A social scientific critique of the brain-
ture throughout history, a host of new religious movements
washing theory as scientifically unfounded and self-serving
had appeared in North America at the end of the 1960s and
to proponents.
incited public controversy. Parents of the young adults who
Robbins, Thomas, and Dick Anthony. “Sects and Violence: Fac-
had joined many of these groups mounted fierce battles
tors Enhancing the Volatility of Marginal Religious Move-
against what they termed cults. In order to present a more
ments.” In Armageddon in Waco: Critical Perspectives on the
balanced view, early research efforts began, initially in the
Branch Davidian Conflict. Edited by Stuart A. Wright,
San Francisco Bay metropolitan area, to explore these groups
pp. 236–59. Chicago, 1995. Discusses the precariousness of
from an academic perspective. At the time, it was assumed
charismatic authority in addition to other factors that can
by some that the sudden burst of new religions was merely
contribute to violence involving a new religion.
a passing phenomenon, particularly related to the social un-
Robbins, Thomas, and David Bromley. “Social Experimentation
rest of the 1960s. The long-term role of the many diverse
and the Significance of American New Religions: A Focused
movements was more fully understood only after their
Review Essay.” Research in the Social Scientific Study of Reli-
growth continued over several decades. Still in its relative in-
gion. 4 (1992): 1–28. Discusses NRMs as “laboratories of so-
fancy, the study of new religions was dramatically affected
cial experimentation,” which can produce innovations that
later will be incorporated into mainstream religions and so-
by the murder/suicides that occurred at Jonestown, Guyana,
cieties.
in November 1978.
Weber, Max. “The Social Psychology of the World Religions.” In
NEW RELIGIONS STUDIES. The contemporary study of new
From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, pp. 267–301, especially
religions grew from two roots: the study of cults (or in Eu-
297. Translated and edited by H. H. Gerth and C. Wright
rope, sects) through the early twentieth century, and the
Mills. New York, 1946. Early discussion, first published in
burst of new religious life in Japan following World War II.
1922–1923, of the process of “routinization” of charisma.
Through the late nineteenth century, observers of the trends
Wessinger, Catherine, ed. Women’s Leadership in Marginal Reli-
in American religion realized that pluralism was altering the
gions: Explorations Outside the Mainstream. Urbana, Ill.,
Christian community and that a number of “heretical” ex-
1993. An examination of the factors in certain new religions
pressions were demanding a place on the spiritual landscape.
that have promoted women’s religious leadership after the
By the end of the century, the first book had appeared that
death of the founder (often a woman).
labeled some of these diverse religions “cults.” Then, through
Wessinger, Catherine, ed. “Introduction: Going Beyond and Re-
the first half of the twentieth century, scholars and church
taining Charisma: Women’s Leadership in Marginal Reli-
leaders tried to discover why people would forsake traditional
gions.” In Women’s Leadership in Marginal Religions: Explora-
religions for these obviously false new religious expressions.
tions Outside the Mainstream. Edited by Catherine
Among these movements in question were Spiritualism,
Wessinger, 1–19. Urbana, Ill., 1993. In addition to discuss-
Mormonism, Theosophy, Christian Science, and New
ing the factors that support ongoing religious leadership by
women in alternative religions, examines some different ways
Thought. At the same time a variety of Christian literature
a religion may be considered “marginal” to the mainstream
denouncing the different groups would begin to circulate as
cultural contexts.
part of an effort to stop their growth and keep Christians
from straying toward them.
Wessinger, Catherine, ed. Millennialism, Persecution, and Violence:
Historical Cases. Syracuse, N.Y., 2000. Studies millennialism
Simultaneously, with the growth of religious pluralism,
in a variety of cultures and time periods to elucidate the con-
both the psychology and sociology of religion developed as
nection between millennial beliefs and episodes of violence.
distinctive areas of concentration within the emerging social
Wessinger, Catherine, ed. How the Millennium Comes Violently:
sciences. Pioneering scholars would attempt overviews of the
From Jonestown to Heaven’s Gate. New York, 2000. Case
different new religions. Favored targets were commonly in-
studies of NRMs and millennial groups from 1978 involved
dependent African American groups such as Father Divine’s
in dramatic incidents of violence.
Peace Mission and the Church of God and Saints of Christ;
Benjamin D. Zablocki, “Exit Cost Analysis: A New Approach to
proselytizing Christian sectarian groups including Jehovah’s
the Scientific Study of Brainwashing,” Nova Religio: The
Witnesses and Seventh-day Adventists; and alternative reli-
Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions 1, no. 2 (1998):
gions with distinctive practices, among them Spiritualism
216–49. Discussion of “exit costs” considered by people
and Christian Science. The new Pentecostal movement with
choosing whether to stay in or leave a religious group.
its unfamiliar practice of speaking in tongues spread across
CATHERINE WESSINGER (2005)
America just as observers were trying to make sense of Spiri-
tualist séances, metaphysical healing, and occult fortune-
telling.
NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: HISTORY OF
The first generation of scholarly comment on new reli-
STUDY
gions range from the rather empathetic remarks of William
In the 1970s a new subfield in academia developed around
James in his classic, The Varieties of Religious Experience
the study of what was termed new religions. Though minority
(1902), to the caustic ridicule heaped on the Pentecostals by
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: HISTORY OF STUDY
6521
James’ Harvard College colleague, George B. Cutten, in his
perfectionist (or subjectivist),
Speaking with Tongues: Historically and Psychologically Con-
charismatic (or pentecostal),
sidered (1927).
communistic,
Prior to the 1950s, the study of “cults” was a fringe
legalistic (or objectivists),
topic. Only a few scholars showed any long-term interest in
the subject, and only a handful of Christian scholars wrote
egocentric (the New Thought groups),
more than a single book on the topic. Among the few titles
and esoteric (or mystical).
that attempted to go beyond a negative reductionist ap-
It is to be noted that both Wilson and Clark developed their
proach to the various groups and adopt, with relative success,
classification schema apart from the emerging distinction be-
an understanding of them as valid religious expressions that
tween sect and cult, and both included in their discussion
needed to be understood in their own right were Elmer T.
some groups that would later be seen as sects (Salvation
Clark’s The Psychology of Religious Awakening (1929); Louis
Army, Christadelphians) and those thought of as “new reli-
R. Binder’s Modern Religious Cults and Society (1933); and
gions” (Christian Science, Jehovah’s Witnesses) under the
Arthur Huff Fauset’s Black Gods of the Metropolis: Negro Reli-
single rubric of sects. This approach had the benefit of allow-
gious Cults of the Urban North (1944). Among those who de-
ing consideration of some otherwise orthodox Christian
nounced the heretical teachings of the groups was Reformed
groups that evidenced out-of-the-ordinary behavior, such as
Church minister Jan Karel Van Baalen, whose Chaos of the
speaking in tongues, contemporary revelations, communal-
Cults first appeared in 1938. His somewhat careful study of
ism, and apocalypticism.
the teachings of the “cults” was motivated by a desire to
show how untenable they were in the light of Protestant or-
Joining Wilson and Clark was Marcus Bach, one of the
thodoxy.
first faculty members of the University of Iowa’s pioneering
religious-studies department. Bach was the first to teach a
The largely negative approach to the alternative reli-
class on new religions and to invite members of the groups
gious groups was firmly established in the 1930s. The search
under discussion to come into his class and speak to students.
for a rationale to explain why religious groups, outside of the
He would go on to author a number of books with catchy
limited pluralism marked by the major American denomina-
titles, such as Strange Sects and Curious Cults (1906), that
tions, could attract a following—albeit a minority one—
nevertheless offered the general public a factual and empa-
dominated scholarly writing of the era. Attraction to the new
thetic entrance into the life of groups such as the Amish,
religions was seen as a product of economic, social, and edu-
the Doukhobors, the Hutterites, and Father Divine’s Peace
cational deprivation, if not actually linked to ill-defined psy-
Mission.
chological disturbances.
Whereas Clark’s and Bach’s influence was largely
TRANSITION. A transition from the earlier, more negative ap-
through their books, Wilson emerged as the teacher of a new
proach to new religions occurred in the two decades follow-
generation of British scholars, mostly sociologists, who began
ing World War II. In England, sociologist Bryan Wilson
in the 1970s to make the study of new religions their primary
(1926–2004) began to look at what he termed sectarian reli-
research field. His students, including Roy Wallis, and others
gion. Following a format already applied to the more familiar
inspired by his example, such as Eileen Barker and James
churches, both state-sponsored and free, Wilson began to ex-
Beckford, would arrive on the scene just as interest turned
plore the different behavior and theologies proposed by indi-
to emerging studies about Japan and its religious sects.
vidual sects and ask questions about the social organization
of those groups then visible in England, North America, and
As a new generation of scholars in North America and
Africa. His work, published in several books through the
Europe were absorbing Clark and Wilson, the Japanese reli-
1960s, led to a system of classifying sects according to the
gious community was in some turmoil. Nearly a century of
variant paths to salvation they outlined for their members:
suppression of Japan’s diverse religions ended decisively with
the introduction of American-style religious freedom in
conversionist,
1945. Over the next decade, a number of religious groups
revolutionist,
appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Attempting to make
introversionist,
some sense of the phenomena, scholars soon discovered three
different types of groups: some that had assumed a low pro-
manipulationist,
file during the Meiji era; others that had disbanded but were
thamaturgical,
reconstituted after 1945; and a few that were entirely new.
reformist,
Scholars also saw that new groups were emerging at a steady
pace. During the 1960s, Western scholars of Japanese reli-
and utopian.
gion like Harry Thomsen and H. Neill McFarland produced
In a similar vein, church historian Elmer Clark, surveying
the first English-language texts about the shin shu¯kyo¯, or
American groups, classified them according to their domi-
“new religions” of Japan.
nant organizational thrust, thus finding sects that were:
THE EMERGENCE OF NEW RELIGIONS STUDY. The books
pessimistic (or adventist),
from Japan offered Western scholars a much-needed tool: a
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6522
NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: HISTORY OF STUDY
new language with which to discuss the numerous, outside-
ness movement. This movement was fueled by in part by the
the-mainstream alternative religions that had become their
large number of college-age youths who had joined various
focus in the 1970s. At this time, some older, unfamiliar reli-
new religions, and the subsequent concern of parents that
gious groups joined a number of recently introduced move-
their sons and daughters were too deeply involved in what
ments to create a new alternative religious milieu, and many
were viewed as cult-like movements. Parents found some
found the term borrowed from the Japanese, “new religions,”
early support from various psychological counselors, lawyers,
appropriate to describe these recently visible movements else-
and law-enforcement officials. Through the 1970s, scholars
where. Scholars sought distance from the older terms of
followed the development of the cult awareness movement
“sect”—which in Europe had been used to describe so many
with some concern relative to its effects on issues of religious
groups that it hindered analysis—and “cult,” which had in
freedom, concerns that were heightened by the introduction
America taken on a decidedly negative connotation. While
of coercive deprogramming. Members of a spectrum of new
not altogether fitting terms, “new religion” and “new reli-
religions were being taken into custody, held against their
gious movement” (NRM) nevertheless gradually replaced the
will, and placed under rather strong psychological pressure
previous terminology, especially the term cult.
to renounce and withdraw from the group they had joined.
Leading the way in the appropriation of Japanese reli-
The leadership of the cult awareness movement sought
gious studies in the English-speaking world was Robert S.
justification for the necessity of kidnapping and deprogram-
Ellwood, who emerged in the 1970s as one of the leading
ming the offspring of concerned parents. Such a rationale ap-
new religions scholars. He drew upon his own training in
peared during the trial of millionaire heiress Patty Hearst in
Eastern religions to produce a set of early theoretical texts in-
1976. Hearst’s lawyer, F. Lee Bailey (1933–), argued that
cluding Religious and Spiritual Groups in Modern America
Hearst, who had participated in a bank robbery some
(1973), The Eagle and the Rising Sun: Americans and the New
months after being captured and held by the Symbionese
Religions of Japan (1974), and Alternative Altars: Unconven-
Liberation Army, had been brainwashed. Though unable to
tional and Eastern Spirituality in America (1979), and an early
prevent her conviction, two of the psychologists that had
study of Tenrikyo (a Japanese new religion) in 1982.
worked with Bailey, Louis J. West (1925–1999) from the
A secondary origin for the term New Religion has also
University of California-Los Angeles and Margaret Singer
been suggested. In 1970, San Francisco Bay Area scholar
(1921–2003), a psychologist in private practice in Berkeley,
Jacob Needleman authored a book titled The New Religions,
began to apply the same argument to members of the new
which his colleagues began to use to describe the emergence
religions—that they were being brainwashed and, in effect,
of so many unfamiliar alternative religions within the coun-
held against their will. They found additional support from
terculture at the end of the 1960s. Needleman found special
Massachusetts psychiatrist John Clark (1926–1999).
significance in Zen Buddhism, the followers of Meher Baba,
The reality of the Jonestown deaths in 1978, and the
Subud, Transcendental Meditation, Krishnamurti, Tibetan
introduction of the brainwashing hypothesis into the conver-
Buddhism, and G. I. Gurdjieff. He also went beyond the
sations would dominate new religions studies for the next de-
largely descriptive work from Japan, and invited readers to
cade. The debate would go on largely without the participa-
consider the philosophical/theological questions about the
tion of the primary exponents of brainwashing, for West,
nature of genuine spirituality.
Singer, and Clark rarely appeared at scholarly gatherings to
In the mid-1970s, a group of scholars in the Bay Area
defend their ideas, and they did not respond directly to their
became the center for the initial studies of new religions, and
scholarly critics. In fact, discussion of the issues was substan-
a number of books flowed from a well-funded project they
tially hindered because the primary statements concerning
initiated. The works most closely associated with the study
the reputed brainwashing in the new religions were made in
are The New Religious Consciousness (1977), edited by
hard-to-retrieve court depositions and testimony. Despite
Charles T. Glock and Robert N. Bellah; Robert Wuthnow’s
the obstacles, by the mid-1980s a consensus had been
Experimentation in American Religion (1978); and Steven
reached in the major relevant academic associations that
Tipton’s Getting Saved from the Sixties (1982). In 1977, the
brainwashing, as articulated primarily in court by Margaret
Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, re-
Singer, had no basis in fact. That position was argued by the
ceived a Rockefeller Grant that allowed the school to host
likes of psychologists Dick Anthony and Newton Maloney,
a large conference on new religious movements, the papers
sociologists Eileen Barker, Tom Robbins, and James T.
of which appeared in 1978 as Understanding the New Reli-
Richardson, and others.
gions, edited by Jacob Needleman and George Baker. Under-
The brainwashing issue would lead to the establishment
standing the New Religions summarized the consensus prior
of a Task Force within the American Psychological Associa-
to the deaths at Jonestown that would set a whole new agen-
tion to prepare a statement concerning the new approach to
da for scholars.
brainwashing. That Task Force’s 1987 report was unani-
As scholars in both England and the United States pur-
mously rejected by the reviewers. The publicizing of the re-
sued their initial studies of the new religions, a second impor-
jection letter largely ended the debate over brainwashing in
tant social phenomenon was also emerging: the cult aware-
academia and several years later, with supportive documents
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: HISTORY OF STUDY
6523
by Dick Anthony and Rutgers psychiatrist Perry London, the
As early as 1969, Geoffrey Nelson’s work on British
idea and its exponents failed to make their case convincingly
Spiritualism pointed out that new religions were not ephem-
before the court, most notably in the case of United States
eral, one-generation phenomena. A variety of subsequent
v. Fishman (1990), in which a former Scientologist claimed
work pointed out that the role of charismatic leaders had
his “brainwashing” in Scientology as a factor leading to his
been overestimated (Miller, 1991). In this regard, scholars
embezzling bank funds. Though the idea of brainwashing
undercut one of the most persistent ideas about new reli-
still appears in the occasional court case, new religions in
gions: that the death of a founder was a major trauma that
North America no longer fear accusations of brainwashing
tended to cause his or her group to fragment or dissolve en-
as a major concern and the practice of coercive deprogram-
tirely. This notion was further dispelled as many new reli-
ming was largely replaced with non-coercive exit counseling.
gions passed through their first generation, were seen to
(Brainwashing ideas remain alive in some European coun-
splinter over a variety of reasons, but managed the death of
tries like France and Spain and deprogramming still occurs
their founder with relative ease. In like measure, the other
in Japan.)
elements of the old definition did not fit many of the promi-
The brainwashing controversy, though a diversion from
nent new religions of the 1970s and 1980s.
the agenda set in the 1970s for studying new religions, had
Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, scholars
several important effects. Firstly, it brought a number of peo-
such as David G. Bromley, Eileen Barker, and J. Gordon
ple to the field, and during the 1980s the Association for the
Melton have turned their attention to reconstructing defini-
Sociology of Religion, the Society for the Scientific Study of
tions of the new religions. Bromley has emphasized their na-
Religion, and the American Academy of Religion developed
ture as breaking with the dominant religious culture of the
tracks for papers on new religions. At the same time, as a sig-
society and their alienation from its power structures. Barker
nificant percentage of research on new religions was devoted
has emphasized the special characteristics that first-
to dealing with the controversy, a relatively small number of
generation religious groups tend to share. Melton has em-
new religions became the focus of numerous studies. These
phasized the manner in which new religions, in spite of their
groups, less than two dozen in number, had been threatened
obvious innovations, tend to perpetuate the life of older reli-
with legal action due to accusations of brainwashing. As a re-
gious traditions out of which they had emerged. Thus con-
sult, the majority of the new religions were looked at only
temporary definitions of new religions see them as groups
cursorily. The early neglect of the hundreds of new religions
that operate both socially and culturally outside the main-
also meant that the development of overall understandings
stream of society while seeking to continue or revitalize an
of the field initially lagged.
older tradition. During their first generation they tend to
The decisive rejection of brainwashing as a theory by the
share certain characteristics relative to leadership, member-
scholarly associations and the courts had its most dramatic
ship profiles, and a response to basic organizational impera-
impact on the cult awareness community. Unable to call
tives, though operating out of different theologies and advo-
upon its stable of experts to defend its actions, a court ren-
cating different practices.
dered a $1 million judgment against the Cult Awareness
Network following a deprogramming incident in Seattle in
ADDITIONAL DEVELOPMENTS. While much energy was
1995, forcing it into bankruptcy and dissolution. By this
placed on discussing brainwashing, the field of new religions
time, the majority of new religious movements scholars had
studies matured along several contemporaneous parallel
moved on to other concerns. Professionals who supported
tracks in the latter half of the twentieth century. One of the
the brainwashing theory subsequently launched personal at-
first manifestations of this maturity was the publication of
tacks against major new religions scholars whom they labeled
significant reference books in the 1970s, which were needed
“cult apologists.” Attempts to revive the brainwashing theory
to support the emerging new field of study. The regularly up-
in the late 1990s by several sociologists have found little posi-
dated Encyclopedia of American Religions, which includes an
tive response from the majority of scholars who study new
entry on all of the new religions known to be operating in
religions.
North America, was first published in 1979 and was in its
seventh edition just a quarter-century later. Through the
PICKING UP THE STUDY. While the brainwashing controver-
1980s, Garland Publishing issued a set of bibliographies on
sy in the 1980s diverted significant energy, new religions
new religions, culminating in two outstanding volumes by
studies did continue, and through the 1970s and 1980s con-
John Saliba which covered research in the social and psycho-
siderable progress was made. Among the most important
logical sciences (1987, 1990). Meanwhile, in Japan scholars
trends was the gradual dismantling of the definition of “cult/
associated with the Association for the Study of Religion and
new religion” which scholars had been using since the 1950s.
Society produced an expansive dictionary of Japanese new re-
Sociologists such as J. Milton Yinger had suggested back then
ligions, Shinshûkyô jiten (1990).
that cults were small, ephemeral groups, led by a charismatic
leader to whom a cosmic status and/or various supernatural
Specialized reference works on new religions appeared
abilities had been assigned, and which operated in a different
as well. These include works by Peter Clark (A Bibliography
theological world than that of the dominant mainstream
of Japanese New Religious Movements, 1999); James R. Lewis
religions.
(The Encyclopedia of Cults and New Religions, 2002); and
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: HISTORY OF STUDY
Christopher Partridge (New Religions: A Guide, 2004). Mas-
gions have been questions about the legitimacy of academic
simo Introvigne and his colleagues at the Center for Studies
study of some controversial groups. Several well-known
on New Religions in Turin, Italy, compiled a large volume
groups advocate ideas and practices that the general public
on religions that, like its American counterpart, covered all
perceives to be beyond merely “different”; they are strange
the new religions operating in Italy (Encyclopedia delle Reli-
in the extreme and even threatening to the social order and
gioni in Italia, 2001). In a singularly important volume, in
individual well-being. A few groups have been involved in
1993 David Bromley and Jeffrey Hadden compiled a set of
violent incidents involving multiple homicides and/or sui-
papers from a broadly representative set of new religions
cides. A number have engaged in illegal activities, from fraud
scholars surveying the field, The Handbook on Cults and Sects
to smuggling to confidence schemes. At the same time,
in America.
groups in different countries have been subjected to govern-
ment regulation and even suppression despite their lack of
Parallel to the development of reference works in the
direct association with harmful or illegal activity. Above and
scholarly study of new religions was the rise in the number
beyond their being targeted by cult awareness groups, be-
of academic conferences in the field. In the 1980s, several
cause of their fringe-like status NRMs have occasionally been
such conferences were sponsored by the Unification Church,
caught up in waves of social panic and become victims of
though later abandoned by the Church in favor of other pro-
guilt by association.
grams. Through the rest of that decade, the various academic
societies concerned with religion, especially the Society for
Through the last decades of twentieth century, the study
the Scientific Study of Religion and the American Academy
of new religions proceeded within the context of a steady
of Religion, created space on their annual programs for pa-
stream of public controversy, and the lines between research
pers on new religions. In 1989, the Center for Studies on
and the response to such controversy was often blurred. In
New Religions began to sponsor annual international confer-
the mid-1980s, for example, new religions scholars were
ences that alternated between Europe and the Americas.
called upon to deal with a wave of interest in Satanism.
Within a decade these conferences were attracting between
Prompted by the rise of the Church of Satan in San Francisco
one and two hundred attendees.
in the 1960s, the study of Satanism had been part of the first
phase of NRM studies in the 1970s. In the 1980s, however,
The Institute for the Study of American Religion
hundreds of claims emerged that a widespread, secretive Sa-
(ISAR), founded in 1968, was the first research facility
tanic movement characterized by the ritual abuse of children
founded to focus upon what would later be called new reli-
existed. The primary evidence for this movement proved to
gions. In the 1980s, however, similar institutes would also
be a set of reports by people undergoing psychological coun-
emerge, most noticeably the Center for the Study of New
seling. In the course of such counseling, they began to “re-
Religions (1982), headed by Peter Clarke at Kings College,
member” events from their childhood and teen years that
London; the Information Network Focus on Religious
they had forgotten. At the same time, similar reports were
Movements (INFORM, 1988), headed by Eileen Barker and
emerging among UFO investigators of alien abductions and
headquartered at the London School of Economics; and the
medical examinations. Both appeared in the context of wide-
aforementioned Center for Studies of New Religions (CES-
spread attention to the problem of child abuse and new legis-
NUR, 1988) in Turin, Italy. These centers would, through
lative initiatives aimed at its prevention.
the 1990s, give birth to a spectrum of institutes and study
centers across Europe. Several research centers emerged in
Given the inability of law-enforcement officials and in-
Japan as well.
vestigative reporters to find corroborative evidence of wide-
The work of these centers includes the archiving of ma-
spread Satanism, new religions scholars, with their own
terials produced by and about the new religions. The largest
knowledge of the world of religious Satanism, rather quickly
such archive is included in the American Religions Collec-
reached a consensus on the falsity of such reports, at least rel-
tion that began in 1985 with the deposit of ISAR’s library
ative to their satanic content. Their findings, published in
and files at the Davidson Library at the University of Califor-
books by Jean La Fontaine in the United Kingdom and Jef-
nia’s Santa Barbara campus. CESNUR houses a similar col-
frey S. Victor, James T. Richardson, Joel Best, and David
lection in Turin. Other equally valuable collections, many
Bromley in the United States, contributed significantly to
with local emphases, were under development in the first de-
ending the public controversy.
cade of the twenty-first century. Of particular interest are the
The late 1990s saw a rising level of attention to millen-
specialized collections housed by organizations such as the
nialism, a perennial subject within new religions, and the
Jonestown Institute, founded by Rebecca Moore and Fiel-
possible role that the arrival of the twenty-first century would
ding McGehee III, in San Diego, which has gathered an ex-
have on different religious groups. Millennial beliefs have
tensive collection related to the Peoples Temple.
often been associated with intense confrontations between
FIELDS WITHIN FIELDS. New religions studies emerged and
new religions and society; two oft-quoted precedents were
continues to exist in contested space. It examines religions
the sixteenth-century Anabaptists at Münster, Germany, and
that challenge society’s dominant religious institutions.
the Fifth Monarchy Men in England. New considerations of
Along with questions about the legitimacy of many new reli-
millennialism were provided by a group within the American
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: HISTORY OF STUDY
6525
Academy of Religions and several other research projects,
known radical Islamist group, al-Qa¯Eidah, in its attack on the
such as the Boston-based Center for Millennial Studies. Ini-
Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and New York City’s World
tial speculation on the confluence of millennialism and vio-
Trade Center towers on September 11, 2001, provided the
lence was followed by closer analysis of the more widespread
foundation for future ongoing discussions. Contributing to
and peaceful millennial movements, especially in the wake
the Bromley-Melton volume was John R. Hall, who contin-
of the non-event of the end of the millennium in 1999.
ued his seminal discussion of the close association of religion
in general to violence as also developed in two books, Gone
Interest in Satanism and millennialism closely paralleled
from the Promised Land: Jonestown in American Cultural His-
the subject that became the major focus of NRM studies
tory (1987), one of the more perceptive volumes on Jones-
after the end of the brainwashing controversy: violence. The
town, and Apocalypse Observed: Religious Movements and Vio-
incident involving Jim Jones’s Peoples Temple at Jonestown,
lence in North America and Europe and Japan (2000), a book
Guyana, in 1978 had generated some interest in violence,
he co-authored with Philip D. Schuyler and Sylvaine Trinh.
but was seen as a singular incident with little reference to the
larger world of new religions. The Peoples Temple, however
LEGAL PERSPECTIVES. Through the 1970s and 1980s, schol-
interesting otherwise, had been a congregation in a large
ars assumed that new religions were an American concern,
Christian denomination, the Disciples of Christ, and its
a peculiar product of the social unrest of the 1960s, especially
membership was predominantly older African Americans. In
in California. Such attitudes began to change by the end of
contrast, many new religions, especially the more controver-
the 1980s as the widespread presence of new religions in Eu-
sial ones, consisted largely of Caucasian young adults.
rope and other parts of the world was recognized, and as the
history of the gradual rise of religious pluralism throughout
The issue of violence and new religions, however,
the world in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries was
changed considerably after the deaths of the majority of the
more fully documented. And as the spread of a more radical
members of the Branch Davidians at Mount Carmel, their
religious pluralism was recognized, new religions became the
church center near Waco, Texas, in 1993. In 1994, an all-
target of numerous legal actions.
day symposium on violence and new religions was held in
In the 1970s, questions about the legitimacy of the new
conjunction with the Society for the Scientific Study of Reli-
religions were raised by associations of parents in the United
gion’s annual fall meeting. As facts about the role played by
States whose members were angry at their sons and daughters
associates of the Cult Awareness Network in both the initia-
who had been swept into an alternative religious life, often
tion of the raid on Mount Carmel and the conduct during
at the cost of hoped-for careers in business or the professions.
the subsequent fifty-one-day siege, new religions scholars be-
Their search for a solution to their dilemma provided the
came more vocal in attempting to communicate with law-
context for the emergence of deprogramming and the brain-
enforcement officials, especially those within the Federal Bu-
washing ideas that supported it. Proponents of brainwashing
reau of Investigation (FBI), in hopes of averting any future
charged that the new religions took away the ability of re-
reoccurrence. Eventually, a series of meetings were held, the
cruits to make informed choices about joining. Some went
FBI began to send observers to the annual meetings of the
so far as to suggest that new religions were not religions (in
American Academy of Religion, and numerous individual
any legal sense) at all, but were merely con games in which
contacts between FBI agents and individual scholars took
leaders brainwashed and exploited members for personal fi-
place.
nancial gain.
The changes that flowed from the Branch Davidian in-
Legal cases between new religions and their detractors
cident occurred in the context of a set of subsequent episodes
began in the 1970s, and by the end of the decade it was de-
of violence involving groups such as the Solar Temple in
termined that civil court provided the best venue for litigat-
Switzerland, France, and Quebec (1994, 1995, 1997), Aum
ing parental concerns. Then, during the 1980s, a number of
Shinrikyo¯ in Japan (1995), Heaven’s Gate in the United
multimillion-dollar lawsuits were filed against new religions
States (1997), and the Movement for the Restoration of the
by former group members who had been deprogrammed;
Ten Commandments of God in Uganda (2000). Each of
they sought redress and damages as a result of having under-
these occurrences, unique in their own right, generated sig-
gone brainwashing. While almost all the judgments were re-
nificant reconsideration of the possible connection between
versed on appeal, juries seemed eager to deliver a series of de-
life within new religions and these large-scale violent events.
cisions against unpopular new religions such as the Church
Taking the lead in such reconsideration was Catherine Wess-
of Scientology, the Church Universal and Triumphant, the
inger, who proposed new ways of looking at the role of mil-
International Society for Krishna Consciousness, and the
lennialism and called attention to the fragility and instability
Unification Church.
within some groups that pushed them toward violent con-
frontations. Wessinger’s How the Millennium Comes Violent-
Deprogramming, brainwashing, and the court cases of
ly (2000) set the stage for a second round of discussions
the 1980s provided an abundance of material for legal specu-
brought together by David G. Bromley and J. Gordon Mel-
lation. James T. Richardson, a professor at the University of
ton and published in 2002 as Cults, Religion & Violence. Be-
Nevada with degrees and appointments in both sociology
tween the appearance of the two books, a heretofore little
and law, emerged in the early 1980s as the leading scholar
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: HISTORY OF STUDY
offering legal reflections on new religions. His 1983 book,
Soviet era. Many of these insights have been drawn together
The Brainwashing/Deprogramming Controversy: Sociological,
in two edited volumes: Phillip Charles Lucas and Thomas
Psychological, Legal, and Historical Perspectives, co-edited with
Robbins’ The Future of New Religions in the 21st Century
David G. Bromley, is an important document of the era.
(2004), and James T. Richardson’s Regulating Religion: Case
Subsequently Richardson has remained at the forefront of
Studies from Around the Globe (2004).
writing about and focusing dialogue on the legal status of
FAMILY LIFE. As first-generation new religions, whose mem-
new religions globally.
bership consisted almost totally of young adult converts,
During the 1990s, with the new legal era brought on
evolved into second-generation new religions, concern was
by the Fishman decision in the United States, much of the
expressed about children born and raised in such settings.
legal news on new religions shifted to Europe, where, as
Critics suggested a range of potential problems, including
James Beckford so ably noted in his 1985 text, Cult Contro-
their alienation from culture and society to their being physi-
versies, intense debates (minus the brainwashing element)
cally and psychologically harmed by growing up in a cult mi-
paralleled those in the United States. But then, following the
lieu. Concern was punctuated by occasional reports of child
Solar Temple deaths in 1994, the French government moved
abuse, usually the beating of a minor by a group leader who
first to establish a parliamentary commission that in 1996 is-
was not the child’s parent. On a rare occasion, a child died
sued a report condemning a number of new religions, and
as a result of such beatings.
some 172 groups were placed on a list of “sects.” The prima-
However, the situation of children in new religions
ry accusation was their practicing “mental manipulation,” a
gained a new level of attention in the early 1990s when wide-
term that signaled the introduction of brainwashing theory
spread charges of sexual abuse emerged around The Family,
into Europe from the United States. A year later the Canton
a group that had earlier called itself the Children of God. In
of Geneva, in French-speaking Switzerland, issued a similar
the early 1990s, Family homes in several countries, most no-
decree, followed by a 600-page report from Belgium, which
tably France, Spain, Argentina, and Australia, were raided
singled out some 189 groups. The Belgian document includ-
and the minors taken into custody by child-welfare officials
ed, somewhat surprisingly for American scholars, the Young
while legal charges were prepared against the adults. A series
Women’s Christian Association, the Assemblies of God, and
of lengthy court proceedings followed, culminating in a
the Quakers.
child-custody case in England. Though the defendants in
These first reports were then followed by a second wave
each of the cases stemming from the raids were found not
of reports from, among others, the General Direction of the
guilty, and the Family-member mother in the child-custody
Police with the Italian Ministry of Internal Affairs, the com-
case retained legal custody, it emerged that in the 1980s a
mission established by the German parliament, and the gov-
number of young people—overwhelmingly teenage
ernment of Sweden. The more reflective tone of these docu-
women—had been molested while in Family homes. The
ments backed away in part from the brainwashing theory and
Family, however, between the time the molestations had oc-
found little that was sinister in new religions overall. Mean-
curred and the court cases, had taken steps to change the en-
while in France, Belgium, and several other countries, steps
vironment that permitted such abuse and, as it happened,
were taken to stop the progress of new religions by the estab-
those taken into custody in the raids were not the individuals
lishment of official cult observatories, and in the case of
accused of molesting the minors. The revelations of the Fam-
France the passing of a series of anticult laws.
ily’s problems were followed by similar disclosures coming
out of the International Society of Krishna Consciousness,
The dialogues within the government of Western Eu-
which in the 1970s had operated a school in Texas that in-
rope were followed by discussions and an array of actions in
cluded pedophiles on its staff.
the lands of the former Soviet bloc of nations, where in the
wake of the fall of the Soviet Union, new religions had quick-
The British custody dispute, which became the lengthi-
ly and visibly proliferated. Governments found themselves
est legal case in the history of Britain’s family court system,
caught between the still-dominant voices of religious secular-
called attention to the variant roles assumed by women and
ists, leaders of older churches asking for the return of pre-
children in some new religions with strong male hierarchical
Communist privileges, and demands for the implementation
organizations. However, even prior to this time, scholars had
of Western-style religious freedoms. The different govern-
noticed that new religions had become an arena for women
ments made an array of accommodations to these voices that
who were shut out of traditional leadership roles in older
found common ground in their dislike of the missionaries
Christian and Jewish groups to exercise their leadership
of the new religions. Meanwhile, new religions studies have
skills. One such study is Catherine Wessinger’s Women’s
emerged as a prominent focus of post-Soviet countries in
Leadership in Marginal Religions: Explorations outside the
Eastern and Central Europe.
Mainstream (1993).
The changes in Europe continue to provide fertile
It would be Canadian new religions scholar Susan J.
ground for scholars of new religions who, sharing a bias to-
Palmer, however, an expert witness in the Family’s British
ward religious freedom as the foundational issue, have writ-
court case, who would in the mid-1990s seize the issue of
ten extensively about the prospects and promises in the post-
women’s and children’s diverse life within new religions and
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: HISTORY OF STUDY
6527
launch a collaborative effort with other concerned scholars
Age Studies, or ASANAS) and North America (Association
to pursue study of the issue. Turning first to the role of
for the Study of Esotericism).
women, she wrote Moon Sisters, Krishna Mothers, Rajneesh
Western Esoteric studies now exists as a subfield its own
Lovers: Women’s Roles in New Religions (1994) and then sev-
right. When it concentrates on Esoteric history, it resonates
eral years later, with co-editor Charlotte E. Hardeman, is-
the least with new religions studies. Yet because all contem-
sued Children in the New Religions (1999).
porary esoteric groups would fall under the rubric of “new
WESTERN ESOTERICISM. As the twenty-first century began,
religion,” when Western esoteric studies turns its attention
a new issue has been placed on the agenda of new religions
to the twentieth century, the two fields are almost indistin-
scholars by Sorbonne professor Antoine Faivre: Western Es-
guishable.
otericism. Esoteric/metaphysical/occult groups have been
CONCLUSION. In the first four decades of its existence, the
considered in new religions studies from the beginning. One
academic field of new religions grew from a handful of schol-
of the earliest popular essays in new religions, Colin Camp-
ars who in the 1960s decided that these interesting groups
bell’s “The Cult, the Cultic Milieu and Secularization”
then proliferating on the fringes of Japanese, North Ameri-
(1972), grew out of his observation of the British occult
can, and European societies were important enough to enjoy
community, and a large number of writings appeared in the
more than sporadic cursory glances. At the onset of the twen-
1990s which attempted to understand the New Age move-
ty-first century there were several hundred scholars around
ment. The problem in writing about such groups, in spite
the world who were devoting the majority of their research
of early works such as J. Stillson Judah’s The History and Phi-
time to this field of inquiry. To a certain extent, the progress
losophy of the Metaphysical Movements in America (1967) and
since the 1960s can be traced in the series of new religions
additional works on the common history of such move-
text books produced over the decades by Robert Ellwood
ments, has been their tendency to treat esoteric bodies as iso-
(1973), David Bromley and Anson Shupe (1981), Gordon
lated organizations without a history prior to their particular
Melton and Robert Moore (1982), Melton (1986, 1992),
founding.
Timothy Miller (1995), Eileen Barker (1989), John Saliba
(1995, 2003), William Sims Bainbridge (1998), James R.
Faivre, and those who gathered around him such as
Lewis (1998), Lorne Dawson (1998), and most recently, Ste-
Joscelyn Godwin and Wouter Hanegraaff, have compiled a
phen J. Hunt (2003).
picture of an alternative religious impulse in the West that
has had a near-continuous presence at least since the second
The study of new religions has been a bulwark in coun-
century
tering the more extreme conclusions of secularization theory,
CE and has grown steadily over the last four centu-
ries. In fact, the largest percentage of the new religions—
offered new approaches for governments in dealing with con-
including Theosophical Society, Scientology, Wicca, New
troversial groups that have disturbed the social quiet of some
Age (1970s and 1980s) and Post-New Age (1990s to the
societies, and has begun to see the naturalness of the emer-
present) groups—are generally contemporary manifestations
gence of innovative religious experiments as societies grow
of the Esoteric tradition.
and change. Born in part in the times of social turmoil in
postwar Japan and the generation of Baby Boomers coming
Of the world’s major religious movements, the Western
of age in America, new religions studies has expended consid-
Esoteric tradition has remained the least known, in large part
erable energy to map the presence of NRMs through time
due to its role as a losing competitor to Christianity, resulting
and space, indicating their steady emergence through the
in its dismissal as serious religion in recent centuries. The
nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In the process, more
modern revival of Esotericism can be traced to the beginning
than a thousand new religions operating in the West have
of the sixteenth century and the development of a Christian
been documented and several dozen examined in consider-
Qabbalah by Johann Rauchlin (1455–1522). Its subsequent
able depth.
history can be traced through Rosicrucianism, Speculative
In the process, some consensus has been reached con-
Freemasonry, the Swedenborgian movement, the Mesmerist
cerning issues such as brainwashing, Satanism, and the fact
and Magnetist movements, neo-Templarism, Spiritualism,
of religious pluralism as part of the long-term future of con-
Ceremonial Magic, Theosophy and its many offshoots (Alice
temporary society, though, as a young field of inquiry, far
Bailey, I AM), Wicca, and most recently the New Age
more questions have been posed and remain to be posed than
Movement.
have been answered.
In the mid-1980s Faivre founded the Association pour
SEE ALSO Anticult Movements; Brainwashing (Debate);
la Recherche et l’Information sur l’Esotericisme and its jour-
Branch Davidians; Cults and Sects; Esotericism; Heaven’s
nal ARIES. In the late 1990s, with Faivre nearing retirement,
Gate; Jonestown and Peoples Temple; Millenarianism, over-
the association’s work was transferred to Amsterdam, where
view article; Secularization; Unification Church.
Hanegraaff headed a new department of esoteric studies. By
this time, the field had grown exponentially, and early in the
BIBLIOGRAPHY
new century, two new structures arose to perpetuate esoteric
Listed below is a highly selective list of some of the important titles
studies both in England (Alternative Spiritualities and New
produced by scholars of new religions. Many of the text-
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6528
NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: SCRIPTURES OF NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS
books cover much of the same ground though differing
Saliba, John A. Social Science and the Cults: An Annotated Bibliog-
whether from a social science (Bainbridge, Barker, Dawson)
raphy. New York, 1990.
or religious studies (Ellwood, Lewis, Melton, Saliba) perspec-
Van Baalen, Jan Karel. The Chaos of Cults. Grand Rapids, Mich.,
tive. Many of the volumes are anthologies, chosen for the
1938.
spectrum of opinion they present on a problem of high inter-
est in the field of new religions studies (Bromley and Melton,
Wessinger, Catherine. How the Millennium Comes Violently: From
Palmer and Hardmann, Richardson). Finally, a set of foun-
Jonestown to Heaven’s Gate. New York, 2000.
dational studies in Western esotericism have been cited
Wilson, Bryan. Sects and Society: A Sociological Study of Three Reli-
(Faivre, Godwin, Judah).
gious Groups in Britain. London, 1961.
Bainbridge, William Sims. The Sociology of Religious Movements.
Wilson, Bryan, and Jamie Cresswell, eds. New Religious Move-
New York, 1997.
ments: Challenge and Response. London, 1999.
Barker, Eileen. The Making of a Moonie: Choice or Brainwashing?
J. GORDON MELTON (2005)
New York, 1984.
Barker, Eileen. New Religious Movements: A Practical Introduction.
London, 1989.
NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: SCRIPTURES
Bromley, David G., and James T. Richardson, eds. The Brain-
OF NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS
washing/Deprogramming Controversy. Lewiston, N.Y., 1983.
Because new religious movements often generate suspicious
Bromley, David G., and Jeffrey Hadden. The Handbook on Cults
or hostile reactions from representatives of the status quo,
and Sects in America. Greenwich, Conn., 1993.
substantial scholarly attention has been devoted to their pro-
Bromley, David G., and J. Gordon Melton, eds. Cults, Religion
cesses of leadership, recruitment, and conversion, as well as
and Violence. New York, 2002.
to other forms of interaction between new groups and their
Clark, Elmer T. Small Sects in America. Nashville, Tenn., 1949.
social environments. While such encounters do shape both
Clarke, Peter B. Bibliography of Japanese New Religions, with Anno-
the public images and self-understandings of new religious
tations and an Introduction to Japanese New Religions at Home
movements, they are not their only religious activities.
and Abroad. Richmond, U.K., 1999.
Dawson, Lorne L. Comprehending Cults: The Sociology of New Re-
Many new religious movements have produced substan-
ligious Movements. Toronto, Ont., 1998.
tial bodies of literature that amplify their self-definitions, es-
Ellwood, Robert S. Religious and Spiritual Groups in Modern
tablish ritual practices and moral codes, elaborate their myth-
America. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1973.
ic visions of humanity and the cosmos, and reconstruct
Ellwood, Robert S. The Eagle and the Rising Sun: Americans and
history. That literature is read, heard, studied, preached, de-
the New Religions of Japan. Philadelphia, 1974.
bated, interpreted, enacted, and implemented in the daily
lives of members. The texts derive their authority both from
Faivre, Antoine. Theosophy, Imagination, Tradition: Studies in
Western Esotericism. Albany, N.Y., 2000.
the claimed experiences of founders or other influential fig-
ures within the group and from members’ acceptance of the
Godwin, Joscelyn. The Theosophical Enlightenment. Albany, N.Y.,
1994.
texts as particularly revelatory. When people within a group
treat a religious text as central for their understandings of
Hunt, Stephen J. Alternative Religions: A Sociological Introduction.
themselves and the world in which they live, they elevate it
Aldershot, U.K. 2003.
above other quotidian forms of communication and accord
Introvigne, Massimo, et al. Enciclopedia delle religioni in Italia.
it, at least implicitly, the status of scripture. In new religious
Turin, 2001.
movements, as in other religious groups, texts are made into
Judah, J. Stillson. The History and Philosophy of the Metaphysical
“scriptures” by the claims that are made for them, the recog-
Movements in America. Philadelphia, 1967.
nition of those claims, and the uses to which the texts are
Lewis, James R. Cults in America. Santa Barbara, Calif., 1998.
put. The scriptural status of texts is always in the process of
Melton, J. Gordon. Encyclopedia of American Religions. 7th ed.
construction. Oral teaching and informal written communi-
Detroit, Mich., 2003.
cations may be viewed as authoritative, and through their re-
Miller, Timothy, ed. When Prophets Die: The Post Charismatic
peated use they may move towards a more formalized status
Fate of New Religious Movements. Albany, N.Y., 1991.
as scripture. Even texts definitively asserted to be authorita-
Miller, Timothy, ed. America’s Alternative Religions. Albany, N.Y.,
tive are subject to successive re-interpretations. Since scrip-
1995.
tures are texts that are deemed authoritative and revelatory
Needleman, Jacob. The New Religions. New York, 1969.
by a specific religious community, the process of scriptural
Nelson, Geoffrey K. Spiritualism and Society. London, 1969.
formation in new religious movements is no different than
Palmer, Susan J., and Charlotte E. Hardman, eds. Children in
it is in more established ones. Although individual writings
New Religions. New Brunswick, N.J., 1999.
frequently contain assertions about their own authority, they
Richardson, James T. Regulating Religion: Case Studies from
only function as scripture when those claims are acknowl-
around the Globe. New York, 2003.
edged and acted upon by those who receive and use them.
Saliba, John A. Psychiatry and the Cults: An Annotated Bibliogra-
MAKING NEW SCRIPTURES. As new religious movements
phy. New York, 1987.
strive to secure their legitimacy, defend themselves against
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: SCRIPTURES OF NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS
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their cultural opponents, and attract the interest of potential
the divine. For example, on December 13, 1973, Claude
members, they address what they see as the religious inade-
Vorhilon (b. 1946), a French journalist and racecar driver,
quacies of their particular social environments. Because the
came upon what he took to be a UFO. One of its occupants
Western concept of scripture, as embodied by the Christian
soon informed Vorhilon that he had been chosen to bring
Bible, has been so widely diffused throughout the world, new
to humankind the message of the extraterrestrial “Elohim,”
religious movements frequently identify the errors or limita-
the true creators of life on earth. Vorhilon was given the
tions that they perceive in the dominant interpretations of
name “Raël” and was charged with preparing the earth to re-
the Bible. In their own writings they propose the necessary
ceive emissaries from the Elohim, who would then share
corrections, supplements, or replacements. Accordingly, in-
their incredibly advanced technology. As the name Elohim
terpretation of the Bible is often the vehicle by which new
suggests, Vorhilon’s encounter with the extraterrestrials led
religious movements assert both their novelty and their con-
him to a dramatic rereading of the creation story in Genesis.
tinuity with a hallowed past. Their novelty is what makes
That reinterpretation of scripture plays a crucial role in the
new religious movements worth attention, but their continu-
books that have become the guiding texts of the Raëlian
ity with the past is what guarantees their gravity. Similar dy-
movement.
namics are at work when new religious movements confront
other scriptures or collections of religiously authoritative
Similarly, on Easter morning 1936, Sun Myung Moon
texts, such as the QurDa¯n or widely revered Hindu texts like
(1920–) experienced a vision of Jesus that led him to a thor-
the Bhagavadg¯ıta¯. Reinterpretations of familiar scriptural
oughgoing revision of history. Divine Principle, first pub-
texts transform their meanings for new religious communi-
lished in English in 1973, and the central scriptural text of
ties even as they leave their scriptural status intact. The spe-
the Unificationist movement that grew out of Moon’s Easter
cific procedures by which new interpretations are construct-
experience, provides a new account of biblical history from
ed, including spiritual or allegorical readings, historical
the creation and fall through the career of Jesus to the immi-
contextualization, and philological commentary, are often
nent arrival of a new messiah who will gather humanity into
no different than those employed by more mainstream inter-
a single loving family in accordance with God’s original
preters of scriptural texts, but the meanings that they pro-
wishes. More than a century earlier, in 1820 in upper New
duce reinforce new groups’ status as dramatic departures
York state, a series of visions sparked the founding of the
from parent bodies or as distinctive, freestanding inno-
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the promul-
vations.
gation of a new holy book, the Book of Mormon (1830). That
new Bible, it was claimed, would dispel confusion about
The production of scriptural texts within new religious
which of the many competing Christian sects held the truth
movements takes two distinctive but overlapping forms. One
by communicating God’s message with unprecedented clari-
is new readings of familiar texts. Those readings are expressed
ty. Also, in the 1980s Elizabeth Clare Prophet (b. 1939),
in a variety of forms, including detailed commentaries, me-
who succeeded her husband Mark Prophet (1918–1973) as
andering meditations, loose glosses, and direct appropria-
leader of the Church Universal and Triumphant, published
tions of specific scriptural models, such as creation stories,
four volumes of The Lost Teachings of Jesus (1986), which are
law codes, ethical admonitions, or prayers. The second form
based on over thirty years of communications from Jesus di-
is the production of new scriptures. Movements that directly
rectly to both of the Prophets. The texts build on the Proph-
address a scriptural heritage can produce books that aspire
ets’ claim that Jesus spent substantial time in India and sur-
to the status of “new Bibles” either by supplementing or re-
rounding areas during his so-called lost years, and they align
placing the older scriptures. Other movements strive to es-
his recovered teachings with those of the Prophets’ Church
tablish the utterances or writings of a founder as supremely
Universal and Triumphant.
authoritative. In either case, the new scriptural texts codify
a novel vision of what it means to be human, how to establish
In each of these instances a prophetic figure’s direct en-
proper relations with other humans and the divine, and how
counter with the divine led to both the formation of a new
to achieve the goals of human life.
religious movement and to the publication of new authorita-
Whatever form the writings take, they are grounded on
tive texts. The books written by Claude Vorhilon and Mark
specific claims to authority. Ever conscious of their own nov-
and Elizabeth Prophet correct misreadings of the biblical tra-
elty, new religious movements take great care to lay out the
dition and supplement the tradition with new material. In
experiences and insights that sanction their innovations.
a fuller fashion, the texts produced by Sun Myung Moon and
Founders and influential exegetes articulate the experiences
Joseph Smith stand on their own as authoritative documents
that authorize their distinctive messages and establish them
that incorporate, repair, and advance the message of the
as trustworthy and true. Their new ways of seeing are fre-
Christian scriptures. In each instance the new texts derive
quently stimulated by intimate encounters with the divine
their authority from their authors’ extraordinary experiences.
but also can result from the consistent application of rational
The founder and the book confirm each other’s status with
intelligence to familiar problems.
reference to the same divine source.
NEW VISIONS: DIVINE ENCOUNTERS. The founders of many
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada’s (1896–1977)
new religions describe dramatic, unbidden encounters with
claim to authority for his Bhagavad-Gita As It Is (1968) dis-
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: SCRIPTURES OF NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS
plays an interesting variation. Although he contends that the
of genetics. The Raëlians’ story of the origins of humankind
Bhagavadg¯ıta¯ summarizes all of Vedic literature and that it
transforms any previous understandings of human nature
should be the one common scripture for the entire world,
and destiny based on Genesis, replaces the Bible’s linear sense
Prabhupada denies that he is offering any interpretation of
of time with a perpetual cycle of creations, and lends a new-
it. His claim to present the text without any distorting inter-
found urgency and authority to scientific activity. The Raëli-
pretation is founded on his conviction that Lord Kr:s:n:a him-
ans’ new reading of Genesis both remakes the past and charts
self speaks in the text and that a line of thirty-two teachers
a new future in which Raël’s prophecy will determine the fate
that culminates with Prabhupada himself has accurately pre-
of the planet.
served the true meaning of the text. Although Prabhupada’s
In the Divine Principle of the Unificationist movement,
contact with the divine is thus mediated by a “disciplic suc-
the focus shifts from the creation of human beings to the
cession,” its authorizing power is maintained.
subsequent fall. In its presentation, Adam and Eve failed to
NEW VISIONS: RATIONAL SYSTEMS. Texts can achieve scrip-
observe God’s commandments to be fruitful, to multiply and
tural status without appeal to such divine encounters, howev-
fill the earth, and to subdue the earth and have dominion
er. The Church of Scientology, for example, accepts the writ-
over it (Gn. 1:28). In a singular assertion, the Divine Princi-
ings of its founder, L. Ron Hubbard (1911–1986), as
ple traces that failure to Eve’s adulterous relations with Satan.
scripture even though he claimed no privileged intimacy
Eve’s and Adam’s failings kept them from reaching the state
with the divine. Hubbard attributed his insights instead to
of perfection that God had intended for them. Subsequently,
a deep immersion in the problems of human psychology. His
God’s desire for men and women to form loving families by
first major work on the human mind, Dianetics: The Modern
uniting with each other and with God has been continually
Science of Mental Health (1950), relies on what Hubbard saw
undermined by the aftershocks of the Fall. God’s attempts
as rigorous, scientific study rather than any special religious
to restore the original state of humankind by raising up
inspiration. As Hubbard’s system of Dianetics developed
prophets and potential messiahs, particularly Jesus of Naza-
into Scientology and came to be identified explicitly as a reli-
reth, has met with only limited success. The Divine Princi-
gion, he still claimed that the processes of his “technology”
ple’s new vision of human history sets the stage for the mis-
for achieving mental health were universally accessible and
sion of Reverend Moon, who in the last days brings a
not restricted to religious adepts. Insight, rather than inspira-
revelation that offers humankind the chance to return to an
tion, yielded the principles of Scientology.
Edenic state. Indispensable both for an understanding of the
course of history and the transformative mission of Reverend
Anton LaVey (1930–1997), founder of the Church of
Moon, the Divine Principle functions as a scriptural text that
Satan and author of The Satanic Bible (1969), made a similar
provides fundamental orientation and direction for Unifica-
claim for the principles of his counter-religion. While avow-
tionist thought and action.
ing that the time had definitely come for a new religion that
Like Claude Vorhilon and Sun Myung Moon, Mary
would unmask the hypocrisies of Christianity, LaVey staked
Baker Eddy (1821–1910) drew new meaning out of the tra-
no claim to a personal religious vision. Like Hubbard, LaVey
ditional Genesis story. For Vorhilon and Moon, extraordi-
credited the discovery of his system simply to the rigorous
nary interactions with superior beings inspired their new vi-
application of rational thought. With a clear-eyed apprecia-
sions of the creation story, while Eddy owed her new
tion of true human nature, a love of ritual and pageantry, and
comprehension of the meaning of Genesis to a transforming
a flair for mockery, LaVey’s Satanic Bible promulgated a gos-
experience of spiritual healing that led her to assert the unre-
pel of self-indulgence that, he argued, anyone who dispas-
ality of matter and the primacy of the spiritual. For Eddy,
sionately considered the facts would embrace. Although con-
like the Raëlians, the traditional interpretations of Genesis
temporary Satanism remains an amorphous conglomeration
produce only a false picture of God. Eddy views the first cre-
of practices, beliefs, and attitudes, LaVey’s new Bible remains
ation story in Genesis 1:1–2:3 as an authoritative description
a touchstone for many in the broad movement. That The Sa-
of how a wholly incorporeal God created, through mind
tanic Bible and Hubbard’s writings could still achieve scrip-
alone, a universe of ideas, including immortal humans, all
tural status without dependence upon divine revelation em-
without the slightest taint of materiality. Correspondingly,
phasizes that members of a group elevate books to scriptural
she concludes that the material creation of Adam out of dust
status by adopting them as lenses through which they view
and the breath of God in Genesis 2:7 must be a lie. Through
themselves, their group, and the cosmos.
her interpretation, which is included in Science and Health
NEW READINGS: CREATION. Although they cover a wide
with Key to the Scriptures (1875), Eddy makes Genesis address
range of topics, new readings of familiar scriptural texts often
the distinctive theological concerns of Christian Science.
focus on both the creation of human life and its ultimate
Other readings of the text then become part of the history
end. In The Message Given to Me by Extraterrestrials (1975)
of human error. Read through the lenses supplied by Eddy
and Let’s Welcome Our Fathers from Space (1979), Raël asserts
the Bible speaks in a new voice and proclaims an unanticipat-
that the term Elohim, which has long been understood as one
ed and surprising message for a new audience. Science and
of the names of God, really means “those who came from
Health takes its place alongside, if not above, the Bible as an
the sky,” a race of superior beings with advanced knowledge
authoritative text for the Christian Science community.
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6531
In the later days of the People’s Temple, the Reverend
tion of texts was limited to a relatively short period. Because
Jim Jones (1931–1978) offered one of the most dramatic re-
new religious movements are particularly malleable in their
readings of Genesis in a new religious movement. As he de-
early days, and because many quickly dissolve or fade away,
parted further from his Protestant roots and edged closer to
the procedures by which texts achieve authoritative status for
addiction and madness, Jones began to see the Bible as a
their communities are not often fully played out. When new
problem to overcome. He indicted the King James Version
religions achieve some institutional stability, it is easier to
as a Bible of slaveholders and a source of oppression rather
chart the fluctuating prestige of particular texts and interpre-
than liberation. To counteract its influence Jones proposed
tive strategies and to identify which texts consistently main-
a contemporary Gnostic redeemer myth in which the God
tain authoritative or even canonical status.
of the Bible was seen to be merely a just God, with limited
N
powers and unsavory human characteristics. Acting as a
EW SCRIPTURES. Some texts produced by new religious
movements explicitly claim for themselves the status of scrip-
Gnostic redeemer, Jones brought his followers news of a God
ture. One of the most provocative examples is LaVey’s Satan-
beyond the Bible who would teach them their true identities.
ic Bible. By presenting as a Bible his hodgepodge of historical
In Jones’s treatment, the authority of the Bible was thor-
research, dogmatic pronouncements, obscure invocations,
oughly overturned and his own pronouncements, given in
and both playful and serious critiques of Christianity, LaVey
speeches and sermons but never codified in writing, took the
suggests a religious dynamic that virtually any other title
Bible’s place and functioned as scripture for the members of
would not. By naming his book a “bible,” LaVey identifies
the People’s Temple.
a target that he intends to supplant and a status to which he
NEW READINGS: THE END OF THE WORLD. Leaders of new
aspires. Although LaVey never developed supporting struc-
religious movements have applied similar ingenuity to imag-
tures in the Church of Satan to reinforce the status of The
ining the end of the world. For example, after experiencing
Satanic Bible, this text remains a primary gateway into the
an ascent into the heavens in 1985, David Koresh (1959–
diffuse world of contemporary Satanism.
1993) claimed that he himself was the Lamb of God men-
tioned in Revelation 4 and 5 as the only one able to open a
The Holy Piby (1924), one of the texts that inspired the
scroll sealed with seven seals. Koresh argued, like many
development of Rastafarianism in Jamaica in the early 1930s,
Christian millennialists, that every book of the Bible found
also insists on its scriptural status. It claims to be a holy book
its fruition in Revelation and that its apocalyptic message
given to the prophet Athlyi by an angel named Douglas. Fol-
could only be comprehended through the agency of the
lowing closely the model of the Christian scriptures, The
Lamb of God. As a result, Koresh’s oral teachings, along with
Holy Piby begins with an account of a seven-day creation,
their distillation in his unfinished written commentary on
moves to the divine commissioning of a prophet and lawgiv-
the seven seals, became essential for his students who sought
er, provides historical accounts of the doings of God’s chosen
the apocalyptic meaning of scripture; Koresh’s teachings had
people, records prayers and creedal statements, and even de-
the authority, if not the form, of scripture.
votes a section to recounting “the facts of the apostles.” A
later reprint of the text hails it as the black man’s Bible. The
Like Koresh, Asahara Sho¯ko¯ (b. 1955), the founder of
Holy Piby was designed to be the scriptural text of the short-
Aum Shinrikyo¯, came to identify himself as a character from
lived Afro Athlican Constructive Church, but it also helped
the Bible, the promised “comforter” of John’s gospel. As he
foster the pervasive biblical consciousness of the Rastafarian
experienced mounting opposition to his movement and as
movement.
he viewed the end of the world as growing ever nearer, Asa-
hara devoted progressively more attention to the apocalyptic
The amorphous contemporary New Age movement and
visions of the book of Revelation and to his own role in the
its various precursors also offer a rich trove of texts claiming
unfolding apocalypse. In his teachings, speeches, and pub-
scriptural authority. In the late nineteenth century, John Bal-
lished materials, Asahara assimilated the New Testament to
lou Newbrough published a first (1882) and then a revised
the teachings of what he identified as “original Buddhism,”
(1891) version of the Oahspe: A New Bible in the Words of
and he constructed a synthetic scenario of the imminent end.
Jehovih and His Angel Embassadors, which he claimed to have
As with Koresh, Asahara’s readings of Revelation set the bibli-
produced by angelically directed automatic typing. Oahspe
cal text in a radically new interpretive frame—Asahara simul-
offers an elaborate cosmology with descriptions of myriad
taneously appropriated Revelation as a scriptural text for his
gods and heavens, a history of the planet earth, revised ver-
own movement and certified his own teaching as being of
sions of many biblical stories, ethical guidelines, and predic-
equal authority.
tions about the future. The book serves as the scripture for
the Faithist movement, which still claims adherents. Compa-
The legal responses to Aum’s murderous release of sarin
rable in scope is The Urantia Book, attributed to an array of
gas in the Tokyo subway in 1995 ended Asahara’s public ca-
superhuman personalities and first published in 1955. Other
reer as a teacher and transformed the movement that he
similar works include A Course in Miracles (1975), the result
founded; the legal responses also truncated the processes of
of Helen Shucman’s automatic writing under the reputed di-
textual interpretation and production that marked Aum’s
rection of Jesus, and the material communicated through
brief lifespan. As with Koresh’s teaching, Asahara’s produc-
human “channels” by various disincarnate entities, such as
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: SCRIPTURES OF NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS
the teachings of Ramtha spoken by J. Z. Knight or those of
Ramtha (J. Z. Knight). The Ancient Schools of Wisdom: A Collec-
Lazaris voiced by Jach Pursel.
tion of Teachings. Yelm, Wash., 1996
These texts join Eddy’s Science and Health, the volumi-
Rogers, Shepherd Robert Athlyi. The Holy Piby. Chicago, 2000;
nous writings of Hubbard, and the Church of Jesus Christ
reprint of 1924 edition.
of the Latter-day Saints’ Book of Mormon (1830), Doctrine
Secondary Works
and Covenants (1835), and Pearl of Great Price (1851) as sub-
Barlow, Philip L. Mormons and the Bible: The Place of the Latter-
stantial bodies of scripture that have been composed over the
day Saints in American Religion. Oxford, 1991. Sets the ori-
past two hundred years. The drive towards articulating a
gin, spread, and use of the Mormon scriptures within the
clear and compelling self-definition, defining an appropriate
context of broadly diffused knowledge about the Bible in the
way of life, and situating individuals in historical and cosmic
pre-Civil War United States.
contexts that animates the production of texts in any reli-
Denny, Frederick M., and Rodney L. Taylor, eds. The Holy Book
gious tradition is fully shared by new religious movements.
in Comparative Perspective. Columbia, S.C., 1985. Essays on
Their founders eagerly express the new visions of human life
the formation and use of holy books in various traditions,
that they have achieved either through their own diligent la-
with a specific contribution on the dynamics of scriptures in
bors or through their privileged contact with supernatural
the Mormon tradition.
beings. The followers attracted by those new messages see in
Gallagher, Eugene V. “‘Not Yours, But Ours’: Transformations
the founder’s words precious insights that must be preserved,
of the Hebrew Bible in New Religious Movements.” In Sa-
studied, and communicated to others. Through multiple dis-
cred Text, Secular Times: The Hebrew Bible in the Modern
crete interactions, both founders and followers sift through
World, edited by Leonard Jay Greenspoon and Bryan F. Le
their common cache of wisdom and distill from it the state-
Beau, pp. 87–102. Omaha, Neb., 2000. Analysis of the ap-
ments and stories that matter most; they make (and remake)
propriation of the Hebrew Bible in Christian Science, the
scripture from both oral and written materials that, they ear-
Unification Church, and early Rastafarianism.
nestly believe, will stand the test of time. Once made, their
Givens, Terryl L. By the Hand of Mormon: The American Scripture
scriptures are then continually probed by various forms of
that Launched a New World Religion. Oxford, 2002. Focuses
exegesis for the inexhaustible wisdom that they are held to
on the Book of Mormon in the context of Joseph Smith’s pro-
contain.
phetic career and broader cultural trends, its claims to pres-
ent ancient history, and its nature as a theological resource;
SEE ALSO Aum Shinrikyo¯; Branch Davidians; Christian Sci-
this volume also examines the arguments of both Mormons
ence; Church Universal and Triumphant; Eddy, Mary
and non-Mormons about the book’s authority, coherence,
Baker; Hubbard, L. Ron; International Society for Krishna
and cultural impact.
Consciousness; Jones, Jim; Jonestown and Peoples Temple;
Graham, William A. Beyond the Written Word: Oral Aspects of
Koresh, David; Mormonism; New Age Movement; Prabhu-
Scripture in the History of Religion. Cambridge, U.K., 1987.
pada, A. C. Bhaktivedanta; Raëlians; Rastafarianism; Satan-
Focuses on the uses of scriptures in the lives of religious com-
ism; Scientology; Smith, Joseph; Unification Church.
munities and employs a broadly comparative approach,
though it does not directly address new religious movements.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Levering, Miriam, ed. Rethinking Scripture: Essays from a Compar-
Primary Texts
ative Perspective. Albany, N.Y., 1989. Includes essays by
The Book of Mormon. Salt Lake City, 1920.
W. C. Smith and William Graham that summarize the argu-
Anonymous. A Course in Miracles. Tiburon, Calif., 1975.
ments of their longer works, and offers comparative materials
Anonymous. Oahspe: A New Bible in the Words of Jehovih and His
from Buddhist, Hindu, and Jewish traditions.
Angel Embassadors. 2 vols. New York, 1882.
Smith, Jonathan A. “Sacred Persistence: Towards a Redescription
Anonymous. The Urantia Book. Chicago, 1955.
of Canon.” In Approaches to Ancient Judaism: Theory and
Eddy, Mary Baker. Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.
Practice, edited by William Scott Green, pp. 11–28. Missou-
Boston, 1875.
la, Mont., 1978. Develops “canon” as a broadly useful com-
parative category.
Koresh, David. “The Seven Seals of the Book of Revelation.” In
Why Waco? Cults and the Battle for Religious Freedom in
Smith, Wilfred Cantwell. What Is Scripture? A Comparative Ap-
America, by James D. Tabor and Eugene V. Gallagher,
proach. Minneapolis, 1993. Despite scant attention to the
pp. 189–203. Berkeley, 1995.
scriptural products of new religious movements, a compre-
LaVey, Anton Szandor. The Satanic Bible. New York, 1969.
hensive inquiry into the processes by which texts are made
into and treated as “scriptural.”
Lazaris (Jach Pursel). The Sacred Journey: You and Your Higher
Self. Orlando, Fla., 1987,
Stein, Stephen J. “America’s Bibles: Canon, Commentary, and
Prabhupada, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami. Bhagavad-Gita As It Is.
Community.” Church History 64 (1995): 169–184. Focuses
Los Angeles, 1983.
on the formation and use of scriptural texts in new religious
Prophet, Elizabeth Clare. The Lost Teachings of Jesus. 4 vols. Liv-
movements in the United States, with special attention to the
ingston, Mont., 1986.
Book of Mormon, Science and Health with Key to the Scrip-
tures
, and other nineteenth-century texts.
Raël (Claude Vorhilon). The Message Given to Me by Extra-
Terrestrials. Tokyo, 1986.
EUGENE V. GALLAGHER (2005)
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW
essential aspect of being human is de-emphasized, thereby
RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AND WOMEN
taking down traditional gender-related bars to women’s lead-
Whether they arise from within a given culture or find their
ership and opening up new possibilities for women to exer-
way into it by multiple means of importation, new religions
cise publicly acknowledged positions of authority. In others,
take many different forms and play a variety of social, spiritu-
femaleness and maleness are intensified, understood in cos-
al, economic, and political roles. They provide arenas of re-
mically significant ways that require a new religion to foster
sistance to prevailing cultural and religious beliefs, practices,
women leaders as a way of reflecting the female nature of the
and values. They sometimes foster restoration, as members
divine or the importance of the feminine principle in the
see it, of earlier, more authentic expressions of religious piety
workings of universe. There are yet other new religions that
or offer visions of as-yet-unrealized possibilities for the fu-
insist upon traditional gender roles to the extent that they
ture. New religions offer their members support, often com-
would ordinarily circumscribe women’s access to public
munal, for developing and living out alternatives to estab-
prominence. Nonetheless, there may be demonstrations of
lished theological worldviews, dominant economic systems,
charismatic power by women in these groups sufficient in the
and monogamous marriage. They are pivotal sites for the ad-
power and respect they generate to override the community’s
judication of cultural and religious tensions with the capacity
reluctance to grant women public authority if they are also
to respond more quickly to those tensions than is often the
willing to satisfy traditional expectations for marriage and
case with long-established religious traditions. They hold to-
motherhood. There are, by contrast, new religions that dis-
gether sometimes-conflicting manifestations of innovation
courage women from living out traditional female roles in
and conservation, critique and construction, protest against
a physical sense and instead offer romantic and maternal ful-
some cultural norms and compliance with others. Given
fillment with opportunities for “spiritual” wifehood or
these functions, it is not surprising that new religions are
motherhood.
often subjects of conflict, anger, and suspicion.
Both the complexity and the variety of new religions
These multifaceted dynamics are particularly evident in
and the roles of women within them require reference to a
the area of gender and gender relationships and with signifi-
multiplicity of examples and a resistance to the temptation
cant consequences for the roles of women. New religions for-
to over-generalize. Studies of women in new religions have
mulate questions and convictions about femaleness and its
been emerging since the 1980s; they work to avoid ultimate-
bearing upon how women might achieve spiritual fulfill-
ly unsupportable conclusions about cause-and-effect rela-
ment, salvation, or enlightenment; about the relative spiritu-
tionships between beliefs and particular forms of religious or-
al significance of female and male bodies for the proper oper-
ganization and practice and their consequences for the
ating of the universe and the prospering of the human
participation or exclusion of women. To see any new religion
community; and about whether women and men are help-
as either a paradise of freedoms and possibilities for women
mates, hindrances, or of no ultimate consequence to each
or a sinkhole of restrictions and degradations is to miss the
other on the spiritual path, however defined.
nuances of the realities women live out in new religions. An
exploration of selected new religions from the seventeenth,
Since the last third of the twentieth century, scholars of
eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries demon-
religion have become increasingly aware of the extent to
strates, nonetheless, at least some general patterns. This essay
which new religions provide insights into larger questions
focuses on historical context and inter-relationships between
about women and religion. Are there beliefs, practices, and
religious ideas and institutional forms and practices as they
organizational structures along with historical and cultural
affect women. Ambiguities, ironies, and paradoxes are often
factors that tend either to promote or stand in the way of
in evidence as new religions negotiate combinations of resis-
women’s leadership and full participation, not only in new
tance to and compliance with social and religious expecta-
religions but also in religion in general? Are there discernible
tions concerning women’s nature, women’s bodies, and
patterns to explain why, historically, women have achieved
women’s roles.
more public prominence in new religions than in the estab-
QUAKERS IN THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTU-
lished traditions? When given the opportunity, do women
RIES. The Quakers demonstrate a compelling example of a
exercise religious authority in distinctively different ways
new religious movement that emerged in protest against Pu-
from men? Are women more drawn to one kind of religious
ritanism and Anglicanism in England and America, and
worldview than another? Do female, androgynous, or non-
whose theology and minimalist system of governance were
personal images of the sacred necessarily ensure equal access
conducive to the public leadership of women. The title of
of women to authority or, as Catherine Wessinger suggests
a 1666 tract, “Women’s Speaking Justified, Proved, and Al-
in Women’s Leadership in Marginal Religions, do these have
lowed by the Scriptures, all such as speak by the Spirit and
to be under girded by institutional structures and demands
Power of the Lord Jesus,” suggests that Quaker approval of
from the broader culture for women’s equality?
women preachers and teachers found legitimation through
Scholarly works about women and new religions have
two primary means. One was a rejection of biblical passages
increasingly revealed that there are no all-encompassing an-
that admonished women to keep silent in church and to sub-
swers to these questions. In some new religions, gender as an
mit to the familial, governmental, and religious authority of
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6534
NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AND WOMEN
men. The other emerged from the theological claim of an
gious experiences in contrast to more orderly male
inner light, a sacred presence, dwelling within every person
expressions. In addition, males primarily articulated Shaker
and upon whose authority anyone could speak. Quakers re-
theology.
jected a doctrine of the fall that rendered women morally un-
WOMEN IN FIVE NINETEENTH-CENTURY NEW RELIGIONS.
equal to men for the sin of Eve. They opposed what they
A survey of five new religions with their origins in the nine-
called exterior religion and priestly authority, and empha-
teenth century, two of them communal, reveals the variety
sized lay ministry. Taken together, these characteristics re-
of circumstances, theological ideas, and religious forms and
moved traditional scriptural and theological bars to women’s
practices that, at one level, afforded women radically coun-
public leadership. They foreshadow strategies for empower-
tercultural ways of participating in religious life and, at an-
ing women that women would use again in the nineteenth
other level, paradoxically, circumscribed and interpreted
and twentieth centuries to argue for women’s ordination in
their activities, self-understandings, and religious experiences
the mainline denominations.
in gender-traditional ways that reflected values in the larger
WOMEN PREACHERS IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. Two
culture. In effect, these examples function to offer a dialogue
eighteenth-century women founders of new religions offer
about an array of roles available for women in new religions,
instances not only of women’s leadership, but also of the sig-
as well as the theological and structural foundations and es-
nificance of alternative interpretations of “body” and sexuali-
chatologically oriented community goals that supported
ty. Influenced by the evangelical preaching of George White-
them. They suggest how new religions participate in the al-
field (1714–1770) and her own Quaker upbringing, Jemima
ways-in-process cultural project of working out women’s
Wilkinson (1752–1819) rose from a near-death vision in
roles and, by implication, men’s. They also demonstrate the
1776 to acclaim herself the genderless “Publick Universal
extent to which new religions see the bringing about of the
Friend,” commissioned by God to preach and to redeem the
kingdom of God on Earth, however defined, as predicated
world. Wilkinson is a good example of the lone, charismatic
on bringing about right relations between the sexes.
woman who achieves a singular fame as the founder of a
Mormon women found themselves participating in a re-
short-lived new religion. Wilkinson advocated celibacy and
ligious community that began to practice polygamy, a policy
de-emphasized her female body by dressing in clergymen’s
instituted almost twenty years after founder Joseph Smith’s
robes. Both reviled and praised as a woman in the pulpit,
(1805–1844) visions in the 1820s led to the founding of the
Wilkinson’s fame seems to have come at the cost of her “fe-
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the publica-
maleness,” a trade-off that is in evidence in numerous other
tion of the Book of Mormon in 1830. Polygamy, based ac-
new religions of later centuries.
cording to Smith on the model of biblical patriarchs, stirred
Ann Lee (1736–1784), an Englishwoman who emigrat-
up animosity among some of Smith’s followers, and more
ed to the United States in 1774, extended the practice of celi-
intensely among outsiders, but it functioned to expand and
bacy and the separation of women and men to form the
solidify kinship ties and therefore group loyalty in Mormon-
foundation for the communal religion she established, the
ism. The practice of polygamy, which was prosecuted by the
United Society of Brethren, or Shakers, a new religion that
U.S. government and outlawed by the Mormon Church in
reached its apex in the years before the American Civil War.
1890, is by no means the only distinctive aspect of nine-
Mother Ann’s theological claims about the male and female
teenth-century Mormonism, but debate persists in contem-
nature of the godhead and original sin as the result of sexual
porary scholarship and within the Mormon community
intercourse fostered the eventual construction of nineteen
about the relative benefits and restrictions of polygamy for
Shaker communities across New York, New England, and
women. As an alternative to monogamous marriage, did po-
into Ohio and Kentucky after Lee’s death, and the further
lygamy offer women more or less autonomy and opportunity
development of her ideas about the Shakers as a saved com-
for self-fulfillment, greater or fewer options for significant
munity. There are gender conflicts and ironies evident in
authority within Mormon communities? There is general
Shakerism as it grew after Mother Ann’s death. There were
agreement that Mormon women experienced more freedom
a number of major attractions for women: a female founder;
in general in the early frontier-based years of the movement
a deity imaged as both female and male; economic security
during the time that polygamy was practiced, and that Mor-
and a form of family life free from the dangers of childbirth;
mon assimilation into the American mainstream has brought
and the opportunity to participate in a theoretically egalitari-
with it a restriction of women’s authority to the roles of wife
an, male/female leadership that was required to serve the
and mother. At the same time, contemporary Mormon femi-
spiritual and material needs of celibate men and women who
nists are reclaiming earlier forms of authority, healing among
lived separately within their communities. Shaker women
them. They have reinstituted an influential nineteenth and
had the opportunity to express themselves in ecstatic visions,
early twentieth-century women’s newspaper, now called Ex-
teaching, domestic arts, and aesthetic/religious outpourings
ponent II, and they are engaged in theological reconstructions
of dancing and painting. At the same time, Shaker work roles
of women-oriented images of divinity through the vehicle of
were gender-based with women having responsibility for do-
“Heavenly Mother.”
mestic chores. There were also gender-based leadership ten-
The Oneida Perfectionists, an upstate New York com-
sions and conflict over control of ecstatic, female-related reli-
munity founded by John Humphrey Noyes (1811–1886)
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AND WOMEN
6535
that existed between 1848 and 1880, engaged in another al-
Theosophy, founded in 1875 by Helena P. Blavatsky
ternative to monogamous marriage. “Complex marriage”
(1831–1891), a Russian emigree, and Colonel Henry Steel
was designed to foster the solidarity of the group and to elim-
Olcott (1832–1907), both one-time Spiritualists, embraced
inate what Noyes considered the divisiveness of exclusive sex-
an eclectic worldview, the “Ancient Wisdom,” that com-
ual relationships in order to bring about the kingdom of God
bined Eastern and occult thought, and rejected both Chris-
on Earth. Noyes’s patriarchal stance dominated the authority
tian orthodoxy and scientific materialism, and understood it-
structure of Oneida. The privilege of participation in com-
self as gathering together the essential truths of all the world’s
munity governance, of choice in the matter of sexual part-
religions. Theosophy offered an immanental doctrine of the
ners, and permission to bear children were meted out accord-
sacred—a spark of the divine in every atom of the universe—
ing to a hierarchical criterion called “ascending and
that gave women as well as men direct access to spiritual au-
descending fellowship.” Ambiguities, ironies, and contradic-
thority. It promoted hopeful doctrines of human nature,
tions abounded for Oneida women. Noyes was scornful of
among them a theosophical form of karma that held that
nineteenth-century women’s rights advocates and articulated
human souls could be born into either female or male bodies,
views about male superiority. He was just as convinced that
depending upon the lessons needed in a particular lifetime.
social disorder could be eliminated and right relationships re-
Theosophy offered women models of strong female leader-
stored between God and humankind and between the sexes
ship in addition to Madame Blavatsky, including Annie Bes-
by doing away with the excesses of female bondage to domes-
ant (1847–1933), Katherine Tingley (1847–1929), and
ticity and male enslavement to isolating capitalist endeavors.
Alice Bailey (1880–1949). Twenty-first-century scholarship
Women at Oneida enjoyed greater freedom of dress and ac-
such as that of Joy Dixon has begun to demonstrate the ex-
cess to education than women in the mainstream culture. Be-
tent to which British Theosophical women were involved in
cause childrearing was turned over to the community after
progressive politics and rejected a privatized occult spirituali-
the first year, women experienced both liberation and depri-
ty that excluded participation in political culture. Generally
vation in this respect, according to documents left by com-
speaking, Theosophy attracted educated middle- and upper-
munity members. Contemporary scholarship is divided on
class women whose spiritual needs were not being met by
whether Oneida offered women liberation or repression,
prevailing Christian orthodoxies and who found outlets for
greater or lesser status. There is evidence to support both in-
their spiritual gifts, religious experiences, and psychic needs
terpretations, and, as Lawrence Foster suggests in Women,
in Theosophy.
Family, and Utopia, the most compelling evidence will take
Mary Baker Eddy (1821–1910), founder of the Church
both interpretations into account.
of Christ Scientist, better known as Christian Science, pro-
Spiritualism emerged as a cultural movement with mini-
vided yet another option for women as both participants and
mal organization in 1848, not founded by a particular person
leaders in a new religious movement. Christian Science was
but in response to doubts fostered by the growing prestige
grounded in an absolutist metaphysical claim based on
of science as the primary arbiter of ultimate truth in combi-
Eddy’s own healing experience in 1866—that there is no ul-
nation with reactions against Calvinist theology among Prot-
timate reality in matter—and upon which she based not only
estants. The catalyzing events were the rappings heard and
a new theology, but a healing system and a church structure.
interpreted by two young girls, Kate and Margaret Fox, as
Eddy published the first of many versions of Science and
evidence that the spirits of the dead were attempting to con-
Health with Key to the Scriptures in 1866. Christian Science
tact the living with physical evidence that life survived the
offered women positions as teachers and practitioners and
death of the body. There followed a burgeoning of possibili-
promulgated a theology that denied the reality of the physical
ties for women without prescribed credentials to assume ca-
body and its ultimate relevance, whether female or male. It
reers as Spiritualist mediums and to preach and teach public-
understood sin, sickness, suffering, and evil as illusions based
ly. In combination with the development of an optimistic,
in the mistaken conviction that matter is real. For Christian
progressive, anti-clerical theology derived from sources as
Science, the site of struggle for achieving health and social
varied as Swedenborgianism and Transcendentalism, Spiri-
transformation was “mind,” an arena obviously open to
tualists fostered a progressive politics that engaged issues like
women who had little opportunity for active, public involve-
abolition, divorce reform, and women’s rights. In addition,
ment in institutional religion, politics, or the marketplace.
mediumship proved to be good training for public work on
BRIDGING THE NINETEENTH AND THE TWENTIETH CENTU-
behalf of women’s suffrage later in the nineteenth century.
RIES. The direct and indirect influence of Christian Science
Scholars have also pointed to the fact that female mediums,
and Theosophy, along with different kinds of spiritual heal-
unlike most male mediums, frequently spoke in trance under
ing and esotericism, proliferated during the late nineteenth
spirit guidance rather than directly as a conscious or uncon-
and early twentieth centuries as there emerged a constellation
scious means to fend off claims that they were challenging
of new religions categorized variously as “harmonial” reli-
propriety by speaking publicly. Male protectors often man-
gion, the “metaphysical” traditions, and, more pejoratively,
aged them and both exploited and were exploited by stereo-
the positive thinking religions. Typically, these religions in-
types of women as passive, sensitive agents of higher spiritual
tegrated philosophical idealism with distinctive, often called
forces.
“spiritual,” interpretations of Christianity. Among the most
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6536
NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AND WOMEN
famous names associated with these movements are Ursula
increasing number of Buddhist feminists who have become
Gestefeld and Emma Curtis Hopkins of New Thought,
teachers and leaders—Gross, Charlotte Joko Beck, Joanna
Myrtle Fillmore, who, along with her husband Charles,
Macy, Jan Willis, Anne Klein, Sandy Boucher, Lekshe
founded the Unity School of Christianity, and Alice Bailey
Tsomo—have found in Buddhism itself sources to combat
of the Arcane School. These movements were not reluctant
its own anti-woman entrenchments. Buddhism’s non-
to institutionalize leadership positions for women, and they
theism, its emphasis on impermanence, its various female
drew large numbers of women members. Their theological
images of power, its teachings that insist on the ultimate ir-
worldviews promulgated ideas that women have been drawn
relevance of gender, and its focus on the primacy of experi-
to historically. They revolted against what they saw as rigid
ence are all resources from which women Buddhists draw to
forms of creedal Christianity, de-emphasized the doctrine of
foster female leadership, a more Earth-centered practice of
original sin, and held to hopeful understandings of human
Buddhism, and innovations in the teaching of Buddhism.
nature such as a belief in the divinity of the inner self. These
THREE TWENTIETH-CENTURY RELIGIONS OF EASTERN ORI-
religions often combined elements of both Eastern and
GIN. Other, newer forms of Eastern religions have also at-
Western religious thought and were characterized by an em-
tracted Western women, three in particular that have
phasis on healing, both spiritual and physical. They typically
emerged since the middle of the twentieth century. Looked
held to the power of thought or mind to changes one’s con-
at comparatively, they offer women very different possibili-
sciousness, often by tapping into other levels of reality, and
ties for both traditional relational roles and alternatives to
thereby to change one’s circumstances as well. There are
Western marriage traditions that illustrate what can appear
many examples, however, of these traditions giving over in-
to the cultural mainstream as paradoxical, unappealing, and
stitutional power to men as they moved into the second and
even dangerous combinations of freedom and restriction.
third generations of existence and became more assimilated
to patterns in mainstream American and British culture.
The Unification Church, better known as the Moonies,
was founded in 1954 by Korea’s Reverend Sun Myung
TWENTIETH-CENTURY NEW RELIGIONS. The twentieth cen-
Moon (1920–). Unificationism’s complex theology of resto-
tury continued to offer a great variety of possibilities for
ration assumes that Jesus Christ accomplished a spiritual, but
women in new religions. Charismatic, pentecostal preaching
not a physical, redemption. It is in living out the tightly
and healing women in the earlier part of the century, among
structured, family based, husband-wife sexuality modeled by
them Aimee Semple McPherson (1890–1944), founder of
Moon and his wife that the edenic pre-fall condition of the
the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, Alma B.
world will be restored. Unification women have access to a
White (1862–1946), a Methodist preacher and founder of
wide range of roles, mostly ordered sequentially: careers often
the Pillar of Fire Church, and Mother Leafy Anderson
involving work for the church, arranged marriages followed
(c. 1887–1927), founder of the Black Spiritualist churches,
by several years of celibate sisterhood to their husbands, and,
continued to overcome disapproval of women preachers by
eventually, children who may be left in the care of others
force of their personal power. Growing numbers of Eastern
while the parents work elsewhere for the church. The domes-
religions began to find their way into Western culture in
tic sphere is valued as one of ultimate spiritual significance
greater numbers beginning in the 1960s and provided new
and the value of the marriage relationship in bringing about
communities, practices, and forms of leadership for women.
the salvation of the world cannot be overestimated. One of
Feminist/goddess spirituality, an outgrowth of the women’s
the early leaders and theologians of the movement was Oon
movement and based in the authority of women’s distinctive
Young Kim (1915–1990), a female professor at Ewha Uni-
bodily and religious experiences and rituals, came into prom-
versity in Seoul and the first Unification missionary to the
inence as well, beginning in the 1960s. The constellation of
West.
ideas and practices that came to be called the New Age move-
ment, many of whose themes overlap with Theosophy and
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness,
feminist spirituality, also attracted large numbers of women
known also as ISKCON and Hare Krishna, came to America
and women leaders. Like their nineteenth-century forerun-
from India in 1965. The society and its male founder, Swami
ners, these religions offered women ways to experiment with
Prabhupada (1896–1977), attracted young counterculture
new religious ideas, practices and images, often female, of the
members. Unlike the male/female sexual complementarity
sacred and with alternative models of family and community
assumed by Unificationists, ISKCON espouses a radical
and expressions of sexuality.
body/spirit split that holds bodies to be illusion but nonethe-
less assumes male spiritual superiority. At the same time, the
BUDDHISM AS A NEW RELIGION IN AMERICA. An ancient re-
security of a highly ordered sexual life and the comfort and
ligion in the East, but relatively new to the West, Buddhism
support of the women’s ashram is appealing to the women
offered Western women new spiritual opportunities and has
of ISKCON, and there is evidence to suggest that women
itself been changed by the process of responding to calls for
exercise significant power indirectly, a pattern common in
a feminist Buddhism, a Buddhism “beyond patriarchy,” as
traditionally male-dominated religions.
Buddhist scholar and practitioner Rita Gross (1943 –) puts
it. Highly cognizant of anti-female assumptions in tradition-
Another new religion of Indian origin, the Rajneesh
al Buddhism about women’s bodies and women’s nature, an
movement, now known as Osho, originated with Bhagwan
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AND WOMEN
6537
Shree Rajneesh (1931–1990) in an ashram in Poona, India,
in one combination or another in women’s joining—or
in the 1970s. Its most famous site in the West was Rajneesh-
founding—new religious movements.
puram in Oregon, disbanded in 1985 in the midst of scan-
dals and church/state tensions. In contrast with marriage-
SEE ALSO Besant, Annie; Blavatsky, H. P.; Buddhism, arti-
based movements, Rajneesh encouraged women to have
cle on Buddhism in the West; Christian Science; Eddy,
nonexclusive sexual relationships with men. These were re-
Mary Baker; Feminist Theology; Fillmore, Charles and
garded as gateways to spiritual experiences and gave women
Myrtle; Gender and Religion; Hopkins, Emma Curtis; In-
ternational Society for Krishna Consciousness; Lee, Ann;
both the freedom and the responsibility to avoid traditional
Mormonism; Neopaganism; New Thought Movement;
roles of wife and mother, develop identities as “lovers,” and
Noyes, John Humphrey; Olcott, Henry Steel; Prabhupada,
assume positions of leadership. This movement offers an ex-
A. C. Bhaktivedanta; Quakers; Rajneesh; Shakers; Smith,
cellent forum for exploration of issues dealing with women’s
Joseph; Spiritualism; Swedenborgianism; Theosophical Soci-
relationships to male gurus and of the question of what dis-
ety; Tingley, Katherine; Unification Church; Wicca.
tinctions need to be drawn between sexual freedom and ex-
ploitation in religions that make connections between overt-
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a woman whose considerable gifts as theologian and leader
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6538
NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AND CHILDREN
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Science, with a fifteen-point list of pervasive characteristics
in both America and Europe. By the 1980s and 1990s the
in the introduction.
demographic picture worldwide had changed dramatically.
Knott, Kim. “Men and Women, or Devotees? Krishna Conscious-
The young seekers had matured into middle age, and chil-
ness and the Role of Women.” In Women in the World’s Reli-
dren had become a significant feature of most NRMs.
gions Past and Present, edited by Ursula King, pp. 111–128.
New York, 1987.
Children and their views about the religions they belong
to have been neglected by academics in the study of religion
Lewis, James R., and J. Gordon Melton, eds. Perspectives on the
New Age. Albany, N.Y., 1992. Essays, some of which empha-
generally but especially in studies looking at NRMs. Their
size gender, with multiple approaches to the academic study
significance is, however, without question. Their impact has
of the New Age Movement including suggestions for future
been noted by various sociologists of religion; their involve-
research.
ment in drawing sectarian religious groups away from isola-
Palmer, Susan Jean. Moon Sisters, Krishna Mothers, Rajneesh Lov-
tion and toward assimilation was described by Richard Nie-
ers: Women’s Roles in New Religions. Syracuse, N.Y., 1994. A
buhr in The Social Sources of Denominationalism in 1929.
study of the multiplicity of women’s roles in seven contem-
More recently, in his article “Why Religions Movements
porary new religions.
Succeed or Fail” (1996), Rodney Stark commented that the
Puttick, Elizabeth. Women in New Religions: In Search of Commu-
second generation is key to the success or failure of new reli-
nity, Sexuality and Spiritual Power. New York, 1997. An in-
gious movements. Without doubt, the arrival of a second
terpretation of both the liberating and oppressive characteris-
generation, often in large numbers, is key to understanding
tics of new religions for women with emphasis on alternative
how many of these new movements undergo organizational
approaches to sexuality and the sacred.
transformations and changes to their practices. Retaining the
Salomonsen, Jone. Enchanted Feminism: The Reclaiming Witches
second generation is crucial to many of these groups. In some
of San Francisco. London and New York, 2002. In-depth
new religions, such as The Family (previously known as
study of the community and new spiritual tradition set up
by Starhawk and her friends.
Children of God), second-generation members now out-
number the first generation, and they are highly active in
Sered, Susan Starr. Priestess, Mother, Sacred Sister: Religions Domi-
nated by Women. New York and Oxford, 1994. A compara-
participating and developing the future of the movement.
tive anthropological, historical, social study of the meanings
The success coming to groups retaining their second genera-
of “women’s religion” in the context of twelve religions from
tion can be seen in some of the older sects, such as the Mor-
around the world.
mons and Hutterites, who solved the problem of increasing
Ursenbach, Maureen, and Lavina Fielding Anderson, eds. Sisters
membership by breeding new members. Whereas in the
in Spirit: Mormon Women in Historical and Cultural Perspec-
1980s there were about four hundred Hutterites in North
tive, foreword by Jan Shipps. Urbana, 1987. Essays by Mor-
America, now there are nearer thirty thousand, and the claim
mon women scholars that integrate Mormon history and
is they still retain 98 percent of their offspring. In contrast,
women’s history to explore the identities of Mormon women
some new religions are struggling; not managing to increase
both past and present.
membership by proselytizing, they clearly need to retain their
Wessinger, Catherine, ed. Women’s Leadership in Marginal Reli-
second generation. For example, the Unification Church
gions: Explorations outside the Mainstream. Urbana and Chi-
(better known as “the Moonies”) and the International Soci-
cago, 1993. Essays about social and theological characteris-
ety for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) had fewer adult
tics that, by contrast with those in mainstream religions, have
fostered women’s leadership in nineteenth- and twentieth-
members at the end of the twentieth century than they did
century new religions.
in the 1970s. For new movements like Neopaganism, retain-
ing the second generation is not an issue; the ideal is for the
MARY FARRELL BEDNAROWSKI (2005)
spiritual path to be one of individual choice.
The wave of children born into the new religious move-
NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW
ments has created new challenges. The responses to the prob-
RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AND CHILDREN
lems of raising this new generation have taken a rich variety
In the 1960s and 1970s the religions classified as “cults” or
of forms; not surprisingly, given the radical nature of these
“new religious movements” (NRMs) were largely populated
parents, not all of their parenting solutions have been con-
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AND CHILDREN
6539
ventional. For the insiders—the adult members of NRMs—
cifically linking cultic groups and child abuse because of the
the main issues have been child raising, education, and how
lack of evidence.
best to incorporate the second generation in their active reli-
gious lives. How far should their religion remain a religion
At the close of the twentieth century, scholars cited a
of converts, and how far should they adapt to accommodate
lack of evidence to support anticult groups’ claims of child
the new generation? For those watching from the outside,
abuse, and research had not demonstrated a causal link be-
particularly those who felt they had little access to inside in-
tween NRMs and victims of child abuse. To give one exam-
formation, children added a new dimension and a focus of
ple, the theosophically inspired group the Church Universal
concern, which was easily fueled by the negative stereotyping
and Triumphant (CUT) received particularly hostile media
of NRMs as “dangerous cults” by the anticult movement and
and anticult attention after the Branch Davidian tragedy,
the media. The three issues that have preoccupied the public,
calling it one of America’s “top cults.” Concern was raised
the media, and concerned outsiders are, firstly, child abuse
about the well-being of children in this group, perceived as
(including mental and sexual abuse and neglect); secondly,
socially and religiously deviant. From their research de-
child custody cases and the difficult issue of the “best inter-
scribed in Church Universal and Triumphant in Scholarly Per-
ests of the child”; and thirdly, child socialization and educa-
spective (1994), Lawrence Lilliston and Gary Shepherd were
tion. The article will deal with each of these in turn.
able to identify certain problem areas in the relationship be-
C
tween adults and youth: some small-scale delinquent acts by
HILD ABUSE. One crucial significance of children in NRMs
is the role they play in the fight against cults. As James T.
a few young people such as “joyriding, shoplifiting”; some
Richardson points out in “Social Control of New Religions:
“off the Ranch” pregnancies after associating with outsider
From ‘Brainwashing’ Claims to Child Sex Abuse Allega-
boys; more generally a resistance to strict church prohibition
tions,” children have become the new weapon for anticultists
against music with a heavy beat (especially rock and roll); and
in the battle against NRMs now that the brainwashing weap-
some teen dissatisfaction, characterized by feeling ignored
on has lost its potency (Richardson, 1999, p. 172). Accusa-
and ridiculed by outsiders, particularly when preparation was
tions about child abuse in new religious movements have be-
made in the 1990s for nuclear war. The church made some
come the “ultimate weapon” used in attempts to control new
changes in the 1990s, however, to address parenting prob-
religious movements. After the Jonestown murders-suicides
lems. Realizing that intense commitment to organizational
in 1978, there was an explosion of negative media stories
jobs in the church was affecting parent-child relationships,
about “cults,” and accusations of child abuse increased. The
the church gave staff with children more time; parenting
reason for this was that so-called cultic groups, according to
skills were encouraged and parenting workshops introduced;
anticultists, are disposed to abuse children. In their view all
youth antidrug programs and ties to national youth pro-
cult parents are extremists, obsessed with personal salvation
grams were established. Researchers were impressed by the
or creating a heaven on earth, dependent on a leader and now
openness of the parents to exposing children to a diversity
unable to think critically and independently.
of religious views and by their respect for free choice. They
described CUT children as having high but realistic stan-
Moreover, because they are portrayed as working in ex-
dards, as self-reliant, and as having appropriate dependency
ploitative conditions, they must have little time for family.
attitudes and strong feelings of competence and confidence
Kaj Moos in Save Our Children describes cult children as
in their ability. Reporting that the parents were resigned to
simply “an imposition upon their emotionally fragile, depen-
the fact that most of the children would become religious de-
dent parents,” which tends to “lead toward a path of child
fectors, they in fact concluded that the church may have in-
abuse, for the cultist parent is regressed and unable to cope
troduced new structures that could increase the loyalty of the
with the parenting demands and need of children” (Moos,
second generation. Though previously charged with isola-
1993, p. 12). According to Moos, “cult children” are raised
tion, lack of parenting skills, and other concerns expressed
in organizations predisposed toward abusive practices. Mi-
by Langone and Moos, the Church Universal and Trium-
chael Langone, editor of the Cultic Studies Journal, is more
phant introduced changes that led observers to view the orga-
cautious in his writing and as such has been influential in ar-
nization more favorably.
guing that cults have a particular capacity to harm children
physically and psychologically. In Recovery from Cults: Help
The notion put forward by Langone and others seeking
for Victims of Psychological and Physical Abuse (1993), Lan-
to control “cults”—that NRMs, unlike other religions such
gone argues that it is their absolutist ideology that provides
as Catholicism, are predisposed to child abuse—is not sup-
a rationalization for child abuse and makes them different
ported by the evidence. Anson Shupe, editor of Wolves with-
from Catholics, Baptists, or Episcopalians. Their ideology,
in the Fold: Religious Leadership and Abuses of Power, points
he argues, compels harsh physical discipline and the rejection
out that Catholic priests “have preyed upon literally hun-
of medical intervention and supports physical isolation and
dreds of young victims” (Shupe, 1998, p. 5). A survey by the
resistance to investigations of child abuse, the members using
National Review Board (February 2004) revealed that from
religious beliefs to justify their ideology and isolation (Lan-
1950 to 2002 in the United States, 4,450 Catholic priests
gone, 1993, pp. 327–329). Langone makes this case while
were accused of sexual abuse of minors. With such evidence
at the same time admitting it is hard to draw conclusions spe-
it is no longer appropriate to suspect new religions as being
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6540
NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AND CHILDREN
any more or less likely to breed sexual abuse. Children raised
Raid Begins New Pattern” (1994) and by Vanessa Malcarne
in NRMs are not more likely to be abused than those raised
and John Burchard in “Investigations of Child Abuse/
in any other religion, but in the case of NRMs, the religious
Neglect Allegations in Religious Cults: A Case Study in Ver-
group and its ideology or structure are usually blamed rather
mont” (1992). The Messianic Communities, also known as
than individuals. The Catholic Church has tried to separate
the Twelve Tribes, continue to have problems in France and
individual abuse from any connection with the social struc-
Germany on issues of homeschooling and discipline. These
ture or practices of the church. There is research, described
and other groups advocating strict discipline and openly sup-
by contributors to Shupe’s volume, to suggest that, in fact,
porting corporal punishment believe it is in the children’s
there may be problems when the total economic structure
best interests, sometimes even to “break the will” of the child.
and power of a group rests on male, unmarried clergy.
The Community in Island Pond in Vermont is a strongly
Careful scrutiny of the child abuse accusations against
fundamentalist community, homeschooling their children
NRMs reveals that many of the allegations have been con-
and disciplining them with a stick for minor disobediences
cerned with harsh discipline and corporal punishment. This
and adult strikes for more serious offenses. In 1984 the com-
is a highly controversial area, the rights and wrongs of
munity was raided, and more than a hundred adults and 112
“smacking” being hotly debated. The new tide of opinion
children were taken into custody. Although all the children
against any form of physical punishment of children makes
were returned to their parents, the techniques for the allega-
the adoption of the more disciplinarian view more controver-
tions of abuse, as George Robertson (1994) points out,
sial. Over the years theories of socially and politically accept-
worked for the anticult movement—the raids made headline
able discipline have varied greatly. The quotation from Prov-
news, highlighting the allegations of abuse, but the children’s
erbs (13:24), “he who spares the rod hates his child,” is
return was hardly mentioned. What is striking is that in 2004
central to one theory, advocated, for example, by James Dob-
the Vermont community continued its strict fundamentalist
son in his book Dare to Discipline (1970). According to this
lifestyle and lived without conflict with its neighbors.
theory, children need to be taught strong self-discipline and
Some children have suffered from severe corporal pun-
self-control, which are best encouraged by strong disciplin-
ishment. The famous American case is that of the twelve-
ing of the child, including the use of corporal punishment.
year-old boy in the House of Judah who died as the result
This is still the theory favored by some mainstream evangeli-
of beatings at a camp. Children raised in belief systems that
cal Christians worldwide and by some Christian NRMs,
advocate severe physical punishment in some cases are de-
such as The Family.
fenseless against the group if they live within a closed com-
The more liberal attitudes of later child-care experts,
munity. However, no evidence has as yet been produced to
such as Dr. Spock or the “modern” Penelope Leach, are sup-
show that children in new religious movements are more
ported by liberal, secular, and New Age parents. In the past
likely to be harmed than children in other institutions or
two decades countries have in general become more liberal.
mainstream society. The Institute for the Study of American
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child,
Religion carried out a survey in 1986 exploring reports of
adopted in 1989 and ratified by every country in the world
child abuse in cults and concluded that beliefs about corporal
except the United States and Somalia, makes it clear that
punishment and strict discipline could lead to violent ten-
children should be protected from all forms of physical and
dencies in children. But the survey also concluded that such
mental violence, injury, or abuse (Article 19.1). It states that
behavior “did not come from the major non-conventional re-
any form of discipline should take into account the child’s
ligions (that is, those identified as cults in the public mind)
human dignity. Nevertheless, in the United Kingdom there
but from conservative evangelical Christian groups” (Mel-
still exists a Victorian law allowing a defense in terms of rea-
ton, 1986, pp. 255, 258).
sonable chastisement allowing parents to hit children when
It could be argued that many of the accusations of child
they can claim the punishment was justified. Laws were
abuse by anticultists have in themselves led to abuse of chil-
passed to abolish spanking in British state schools in 1986
dren. Accusations about child abuse were made against the
and in privately funded schools in 1998; it is still permitted
Family in Argentina, France, Spain, Australia, Peru, Norway,
in some states in the United States. Nowhere is it allowed
and the United Kingdom. Worldwide raids on the Family
in Scandinavia; Sweden banned smacking thirty years ago.
homes made front-page news as the allegedly abused children
The question of whether parents should be restricted from
were dragged from their parents in the night, with scarcely
hitting their children will become increasingly an issue be-
a mention of their return after no abuse could be found in
tween religious conservatives and liberals. It is not an issue
any of the children in any of the countries. Some of the offi-
that is limited to new religious movements.
cials’ treatment of the children of the Family might on the
One of the better-known cases involving accusations
other hand be seen to constitute abuse. In Australia social
about severe corporal punishment involved the Northeast
services took more than 190 children away from parents who
Kingdom Community Church, a fundamentalist Christian
were members of the Family in 1992, but within a few days
sect that was the object of much controversy in the 1980s
all were returned. Based on similarly false information, chil-
and that was described by George Robertson in “Island Pond
dren in France and Spain were kept in custody and separated
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AND CHILDREN
6541
from their mothers for weeks or months. In all cases courts
abusive practices is that there is then little need to explore
dismissed the charges. A few of the key anticult figures who
in depth any particular NRM to see the reality of whether
instigated some of these raids (Rick Ross, for example) also
child abuse is occurring. Anticultists see unchecked informa-
used child abuse allegations against David Koresh and the
tion from ex-members about the totalitarian nature and life-
Branch Davidians.
style of the organization as sufficient. If a group can be de-
fined as a “destructive cult” or an “extreme cult,” detailed
It should be noted in terms of child abuse that there is
evaluations of the religious group are not needed to make al-
a particularly complex relationship between gender, age,
legations of child abuse. In France, where there is a govern-
power, and spirituality. Particularly difficult is the relation-
mental preference for listening to the “victims” of sects and
ship of guru and disciple, or priest and child, with the enor-
to the anticultists who deal with the practical problems of
mous potential for religious exploitation. For example, Eliza-
these victims rather than taking an academic viewpoint, very
beth Puttick has commented that the master-disciple
little scholarly work is being undertaken, and an anticult
relationship was a profound experience for many Rajneesh
scare continues. In 1996 the French National Assembly de-
followers with “little evidence of sexual exploitation of fe-
clared a list of 172 groups, including Jehovah’s Witnesses,
male disciples by Osho” (Puttick, 1999, p. 102). But prob-
Mormons, Catholic charismatics, evangelicals, and Quakers,
lems of authority and misuse of power did arise in the Inter-
as potentially dangerous. In Belgium a similar parliamentary
national Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).
report produced in 1997 declared 189 sects potentially dan-
There were cases of child abuse and instances of second-class
gerous. Sweden has been critical of the attitudes expressed
child care. In June 2000 children of ISKCON filed a federal
in these reports, and the report of the Swedish Government’s
complaint naming ISKCON and its governing body as de-
Commission on New Religious Movements (1998), “In
fendants. In Betrayal of the Spirit (2001) Nori Muster de-
Good Faith: Society and the New Religious Movements,”
scribes how the worst abuses took place between 1971 and
gives a far more balanced view of the needs of children in
1986 in the Dallas boarding school, the West Virginia
unconventional religions and calls for more research:
boarding school in New Vrindavan, and in the Vrindavana
The right of parents to bring up their children in accor-
(India) boarding school. The scandals about child abuse in
dance with their faith and convictions is above dispute,
ISKCON, with the leaders’ focus on attaining spiritual ob-
but it has to be balanced against the knowledge that
jectives rather than looking after their children in schools and
there are children who suffer harm in new religious
child-care facilities, have played a large part in destroying the
movements. . . . The Commission considers it essen-
second generation’s trust in this movement. Many of the sec-
tial that children living in closed groups should have the
ond generation, who now mostly attend non-ISKCON
same form of support, protection and rights as other
schools, are critical of some of the fanaticism of the first gen-
children. At the same time it is important that children
eration, as Burke Rochford describes in “Reactions of Hare
growing up in these movements should not be stigma-
Krishna Devotees to Scandals of Leaders’ Misconduct”
tized.
(1998). Another article by Rochford, “Education and Col-
Unfortunately not all governments have been as open-
lective Identity” (1999), analyzes how the second-generation
minded. A new law introduced by the French parliament in
members hold on to their identity as Krishna devotees but
June 2000 was Europe’s toughest antisect legislation to date.
have a less-strong collective ISKCON identity. Incidents of
It allows judges to order the dissolution of a sect if members
underage sex in the early years of The Family have also been
are convicted of a criminal offence. It bans sects from adver-
documented by James Chancellor in Life in the Family: An
tising. It has also made “mental manipulation” a crime. Tar-
Oral History of the Children of God (2000). David Koresh,
geting youth, such as touting for new members near schools
the leader of the Branch Davidians, is cited as having sexual
or offering children’s Sunday school by any church, is now
relations with underage girls to create a new spiritual lineage.
illegal in France.
There are concerns about children in Christian Science,
Allegations of child abuse over the last two decades have
which has been criticized for promoting faith healing and ne-
been used very effectively against particular NRMs. In those
glecting children in need of medical attention. In the United
countries in Europe where brainwashing and mind-control
States adults can either seek medical attention to deal with
claims are still accepted and experts are sought among an-
a physical disorder, or they can use faith healing or alterna-
ticultists (e.g., France, Belgium), it seems likely that those
tive medicine. If a child dies from not receiving medical at-
who want to hinder the activities of any NRM will in the
tention, however, parents can face criminal charges. In
last resort use child abuse accusations to persuade the local
“Christian Science Spiritual Healing, the Law, and Public
authorities to act.
Opinion” (1992), James Richardson and John Dewitt argue
that concern about the welfare of children has at times over-
FREEDOM OF RELIGION AND THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE
ridden concern about parental rights and freedom of
CHILD. It is a standard principle of child welfare law and pol-
religion.
icy that the “best interests” of a child should be promoted.
Article 13.1 of the United Nations Convention on the
What is dangerous about an approach that accepts that
Rights of the Child (1989) states that “in all actions concern-
certain organizations like NRMs are predisposed toward
ing children . . . the best interests of the child shall be a pri-
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AND CHILDREN
mary consideration.” Key articles of the convention also
which could harm their own children, seen as sinless and vul-
stress the need to respect both “the right of the child to free-
nerable. Examples can be found in Sahaja Yoga, the Family,
dom of thought, conscience and religion” (Article 14.1) and
the Unification Church, and ISKCON. Boundaries are
“the rights and duties of parents in providing religious and
maintained between the movement and the outside. For ex-
moral guidance to their children in a manner consistent with
ample, separate sets of clothes are kept by Family members;
the evolving capacities of the child” (Article 14.2). These
purification rituals like foot soaking and meditation are car-
principles have been welcomed by religious groups of all
ried out by Sahaja Yoga children after school to negate any
kinds, mainstream and minority religions, because they indi-
negative vibrations picked up at school. Practices and life-
cate that the United Nations has no interest in preventing
styles are emphasized to help children participate in building
parents from bringing up their children within a religious
the new kingdom or to become spiritually pure. As one Fam-
tradition and endorses freedom of religion.
ily/Children of God publication commented, “If the millen-
nium is that close, it’s all the more reason to get these kids
The main difficulty for courts in Europe or the United
trained in a hurry” (Teen Rev., no. 7, 1986), hence the im-
States lies in the precarious balance between these two no-
portance of teaching the very young to be toilet trained and
tions: freedom of religion and the best interests of the child.
to read and write and the importance of learning Scriptures.
From research on court cases dealing with the custody of a
These world-rejecting groups create alternative childhoods
child with one parent in a so-called cult or minority religion,
that emphasize the importance of growing up within a saved
Anthony Bradney, in “Children of a Newer God,” says there
community, and therefore the emphasis is on detachment
is no doubt that because courts rely on evidence and argu-
from worldly life. If they are not living in communes, mem-
ments given by the parties involved, some judgments have
bers of these groups emphasize socialization into their values
been swayed by incomplete evidence and anticult “experts”
and practices in weekend gatherings, camps, or ashrams.
(Bradney, 1999, p. 215). How this balance is achieved in the
World-rejecting movements often create their own forms of
United States and in Europe is well documented in the arti-
cles by Bradney, Richardson, and Michael Homer in Chil-
homeschooling, particularly for preteens, not wanting their
dren in New Religions (1999), although much research is still
children to be exposed to the vice-ridden, secular schools of
to be undertaken on the European interpretation of these
the outside world. CUT and the Family homeschool using
principles in custody cases. It is already clear, however, that
the Montessori approach and education philosophies that
how a particular country views NRMs, cults, or sects has an
stress precocious acquisition of reading skills (such as those
impact on the legal process and on child custody cases. Cus-
of Glenn Doman). The more conservative of these groups
tody cases may not actually assess the quality of parenting in
attempt to revive paternal authoritarianism and strong disci-
any new religious group because very often the judges are as
pline. These children, like adults, have a prescribed role to
ignorant about NRMs as are members of the public. As
play; toys and books are carefully supervised because children
Bradney has discussed in Religions, Rights, and Laws, al-
can be led astray by the devil, who may try to tempt them
though courts in the United Kingdom are supposed to be
through the wrong kind of music or unsupervised TV or try
neutral about religious matters, some parents have lost custo-
to tempt them into losing their innocence.
dy of their child or children “precisely because of their reli-
At the other end of the spectrum are those NRMs em-
gion” (Bradney, 1993, p. 49). As yet it is not clear how the
phasizing the importance of affirming the individual (“self”
French or Belgian reports advocating anticult laws or indeed
religions, such as the Human Potential Movement, Daman-
any of those commissioned by European governments will
hur, Scientology, Transcendental Meditation, Rajneesh).
affect the courts and the custody of children in NRMs.
The emphasis in raising children must be to help them fill
S
their potential, especially their inner spirituality, and find
OCIALIZATION AND EDUCATION IN NRMS: FROM DE-
ways to cope with the world and its stresses. Many of these
TACHMENT TO AFFIRMATION. All societies and all new reli-
gious movements attach considerable importance to the up-
groups are less obviously “religious,” have less dogmatic
bringing of their children, but what practices are perceived
ideas, and are more highly individualized, emphasizing chil-
as being most conducive to the general good (including the
dren’s empowerment and affirming individual children’s
welfare of the children themselves) are often strikingly differ-
goals and values. Child socialization and education in the
ent. The alternative childhoods to be found in NRMs can
mainstream is criticized for being an outdated conventional
be usefully understood according to the Weberian perspec-
institution. Children need to be emancipated from the nar-
tive offered by Roy Wallis in The Elementary Forms of the
row bondage of an educational system that focuses solely on
New Religious Life (1984), from the “world-rejecting” to the
the intellect and a future accepting the materialistic values
“world-affirming.” These “ideal types” focus on “how a
associated with capitalism. For these more countercultural
movement orients itself toward the social world into which
movements, schooling should emphasize creativity, intu-
it emerges” (Wallis, 1984, p. 4).
ition, and natural intelligence. One must maintain faith in
the goodness of children and their potential. Strong disci-
At one end of the spectrum, children are raised in move-
pline and punishment, far from being advocated, are seen as
ments rejecting the world, emphasizing the polluting, per-
creating fear and a distance between the generations, pre-
missive, evil, contaminating aspects of the mainstream,
venting emotional growth, self-actualization, personal re-
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AND CHILDREN
6543
sponsibility, and maturity. Children in many of the Eastern-
tices is still little explored. It is important to emphasize the
influenced groups, such as Transcendental Meditation,
diversity of the systems of meaning in terms of which chil-
Sathya Sai Baba, Ananda Marga, School of Economic Sci-
dren give form, order, and direction to their lives within new
ence, and Western Buddhist Order, learn early on to medi-
religions. It will be seen here, however, that the key issues
tate, and in response their parents may face condemnation
that have influenced the popular view of children in NRMs
and accusations of indoctrination or exploitation.
are ones that are not fundamentally different from the issues
involved in raising children in mainstream religions: issues
As Wallis noted, empirical examples will only approxi-
of child abuse, child custody, and the precarious balance of
mate to these ideal types and may well combine elements of
religious freedom, parental rights, and the “best interests of
both (Wallis, 1984, p. 5). Although in terms of beliefs and
the child” with the extent to which children are “indoctrinat-
organization a group may be world-rejecting, in terms of the
ed” or “freely choose” the views of their parents. One sad
ideal childhood envisaged it may have elements of both de-
consequence of imposing restrictions on NRMs, on reducing
tachment from the world and the importance of developing
freedom of religion, is a reduced tolerance of diversity.
potential power and self-actualization. For example, the in-
ternational movements of Rajneesh (now Osho), Sahaja
SEE ALSO Anticult Movements; Brainwashing (Debate);
Yoga, or Damanhur in Italy, all world-rejecting movements,
Branch Davidians; Christian Science; Church Universal and
see the outside world as contaminating, its mainstream
Triumphant; Cults and Sects; Family, The; Hutterian
schools and patriarchal nuclear-family structures as the root
Brethren; International Society for Krishna Consciousness;
of Western bad habits and neurosis; the alternative is to be
Jehovah’s Witnesses; Jonestown and Peoples Temple;
found in communal living, detached from the rest of the
Koresh, David; Mormonism; Neopaganism; Quakers; Sai
world. At the same time, there are strong world-affirming el-
Baba Movement; Scientology; Transcendental Meditation;
ements; correct child-rearing practices are seen as crucial in
Twelve Tribes; Unification Church.
helping Rajneesh children attain their full potential (Puttick,
1999), and the New Age Damanhurians involve their chil-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
dren in “harmonization,” a form of yoga to restore human
Bradney, Anthony. Religions, Rights, and Laws. Leicester, U.K.,
beings to their original and authentic condition (Introvigne,
1993. British law professor analyzes the legal attitude to reli-
1999).
gion and laws pertaining to religion in Britain. Looking at
case studies, he questions that courts are neutral in regard to
CONCLUSIONS. The significance of studying children in
religious issues.
NRMs began to be taken seriously when they were consis-
tently used by anticultists to bolster their attacks on move-
Bradney, Anthony. “Children of a Newer God.” In Children in
ments. Since then, however, much of the debate has focused
New Religions, edited by Susan J. Palmer and Charlotte E.
Hardman, pp. 210–223. New Brunswick, N.J., and London,
on countering these attacks, and the literature on children
1999.
is heavily weighted with discussions on child abuse, child
custody cases, and the indoctrination of children. Although
Chancellor, James. Life in the Family: An Oral History of the Chil-
the debates have furthered the understanding of children in
dren of God. Syracuse, N.Y., 2000. An insider’s personal view
new religious movements, the focus on these areas to the ex-
of the history of the Children of God, backed up by rigorous
research.
clusion of others has led to a distorted picture of children in
NRMs.
Homer, Michael. “The Precarious Balance between Freedom of
Religion and the Best Interests of the Child.” In Children in
In the academic research there is general agreement that
New Religions, edited by Susan J. Palmer and Charlotte E.
although children in NRMs may have unusual childhoods,
Hardman, pp. 187–209. New Brunswick, N.J., and London,
which in itself can produce difficulties for children, the ma-
1999.
jority are not worse off in NRMs than children whose par-
Introvigne, Massimo. “Children of the Underground Temple:
ents belong to mainstream religions. Yet the literature focus-
Growing up in Damanhur.” In Children in New Religions,
ing on scandals leaves an impression of deviancy. For
edited by Susan J. Palmer and Charlotte E. Hardman,
research on children to progress there needs to be less focus
pp. 138–149. New Brunswick, N.J., and London, 1999.
on the scandals and more attention on understanding the
Langone, Michael. Recovery from Cults: Help for Victims of Psycho-
impact of children on any religious movement. Wider re-
logical and Physical Abuse. New York, 1993. Edited by an an-
search is needed on how children develop spiritually, how
ticultist, the book is intended as a practical reference book
they gain meaning and order from the religious and cultural
for mental health professionals dealing with cults, psycholog-
patterns in which they live, and what children think about
ical manipulation, and “mind control,” including special sec-
religion and spirituality whether they grow up in new reli-
tions on children and cults and the ritualistic abuse of chil-
gious movements or the mainstream. There is need for a
dren in day-care centers.
great deal more research to confront the stereotypical nega-
Malcarne, Vanessa, and John Burchard. “Investigations of Child
tive attitude to these children’s lives by actually looking at
Abuse/Neglect Allegations in Religious Cults: A Case Study
what goes on. Children do change religions, but exactly how
in Vermont.” Behavioural Sciences and the Law 10 (1992):
they change both organizational patterns and religious prac-
75–88.
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AND MILLENNIALISM
Markowitz, A., and D. A. Halperin. “Cults and Children. The
An essay expanding Stark’s 1987 theory of why religious
Abuse of the Young.” Cultic Studies Journal 1 (1984):
groups succeed or fail and applying it to sects as well as new
143–155.
religions.
Melton, Gordon. Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America. New
United Nations. United Nations Convention on the Rights of the
York and London, 1986. Useful and detailed reference book
Child. Available from http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/
on NRMs, including bibliographies on each movement.
b/k2crc.htm.
Muster, Nori. Betrayal of the Spirit: My Life in the Hare Krishna
Wallis, Roy. The Elementary Forms of the New Religious Life. Lon-
Movement. Urbana, Ill., 1997. One woman’s account of liv-
don, 1984. An analytic comparison of types of NRMs by a
ing in ISKCON. Critical of the movement, she examines
British sociologist illustrating the characteristics of each type
scandals of child abuse in ISKCON schools and schisms that
from actual movements.
forced most original members to leave.
CHARLOTTE E. HARDMAN (2005)
Niebuhr, Richard. The Social Sources of Denominationalism. New
York, 1929. A sociological study of religion and denomina-
tional divisions identifying the change across generations
NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW
from sectarian to denominational religious life.
RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AND
Palmer, Susan J., and Charlotte E. Hardman, eds. Children in
MILLENNIALISM
New Religions. New Brunswick, N.J., and London, 1999. Es-
The religious patterns that scholars term millennialism or
says examining the impact children have on NRMs and their
millenarianism are noteworthy among new religious move-
chances of surviving in the future, discussing how move-
ments (NRMs). While many NRMs are not oriented toward
ments socialize children, and addressing the legal and human
a millennial outlook, millennialism is often found in the
rights issues, including child abuse allegations worldwide.
early stages of a religion. A millennial worldview is well
Puttick, Elizabeth. “Osho Ko Hsuan School: Educating the ‘New
suited to motivating people to convert to completely new re-
Child.’” In Children in New Religions, edited by Susan J.
ligions, accept the spiritual guidance of new teachers, and
Palmer and Charlotte E. Hardman, pp. 88–107. New Bruns-
build new communities. The millennial expectation of an
wick, N.J., and London, 1999.
imminent transition to a new order of existence represents
Richardson, James. “Social Control of New Religions: From
a rejection of the status quo, thereby putting millennialists
‘Brainwashing’ Claims to Child Sex Abuse Allegations.” In
in tension with mainstream society; tension with society also
Children in New Religions, edited by Susan J. Palmer and
characterizes new religious movements in general. Millenni-
Charlotte E. Hardman, pp.172–186. New Brunswick, N.J.,
alists are often not involved in violence, but in some signifi-
and London, 1999.
cant cases millennialists become caught up in dynamics lead-
Richardson, James, and John Dewitt. “Christian Science Spiritual
ing to violence: they may initiate violent acts or be assaulted
Healing, the Law, and Public Opinion.” Journal of Church
by opponents in the dominant society. While the term mil-
and State 34 (1992): 550–561. An article that examines legal
lennialism is derived from Christianity, millennial religious
cases involving Christian Scientists whose children have died
as a result of spiritual healing, leading to a church response
patterns can be found in diverse religious traditions in many
altering policy and practice.
times and places.
Robertson, George. “Island Pond Raid Begins New Pattern.” In
DEFINING MILLENNIALISM. The terms millennialism or mil-
Sex, Slander, and Salvation: Investigating the Family/Children
lenarianism come from millennium, meaning one thousand
of God, edited by James R. Lewis and Gordon Melton,
years. These terms originate in Christianity with the state-
pp. 153–158. Palo Alto, Calif., 1994.
ment in the New Testament Book of Revelation (Apocalypse)
Rochford, E. Burke. “Child Abuse in the Hare Krishna Move-
that the rule of Christ on earth will last one thousand years
ment: 1971–1986.” ISKCON Communications Journal 6
(Rev. 20:1–4). Scholars now apply the terms to several com-
(1998): 43–69.
mon religious patterns found in many religions.
Rochford, E. Burke. “Reactions of Hare Krishna Devotees to
Based on his study of medieval Christian revolutionary
Scandals of Leaders’ Misconduct.” In Wolves within the Fold,
millennial movements, Norman Cohn defined millennialism
edited by Anson Shupe, pp. 101–117. New Brunswick, N.J.,
as expecting a salvation that is:
1998.
(a) collective, in the sense that it is to be enjoyed by the
Rochford, E. Burke. “Education and Collective Identity: Public
faithful as a collectivity; (b) terrestrial, in the sense that
Schooling of Hare Krishna Youths.” In Children in New Reli-
it is to be realized on this earth and not in some other-
gions, edited by Susan Palmer and Charlotte E. Hardman,
worldly heaven; (c) imminent, in the sense that it is to
pp. 29–50. New Brunswick, N.J., and London, 1999.
come both soon and suddenly; (d) total, in the sense
Shupe, Anson. Wolves within the Fold: Religious Leadership and
that it is utterly to transform life on earth, so that the
Abuses of Power. New Brunswick, N.J., 1998. A collection of
new dispensation will be no mere improvement on the
articles dealing with what Shupe terms “clergy malfeasance,”
present but perfect itself; (e) miraculous, in the sense
that is, the abuse of power by religious authorities and reli-
that it is to be accomplished by, or with the help of, su-
gious leaders at the expense of followers.
pernatural agencies. (Cohn, 1970, Introduction)
Stark, Rodney. “Why Religions Movements Succeed or Fail.”
The study of new religious movements reveals the need to
Journal of Contemporary Religion 11, no. 2 (1996): 133–146.
modify this definition of millennialism in several ways to
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make it more accurately descriptive. Many millennialists ex-
tially oriented toward a progressive New Age millennialism
pect a heavenly collective salvation, and many believe in
but whose catastrophic millennial expectations increased
agencies that should more accurately be called “superhu-
when it experienced opposition from the anticult movement
man,” which includes the supernatural.
and as it adopted Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Converse-
ly, an NRM that has catastrophic millennial ideas and is in
While many millennialists are expecting an earthly col-
opposition to society can put these ideas on the back burner
lective salvation, many others are expecting a heavenly collec-
and begin to highlight progressive millennial ideas as its
tive salvation, or both. If the earthly collective salvation is ut-
members and organization feel more comfortable in society.
terly disproved, then it is easy for millennialists to shift to
pinning their hopes on a heavenly salvation. This was the
Catastrophic Millennialism. The majority of scholarly
case with the Solar Temple, which committed group mur-
writings on millennialism are actually studies of catastrophic
ders and suicides in Switzerland, Quebec, and France in
millennialism, or apocalypticism, because this type of millen-
1994, 1995, and 1997. When their hope for a transition to
nialism is prone to dramatic episodes of failure: a predicted
an earthly New Age was disproved, they undertook to make
salvation event fails to occur, or sometimes the believers be-
a “transit” to a heavenly salvation on another planet.
come involved in horrifying episodes of violence. Cata-
strophic millennialism, the belief in an imminent catastroph-
Heaven’s Gate, which committed a group suicide near
ic transition to the collective salvation orchestrated by
San Diego, California, in 1997, never expected an earthly
superhuman agencies, is very common in NRMs. Cata-
salvation. The Heaven’s Gate “class” members saw earthly
strophic millennialism has a pessimistic view of society and
human existence as irredeemable, they believed there would
human beings; humans are so evil and corrupt that the old
be imminent apocalyptic violence “to spade under” the
order must be destroyed so the new order can be created. A
human “plants” growing in this earthly “garden,” and their
rigid dualistic outlook may be associated with catastrophic
goal was to “exit” their physical “vehicles” to attain a type
millennialism: things are seen in terms of good versus evil,
of heavenly salvation on the “mother ship.” They believed
which often translates into a sense of us versus them. Cata-
they would attain eternal, neuter extraterrestrial bodies, trav-
strophic millennialism expects, and may provoke, conflict.
el among the galaxies on flying saucers, and guide evolution
In the history of Christianity, this type of millennialism has
on other planets.
been called “pre-millennialism” because the belief is that
Contemporary NRMs also demonstrate that many be-
Christ will return first, destroy evil, resurrect the dead, judge
lievers may no longer understand as being supernatural or
everyone, and then create the millennial kingdom, either
miraculous the agencies causing the transition to the collec-
earthly or heavenly.
tive salvation. Increasingly in NRMs, extraterrestrials, space
Catastrophic millennialism has the power to motivate
aliens, and UFOs are taking on the roles formerly attributed
people to convert to entirely new religions, even when there
to God, Satan, angels, and devils. The similarity is that these
is social and familial opposition. Belief that the world will
are all superhuman beings who are normally unseen but are
be destroyed very soon and that the only access to salvation
believed to contact certain people. For UFO millennialists,
is through this new religion provides a great incentive to dis-
the transition to the collective salvation will take place ac-
regard the stigma of joining the new group.
cording to natural laws and be influenced by superhuman
agents.
Religions that start out as catastrophic millennial move-
ments may remain small, such as the Branch Davidians; they
Reflecting the results of NRM studies, millennialism is
may achieve notable success in becoming international
here defined as involving belief in an imminent transition to
movements with millions of members, such as the Church
a collective salvation, either earthly or heavenly, accom-
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons); and a few
plished by superhuman agencies. The collective salvation is
may become diverse world religions, such as Christianity and
understood as eliminating the unpleasant limitations of the
Islam. A religious tradition that did not begin as a millennial
human condition.
movement may develop millennial movements within it
later, such as the Buddhist hope for the coming of the
Millennial patterns can be called either catastrophic mil-
Maitreya Buddha. Messianism may be added later if it was
lennialism or progressive millennialism. Catastrophic millen-
missing in the early versions of the millennial expectations,
nialism expects a violent transition to the collective salvation.
as in subsequent expectations in Islam of a coming savior fig-
Progressive millennialism is characterized by a strong belief
ure called the mahd¯ı.
in progress, a confidence that things are getting better. These
two patterns are not mutually exclusive; believers can shift
The gospels in the New Testament depict Jesus (c. 4
from one to the other. Catastrophic millennialism seems
BCE–c. 30 CE) as an apocalyptic prophet and messiah, who
most prevalent among people who feel persecuted, although
predicted imminent catastrophic destruction and the descent
the teachings of a religious tradition also promote these be-
of the Son of man from heaven before that generation died
liefs. Progressive millennialism reflects optimism about the
out (Matthew 24). The earliest revelations given to Muham-
future. The Holy Order of MANS, originating among 1960s
mad (570–632) predicted an imminent “Day of Clamor” in
hippies in California, is an example of an NRM that was ini-
which the sun, moon, and stars would fall from the sky, the
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earth would shake, graves would open, the dead would be
Robert Ellwood (2000), Richard Salter (2000), and Scott
resurrected, and everyone would be judged, some going to
Lowe (2000) have suggested that there have been revolution-
heaven and others going to hell (QurDa¯n 101:11; see also
ary progressive millennial movements, as represented by the
su¯rah 56:1–74; 77; 81:1–14; 82:1–19; 84:1–12; 99:1–8).
Nazis, the Khmer Rouge, and Mao Ze-dong’s movement.
These Nazis and Communists believed in progress so fer-
Progressive millennialism. Progressive millennialism
vently that they stopped at nothing to speed progress up “to
is an optimistic view of human nature and the possibility of
an apocalyptic rate” (Ellwood, 2000, p. 253) to create their
society to improve. Progressive millennialism is the belief
collective salvation.
that the imminent transition to the collective salvation will
occur through human effort in harmony with a divine or su-
When catastrophic millennialists and progressive mil-
perhuman plan. The guiding agent may be divine, such as
lennialists become revolutionary, they have more in common
God or angels, but is often superhuman, as in extraterrestri-
with each other than with catastrophic and progressive mil-
als, ascended masters, or earthly masters with superhuman
lennialists on the benign end of the spectrum. Revolutionary
powers, as in the Theosophical and New Age movements.
millennialists of both types possess rigid dualistic perspec-
The progressive millennial belief is that humans can create
tives, seeing things in terms of good versus evil, of us versus
the collective salvation if they cooperate with the guidance
them, and they do not hesitate to kill many people to achieve
of the divine or superhuman agencies. In Christianity this
their ends.
pattern has been called “post-millennialism” because the be-
CHARISMA, LEADERS, AND FOLLOWERS. From the perspec-
lief is that Christians must work according to God’s plan to
tive of religious studies, individuals who are believed to have
create God’s kingdom on Earth, and then Christ will return.
access to revelation from an unseen source of authority (God,
Christian progressive millennialism has been manifested in
angels, saints, ancestors, masters, extraterrestrials) are said to
the Protestant Social Gospel movement and in the post–
have “charisma.” Charisma is socially constructed. If no one
Vatican II Roman Catholic orientation toward having a
believes a person’s claimed access to revelation, he or she does
“special option for the poor” and working for social justice.
not have charisma. The person has charisma only if others
A RANGE OF BEHAVIORS. A range of behaviors is associated
believe the claim.
with both catastrophic millennialism and progressive millen-
Both prophets and messiahs have charisma. Catastroph-
nialism. At one end of the spectrum, millennial movements
ic and progressive millennial movements may or may not
are benign: catastrophic millennialists await divine interven-
have prophets and/or messiahs. Some millennial movements,
tion to destroy the world and, at the most, engage in intense
such as Christian Identity, may arise out of a widely shared
proselytizing and may separate themselves from sinful soci-
millennial expectation without one exceptional person tak-
ety; progressive millennialists perform social work to im-
ing on the prophetic or messianic role for the whole move-
prove society and may also attempt to build communities as
ment, although there may be numerous people predicting
forerunners of the ideal society. Katherine Tingley’s (1847–
the imminent transition to the collective salvation.
1929) Point Loma Theosophical community in California
from 1900 to 1942 is an example of the latter.
An inner circle of believers around a prophet or messiah
become “secondary leaders.” They help empower the proph-
Further in on the belief and behavior spectrum are mil-
et or messiah to positions of authority in their movement.
lennialists who arm themselves for protection. Catastrophic
The secondary leaders and the rank-and-file members can
millennialists, such as Christian Identity believers and the
withdraw their faith in the charismatic leader at any time.
Branch Davidians, may arm themselves for protection dur-
Thus, the charismatic leader is under constant pressure to
ing the anticipated tribulation period; if they are attacked
maintain his or her position by avoiding disconfirmation of
they will fight back. Progressive millennialists who arm
prophecies and authority in the eyes of the believers.
themselves for protection are a logical possibility, but exam-
Prophet. A prophet is someone who is believed to re-
ples of this pattern have not yet been identified and studied.
ceive revelation from an unseen source of authority. Prophets
Interestingly, at the extreme end of the spectrum, both
often predict the imminent coming of the millennial king-
catastrophic millennialists and progressive millennialists are
dom, or they may predict the imminent appearance of a mes-
violent revolutionaries whose goal is to overthrow the old
siah. Muhammad was an apocalyptic prophet warning of the
order and create the new. The connection between cata-
imminent Day of Sorting Out (QurDa¯n 77). According to the
strophic millennialism and a revolutionary outlook is appar-
gospels, Jesus also served as one who warned of God’s immi-
ent; the old order is seen as being so corrupt that people feel
nent destruction and judgment (Matt. 25). John the Baptist
called to participate in violent events to destroy it. The nu-
was a prophet of the imminent appearance of the messiah.
merous medieval Christian revolutionary millennial move-
Joseph Smith Jr. (d. 1844) was the founding prophet of the
ments studied by Cohn exemplify this perspective. David
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Annie Besant
Cook (2002) has suggested that early Islamic military expan-
(1847–1933) of the Theosophical Society was a progressive
sion was, in part, a way to extend the Muslim faith to more
millennial prophet of the imminent coming of the “New
people before the anticipated end of the world one hundred
Civilization” and the “World-Teacher” who would accom-
years after the establishment of the Muslim community.
plish it.
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6547
Messiah. A messiah (Hebrew, “anointed”) is a prophet,
ing countercultural Christians, takes a low-key approach to
because he or she is believed to receive revelation, but the
leadership, which is shared among elders and other commu-
messiah is more than a prophet, because he or she is believed
nity leaders.
to have the superhuman power to create the collective salva-
Followers. The followers have crucial roles to play in
tion. Jesus is regarded as the messiah (christ) by Christians.
determining the direction of a millennial movement. They
Mother Ann Lee (1736–1784) was seen by the Shakers as
have autonomy and choose whether or not to think critically
the “Second Appearing of Christ in female form”; the Heav-
about their leaders’ teachings and projects. Followers choose
enly Father and Holy Mother Wisdom had a son and daugh-
whether to cooperate in authoritarian schemes leading to to-
ter, Jesus and Ann Lee. The Branch Davidians see David
talitarian organization and coercion, or whether they insist
Koresh (1959–1993) as the messiah who will destroy evil in
on accountability from their leaders. They can choose to
the catastrophic endtime events; like the earliest Christians,
withdraw their faith in the leader’s charisma at any time.
the most committed Branch Davidians are expecting
However, once a group has gone so far down the path of at-
Koresh’s imminent return. Asahara Sho¯ko¯ (b. 1955) of Aum
tempting to exercise totalitarian control over followers, it can
Shinrikyo¯ was seen as an enlightened Buddha and the suffer-
be very difficult to leave. Additionally, if the believer has
ing Lamb of Christianity—as the messiah who would create
committed a great deal to the group in terms of lifestyle, sex-
a Buddhist millennial kingdom called Shambhala. The
uality, relationships, family attachments, livelihood, identity,
young J. Krishnamurti (1895–1986) was groomed to func-
and even crimes, then the very high “exit costs” can discour-
tion as the messiah in Annie Besant’s progressive millennial
age a person from choosing to leave.
movement in the early twentieth century; she taught that he
would be the World-Teacher who would present a teaching
NATIVIST MILLENNIAL MOVEMENTS. A distinctive form of
that would raise humanity to an awareness of universal unity
millennialism has been called “nativist movements” or some-
and move the world into the New Civilization.
times “revitalization” movements. These movements consist
of people who feel they are being oppressed by a foreign colo-
A millennial movement does not necessarily have to
nizing government that is destroying their traditional way of
have a messiah. The passages in the QurDa¯n about the Day
life and is removing them from their land. They long for a
of Clamor do not mention a messiah; Allah will bring about
return to an idealized past, which they remember as having
the endtime events all by himself.
been perfect. Numerous nativists who have been exposed to
Secondary leaders. Secondary leaders, the inner circle,
the Christian Bible identify with the story in the Old Testa-
are crucial for validating the authority of the prophet or mes-
ment of the Israelites’ liberation from bondage, and may
siah. They may even receive some revelation themselves, but
even call themselves Israelites, such as the Israelitas (the Isra-
usually the prophet or messiah will attempt to restrict claims
elites of the New Universal Covenant) of Peru whose messiah
of charisma to himself or herself. The decisions made by sec-
is Ezequiel Ataucusi Gamonal. Nativists may be either cata-
ondary leaders can help determine the trajectory of the
strophic millennialists or progressive millennialists, or they
movement, whether it will be benign or become totalitarian
may shift between catastrophic and progressive expectations.
and violent.
Nativists have the same range of behaviors discussed
The inner circle of young white leaders around Jim
above. They may await divine intervention to remove their
Jones (1931–1978) of Peoples Temple colluded with him to
oppressors and bring prosperity. They may believe that cer-
fabricate healings and other miracles, and they helped facili-
tain purifying and magical acts will stimulate the divine in-
tate the group murders and suicides on November 18, 1978,
tervention, as in the Xhosa Cattle-Killing movement in 1856
in Jonestown, Guyana. The inner circle of scientists, doctors,
in South Africa, or the Ghost Dance movement among nine-
and others around Asahara Sho¯ko¯ made Aum Shinrikyo¯ into
teenth-century Native Americans. Nativists may engage in
an organization that committed numerous murders and de-
active rebellion, such as the rebellion in Java against the
veloped a variety of weapons of mass destruction before com-
Dutch in 1825–1830 led by Prince Dipanagara, who was be-
mitting the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subways in 1995.
lieved to be the Ratu Adil, the awaited “Just King,” and the
The inner circle of men around Adolf Hitler helped create
rebellion of Burmese against the British in 1930–1932, led
a totalitarian, aggressive state that killed millions in its quest
by Saya San, who was believed to be the Buddhist righteous
to create a millennial kingdom, the Third Reich, for the pure
king or even the Maitreya Buddha. Both Dipanagara and
German völk (folk).
Saya San were believed to be destined to establish perfect
Secondary leaders can also help direct a millennial group
reigns of happiness after the oppressors were removed. The
into a direction to lessen conflict with society and become
diverse Pai Marire movement among the Maori in New Zea-
more democratic. In the 1990s the inner circle around Eliza-
land in the nineteenth century had several prophets and
beth Clare Prophet (b. 1939) of the Church Universal and
demonstrated different approaches. Some people attempted
Triumphant helped steer the church away from authoritari-
to build their perfect society apart from their oppressors; oth-
anism and catastrophic prophecies to create a denomination-
ers carried out revolution.
al structure with shared authority. Apostle Elbert Spriggs
AVERTIVE APOCALYPTICISM. A distinctive form of cata-
(b. 1937), founder of the Twelve Tribes in the 1970s attract-
strophic millennialism may be termed avertive apocalypti-
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AND MILLENNIALISM
cism. A prophet will make predictions of imminent destruc-
Family reformed their sexual activities to exclude children
tion but also say that the catastrophe may be averted if people
while maintaining their free-love ethic between consenting
convert, live moral lives, and practice certain spiritual tech-
adults. They stopped a controversial practice initiated in the
niques.
1970s called “flirty fishing,” in which women became “fish-
ers of men” by using sexual relations as a recruiting tool.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, avertive apocalypti-
Nevertheless, the Family homes in various countries contin-
cism was the major theme of Elizabeth Clare Prophet of the
ue to be subjected to raids by authorities suspecting child
Church Universal and Triumphant, who stressed that nucle-
abuse, but the children are typically returned to their parents
ar Armageddon could be averted through vigorous practice
when the charges are found to be baseless.
of verbal “decrees” calling on the protective powers of the as-
cended masters.
David Koresh’s claim to be the apocalyptic Christ, his
Avertive apocalypticism is an important theme in many
polygamy, which included sexual relations with underage
Marian apparitions, such as the Bayside apparitions in New
girls with the permission of their parents, and his weapons
York City given to Veronica Leuken beginning in 1968 until
stockpiling put the Branch Davidians in great tension with
her death in 1995. According to the Bayside apparitions,
authorities and citizens, a situation that ended with disas-
God’s imminent chastisement by World War III, nuclear
trous results in 1993. Koresh’s activities were based on his
war, and a great fireball can be averted if people return to
interpretation of prophecies in the Bible. Koresh taught that
God’s ways and believe and practice as good Catholics. The
the Branch Davidians would be called upon to fight and die
faithful can protect themselves from the catastrophic events
in Armageddon predicted to occur in Israel in 1995. He also
by means of talismans such as crucifixes, scapulars, rosaries,
taught that he was a messiah destined to have children who
religious medals, saints’ statues, and praying the Hail Mary.
would be the twenty-four Elders (Rev. 4:4 ff.) who would
help rule God’s kingdom. Fourteen of Koresh’s children and
TENSIONS BETWEEN MILLENNIALISTS AND SOCIETY. The
their mothers were among the twenty-three children who
millennial vision represents a challenge to the current order.
died in the fire that resulted from the tank and CS (tear) gas
Society may be rejected as sinful, or millennialists may direct
assault on April 19, 1993, carried out by agents of the Feder-
their energies toward transforming it, or they may become
al Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
revolutionaries to overthrow the status quo. The values and
lifestyles of millennialists are often very different from those
MILLENNIALISM AND VIOLENCE. Most millennialists are
of the dominant society. People in mainstream society may
peaceful. Some become caught up in dynamics leading to vi-
find millennialists’ lifestyles and new religious commitments
olence. Millennialists are not necessarily the ones who initi-
to be offensive and take punitive actions. The two character-
ate the violence. Millennial groups that become involved in
istics found to be most offensive are the claim of a new reve-
violence may be assaulted millennial groups, fragile millenni-
lation by a new prophet or messiah and unconventional sexu-
al groups, or revolutionary millennial movements. These cat-
al lifestyles.
egories are not mutually exclusive; they indicate the primary
characteristics of a group at the time the violence occurred.
Americans in the late eighteenth century found the new
A group may shift from one category to another according
revelation of Mother Ann Lee and the celibate, separate life-
to circumstances and may possess aspects of multiple catego-
style and unusual worship of the Shakers to be offensive. Ann
ries at the time of the violence.
Lee and her followers were subjected to repeated beatings
and harassment. On one occasion Ann Lee and two second-
Assaulted millennial groups. Millennial groups have
ary leaders were physically expelled from Massachusetts by
been assaulted in many times and places because of their ten-
a mob.
sion with the dominant society. They are assaulted because
people in the wider society perceive them as being dangerous.
In the nineteenth century both the claim that Joseph
Examples of assaulted millennial groups include: a band of
Smith Jr. had received a new revelation and scripture and the
Lakota Sioux massacred at Wounded Knee, South Dakota,
polygamy practiced by Smith and other Mormons were of-
in 1890 by U.S. soldiers who were frightened by the Ghost
fensive to the American public. Smith and his brother died
Dance movement; a group of black South Africans calling
at the hands of a mob in Carthage, Illinois, in 1844, and
themselves “Israelites,” who refused to move from crown
there were numerous acts of violence against Mormons even
land, fired upon by white South African police in 1921; the
after most of them relocated to Utah. (In 2004 the state of
Branch Davidians, who were assaulted twice in 1993 by
Illinois apologized to Mormons for the violence against their
American federal agents, first by agents of the Bureau of Al-
ancestors.) The church officially ended the practice of polyg-
cohol, Tobacco, and Firearms in an unnecessary “dynamic
amy in 1890, but pockets of fundamentalist Mormons still
entry,” and then by FBI agents with tanks and CS gas, who
live in marginal communities.
first waged psychological warfare against them during a fifty-
A group called the Children of God, now known as the
one-day siege; the Mormons in the nineteenth century who
Family, was formed in the late 1960s. Its members practice
were repeatedly attacked by civilians and authorities across
free love among their communities, which in the past some-
the United States and had an extermination order issued
times included children. By the late 1980s members of the
against them by the governor of Missouri in 1838; Rastafari
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AND MILLENNIALISM
6549
(called Dreads) in Dominica who in 1974 were subjected to
tember 11, 2001, al-Qa¯Eidah became the most visible portion
a shoot-on-sight order; and in the new temporal millennium,
of a diffuse revolutionary Islamist movement aimed at creat-
Falun Gong practitioners in the People’s Republic of China,
ing the true Islamic state as its millennial goal.
who were repeatedly arrested, with many of them dying in
CONCLUSION. Millennial movements express the human
custody, for asserting their right to freedom of religion and
longing for the elimination of suffering for a group of people,
practicing their qigong exercises in public. The early Chris-
the collective salvation. The millennial longing has sparked
tians may also be regarded as members of an assaulted mil-
new religions since the time of Zoroaster, dating perhaps as
lennial movement. It is not unusual for leaders of millennial
early as 1000 BCE, through Jesus, Muhammad, and many
movements to be executed by the state—for example, Jesus
other prophets and founders of new religious movements.
and the Bab (d. 1850), one of the foundational prophets of
Baha¯’¯ı from Iran—or imprisoned like Bahá’u’lláh (1817–
As a millennial movement becomes more accommodat-
1892), the other Baha¯’¯ı prophet-founder.
ed to society, its millennial expectation may move to the
background and the sense of imminence diminish. This is
Fragile millennial groups. A fragile millennial move-
what Jacqueline Stone (2000) calls “managed millennial-
ment initiates violence as a final effort to preserve the ulti-
ism.” But the millennial prophecies will be preserved in
mate concern, the millennial goal on which believers are fo-
scriptures to be utilized by subsequent prophets, messiahs,
cused. Jonestown in Guyana in 1978, Solar Temple in
and believers searching for meaning and hope, who will initi-
Switzerland in 1994, Aum Shinrikyo¯ in Japan in 1995,
ate even more new religious movements.
Heaven’s Gate in the United States in 1997, and probably
the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Command-
SEE ALSO Anticult Movements; Aum Shinrikyo¯; Besant,
ments of God in Uganda in 2000 were fragile millennial
Annie; Branch Davidians; Christian Identity Movement;
groups.
Church Universal and Triumphant; Falun Gong; Family,
The; Heaven’s Gate; Holy Order of MANS; Jones, Jim;
A fragile millennial group is suffering from an accumu-
Jonestown and Peoples Temple; Koresh, David; Krishna-
lation of stresses, some internal to the group, such as dissent,
murti, Jiddu; Lee, Ann; Mormonism; Nation of Islam; New
money problems, illness of the leader, threats to the leader’s
Age Movement; Point Loma Theosophical Community;
credibility, failure to accomplish goals set by the leader, com-
Prophet, Mark and Elizabeth Clare; Shakers; Smith, Joseph;
bined with stresses coming from outside the group, such as
Temple Solaire; Theosophical Society; Tingley, Katherine;
vocal apostates, investigations by authorities, lawsuits, hostile
Transcendental Meditation; Twelve Tribes; UFO Religions;
neighbors, concerned family members, negative press, and
Unarius Academy of Science; Zoroastrianism.
pressures from anticult groups. In some cases the stresses may
be primarily internal to the group; in other cases the stresses
BIBLIOGRAPHY
may come primarily from outside the group. Usually there
Adas, Michael. Prophets of Rebellion: Millenarian Protest Move-
is a combination of endogenous and exogenous factors that
ments against the European Colonial Order. Chapel Hill,
threaten the millennial goal. Instead of giving up their ulti-
N.C., 1979. Excellent comparison of case studies of revolu-
mate concern, members of fragile millennial groups opt to
tionary nativist movements.
commit violence to preserve it. They may choose to attack
Ashcraft, W. Michael. The Dawn of the New Cycle: Point Loma
and kill perceived enemies. They may choose to commit
Theosophists and American Culture. Knoxville, Tenn., 2002.
group suicide to preserve the cohesiveness of the group (if
One of the few in-depth studies of a progressive millennial
that was their ultimate concern, as with the Jonestown resi-
community.
dents) or to go to a type of heavenly salvation (Solar Temple,
Barkun, Michael. Religion and the Racist Right: The Origins of the
Heaven’s Gate). They often direct the violence both out-
Christian Identity Movement. Chapel Hill, N.C., 1997. De-
wardly and inwardly.
finitive history of Christian Identity and its roots in British
Israelism.
Revolutionary millennial movements. Revolutionary
Cohn, Norman. The Pursuit of the Millennium: Revolutionary Mil-
millennial movements carry out violence to overthrow the
lenarians and Mystical Anarchists of the Middle Ages. Rev. ed.
old order to create the new. If they become socially domi-
Oxford, 1970. Classic study of millennialism with focus on
nant, they cause massive violence, such as the Nazis, the
medieval revolutionary Christian movements.
Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, and the Taiping Rebellion in
Cook, David. “Suicide Attacks or ‘Martyrdom Operations’; in
China in 1850–1864, which caused 20 million deaths and
Contemporary Jihad Literature.” Nova Religio: The Journal
for a time established the Taiping capital at Nanjing. If the
of Alternative and Emergent Religions 6, no. 1 (2002): 7–44.
revolutionary movement is not socially dominant, some par-
Illuminating discussion of the scriptural, historical, and so-
ticipants will undertake terrorist acts. Examples are to be
ciological roots of the contemporary practice of suicide at-
found in the diffuse Euro-American nativist (white suprema-
tacks by radical Muslims. An appendix contains a translation
cist) movement in the United States, which includes Identity
of “Last Night” instructions found in the luggage of Muham-
Christians, racist Neopagans, secular survivalists, and disaf-
mad Atta, the leader of the September 11, 2001, terrorists.
fected former military men, such as Timothy McVeigh, who
Ellwood, Robert. “Nazism as a Millennialist Movement.” In Mil-
committed the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. With Sep-
lennialism, Persecution, and Violence: Historical Cases, edited
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6550
NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AND MILLENNIALISM
by Catherine Wessinger, pp. 241–260. Syracuse, N.Y., 2000.
lennialism, Persecution, and Violence: Historical Cases, edited
Startling analysis of Nazi millennialism as a progressive mil-
by Catherine Wessinger, pp. 261–280. Syracuse, N.Y., 2000.
lennial movement.
Discusses Buddhist millennial contributions to the Japanese
Kaplan, Jeffrey. Radical Religion in America: Millenarian Move-
war effort in World War II, and the subsequent shift by
ments from the Far Right to the Children of Noah. Syracuse,
many to pacifism after the defeat.
N.Y., 1997. Study of American millennial movements on the
Thompson, Damian. “A Peruvian Messiah and the Retreat from
far right: Christian Identity, Odinism and Ásatrú, and B’nai
Apocalypse.” In Christian Millenarianism: From the Early
Noah, and the anticult movement and watchdog groups who
Church to Waco, edited by Stephen Hunt, pp. 187–195.
oppose them.
Bloomington, Ind., 2001. This study of the Israelites of the
Lanternari, Vittorio. The Religions of the Oppressed: A Study of
New Universal Covenant discusses how their messiah is
Modern Messianic Cults. Translated by Lisa Sergio. New
abandoning predictions of the end of the world as the group
York, 1963. Pioneering study of nativist millennial move-
is successful in establishing its community.
ments as the products of “culture clash” situations.
Van Zandt, David E. “The Children of God.” In America’s Alter-
native Religions, edited by Timothy Miller, pp. 127–132. Al-
Lowe, Scott. “Western Millennial Ideology Goes East: The Tai-
bany, N.Y., 1995. Solid discussion of the controversial mil-
ping Revolution and Mao’s Great Leap Forward.” In Millen-
lennial religion also known as the Family.
nialism, Persecution, and Violence: Historical Cases, edited by
Catherine Wessinger, pp. 220–240. Syracuse, N.Y., 2000.
Wallace, Anthony F. C. “Revitalization Movements.” American
Compares the Taiping Revolution with Mao Ze-dong’s
Anthropologist 58, no. 2 (1956): 264–281. Classic article in-
Great Leap Forward.
troducing the term “revitalization movement” as “a deliber-
ate, organized, conscious effort by members of a society to
Lucas, Phillip Charles. The Odyssey of a New Religion: The Holy
construct a more satisfying culture” (265). Most of the exam-
Order of MANS from New Age to Orthodoxy. Bloomington,
ples used by Wallace are what have come to be termed “na-
Ind., 1995. In-depth case study of the development of a new
tivist movements” or “nativist millennial movements.”
religious movement, which provides an excellent example of
how a group’s millennial views change in response to changes
Wessinger, Catherine Lowman. Annie Besant and Progressive Mes-
in the social context.
sianism. Lewiston, N.Y., 1988. Study of Annie Besant’s
Theosophical progressive millennialism, which culminated
Palmer, Susan J. “Peace, Persecution and Preparations for Yah-
in her creation of a messianic movement centered on J. Kr-
shua’s Return: The Case of the Messianic Communities’
ishnamurti.
Twelve Tribes.” In Christian Millenarianism: From the Early
Church to Waco,
edited by Stephen Hunt, pp. 209–223.
Wessinger, Catherine. “Millennialism with and without the May-
Bloomington, Ind., 2001. Excellent study of the dynamics
hem.” In Millennium, Messiahs, and Mayhem: Contemporary
of a millennial group’s peaceful responses to persecution.
Apocalyptic Movements, edited by Thomas Robbins and
Susan J. Palmer, pp. 47–59. New York, 1997. Proposes the
Robbins, Thomas, and Dick Anthony. “Sects and Violence: Fac-
categories “catastrophic millennialism” and “progressive mil-
tors Enhancing the Volatility of Marginal Religious Move-
lennialism” as being more conducive to promoting the study
ments.” In Armageddon in Waco: Critical Perspectives on the
of millennial phenomena in diverse religious traditions as op-
Branch Davidian Conflict, edited by Stuart A. Wright,
posed to the categories applicable only to Christianity, “pre-
pp. 236–259. Chicago, 1995. An important discussion of the
millennialism” and post-millennialism.
factors that promote volatility of millennial groups. Particu-
larly noteworthy is the discussion of the instability of charis-
Wessinger, Catherine, ed. Millennialism, Persecution, and Violence:
matic leadership.
Historical Cases. Syracuse, N.Y., 2000. Cross-cultural study
of cases of millennial groups involved in violence, including
Robbins, Thomas, and Susan J. Palmer, eds. Millennium, Messi-
assaulted millennial groups, fragile millennial groups, and
ahs, and Mayhem: Contemporary Apocalyptic Movements. New
revolutionary millennial movements.
York, 1997. Collection of excellent articles by experts on di-
verse contemporary millennial movements.
Wessinger, Catherine. How the Millennium Comes Violently: From
Jonestown to Heaven’s Gate. New York, 2000. Compares case
Rosenfeld, Jean. E. “Pai Marire: Peace and Violence in a New Zea-
studies of Jonestown, Branch Davidians, Aum Shinrikyo¯, the
land Millenarian Tradition.” Terrorism and Political Violence
Montana Freemen, Solar Temple, Heaven’s Gate, and Chen
7, no. 3 (1995): 83–108. Discusses the factors involved in
Tao, to discern dynamics that involve millennial groups in
the different phases of the Pai Marire movement among the
violence.
Maori.
Wessinger, Catherine. “New Religious Movements and Conflicts
Salter, Richard. “Time, Authority, and Ethics in the Khmer
with Law Enforcement.” In New Religious Movements and
Rouge: Elements of the Millennial Vision in Year Zero.” In
Religious Liberty in America, edited by Derek Davis and Barry
Millennialism, Persecution, and Violence: Historical Cases, ed-
Hankins, pp. 89–106, 201–204. 2nd ed. Waco, Tex., 2003.
ited by Catherine Wessinger, pp. 281–298. Syracuse, N.Y.,
Proposes relevant factors and categories for use when evaluat-
2000. Demonstrates continuities of Khmer Rouge Commu-
ing situations involving millennial groups for the potential
nism with Cambodian Buddhism.
for volatility, and makes recommendations to law enforce-
Stein, Stephen J. The Shaker Experience in America. New Haven,
ment agents about how best to deal with such cases.
Conn., 1992. The definitive history of the Shakers.
Wojcik, Daniel. The End of the World as We Know It: Faith, Fatal-
Stone, Jacqueline. “Japanese Lotus Millennialism: From Militant
ism, and Apocalypse in America. New York, 1997. A folklor-
Nationalism to Contemporary Peace Movements.” In Mil-
ist’s detailed approach to the study of the varieties of millen-
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6551
nialism in America. Movements discussed include Christian
and family based organizations (the anticult movement). Re-
Dispensationalism, the Bayside apparitions, Punk, and UFO
ferred to as cults by both sets of oppositional groups, new reli-
millennialism. Among the book’s many insights is that there
gions have often been characterized as dangerously unstable
are currently secular, fatalistic, and nonredemptive apocalyp-
and predisposed to violence. This global assertion of a pro-
tic expressions, particularly in response to the nuclear age.
clivity of new religions for violence, however, has not stood
Zablocki, Benjamin D. “Exit Cost Analysis: A New Approach to
the test of close scrutiny.
the Scientific Study of Brainwashing.” Nova Religio: The
One problem in linking new religions to violence is that
Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions 1, no. 2 (1998):
216–249. Introduces the concept of high “exit costs” as
distinguishing new religious movements from established re-
being a barrier to people choosing to leave unconventional
ligions is more complex than it first appears. Most new reli-
religious groups in an article seeking to rehabilitate the brain-
gions are not entirely novel. Rather, most have borrowed
washing theory.
both cultural and organizational elements from established
traditions, and many different traditions are represented. For
CATHERINE WESSINGER (2005)
example, the International Society for Krishna Conscious-
ness (Hare Krishnas) is a sectarian Hindu movement; Aum
Shinrikyo¯ draws on the Buddhist tradition; the Branch
NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW
Davidians are one of a myriad of schismatic offshoots of Sev-
RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AND VIOLENCE
enth-day Adventism; the Family (Children of God) grew out
of the Jesus People movement; and Heaven’s Gate blended
The study of religion and violence has largely centered on
the Christian and UFO traditions. This means that far from
established traditions, given the long history of religiously in-
being a homogeneous set of movements that can be contrast-
spired wars, crusades, witch-hunts, and persecutions around
ed to established traditions, as conveyed by the term cults,
the world. Contemporary cases include, for example, Protes-
new religious movements are diverse in doctrines, practices,
tant-Catholic violence in Northern Ireland, Israeli-
and organization.
Palestinian violence in the Middle East, and Hindu-Muslim
violence in India. The appearance of a cohort of new reli-
There have been a few historical cases of violence by reli-
gious movements, popularly called cults, in the early 1970s
gious movements in North America, such as the nineteenth-
triggered renewed scholarly and public policy concern with
century attacks by Mormons on pioneers passing through
the religion-violence connection. There were ongoing, large-
Mountain Meadows, Utah. Contemporary instances would
ly unfounded allegations of impending violence by new reli-
include the 1970s murders during a power struggle by Ervil
gious groups during the early 1970s. However, it was the
Le Baron’s polygamist Church of the Lamb of God, and the
1978 conflict between the Peoples Temple and its oppo-
Nation of Islam’s murders of leaders of rival Muslim organi-
nents, resulting in the deaths of 914 individuals in Jones-
zations, also in the 1970s. However, these incidents have
town, Guyana, that raised scholarly and public policy con-
been rare. The more common occurrence has been violence
cerns about potential violent episodes involving new
against minority religious groups. The public hanging of
religions.
Quakers in New England during the 1660s and the 1890 as-
sault on a Lakota Sioux band at Wounded Knee by federal
The Peoples Temple episode was followed by four inci-
troops are well-documented incidents.
dents during the 1990s: the death of eighty people during
the conflict between federal agents and the Branch Davidians
Violence by contemporary new religions also appears to
at their residence outside of Waco, Texas, in 1993; the mur-
be rare. There are currently over two thousand religious
ders-suicides of seventy-five members of the Solar Temple in
groups now functioning in the United States, and half of
Switzerland and Quebec in 1994, 1996, and 1997; the mur-
these were established since 1960. If all groups that incorpo-
ders by members of Aum Shinrikyo¯ of thirty-one members
rate religious qualities are included, such as many New Age
and opponents, as well as a dozen other innocent subway
groups, then the numbers are far higher. However, since the
passengers in Tokyo in 1995; and the collective suicide of
1970s fewer than two dozen groups have been involved in
thirty-nine members of Heaven’s Gate in California in 1997.
incidents of homicide or suicide resulting in multiple deaths.
There was also a major episode in Uganda in 2000 in which
By contrast, there have been numerous cases in which mem-
approximately 780 members of the Movement for the Resto-
bers of new religious groups have been the targets of abduc-
ration of the Ten Commandments of God were murdered
tion, armed attacks, and provocative police actions. In virtu-
or committed suicide. Relatively little is known about this
ally all of these cases, movements have responded by
incident, however, because of its remote location and a lack
initiating civil and criminal judicial proceedings rather than
of systematic investigation. This entry will focus on the three
physical reprisal.
cases of collective violence that have occurred since the 1970s
Finally, incidents of violence involving new religions
in North America and Europe.
have appeared to be more numerous than they actually are.
THE VIOLENCE AND NEW RELIGIONS CONNECTION. New
When individuals affiliated with new religions are involved
religious movements have encountered intense opposition
in violent acts, as either perpetrators or victims, these acts are
from some established religions (the countercult movement)
much more newsworthy and more likely to be connected to
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AND VIOLENCE
their religious tradition than is the case for members of con-
tions, societal control initiatives may be taken as
ventional faiths. Further, unsubstantiated rumors of impend-
confirmation of societal intractability and a sign of the im-
ing violence by new religions receive widespread press cover-
pending apocalypse.
age, while disconfirmation is rarely reported. Allegations of
Two elements of movement organization have been
imminent mass suicide in 1988 by Chen Tao, a Taiwanese
postulated as predictive of violence, charismatic leadership
millennial group located in Texas at the time, and the Colo-
and totalistic organization. Many new movements begin
rado-based Concerned Christians, who were expelled from
with a charismatic leader and a few dozen followers. (A char-
Israel in 1999, were cases of this kind. The aggregation of
ismatic leader is one who is believed to have access to an un-
all types of violence involving members of new religions, at-
seen source of authority, such as revelation.) Charismatic
tributions of acts to “cultic” qualities, and the high-profile
leadership has been characterized as problematic because it
publicizing of rumors and incidents has created the impres-
is a less stable, noninstitutionalized form in which the per-
sion of pervasive violence. It certainly is true that, by con-
sonal volatility of the prophet or messiah can have a substan-
trast, mainline denominations in Western societies currently
tial impact on a group. When leaders claim or are granted
are not in active resistance to established social institutions.
extraordinary spiritual status, they are likely to have enor-
However, many denominations have relatively stormy histo-
mous influence over a movement’s functioning and develop-
ries, and fringe elements of these traditions have counte-
ment. Therefore, there has been speculation that charismatic
nanced or perpetrated violence over such issues as racial inte-
leadership predisposes those groups to violence. However,
gration, abortion, and centralized governmental authority.
there are numerous highly charismatic religious leaders (e.g.,
EXPLANATIONS OF VIOLENCE INVOLVING NEW RELIGIOUS
Billy Graham, Martin Luther King, Oral Roberts) who have
MOVEMENTS. Given assertions of a proclivity to violence by
shown no proclivity to violence.
new religions, the five major episodes of collective violence
that occurred between 1993 and 2000 produced an impetus
A more useful approach may be to examine how charis-
to investigate the relationship between new religions and vio-
matic leadership is organized. Certain attributes of charis-
lence. The result has been theoretical explorations of specific
matic leadership may contribute to movement volatility.
factors thought to be linked to violence, as well as general
Many movement leaders withdraw from followers at some
models that propose sets of factors that, in combination,
point to preserve an aura of mystery that is critical to their
yield violent outcomes. A central concern in both types of
power. This can result in isolation and an inability to obtain
explanation has been the extent to which violent episodes are
appropriate feedback from both inside and outside the move-
the product of the internal organization of the religious
ment, which can lead to extreme decisions. The over-
movements involved, external pressures, and interaction be-
identification of followers with a leader can lead to a sense
tween movements and societal control agencies. There is vig-
of threat throughout the movement if the leader is de-
orous ongoing debate over this issue.
nounced by outsiders or former members. In such instances,
there may well be an escalation of tension. Charismatic lead-
Single-factor explanations. Three potentially causal
ers may resist the development of more institutionalized
factors have been identified in violent episodes involving new
forms of movement governance in order to preserve personal
religious groups: ideology, leadership, and organizational
power. They may employ a variety of tactics—changing doc-
structure. It has been hypothesized that groups with millen-
trines, increasing demands for personal sacrifice and loyalty,
nial/apocalyptic belief systems might be more violence prone
creating crises, suppressing dissent—in order to render fol-
because they reject established social institutions, have limit-
lowers more dependent on their personal authority. Such
ed commitment to institutional normative proscriptions,
tactics can increase instability in movements and create the
and have dualistic worldviews that expect conflict. However,
potential for extreme actions.
numerous conservative Christian denominations, such as the
While such factors as specific forms of organization and
Seventh-day Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses, hold mil-
leadership are useful in explaining violence, it is likely that
lennial/apocalyptic beliefs, and there is no evidence that such
combinations of factors will be more predictive of violent ep-
denominations are predisposed to violence. Although mil-
isodes. For that reason, several general models have been de-
lennialism and apocalypticism probably do not predict vio-
veloped that attempt to specify sets of factors, and interac-
lence, there is continuing exploration of the possible connec-
tions among, them that are associated with the outbreak of
tion of specific forms of millennialism and violence.
violence.
Millennial belief systems in which humans are depicted as
playing a major role in setting the stage for divine interven-
General models of movement-society violence. Three
tion tend to have a gradualist orientation, with decisive
general explanatory models have been proposed to account
events set some time in the future. The result may be less
for violence involving new religious movements. All three are
group volatility and a less confrontational stance. By con-
concerned with the combination of factors that produces vio-
trast, belief systems that define the existing social order as
lent episodes, and with the issue of whether these factors con-
morally unredeemable and predict its imminent, catastroph-
stitute movement or external-control agency precipitation of
ic destruction are more likely to produce a polarized relation-
violence. Marc Galanter’s model, developed in Cults: Faith,
ship between movement and society. Under these condi-
Healing, and Coercion (1999), stresses internal factors; the
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AND VIOLENCE
6553
John Hall, Philip Schuyler, and Silvaine Trinh model de-
Bromley argues that movement-society conflicts develop
tailed in Apocalypse Observed: Religious Movements, the Social
through three stages: latent tension, nascent conflict, and in-
Order, and Violence in North America, Europe, and Japan
tensified conflict. Most conflicts do not reach an intensified
(2000) emphasizes external factors; and David Bromley’s
level because all parties have the option of contestation, ac-
model, outlined in Cults, Religion, and Violence (2002),
commodation, or retreat. In most cases conflict is resolved
allows for a preponderance of either internal or external
at a lower level. At the intensified level, the movement and
factors.
its opponents engage in heightened mobilization and radical-
Galanter analyzes the Peoples Temple, Branch Davidi-
ization; coalitions of allies and opponents form, and parties
an, Aum Shinrikyo¯, and Heaven’s Gate cases. He concludes
mutually begin to define one another as dangerous rather
that these episodes contain four conditions in common:
than merely troublesome. When conflict reaches the intensi-
group isolation, leader grandiosity and paranoia, absolute
fied stage, what Bromley terms “dramatic denouements”
dominion, and governmental mismanagement. Isolation can
occur.
lead to extreme actions because groups reduce the possibility
Dramatic denouements are climactic moments when
of external feedback to their actions and operate solely on the
the movement, society, or both conclude that the requisite
basis of internally constructed definitions of events. Move-
conditions for their existence are being subverted. The par-
ments can isolate themselves from conventional society ei-
ties to the conflict polarize as they engage in threatening ac-
ther through geographic separation or constant mobility.
tions, symbolic degradation of opponents, and internal radi-
Galanter argues that another dynamic in violent episodes is
calization. The conflict relationship destabilizes as a result of
the need of the leader or leaders to maintain absolute control,
secrecy of actions, elimination of mediating third parties, and
which can produce paranoid fears that others inside or out-
organizational consolidation or fragmentation. With polar-
side the movement will usurp their power. In order to pro-
ization and conflict destabilization, one or both parties em-
tect their positions, leaders create a siege mentality within the
bark on a project of final reckoning that is intended to rees-
group in order to maintain solidarity and loyalty. Move-
tablish appropriate moral order. The most likely projects are
ments may also exercise centripetal control mechanisms that
either “exodus” (collective withdrawal from the realm in
closely regulate members’ lives, leading to absolute domina-
which the conflict is taking place) or “battle,” in which the
tion of the thoughts and behavior of individuals. Finally,
initiating party rejects the prospect of mutual existence and
governmental mismanagement refers to the failure of govern-
seeks to restore appropriate moral order through coercion.
ment agencies to immediately control illicit activity and to
Each of these two responses is thus premised on a position
prevent young adults from being enticed into these move-
of moral superiority and on a repudiation of continued mu-
ments. In the Galanter model, then, all of the factors except
tual existence in the same social space. In the Bromley model,
governmental mismanagement refer to attributes of move-
violent episodes are clearly interactional, and either the reli-
ments, and the one external factor specifies government inac-
gious movement or societal units may precipitate a dramatic
tion rather than overreaction.
denouement.
Hall, Schuyler, and Trinh base their analysis on the Peo-
ples Temple, Branch Davidian, Aum Shinrikyo¯, Solar Tem-
CASE STUDIES OF VIOLENT EPISODES. One of the central is-
ple, and Heaven’s Gate cases. They identify a number of
sues in the study of violent episodes involving new religious
movement characteristics that may create a proclivity toward
movements has been whether these episodes are the product
violence: an apocalyptic worldview, charismatic leadership,
of movement characteristics, external provocation, or the na-
a high level of internal control, and high internal solidarity
ture of interaction between the movement and control agen-
or isolation from conventional society. However, it is not
cies. While there is debate over this issue, there is broad
these characteristics in themselves that result in conflict, but
agreement that cases vary on this dimension. Of the major
rather the interaction between the movement and society.
episodes of violence during the 1990s that have been studied
According to Hall, Schuyler, and Trinh, conflict is likely to
in depth, the Branch Davidian case is the most likely to be
move in one of two directions. A “warring apocalypse of reli-
attributed to external provocation, the Solar Temple case to
gious conflict” describes a situation in which conflict esca-
mixed internal and external factors, and the Heaven’s Gate
lates between a movement and a coalition of movement op-
incident to primarily internal dynamics.
ponents, governmental agencies, and media representatives.
The Branch Davidian episode. The Branch Davidians
The second type—a “mystical apocalypse of deathly tran-
began in 1929 as a schismatic offshoot of Seventh-day Ad-
scendence”—involves flight from external opposition. In this
ventism and existed for more than fifty years in relative ob-
case, the group elects collective suicide and, from the groups’
scurity before the arrival of David Koresh (1959–1993). The
perspective, moves to another realm of existence. The Hall,
community was in disarray when Koresh assumed leader-
Schuyler, and Trinh model thus emphasizes movement-
ship; he rebuilt the group’s economic and membership bases
societal conflict in which movements respond to external op-
and enhanced his spiritual authority by pronouncing himself
position.
an heir to the biblical King David. His divinely ordained er-
In his analysis of the Peoples Temple, Branch Davidian,
rand was to interpret the seven seals contained in the New
Aum Shinrikyo¯, Solar Temple, and Heaven’s Gate episodes,
Testament Book of Revelation and to reveal the sequence of
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AND VIOLENCE
imminent endtime events. Under Koresh’s leadership the
armored vehicles, and flooding the residence with noise and
Branch Davidian community became more tightly orga-
light around the clock. During the standoff, Koresh led the
nized, communal, and hierarchical (earlier Davidians lived
Branch Davidians in seeking divine instruction on the prop-
in a community but not communally). There were height-
er course to follow. Ultimately, federal agents perceived,
ened expectations of an imminent apocalypse, which the
probably incorrectly, that neither conciliation nor duress
Branch Davidians believed would begin with an attack on
would succeed and that continued flouting of legitimate au-
their group.
thority could not be tolerated. A CS (tear) gas assault on the
residence was launched on April 19; seventy-four residents,
While the Branch Davidians were characterized by a
including twenty-three children, died in ensuing the fire.
high level of charismatic authority, communal organization,
and apocalyptic expectation, it was Koresh’s “new light” doc-
The Solar Temple episode. The Order of the Solar
trine, proclaimed in 1989, that was pivotal in mobilizing op-
Temple (abbreviated OTS from the French form of the
position. Koresh taught that he must father children with
name, Ordre du Temple Solaire) is one of a number of reli-
women in the community to create a new spiritual lineage;
gious movements drawing on Western esotericism, including
the children born of these unions would erect the House of
Rosicrucianism (a mythical, ancient brotherhood) and the
David and ultimately rule the world. Some of the members
Knights Templar movements (groups claiming an associa-
Koresh selected for his House of David were wives and
tion with the Catholic religious order suppressed in the four-
daughters of members, and some of the daughters were legal-
teenth century). The Order of the Solar Temple was founded
ly minors. The result was a number of defections, as well as
by Joseph Di Mambro (1924–1994), a Swiss jeweler. Di
legal grounds for external intervention by Texas Child Pro-
Mambro had previously been involved in a variety of con-
tective Services. Beginning in 1989 a coalition of Koresh op-
temporary esoteric groups, such as the Golden Way Founda-
ponents formed, including family members concerned about
tion, before establishing the Solar Temple in 1981 with Dr.
the children’s welfare, some of Koresh’s past sexual partners
Luc Jouret (1947–1994). The charismatic Jouret added to
who were hostile to the House of David, and apostate mem-
Di Mambro’s esoteric teachings a mix of homeopathic medi-
bers. This coalition appealed to the media and a number of
cine, New Age spirituality, and environmental apocalypti-
state and federal agencies, most notably the Texas Child Pro-
cism. His personal charm also attracted large audiences of
tective Services, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and
well-educated and prosperous individuals to his public lec-
Firearms (ATF), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation
tures in Europe, the Caribbean, and Canada. The OTS was
(FBI).
a highly secretive organization. Di Mambro and Jouret estab-
lished two public groups, the Amenta Club and Arcadia
There were two sources of tension that escalated the
Club that served as recruiting organizations for the OTS.
conflict. Koresh’s sexual relationships with teenage girls con-
Members of the Solar Temple engaged in secret initiations,
stituted a direct challenge to the child-abuse protection man-
vows of secrecy, and encounters in hidden ritual chambers
date of the Texas Child Protective Services. The agency’s
with the spiritual manifestations of a mysterious group of as-
frustration mounted when it was unable to document abuse
cended “Masters.”
through inspections and investigations. The ATF suspected
the Branch Davidians were involved in weapons violations
Based on its apocalyptic expectations, the OTS began
and placed an undercover agent in the group, whose identity
expanding into North America in the mid-1980s. The group
was soon discovered. Several factors contributed to the ATF’s
established its headquarters and a commune in Quebec, a lo-
decision to conduct a raid on the Branch Davidian commu-
cation deemed to be relatively safe against impending envi-
nity at Mount Carmel, near Waco. The bureau was con-
ronmental catastrophes. By 1989, OTS had about five hun-
cerned about weapons violations, but it was also seeking
dred members in Europe and North America. In the early
high-profile interventions to fend off efforts to reduce its
1990s, due to opposition, the group’s outlook became in-
budget and reorganize its structure. Furthermore, the oppo-
creasingly bleak and apocalyptic, and group leaders began
sitional coalition fed the ATF false information about drug
discussing a mystical “transit” to another realm of existence.
manufacturing at the residence, widespread child abuse, and
Leadership authority and member commitment were both
potential mass suicide.
heightened. For example, leaders assumed authority for ar-
ranging “cosmic marriages” that restructured members’ exist-
After the initial AFT raid on February 28, 1993, in
ing marital relationships.
which there were both Branch Davidian and AFT casualties,
the FBI assumed control of the situation. The conflict was
The movement’s public troubles began early in the
now highly polarized because law enforcement officers had
1990s when two members were arrested for purchasing ille-
been killed, and because the Branch Davidians interpreted
gal weapons for unknown reasons, a rift developed between
the ATF raid as the beginning of the apocalypse. As the
Jouret and Di Mambro, and the movement’s ability to re-
standoff between the Branch Davidians and the FBI contin-
cruit members plummeted as its apocalyptic message was
ued, tactical units of the FBI gained the upper hand over the
publicly revealed. Even more threatening were a series of de-
negotiating teams and initiated psychological warfare, which
fections by members who threatened to expose financial ir-
included cutting off utilities, surrounding the residence with
regularities by leaders. The technician who orchestrated the
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AND VIOLENCE
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electronic special effects used to create the appearances of the
in opposition to the conversions and unflattering media cov-
Masters left the movement, and revelations that the Masters’
erage. In response, the group went underground in 1976 and
appearances had been carefully orchestrated illusions under-
lived a migratory communal existence with a much smaller
mined the commitment of members. A wife who had lost
number of members. Members prepared for life at the Next
her spouse to a cosmic marriage took her complaints to the
Level by relinquishing all earthly habits and relationships and
media and anticult groups. In addition, the police mistakenly
acquiring appropriate Next Level attributes.
connected the OTS to anonymous threats made to the life
Because the group lived a secretive lifestyle, it largely es-
of the Quebec minister of public security and several parlia-
caped conflict with control agencies. Members were appre-
mentary deputies, resulting in an intensive investigation of
hensive about their own fate following the conflagration that
the movement. As a result of these developments, the loyalty
destroyed the Branch Davidians, and they harbored unsub-
of members was eroded, the authority of the OTS leaders was
stantiated suspicions that they were under police surveil-
undermined, and the financial base was endangered. OTS
leaders concluded that the movement was the object of a vast
lance. However, the only reaction by Heaven’s Gate to sus-
conspiracy and faced the prospect of public disgrace. The
pected opposition was a largely ineffectual campaign to
group was, therefore, confronting both internal and external
challenge what it regarded as misinformation and miscon-
sources of destabilization.
ceptions about the movement. The developments that
moved Heaven’s Gate toward a “transit” to the Next Level
Late in 1993 and early in 1994 the final events appear
were primarily internal in nature. In 1985 Nettles died of
to have begun coalescing. OTS leaders began planning an in-
cancer. Her death brought into question the movement’s be-
terstellar “transit” that they believed would be supported and
lief that entry to the Next Level would be achieved with a
protected by transcendent powers. In early October, many
corporeal body. The group then came to regard the human
current and past members of the group were invited to meet
“vehicle” as simply a “container” that could be jettisoned, a
in Switzerland. Some were aware that the meeting was to be
development that made it possible to think about abandon-
a time of reckoning and initiation of a transit, others were
ing earthly bodies. The movement’s ideology also became
not. On October 4, 1994, police began receiving reports of
more apocalyptic as members proposed the existence of evil
fires in Cheiry and Granges-sur-Salvan in Switzerland and
space aliens who used religion and sexuality to keep humans
Morin Heights in Canada. Ultimately, fifty-three members
in bondage. Indeed, when the group was unsuccessful in
and former members of the OTS were found dead from stab-
eliminating sexual desire, some members arranged their own
bing, gunshots, poisoning, or suffocation. Opponents and
castrations to resolve the problem. Finally, members progres-
former members who were viewed as traitors appear to have
sively replaced earthly social forms with those they under-
been executed. Some OTS members and leaders took their
stood to be appropriate to the Next Level. They lived their
own lives to initiate the transit, and other members who
day-to-day lives as an “Away Team” in a replica of the space-
lacked the courage to take their own lives apparently were
craft environment through which they would be transported
“helped” to undertake the transit. The group left messages
to the Next Level. Much of their time was spent attempting
intended to condemn its critics and defend its own vision of
to connect with the Next Level and learn the timing of their
its mission. More than one year later sixteen OTS members
impending transit.
decided to join their comrades and ritualistically took their
own lives in France; five more did the same in Quebec in
As the process of distancing from conventional society
1997.
continued, the movement gradually was left with a small
number of long-term members with little connection to out-
The Heaven’s Gate episode. The movement that came
siders. Applewhite, who was the source of the group’s revela-
to be known as Heaven’s Gate began as a spiritual quest by
tions, believed he was suffering from progressively declining
Marshall Herff Applewhite (1931–1997) and Bonnie Lu
health. Increasingly disillusioned with conventional society,
Nettles (1924–1985) in 1973. Over the next two years a
the movement initiated one final effort to publicize its mes-
loosely organized movement emerged. Applewhite and Net-
sage and warn outsiders of the apocalypse that awaited them.
tles first began referring to themselves as the “two witnesses”
When this campaign was met with indifference and ridicule,
in the Book of Revelation who would be martyred and then
the group concluded that their preparation for the exit was
ascend to heaven in a cloud, which they believed would actu-
over. The appearance of the Hale Bopp comet in 1997 was
ally be a space ship. They taught their small group of follow-
viewed as a sign that the moment for departure had arrived,
ers that members of the “Next Level” had created earth as
and members quickly prepared for the exit. Those who made
an experiment in evolution. Jesus’ mission had been to gather
the exit on March 22 to 24, 1997, regarded their act as a
the faithful on earth to ascend to the Next Level, but humans
demonstration of the power of Heaven’s Gate to transcend
were not yet prepared. However, humans would soon be
the apocalypse that awaited those who had chosen not to join
transported by spacecraft to the kingdom of heaven and live
them. The members consumed a deadly combination of al-
eternally as androgynous beings. Through vigorous prosely-
cohol and barbiturates, lay down dressed in their Away Team
tizing, the group gradually grew to more than two hundred
uniforms covered by purple shrouds, and tied plastic bags
members by the mid-1970s. Recruitment successes resulted
over their heads. Two more Heaven’s Gate members at-
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS IN THE UNITED STATES
tempted an exit on May 7, 1997; one succeeded and the
phasizes internal movement factors as the initial source of
other was revived. This member, Chuck Humphrey, after
violence.
distributing informational materials about Heaven’s Gate,
Richardson, James T. “Minority Religions and the Context of Vi-
made his exit in February 1998.
olence: A Conflict/Interactionist Perspective.” Terrorism and
C
Political Violence 13, no. 1 (2001): 103–133.
ONCLUSIONS. The series of unrelated violent episodes in-
volving new religious movements during the 1990s propelled
Robbins, Thomas, and Susan J. Palmer, eds. Millennium, Messi-
violence onto the scholarly and public policy agendas. Wide-
ahs, and Mayhem: Contemporary Apocalyptic Movements. New
York, 1997. A collection of essays examining apocalypticism
ly accepted assertions about a proclivity for violence by new
in a variety of religious traditions.
religions have not been supported, however, and the histori-
Tabor, James D., and Eugene V. Gallagher. Why Waco? Cults and
cal evidence indicates that instances of movement-
the Battle for Religious Freedom in America. Berkeley, 1995.
precipitated violence have been rare. Specific characteristics
A comprehensive analysis of the history of the Branch
of religious movements—apocalyptic ideology, charismatic
Davidians and the dynamics of the confrontation between
leadership, and totalistic organization—are significant in un-
the movement and federal authorities.
derstanding the likelihood of violence, but general models
Wessinger, Catherine. “New Religious Movements and Conflicts
that incorporate an interrelated set of factors are more prom-
with Law Enforcement.” In New Religious Movements and
ising. A major debate continues over what balance of internal
Religious Liberty in American, edited by Derek H. Davis and
and external factors is most useful in understanding violent
Barry Hankins, 2d ed., pp. 89–106, 201–204. Waco, Tex.,
incidents. There is general agreement that cases vary in their
2002.
internal-external causation, and that useful models must
Wessinger, Catherine, ed. How the Millennium Comes Violently:
allow for this diversity. There is also agreement that future
From Jonestown to Heaven’s Gate. New York, 2000. An analy-
episodes will be difficult to anticipate because they tend to
sis of Peoples Temple, Branch Davidian, Aum Shinrikyo¯,
involve small, relatively unknown groups rather than more
Montana Freemen, Solar Temple, and Heaven’s Gate vio-
visible groups that are in open conflict with conventional
lence episodes emphasizing the role of both internal and ex-
society.
ternal factors in precipitating violence.
Wessinger, Catherine, ed. Millennialism, Persecution, and Violence:
SEE ALSO Anticult Movements; Aum Shinrikyo¯; Branch
Historical Cases. Syracuse, N.Y., 2000. Includes articles by
Davidians; Deprogramming; Heaven’s Gate; Jonestown and
Michelene Pesantubbee on Wounded Knee, Massimo In-
Peoples Temple; Koresh, David; Movement for the Restora-
trovigne on Solar Temple, Grant Underwood on the Mor-
tion of the Ten Commandments of God; Temple Solaire;
mons, among others, plus Wessinger’s introduction, “The
Violence.
Interacting Dynamics of Millennialism, Persecution, and Vi-
olence.”
Wright, Stuart, ed. Armageddon in Waco: Critical Perspectives on
BIBLIOGRAPHY
the Branch Davidian Conflict. Chicago, 2000. A collection of
Bromley, David G., and J. Gordon Melton, eds. Cults, Religion,
essays thoroughly analyzing the Branch Davidian violence
and Violence. Cambridge, U.K., 2002. A collection of essays
episode, including the role of the media, government agen-
focused on the major episodes of collective violence involv-
cies, experts and consultants, and movement opponents.
ing new religious groups during the 1990s.
DAVID G. BROMLEY (2005)
Galanter, Marc. Cults: Faith, Healing, and Coercion. 2d ed. New
York, 1999. A theoretical analysis of a number of charismatic
groups that includes a discussion of internal movement fac-
tors conducive to collective violence.
NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW
RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS IN THE UNITED

Hall, John R. Gone from the Promised Land: Jonestown in American
Cultural History. New Brunswick, N.J., 1987. A thorough
STATES
sociological and historical account of the Peoples Temple.
Shortly after the adoption of the U.S. Constitution in 1788,
the new nation ratified a Bill of Rights whose first order of
Hall, John R., with Philip Schuyler, and Silvaine Trinh. Apoca-
business was freedom of religion. The First Amendment laid
lypse Observed: Religious Movements, the Social Order, and Vi-
down what was then a bold precept: the United States would
olence in North America, Europe, and Japan. New York, 2000.
A theoretically informed series of case studies of collective vi-
have no established, or officially endorsed, religion, and it
olence involving new religious groups that proposes a model
would permit the free exercise of religion. More than two
for connecting these diverse events.
centuries later more religions are being freely exercised than
the nation’s founders could possibly have anticipated. Every
Lifton, Robert Jay. Destroying the World to Save It: Aum Shinrikyo¯,
Apocalyptic Violence, and the New Global Terrorism. New
substantial religion in the world has an American manifesta-
York, 1999. A more psychologically oriented analysis of one
tion, and many homegrown startups have appeared in the
of the major episodes of collective violence involving new re-
United States. It is safe to say that no place in the world has
ligious groups during the 1990s.
greater religious diversity than the United States at the dawn
of the twenty-first century.
Reader, Ian. Religious Violence in Contemporary Japan: The Case
of Aum Shinrikyo¯. Richmond, U.K., and Honolulu, 2000.
TERMINOLOGY. One small but vital part of that diversity
An account of the Aum Shinrikyo¯ violence episode that em-
consists of what are variously known by dozens of labels—
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS IN THE UNITED STATES
6557
sects, cults, new religious movements, alternative religions,
American religious mainstream that consists of the major,
marginal religions, and many more. Among scholars special-
culturally well-established branches of Christianity and Juda-
izing in the study of such groups, the prevailing label is new
ism, including Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy,
religious movements (NRMs), although not all are happy with
mainline Protestantism, most evangelical Protestantism, and
this term. It has one notable flaw: most of the groups includ-
the three major branches of Judaism (Orthodox, Conserva-
ed in the category are not new. Some, in fact, are thousands
tive, and Reform). New religious movements are groups out-
of years old. But new religious movements has been used
side that mainstream. Admittedly there are many shades of
more widely than any other nonpejorative term, and it does
gray in such a definition, but living with ambiguity is essen-
a good job of conveying the subject to most people.
tial to any study of religion.
Sect and cult are terms that were once used with a fair
One might argue that groups derived from great world
degree of academic precision. Classically a sect is a splinter
religions, all of which are present in the United States, should
group, a movement that has split from an existing religious
not be regarded as NRMs. The point of their inclusion in
body for some reason. Often such groups see themselves as
that category is simply that in the United States they do not
revitalization movements that seek to return to a pristine pu-
have the long histories, cultural dominance, and (usually)
rity from which, it is believed, the parent group has departed.
large numbers of adherents that the mainstream groups do.
The Holiness movement, for example, began when some
These NRMs may be growing substantially and may be in
Methodists came to believe that their church had undergone
the process of moving into the mainstream, but in the eyes
a degree of liberalization that took it unacceptably far from
of most Americans they are not yet fully mainstream.
its Wesleyan roots, and the dissenters set up new churches
that they saw as restoring pure Methodist doctrine. A cult,
NRMS IN AMERICAN HISTORY. NRMs have always been a
on the other hand, is classically a more distinct group—one
part of the American religious scene, and controversy has al-
that does not have clear roots in an existing, well-established
ways surrounded them. Some of the earliest European set-
tradition. A cult may be a newly created religion, usually one
tlers came to what is now the United States precisely because
formulated by a founding prophet of some kind, or it may
their dissenting forms of religion were not well accepted in
be a religion that is simply unfamiliar (and in that sense
their home cultures. These settlers may not have been devot-
“new”) in the American context. Some Hindu movements
ed to religious freedom, however; in many cases they tried
that have come to the United States, for example, have been
to make their own forms of Christianity dominant in their
widely regarded as cults because they are not familiar to
new provinces (the Puritans of New England are a dramatic
Americans, even though they would be part of the religious
example). Nevertheless religious dissent cropped up almost
mainstream in India.
as soon as the pioneering settlers stepped off their ships. As
early as 1627, when Thomas Morton (c. 1575–1647) erected
These once-precise terms, however, became pejoratives
a maypole for a May Day celebration, he was deported to En-
in the last decades of the twentieth century. The word cult,
gland for recognizing a pagan holiday. A few years later the
especially in popular usage, is decidedly negative in tone. A
Puritan authorities of Boston attacked Samuel Gorton (c.
cult is regarded as somehow evil or at least misguided. At all
1592–1677) for “all manner of blasphemies,” eventually
costs one should avoid cults, which are popularly understood
forcing him from the colony. By the 1650s a new threat con-
to be grasping and deceiving, trying to catch newcomers in
fronted the orthodox rulers of Massachusetts with the arrival
their webs. The neutral descriptive term of earlier times has
of the Quakers. Adopting a series of ever more stringent laws,
changed, just as the word gay has evolved, for the most part,
Massachusetts in 1658 made Quakerism a capital crime.
from meaning “happy” to meaning “homosexual.” The case
Four Quakers were subsequently executed for their faith.
is less severe with the word sect, at least in the United States,
The first Mennonites arrived later in the century; they were
but it too tends to have a pejorative edge. In Europe sect is
refugees from Europe, where they were persecuted for such
the equivalent of the American cult—a term that carries
distinctive beliefs as adult baptism, pacifism, and separation
strong derogatory implications.
of church and state. Throughout the Mennonites’ long histo-
Academic scholars of new religions therefore generally
ry in the United States they have attracted controversy; in
shy away from using both sect and cult. Lacking consensus
wartime especially they have been derided, and in some cases
support for any other term, they generally speak of new reli-
assaulted, for their refusal to perform military service.
gious movements. Alternative religions is also used by some,
By the eighteenth century adherents of dissenting reli-
and other terms, such as the adjective nonmainstream, have
gions were arriving on American shores with some regularity,
their advocates as well. Although those terms have the advan-
and just as regularly they experienced persecution in a coun-
tage of not containing the word new, new religious move-
try whose devotion to religious liberty was less than perfect.
ments is the generally accepted nonpejorative term.
In 1774 a small group of Shakers arrived under the leader-
What constitutes a new religious movement? Matters of
ship of Ann Lee (1736–1784), and eventually they opened
definition are exceedingly thorny, but this entry seeks to sur-
a communal settlement in upstate New York. A 1780 con-
vey a wide range of nonmainstream religions and will cast
vert, Valentine Rathbun, soon dropped out of the movement
its net broadly. This entry will presume that there is an
and accused the Shakers of deception and even, perhaps,
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what some would now call brainwashing. The Shakers re-
more persecution than the Mormons; for nearly a century
ceived visitors joyfully, Rathbun wrote, feeding and lodging
they were widely derided as devious outlaws and sexual mis-
them readily. But after his departure from the group, he
creants. Conflicts with neighbors drove the early Mormons
claimed it was all a ruse designed to create “absolute depen-
from New York State to Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, and finally
dence” among members. Some years later the Shakers found
to Utah after the lynching of the founder Smith in 1844. Ex-
themselves challenged by an even more formidable oppo-
Mormons fanned the flames with stories of dictatorial theoc-
nent, Mary Marshall Dyer (1780–1867), whose opposition
racy, violence, and corruption among the Latter-day Saints.
to the group she had joined and then left became her life’s
Although their practice of polygamy was not announced
work. Dyer’s anti-Shaker polemics sounded like many an-
publicly until after the migration to Utah, it had been prac-
ticult diatribes of the late twentieth century; among other
ticed for years. Such early Mormon leaders as Smith and his
things, she accused the movement of using mind control of
successor Brigham Young (1801–1877) each had dozens of
a sort that amounted to hypnotism. In the twenty-first cen-
plural wives. Word about the practice that leaked out provid-
tury the Shakers are best known for their classic furniture and
ed sensational fuel for the anti-Mormon flames. Only with
exquisite villages, and the few surviving Shakers in Maine
the passage of time did anti-Mormon agitation diminish.
enjoy great admiration and support. Only with time—and
The Mormons, for their part, helped deprive their opponents
perhaps with their steep decline in numbers—has their un-
of rhetorical ammunition by retreating from their most con-
usual religion become acceptable.
troversial ideas and practices. Polygamy was phased out in
the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, and
A similar situation obtained with the arrival of groups
a teaching that suggested that African Americans were inferi-
of radical German Pietists in the eighteenth and nineteenth
or to whites was abandoned in 1978.
centuries. The Pietists’ dissent was founded in their critique
The Mormons were not the only religious believers to
of the state churches in their homeland, which they consid-
be attacked for their unconventional marital and sexual prac-
ered formal and cold. The dissenters became entangled in
tices. The nineteenth century saw a proliferation of move-
disputes with various German authorities and in several cases
ments addressing all kinds of social reforms, and some of the
decided to depart for the New World, where, they thought,
more radical reformers promoted decidedly unconventional
they could pursue their chosen way of life in peace. Levels
sexual arrangements. No group was more famous for its un-
of controversy surrounding them varied. Some Pietists, such
orthodox marital philosophy than the Oneida Community,
as the group that became known as the Amana Society in
a body of Christian Perfectionists who created a long-lasting
Iowa, managed to live in relative isolation and to avoid end-
group marriage involving hundreds of men and women.
lessly antagonistic relationships with their neighbors. But
Prosperous from businesses producing such commodities as
others were not so lucky. The Harmony Society, for exam-
animal traps and silverware, the Oneidans flourished from
ple, was caught up in the same kinds of disputes that had af-
the early 1850s through the 1870s. Although internal ten-
flicted the Shakers. Arriving in the United States in 1804,
sions contributed to their eventual dissolution, it was vehe-
the Harmonists founded communal villages in Pennsylvania
ment persecution by a variety of opponents that finally
and Indiana, where they experienced conflict repeatedly.
proved overwhelming. Perhaps the most striking part of the
Their practices of celibacy and community ownership of
story is that a community publicly engaging in such wildly
goods were suspect to the American majority. When a large
unconventional sexual arrangements managed to survive as
group of members defected in 1832, they accused the Har-
long as it did in the Victorian-era United States.
monist leader George Rapp (1757–1847) of being power
In the 1830s and 1840s millennial excitement swept the
mad and voraciously greedy. The lawsuits that dogged the
country, especially with the rise of the Adventist movement
Harmonists throughout their history typically made the
of William Miller (1782–1849), who predicted that the
kinds of charges that “cult” opponents have made more re-
world would come to an end soon, finally settling on Octo-
cently—mind control, coercive leadership, and misuse of
ber 22, 1844, as the apocalyptic date. Miller’s movement was
funds. Although the Harmonist movement withstood the
controversial, and in the wake of the failure of the world-
conflicts, it gradually declined after Rapp’s death and died
ending events to happen on schedule (October 22, 1844, has
quietly in the early twentieth century, leaving behind, as did
ever since been known to the faithful as the “Great Disap-
the Shakers, several charming museum villages.
pointment”), several subsequent millennial groups coalesced.
Another religious movement that arose while the Shak-
The Seventh-day Adventists began to take shape in the 1850s
ers and Harmonists were flourishing had the dubious distinc-
under Ellen White (1827–1915), who was regarded as a
tion of being arguably the most controversial religious group
prophet and who had thousands of visionary experiences in
in American history. Founded in 1830, the Latter-day Saints,
her lifetime. The Adventists were distinctive not only for
or Mormons, based their distinctive version of Christianity,
their ongoing anticipation of an imminent millennium but
which featured an unorthodox account of American history
for observing the Jewish Sabbath and for a strong focus on
before Christopher Columbus, on revelations that the
diet and health.
founder Joseph Smith Jr. (1805–1844) claimed to have re-
In the 1870s another millennial group, eventually
ceived. No religious group in American history has suffered
known as Jehovah’s Witnesses, developed under the leader-
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS IN THE UNITED STATES
6559
ship of Charles Taze Russell (1852–1916), who, like Miller,
order of India, stole the show at the parliament, demolishing
undertook an extensive analysis of the Bible and concluded
stereotypes about Hinduism and offering a religion that was
that he could predict the year of the final culmination—
peaceful, tolerant, and charitable. He stayed in the United
1914. Although Russell’s chronology was obviously impre-
States for a time after the parliament and laid the ground-
cise, his movement continued to grow long after the appoint-
work for Vedanta Societies in major cities. It was the first
ed date, eventually embracing millions worldwide. Contro-
Asian religious movement to have a substantial appeal to a
versy grew apace. The Witnesses’ tireless door-to-door
non-Asian constituency in the United States. A few years
evangelism always had its detractors, and their refusal to sa-
later another swami, Yogananda (1893–1952), arrived with
lute the American flag (on the grounds that the flag salute
similarly expansive teachings and started the Self-Realization
was tantamount to idolatry) spawned legal cases that twice
Fellowship, which became one of the largest Asian-based reli-
reached the U.S. Supreme Court (where their right not to
gions in the country. Several Buddhist teachers, like their
salute the flag was upheld). Jehovah’s Witnesses have consis-
Hindu counterparts, also began to attract non-Asian follow-
tently refused military service on grounds that their service
ers. The Asian teachers were decidedly out of the American
must be to God, not to any earthly government. And much
mainstream, and for that, if nothing else, they had their crit-
controversy has surrounded their refusal to accept blood
ics, but their work formed a base for an ongoing Asian reli-
transfusions, which they regard as a violation of the biblical
gious presence in the United States.
injunction not to consume blood.
This list of NRMs in American history could be extend-
In 1848 two sisters, Kate Fox (c. 1839–1892) and Mar-
ed almost indefinitely. Inescapably new religions have been
garet Fox (c. 1833–1893), began hearing rapping noises that
a part of the American landscape for hundreds of years.
they said conveyed intelligible messages from a mysterious
These groups have never been large, but they have constitut-
spirit being. Their apparent ability to exchange messages
ed a steady minority presence within the realm of American
with an otherworldly being quickly attracted a wide follow-
religion, and they have always attracted critics.
ing, and soon Spiritualism, as the movement became known,
A
was a nationwide phenomenon with such manifestations as
FTER 1965. Changes in the immigration laws that allowed
spiritual teachers to enter the United States in much greater
automatic writing, clairvoyance, and trance speaking. Even-
numbers than previously are frequently credited with the
tually it became clear that many of the spiritual phenomena
great surge in NRMs that erupted after 1965. Still the cultur-
associated with devotees of the movement were fraudulent,
al upheaval that shook Western society during the same peri-
and Spiritualism declined. It has remained a small but steady
od had as much to do with the expansion of alternative religi-
part of the alternative religious world, however, and new ver-
osity as did the arrival of spiritual teachers from abroad. The
sions of it have emerged and found followings from time to
cultural ferment of the 1960s era (actually the late 1960s and
time, as in the case of the Urantia Book, a huge tome pur-
early 1970s) brought to prominence certain NRMs that had
portedly dictated by spirit beings to an anonymous scribe in
previously operated in relative obscurity, and the decade saw
the 1930s. Many forms of Spiritualism are active at the be-
many more NRMs start up. New religions since 1965 have
ginning of the twenty-first century, and they remain as con-
been enormously diverse, consisting of groups based in Asian
troversial as ever.
religious traditions, new and unconventional versions of
One form of Spiritualism went on to become a separate
Christianity, movements claiming to restore ancient but for-
cluster of NRMs. Founded in 1875 and based on the teach-
gotten traditions, and a few groups that seem largely unrelat-
ings of Helena P. Blavatsky (1831–1891), Theosophy com-
ed to anything that has come before.
bined a belief in psychic communications from “masters”
(spiritual adepts living in remote places) with what it called
Scientology was on the scene as early as the 1950s, but
“ancient wisdom,” teachings from various alternative West-
its main growth took place in the last years of the twentieth
ern traditions (such as Neoplatonism) as well as from Asian
century. Founded by the science fiction writer L. Ron Hub-
religions. Like its precursor Spiritualism, Theosophy had its
bard (1911–1986), Scientology promoted a kind of psycho-
detractors; especially heated were assertions that Blavatsky
logical therapy program in an unconventional religious con-
fabricated her supposed communications from the “masters
text. The psychological analysis of practitioners was
of the wisdom,” notably those that took the form of letters
facilitated using a device known as the e-meter, a type of lie
written on paper and appeared mysteriously in certain places.
detector. The promises made to practitioners were nothing
Although the movement splintered after the death of Blavat-
short of spectacular: one could, with enough work, become
sky, many branches have survived, and Theosophy has be-
an optimal and enormously powerful human being. Whatev-
come a well-established fixture in the firmament of NRMs.
er the truth of those claims, Scientology has received a great
deal of criticism. It has operated largely on a fee-for-services
At the end of the nineteenth century Hinduism and
basis (rather than by free-will offerings), and critics have ac-
Buddhism got a boost in public visibility when both were
cused the leaders of raking in enormous amounts of money.
represented by delegates to the World’s Parliament of Reli-
The authoritarian leadership style of Scientology and its
gions at the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893. Vivekananda
overly vigorous response to its critics have also come under
(1863–1902), a bright young swami from the Ramakrishna
attack. Nevertheless the movement has attracted large num-
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS IN THE UNITED STATES
bers of followers, including entertainment and sports celebri-
(clothing and hairstyles, for example) of hippies. Although
ties, and Scientology represents a major force among con-
some of them were eventually absorbed into relatively con-
temporary NRMs.
ventional churches, others came together in new movements
that reflected their cultural style and values. One of the most
Another movement active in the United States before
visible of the new groups, and certainly the most controver-
1965, but only coming into prominence after that date, is
sial, was the Children of God. Founded in 1967 as a coffee-
the Unification Church. Sun Myung Moon (1920–) of
house ministry in Los Angeles by David Berg (1919–1994),
Korea started this new religion, which blended elements of
a former Christian and Missionary Alliance pastor, the Chil-
Christianity with various Asian religions, including tradi-
dren of God soon developed a distinctive evangelistic style
tional Korean shamanism, in 1954; five years later Moon’s
that included wearing biblical robes and carrying signs warn-
followers began to spread the Unification message in the
United States. Central to Unification teachings is the precept
ing of impending doom. By about 1970 members of the
of the restoration of the true church and of fallen humanity
Children of God began to withdraw from contact with the
to their proper godliness. Moon himself is understood to
outside world; most left the United States. The group’s evan-
play a messianic role in the process of restoration. The early
gelization continued, however, and one new development
American growth of the Unification Church was slow, but
was especially controversial—“flirty fishing,” or the use of sex
it reached prominence with a series of speaking tours that
to attract new (usually male) converts. In the late 1980s
Moon undertook in the 1970s. As his visibility grew, so did
members began to return to the United States and to reestab-
controversy about his movement, which was accused of de-
lish a public presence there. Although accusations of misbe-
ceptive recruiting practices and exploitation of its young
havior, including child abuse and sexual misconduct, have
members. Deprogramming, the practice of forcibly remov-
continued to be aimed at the Children of God (now known
ing an NRM member to a remote location and putting him
as the Family), over time they have dropped some of their
or her through a deconversion process, was perhaps aimed
most controversial practices and have moved closer to ortho-
at “Moonies” more than adherents of any other religious
dox evangelical Protestantism. Their relatively liberal sexual
group. Controversy has lingered, although it has become
attitudes, however, continue to be a major point of contro-
muted as Moon has established ties to American political
versy.
conservatives and has focused his work increasingly on other
Another NRM with roots in the Jesus Movement is the
parts of the world, especially South America.
federation of Christian communities known as the Twelve
A quintessential new religion of the late 1960s counter-
Tribes. From enthusiastic beginnings in Chattanooga, Ten-
culture was the International Society for Krishna Conscious-
nessee, in 1972 under the leadership of Elbert Eugene Sprig-
ness (ISKCON), commonly referred to as the Hare Krishna
gs (1937–), the movement in the early twenty-first century
movement after its mantra (devotional chant). ISKCON’s
consisted of nearly three dozen communities, including sev-
founder, Swami A. C. Bhaktivedanta (1896–1977), known
eral in South America, Europe, and Australia. Although
to his followers as Prabhupada, undertook a mission to
spawned in the freewheeling environment of the American
spread his form of Hinduism in the West and to that end
1960s era, the Twelve Tribes has become a strongly disci-
arrived in the United States in 1965. Setting up headquarters
plined movement with patriarchal leadership and strict
in New York, Bhaktivedanta began to draw a variety of spiri-
child-rearing practices. Twelve Tribes communities are con-
tual seekers to his work. Soon there were ISKCON temples
troversial in some locations, but they are becoming well es-
in several American cities as well as farm communes and
tablished on the American religious scene.
businesses supporting the movement and its members. To
Another spiritual path that has garnered wide appeal
the public the ISKCON devotees were best known for
during and since the 1970s is earth-centered religiosity, most
sankirtan (public chanting and dancing in praise of Kr:s:n:a)
frequently known as Neopaganism or simply paganism.
and for selling books in public places, especially airports.
Much of the contemporary pagan movement—if it can be
Like Unificationists, they inspired spirited criticism, and
called a movement, given its diversity and lack of dominating
some ISKCON members were subjected to deprogramming.
organization—sees itself as re-creating the pre-Christian reli-
After the death of Bhaktivedanta, the movement experienced
gions of Europe, especially northern Europe. Wiccans, or
tumultuous internal upheavals and scandals over problems
Witches, the best-known of the Neopagans, fall into that cat-
ranging from venal leadership to child abuse. In the early
egory. Other Neopagans look to ancient Egyptian or classical
twenty-first century small numbers of devotees continue to
Roman and Greek religions for models. Whatever their spe-
live the disciplined spiritual life that has long been the ISK-
cific orientations, most Neopagans incorporate into their be-
CON hallmark.
liefs and rituals a strong connection to the earth, fertility, and
One important component of the 1960s countercultur-
nature; not incidentally many Neopagans are also environ-
al search for spiritual fulfillment was the rise of the Jesus
mental activists. In addition they typically emphasize a re-
Movement. The Jesus freaks, as the movement’s adherents
covery of feminine power and authority, which they believe
were popularly known, were young people who espoused
was suppressed as male-dominated Christianity spread over
evangelical Protestantism but retained the outer trappings
most of the Western world. Leadership in Neopagan groups
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is to a large degree female, and the deities invoked are as like-
(1885–1955). One of the factions, headed by Benjamin
ly to be feminine as masculine. Because of popular prejudices
Roden, came to be known as the Branch, or Branch Davidi-
against witchcraft and paganism, many practitioners keep
ans. Vernon Howell (1959–1993) joined that group in 1981
their allegiances hidden, but persons who consider them-
and a few years later became its leader, changing his name
selves at least to some degree pagan are found throughout the
to David Koresh. In February 1993 agents of the federal Bu-
United States in greater numbers than many would expect.
reau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms conducted a raid on
the Branch Davidian headquarters in Waco. The raid led to
Although the 1960s era was a time of great ferment for
a fifty-one-day siege by the Federal Bureau of Investigation
American religion, other new religions emerged (and became
(FBI) and ended with a fire that killed most of the Branch
subject to controversy) after that period. One controversial
Davidians present, including Koresh.
religious movement that rose to prominence is the Interna-
tional Church of Christ, also known as the Boston Move-
In March 1997 thirty-nine members of the Heaven’s
ment. The Boston Movement arose from the Churches of
Gate movement committed suicide at Rancho Santa Fe, Cal-
Christ, a branch of the Restoration movement of nineteenth-
ifornia. Heaven’s Gate took shape in the 1970s as the found-
century America whose most prominent descendant in the
ers Marshall Herff Applewhite (1931–1997) and Bonnie Lu
twenty-first century is the Christian Church (Disciples of
Nettles (1924–1985) began to develop an evolutionary the-
Christ). Kip McKean (1954–) became pastor of the local
ology in which a few selected humans would advance to a
Church of Christ in Lexington, Massachusetts, in 1979 and
level above human; a spacecraft would be the vehicle that
soon moved it into Boston, renaming it the Boston Church
would take them to the next realm. The appearance of the
of Christ. By the early 1980s satellite churches were being
comet Hale-Bopp was taken as the signal that it was time for
founded in other American cities, and the movement experi-
believers to abandon their human bodies—hence the
enced great growth, all of it accompanied by increasing con-
suicides.
troversy. The heaviest criticism was aimed at “discipling,” a
The Peoples Temple, the Branch Davidians, and Heav-
practice in which each member is assigned a spiritual supervi-
en’s Gate were dissimilar movements, and the circumstances
sor who oversees much of the member’s day-to-day life. Al-
of their dramatic and fatal ends differed enormously. Never-
though the strictness of life in the Boston Movement has
theless the massive media coverage that followed the demise
contributed to a high attrition rate, a steady stream of new
of each group tended to cause the three to merge in the pub-
converts has assured continued growth.
lic mind, and activism against NRMs was stimulated as a
CONTROVERSY AND CRITICISM. Unconventional religions
result.
have always been socially controversial, and the last decades
of the twentieth century witnessed seemingly endless conten-
Opposition to new religious movements tends to be of
tion over what some saw as a growing and threatening pres-
two types, commonly referred to as anticult and countercult.
ence of dangerous religions in the United States. Those con-
Anticult activists believe that “cults” pose a threat to their
flicts became particularly prominent in the wake of several
members and to society and thus need to be denounced, per-
spectacular and, in some cases, fatal events. In the United
haps abolished, in the interest of the common welfare. Coun-
States three such events stand out.
tercult activism, on the other hand, is based in relatively or-
thodox (usually evangelical Protestant) churches and opposes
In November 1978 more than nine hundred mostly
NRMs as heresies, or false religions, that must be challenged
American members of the Peoples Temple died in a mass
theologically and socially. The two strands have combined
murder-suicide at Jonestown, Guyana. The Peoples Temple,
to produce wide agreement in American culture that “cults”
led by Jim Jones (1931–1978), was a California-based local
do exist and the public needs to be aware of their danger. The
congregation of the mainstream Disciples of Christ denomi-
general image that has developed is that dangerous “cults”
nation. The Peoples Temple first received wide attention for
are widespread and growing, that they are led by evil or at
its high level of racial integration and extensive social service
least power-hungry leaders, that they are highly skilled at ac-
programs. In 1974 the church established a communal “agri-
cumulating money, and that they pose a threat not only to
cultural mission” in Guyana, South America, and eventually
the individuals who join them but to the larger society as
many church members migrated there, in part to escape the
well. Moreover because “cults” tend to appeal to young
increasing conflicts, both internal and external, that plagued
adults who are sometimes still living with their parents and
the church in California. The murder-suicide took place in
siblings, such religious groups are destructive of traditional
the context of a visit by a U.S. congressman seeking to inves-
family life.
tigate conditions at the colony.
Perhaps the most contentious debate about the influ-
In April 1993 approximately eighty members of the
ence of NRMs involves the allegation that they engage in
Branch Davidian movement died in a federal raid and subse-
what is often called brainwashing or mind control. Oppo-
quent fire that swept their communal center outside Waco,
nents of new and unconventional religiosity contend that
Texas. The original Davidian movement emerged as a Sev-
“cult” leaders use mental, and sometimes physical, coercion
enth-day Adventist splinter group in 1929; it divided into
to induce members to do things they would not normally do.
factions after the death of the founder Victor Houteff
Sometimes, it is argued, members operate in trance-like
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states or behave in previously unthinkable ways. Most schol-
be inescapable in all areas of life that a few persons will be-
ars who study NRMs hold the opinion that nothing that
have unethically, and no one has demonstrated that NRM
merits the label of brainwashing or mind control has been
leadership has a greater propensity for such behavior than
shown to have occurred by critics of NRMs. These scholars
leadership in any other phase of human endeavor.
argue that some people can be influenced to join and become
Similarly most religious movements do not end up
devoted to a particular movement, but the social phenomena
amassing great wealth. If anything the opposite is true; reli-
of religious conversion and commitment found in NRMs are
gions of all kinds typically struggle to make ends meet. The
not essentially different from those seen in mainstream
financial circumstances of American religions are difficult to
religions.
investigate, however, because the U.S. government does not
A related charge is that of totalism, the allegation that
require religious organizations to provide financial disclo-
movements demand not merely casual participation, such as
sure; even when such information is voluntarily provided, it
Sunday churchgoing, but absolute and total involvement on
is not usually audited and thus may not accurately reflect the
the part of an adherent. However, although some NRMs do
true financial situation of the organization and its leaders. A
ask for high levels of commitment and involvement, no one
few NRMs, in particular the Church of Scientology, do ap-
has shown that such commitment is involuntary or otherwise
pear to have substantial resources. However, it is likely that
contrary to the standards of a society that generally allows
NRMs in general do not possess greater per capita wealth
its members to make their own decisions concerning their
than do other religious organizations.
lives.
Critics of NRMs often say that they are destructive of
During the 1970s and 1980s, when promoters of the
families. New members are presumed to be typically young
brainwashing and mind control hypothesis enjoyed their
adults just setting out in life and moving away from their
highest visibility, some opponents of NRMs (often the par-
parents. NRMs, as the conventional picture has it, provide
ents of young adults who had joined various movements)
members with highly controlled environments and isolate
concluded that coercion had to be met with coercion, and
them from social influences that might undermine their
they began to engage in what became known as deprogram-
newfound commitments. NRM leaders thus regard contact
ming. In the typical scenario an NRM member was abducted
with parents and siblings as especially dangerous and there-
forcibly, taken to isolated surroundings, and subjected to in-
fore to be avoided.
tensive argumentation and psychological pressure (and occa-
This stereotype, like others, has some truth to it, but it
sionally physical abuse) in an effort to convince the adherent
can hardly be accurate in every case. Religious conversion
to leave the group in question. Professional deprogrammers
does sometimes entail a changing of one’s personal frame of
charged steep fees for their services, which were not always
reference, and more than a few religions think of themselves
successful. Eventually the practice fell out of fashion, espe-
as families—spiritual families that may displace members’
cially after some deprogrammers were convicted of kidnap-
birth families, partially or entirely. Cutting oneself off from
ping and illegal restraint. Thereafter a less-coercive strategy
old friends and family members is one long-accepted way to
known as exit counseling was developed by those who sought
promote one’s chosen new spiritual path. Jesus is reported
to convince adherents to leave NRMs.
in the Gospels to have demanded that his disciples renounce
Closely related to the controversy over brainwashing,
their parents and siblings (Lk. 14:26), and historically per-
mind control, and deprogramming is the issue of leadership
sons who have joined monastic orders have sharply reduced
in NRMs. Opponents of NRMs often charge that move-
their family contacts. Many Shakers broke relations with
ments are dominated by powerful, charismatic leaders who
their families, and some of their movement’s spiritual songs
typically manipulate members for their own ends. Although
denounce family ties, as does one called “Gospel Relation.”
most religions are indeed founded and led by strong person-
Of all the relation that ever I see
alities (religions are rarely created by committees), most
My old Fleshly kindred are furthest from me,
NRM founders have not proved to be deviant or pathologi-
So bad and so ugly, so hateful they feel
cal. It is inevitably true that some leaders of religious move-
To see them and hate them increases my zeal.
ments are greedy and amass substantial assets. Some have also
O how ugly they look! How ugly they look! How nasty
engaged in physical, psychological, or sexual abuse of their
they feel!
followers, and a few (probably very few) have been outright
charlatans, fleecing the unwary. However, those patterns
Nevertheless it is not the case that complete separation from
clearly do not typify NRM leaders any more than they typify
one’s family is a necessary adjunct of religious conversion.
religious or social leaders generally. There is no evidence, for
Most religious movements permit members to have as much
example, that NRM leaders have abused their followers in
contact with their families as they like. Various movements
proportionately larger numbers than some Catholic priests
have tried to shield members from their families when mem-
have abused young church members. As for greed, one could
bers are threatened with deprogramming or other overtly
argue that the abuses of a small number of NRM leaders pale
hostile activity, and some NRM members have chosen to
beside the excesses of some corporate executives. It seems to
minimize contact with their families, especially when they
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perceive family members as hostile to their new faith. How-
come priests (until the movement merged into Eastern Or-
ever, in most cases contact with one’s birth family is per-
thodoxy in 1988).
mitted.
ETHNICITY AND NRMS. The ethnic makeup of NRMs varies
WOMEN IN NEW RELIGIONS. New religious movements, like
widely from group to group. Some movements with roots
other religions, have tended to be defined and dominated by
in Asia have appealed heavily to Americans of Asian extrac-
males, but that pattern is not universal. Some movements,
tion and thus have ethnic Asian majorities. The International
especially those rooted in religious traditions that mandate
Society for Krishna Consciousness, for example, originally
specific gender roles, have restricted the participation of
made converts among non-Asian Americans but later found
women in various ways. The International Society for Krish-
more and more ethnic Indians participating, and in the early
na Consciousness, for example, which is rooted in traditional
twenty-first century the active members of many temples are
Indian Hindu culture, has always maintained a male-only
overwhelmingly Indian. Most NRMs, however, have constit-
top leadership and has carefully circumscribed male-female
uencies that are not ethnically related to the movement’s for-
interaction. Many Christian-based NRMs, like the majority
eign land of origin. Most American S:u¯f¯ıs, for example, are
of Christian churches historically, have barred women from
not from the Islamic lands that gave birth to Sufism.
playing leading roles, especially participation in the clergy.
It is a fair guess that African American membership in
Other movements offer gender equality in theory but not in
NRMs is low, but some movements, usually those with black
practice, a tendency that reflects the pattern of many main-
leadership, have developed strong African American follow-
stream contemporary religious and social institutions.
ings. One of the most prominent of the predominantly black
However, although NRMs have not as a whole been
NRMs was the Peace Mission Movement of Father Divine
bastions of egalitarianism, they have offered women oppor-
(1879–1965), which reached its peak in the 1930s. Father
tunities for leadership and participation that have rarely been
Divine was regarded as God in the flesh by his followers, and
available in more traditional religions. Many founders and
he addressed his members’ material as well as spiritual needs,
leaders of American new religions have been female. Ann Lee
providing food, housing, and jobs to a predominantly poor
led the early Shakers to the United States, and she presided
membership. Other African American religious movements,
over their formation as one of America’s longest-lived com-
such as the United House of Prayer for All People, led by
munal religious groups. Mary Baker Eddy (1821–1910)
Charles “Sweet Daddy” Grace (1881–1960), followed simi-
founded and led Christian Science, one of the most influen-
lar patterns.
tial of America’s new religions. Emma Curtis Hopkins
Some African American religious leaders have rejected
(1849–1925) was the most influential of the founders of
Christianity as a slave religion and have sought freedom in
New Thought, a nineteenth-century movement that es-
other traditions, notably Judaism and Islam. The first black
poused human health and happiness, and Myrtle Fillmore
Jews appeared in the 1890s with the founding of the improb-
(1845–1931) was the visionary leader of Unity, the largest
ably named Church of God and Saints of Christ by William
of the many New Thought organizations. Helena P. Blavat-
S. Crowdy (1847–1908). Other similar organizations ap-
sky created and led the Theosophical Society. Spiritualism
peared over the next several decades, drawing on growing
was the creation of the Fox sisters of upstate New York. The
currents of black nationalism in the northern cities of the
list is a long one; clearly NRMs have provided an opening
United States. In 1913 the religious focus of such groups
for the exercise of spiritual and organizational gifts that some
began to shift from Judaism to Islam with the founding of
extraordinary women have manifested—gifts that might
the Moorish Science Temple of America by Timothy Drew,
have been stifled in more traditional religions.
known as Noble Drew Ali (1886–1929). Then in 1930 a
Most women and men are not founders or leaders of re-
mysterious peddler commonly referred to as W. D. Fard
ligions; they are day-to-day adherents. Here the pattern in
began to preach a new racialistic version of Islam that grew
NRMs is mixed; in some cases women cook, clean, and raise
into the Nation of Islam. Fard disappeared in 1934, but
children, whereas men have a wider range of options avail-
under his successor, Elijah Muhammad (1897–1975), the
able to them, but in other NRMs women are freed from lim-
movement spread nationwide. Muhammad’s son and succes-
ited and subservient roles. In the Oneida Community, the
sor, Wallace Muhammad, later known as W. Deen Moham-
nineteenth-century Perfectionist commune in upstate New
med (1933–), steered the movement away from black su-
York, women worked alongside men in construction and
premacy toward conventional Islam. Traditionalists led by
other traditionally male work. Oneida women also modified
Louis Farrakhan (1933–) subsequently built a reconstituted
their clothing and hair for practical reasons, wearing pants
version of the former Nation of Islam. In the meantime sev-
(with short skirts over them) and cutting their hair short.
eral other African American Muslim groups appeared in the
Both women and men were allowed, indeed encouraged, to
United States.
have multiple sexual partners in the Oneida Community’s
MILLENNIALISM AND VIOLENCE IN NRMS. Many new reli-
system of “complex marriage.” In the Holy Order of MANS,
gions are characterized by an urgency that is driven by
an esoteric Christian group founded in 1968 that empha-
millennial expectations—a sense that the world is headed to-
sized monasticism and human services, women could be-
ward apocalyptic upheaval, or at least a major transforma-
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS IN THE UNITED STATES
tion, in the near future. In addition many NRMs are associ-
tanic groups have been portrayed as purveyors of violence
ated in the public mind with violence, or the potential for
(they have been accused, for example, of the ritual killing of
violence, although historically NRM members have more
infants), but actual Satanists are few in number, and evidence
frequently been victims than perpetrators of violence.
of murders for ritual purposes has been virtually impossible
to locate. Some members of NRMs do own weapons, but no
Some NRMs have optimistic expectations for the mil-
research has shown that NRM members are more likely to
lennial future; others are profoundly pessimistic. The expect-
own or use them than are other Americans.
ed changes may be violent or peaceful; the world may be de-
stroyed or it may be transformed into something far better
Some Christian-based (and occasionally other) move-
than humans have ever seen. Supernatural intervention may
ments have espoused strict discipline and corporal punish-
cause the dramatic events to happen, or good faith and works
ment of children, and physical abuse of children has taken
by devoted humans may suffice. NRMs embrace the wide
place in a number of instances. In addition some would re-
range of millennialism found in the religions of the world.
gard the withholding of medical treatment, which is prac-
The two principal categories of millennialism may be la-
ticed by certain NRMs, as child abuse. Most cases of NRM–
beled progressive and catastrophic. The catastrophic variety,
related violence, however, are perpetrated by individuals who
which is associated with conservative Protestantism as well
may invoke religious precepts (such as holy war or divine ret-
as with some NRMs, is the more vivid of the two; it sees the
ribution) to justify their aberrant acts. Moreover American
world becoming increasingly degraded, increasingly distant
NRMs operate in a broader culture that encourages owner-
from the divine will and purpose, and headed inevitably to-
ship of deadly weapons and generally tolerates a high level
ward such events as an ultimate war between the forces of
of violence. Specific incidents of NRM–related violence tend
good and the forces of evil, rule of the world by unspeakably
to arise from the convergence of specific expectations and
evil agents, and a final judgment in which the vast legions
characteristics of a given group and some kind of external sit-
of the unfaithful will be cast into eternal torment. Many
uational trigger, perhaps the response the group has evoked
Christian-based NRMs espouse this kind of scenario. Pro-
from its neighbors and antagonists or from public authori-
gressive millennialism, on the other hand, sees the coming
ties. There is nothing inherent to NRMs that makes them
transformations in a positive light. Through the efforts of
more violent than other social institutions, nor is there any
dedicated souls the world will become a better and better
reason to suspect that NRMs attract unusually violent per-
place; long-standing evils such as poverty, war, and injustice
sons as members.
will gradually disappear, and a perfect human society will be
MATURATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF NRMS. As recently as
established at last. Some Theosophical and New Thought
the 1960s scholars generally assumed that religions of the
groups, as well as many mainline Christian denominations,
“cult” type were heavily centered on strong founder-leaders
see millennialism in such a fashion.
and that such a group would not long survive the leader’s de-
parture. Additional decades of observation of NRMs, howev-
Although violence is linked to NRMs in the public
er, demonstrate clearly that most do not vanish soon after
mind, NRMs have only rarely been notable perpetrators of
the deaths of their founders. Although charismatic leadership
violence. Perhaps the most vivid image of NRM–related vio-
is frequently key to the early development and spread of an
lence is the deadly conflagration that ended the siege of the
NRM, over time many groups develop more enduring and
Branch Davidians at Waco. That siege, however, was initiat-
institutionalized types of management that enable them to
ed by an agency of the federal government, and the FBI’s
survive the deaths of their founders. Such movements as
subsequent tank and CS gas assault culminated in a fire, al-
Spiritualism, Theosophy, New Thought, and Mormonism
though the actual cause of the fire that killed the group’s
are prospering in their second centuries of existence, long
members remains disputed.
after the passing of their founders.
Some NRMs have used violent rhetoric, but their words
When a charismatic founder lives a long and full life,
have rarely led to deeds. The Nation of Islam as it developed
he or she typically begins to look toward the future and to
under Elijah Muhammad envisioned a millennial race war
set up structures that will carry the movement forward under
in which the dominant white race would finally be over-
second-generation leadership. Normally the transition in-
thrown. In practice, however, Muhammad’s followers were
volves a movement toward increased bureaucratization; lead-
remarkably restrained. A number of groups associated with
ership becomes less concentrated in one person, and the or-
the Christian Identity movement have been involved in mili-
ganization comes to be administered through regulations and
taristic activities that have sometimes threatened violence
committees. For example, the leadership of Christian Science
against African Americans as well as Jews and other non-
became vested in committees operating under rules that
Christians, but as with the Black Muslims, Christian Identity
Mary Baker Eddy laid down before her death.
rhetoric has been much stronger than the actions of mem-
bers. The few acts of racial violence that have occurred, in-
In other cases, especially when the founding leader dies
cluding some attacks on Jews and on mixed-race couples,
or is deposed unexpectedly, a new authoritative figure may
have been perpetrated by loners not acting as sanctioned rep-
step forward to lead a movement that otherwise would suffer
resentatives of any organized Christian Identity group. Sa-
from lack of firm guidance. That happened with the Mor-
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mons after the founder Joseph Smith Jr. was murdered when
gist Max Weber (1864–1920) remains influential, especially
he was only thirty-eight years old. Several potential new lead-
for his observations about the pivotal role of charismatic
ers claimed Smith’s mantle, and some of them started their
leadership in the development of new religions. The theolo-
own Mormon-based movements, but the largest group of
gian Ernst Troeltsch (1865–1923), also a German, wrote at
Mormons fell into line behind Brigham Young, who provid-
length about the differences between church-type and sect-
ed another three decades of charismatic leadership in his own
type religions, showing that sectarianism was a social phe-
style. Young also oversaw the development of bureaucratic
nomenon that deserved study in and of itself and not merely
structures that have enabled the church to function effective-
in terms of its deviation from received truth. H. Richard Nie-
ly ever since.
buhr (1894–1962) provided a distinctly American focus for
the scholarly conversation in his examination of sectarian so-
It is probably impossible for strongly charismatic leader-
cial dynamics.
ship to continue indefinitely, generation after generation.
Charismatic leadership involves a unique interaction be-
Several propositions that emerged from early-twentieth-
tween a given leader and his or her followers that has the
century scholarship have proved less than reliable. Troeltsch
“chemistry” to sustain deep commitment. No matter how
and Niebuhr were convinced that sectarianism was a phe-
great the ability or attractiveness of a next-generation leader,
nomenon that emerged from the lower social classes. Anoth-
he or she will differ from the predecessor leader, and the for-
er generally accepted analysis maintained that a group
mer chemistry will not be present. Although commitment
founded by a charismatic leader could not long survive the
to a common cause may enable the new leader and group
death of that leader. What is now clear is that generalizations
members to push ahead for a time, the development of a
about NRMs can be hazardous. It is now known that people
more-bureaucratic and less-spontaneous leadership style
from all levels of society can be attracted to NRMs and that
seems inevitable. A later-generation charismatic leader may
many movements have had their greatest success long after
develop his or her own chemistry with a group of believers;
the lifetime of the founder, without, as Niebuhr posited,
in that case a splinter group typically develops, whereas the
evolving into completely conventional denominations.
main movement continues under bureaucratic leadership.
Other scholars studied new religions later in the twenti-
The move from charismatic leadership to collective ad-
eth century. J. Milton Yinger wrote important sociological
ministration engenders the development of a leadership co-
analyses of NRMs in the 1950s. During the 1940s and 1950s
hort whose expertise is certified by appropriate training rath-
such observers as Marcus Bach, Elmer T. Clark, and Charles
er than force of personality. In the United States expertise
S. Braden surveyed the nonmainstream religious scene and
is typically certified by the completion of academic courses
discovered many previously little-noticed religious move-
of study. Thus the development of an intelligentsia is a typi-
ments, describing them in terms that did not dismiss them
cal step in the maturation of a religious movement. That pat-
as heretical or diabolical.
tern tends to take shape even in movements that originally
The greatly increased visibility of NRMs in American
disavow formal leadership training in favor of charismatically
culture after 1965 spawned a new generation of scholarly
based qualifications. The Unification Church offers an excel-
NRM researchers. One drawing card for many of them was
lent example of the process: less than two decades after its
the opportunity to study a religion in its formative stages, as
arrival in the United States, the movement opened a theolog-
it develops its beliefs and practices, rather than as a fully
ical seminary that began to train church leaders and minis-
evolved social institution. In the 1970s and 1980s several
ters, and it sent its best intellectuals to some of the nation’s
major academic organizations, including the Society for the
leading graduate schools for advanced study. Ranking Unifi-
Scientific Study of Religion and the American Academy of
cationists now have doctorates from such institutions as Har-
Religion, began to provide venues for research in the field,
vard, Yale, and Vanderbilt.
and publishers disseminated new findings.
Furthermore the spreading of an NRM’s message is
By and large the new research on NRMs looked at the
often conducted through mass media, and expertise in writ-
movements descriptively, tracking their social evolution,
ing and speaking, video production, and Web site develop-
their beliefs, and the processes through which new converts
ment has become a critical tool for the propagation of a
joined. Most researchers found that NRMs were not more
group’s message. Here again the growth of a class of special-
virtuous or more pathological than other American religions.
ized professionals is essential to a religious movement’s
Many also argued that hostility toward NRMs manifested a
growth and prosperity.
fear of the different and a belief that the different is danger-
THE ACADEMIC STUDY OF NEW RELIGIONS. Scholarly study
ous, a pair of pervasive themes in American society. The
of NRMs has expanded and changed with the increased visi-
scholars’ conclusion of benignity, however, ran sharply
bility of movements after 1965. Before 1900 scholars paid
counter to the public’s perception that “evil cults” were pro-
little attention to dissenting religious movements except in
liferating in the land, brainwashing impressionable young
judgmental terms: they were considered heresies, departures
people and turning them into subservient lackeys, amassing
from the true faith. After 1900 a few pioneers began to take
huge assets (sometimes through deceptive means), and
a less-jaundiced view of new religions. The German sociolo-
threatening American peace and tranquility. That public per-
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS IN EUROPE
ception was fueled by a number of organizations founded
Melton, J. Gordon. The Encyclopedia of American Religions. De-
specifically to combat what they saw as the menace of “cults”
troit, Mich., 2003.
(the Cult Awareness Network became the best-known of
Miller, Timothy, ed. When Prophets Die: The Postcharismatic Fate
them), supported by a minority of scholars. For several years
of New Religious Movements. Albany, N.Y., 1991.
the fulcrum of the dispute was the hotly debated phenome-
Miller, Timothy, ed. America’s Alternative Religions. Albany, N.Y.,
non of deprogramming, regarded by its advocates as a radical
1995.
strategy necessitated by the enormity of the misconduct of
Niebuhr, H. Richard. The Social Sources of Denominationalism.
the “cults” but seen by its opponents as nothing more than
New York, 1929.
kidnapping, assault, and battery. Deprogramming eventually
Palmer, Susan Jean. Moon Sisters, Krishna Mothers, Rajneesh Lov-
faded as a popular anticult strategy, but the deep division be-
ers: Women’s Roles in New Religions. Syracuse, N.Y., 1994.
tween scholarly consensus and prevailing public perception
Troeltsch, Ernst. The Social Teaching of the Christian Churches
endures.
(1911). Translated by Olive Wyon. New York, 1931.
Weber, Max. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
A majority of scholars eventually coalesced around what
(1904–1905). Translated by Talcott Parsons. New York,
might be called a “freedom of religion” position, an agree-
1930.
ment that there was no basis for sweeping condemnation of
Wessinger, Catherine. How the Millennium Comes Violently: From
“cults” as a category but rather that a principle of innocent
Jonestown to Heaven’s Gate. New York, 2000.
until proven guilty should apply to NRMs. A minority of
Wessinger, Catherine, ed. Women’s Leadership in Marginal Reli-
scholars demurred, contending that something that could be
gions: Explorations outside the Mainstream. Urbana, Ill., 1993.
called brainwashing or mind control did in fact occur and
Yinger, J. Milton. Religion, Society, and the Individual: An Intro-
that many NRMs posed real threats to society. These schol-
duction to the Sociology of Religion. New York, 1957.
ars, aligned with the larger anticult and countercult move-
Zablocki, Benjamin, and Thomas Robbins, eds. Misunderstanding
ment, criticized the scholarly majority as naive about the
Cults: Searching for Objectivity in a Controversial Field. To-
groups they studied and as unwitting accomplices to aberrant
ronto, 2001.
“cult” activities. Relations between the two schools of
TIMOTHY MILLER (2005)
thought continue to be troubled.
Despite the controversies, stereotypes, and allegations of
misbehavior directed at NRMs, these new religious groups
NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW
do, like other religions, reflect the society from which they
RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS IN EUROPE
arise. Their members are not unlike other people who search
The new religious movements (NRMs) with which this arti-
for meaning and value in ways that suit them best.
cle is mainly concerned are those that first appeared, or be-
came noticeable, in Europe during the second half of the
SEE ALSO Anticult Movements; Blavatsky, H. P.; Brain-
twentieth century. Many, indeed most, have their roots in
washing (Debate); Branch Davidians; Christian Identity
one or more religious tradition, but they are termed new be-
Movement; Christian Science; Cults and Sects; Daddy
cause they arose in a new form, with a new facet to their be-
Grace; Deprogramming; Disciples of Christ; Eddy, Mary
liefs, or with a new organization or leadership that renounced
Baker; Elijah Muhammad; Family, The; Father Divine; Fill-
more orthodox beliefs and/or ways of life. They are, more-
more, Charles and Myrtle; Heaven’s Gate; Holiness Move-
over, distinguishable from those religions that are new mere-
ment; Holy Order of MANS; Hopkins, Emma Curtis;
ly to Europe, having been brought by immigrants, in that
Hubbard, L. Ron; International Society for Krishna Con-
the NRMs have consisted, at least initially, of a predomi-
sciousness; Jehovah’s Witnesses; Jesus Movement; Jones,
nantly first-generation membership of converts. Some of the
Jim; Jonestown and Peoples Temple; Koresh, David; Law
movements have been denounced by other movements, or
and Religion; Lee, Ann; Mennonites; Mormonism; Nation
have themselves rejected the label “religious.” No attempt
of Islam; Neopaganism; New Thought Movement; Pietism;
Prabhupada, A. C. Bhaktivedanta; Puritanism; Quakers; Sa-
will be made here to argue what a “real” religion should or
tanism; Scientology; Seventh-day Adventism; Shakers;
should not consist of, beyond stating that the movement/
Smith, Joseph; Spiritualism; Sufism; Theosophical Society;
group makes some attempt to address questions of ultimate
Twelve Tribes; Unification Church; Unity; White, Ellen
concern. The term NRM is, thus, employed as a general con-
Gould; Wicca; Witchcraft, article on Concepts of Witch-
cept that refers to a multitude of groups that others might
craft; World’s Parliament of Religions; Yogananda; Young,
call cults, sects, spiritual groups, or alternative belief systems.
Brigham.
Already it will be apparent that, faced with such a wide
classification, NRMs will differ greatly from each other, and
BIBLIOGRAPHY
indeed the first generalization that must be made about them
Bach, Marcus. Strange Sects and Curious Cults. New York, 1961.
is that one cannot generalize. One could in fact say that the
Braden, Charles S. These Also Believe: A Study of Modern American
only attribute which all the movements have in common is
Cults and Minority Religious Movements. New York, 1949.
that they have been referred to as new religions. That said,
Clark, Elmer T. The Small Sects in America. Nashville, Tenn.,
however, some trends and some characteristics are shared by
1937; rev. ed., New York, 1949.
some NRMs.
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MILLENNIA-LONG BACKGROUND OF RELIGIOUS DIVERSI-
Western imperialism, and bourgeois capitalism. By the end
TY. From the brochs of the Shetland Isles in the north to Cape
of the 1960s, however, this section of middle-class youth
Sounion’s Temple of Poseidon in the south, and in literature
seemed to be giving up hope of changing the structure of so-
still taught in some schools, there is abundant evidence of
ciety through mobilizing political pressure and organizing
a rich European history of pagan beliefs and practices associ-
demonstrations. They turned instead to an outright rejection
ated with Greek, Roman, Norse, Celtic, and other indige-
of structures and standards, replacing these with the celebra-
nous gods. Christianity entered Europe immediately after
tion of free love. Although the “flower children” were never
the death of Jesus, eventually spreading throughout the en-
as visible in Europe as they were in California, they certainly
tire continent—although it was not until the mid-twelfth
existed, being most obviously evident among segments of
century that it succeeded in supplanting Paganism in Swe-
English, Scandinavian, Dutch, and German culture; howev-
den. In Western Europe, the mushrooming of assorted varie-
er, the sunny Mediterranean coasts of Greece, France, and
ties of Protestants from the fifteenth century to the present
Spain were attracting seekers who intermingled with those
day followed the Reformation. Islam has also played an im-
who had discovered, often with the help of hallucinogenic
portant role in European history: Islamic Spain contained a
drugs, their paths to a new truth or spiritual enlightenment
mostly harmonious multicultural mixture of Muslims, Jews,
in California and/or along the hippie trails of India, Nepal,
and Christians for more than six centuries. Under the Otto-
and Afghanistan.
man Empire, diversity was controlled through the millet sys-
tem, in which relatively autonomous religious communities
Then, during the 1970s, this wave of alternative move-
were ruled by their own religious leaders.
ments was augmented by a conservative backlash and the es-
tablishment of more organized and authoritarian NRMs,
While there have always been new religions emerging
which imposed strict rules, order, and offered clear answers
throughout Europe, there have been periods when these be-
in place of the antinomian laxity of the hippies. At the same
came particularly visible and gave rise to persecution. Early
time, there was the spread of neo-Pentecostal revivalism and
Christian heretics such as the Aryans or Manichaeans were
charismatic renewal. The search for order and certainty was
dealt with on an ad hoc basis, but during the Middle Ages
also apparent in conservative reactions within many tradi-
more institutionalized methods evolved. For example, Cath-
tional churches in opposition to the liberalization of theology
ars were systematically burned at the stake by the Papal In-
and general worldview evidenced, in part, by Vatican II
quisition. Later sectarian communities (including Hutteri-
(1962–1965). By the early 1980s, there existed many hun-
ans, Mennonites, Doukhobors, and Separatists) emigrated to
dreds of groups competing for souls and, frequently, the total
the New World to escape the persecution they suffered in
commitment and financial resources of the young, and, in
different parts of Europe.
some cases the not so young, throughout most of Western
Europe.
While the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries saw
the emergence of various Christian-based groups such as the
There had been a handful of representatives of various
Salvation Army, there also surfaced several esoteric groups
NRMs in at least some parts of Eastern Europe during the
and/or groups of Eastern origin (including Theosophy, An-
1980s and even earlier. These had frequently operated un-
throposophy, Subud, and the Martinus Institute). These
derground (some slipping into Poland, Hungary, and
spread their gnoses to North America and, when American
Czechoslovakia from bases in Vienna). When discovered,
immigration law was liberalized in 1965, several gurus de-
members might be deported or imprisoned; some, including
parted from Europe to find new disciples on the other side
four members of the International Society for Krishna Con-
of the Atlantic.
sciousness (ISKCON), died in jail in the Soviet Union. But
with the arrival of glasnost and perestroika and the eventual
IMMEDIATE HISTORICAL SETTING. During the late 1940s
removal of state-imposed secularism, missionaries from
and early 1950s, there was a widespread concern to “pick up
NRMs and several older religions swarmed into Eastern Eu-
the pieces” in the aftermath of World War II, which had it-
rope. Apart from providing a context within which (and con-
self followed a period of economic depression and high un-
cepts with which) the religiously starved could explore reli-
employment throughout most of the West. By the late
gious ideas and practice spiritual rituals and techniques, the
1950s, Western Europe had, generally speaking, made a re-
movements brought all manner of secular hand-outs: Unifi-
markable recovery. Future prospects seemed hopeful. By the
cationists offered visits to the West and English language les-
middle 1960s, however, there had grown up a new genera-
sons; Scientologists offered communication and purification
tion with a new set of hopes and values. The immediate relief
courses; posters were pasted on walls and lampposts through-
of peace and the relative political and economic stability were
out the region, advertising classes leading to health and
forgotten as it became increasingly obvious that the rosy ex-
wealth and a wide variety of yogic, meditation, and other
pectations of continuing tranquility and prosperity were not
Eastern practices.
being entirely fulfilled. A vociferous group of students in uni-
versities throughout Europe, but especially in England, Ger-
THE RANGE OF MOVEMENTS. Most European countries
many, France, the Netherlands, and Italy, joined the protest-
have produced at least some of their own NRMs. Among
ers of North America in attacking the Vietnam War,
these, the Aetherius Society, Emin Foundation, Exegesis,
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS IN EUROPE
Findhorn, the Jesus Army, the Process, the School of Eco-
though many NRMs may appear alien and/or exotic to Eu-
nomic Science, TOPY, and various esoteric orders associated
ropeans, it is possible to identify a not inconsiderable
with Aleister Crowley (1875–1947) and Gerald Gardener
contribution from Europe that could have “prepared the
(1884–1964) originated in Britain. The Raelians, Aumism,
way” or made the novelties more acceptable to Westerners.
and Roux’s L’Église Chrétienne Universelle were founded in
There is, moreover, a further twist to this growth of cultural
France; the Ananda Ashram in Denmark; Damanhur in
exchange and syncretism: it is sometimes the accretions of
Italy; Dragon Rouge and Livets Ord in Sweden; the Lou
American culture, such as a “happy-clappy” enthusiasm, that
Movement in the Netherlands; and Al-Murabitun in Spain.
the new movements bring across the Atlantic that are most
In Eastern Europe, Vissarion’s Church of the Last Testament
strongly objected to by their European critics.
in Russia, the New Jerusalem in Romania, and Mariya Devi
Mention should also be made of what has come to be
Khristos’ White Brotherhood in Ukraine emerged, or, as in
known by Troeltsch’s term, popularized by Colin Campbell
the case of Duenov’s Brotherhood of Light in Bulgaria, re-
(1972): “cultic milieu.” Many Europeans who would not
emerged. Several Neopagan groups and Wicca covens have
consider themselves to have any connection with an NRM
professed their allegiance to local European gods and god-
do, nonetheless, draw on concepts that owe their origin to
desses in, for instance, the Caucuses, the Baltic, Volga,
Eastern philosophies, often transported through NRMs and
Norse, and Celtic regions. Moreover, several movements
the media—concepts such as reincarnation, for example, are
considered to exhibit sectarian characteristics have arisen
accepted (often with the concept of resurrection) by roughly
within the Roman Catholic Church (Focolare, Communion
one-quarter of Europeans, and many Christians can be
and Liberation, Neocatechumenate, Poland’s Radio Maryja,
found attending yoga and meditation classes that are based
and, although it was founded in 1928, some would include
on religious precepts at variance with traditional interpreta-
Opus Dei).
tions of the New Testament.
The majority of NRMs are, however, not indigenous to
THE SPREAD OF THE MOVEMENTS. All European countries
Europe. Many can be traced to the United States (frequently
play host to some new religions, with a number of geographi-
to California), including offshoots of the Jesus Movement
cal centers such as Glastonbury, Lyons, Turin, St. Peters-
(such as the Children of God, later known as the Family);
burg, and Amsterdam attracting particular genres. Rodney
the Way International; International Churches of Christ; the
Stark (1985) has argued that much of Europe, having experi-
Church Universal and Triumphant (known as Summit
enced more secularization than the United States, is more re-
Lighthouse in England); and much of the human potential
ceptive to NRMs than had been generally assumed, and that
movement (such as est, which gave rise to the Landmark
the more northern, Protestant countries, in which traditional
Forum, and various practices developed through the Esalen
churches are weakest, are the most receptive to alien religions
Institute). Several of the movements came from Asia, mainly
(cults), whereas the more southern, Catholic countries, in
India (Rajneesh; ISKCON; Brahma Kumaris; Divine Light
which conventional religion is stronger, are more likely to be
Mission [later called Élan Vital]; Sathya Sai Baba, Transcen-
receptive to sectarian (revivalist) activity.
dental Meditation; Sahaja Yoga; Ananda Marga; and various
Calculating precise statistics for NRMs and their mem-
practices associated with Tantra, kun:d:alin¯ı, and other types
bership is difficult because definitions as to what is and is not
of yoga), but also from Japan (So¯ka Gakkai; Rissho¯ Kosei
an NRM vary; many movements do not advertise their exis-
Kai; Agon Shu; Mahikari; Tenrikyo¯); Korea (the Unification
tence and may not be recognized for some time; several
Church); and other parts of Asia (Caodaism from Vietnam;
movements are secretive about, or grossly exaggerate, their
Fo Guang from Taiwan; Falun Gong from China). There
membership numbers; and most NRMs, like traditional reli-
are also groups from the Caribbean (Rastafarianism) and Af-
gions, have different levels of membership ranging from an
rica (Cherubim and Seraphim; the Brotherhood of the Cross
inner core to associate members, and each group is liable to
and Star), most of these finding their home among the black
use a different criterion for what comprises membership.
populations residing in Europe. Another development has
Moreover, NRMs frequently gloss over their high turnover
been the growth of a number of Islamic groups (Hizb ut-
rates, counting only converts, not defectors.
Tahrir; the Nation of Islam; Al-Muhajiroun; Murabitun).
It is, however, likely that the number of NRMs in Eu-
Not infrequently, movements with roots in the East
rope is in excess of two thousand, but that most have a rela-
(such as ISKCON) have been introduced to Europe indirect-
tively small membership (occasionally less than a score, with
ly, via the United States. It is, however, noteworthy that sev-
only a handful having more than a thousand members in any
eral of the Eastern religions show the influence of Europeans
one country at any one time). Britain is certainly not repre-
who had traveled to Asia, carrying with them either the
sentative of Europe as a whole, but INFORM had collected
Christian message or, more recently, the language and per-
details about more than 800 different NRMs that were active
spectives of various forms of humanistic psychology and the
in the United Kingdom at some point between 1984 and
human potential movement—a movement that has itself
2004. This number might be doubled if, for example, they
been traced both to the East and to seventeenth- and eigh-
included all New Age and pagan groups as separate entities,
teenth-centuries pietism in the West. Thus it is that, al-
nineteenth-century religions (such as the Jehovah’s Witness-
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS IN EUROPE
6569
es and Mormons), and Buddhist and Hindu groups consid-
in the Tokyo subway by members of Aum Shinrikyo¯ alerted
ered traditional in their countries of origin. Just under half
European governments to dangers not merely to those asso-
(373) of the 806 NRMs were recognizably of Christian ori-
ciated with NRMs, but also to the public at large—a fear that
gin, and by far the largest number of these (171) could most
was confirmed and magnified beyond any previously imag-
easily be classified as some form of Protestantism, with twen-
ined expectation when al-Qa¯Eidah hijackers flew airplanes
ty-seven being related to Catholicism, and twenty to African
into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Septem-
Independent Churches. There were, unambiguously, sixty-
ber 11, 2001, with the fear of “sectarian terrorism” in Europe
six Buddhist, thirty-eight Hindu, forty Muslim, and twelve
becoming firmly established in 2004 with the railway bomb-
Jewish NRMs, and a motley assortment of syncretistic,
ings in Madrid.
Shinto¯, yoga, esoteric, Gnostic, New Age, pagan, shaman,
human potential, Satanic, Spiritualist, UFO, and other
By the end of the 1970s, a loose network of groups,
groups. Altogether INFORM has a record of more than
whose avowed goal was to expose and curtail the activities
three thousand different organizations, including several that
of NRMs, had been established throughout most of the con-
are active elsewhere in Europe. And there are undoubtedly
tinent. Anticult groups were particularly prominent in
many other groups about which INFORM (and most other
France, Germany, and Britain, but there were also individu-
people) are ignorant.
als or small groups actively opposing NRMs in Denmark, the
Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, and elsewhere. Some of these,
REACTIONS TO NRMS. As elsewhere throughout the world,
founded in the mid-1970s, such as FAIR (Family Action In-
NRMs in Europe have been greeted with suspicion and hos-
formation and Rescue—the R being changed to Resource in
tility. Almost without exception, media coverage has been of
1994) in Britain and ADFI (Association de Défense de la
a sensational and negative nature. Headlines have told of
Famille et de l’Individu) in France, organized a number of
mass suicides and murders; bizarre sexual practices; blasphe-
forcible deprogrammings, but by the end of the century these
mous beliefs; brainwashing techniques; kidnapping; decep-
illegal abductions were almost completely stopped in Eu-
tion; broken-hearted parents; political intrigue; exploitation
rope, non-forcible exit counseling having become the pre-
of members; and the vast wealth amassed by leaders.
ferred option. Nonetheless, the number of cult-watching
The intensity and focus of responses to NRMs have var-
groups expanded and these were joined by some in Eastern
ied both between and within the different countries of Eu-
Europe in the 1990s, one of the most active and influential,
rope at different times, each of which started from a different
St. Irinaeus of Lyon Information-Consultation Center, oper-
position—while religious freedom was virtually unchal-
ating under the patronage of the Moscow Patriarchy. In
lenged in Britain, Scandinavia, and the Netherlands, it was
1994, a network of European anticult groups, FECRIS (Féd-
not until 1970 that non-Catholic religions could operate le-
ération Européene des Centres de Recherche et d’Informa-
gally in Spain, and there was state-imposed secularism in
tion sur le Sectarisme), was formed. This network includes
Eastern Europe until the collapse of communism. In the
among its members AGPF (Aktion für Geistige und Psychis-
1970s, the movement that received the most attention was
che Freiheit) in Germany; FRI (Förening Rädda Individen)
the Unification Church, its members being popularly re-
in Sweden; the Polish Family Association; GSK (Gesellschaft
ferred to as “Moonies.” The French displayed concern par-
Gegen Sekten und Kult Gefahren) in Austria; AIS (Asesora-
ticularly about the movement’s political and financial con-
miento e Información sobre Sectas) in Spain; SADK (Schwe-
cerns; the Norwegians about its theological status; the
izerische Arbeitgemeinschaft Destruktive Kulte) in Switzer-
English worried about brainwashing and the break-up of
land; and the Ukrainian National Center of Religious Safety
families; the Germans about social security payments and the
and Help to Victims of Destructive Cults.
possible emergence of a new Hitler Youth movement; while
There also emerged a number of centers run on more
the Finns appeared remarkably unaware of the Unification-
academic lines that were largely the result of scholars reacting
ists in their midst. Another group to be singled out at a rela-
to the selective and sometimes inaccurate information being
tively early stage was Scientology, which has continued to be
disseminated in the media and elsewhere by both the NRMs
met with considerable opposition, especially in Germany and
and their opponents. Among these were CESNUR in Italy,
Belgium. Other NRMs that have frequently hit the headlines
which has a useful Web site (http://www.cesnur.com);
include ISKCON, the Children of God (later known as the
FINYAIR in Sweden; VIK (Center for Information on Reli-
Family), the followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, and the
gion) in Hungary; RENNER (Research Network on New
International Churches of Christ.
Religions) in Denmark, REMID (Religionswissenschaftli-
Whatever the movement in the news, after 1978 almost
cher Medien- und Informationsdienst) in Germany; NRTIC
all media reports referred to the horrific events in Jonestown;
(New Religions Research and Information Center) in Lithu-
but it was not until after the 1994/5 murders and suicides
ania; and INFORM (Information Network Focus on Reli-
of members of the Solar Temple in French-speaking Canada
gious Movements), an information network based at the
and Switzerland and, later, in France itself that “cult-
London School of Economics and supported by the British
associated atrocities” became widely recognized in the Euro-
government and mainstream churches. In Eastern Europe,
pean political scene. Then, in 1995, the release of sarin gas
there had been very little opportunity to study new religions
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS IN EUROPE
before 1990, but some scholars who had been interested in
or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms
the subject have been meeting (with one or two Westerners)
of others,” has formed a more persuasive basis for advocating
since 1991, and by 1995 they had founded ISORECEA (In-
control in one form or another in some European countries.
ternational Association for the Study of Religion in Eastern
and Central Europe), which holds regular conferences and
In 1995, a second government-sponsored report was
has published, mainly through the Polish publishing house
published in France. This contained a list of 173 sectes (in-
Nomos, a number of volumes containing papers about
cluding Anthroposophy, which later (2000) successfully sued
NRMs in post-communist Europe.
the Rapporteur for defamation). This report resulted in 1998
in the establishment of MILS (Interministerial Mission to
Official government interest in NRMs in Europe has,
Fight the Sects), which was replaced in 2002 by MIVI-
unsurprisingly, varied from country to country. There was
LUDES (Interministerial Mission of Vigilance and Fight
not much concern until after the Jonestown incident, and
against Sectarian Deviances). In 1997, a report commis-
even then it was minimal. A number of reports were commis-
sioned by the Belgian government included a list of 189
sioned: both the Germans (1980 and 1998) and the Dutch
movements (including the Quakers and the YWCA, though
(1984) concluded that there was little to worry about that
not the YMCA). This resulted in a law establishing CIAOSN
could not be dealt with by the law as it stood; a French report
(Information and Advice Centre Concerning Harmful Sec-
(1985) expressed more anxiety and included the recommen-
tarian Organizations), which has offered its services, includ-
dation that judges be allowed to give parents the power to
ing access to a now-substantial library, to the public since
extract their adult children from religious organizations, but
2000. Although neither the French nor the Belgian govern-
little action was taken at the time. In England, the Unifica-
ments officially incorporated their lists into law, several
tion Church lost a six-month libel action against the Daily
NRMs have been discriminated against merely because they
Mail (1981) and pressure was put on the Charity Commis-
were on one of the lists. When the Swedish government pub-
sioners to remove the charitable status of two Unification-
lished a report in 1998, its list included all known religions
related organizations, but by 1988 the case had been dropped
in Sweden, including both Satanism and the (then-
due to insufficient evidence.
established) Lutheran Church of Sweden.
In May 1984, the European Parliament adopted a reso-
Other West European governments, including Austria
lution calling for “a common approach by the Member
States of the European Community towards various in-
(1998) and the Swiss Canton of Geneva (1997 and 1999),
fringements of the law by new organizations operating under
have produced reports and/or passed laws that result directly
the protection afforded to religious bodies” (PE 90.562:49).
or indirectly in NRMs either being denied privileges (such
The resolution expressed concern about some of the practices
as registration) that are available to older traditions, or treat-
of the new religions, and listed a number of “criteria [that
ed in some way that distinguishes them from more socially
should] be applied in investigating, reviewing and assessing
acceptable religions.
the activity of the . . . organizations” (PE 90.562:51). The
Appealing to the European Court of Human Rights
supporters of the resolution were in favor of instituting a vol-
(ECHR) is a final option available to NRMs that believe
untary code of practices to be followed by the movements;
their rights have been violated. There are numerous cases in
several of the movements responded that not only did they
which Jehovah’s Witnesses have, on the basis of Article 9,
follow most of the code’s rules anyway, but that any such
won decisions in their favor from the court on issues such
code ought to apply to all religions, not just to the “new”
as child custody, conscientious objection to military service,
ones (which were, furthermore, notoriously difficult to de-
the right to proselytize, the right to gather for worship, and
fine). Further reports for the Council of Europe (1999) and
the right to refuse to participate in ceremonies or activities
two commissioned by the European Parliament (1992 and
(such as bearing arms) that would violate their conscience.
1998) again warned of the need to be alert to the dangers
One of the best-known cases is that of Minos Kokkinakis,
NRMs might pose, but no action was taken.
who had been arrested for proselytism on more than 60 occa-
One of the reasons for government reluctance to intro-
sions. In 1993, the ECHR ruled in his favor and Greece was
duce special legislation to control NRMs has been a concern
ordered to pay both damages and costs. Greece remains,
to observe Article 9 of the European Convention on Human
however, the only European Union country that bans prose-
Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (1950): “Everyone has
lytism under its constitution, and the police can prosecute
the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this
religious communities that operate or build places of worship
right includes freedom to change his religion or belief and
without the permission of both the government and the
freedom, either alone or in community with others and in
Greek Orthodox Church. Another case concerned an Austri-
public or private, to manifest his religion or belief, in wor-
an court’s decision that a mother was “unfit” as a parent be-
ship, teaching, practice and observance.” After the Solar
cause she was one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The ECHR deter-
Temple and Aum Shinrikyo¯ episodes, the Article’s second
mined that “a distinction based essentially on a difference in
clause, which stated “subject only to such limitations as . . .
religion alone is not acceptable,” and custody was returned
are necessary . . . for the protection of public order, health
to the mother.
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS IN EUROPE
6571
Despite the euphoria of celebrating religious freedom
By the start of the third millennium, few, if any, NRMs
after the collapse of communism, by the end of the century
had succeeded in becoming a major player in the European
the majority of Eastern European countries were introducing
religious scene. It is, indeed, arguable that reactions to
laws that curbed the activities of NRMs. These laws have fre-
NRMs are more significant than the movements themselves.
quently been related to registration, which often entails hav-
Taken as a group, new religions have certainly contributed
ing a minimum number of members and a minimum num-
to the growing multiculturalism that is most evidenced in the
ber of years of residency in the country. In 1997, Russia
effects of mass media, migration, and globalization. They are
passed its Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious As-
also playing a significant role in testing limits of tolerance
sociations, in which one of the requirements for registration
and control of minority religions through the legal activities
is documental proof that the organization “has existed over
of several countries and the ECHR. What remains to be seen
the course of no less than fifteen years on the relevant territo-
is the role they may yet have to play in a constantly changing
ry” (Article 11.5). Those religions that do not succeed in get-
Europe, with its expanding economic and political interac-
ting registered may be “liquidated.” In March 2004, the
tions through the pan-European structures that are seen by
Moscow Golovinsky District Court issued an order that the
many to undermine individual identity and the cultural and
local Jehovah’s Witness society be closed down, and numer-
religious heritage of the 47 or so countries of Europe.
ous landlords throughout the country immediately canceled
rental agreements with local congregations.
SEE ALSO Anthroposophy; Anticult Movement; Aum
Shinrikyo¯; Church Universal and Triumphant; Crowley, Al-
THE AGING OF NRMS. While stressing the importance of
eister; Cults and Sects; Falun Gong; Family, The; Interna-
not generalizing about NRMs, there might, nonetheless, be
tional Society for Krishna Consciousness; Jehovah’s Wit-
certain characteristics that some of them tend to share at all
nesses; Jonestown and Peoples Temple; Mormonism;
times and all places merely because they are new and reli-
Nation of Islam; Neopaganism; New Age Movement; Raëli-
gious. One universal fact is that NRMs do not remain new
ans; Rajneesh; Rastafarianism; Satanism; Scientology; So¯ka
forever. With the passage of time, many disappear; a few,
Gakkai; Temple Solaire; Tenrikyo¯; Theosophical Society;
such as the Worldwide Church of God, start to grow then
Transcendental Meditation; Unification Church; Wicca.
shatter into literally hundreds of schisms. Those that survive
exhibit a tendency towards “denominationalization.” Enthu-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
siastic young converts mature and have to devote time and
There are no books dealing systematically with the new religious
money to children who need to be socialized and are quite
movements in Europe as a whole. Much of the American lit-
likely to question the movement’s beliefs and practices.
erature is, however, applicable to the European scene so far
Founders die, and their charismatic authority becomes rou-
as individual movements are concerned, and there are nu-
tinized, making the movement more predictable. Dichoto-
merous collections that include articles on European move-
mous worldviews with sharp distinctions (godly/satanic,
ments, concentrating on particular movements and/or Euro-
true/false, right/wrong, them/us) become modified and,
pean societies. New Religious Movements in the Twenty-First
Century Legal, Political, and Social Challenges in Global Per-

rather than insisting on how different they are from the rest
spective, edited by Phillip Charles Lucas and Thomas Rob-
of society, members begin to stress how normal they are. The
bins. New York and London, 2004. Includes chapters on
host society may become less fearful of the movements, even
NRMs in Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the
accepting them as part of the religious scene. In Britain, for
Baltic States, Russia, and the Caucasus. Eileen Barker and
example, dropouts and former drug addicts from the hippie
Margit Warburg, eds. New Religions and New Religiosity. Aar-
scene who decided to become Krishna devotees can be heard
hus and Oxford, 1998. Contains further chapters on particu-
representing the Hindu community on the BBC. In most of
lar movements and comparisons between the situation in Eu-
Eastern Europe, however, ISKCON continues to be treated
rope and elsewhere. Robert Towler, ed. New Religions and the
as a dangerous cult. Some NRMs, whose techniques, such
New Europe. Aarhus, 1995. With chapters on movements in
as yoga and meditation, appeal to a wide range of Europeans
Lithuania, Romania, Belgium. Helle Meldgaard and Johan-
and have gained sufficient respectability to organize classes
nes Aagaard, eds. New Religious Movements in Europe. Aar-
hus, 1997. With contributions on Greece, Italy, Switzerland,
under the auspices of local authorities, or to provide courses
Ireland, Britain, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Den-
for large corporations and even government departments.
mark, and Scandinavia, as well as some more general com-
LONG-TERM SIGNIFICANCE. It is difficult to assess the long-
parisons. The following countries are featured: Poland, Be-
term significance of NRMs in Europe. New new religions
larus, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, East
continue to emerge, but it must be stressed that only a tiny
Germany. Ukraine and Russia are among the countries that
proportion of those that abandon their commitment to tra-
feature in New Religious Phenomena in Central and Eastern
Europe,
edited by Irena Borowik and Grzegorz Babinski.
ditional religions avail themselves of the new options. Far
Krakow, 1997. Among the many books on European Pagan-
more common in Europe is a “soft secularism,” which turns
ism, a good starting point is Graham Harvey and Charlotte
to religious institutions only at times of crisis or for formal
Hardman’s edited volume Paganism Today: Wiccans, Druids,
rites of passage. Others may claim that they enjoy some kind
the Goddess and Ancient Earth Traditions for the Twenty-First
of spirituality in their lives but that this has little or nothing
Century. London, 1995. For an overview of the New Age, see
to do with any formal religiosity.
Paul Heelas’ The New Age Movement: The Celebration of the
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6572
NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS IN JAPAN
Self and the Sacralization of Modernity. Oxford, 1996, and
Some Japanese new religions since the 1960s have become
Wouter Hanegraaff’s New Age Religion and Western Culture:
international religions with converts in other countries, while
Esotericism in the Mirror of Secular Thought. Albany, 1998.
new religions originating in other countries have made con-
A report on the Satanism scare in Britain is to be found in
verts in Japan. Japans’s new religions are significant in the
Jean La Fontaine’s Speak of the Devil: Tales of Satanic Abuse
history of religions in Japan and are an important part of
in Contemporary England. Cambridge, 1998. Some of the
global pluralism.
darker aspects of occult Europe are explored in Nicholas
Goodrick-Clarke’s Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND. Japanese new religions general-
and the Politics of Identity. New York, 2002. Some excellent
ly fall into one of the following categories: (1) early new reli-
articles on how Europe has responded to the recently increas-
gions, basically Shinto¯ in style of worship but focusing on
ing religious diversity (and other aspects of NRMs) can be
one central deity and incorporating various Buddhist ideas,
read in Challenging Religion, edited by James A. Beckford
and originating before the Meiji restoration of 1868;
and James T. Richardson. London, 2003. Detailed analyses
of legal issues surrounding NRMs in Europe (and elsewhere)
(2) O
¯ moto, whose founders were influenced by the syncretis-
are included in Regulating Religion: Case Studies from Around
tic, eschatological, and spiritualistic movement of that name
the Globe, edited by James T. Richardson, New York and
dating from the 1890s and its offspring; and (3) the Nichiren
Dordrecht, 2004, and in Facilitating Freedom of Religion and
group, a category representing revitalizations of Nichiren
Belief: Perspectives, Impulses and Recommendations from the
Buddhism. But there are all sorts of new religions whose reli-
Oslo Coalition, edited by Tore Lindholm, Bahia Tahzib-Lie,
gious sources are diverse, including Buddhism, Shinto¯, Con-
and W. Cole Durham. Dordrecht, 2004. Numerous refer-
fucianism, Christianity, and others.
ences and contact details can be found in Eileen Barker’s
New Religious Movements: A Practical Introduction. London,
The roots of such movements in Japan lie in the rising
1989. Two books by Grace Davie, Religion in Modern Eu-
popular discontent that marked the Tokugawa shogunate
rope: A Memory Mutates (Oxford, 2000) and Europe: The Ex-
(1600–1868) as it drew to a close. During the entire period
ceptional Case: Parameters of Faith in the Modern World (Lon-
mass pilgrimages to the shrine of the sun goddess, Amatera-
don, 2002), while not focusing specifically on NRMs,
su, at Ise, countryside shamanism, and religious dance rituals
discuss the overall context within which the movements op-
were aspects of popular religion, as were the more decorous
erate. Reference was made in the foregoing article to Rodney
movements associated with moral philosophers, such as Ishi-
Stark’s ideas in “Europe’s Receptivity to Religious Move-
ments,” found in pp. 301–344 of Religious Movements: Gene-
da Baigan (1685–1744), founder of Shingaku (heart learn-
sis, Exodus and Numbers, which Stark himself edited. New
ing), and the “peasant sage” Ninomiya Sontoku (1787–
York, 1985. Colin Campbell was largely responsible for pop-
1856). The moralists reinforced the Confucian values of
ularizing the concept of the cultic milieu through his article
work and obligation that made society function, whereas the
“The Cult, the Cultic Milieu and Secularization” in A Socio-
syncretic “enthusiasts” gave vent to diverse spiritual impulses
logical Yearbook of Religion in Britain 5 (1972): 119–136.
within a nominally regimented Confucian order. Both tasks
E
became more urgent as the Tokugawa regime went into de-
ILEEN BARKER (1987 AND 2005)
cline in the early nineteenth century. In those decades the
early new religions, synthesizing elements of both popular
exuberance and conventional morality, crystallized out of the
NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW
spiritual ferment.
RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS IN JAPAN
The modern era has been a prolific period for new religious
Many of the new religions offered stability by making
movements in Japan. In Japan, scholars define a new religion
pivotal a single example of each type of religious expression
as having most or all of the following attributes:
in popular religion. Each featured one god out of the many
kami and buddhas; one divine teacher and one revelation out
1. Establishment within the last two centuries, usually
of the numerous shamans and visions of the era; one preemi-
characterized by features that suggest a religious re-
nent rite; one religious center and magnet for pilgrimage; one
sponse to the crises of modernity;
scripture; one institution. At the same time, they interpreted
2. A definite moment of establishment and usually a
rapid change by explaining it in familiar eschatological lan-
founder possessing special charisma;
guage: God is hastening the coming of a new divine age.
They helped ordinary people adjust to the ways of the new
3. An important new, distinctive revelation or realization,
civilization through their own adaptations of its schools,
expressed through some novel doctrine and usually at-
bureaucracies, and mass media. At the same time by expect-
tributed to supernatural sources;
ing a definite personal commitment of faith (unlike the tradi-
4. A separate institutional structure;
tional community Shinto¯ shrines and Buddhist temples),
they aided people in meeting the most profound challenge
5. Distinctive rites or practices.
imposed by modernization: taking responsibility for one’s
In Japan, “old” new religions, which appeared before the res-
own life in a changing and pluralistic world. The influence
toration of the Meiji emperor in 1868, are distinguished
of the idea of the holy empire gradually dominated the mil-
from “new” new religions, which originated after 1970.
lennialistic imagination during the first half of the twentieth
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS IN JAPAN
6573
century. Many groups suffered from the strict control of the
being and, compared to later movements, show little real evi-
government because of their deviance from the state system
dence of Western influence.
of emperor worship.
Kurozumikyo¯. The saintly Kurozumi Munetada
After 1945, with the coming of full religious freedom
(1780–1850) founded this movement after a revelation in
and the discrediting of prewar Shinto¯ and Buddhism in the
1814. Kurozumi believed himself possessed by the Shinto¯
eyes of many, the new religions grew mightily for several dec-
sun goddess Amaterasu, whom he identified as the infinite
ades. Most were direct or indirect continuations of prewar
deity. This small but influential movement emphasizes
movements. But they took advantage of the new liberal at-
healthy living, healing, the cultivation of joy, and worship
mosphere to purify their teaching and practice and drew on
of the indwelling divine spirit.
Japan’s burgeoning affluence to build great temples and even
Tenrikyo¯. Tenrikyo¯ (religion of heavenly wisdom) orig-
spiritual cities. In the 1970s and 1980s their rate of growth
inated in 1838, when a farmer’s wife, Nakayama Miki
tended to level off, but the new religions remain important
(1798–1887), was possessed during a shamanistic rite by a
aspects of Japanese society; their total membership was esti-
deity who identified himself to her as the true and original
mated somewhere between 10 to 20 percent of the Japanese
God. Subsequently, this deity, now known to followers as
population in the early twenty-first century.
God the Parent, imparted through Miki healing gifts and re-
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. Common characteristics of the
vealed scripture. Tenrikyo¯ features an account of the Cre-
Japanese new religions include the following:
ation and the performance of a dance ritual that recalls it.
1. Founding by a charismatic figure whose career often re-
Konko¯kyo¯. In 1859 a peasant, Kawate Bunjiro¯ (1868–
calls the shamanistic model; that is, supernatural calling,
1912), felt himself called by the high god Tenchi Kane no
initiatory ordeal, wandering, and oracular deliverances
Kami to a ministry of mediation between the divine and hu-
from the spiritual world. As in Japanese shamanism gen-
mankind. This he did through the Konko¯kyo¯ (religion of
erally, the founder is often female.
golden light), a faith that teaches that God is benevolent and
that offers a practice called toritsugi, in which supplicants re-
2. Tendency toward monotheism or a single, monistic
ceive spiritual counsel from a priest.
source of spiritual power and value. Against the back-
THE O¯MOTO GROUP. The prolific O
¯ moto (great source) new
ground of the spiritual pluralism of popular Shinto¯ and
religions, stemming from the late-nineteenth-century
Buddhism, the new movements set one deity, one
O
¯ moto faith itself, are characterized by a monotheism com-
founder, and one revelation as definitive.
bined with a rich vision of a complex spiritual world from
3. Syncretism, drawing from several strands of religion and
which souls descend into matter, a picture somewhat remi-
culture. The new religions typically embrace Buddhist
niscent of Western Neoplatonism and Gnosticism. They also
doctrine (at least to the extent of inculcating doctrines
have a strong affirmation of immediate and continuing di-
of karma and reincarnation), extol a basically Confucian
vine revelation and an eschatological bent emphasizing an
morality (as well as what is really a neo-Confucian idea
imminent paradisical new age. The influence of Western
of God as supreme principle or unity), and incorporate
Spiritualism, Swedenborgianism, and New Thought is ap-
Shinto¯ styles of worship. At the same time, notions may
parent.
be borrowed from Western Spiritualism, New Thought
O
¯ moto. In 1892 Deguchi Nao (1837–1918), a peasant
(a nineteenth-century movement stressing the power of
woman and member of Konko¯kyo¯ who had experienced
thought to heal and bring success), or evolutionism.
many personal troubles, began to deliver divine oracles. Al-
There is also a strong desire to harmonize the religion
though the messages were initially from the Konko¯kyo¯ deity,
with “modern science.”
Nao left that faith in 1897 and soon thereafter met Ueda
4. The centrality of this world, human beings, and body;
Kisaburo¯ (1871–1948, later Deguchi Onisaburo¯), a mystic
a definite, this-worldly eschatology or millennialism.
and spiritualist whom she believed to be the great teacher her
The new religions usually teach that rapid change is
revelations had predicted would be sent from God. Under
afoot and a divine new age imminent, and they place
him O
¯ moto became a well-organized and rapidly expanding
an emphasis on healing. Indeed most of the new reli-
religion that emphasized the oneness of God, the existence
gions began as spiritual healing movements, only gradu-
of a formative spiritual world behind the material, the tem-
ally developing a full spectrum of doctrine and practice.
porary descent of souls from the spirit realm into the world
Personal experiences by ordinary people are regarded as
of matter, the expression of the divine through art, and the
important, and accounts of religious experiences play
coming of a new age heralded by a great teacher. Onisaburo¯
central roles in their practices.
also devised rites of healing, as had Nao in the early years of
T
the movement. The increasingly totalitarian government
HE EARLY NEW RELIGIONS. The “old” new religions,
which appeared before the Meiji restoration, served as proto-
forced it to disband in 1935. Although it was reorganized in
types and often training grounds for later new religions.
1946, it has never regained its former strength.
They are characterized by a rural background, making an
Seicho¯ no Ie. The founder of Seicho¯ no Ie (literally,
originally Shinto¯ or folk deity into a monotheistic supreme
house of growth), Taniguchi Masaharu (1893–1985), was an
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6574
NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS IN JAPAN
avid reader of Western and Eastern philosophy as a young
unteer teachers. In addition to the usual Nichiren emphases,
man and participated in O
¯ moto for four years. In 1928, by
Reiyu¯kai stresses the importance of ancestor worship, fea-
chance, he discovered a book by the American New Thought
tures quasi-shamanistic faith-healing practices, and has de-
teacher Fenwicke Holmes. This book helped him crystallize
veloped an influential kind of group counseling called hoza
a system of thought that was officially launched as Seicho¯ no
(dharma circle). Reiyu¯kai suffered many difficulties after
Ie in 1930, when Taniguchi began publishing a magazine of
World War II, but by the 1970s the movement was again
that name. Seicho¯ no Ie affirms the perfection and spiritual
an established part of Japanese spiritual life, inculcating con-
nature of all things and denies the reality of matter, suffering,
servative social values.
or evil—one may escape from them through the affirmative
Rissho¯ Ko¯seikai. Many new Nichiren movements
power of mind. It teaches a distinctive form of meditation
arose out of the decentralized, charismatic matrix of
called shinsokan and certain chants.
Reiyu¯kai. By far the most successful was Rissho¯ Ko¯seikai (so-
World Messianity. The founder of World Messianity,
ciety establishing righteousness and harmony), founded in
Okada Mokichi (1882–1955), was an active worker in the
1938 by Niwano Nikkyo¯ (b. 1906) and a housewife, Na-
O
¯ moto faith until 1934, when he felt called to form his own
ganuma Myo¯ko¯ (1889–1957), both former members of
organization. The present name was adopted in 1950. Em-
Reiyu¯kai. Rissho¯ Ko¯seikai includes healing and divination
phasizing the coming of a paradise on earth through an accel-
practices and hoza group counseling; it presents an eclectic
erating inpouring of divine light, World Messianity seeks to
form of Nichiren Buddhism. After World War II, Niwano
prepare the way through a practice called jorei, channeling
attained international recognition for his activity in world-
divine light through a cupped, upraised hand to a body or
wide peace and interreligious organizations.
other object to cleanse it of evil. World Messianity also re-
JAPANESE NEW RELIGIONS AROUND THE WORLD. New reli-
gards art and beauty, including gardens, as precursors of the
gions in Japan were eager to propagate themselves among the
earthly paradise.
Japanese immigrants, but they were rarely successful in re-
THE NICHIREN GROUP. The medieval Buddhist prophet
cruiting foreigners until the 1950s. Exceptions were
Nichiren (1222–1282) started a movement from which most
Tenrikyo¯ in colonial Korea and O
¯ moto in Brazil. But after
important sectarian developments in Japanese Buddhism
the 1960s many new religions started systematically to influ-
have stemmed. Nichiren Buddhism’s fundamental convic-
ence foreigners and experienced some success. In Brazil and
tion is that the Lotus Su¯tra is the supreme and full doctrine;
Korea many groups attracted substantial numbers of follow-
it is worshiped in the form of a man:d:ala, the Gohonzon, by
ers. Seicho¯ no Ie, in particular, claims to have millions of fol-
means of a chant called the Daimoku. Nichiren Buddhism
lowers in Brazil, most of them non-Japanese. In 2003, So¯ka
claims to be the one true Buddhism. It emphasizes the com-
Gakkai claimed more than 1.5 million followers in 186
ing of a spiritual new age and the power of the faith to bring
countries all over the world.
benefits here and now.
NEW NEW RELIGIONS. After around 1970, most of the exist-
So¯ka Gakkai. So¯ka Gakkai was established in 1937 by
ing new religions fell into stagnation. On the other hand,
Makiguchi Tsunesaburo¯ (1871–1944), an educator and con-
some newly organizing new religions, sometimes called “new
vert to Nichiren Sho¯shu¯. He shared the belief of pragmatism
new religions,” gained recognition. Among the fastest grow-
that human benefit is of greater importance than truth re-
ing were Agonshu¯, Su¯kyo¯ Mahikari, and GLA (God Light
garded as an abstract ideal, and he saw a compatible view in
Association). Also, other groups, including the Unification
Nichiren’s emphasis on present attainment of the benefits of
Church and Jehovah’s Witnesses, that were established in
practice. So¯ka Gakkai was reconstructed after World War II
other countries started to grow rapidly in Japan after around
under the dynamic leadership of Toda Jo¯sei (1900–1958)
1970.
and became a highly organized promotional arm of Nichiren
Although most of the older new religions were stagnant
Sho¯shu¯. Whereas its tactics were often criticized, in this peri-
after the 1970s, Shin’nyoen, established in 1936 by Ito Shin-
od it was hailed as the “fastest growing religion in the world,”
jo and his wife Ito Tomoji, was an exception. Their spiritual
claiming by 1960 some 750,000 households. After Toda’s
resources are derived from shamanistic folk religions, mod-
death, leadership passed to Ikeda Daisaku (b. 1928). Empha-
ern spiritualism, and Esoteric Buddhism of the older Bud-
sizing the movement’s cultural and social significance, Ikeda
dhist sect in Japan. They have their own system of shamanis-
founded a related political party, the Ko¯meito¯ (Clean Gov-
tic or spiritualistic mediumship combined with counseling
ernment Party) and otherwise sought to advance the coming
and the Esoteric Buddhist system. In the 1960s they were al-
of the Third Civilization, when true faith would spread over
ready a fairly big organization. They continued to grow in
the world, ushering in an era of peace and plenty.
the later decades and became one of the largest new religions
in the 1980s.
Reiyu¯kai. The oldest major modern Nichiren sect,
Reiyu¯kai (spiritual friends association) was founded in 1925
The 1980s produced a new wave of aggressive move-
by Kubo Kakutaro¯ (1892–1944) and his sister-in-law Kotani
ments, including Kofuku no Kagaku, Aum Shinrikyo¯, and
Kimi (1901–1971), both of humble backgrounds. Essential-
Worldmate. The founders of these new religions were young
ly a lay organization, it depends on informal groups and vol-
and sometimes well educated. In the case of Kofuku no Ka-
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS IN LATIN AMERICA
6575
gaku, the founder graduated from the prestigious University
Dojo: Magic and Exorcism in Modern Japan (Stanford, Calif.,
of Tokyo. In the case of Aum Shinrikyo¯, although the found-
1980); Helen Hardacre’s Lay Buddhism in Contemporary
er, Asahara Sho¯ko¯, did not attend any university, the move-
Japan, Reiyu¯kai Kyo¯dan (Princeton, N.J., 1984), representing
ment attracted many converts who had studied in well-
high-level sociological research; and Delwin Byron Schnei-
known universities and graduate schools. While most active
der’s Konkokyo, A Japanese Religion (Tokyo, 1962). For a
members of the older new religions were middle-aged house-
complete bibliography, see H. Byron Earhart’s The New Reli-
gions of Japan: A Bibliography of Western-Language Materials,

wives, young people are active participants in some new new
2d ed. (Ann Arbor, 1983). Works of detailed study on new
religions.
religions in Japan include Helen Hardacre’s Kurozumikyo¯
One important feature of new new religions is that they
and the New Religions of Japan (Princeton, N.J., 1986) and
are less this-world affirming than older new religions. They
H. Byron Earhart’s Gedatsu-Kai and Religion in Contempo-
tend to emphasize the reality of the other dimensions of the
rary Japan (Bloomington, Ind., 1989). A detailed description
world, and sometimes they segregate themselves from the
of Aum Shinrikyo¯ in English is in Ian Reader, Religious Vio-
lence in Contemporary Japan: The Case of Aum Shinrikyô

outer society. The life after death and the eternal existence
(Richmond, U.K., 2000).
of the human soul is emphasized. In contrast, ancestors and
family are cherished less. The emphasis is on individuality,
ROBERT S. ELLWOOD (1987)
and ritual settings tend to be less interactive and more
SHIMAZONO SUSUMU (2005)
theatrical.
Aum Shinrikyo¯ has committed many crimes, including
the sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subways in 1995, which
NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW
injured over five thousand people and killed twelve. The
RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS IN LATIN AMERICA
founder, Asahara Sho¯ko¯, was sentenced to death in 2004. As-
Latin American societies have fostered an abundance of reli-
ahara, born in 1955, was a member of Agonshu¯ around
gious revitalization movements since the early colonial peri-
1980, but, influenced by Tibetan Buddhism, he practiced
od. Ongoing religious ferment and innovation in
Yoga meditation much more intensely. Gradually he became
Iberoamerican contexts has often been interpreted as an
an independent religious leader and claimed to have achieved
adaptive response to such conditions as land dispossession,
the last stage of spiritual emancipation. In the late 1980s he
widespread poverty, racialized social systems, acculturative
started to kill members who wanted to defect and those
processes, political instability, and the demands of nation-
whom he assumed to be enemies. Then, in the 1990s, he em-
building. Explanations of these movements must also consid-
phasized that Armageddon was coming soon and that to sur-
er the fact that religious systems have long played central
vive Japan and the whole world had to change. After the sub-
roles in constructing and critiquing the social order in Latin
way sarin gas attack in 1995, not only Aum Shinrikyo¯ but
America. Since remote antiquity, the indigenous peoples of
other new religions were viewed critically as “cults.”
the Americas have fashioned highly adaptive cultures cen-
New religions in early twenty-first-century Japan are less
tered on mystical cosmologies that encompass all aspects of
powerful compared with the latter half of the twentieth cen-
life and natural relationships. The Spanish and Portuguese
tury, which is characterized as the period that started with
colonizers, and the later independent states, espoused forms
the amazingly rapid growth of new religions and ended with
of governance and culture rooted in an almost hermetically
catastrophic trauma for new religions as a whole.
Catholic conception of social life. The encounters of these
religious influences, in the context of severe social circum-
SEE ALSO Aum Shinrikyo¯; Konko¯kyo¯; Kurozumikyo¯;
stances and frequently shifting political orders, create fertile
Nichirenshu¯; O
¯ motokyo¯; Reiyu¯kai Kyo¯dan; Rissho¯
conditions for symbolic change and religious mobilization.
Ko¯seikai; So¯ka Gakkai; Tenrikyo¯.
In his seminal 1956 work on revitalization movements,
Anthony Wallace proposed that the process of religious revi-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
talization involves an effort by a segment of a society to re-
Several books accessible to the general reader on the new religions
solve incommensurability between existing religious formu-
of Japan can be recommended, including H. Neill McFar-
lations and changing perceived realities. From this
land’s The Rush Hour of the Gods (New York, 1967), a well
perspective, prophets function as diagnosticians who resyn-
researched, sometimes critical overview; Clark B. Offner and
Henry van Straelen’s Modern Japanese Religions (Leiden,
thesize religious knowledge and address sociocultural stress-
1963), a careful study emphasizing healing practices; and
es. This article surveys the nature of Latin American revital-
Harry Thomsen’s The New Religions of Japan (Rutland, Vt.,
ization movements through four empirical varieties of
1963), a lively survey. Among accounts of particular religions
movement activity:
are Kenneth J. Dale and Akahoshi Susumu’s Circle of Har-
(1) Indigenous nativisms and utopias;
mony (Tokyo, 1975) on the hoza (group counseling) proce-
dures of Rissho¯ Ko¯seikai; James Allen Dator’s So¯ka Gakkai,
(2) Folk-saint movements;
Builders of the Third Civilization (Seattle, Wash., 1969), a
(3) Spiritist cults;
substantial sociological study; Robert S. Ellwood’s Tenrikyo,
A Pilgrimage Faith
(Tenri, Japan, 1982); Winston Davis’s
(4) Protestant-related religious movements.
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS IN LATIN AMERICA
Burgeoning Protestant recruitment since the 1970s accounts
search for an ideal age through the creation of an indigenous
for the fastest rate of religious change that Iberoamerica has
saint, the indigenous Christ, and an Indian mother of God,
experienced since the introduction of Catholicism.
sprang from Mayan yearnings for cultural and economic self-
INDIGENOUS RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS. From the Amazon to
determination. Oracular flint cults have ancient roots in
the deserts of northern Mexico, the impact of European con-
Mayan religions. But, as with similar movements, the sym-
tact and modern state–minority relations have precipitated
bolic solution proposed by the prophet incorporated non-
dramatic religious responses among indigenous peoples. The
indigenous elements in an effort to exercise control over the
most common variety of indigenous religious movement is
Indians’ acculturative realities.
nativism, a belief in the return of an idealized native culture
Amazonian nativistic movements tend to exhibit defi-
or age, as exemplified in the nineteenth-century Ghost
nite millenarian traits. Tukanoan, Arawakan, and Tupí-
Dance of the Plains Indians. However, the imagined past
Guaraní peoples of the Amazonian lowlands have an exten-
usually reflects some blending of symbolic elements that re-
sive record of nativistic activity. Some movements have led
sults from acculturative processes. Historically, armed rebel-
to insurgency under messianic leadership, occasionally by an
lions have frequently followed nativistic prophecies and ritu-
outsider, as in the Chamulan revolt. Perhaps the best-known
als. As one might expect, native movements that involved
millenarian cases from this region are the so-called “Land
uprisings produced the richest archival evidence. Such move-
Without Evil” movements of colonial Brazil. During the six-
ments generally represent attempts to intensify and defend
teenth and seventeenth centuries, Tupí-Guaraní believers
ethnic boundaries and to symbolically mediate (often
migrated great distances across South America, following the
through syncretism) between the religion and social-status
revelations of marginal shaman-prophets (caraís), men some-
system of a minority group and those of dominant society.
times identified with Catholic supernaturals. The pilgrims’
Mexican indigenous societies have produced some of the
goal was to reach a utopian land where they would find
most famed examples of nativistic movements. Prominent
peace, immortality, and safety from the mass die-offs of na-
among these are the Chiapanec Mayan cults and rebellions
tive peoples caused by European diseases plaguing the Portu-
of Cancuc (1712) and Chamula (1867–1870), the Yucatec
guese-dominated coastal regions. Michael Brown’s 1991 eth-
Mayan Caste War movement of the Talking Cross of the
nohistorical study of Amazonian millenarian movements
mid-1800s, Yaqui and Mayo millenarian movements of the
suggests that cultural blending and hierarchical shifts within
late nineteenth century, and the Great God Engineer cult of
these movements point to an internal cultural critique, as
the Oaxacan Chinantec of the 1970s. The Chinantec cult
well as a reaction against external forces. Movement adepts
arose in response to the Mexican government’s proposal to
may view their cultural systems as lacking in certain adaptive
relocate peasants in order to build a dam for commercial ag-
powers and may attempt, through religious means, to adopt
riculture.
certain aspects of the majority cultural tradition that they re-
The movement centered on the town of Chamula, in
gard as more efficacious.
the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, resulted in a revolt
Andean indigenous cosmologies possess a millenarian
known as Cuscat’s War, or the War of Saint Rose. It exem-
strain expressed in the notion of the pachacuti, a divinely
plifies the themes of resistance and religious blending of
caused upheaval or change in era. Since colonial times, mem-
many nativistic movements. The cult was a response to 350
bers of Kechwa (Inca) nativistic movements have awaited the
years of domination by regional elites and rising pressures
return of Inkarri, a mythical Inca ruler executed by the Span-
within Mayan communities resulting from Mexico’s recently
ish. Though decaptitated, Inkarri’s body continued to grow
promulgated liberal laws, which aimed at breaking up all
inside the earth. Andean messianic tradition holds that he
land corporations. A Chamulan prophet, Pedro Díaz Cuscat,
will liberate Peru’s indigenous peoples by reestablishing the
declared himself to be an Indian priest, and he donned a
pre-Conquest Inca state and civilization. Perhaps the most
Catholic priest’s garb after three obsidian oracle stones began
renowned movement based on this tradition was that led in
to speak through his niece. Cuscat established an altar with
1780 to 1781 by José Gabriel Condorcanqui, or Túpac
a deity’s image, declaring his niece to be the mother of the
Amaru II, a descendant of the Inca emperor Huayna Cápac.
god. The movement attracted throngs of Maya, and the cult
He led more than 20,000 Kechwa peasants into armed rebel-
center became an important marketplace. Cuscat revealed
lion against Spanish abuses in the Andes. Followers regarded
that the Maya should reject worship before any ladino (Euro-
him as a legitimate Inca ruler with a corresponding semi-
Mexican) sacred images. He presided over the crucifixion of
divine nature. Túpac Amaru rebels were unable to take the
a Mayan boy on Good Friday of 1868. Ladino authorities,
ancient Incan capital of Cusco, and the movement waned.
worried about a possible Mayan revolt, imprisoned Cuscat
The colonial administration executed Túpac Amaru II and
for a brief period. The following year, a mestizo militarized
members of his family in 1781.
cult followers and was executed for leading a failed assault
on San Cristóbal, the region’s seniorial city. Cuscat raided
Even when nativistic groups were not engaging in mili-
ladino properties up until 1870, when he died and the move-
tary activities, as in some Amazonian cases, governments
ment faded. Some features of modern-day Chamulan ritual
often regarded them as politically threatening. A prophet
still show the influence of the Cuscat cult. The nativistic
might urge followers to alter their economic behavior or to
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS IN LATIN AMERICA
6577
criticize governmental legitimacy. For instance, in the Ve-
larly, a millenarian thaumaturge in the mountains of the
nancio Christo movement of the northwest Amazon, from
Dominican Republic, Olivorio Mateo, died leading hun-
1857 to 1858, the prophet revealed that his tribal followers
dreds of his chiliastic rural followers in their defense against
should not perform any labor for whites. He also prophesied
government attacks on their camps around 1916.
that whites who did not heed his message would be obliterat-
Recruitment to the Brazilian colonies was promoted by
ed. Missionaries were excluded by Venancio’s creation of a
a long-standing fervent millenarian brand of folk-Catholic
ministerial corps bearing saints’ names to confer the sacra-
belief common among the Serta˜o region’s peasants. The re-
ments. Consequently, the Brazilian government vigorously
public at the turn of the century began to encourage the
persecuted the movement. Violent state suppression of vari-
breakdown of patron-client ties between landholders and
ous kinds of prophetic groups has been common in many
peasants through the sale of land and contractual labor poli-
Latin American countries.
cies. Severe droughts produced widespread destitution and
FOLK-SAINT MOVEMENTS. Since the 1870s, Latin American
hunger, along with loss of access to cultivable land and food
peasantries have produced several messianic movements and
redistribution. Peasants believed that their protective patron-
prophetic holy cities based upon a folk-Catholic worldview,
client ties were divinely ordained. Thus, the sacred order ap-
folk-saint cults, apocalypticism, and oppositional ideologies.
peared to be in upheaval, requiring an apocalyptic restora-
Folk Catholicism is a religious worldview associated primari-
tion under a new, saintly patron. Historical evidence points
ly with the poor. It focuses on practical solutions and thau-
to peasant seekers’ desire to join the colonies in order to es-
maturgy over other-worldly salvational issues. Folk saints are
cape banditry, to acquire a livelihood and food, and to find
individuals whom folk-Catholic practitioners, rather than
personal religious reform.
the hegemonic Roman Catholic Church, regard as charged
A contemporary millenarian colony has existed in Mi-
with saintliness in both life and death. The holiness of the
choacán State, Mexico, since 1973. Nueva Jerusalén origi-
folk saint is judged by his or her willingness to suffer vicari-
nated in a movement centered on millenarian apparitions of
ously, and by his or her readiness to use divine gifts for mi-
the Virgin of the Rosary to a peasant seer, Gabina Romero
raculous healing, giving counsel, and interpreting mystical
(d. 1981). The Virgin announced that the world would end
signs in order to aid the believer. Folk-saint cults using doc-
before the year 2000, and that the Catholic hierarchy had
trinal revelation through a medium have shown considerable
lost its legitimacy. She requested a special community where
potential to evolve into sectarian organizations.
she could live in body and soul and save the world. Gabina
The holy city of Joaseiro do Norte, today a large city
took the Virgin’s message to Father Nabor Cárdenas, a local
in the northeast Brazilian state of Ceará, began as a secular
parish priest whom the Virgin had designated as her “chosen
hamlet of the same name. In 1889 Father Cícero Roma˜o Ba-
son.” Father Nabor, also called “Papá,” founded the colony,
tista was distributing Ash Wednesday communion in the
became a charismatic leader, and renounced the post–
town when a host shed blood on the tongue of a young laun-
Vatican II church. The Virgin gave ongoing messages to Ga-
dress, Maria de Araújo. Thousands of impoverished north-
bina and her successor medium, building up the colony’s
eastern Brazilians poured into the town, drawn by the mirac-
doctrine and highly stratified social structure. Residents and
ulous sign and the saintly reputations of Father Cícero and
pilgrims spun miracle stories about seer and prophet over the
Maria. Maria revealed that Joaseiro would be the ark of salva-
years. Gabina became the Virgin’s chosen handservant, the
tion to protect humanity from the punishing hand of God.
holiest woman on earth. The Virgin made Father Nabor the
Father Cícero was suspended by his bishop for preaching his
acting head of the church and declared that he is incapable
millenarian notion that the shedding of Christ’s blood in the
of intentionally offending God.
latter days at Joaseiro represented a second redemption. The
Nueva Jerusalén’s population of mostly peasants
colony’s population reached 15,000 by 1910. Even in death,
reached nearly 5,000 in the early 1980s, and currently stands
Father Cícero continues to enjoy a reputation as a thauma-
at about 3,100 members. The sect’s beliefs are rooted in Fa-
turge and national hero.
ther Nabor’s interpretation of apocalyptic varieties of the
Catholic Traditionalist movement, combined with elements
Joaseiro was preceded by the colony of Império do Belo
of Mexican folk Catholicism. Traditionalists hold that the
Monte (Canudos) of the folk saint and prophet Antonio
post–Vatican II church is in apostasy. As Nueva Jerusalén is
Conselheiro. In the1880s, Conselheiro (or Good Jesus, as his
believed to be the remnant Catholic Church in the latter
followers called him) preached the condemnation of the new
days, its bureaucracy replicates various religious orders for
Republican government of Brazil and led revivalistic folk-
priests, monks, and a convent of about 400 nuns. Lay resi-
Catholic services in the impoverished backlands of northeast
dents are ranked in quasi-monastic groups with an ascetic
Brazil. A holy city of perhaps 5,000 followers sprang up in
lifestyle. Ritual participation, penance, and work life are in-
the region. The colony’s professed belief that the republic
tensive and tightly regulated.
was ungodly and that the monarchy should return prompted
a military siege of the city. Conselheiro died during the at-
Recruits joined the colony with many of the same moti-
tacks, most of the male defenders were massacred, and gov-
vations as the Brazilian followers. Mexican peasants in the
ernment militias captured a large number of prisoners. Simi-
1970s were under rising pressure due to increasing produc-
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS IN LATIN AMERICA
tion costs, poor and inadequate land, and government efforts
century French educator, Allan Kardec, regarding human
to connect rural producers to agribusiness. These factors pro-
contact with the spirit world.) These therapeutic new reli-
moted many peasants’ availability to migrate to the colony.
gious movements (NRMs) are usually diffuse, have no folk
In addition, ethnographic research on the colony shows a
saints, and draw upon folk-Catholic traditions. Spiritualist
strong pattern of interest in personal reform among men,
healing, centered on temples and mediums, witnessed an up-
with women acting as key agents in their sons’ and husbands’
swing in popularity in Latin American societies during the
recruitments. The folk-saint colony functions as a total insti-
early twentieth century. Theosophical spirituality has con-
tution where personal problems are formulated entirely in
tributed to the rise of a number of healing movements, such
mythological and ritual terms. The highly structured, world-
as the Mexican Espiritualismo Trinitario Mariano (Marian
rejecting lifestyle of the colony’s elect strongly supports per-
Trinitarian Spiritualism). Umbanda is among the most stud-
sonal change and discourages recidivism after conversion.
ied of the spiritist movements.
Nueva Jerusalén’s millenarian teachings do not appear to
have played a significant role in most peasants’ recruitments,
Umbanda (an invented term) is essentially an eclectic
although they do underwrite the colony lifestyle that many
audience cult. Men of the business and upper classes in Brazil
recruits found attractive.
started the movement in the 1920s by melding Kardecism,
aspects of Catholic teaching, and Afro-Brazilian Candomblé,
El Niño Fidencio is perhaps the most successful folk-
a creolized spirit-possession tradition centered on the wor-
saint healer in Latin American history. José Fidencio de Jesús
ship of Yoruban deities, called orixás (orishas). The syncret-
Síntora Constantino, a ranch worker in northern Mexico, re-
ization became part of an effort to forge a distinctively Brazil-
ceived visions of Christ and God the Father instructing him
ian spiritual tradition that could sidestep allegedly backward
to cure the sick. Between 1925 and his death in 1938, his
black ethnic religion and Catholic dogma, both of which
healing ministry attracted tens of thousands of pilgrims to
were considered inappropriate for modernizing whites and
the desert site of Espinazo, Nuevo León. Fidencio combined
mulattos. Umbanda temples, or terreiros, now exist by the
spiritualist techniques and beliefs with those of folk-Catholic
thousands in major Brazilian cities. It has been estimated that
curanderismo (the Mexican folk health-care system). A line
at least 60 percent of adult Brazilians, most of whom identify
of trained mediums, mostly women, have ensured that he
as Catholics, consult with Umbanda mediums. The move-
could continue to work after his death through spirit posses-
ment has indeed become a national religious tradition.
sion. Networks of El Niño’s devotees are spread throughout
Umbanda takes a variety of forms that may be arranged
Mexico and U.S.-Mexican communities. In July 1993 the
along a continuum, from the most Candomblé-like appear-
Mexican government registered an independent religious as-
ance to the most Kardecist. All Umbanda varieties focus on
sociation derived from the cult, the Iglesia Fidencista Cris-
spiritualist notions of charity and spirit consultation as a
tiana. The new church is an unusual example of an institu-
means of aiding the living. The most Kardecist form is some-
tionalized, officially recognized folk-saint movement, for
times referred to as Umbanda Pura or Umbanda Branca.
most of these cults remain diffuse and noncorporate in char-
Mediums wear white spiritist robes, and African orishas, or
acter. The Fidencista Church employs its own adaptation of
deities, are shunned. However, the term orixás is used gener-
the Novus Ordo Catholic mass, containing references to
ally in Umbanda to denote the spirits. Umbanda’s creators
spiritualist beliefs and the supremacy of Fidencio in the spirit
introduced spirits of Brazilian political and other historical
world. More than 600 mediums are said to be registered with
luminaries, masculine Amazonian Indians (caboclos), and
the church in both Mexico and the United States. Unaffili-
wise black slaves (pretos velhos). A panoply of spirits has
ated mediums and devotees still constitute the overwhelming
grown over the decades to include people from many walks
majority of followers. Like Fidencio himself, they consider
of life, each with his or her own personal history, known spe-
their identity to be simply Catholic.
cialties, and favorite ritual offerings. The terreiro is headed
Another large Mexican folk-saint movement was that of
by a master medium, called a mother of the saint (ma˜e de
Teresa Urrea, known as the Saint of Cabora, who was active
santo) or a father of the saint (pa˜e de santo). A believer identi-
between 1889 and 1906 in the Arizona-Mexico border re-
fies a spirit with whom she or he wishes to consult for a reme-
gion. Teresa was famed for her ability to heal miraculously
dy, then approaches a medium in trance. The spirit will often
with mixes of dirt, oil, and saliva. “Long live the Saint of Ca-
prescribe a ritual involving such features as number symbol-
bora” became a rallying cry in nativistic, millenarian revolts
ism or food offerings to keep trickster spirits (exús) at bay.
among the Rarámuri and the Mayo in 1891 and 1892. Fear-
An offering is left for the temple. Head mediums compete
ful of her reputation, the regime of Porfirio Díaz banished
for clients in Brazil’s libertarian religious environment, mak-
her to Arizona, where she continued to heal until her death
ing the terreiro an unstable enterprise.
in 1906.
The spirit possession cult of María Lionza in Venezuela
SPIRITIST CULTS. Latin American movements oriented
strongly resembles Umbanda. María Lionza also originated
around the mystical provision of health and advice often
in the early twentieth century as part of an effort to invent
show strong roots in Kardecist spiritualism. (Kardecist beliefs
a national image rooted partly in imagery of an indigenous
and practices stem from the teachings of the nineteenth-
past. The principal spirit being, María Lionza, is symbolized
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS IN LATIN AMERICA
6579
under two representations: as a nude Indian girl, Yara, who
that prevents the nonbeliever from making prudent lifestyle
straddles a tapir, and as María, a girl dressed in the style of
decisions and becoming a prosperous wage-earner or entre-
the Virgin Mary. Other spirits include Simón Bolívar, the
preneur.
spirit-doctor and folk hero José Gregorio Hernández (now
in the process of canonization), and other prominent Vene-
The growth of evangelical Protestantism, Mormonism,
zuelans. Mount Sorte in María Lionza National Park, near
and the Jehovah’s Witnesses as a whole is supported by an
Caracas, serves as the focal point for pilgrimages and is be-
ascetic ethic that rejects the male prestige complex of heavy
lieved to be an ancient indigenous sacred site. Clearly, Um-
alcohol consumption and sexual conquests, along with secu-
banda and María Lionza originated as symbolic resources for
lar entertainments in general. Women’s interests in domesti-
shaping and celebrating emerging national identities.
cating their husbands and sons thus drive much of the expan-
sion. Pentecostal congregations in Brazil and elsewhere draw
PROTESTANT RELIGIOUS CHANGE. The spectacular growth
strong distinctions between the folk-Catholic male domain
of Protestant-related faiths in Latin America is now the sub-
of the street and the household. Male Pentecostal converts
ject of a large body of scholarly publications. In the twentieth
in Brazil are said to change from being “kings of the street”
century such groups as the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Church
to “masters of the house.” Protestant emphases on work, fru-
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Baptists, and Presbyteri-
gality, marital fidelity, and financial security of the family
ans have become firmly established in every Latin American
helps converts to maintain personal health and to accumulate
country, and over half of all Protestant members practice
assets. Although women do not usually acquire ministerial
some type of Pentecostal worship. In most cases, U.S. Protes-
status within these churches, neither do they escape a patriar-
tant missionaries helped to establish these groups early on.
chal social system, but they do welcome the investments that
Later, new churches developed authochtonous leadership
a man makes in his household as a result of his conversion.
and adapted their worship to local cultures. For instance, two
Women also receive treatment as spiritual equals in the
Swedish Americans founded the first Pentecostal church in
churches, because they have the gift of the Spirit, give testi-
Brazil in 1910, Assambléias de Deus. The church has long
monials, and serve in congregational ministries. In Me-
since become totally Brazilian in its hierarchy and operation.
soamerican and Andean indigenous communities, evangeli-
Migrants to the United States often have imported Pentecos-
cal or Mormon frugality and the rejection of Catholicism
tal or other Protestant models for building native churches.
enable converts to abandon systems of ritual obligation, such
In 1914 Romana Valenzuela established the first Mexican
as the fiesta system, that hinder the accumulation of capital.
Pentecostal church in Chihuahua State, following her con-
Thus, studies of non-Catholic conversion are contributing
tact with William Seymour’s Azusa Street Mission. Her Igle-
ethnographic perspectives towards the critique of Max
sia Apostólica de la Fe en Cristo Jesús had grown to 130 con-
Weber’s thesis linking the the capitalist ethic to the rise of
gregations by 1944. Mexico’s largest Protestant church is
Protestant values.
Iglesia de La Luz del Mundo (Light of the World), founded
by a prophet from Guadalajara in the 1920s. The church has
An interesting counterpoint to Pentecostal recruitment
charismatic leadership and a sectarian colony organizational
rates is the fact that Pentecostal churches tend to have the
model, with colonies in various parts of central and eastern
highest apostasy rates of all Latin American Protestant
Mexico. La Luz del Mundo has expanded into the United
churches. The drop-out rate results partly from tension with
States, carried by missionaries and Mexican immigrants.
the broader society and stringent behavioral and commit-
ment norms. Congregants may be expected to attend long,
Pentecostal churches have several features that substan-
ecstatic evening worship services twice a week, producing
tially enhance their appeal among masses of folk Catholics.
burn-out and lack of moral compliance, particularly for
Pastors require little or no formal education in the ministry,
males. Thus, most Pentecostal groups rely on constant prose-
and most possess class and cultural backgrounds similar to
lytization for replacement and sustained growth.
those of their working-class congregants. Pentecostal wor-
ship is ecstatic, involving a heightened emotional style
Latin American Pentecostalism may be understood as
through the use of glossolalia (speaking in tongues), lively
a largely endogenous movement, generated out of a folk-
music, liturgical dancing, and testimonials. Pentecostal
Catholic milieu. Since folk Catholicism is a practical reli-
churches are mostly local, independent congregations rooted
gious variety that places high value on thaumaturgy, Pente-
in oral tradition. Pentecostals see the causes of illness largely
costal claims do not fundamentally break from the dominant
in the folk-Catholic terms of negative spiritual forces, such
religious worldview of the poor. Latin American Pentecostal-
as witchcraft, which only the Holy Spirit can banish. Most
ism entails a redirecting of folk-Catholic belief. Nonetheless,
Pentecostal converts are attracted by promises of miraculous
Pentecostal and other non-Catholic groups significantly dif-
cures, something of great importance in an impoverished en-
fer from surrounding society in the formation of corporate
vironment. They often remain because they either witness or
structures. Corporateness is marked and reinforced by a sense
receive a miraculous healing. Brazil’s largest Pentecostal (or
of spiritual election, signalled by glossolalia and baptism of
neo-Pentecostal) church, Edir Maçedo’s Universal Church
the Spirit in Pentecostalism. Evangelicals often refer to them-
of the Kingdom of God, specializes in exorcising Umbanda
selves as creyentes or crentes (believers), distinguishing them-
orishas. The spirits are believed to cause mental confusion
selves from the dominant Catholic milieu. Church structures
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6580
NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS IN LATIN AMERICA
exert needed social pressure for healing the social illnesses as-
mittees to resolve long-standing religious conflicts in his
sociated with the male prestige complex and maintaining
state, which has the largest non-Catholic population in Mex-
separation from worldliness. Dense internal networks of be-
ico. In recent years, Mexican Pentecostals have begun to dis-
lievers and tithing provide members with security, the faith
cuss the formation of local evangelical political parties.
that their investment in the church will mystically give them
Protestant ideology and organization are highly adaptive
a return of health and prosperity. Such features are largely
in both rural and urban environments. The Protestant work
absent in spirit cults and folk Catholicism, whose practition-
ethic and its associated asceticism enable followers to gain
ers do not profess a clear break with worldly behaviors.
some upward mobility and to foster a sense of well-being and
Political adaptations of Protestant groups are far from
cooperation. Latin American societies will continue to en-
uniform in Latin America. Major denominations have
gender a wide range of spiritual traditions in response to the
formed political associations at the national level to defend
rapid socioeconomic and cultural changes sweeping the
their interests. Unlike the mainline Protestant churches, the
region.
majority of Pentecostal congregations are small and marginal
For five centuries, movements of religious change in
and have no bureaucracies to represent them before the state.
Latin America have generated remarkably wide-ranging
In Mexico and other countries with histories of hostility to-
blends of native and exogenous religious influences. The re-
wards Protestants, Pentecostals are often vulnerable to perse-
vitalization process has served as a potent means of defending
cutions and discrimination by government and the general
indigenous cultures, advancing political ideologies, restoring
populace. In Chiapas State, Mexico, Maya traditionalists and
health, and bringing hope to the marginalized in the region.
folk Catholics have forcibly expelled large numbers of Protes-
Thus, new religious activities among Latin American peoples
tants from Chamula. In recent years, the Mexican govern-
richly illustrate the dynamic nature of their cultures and
ment considered a measure, backed by the country’s Catholic
identities.
bishops, that would have excluded any church having less
than 1.5 percent of the national population from being rec-
SEE ALSO Afro-Brazilian Religions; Kardecism; Pentecostal
ognized officially as a religious association. Obviously, this
and Charismatic Christianity; Spiritualism; Yoruba Religion.
would rule out most Mexican Pentecostal groups.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
In Brazil and Mexico, Pentecostal pastors may seek to
Annis, Sheldon. God and Production in a Guatemalan Town. Aus-
forge patron-client ties with powerful political figures, ex-
tin, Tex., 1987. A widely cited study of Protestant conver-
changing votes for “God’s candidate” for material improve-
sion and its effects on peasant household economics.
ments for their congregants. Bargaining of this sort often
Barabas, Alicia M. “Chinantec Messianism: The Mediator of the
leads to public controversy. La Luz del Mundo has courted
Divine.” In Western Expansion and Indigenous Peoples: The
the Mexican official party, the Partido Revolucionario Insti-
Heritage of Las Casa, edited by Elías Sevilla-Casas,
pp. 221–254. The Hague, 1977. An in-depth study of the
tucional (PRI), bringing party officials to their mother colo-
Great God Engineer nativistic movement in Oaxaca, Mexi-
ny in Guadalajara. Pentecostal members are likely to hold
co, a reaction to a development project.
that divine blessings accrue to the church from working
Barabas, Alicia M. Utopías indias: Movimientos sociorreligiosos en
within a system of political patronage. By contrast, progres-
México. Mexico City, 1989. An excellent ethnohistorical
sive Catholic groups, such as the Base Ecclesial Communi-
compendium of Mexican indigenous religious movements
ties, attempt to improve conditions for the poor through di-
from the Spanish Conquest to the 1970s.
rect confrontation and political activism. Pentecostal
Bastian, Jean-Pierre. “The Metamorphosis of Latin American
ideology deemphasizes political activism in part because of
Protestant Groups: A Sociohistorical Perspective.” Latin
a fundamentalist scriptural orientation, supporting the no-
American Research Review 28 (1993): 33–62.
tion that secular authorities are divinely sanctioned. Their
Bowen, Kurt Derek. Evangelism and Apostasy: The Evolution and
viewpoint derives in large measure from their reading of Ro-
Impact of Evangelicals in Modern Mexico. Montréal and Buf-
mans 14:1–2.
falo, N.Y., 1996. One of the most complete studies of re-
cruitment and attrition in Latin American Pentecostal envi-
Pentecostal orientation towards political participation
ronments.
with other Protestants is changing somewhat in response to
Bricker, Victoria Reifler. The Indian Christ, the Indian King: The
economic hardship and political crises. In Chiapas, the win-
Historical Substrate of Maya Myth and Ritual. Austin, Tex.,
ner of the gubernatorial election of 2000 was the indepen-
1981. Several Mayan religious movements are explored in
dent candidate, Pablo Salazar Mendicuchia, a lawyer with a
this volume, including the War of St. Rose and the Talking
Presbyterian and Nazarene family background. He ran on a
Cross cult. A major source on Maya religion and worldview.
platform critical of governmental neglect of indigenous
Brown, Diana DeG. Umbanda: Religion and Politics in Urban Bra-
rights and failure to resolve the guerrilla conflict in the state.
zil. New York, 1994. A detailed study of the origins, evolu-
Salazar was backed by Presbyterians, Nazarenes, Baptists,
tion, and structure of Umbanda varieties. Includes a case
and the Assemblies of God, as well as the liberal and influen-
study of Umbanda practice in Rio de Janeiro.
tial Catholic bishop, Samuel Ruiz. The first Protestant Mexi-
Brown, Michael F. “Beyond Resistance: A Comparative Study of
can governor, Salazar has created effective ecumenical com-
Utopian Renewal in Amazonia.” Ethnohistory 38 (1991):
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NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS IN LATIN AMERICA
6581
388–413. Provides new insights into the ways in which Ama-
graphic analysis of recruitment and conversion to Pentecos-
zonian indigenous movements not only express protest, but
talism among the highland Maya. Evans examines the roles
also critique sociocultural features in tension within their
of the recovery of mysticism and the progressive Catholic
own societies.
clergy’s influence in Pentecostal growth.
Brusco, Elizabeth E. The Reformation of Machismo: Evangelical
Finkler, Kaja. Spiritualist Healers in Mexico: Successes and Failures
Conversion and Gender in Colombia. Austin, Tex., 1995. A
of Alternative Therapeutics. South Hadley, Mass., 1985. A
nicely written ethnological case study of Pentecostal, Luther-
highly recommended study of spiritualist history, beliefs, re-
an, and Presbyterian evangelicals in a Colombian town. One
cruitment, curing practices, and reformative effects in central
of the first ethnographies of women’s issues in Latin Ameri-
Mexican temple communities. A thorough analysis of gen-
can non-Catholic expansion. Complements Finkler’s (1985)
dered differences in recruitment motivations and treatment
and Chesnut’s (1997) studies of Mexico and Brazil, respec-
outcomes.
tively.
Fortuny Loret de Mola, Patricia. El protestantismo y sus implicac-
Burdick, John. Looking for God in Brazil: The Progressive Catholic
iones en la vida política: Un estudio de comunidad en la ciudad
Church in Urban Brazil’s Religious Arena. Berkeley, Calif.,
de Mérida. Cuadernos de la Casa Chata 165. Mexico City,
1993. Burdick introduces the concept of the “religious
1989. A landmark comparative study of conversion and
arena” to analyze the competition and coadaptation that oc-
urban adaptation among Jehovah’s Witnesses, Pentecostals,
curs among progressive Catholic (CEB), Pentecostal, and
and Latter-day Saints in Mérida, Yucatán.
Umbanda groups. Based on fieldwork in the Rio de Janeiro
Fortuny Loret de Mola, Patricia. “Origins, Development and Per-
area. A highly influential ethnological study of Brazilian reli-
spectives of La Luz del Mundo Church.” Religion 25 (1995):
gions.
147–162. Fortuny, an anthropological expert on Protestant
Chesnut, R. Andrew. Born Again in Brazil: The Pentecostal Boom
religious groups in Mexico, provides an overview of Mexico’s
and the Pathogens of Poverty. New Brunswick, N.J., 1997. A
largest charismatic-led movement.
well-written ethnographic treatment of the relationship of
Garma Navarro, Carlos. Protestantismo en una comunidad totonaca
gender and class backgrounds to Brazilian Pentecostal re-
de Puebla. México, 1987. An award-winning (and the first)
cruitment and conversion, with a good discussion of folk-
ethnological study of an authochtonous variety of Pentecos-
Catholic background factors. Focuses on Belém, northeast
talism in a Latin American indigenous community. Analyzes
Brazil, in its discussion of Pentecostal varieties, expansion
the impact of Pentecostal membership on local politics, eco-
trends, and national political engagement. An important
nomic behavior, and Totonac ethnic identity.
source.
Garma Navarro, Carlos. “Pentecostal Churches and Their Rela-
Clawson, David Leslie. Religion and Change in a Mexican Village.
tionship to the Mexican State and Political Parties.” Journal
Ann Arbor, Mich., 1976. A pioneering study of schism, revi-
of Ritual Studies 15 (2001): 55–65. An update on the chang-
talization, and economic impacts of religious change among
ing political views and activities of Pentecostal groups in
indigenous Latter-day Saints (Mormons) in central Mexico.
Mexico.
Crumrine, N. Ross. The Mayo Indians of Sonora: A People who Re-
Gow, Rosalind. “Inkarri and Revolutionary Leadership in the
fuse to Die. Tucson, Ariz., 1977. An ethnographic study
Southern Andes.” Journal of Latin American Lore 8 (1982):
highlighting Mayo nativism in northwest Mexico.
197–223. Examines the impact of Andean messianism on
Deive, Carlos Esteban. “Olivorio: Estudio de un movimiento me-
movements of political change in Peru.
siánico en Santo Domingo.” Actas del XLI Congreso Interna-
Griffith, James S. Folk Saints of the Borderlands: Victims, Bandits,
cional de Americanistas 3: 132–142. Mexico City, 1970.
and Healers. Tucson, Ariz., 2003. A welcome synthesis of
Documentation of a neglected but fascinating folk-saint
ethnographic investigations into folk-saint shrines and asso-
movement among Dominican peasants.
ciated movements in the Mexico–United States borderlands
Della Cava, Ralph. Miracle at Joaseiro. New York, 1970. A defini-
region.
tive and dramatic account of Father Cícero’s Joaseiro move-
Knowlton, David C. “Mormonism in Latin America: Towards the
ment.
Twenty-First Century.” Dialogue 29 (1996): 159–176.
Diacon, Todd A. Millenarian Vision, Capitalist Reality: Brazil’s
Trends in Latter-day Saints’ adaptation in Latin American
Contestado Rebellion, 1912–1916. Durham, N.C., and Lon-
settings, by an ethnologist with extensive fieldwork on Mor-
don, 1991. An ethnohistorical analysis of the political-
monism in Andean societies.
economic roots of one of the great prophetic new religious
Lagarriga Attias, Isabel. Espiritualismo Trinitario Mariano: Nuevas
movements of Latin America.
perspectivas de análisis. Xalapa, Mexico, 1975. A major study
Dow, James, and Alan Sandstrom, eds. Holy Saints and Fiery
of this well-known and fascinating Mexican healing sect,
Preachers: The Anthropology of Protestantism in Mexico and
which syncretizes theosophy and Catholicism.
Central America. Westport, Conn., and London, 2001. An
Leatham, Miguel C. “Practical Religion and Peasant Recruitment
excellent collection of articles exploring the causes of expan-
to Non-Catholic Groups in Latin America.” Religion and the
sion and cultural change associated with Pentecostal and
Social Order 6 (1996): 175–190. Compares recruitment
other Evangelical groups in Mesoamerica, primarily in indig-
themes from several types of rural religious movement in
enous communities.
Latin America, and discusses the nature of folk Catholicism.
Evans, Timothy Edward. Religious Conversion in Quetzaltenango,
Leatham, Miguel C. “Rethinking Religious Decision Making in
Guatemala. Ann Arbor, Mich., 1990. An insightful ethno-
Peasant Millenarianism: The Case of Nueva Jerusalén.” Jour-
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

6582
NEW TESTAMENT
nal of Contemporary Religion 12 (1997): 295–309. An ethno-
NEW TESTAMENT SEE BIBLICAL LITERATURE
logical analysis of peasant recruitment dynamics at the sectar-
ian colony of Nueva Jerusalén, Mexico.
Macklin, Barbara June, and N. Ross Crumrine. “Three North
Mexican Folk Saint Movements.” Comparative Studies in So-
NEW THOUGHT MOVEMENT. The New
ciety and History 15 (1973): 96. Charts and compares the
Thought movement is a diverse and loosely affiliated collec-
folk-saint careers of Niño Fidencio, Teresa Urrea, and the
tion of religious communities that share an idealistic theolo-
Mayo prophet San Damián Bohorqui. An important explo-
gy, an optimistic worldview, and an emphasis on religious
ration of folk-saint charisma-building.
rituals that focus on personal well-being, health, and material
Martin, David. Tongues of Fire: The Explosion of Protestantism in
success. The movement emerged in the United States in the
Latin America. Oxford, 1990. A major source on the process
last quarter of the nineteenth century and was well estab-
of Pentecostal expansion throughout Latin America. Martin
also explores Pentecostalism’s potential to promote political
lished by the first decade of the twentieth. It is the largest
transformation in the region.
movement in what is often broadly referred to as the “meta-
Ossio, Juan M., ed. Ideología mesiánica del mundo andino. Lima,
physical” tradition, which also includes Christian Science,
Peru, 1973. An important volume of ethnohistorical and
Theosophy, and Spiritualism. In theory and practice, New
ethnographic articles on messianic and millenarian myths in
Thought, like Christian Science, is a popular expression of
the indigenous Andes.
religious idealism, and idealism is the unifying foundation
Pereira de Queiroz, Maria Isaura. O Mesianismo: No Brazil e no
of all forms of New Thought. Emma Curtis Hopkins (1849–
mundo. Sa˜o Paulo, Brazil, 1977. An encyclopedic sociologi-
1925) is properly cited as the founder of the movement, with
cal discussion of the histories and dynamics of Brazilian reli-
its immediate precursors including Mary Baker Eddy (1821–
gious movements.
1910) and her Church of Christ, Scientist; Phineas Parkhurst
Pessar, Patricia R. “Unmasking the Politics of Religion: The Case
Quimby (1802–1866) and his students; the New England
of Brazilian Millenarianism.” Journal of Latin American Lore
“Mind Cure” movement; and various independent groups
7 (1981): 255–277. An ethnohistorical interpretation of
and individuals practicing mental healing. Other less signifi-
nineteenth-century peasant millenarianism in the context of
cant but notable formative influences can be attributed to
rapid socioeconomic change. Provides perspectives on how
Swedenborgianism, spiritualism, New England Transcen-
the worldview of Brazil’s peasantry influenced participation
in prophetic movements.
dentalism, the Hegelian Societies of the late nineteenth cen-
tury, imported forms of Hinduism (especially Veda¯nta), and
Placido, Barbara. “It’s All to Do with Words: An Analysis of Spirit
Possession in the Venezuelan Cult of María Lionza.” Man 7
secularization. New Thought is still centered in the United
(2001): 207–224. An ethnographic study of spirit mediums’
States, although the movement is well represented through-
active shaping of messages during spirit possession in a Vene-
out the world.
zuelan new religion. A brief historical overview of the cult is
The New Thought movement has revealed sustained
provided.
growth throughout the twentieth century, and since the
Stoll, David. Is Latin America Turning Protestant?: The Politics of
1950s it has supplied institutional legitimation and theologi-
Evangelical Growth. Berkeley, Calif., 1990. A somewhat con-
cal support to the alternative healing movement and various
troversial survey of Protestantization trends around Latin
beliefs and practices associated with the New Age movement.
America. Stoll focuses on foreign political connections and
questions the role of new Evangelical groups in maintaining
The impact of New Thought on American culture is revealed
U.S. hegemony in Latin American countries.
in its role as a precursor to and possible precipitating influ-
Vanderwood, Paul J. The Power of God against the Guns of Govern-
ence on popular psychology and the self-help movement, the
ment: Religious Upheaval in Mexico at the Turn of the Nine-
ordination of women as ministers in mainstream Protestant-
teenth Century. Stanford, Calif., 1998. Examines the role of
ism, best-selling popularizations of idealism such as Napo-
Teresa Urrea’s folk-saint cult in the famed Tomóchic nativis-
leon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich (1937) and Norman Vin-
tic revolt of the Rarámuri.
cent Peale’s Power of Positive Thinking (1952), and the
Vidaurri, Cynthia L. “Las que Menos Quería el Niño: Women of
development of prosperity and success teachings in secular
the Fidencista Movement.” In Chicana Traditions: Continu-
culture and mainstream Protestantism.
ity and Change, edited by Norma E. Cantú and Olga Nájera-
Despite its longevity and impact on American culture,
Ramírez, pp. 133–142. Urbana, Ill. and Chicago, 2002. An
ethnographic account of gendered experience among Mex-
New Thought and its various subgroups have received little
icana mediums in a folk-saint movement.
scholarly attention, although publications by Gail M. Har-
Wallace, Anthony F. C. “Revitalization Movements: Some Theo-
ley, Beryl Satter, John K. Simmons, and J. Gordon Melton
retical Considerations for Their Comparative Study.” Ameri-
have offered good insights into certain aspects of its forma-
can Anthropologist 58 (1956): 264–281. Frequently cited an-
tive period. Encyclopedias and general texts on new religions
thropological formulation of the multistage process by which
often have brief sections on New Thought or representative
new religious movements form. Highlights the role of pro-
groups (especially Unity), as do textbooks on religion in
phetic revelators in resolving cultural crises. Illustrates with
America. As often as not, however, New Thought is absent
cases of prophetic movements in tribal settings.
in general dictionaries of religion and textbooks on world re-
MIGUEL C. LEATHAM (2005)
ligions. There are no critical histories of the movement and
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NEW THOUGHT MOVEMENT
6583
no significant scholarly treatments of its theology. In this re-
The failure of humans to fully demonstrate their innate
gard, Charles S. Braden’s now dated Spirits in Rebellion
spiritual perfection is the result of ignorance and wrong
(1963) still offers the only general history of New Thought,
thinking (e.g., “error thought” and “mortal consciousness”).
and J. Stillson Judah’s equally dated History and Philosophy
New Thought believes that because human consciousness is
of the Metaphysical Movements in America (1967) is the best
causative it is the source for all the experiences and condi-
overview of the movement’s theology.
tions in a person’s life—both positive and negative. Negative
experiences and conditions (illness, poverty, theft, death,
WORLDVIEW, PRACTICES, AND AIMS. As a contemporary
etc.) are the result of negative states in consciousness, and
manifestation of popular religious idealism, the deepest his-
positive experiences and conditions are the result of positive
torical roots of New Thought can be traced to Plato (428–
states. The key to eliminating specific negative conditions
348 BCE), the father of the idealist tradition in philosophy.
and creating a tendency to ever more positive experiences is
Other distant forebears include ancient Gnosticism, Neopla-
based in the belief that all persons are in essence spiritual be-
tonism, and pre-Nicean forms of Christianity associated with
ings, and that Divine Mind is accessible to human minds.
the Alexandrian school and typified by Origen (185–254).
When Divine Mind is properly engaged by human con-
Philosophical precursors in the modern period are Rational-
sciousness, the Good is brought into material/physical mani-
ists such as René Descartes (1596–1650) and Baruch Spino-
festation, thus eliminating negative experiences and condi-
za (1632–1677), and Idealists such as Johann Fichte (1763–
tions and replacing them with positive ones. This
1814) and G. W. F. Hegel (1770–1831).
engagement is believed to occur “scientifically” through pre-
New Thought’s brand of idealism holds that the ulti-
cise and systematic religious exercises, such as prayer, “spiri-
mate basis of existence is mental (God as Mind) and all mate-
tual treatment,” “visualization,” “affirmations,” and, in some
rial/physical conditions are secondary to and products of
cases, “denials.”
human mental states and conditions. What this means for
Through continued practice of these exercises (which
New Thought is that consciousness, ideas, and thoughts are
are typically quite specific and individualized but may be
the basis of reality and function as the casual forces behind
general and collective) an individual’s consciousness becomes
all material/physical phenomena—from objects, including
increasingly attuned to the “Truth” so that the reality of Di-
human bodies, to the events and circumstances of an individ-
vine Mind is more frequently brought into manifestation. As
ual’s life. A formal statement of New Thought’s foundational
a result, adherents may report improvement in general and
idealism is offered in the “Declaration of Principles” of the
specific conditions of their lives. This thoroughgoing ideal-
International New Thought Alliance (INTA), which de-
ism forms the basis of New Thought’s theology and the
clares (among other claims): “We affirm God as Mind, Infi-
foundation for its optimistic worldview. It is the premise
nite Being, Spirit, Ultimate Reality. . . . [and] that our
upon which the movement’s primary myths and rituals are
mental states are carried forward into manifestation and be-
predicated.
come our experience in daily living” (“Declaration of Princi-
ples,” 2001, p. 19). In principle, New Thought’s idealism is
In practice, most New Thought rituals are individualis-
similar to that of Christian Science, yet unlike the earlier
tic in focus and aim to bring about improvements in precise
movement, New Thought generally interprets matter and
areas of a special concern to individuals. The most common
physical experiences in a positive light, viewing them as lim-
areas are the following: physical and emotional health, mate-
ited (but perfectible) manifestations of Spirit (Divine Mind).
rial prosperity, and personal relationships. Corporate reli-
In this regard, New Thought groups tend to be world-
gious activities are less common than individual religious
affirming, harmonial (with respect to ultimate reality and
practices, although New Thought congregations routinely
humans), and proponents of human spiritual evolution.
engage in group prayer and treatment rituals. The movement
as a whole affirms a positive expectancy for humanity and
In New Thought the ultimate power (e.g., God, Mind,
a belief in spiritual evolution, but individual groups are sel-
Divine Mind, Principle, Truth, Intelligence) is understood
dom socially active and tend to be silent on political, eco-
as supremely good (the Good) and the ground of perfection.
nomic, and legal issues.
The omnipotence of the Good is expressed succinctly in
INTA’s Declaration of Principles as follows: “We affirm that
Early in its history, New Thought produced two notable
God, the Good, is supreme, universal and eternal”
theorists, Warren Felt Evans (1817–1889) and Horatio
(“Declaration of Principles,” 2001, p. 19). The essence of
Dresser (1866–1954), but the movement as a whole rejected
humanity is divine, and humans are seen as spiritual beings
their scholarly explications of religious idealism in favor of
that are linked with Divine Mind through their highest con-
the popular approaches utilized by Emma Curtis Hopkins
sciousness (e.g., Christ Mind, superconsciousness, Christ
and her students. As a result, the New Thought movement
within). This relationship of unity is analogous to the rela-
has never articulated its idealistic cosmology in a formal
tionship of brahman (the manifestation of ultimate reality)
philosophical context. Rather, it has restricted academic ho-
and a¯tman (the self) in Hinduism, as well as understandings
rizons, it lacks a systematic theology, and it has developed
of the human essence found in the Western Esoteric tradi-
no schools of higher learning. Nonetheless, in an era that has
tion, influenced by Neoplatonism and Gnosticism.
seen the devaluation of idealism in the academic community,
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especially among professional philosophers, it is significant
Wilcox (1850–1919), poet and syndicated columnist; and
that New Thought has remained firmly committed to its ide-
Elizabeth Towne (1865–1960), INTA president (1924–
alistic theology. Equally significant is the sustained growth
1925) and the publisher of the major New Thought periodi-
of the movement in light of the decline of America’s other
cal, The Nautilus (1898–1954). After her retirement from
major version of popular religious idealism, Christian
public teaching and administrative work, Hopkins tutored
Science.
Ernest S. Holmes (1887–1960), founder of Religious Sci-
ence. All told, by the time Hopkins left active ministry in
ORIGINS, DEVELOPMENT, LEADERS. As a unique expression
1895, she had ordained more than one hundred persons, and
of human religiosity, New Thought is a decidedly American
these, together with numerous others who had been exposed
religious phenomenon. From its birth in the 1880s in the
to her work, formed the first generation of New Thought
Chicago ministry of Emma Curtis Hopkins, New Thought
leaders. For this reason, Hopkins was referred to as “the
emerged in the context of (and was enriched by) the secular-
teacher of teachers” in the movement.
ization process. Although the roots of New Thought can be
traced to Christian Science, Mind Cure, and the mental heal-
As Hopkins’s version of Christian Science transformed
ing movement, from its earliest days New Thought offered
itself into New Thought, the younger movement became
a unique and comprehensive interpretation of individual ex-
clearly distinguished from Eddy’s work. Aside from aban-
istence and humanity as a whole. Mental healing has contin-
doning the term Christian Science in its self-references, the
ued to be a major component in New Thought systems, but
three most prominent distinctions pertain to the status of
as the movement grew the implications of mental healing ex-
doctrine, the material world, and medicine. In contrast to
panded beyond bodily healing to include all areas of life.
Christian Science, New Thought and its representative
This is especially to be noted in the movement’s “prosperity”
groups have no authoritative doctrines, and even in denomi-
teachings, which began to develop in the late 1880s.
nations with distinct and venerated founders (e.g., Unity and
Religious Science) the authority of the founder’s teachings
The decisive origin of the movement, per se, can be
is minimal at best. New Thought also differs from Christian
traced to the writing, teaching, and evangelical ministry of
Science in its generally positive evaluation of the material
Hopkins, a former student and professional associate of the
world. In distinction to Christian Science beliefs, in New
founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy. Strong ar-
Thought, matter is not illusionary and the material world is
guments are sometimes advanced for ascribing its origin to
not antithetical to Spirit (Divine Mind). Instead, New
Phineas Parkhurst Quimby, a mental healer and former mes-
Thought tends to view the material world (including hu-
merist who shared his technique with a small circle of his cli-
mankind) as an extension or expression of Spirit, which is
ents. Another reasonable source for New Thought is Chris-
growing toward perfection. Finally, New Thought is not op-
tian Science and Eddy herself. Eddy had been a client and
posed to the medical resolution of physical illness. In confor-
student of Quimby and later a teacher of Hopkins. Hop-
mity with its generally optimistic and harmonial worldview,
kins’s dissatisfaction with Eddy’s religion, and possibly a pro-
New Thought embraces all forms of healing, including tradi-
fessional misunderstanding between the two women, led to
tional Western medicine.
Hopkins’s separation from Eddy’s work and her develop-
ment of an independent form of Christian Science in Chica-
Entering the twentieth century, New Thought’s idealis-
go in the mid-1880s.
tic theology and optimistic worldview allowed it to assume
a congenial stance relative to the new realities of American
Hopkins’s Chicago work led to the establishment of a
life: secularization, urbanization, industrialization, pluralism,
seminary and, beginning in 1889, the ordination of minis-
and consumerism. Called “the religion of healthy minded-
ters. On the basis of her encouragement, Hopkins’s students
ness” by William James in The Varieties of Religious Experi-
took the New Thought message to all parts of the United
ence (1902), the movement affirmed a positive vision of hu-
States, chiefly the emerging urban centers of the Midwest
manity and sacralized critical aspects of what was coming to
and West, in particular San Francisco, Denver, Kansas City,
be the American dream: health, wealth, and peace of mind.
and Saint Louis. Included among the major New Thought
Its message of happiness and prosperity had particular reso-
leaders who studied with Hopkins were Kate (Mrs. Frank)
nance with members of the expanding urban middle class,
Bingham, the teacher of Nona Brooks (1861–1945) and a
which was then reaching majority status and sociocultural
founder of Divine Science; Malinda Cramer (1844–1906),
self-consciousness. It was this class that first embraced New
also a founder of Divine Science; Charles Fillmore (1854–
Thought, and it has remained the primary source for mem-
1948) and Myrtle Fillmore (1845–1931), co-founders of
bership in the movement.
Unity; Annie Rix Militz (1856–1924), a prominent author
in Unity’s early years, founder of Homes of Truth, and pub-
From a practical standpoint, and in addition to its ideal-
lisher of Master Mind (1911–1931) magazine; Helen Wil-
istic principles and “scientific” optimism, New Thought’s
mans (1835–1907), the founder of Mental Science; Frances
early and enduring success is owed to five major factors,
Lord, who carried New Thought to England; H. Emilie
probably in this order: (1) confidence of its leaders and
Cady (1848–1941), author of New Thought’s most widely
movement-building; (2) professional empowerment of
disseminated text, Unity’s Lessons In Truth; Ella Wheeler
women; (3) prosperity teachings; (4) skillful use of mass
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NEW THOUGHT MOVEMENT
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media; and (5) a general ease with and adaptability to secu-
gard, New Thought’s prosperity teachings have affinities
larization.
with Andrew Carnegie’s Gospel of Wealth (1900) and later
Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich (1937). Prosperity
The confidence of the early New Thought leaders was
continues to be a major theme of New Thought literature,
intense. Zealous missionaries, they believed in the truth of
with Charles Fillmore’s Prosperity (1936) and Catherine
their message with the evangelical ardor frequently expressed
Ponder’s The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity (1962) being clas-
by members of young and dynamic religions. The writings
sics of the genre.
and addresses of Hopkins’s and her students reveal the confi-
dence typical of early New Thought leaders, with Hopkins’s
From its earliest days, New Thought leaders were quick
“Baccalaureate Address” (1891) and High Mysticism (1920)
to recognize the potential of the mass media. By the early
serving as representative texts. Following Hopkins’s model,
twentieth century, periodicals with a national reach were
many of her students developed distinct movements of their
widely used to disseminate the New Thought message to the
own, establishing ministerial schools, ordaining ministers,
general public. They also served to maintain the networks of
and sending them forth to establish religious communities
the developing denominations. Later (and this is especially
(churches, societies, centers, and temples), then networking
true of Unity), New Thought leaders made extensive use of
these communities together into distinct, though loosely
radio. Only with the dawning of television did New
structured, denominations. Examples of this developmental
Thought’s aggressive use of advanced media technology
strategy include Hopkins’s own movement, Wilmans’s Men-
begin to decline. In the twenty-first century, New Thought
tal Science Association, Militz’s Homes of Truth, the Fill-
denominations and many individual churches have websites,
more’s Unity School of Christianity, and Cramer’s and
and worship services of larger churches are aired on radio and
Brooks’s Divine Science. Although many of the early denom-
cable television in most metropolitan areas. Although both
inations were short-lived, Unity and Divine Science, both
the number and circulation of New Thought publications
founded in the 1880s, have endured, ranking first and third,
have been declining since the mid-twentieth century, major
respectively, in size at the beginning of the twenty-first
New Thought groups continue to publish periodicals, in-
century.
cluding Unity’s Daily Word, the United Church of Religious
Science’s Science of Mind, and INTA’s New Thought. Daily
The majority of Hopkins’s students and ministers were
Word is the largest of these publications, with over a million
women, and the early movement had a distinctly feminist
subscribers.
character and public profile. Hopkins appears to have been
the first woman in modern times to ordain women as Chris-
Unlike many traditional forms of American religion,
tian ministers. As a consequence, New Thought had particu-
New Thought was not and is not antagonistic to the aston-
lar appeal to women with professional aspirations who were
ishing transformation of culture and society wrought by sec-
otherwise often excluded from public life. The professional
ularization. Rather than decrying the sins of secularization,
empowerment of women contributed to the early success of
New Thought either ignored or actively embraced the wide-
New Thought by not only attracting talented women to the
spread cultural change that characterized Western culture in
movement, but also reform-minded men and persons of
the twentieth century. In doing so, New Thought has proven
both genders with progressive social visions. The movement
itself remarkably adaptable to and implicitly (if not explicit-
has maintained its commitment to female leadership, with
ly) supportive of pluralism, individualism, racial and gender
women forming the majority of New Thought ministers.
equality, modifications in traditional gender roles and family
New Thought’s growth was also fueled by its promotion
structures, globalization, and consumerism. Nonetheless, in
of prosperity teachings, whose deepest cultural influences can
harmony with its general apolitical character, the movement
be traced to the Calvinist notion of the “visible signs” of
has seldom taken public positions advocating social change.
one’s predestination for salvation. Other contributing influ-
MAJOR COMMUNITIES. The twenty-first-century New
ences were Benjamin Franklin and Ralph Waldo Emerson,
Thought movement is comprised of numerous religious
both of whom proposed methods of general self-
communities, most of which are small independent church-
improvement, which they believed would also lead to eco-
es, although several can be rightly classified as denomi-
nomic success. An even more direct influence was the expan-
nations.
sion of economic opportunity for members of the middle
class in the late nineteenth century, as well as the growing
Divine Science. Among these major groups, the oldest
acceptance that material affluence was a cultural ideal if not
is Divine Science. The roots of Divine Science can be traced
a moral imperative. New Thought offered the promise that
to the ministry of Malinda E. Cramer in San Francisco in
affluence could be achieved; in fact, New Thought affirmed
1888 and, more significantly, to the work of three sisters
that God wanted all people to be prosperous. Through its
(Fannie Brooks James, Alethea Brooks, and especially Nona
prosperity techniques, which were essentially extensions of
Brooks) in Denver in the 1890s. Cramer’s International Di-
its mental-healing methods, New Thought introduced itself
vine Science Association (founded in 1892) was the first na-
to America’s middle class as a religion that proclaimed the
tional organization of New Thought religious communities
spiritual virtue of affluence and financial success. In this re-
and arguably the predecessor of INTA. Of the major forms
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NEW THOUGHT MOVEMENT
of New Thought, Divine Science has been the least evange-
in 1927 by Ernest Holmes. Originally established as the In-
listic and least institutionalized.
stitute of Religious Science and Philosophy, churches were
being established by the 1940s, and the movement began to
In the late 1990s a small number of churches separated
develop a more traditional religious appearance. In 1954,
from the original Divine Science Federation, forming the
tensions over ecclesiastical structure led to a schism, with a
United Divine Science Ministries. Central texts of Divine
small number of churches separating from what became the
Science are Cramer’s Divine Science and Healing (1902) and
United Church of Religious Science and forming what be-
a compilation from the works of Cramer and Fannie Brooks
came Religious Science International. Over the years, the
James, Divine Science: Its Principle and Practice (1957). The
two groups have maintained a relatively cordial relationship,
movement’s most recognized leader was Emmet Fox (1886–
with the major differences being organizational rather than
1951), the author of numerous widely popular texts, includ-
doctrinal. In the early 1990s a third Religious Science organi-
ing The Sermon on the Mount (1934) and Power Through
zation was formed: Global Religious Science Ministries.
Constructive Thinking (1940). His pamphlet The Golden Key
(1937) offers an abbreviated outline of spiritual healing treat-
Religious Science is notable for its rejection of identifi-
ment as it is practiced in New Thought, and his idealistic
cation with Christianity. The United Church remains the
maxim, “life is consciousness,” is among the most well-
largest branch of the denomination. All branches of Reli-
known aphorisms in the movement. Divine Science is the
gious Science recognize Holmes’s Science of Mind (1926) as
smallest of New Thought’s denominations, with a total
their foundational text. Other notable works by Holmes are
membership of less than five thousand as of 2004.
This Thing Called Life (1943) and What Religious Science
Unity is second oldest and most clearly Christian de-
Teaches (1944). Total membership in all branches of Reli-
nomination in New Thought. It is the largest and most cul-
gious Science is around sixty thousand worldwide.
turally prominent New Thought group. Unity was cofound-
Universal Foundation for Better Living. The youn-
ed in Kansas City in 1889 by Charles and Myrtle Fillmore,
gest New Thought denomination is the Universal Founda-
a married couple. From its inception as a prayer and publica-
tion for Better Living (UFBL), founded in Chicago in 1974
tion ministry, it has experienced relatively sustained growth.
by Johnnie Colemon (Johnnie May Colemon Nedd). UFBL
Since 1966 it has been represented by two loosely affiliated
is the most successful Unity-derived movement, although
organizations: Unity School of Christianity and the Associa-
there are no formal ties between UFBL and Unity’s historical
tion of Unity Churches. Unity School, located at Unity Vil-
institutions. Prior to the founding of UFBL, Colemon had
lage in Kansas City, Missouri, is the largest material complex
been a successful minister in the Unity movement, develop-
in New Thought. It is the successor of the Fillmores’ original
ing a large congregation in Chicago, expanding the reach of
organization and directs the denomination’s publishing,
New Thought teachings to the African American communi-
prayer, and education ministries. The Association manages
ty, and serving as the President of the Association of Unity
Unity’s ecclesiastical operations, ordains ministers, supervises
Churches (1970). Institutional disagreements led to the
churches, and directs expansion.
founding of UFBL, which was originally founded as Unity
Two other small independent Unity groups emerged in
Foundation for Better Living but changed by Colemon when
the 1990s: the Unity-Progressive Council and the World
authorities in the Unity movement challenged the use of the
Federation for Practical Christianity (formerly the World
name “Unity.” The current President is Mary Ann Tump-
Federation of Independent Unity Churches [name changed
kin, who replaced Johnnie Colemon in 1996.
in 2003]). Unity’s primary textbook (“together with the
UFBL bases its beliefs on the traditional teachings of the
Bible”) is Cady’s Lessons in Truth, which was first published
Unity movement, especially as promulgated in the works of
as a series of articles in Unity magazine beginning in 1894.
Unity’s founders, Myrtle and Charles Fillmore, and H. Emi-
Unity is New Thought’s largest book publisher, and, among
lie Cady’s Lessons In Truth. The movement is strongly com-
its sizable collection of texts, two of the more distinctive are
mitted to higher learning in the New Thought tradition and
Charles Fillmore’s Christian Healing (1909) and The Twelve
has developed a number of unique educational initiatives,
Powers of Man (1930). His Metaphysical Bible Dictionary
most notably a project to establish an accredited New
(1931) is New Thought’s only comprehensive lexicon offer-
Thought seminary.
ing a “metaphysical” (allegorical) interpretation of the names
of persons and places found in the Bible. Outside of New
The movement is the third largest New Thought de-
Thought, Unity is perhaps best known for its prayer minis-
nomination, with 27 affiliated religious communities and an
try, Silent Unity, which receives about one million contacts
estimated 20,000 members. In addition to the USA, UFBL
annually—a number far in excess of the total number of ac-
has affiliated groups in Canada, the Bahamas, Jamaica, and
tive Unity participants. There are nearly one thousand min-
Guyana. It publishes a monthly devotional magazine, Daily
istries and study groups worldwide, with membership proba-
Inspiration for Better Living.
bly in the 150,000 range.
INTA. Properly speaking, the International New
Religious Science. The second largest New Thought
Thought Alliance (INTA) is not a denomination but rather
denomination is Religious Science, founded in Los Angeles
an umbrella organization comprised of religious groups, in-
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dividual churches, and individuals. INTA is the most de-
Carpenter, Robert T., and Wade Clark Roof. “The Transplanting
mocratically structured of all the major New Thought
of Seicho-no-ie from Japan to Brazil: Moving Beyond the
groups, with full membership rights extended to laypersons.
Ethnic Enclave.” In Journal of the Society for the Study of
Its general aims are to promote the New Thought movement
Metaphysical Religion 2, no. 2 (1996): 117–139.
as a whole, disseminate New Thought teachings internation-
deChant, Dell. “New Thought and the New Age.” In New Age
ally, and facilitate solidarity among all New Thought partici-
Encyclopedia, edited by J. Gordon Melton. Detroit, Mich.,
pants. INTA was founded in 1914, although its roots can be
1990.
traced to predecessor groups dating to the 1890s. Through-
deChant, Dell. “Myrtle Fillmore and Her Daughters.” In Women’s
out its history, the success of INTA has largely been contin-
Leadership in Marginal Religions: Explorations Outside the
Mainstream
, edited by Catherine Wessinger. Urbana, Ill.,
gent on the support of the major New Thought denomina-
and Chicago, 1993.
tions and prominent leaders in the movement. Since the
early 1990s the significance of INTA appears to have de-
“Declaration of Principles.” New Thought 85, No. 3 (2001): 19.
creased as individual denominations have grown in size and
Dresser, Horatio W. A History of the New Thought Movement.
institutional self-identity. In addition, a leadership struggle
New York, 1919.
in 1996 resulted in a number of influential leaders leaving
Dresser, Horatio W., ed. The Quimby Manuscripts. New York,
INTA to form the Association for Global New Thought.
1919.
The president of INTA in 2004 was Blaine C. Mays, who
Fuller, Robert C. Mesmerism and the American Cure of Souls. Phil-
became president in 1974 and held the office longer than any
adelphia, 1982.
other INTA president. The Alliance publishes New Thought,
Harley, Gail M. Emma Curtis Hopkins: Forgotten Founder of New
a quarterly magazine, and its creedlike “Declaration of Prin-
Thought. Syracuse, N.Y., 2002.
ciples” embodies the general beliefs of most New Thought
Jackson, Carl T. “The New Thought Movement and the Nine-
adherents.
teenth Century Discovery of Oriental Philosophy.” In Jour-
nal of Popular Culture
9 (1975): 523–548.
Seicho-no-Ie. The global scope of New Thought is re-
Judah, J. Stillson. The History and Philosophy of the Metaphysical
flected in its presence on all continents and in more than
Movements in America. Philadelphia, 1967.
sixty countries, with a particularly strong presence in sub-
Laughlin, Paul. “Re-Turning East: Watering the Withered Orien-
Saharan Africa. A related movement, Seicho-no-Ie (Home of
tal Roots of New Thought.” Journal of the Society for the
Infinite Life, or House of Blessing), was founded by Masa-
Study of Metaphysical Religion 3, no. 2 (1997): 113–133.
haru Taniguchi (1893–1985) in Japan in 1930. Taniguchi
Melton, J. Gordon, ed. New Thought: A Reader. Santa Barbara,
was inspired in part by Religious Science, and the move-
Calif., 1990.
ment’s foundational idealism and optimistic worldview sug-
Melton, J. Gordon. “Emma Curtis Hopkins: A Feminist of the
gests a close affinity with traditional New Thought beliefs.
1880s and Mother of New Thought.” In Women’s Leadership
Seicho-no-Ie is, however, more broadly syncretistic than
in Marginal Religions: Explorations Outside the Mainstream,
other New Thought groups and includes elements of Bud-
edited by Catherine Wessinger. Urbana, Ill., and Chicago,
dhism and Shinto¯ otherwise not found in the movement.
1993.
Seicho-no-Ie is also more socially conservative and politically
Melton, J. Gordon. “The Case of Edward J. Arens and the Distor-
active than traditional New Thought denominations. If in-
tion of New Thought History.” Journal of the Society for the
cluded within the movement, Seicho-no-Ie would be by far
Study of Metaphysical Religion 2, no. 1 (1996): 13–29.
New Thought’s largest denomination, with a worldwide
Melton, J. Gordon. “How Divine Science Got to Denver.” In
membership of over 1.25 million, including 400,000 to
Journal of the Society for the Study of Metaphysical Religion 7,
500,000 members in Brazil.
no. 2 (2001): 103–122.
Parker, Gail T. Mind Cure in New England: From the Civil War
SEE ALSO Hopkins, Emma Curtis; Unity.
to World War I. Hanover, N.H., 1973.
Satter, Beryl. Each Mind a Kingdom: American Women, Sexual Pu-
B
rity, and the New Thought Movement, 1875–1920. Berkeley,
IBLIOGRAPHY
Anderson, C. Alan. Contrasting Strains of Metaphysical Idealism
Calif., 1999.
Contributing to New Thought. Santa Barbara, Calif., 1991.
Simmons, John K. “The Ascension of Annie Rix Militz and the
Home(s) of Truth: Perfection Meets Paradise in Early Twen-
Anderson, C. Alan. Healing Hypotheses: Horatio W. Dresser and the
tieth-Century Los Angeles.” Ph.D. diss., University of Cali-
Philosophy of New Thought. Boston: Ph.D. Dissertation. Bos-
fornia, Santa Barbara, 1987.
ton University, 1963. New York, 1993.
Simmons, John K. “The Forgotten Contributions of Annie Rix
Anderson, C. Alan. “Quimby as Founder of New Thought.” In
Militz to the Unity School of Christianity.” In Nova Religio:
Journal of the Society for the Study of Metaphysical Religion 3,
The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions 2, no. 1
no. 1 (1997): 5–22.
(1998): 76–92.
Anderson, Ferne. “Emma Curtis Hopkins: Springboard to New
Simmons, John K. “The Eddy-Hopkins Paradigm: A ‘Metaphysi-
Thought.” M.A. thesis, University of Denver, 1981.
cal Look’ at Their Historic Relationship.” In Journal of the
Braden, Charles S. Spirits in Rebellion: The Rise and Development
Society for the Study of Metaphysical Religion 8, no. 2 (2002):
of New Thought. Dallas, Tex., 1963.
129–151.
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

6588
NEWTON, ISAAC
Szasz, Ferenc. “‘New Thought’ and the American West.” In Jour-
cal points concerning gravitational attraction (Halley and
nal of the West 23, no. 2 (1984): 83–90.
Hooke had been working on this problem for some time).
Teener, James W. “Unity School of Christianity.” Ph.D. diss.,
To Halley’s great surprise, Newton replied that he had al-
University of Chicago, 1942.
ready made these calculations many years earlier, but that he
DELL DECHANT (2005)
could not find the appropriate papers. Halley urged Newton
to recalculate, using his original theorems, and to prepare a
manuscript for the Royal Society. Halley showed enormous
NEWTON, ISAAC
tact and good judgment in not letting Hooke’s claim to the
(1642–1727), widely regarded as
inverse-square law of gravitation and the attendant acrimony
the greatest scientist of all time. Born prematurely (at Wools-
between Hooke and Newton vitiate the whole project. Fi-
thorpe, Lincolnshire, England), Newton developed into a
nanced by moneys from Halley’s personal funds, Newton’s
physically weak, lonely, unhappy child; he was also an indif-
work was finally published in 1687 under the title Philo-
ferent student until an encounter with a school bully roused
sophia naturalis principia mathematica.
him to excel. In 1661, he entered Trinity College at Cam-
bridge University, where he showed no distinction until he
Newton’s Principia, as it has come to be known, is justi-
came under the influence of Isaac Barrow, a professor of
fiably regarded as the greatest scientific work ever produced.
mathematics. A man of great insight, Barrow was the first
It integrated into one coherent whole diverse data and math-
to recognize Newton’s genius; in fact, he resigned his profes-
ematical principles concerning the motion of material parti-
sorship so that Newton, at age twenty-six, could be appoint-
cles and gravitation. As the publication of Copernicus’s De
ed to it.
revolutionibus in 1543 marked the beginning of the great sci-
Shortly after Newton graduated in 1665, the university
entific revolution, the publication of the Principia marked
was closed because of plague, and he had to return to Wools-
its completion and the beginning of the modern scientific
thorpe. There he spent eighteen months in studies that laid
age.
the foundation for much of his later work. He discovered the
Indeed, Newton is often described as the inaugurator of
binomial theorem, differential and integral calculus, the the-
the “age of reason.” Alexander Pope hailed him thus:
ory of color, several other important theorems in mathemat-
ics, and the celebrated law of gravitation—which for nearly
Nature and Nature’s laws lay hid in night: God said, let
250 years was regarded as the epitome and exemplar of scien-
Newton be! and all was light.
tific laws of nature.
And many were other accolades from philosophers, theolo-
Newton’s interests were both mathematical and experi-
gians, and poets, although few of them ever read the Prin-
mental. He invented a reflecting telescope to free telescopes
cipia or had the mathematical ability to comprehend it, as
from the chromatic aberration of refracting lenses. He pres-
the philosopher John Locke confessed about himself. For his
ented a small version of his telescope to the Royal Society,
own and the immediately succeeding generation, Newton
which honored him by electing him a fellow when he was
epitomized reason, sound judgment, and even saintly good-
only thirty. In 1672, when Newton published his new theory
ness. But by the beginning of the nineteenth century, poets
of light and color—including the experiments showing that
like Blake, Wordsworth, Shelley, and Keats had vilified
white light can be separated into its component colors by a
Newton, identifying him—and the science that he had
prism—the society was bombarded with letters disputing his
helped create—with the forces of mechanization that were
conclusions. Some of the correspondents were scientists of
despiritualizing the cosmos. Blake, for example, regarded
note, among them Robert Hooke and Christiaan Huygens.
Newton, along with Locke and Francis Bacon, as a member
The controversy affected Newton greatly and, thereafter, he
of an “infernal trinity” that had a satanic influence on “Albi-
tended to withdraw from the public eye. Though he had
on,” by which Blake meant unspoiled England, or archetypal
vowed after the controversy not to publish any further dis-
man.
coveries, he did, in fact, continue to publish.
In 1693, Newton suffered a sort of nervous breakdown.
Newton conceived a proprietary interest in every subject
He had represented the university as a member of Parliament
he investigated; there was hardly any achievement of his cre-
since 1689, and he had devotedly attended to his mother
ative scientific life that was unaccompanied by acrimony and
during her final illness, and these responsibilities must have
quarreling. This was largely owing to a great deal of paranoia
weighed on him. After his recovery, he resumed his life in
and self-doubt in Newton’s personality. His ego needed to
London, where he became warden and later master of the
be continually bolstered by the praise and admiration of oth-
Royal Mint. In 1703 he became president of the Royal Soci-
ers, a trait that may have had its cause in Newton’s humble
ety, a post he used, often unscrupulously, in his various and
origins—his father was a yeoman, a fact that always made
many feuds, including one with G. W. Leibniz over the ques-
Newton uneasy and that he tried to obscure by inventing
tion as to which of them had first discovered differential cal-
grandiose genealogies for himself.
culus. He published his Opticks, written in a very different
In 1684, Newton received a visit from the astronomer
style from the Principia, in 1704; it was actually read not
Edmond Halley, who consulted him about some mathemati-
only by his scientific colleagues but also by other intellectu-
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NEW YEAR FESTIVALS
6589
als. He was knighted in 1705. Shortly before his death,
fied Newton, who felt an emotional, personal relationship
he removed to the country air of the village of Kensington.
with God. In fact, Newton himself would have wished to be
He died there in 1727, without having requested last rites.
regarded as a prophet of God.
He was buried alongside kings and princes in Westminster
Abbey.
SEE ALSO Alchemy, article on Renaissance Alchemy; Rosi-
crucians.
Throughout his life—and by no means only during his
nervous breakdown, as some have maintained—Newton was
BIBLIOGRAPHY
highly interested in theological, chronological, and alchemi-
The standard biography of Newton is Louis Trenchard More’s
cal studies. It is estimated that he wrote some two million
Isaac Newton: A Biography (New York, 1934). A short, popu-
words on these subjects, a total far surpassing that of his writ-
lar account is given by E. N. Andrade in his Sir Isaac Newton
ings in mathematics and physics. Much of this material, par-
(New York, 1954). A more recent, reliable biography is Rich-
ticularly that on alchemy, consists of the writings of others
ard S. Westfall’s Never at Rest: A Biography of Isaac Newton
that Newton copied for his own use, but he also wrote books
(Cambridge, 1980). A fascinating study of the psychology of
this complex genius is Frank E. Manuel’s A Portrait of Isaac
of his own on these subjects. It may even be true, as Newton
Newton (Cambridge, 1968). For Newton’s chronological, re-
himself seems to have hinted, that his real interest lay in a
ligious, and alchemical interests and studies, the following
wide and comprehensive knowledge that he hoped to acquire
three books, respectively, are indispensable: Isaac Newton:
through alchemy and theology, and that he viewed his scien-
Historian (Cambridge, Mass., 1963) and The Religion of Isaac
tific studies only as amusing diversions. Since he could not,
Newton (Oxford, 1974), both by Frank E. Manuel, and The
in general, be accused of excessive humility, we may have to
Foundations of Newton’s Alchemy, or “The Hunting of the
understand in another light a well-known remark he made
Greene Lyon” (Cambridge, 1975) by Betty Jo Teeter Dobbs.
toward the end of his life: “I do not know what I may appear
A good and representative selection of Newton’s writings
to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a
concerning his philosophy of nature and natural theology is
boy, playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now
to be found in Newton’s Philosophy of Nature, edited, ar-
and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than
ranged, and annotated by H. S. Thayer (New York, 1953).
ordinary, while the great ocean of Truth lay all undiscovered
New Sources
before me.”
Aughton, Peter. Newton’s Apple: Issac Newton and the English Sci-
entific Renaissance. London, 2003.
Newton certainly believed in the prisca sapienta, an an-
English, John C. “John Hutchinson’s Critique of Newtonian Het-
cient wisdom that had existed among priest-scientists such
erodoxy,” Church History 68/3 (1999): 581–597.
as the Chaldeans in Babylonia, the brahmans in India, and
Lincoln, Bruce. “Issac Newton and Oriental Jones on Myth, An-
Moses and Pythagoras among the Hebrews and the Greeks.
cient History and the Relative Prestige of Peoples,” History
He believed that this wisdom was now largely lost, that he,
of Religions 42/1 (2002): 1–18.
Newton, was one of an esoteric brotherhood extending back
to ancient times, and that he was redisclosing this knowledge
Newton and Religion. Dordrecht, Netherlands, 1999.
in a new form, more mathematical than metaphysical or
Pfizenmaier, Thomas C. “Was Issac Newton an Arian?” Journal
mythological. “Newton was not the first of the age of rea-
of the History of Ideas 58 (1997): 57–80.
son,” the economist John Maynard Keynes concluded after
RAVI RAVINDRA (1987)
examining Newton’s alchemical papers. “He was the last of
Revised Bibliography
the magicians, the last of the Babylonians and Sumerians, the
last great mind which looked out on the visible and the intel-
lectual world with the same eyes as those who began to build
NEW YEAR FESTIVALS.
our intellectual inheritance rather less than 10,000 years
The concept of year, which
ago.”
is found in all higher cultures (as solar year or lunar year or
some combination of the two), is not known in all archaic
Newton was a staunch monotheist and strongly an-
cultures. Some cultures reckon only in periods of approxi-
titrinitarian. Perhaps owing to this, he never took holy orders
mately six months; this is especially the case in tropical lands
and could not become the master of Trinity College. His an-
where seedtime and harvest come twice in the course of a sin-
titrinitarian sentiment, however, was a dreadful secret that
gle year. Even when the year is regarded as a basic division
Newton tried desperately all his life to conceal. He himself
of time, the calculation is often based not (or not exclusively)
often maintained the philosophical autonomy of nature and
on the sun and the moon but on the visibility of certain con-
revelation, but for himself he certainly regarded his work in
stellations; in tropical and subtropical areas, it is based with
natural philosophy to be a gloria and a study of God’s works.
special frequency on the heliacal early rising of the Pleiades.
Future generations, in denigrating religion and exiling God
The beginning of the year, or the “New Year,” is often not
from natural philosophy, were more influenced by the sci-
a precise and fixed date that is astronomically determined
ence and its mechanistic implications, a science of which he
(e.g., by equinoxes or solstices). Rather, it is a period that is
was the supreme representative and symbol, than by New-
determined by the annual vegetation cycle or, more general-
ton’s own example or beliefs. This trend would have horri-
ly, by climatic processes (passage from the dark period of the
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6590
NEW YEAR FESTIVALS
year to the bright, from the cold to the warm, from the
of chaotic conditions but also as an attempt at the forcible
stormy to the calm, from the dry to the rainy). Such periods
augmentation of the life forces). In agrarian cultures there is
are often accompanied by festivities, and when the interval
often a suspension of taboos at the new harvest and the re-
between such festivities is approximately as long as a solar
newal of food reserves. Only rarely, however, are all these ele-
year, one is justified in speaking of New Year festivals.
ments found conjoined. In any case, a purely phenomeno-
logical approach is inadequate and can even be misleading,
Even where the year is known as a unit of time, it does
because it presumes a fictitious universality. A phenomeno-
not necessarily follow that the years are counted and that a
logical consideration of the traits common to New Year festi-
chronology exists. “It is true indeed of most primitive peo-
vals must therefore be supplemented by a detailed examina-
ples . . . that they are well acquainted with . . . the concrete
tion of the form they have taken in the context of particular
phenomenon of the year . . . as a single period of the season-
cultures. This kind of detailed analysis is extensively provid-
al variation, but do not reckon in years in this sense. That
ed in works by Vittorio Lanternari (1959, 1976).
is to say, the year is by them empirically given but not limited
in the abstract: above all it is not a calendrical and numerical
ARCHAIC CULTURES. In most archaic cultures New Year cer-
quantity” (Nilsson, 1920, p. 90). Thus in archaic cultures
emonies are a dramatic representation of occurrences in the
and in early high cultures the importance of New Year festi-
primordial time and, more specifically, of the fondazione
vals is not, or is only in small measure, found in the fact that
degli alimenti or the establishment of the manner of obtain-
they are measures of time; the principal function of such cer-
ing food, which is recorded in myths about the primordial
emonies is to ensure, during a critical transitional period, a
time. To this symbolic re-creation of the established order
renewal of life and the life force. In fact in many instances
is added the concern with the expulsion of the unfavorable
they even assume the form of a symbolic new creation out
period of the year and the inauguration of the favorable
of chaos.
period.
Whereas New Year ceremonies vary widely from culture
Hunting and food-gathering cultures. In most hunt-
to culture, their meaning is essentially concerned with the
ing and food-gathering cultures New Year ceremonies take
phenomenon of transition or passage in its two aspects of
place at a time when food is beginning to be scarce. In Aus-
“elimination” and “inauguration.” What is old, exhausted,
tralia this is usually toward the end of the dry period (in
weakened, inferior, and harmful is to be eliminated, and
many parts of Australia the rainy season begins in October,
what is new, fresh, powerful, good, and healthy is to be intro-
in other parts in December). The San of the Kalahari Desert
duced and ensured. The first aspect finds expression in cere-
in southern Africa also conduct their New Year ceremonies
monies of dissociation, purification, destruction, and so on.
at the beginning of the rainy season. Among the SelkDnam
These involve washing, fasting, putting off or destroying old
(in the Tierra del Fuego archipelago) and the Andaman Is-
clothing, and quenching fires as well as the expulsion of sick-
landers, the ceremonies focus chiefly on banishing the bad
nesses and evil powers (demons) through cries, noisemaking,
(cold or stormy) season of the year; elsewhere the emphasis
and blows or through the dispatch of an animal or human
is on inaugurating the good season with its abundant food
being on which are loaded the sins of the previous period of
(as in the ceremonies of the Australian Aborigines, which aim
time. The ceremonies may also reintroduce chaos through
at an increase in certain species of animals). In the arctic cli-
the dissolution of the social order and the suspension of ta-
mate of the Inuit (Eskimo) hunting (which consists chiefly
boos in force at other times and, in some cases, through the
of the slaying of marine mammals) is impossible during the
election of a temporary pseudo-king. The conflict between
winter months; these months are instead a time of intense
the old and the new time is also symbolized by ceremonial
ritual activity that reaches its climax at the winter solstice.
battles and by masquerades (in which the demons to be ex-
Among the Inuit, religious exaltation finds expression in sha-
pelled or the creative ancestors of the primordial time may
manistic activity and especially, as with hunters and food col-
be represented). In addition there is often a temporary sus-
lectors generally, in dancing. These dances represent in dra-
pension of the division between the world of the living and
matic form the events of the primordial time, that is, the
the world of the dead, with a return of the latter to the houses
deeds of the ancestors and culture heroes.
of the living, where they receive sacrifices and food but from
which they are ceremoniously dismissed at the end of the fes-
Unrestrained eating and drinking are not found at these
tal period.
feasts of hunters and gatherers, and sexual orgies are rare.
Such orgies do occur among some Western Inuit tribes, but
The second and positive aspect of the passage from old
their New Year festivals clearly show the influence of the fish-
to new is seen in the donning of new clothes, the lighting
ing cultures of the American Indians of the Northwest Coast.
of a new fire, and the drawing of freshwater as well as in
Among Australian Aborigines, sexual orgies are connected
green branches and other symbols of life, in initiations (re-
with initiations, but these are not part of New Year festivals.
ception of young people into the cult community), and in
The belief in collective return of the dead from the sea is usu-
orgiastic festive joy that leads to many kinds of excesses: im-
ally not found except among some few Inuit tribes, and in
moderate eating, drinking, and dancing and, often, sexual
this case the form of the belief is connected with their man-
orgies (these are to be regarded not only as a reintroduction
ner of life as hunters of marine mammals, a connection
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NEW YEAR FESTIVALS
6591
found also in the belief systems of the fishing cultures. Final-
milk); often too the rite of bloodless dedication of animals
ly, among hunting and food-gathering cultures, the sacrifice
is practiced. Festive joy finds expression also in abundant
of firstlings is not part of New Year celebrations (as it is
meals and in sporting competitions that represent in symbol-
among nomadic herdsmen and cultivators). Where sacrifices
ic form the victory of summer over winter.
of firstlings are customary, they are offered immediately after
In tropical regions the shift of seasons often occurs in
a successful hunt.
a less striking way, and animals often produce young
Fishing cultures. The term fishing cultures is here used
throughout the entire year. For this reason New Year festivals
in a broad sense to include those peoples who hunt chiefly
of the type found in northern Eurasia are rarely found among
marine mammals or even other sea animals, such as tortoises.
the herding peoples of Africa, except for certain festivals that
Because the peoples in question are sedentary inhabitants of
occur before the beginning of the rainy season. But in sub-
islands and coasts, they are also often agriculturalists, where
tropical regions, for example, in Southwest Asia, springtime
climatic conditions allow. But where the character of experi-
festivals are found, or at least traces of them can be seen, as
ence is determined primarily by the group’s relation to the
among the Arabs and in the Israelite Pesah:.
sea, this relation manifests itself in the New Year festival.
It can be said of all nomadic herding cultures that they
Thus even the time for the New Year festival is determined
do not have a belief in the regular collective return of the
by the condition of the sea; the festival may occur at the sol-
dead. Sexual orgies too are almost unknown among them.
emn inauguration of the fishing period (when, for example,
certain fish or other marine animals appear in great numbers)
Primitive cultivation cultures. According to Lanter-
or at the close of this period (when fishing becomes impossi-
nari (1976), three types of agrarian cultures are to be distin-
ble for a long time because of storms or excessive cold).
guished: (1) primitive cultivators (tuber cultivators) without
Among the American Indians of the Northwest Coast (the
social stratification; (2) advanced cultivators with improved
Kwakiutl, Tsimshian, and others), the ceremonies take place
methods of tilling and a social stratification; and (3) grain
when the salmon enter the rivers in great schools and the
growers, who already represent a transition to the high cul-
salmon catch begins; during the ceremonies certain parts of
tures. A vivid example of the New Year festivals of primitive
the catch are thrown back into the water (the same is done
tuber cultivators is the Milamala festival of the Trobriand Is-
among some Inuit tribes of the Northwest Coast). Similar
landers of Melanesia, which Bronislaw Malinowski, in par-
ceremonies are conducted by the coastal Koriak and coastal
ticular, described in great detail. It has its foundation in my-
Chukchi, Siberian peoples who live chiefly by hunting
thology and is celebrated for an entire lunar month, that is,
whales and seals, but these ceremonies are conducted at the
in August–September, when the harvest of yams, which are
end of the hunting season.
the principal food, has been completed and there is thus an
abundance of food. During the entire month work in the
An important element in the New Year festivals of fish-
produce gardens is strictly forbidden; the time is spent in
ing cultures is the belief in a collective return of the dead,
singing, dancing, eating copious meals, and engaging in sex-
especially of those drowned at sea; this idea is particularly im-
ual orgies. During this period the spirits of the dead enter
portant among peoples of the Northern Hemisphere, and it
the village and are offered food; at the end of the festive peri-
has left its mark on European folklore. Where sacrifices of
od they are ceremonially expelled.
the animals caught are offered (these are to be regarded in
part as sacrifices of firstlings), they are addressed either to the
Festivals of a similar character are widespread among the
sea as such or to the dead; in the former case a belief in a
tribal peoples of Melanesia (Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji,
return of the animals to life is also of some importance at
New Britain, New Ireland, New Guinea, New Caledonia),
times.
where the cultivation of tuberous plants everywhere provides
the staple foods. Typical elements in these festivals are rever-
Nomadic herding cultures. The special characteristics
ence for the earth (as agent of fruitfulness and dwelling place
of New Year festivals among cattle-breeding nomads are
of the dead); the collective return of the dead, to whom sacri-
most clearly seen in northern Eurasia, where the distinction
fices of firstfruits from the new harvests are offered; and the
between the cold and warm seasons of the year is pro-
orgy in its various forms (copious meals, dances, sexual aban-
nounced. These peoples, whether breeders of reindeer
don). The collective return of the spirits of the dead and the
(Saami, Samoyeds, Tunguz, Koriak, Chukchi) or breeders of
sacrifice of firstfruits from the harvest are also documented
horses, sheep, and cattle (Altai Tatars, Abakan Tatars, Ya-
outside Melanesia (in Africa, Indonesia, and elsewhere). In
kuts, Mongols), celebrate their New Year festivals in the
some parts of Melanesia cultic societies (of a more or less se-
spring, when the vegetation revives, the animals produce
cret character) play a role in the New Year festivals. Other
their young, and milk and milk products are abundant. At
Melanesian tribes have special ceremonies not found in the
this time sacrifices of firstlings are offered to the higher pow-
Milamala festival, including, for example, initiatory celebra-
ers and especially to the supreme heavenly being in gratitude
tions, the appearance of masked dancers in dramatic presen-
for the increase of the flocks; these offerings consist both of
tations, and the slaying of large numbers of pigs. Moreover
young animals and of bloodless victims (milk and milk prod-
the Festival of Pigs frequently takes a form in which the en-
ucts, such as koumiss, an alcoholic drink made of mare’s
hancement of social prestige plays a special role. Whereas this
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6592
NEW YEAR FESTIVALS
particular festival is celebrated not annually but at longer in-
en (the sun) and earth. In some grain-growing cultures the
tervals, there are nonetheless many indications that it was
New Year festivals are connected with the solstices, in others
originally connected with the New Year festivals.
with the revival of the vegetation in the spring or with the
conclusion of the harvest.
Sexual orgies are regarded as a means of intensifying the
life force and promoting the fertility of plant life. Such cele-
CULTURES OF THE ANCIENT MIDDLE EAST AND OF THE
brations are also found as part of the New Year celebrations
MEDITERRANEAN WORLD. The influence of the mythical
among more highly developed agrarian cultures.
ideas and corresponding rituals of the grain-growing cultures
reaches into the agrarian and urban cultures of the ancient
Advanced cultivation cultures. The culture of the
Middle East and of the Mediterranean region. In these cul-
Polynesians may be taken as a typical example of advanced
tures, however, the ceremonies are enriched with numerous
cultivation cultures. Polynesian culture is based chiefly on
new elements. First, the vegetative cycle and its accompany-
the cultivation of the breadfruit tree; on some islands this is
ing round of agricultural labors determine the demarcations
supplemented by taro or sweet potatoes, for which irrigation
of the year; however, there is also a more refined astronomi-
is used. Because of the climate, there is no sharp contrast be-
cal observation. Thus the beginning of the year is determined
tween the seasons of the years and between periods of abun-
partly by climate and vegetation (therefore the year begins
dance and dearth. Surplus agricultural production has made
either in the spring or in the autumn), partly by the equinox-
possible the development of a hierarchic social order, often
es, and more rarely by the solstices (as in Phoenicia and
with a sacral or even divinized king at its apex. The upper
Syria). In Ugarit there seems to have been a cultic year that
classes are not directly involved in agricultural production
began in the autumn and a “civic” year that began in the
but exercise other functions, particularly ritual ones. For this
spring. In Mesopotamia the Akitu festival among the Sume-
reason the purpose of the New Year ceremonies (which do
rians was originally an autumn festival marking the resump-
not occur at the same time on all the islands) is less to ensure
tion of fieldwork after the summer drought. The Babylonian
the food needed for life and much more to validate the social
New Year festival (Sumerian, Zagmuk; Akkadian, Zagmuk-
order: the first fruits of the harvest are not offered to the re-
ku), also called Akitu, which was celebrated in the spring at
turning dead as a whole but to the kings and the chiefs (who
the beginning of the month Nisan, represented the fusion
then often make a further distribution of them) as well as to
of two originally distinct festivals, one in the spring, the
the royal ancestors and the gods; the latter are often of an
other in the fall. The Iranian New Year festival (Nowru¯z),
agrarian-solar type. Ceremonial battles take place and at
celebrated at the time of the spring equinox, also replaced
times a symbolic deposition or slaying of the king, followed
an older custom of starting the year in the fall. In pre-Islamic
by his reenthronement. Unrestrained dancing and sexual or-
Arabia the year began in the fall; in only a few northern fron-
gies are often part of the fertility cult, as they are among
tier areas was there a shift to a year beginning in the spring.
primitive cultivators. The New Year festival shows compara-
It is not known when the year began in the ancient cultures
ble forms with a similar content in various cultures that com-
of southern Arabia; in modern times the year begins some-
bine cultivation of the soil and cattle breeding and that also
times in the spring, sometimes in the fall.
have a hierarchic social structure, such as among southeast-
As for the ceremonies of the New Year festivals in the
ern Bantu peoples, in West Africa, and in Madagascar.
Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cultures, members of the
Grain-growing cultures. The New Year festival in
“cult history” school (known also as the “myth and ritual”
grain-growing cultures has much in common with the festi-
school) delineated a “pattern” for the urban New Year festi-
val found in other agrarian cultures; there are, however, dis-
val that includes the following elements: “The dramatic rep-
tinguishing features that can be seen among rice farmers (an-
resentation of the death and resurrection of the god; the reci-
cient Japan, ancient China) and maize growers (North
tation or symbolic representation of the myth of the creation;
America and Mesoamerica). The contrast between the cold,
the ritual combat, in which the triumph of the god over his
dark, and unfruitful and the warm, bright, and fertile periods
enemies was depicted; the sacred marriage; the triumphal
of the year is marked (this opposition accounts, for example,
procession, in which the king played the part of the god, fol-
for the great importance of new fire as a symbol of light in
lowed by a train of lesser gods or visiting deities” (A. M.
the New Year ceremonies—something also found among
Johnson in Hooke, 1958, p. 226). Judah B. Segal brings to-
nonagrarian peoples of the north, such as the Inuit and
gether what is known about New Year ceremonies in ancient
northern Asiatics). In grain-growing cultures the sun, the in-
Egypt, Greece, Rome, and Babylonia, among the Hittites,
fluence of which on the growth of cereals is directly visible,
and in Syria, Phoenicia, and Arabia to derive components of
is of paramount importance; not so among tuber cultivators,
a general pattern:
who ascribe fertility directly to the earth and the dead. (The
The New Year is fixed by the calendar. In all communi-
great importance of the solar complex among the Polynesians
ties we find a ritual going-forth from the city to the
can be traced back to Asian elements in their culture; a fur-
open country. In all are rites of purification, which in-
ther significant similarity with East Asia is the importance
clude fasting and the wearing of new clothes, proces-
of the sacral ruler for the general prosperity.) A dominant
sions, the exchange of gifts, sacrifices, and feasting. In
theme in the myths of grain growers is the marriage of heav-
some communities there is a solemn recital of a myth
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NEW YEAR FESTIVALS
6593
of Creation, in several the sacred marriage is enacted.
wear because it was believed that this would bring good luck.
Most include the temporal removal of conventional so-
In addition special dishes, such as carp and sweetbreads in
cial restrictions. The New Year appears to be an appro-
Germany, are served on New Year’s Day. Some Germans
priate time for the dedication of a temple. (Segal, 1963,
smelt lead on New Year’s Eve in order to predict the future
pp. 125–126)
on the basis of the forms the lead takes after it has warmed
The Israelite New Year festival is not derived from this urban
up. Chimney sweeps are believed to bring good luck on New
type, which supposedly split into a spring festival and an au-
Year’s Day. Good wishes are often exchanged, orally or in
tumn festival. One must suppose rather that the Israelite fes-
letters and postcards. A specific German New Year’s wish is
tivals contained independent elements derived from the no-
that of a good Rutsch, which is a slight deformation of the
madic period and that in part they were remodeled
Yiddish-Hebrew word Ro Dsh, an abbreviation of RoDsh ha-
Canaanite festivals (through which Mesopotamian influ-
Shanah.
ences were indirectly at work) that were taken over after the
Jewish celebrations. RoDsh ha-Shanah is the Hebrew
settlement. The Canaanite influence is especially apparent
name for the Jewish New Year in autumn. It is celebrated
in the New Year festival in the autumn; nomadic traditions,
on the first of the month of Tishri, the seventh month of the
on the other hand, are reflected in the spring festival (Pesah:)
Jewish calendar year. The name was unknown in biblical
at the beginning of the year. The very details that give the
times, where, with reference to Leviticus 23:24–25, the sa-
Pesah: ritual its specific character are the ones that do not fit
cred day was called the Day of Remembrance (Yom ha-
into the general pattern that has been presented by Segal. In
Zikkaron) or Day of Sounding the Shofar (Yom Teruah). It
Arabia the pre-Islamic (nomadic) spring festival lives on in
marks the beginning of a ten-day period of spiritual self-
changed form in the Eumrah of Mecca, whereas the pre-
examination and repentance that culminates with Yom Kip-
Islamic (agrarian) autumn festival can be seen in the h:a¯jj.
pur, the Day of Atonement. This period of celebration is
Spring and autumn festivals that mark the beginning of
clearly not mirthful compared with the New Year celebra-
the year (or at least critical turning points during the year)
tions that are held at the beginning of the secular year. Rath-
are also to be regarded, in the folklore of North Africa and
er, RoDsh ha-Shanah carries strong religious implications of
the southern European countries, as survivals of a common
remembering the sins of the past year. The holiday finds its
ancient Mediterranean agrarian culture. Among the com-
expression when people walk, according to an old tradition,
mon features are sexual rituals as a means of promoting fertil-
to a source of flowing water, such as a creek or a river, on
ity (although these have for the most part been reduced to
the afternoon of the first day and empty their pockets into
symbolic actions or purely verbal manifestations), masks as
the water, symbolically casting off their sins.
representations of the returning dead, and the role played by
Many Jews, in particular American Jews, use the New
a temporary sacral “agrarian king.”
Year as a time to plan a better life, making “resolutions” for
The Christian feast of Easter is connected with the Isra-
the year to come. It is in this spirit of renewal that white
elite Pesah: and, as the feast of the resurrection of Christ, has
clothes are recommended and white skullcaps are suggested
its own specific salvation-historical content. In addition,
as symbols of purity. Intensive house cleaning is on the agen-
however, it contains (partly in the official rites of the Roman
da, debts are paid back, and reconciliation is sought in cases
Catholic and Eastern Churches, partly in popular customs)
of discord. The sounding of the shofar, the ram’s horn, is the
numerous details that derive from archaic cultures and the
most characteristic sign marking the New Year. “During the
cultures of the ancient Middle East; these details symbolize
course of the Rosh Hashana service, a total of 100 notes are
a transition and a new beginning and to this extent make it
sounded. Ancient tradition has handed down three distinct
possible to regard Easter as the real Christian New Year
shofar notes: a long drawn-out sound (tekiah), a broken,
festival.
plaintive sound (shevarim), a series of sharp, staccato sounds
CONTEMPORARY SOCIETIES. The New Year is usually cele-
(teruah)” (Donin, 1972, p. 245). If the New Year falls on a
brated at the beginning of the secular year on January 1,
Sabbath, the shofar is not blown. No work is permitted on
though other New Year celebrations are also practiced. These
RoDsh ha-Shanah. Much of the day is spent in the synagogue.
include secular celebrations, such as the beginning of the
Eating apples dipped in honey is popular on this day, as is
school or university year, and religious celebrations, includ-
sending postcards to wish a happy New Year to relatives and
ing the Jewish, Christian, Islamic, Hindu, and Buddhist
friends.
New Year celebrations.
Christian observances. In all Christian churches and
Secularized Western Christian celebrations. Many re-
denominations the secular New Year is the designated date
gional and local traditions mark the secular New Year. In
for New Year observances, be it the reformed Gregorian cal-
Germany firecrackers at midnight (between December 31
endar date of January 1 or, as in some Orthodox areas, the
and January 1) indicate the end of the old and the beginning
original Julian date of mid-January. Thus the beginning of
of the new year. According to Germanic traditions, loud
the religious year (in Western Christianity the first Sunday
noise helps hinder bad spirits from entering the new year. In
of Advent, four weeks before Christmas) has no importance
Italy men used to wear red pieces of cloth with their under-
as a Christian New Year. However, many Western Christian
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6594
NEW YEAR FESTIVALS
churches welcome the secular New Year by ringing the
(Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, and Laos) the
church bells at midnight on New Year’s Eve.
New Year is celebrated three days from the first full moon
day in April. In Maha¯ya¯na countries the first full moon day
Muslim observances. In the Muslim world there are
in January is considered the New Year. The date of the Bud-
two types of New Year: the lunar Islamic New Year on the
dhist New Year also depends on the country of origin or eth-
first day of Muh:arram, the first month of the lunar calendar,
nic background of the people who are celebrating it. For ex-
and the solar Nowru¯z in March. The lunar calendar is the
ample, Chinese, Koreans, and Vietnamese celebrate the New
official Muslim calendar and reminds Muslims of the foun-
Year in late January or early February, according to the lunar
dation of the ummah in Medina after the prophet
calendar, whereas Tibetans usually do so about one month
Muh:ammad’s migration from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE.
later. Water plays an important role in Buddhist New Year
Because the lunar year is eleven days shorter than the solar
celebrations, where it is used for purification of temples,
year, the lunar Islamic New Year moves backward over the
homes, and individuals.
seasons and thus can occur in any season. Remembrance of
the prophet Muh:ammad’s migration is central, and this story
Chinese observances. The Chinese New Year starts
is recounted in private ceremonies, publicly in mosques, and
with the new moon on the first day of the new secular year
in the modern Muslim world on radio and television. Some
and ends on the full moon fifteen days later. The fifteenth
Muslims have also started sending postcards to wish friends
day is called the Lantern Festival, which is celebrated at night
and relatives a happy New Year.
with lantern displays and children carrying lanterns in pa-
rades. New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day are celebrated as
There is no official religious service associated with the
a family affair. Heaven and earth are honored, as well as the
Muslim lunar New Year. In some areas, in particular those
gods of the household and the family ancestors. Rules govern
under Persian cultural influence, a fixed date, namely the
what to eat and what to do on each of the fifteen days. Many
spring equinox, marks the New Year, which is recognized
families use special New Year’s recipes for the holiday foods.
with a celebration that dates back more than three thousand
It is common to abstain from eating meat on the first day
years. This holiday is celebrated by all Iranians regardless of
of the new year because this will ensure a long and happy
religious affiliation, including both Zoroastrians and Mus-
life. People also visit temples to pray for good fortune and
lims. People generally clean their houses and themselves be-
health.
fore the New Year starts. New clothes mark the event. Rural
Iranians construct and light piles of thorn and brushwood,
Japanese observances. The Japanese New Year (Osho-
and people jump over the fire on the last Tuesday of the year.
gatsu) lasts for a week, starting on December 28 and running
It is believed that this act will purify the jumper and help rid
through January 6. Cleaning and cooking are important ac-
him or her of illnesses and misfortunes. Every day of this
tivities in preparation for the Oshogatsu. Shortly before mid-
thirteen-day celebration is marked by a special action, in-
night on New Year’s Eve, toshi-koshi soba, a type of noodle
cluding visiting relatives and friends and exchanging gifts
soup, is served. People then listen to 108 midnight gongs
and good wishes. New Year’s Day is set aside for the prepara-
rung at local temples and broadcast throughout Japan. The
tion of seven items (haft s¯ın), the names of which all begin
108 gongs symbolize each of the 108 desires, listed in Bud-
with the letter s¯ın: s¯ıb (apple), s¯ır (garlic), suma¯k: (sumac),
dhist texts, which hinder people from reaching salvation. On
sindj¯ıd (jujube), samanu¯ (a kind of sweetmeat), sirka (vine-
New Year’s Day specific traditional meals are served, good
gar), and sabz¯ı (greens).
wishes cards are delivered, and people gather with their fami-
lies and visit temples.
Hindu observances. In Hindu communities the begin-
ning of the New Year is celebrated by the D¯ıva¯l¯ı (Diwali)
SEE ALSO Akitu; D¯ıva¯l¯ı; Dragons; Hieros Gamos; Light
Festival of Lights in November. It is celebrated all over India,
and Darkness; Nowru¯z; Seasonal Ceremonies.
although different regions celebrate D¯ıva¯l¯ı in different ways.
What is common is the lighting of many small earthenware
BIBLIOGRAPHY
oil lamps, which set homes and gardens aglow with twinkling
Caillois, Roger. Man and the Sacred. Translated by Meyer Barash.
lights. The origin of the feast is the return of Ra¯ma to his
Glencoe, Ill., 1959.
northern kingdom after having been sent away by his mother
Donin, Hayim Halevy. To Be a Jew: A Guide to Jewish Observance
Bha¯rat to hinder him from becoming king. Ra¯ma finally re-
in Contemporary Life. New York, 1972.
turns successfully, thus symbolizing the victory of good over
Eliade, Mircea. Cosmos and History: The Myth of the Eternal Re-
evil. People exchange good wishes and give gifts during the
turn. Translated by Willard R. Trask. New York, 1959.
D¯ıva¯l¯ı festival; they also buy and wear new clothes, hold
Henninger, Joseph. “Primitialopfer and Neujahrsfest.” In An-
family meetings, serve special holiday meals, and decorate
thropica: Gedenkschrift zum 100, Geburtstag von P. Wilhelm
doorways and homes with small red and white footprints to
Schmidt, pp. 147–189. Sankt Augustin bei Bonn, Germany,
symbolize Ra¯ma’s happy return. Fireworks and firecrackers
1968. Includes a critical evaluation of Vittorio Lanternari
(1959).
are also an important part of the celebration.
Henninger, Joseph. Les fêtes de printemps chez les Sémites et la
Buddhist observances. In Buddhist countries several
Pâque israélite. Paris, 1975. Includes a critical evaluation of
dates are used to mark the New Year. In Therava¯da countries
S. H. Hooke (1958) and Segal (1963).
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

NEZ PERCE (NIIMÍIPUU) RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
6595
Henninger, Joseph. “Zur Kulturgeschichte des Neujahrsfestes.”
however, it is also quite common for tribal members to use
Anthropos 77 (1982): 579–591. Includes a critical evaluation
their ancestral band designation as an identity marker. In the
of Vittorio Lanternari (1976).
historic period, the name Nez Percé, a French term meaning
Hooke, S. H., ed. Myth, Ritual, and Kingship: Essays on the Theory
pierced nose, was applied to the Niimíipuu by French fur
and Practice of Kingship in the Ancient Near East and in Israel.
traders and through later historic usage the name has come
Oxford, U.K., 1958.
to identify both the Niimíipuu language and its people.
Lanternari, Vittorio. La grande festa: Storia del Capodanno nelle
Today, the majority of the Nez Perce people (a population
civiltà primitive. Milan, Italy, 1959.
estimated at 3,000) reside on the Nez Perce Reservation in
Lanternari, Vittorio. La grande festa: Vita rituale e sistemi di
central Idaho, with several smaller communities of Nez Perce
produzione nelle società tradizionali. 2d ed. Bari, Italy, 1976.
in Oregon and Washington. The Nez Perce language, like
many indigenous languages of North America, is endangered
Levy, R. “Nawru¯z: In the Islamic Heartlands.” In Encyclopaedia
and is spoken by sixty to seventy fluent elders, the majority
of Islam, new edition, edited by C. E. Bosworth, vol. 7. Lei-
den, Netherlands, and New York, 1993.
of whom speak the Upper River dialect. Only a handful of
elders still speak the Lower River dialect.
MacCulloch, J. A. “Feasting (Introductory).” In Encyclopaedia of
Religion and Ethics, edited by James Hastings, vol. 5. Edin-
The religious traditions of the Niimíipuu, the Nez Perce
burgh, U.K., 1914.
people, trace their origin to the mythic emergence of the Ne-
tíitelwit,
the first human beings to inhabit the earth. The
Nilsson, Martin P. Primitive Time-Reckoning: A Study in the Ori-
gins and First Development of the Art of Counting Time among
emergence of the Netíitelwit brought to an end the existence
the Primitive and Early Culture Peoples. Lund, Sweden, 1920.
of powerful mythic beings and signaled the beginning of a
world inhabited by ordinary humans. A principal myth cele-
Segal, Judah B. The Hebrew Passover from the Earliest Times to A.D.
brates this transformation and is known among the Nez
70. New York, 1963.
Perce as the climactic episode in a long series of encounters
Servier, Jean. Les portes de l’année, rites et symboles: L’Algérie dans
in which ’Itseyéeye (Coyote) slays a mythic being too powerful
la tradition méditerranéenne. Paris, 1962.
and dangerous for the emerging Netíitelwit. The dismem-
Waddell, L. A., et al. “Festivals and Feasts.” In Encyclopaedia of
bered remains of this slain being embody the cultural land-
Religion and Ethics, edited by James Hastings, vol. 5. Edin-
scape as Tim’néepe (Heart Place), Sit’éexspe (Liver Place), and
burgh, 1914.
Qaháspa (Breast Place) and locate the mythic emergence of
JOSEPH HENNINGER (1987)
the Netíitelwit on the Clearwater River of north-central
PETER ANTES (2005)
Idaho.
Through the mythic emergence of the Netíitelwit, a core
Nez Perce cosmology is conceived. The universe is distinctly
NEZ PERCE (NIIMÍIPUU) RELIGIOUS
defined as including the realm of humans and a former world
TRADITIONS. The Nez Perce people are one of two
inhabited by supernatural entities. Its structure is mediated
Sahaptian-speaking groups—the Nez Perce and the Sahap-
by a deep time separation whereby the mythic past remotely
tin—to inhabit the southern Columbia Plateau region of
precedes the human present. Though rare, this time separa-
western North America. Aboriginally, the Nez Perce–
tion is sometimes breached by accounts of supernatural enti-
speaking peoples are ancient occupants of the southern Co-
ties coexisting with and coming into contact with ordinary
lumbia Plateau whose ancestral lands extend along middle
humans. Nez Perce oral traditions, known as titwatitnáawit,
Snake River in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. The Nez
reinforce this notion of mythic time as an enduring continu-
Perce, as well as other Sahaptin groups, report no migration
um between two possible worlds. The more immediate social
tradition placing them outside their current ancestral home-
value of titwatitnáawit, however, is to impart fundamental
lands; instead, their oral traditions contain imagery of mam-
knowledge about the world and its living inhabitants in addi-
moths, ice-age phenomena, and ancient volcanic activity. At
tion to basic human values and beliefs.
the time of contact, the Nez Perce were composed of an esti-
THE WÉEYEKIN SYSTEM. The Nez Perce, like many cultures
mated forty independent bands and were dispersed along
throughout the Columbia Plateau, base their belief system
three major tributaries of the Snake River: the Grande Ronde
upon the wéeyekin (spirit guardian), also called the spirit-
River (Oregon), the Clearwater River (Idaho), and the Salm-
guardian tradition. The wéeyekin system consists of a core set
on River (Idaho). Two dialect variants differentiated the Nez
of religious beliefs centering on the existence of transcendent
Perce speech community: the Lower River dialect and the
power as well as a set of unifying cultural practices that inte-
Upper River dialect. Like other neighboring Sahaptin
grate such beliefs into Nez Perce society. A fundamental no-
groups, the Nez Perce were known principally as a hunting
tion informing the wéeyekin system is the existence of an in-
and gathering culture, centered on the annual food quest of
nate power or force in the universe. Elements of this power
fishing, hunting, and gathering roots. As a consequence, the
can become manifest as superhuman agents or spirit beings
Nez Perce territory covers a diverse geography, each part of
who become attached to individual human beings. Once ac-
which has its own biodiversity. Culturally, the Nez Perce
quired, a wéeyekin acts as a lifelong tutelary to its human re-
people identify themselves as Niimíipuu the Real People;
cipient.
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6596
NEZ PERCE (NIIMÍIPUU) RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
A wéeyekin is obtained through a childhood spirit-
the visionary content upon which the new religious tradi-
guardian quest, inheritance, dreams, life crises, or incidental
tions are based appears to be much more universal in orienta-
contact. While an individual may acquire a wéeyekin at any
tion. It includes (1) the direct apprehension of the universe,
stage in life, it was more common in aboriginal times to ac-
which typically occurs in a death-like altered state of con-
quire one during a childhood spirit-guardian quest called a
sciousness or dream state; (2) the receipt of a set of directives
wáay’atin. The wáay’atin involved isolation in a remote geo-
or laws that transmits information about the existence of an
graphic location, most often a sacred area where spirit powers
omniscient creator and human life potential; and (3) the
were known to be especially potent. For many Nez Perce
transfer of prophetic powers, songs, and rituals to the human
children, the wáay’atin was the culmination of a more gener-
participant. The variation and development of these modern
al regimen of training that started early in life and extended
religious traditions are not so much about the embodiment
independently through adulthood.
of spiritual power as they are a means to bring about changes
in the world through collective ritual action.
Individual narrative accounts reveal that the vision expe-
rience unfolds as a dialogic encounter. The experience con-
THE TUULÍIM CULT. The earliest documented religious de-
sists of (1) the direct apprehension of a wéeyekin, which typi-
velopment to emerge among the Nez Perce was the tuulíim
cally occurs in an altered state of consciousness or dream
cult. In contrast to the wéeyekin system, the tuulíim cult was
state; (2) a set of directives in which the wéeyekin vocally
characterized by the formalization of religious ritual center-
transmits information about its identity, attributes, and pow-
ing on prophecy and revelation. Its most salient feature was
ers; and (3) the transfer of powers from the wéeyekin to the
the ritual transmission of sacred knowledge that was ob-
human participant. The outcome of such an encounter is
tained during a death-like transitory state or vision experi-
characterized as wéeyexnin’ (to be blessed by a wéeyekin). In
ence. The revelatory and prophetic structure of this knowl-
addition, the human participant is later endowed with a per-
edge was derived, in part, from the visionary perception of
sonal spiritual name that identifies the wéeyekin, a set of pre-
the cosmos and human existence. Its content and form were
scriptive ritual behaviors to maintain spiritual empower-
later integrated into the everyday world as communicative
ment, and a personal spirit song. The full extent of these
ritual acts known as talapóosa (worship), we’nípt (singing),
endowments was usually not realized until the human partic-
and waa’láasat (a sacred form of dancing). Among its most
ipant had matured and entered into adult life. Ultimately,
central beliefs were concepts of a hereafter, an omniscient
however, they provided the key ingredients for individual
creator (haniyaw’áat), human moral conduct, and world re-
and group success in the overall survival of the Nez Perce.
newal.
The spiritual attainment of wéeyexnin’ was understood
Based on archaeological and ethnographic evidence, the
to be a foundational element in the formation of a true au-
tuulíim cult arose during the protohistoric period (1600–
tonomous self. Intensified forms of personal awareness were
1750) in response to the widespread introduction of non-
known to emerge over the life of an individual as a conse-
aboriginal influences into the Columbia Plateau. Their cu-
quence of the originating vision experiences. This awareness
mulative impact had the unprecedented effect of transform-
often culminated in cúukwenin’ (the supernatural ability to
ing the physical realms (via material resources and technolo-
“know spiritually”), and was believed to contribute to a co-
gy), the social realms (in interpersonal and tribal
herent understanding of human experience, life forces, and
relationships), and the cognitive realms (through psychology
the basic structure of the world. The alternative was to be
and religion) of everyday Nez Perce life. But by far the single
weyexnéey’—without a wéeyekin—and attempts at attaining
most important event to shape the lives of Columbia Plateau
anything more than a common, mediocre life would be a
peoples was a series of smallpox epidemics that swept
long and arduous undertaking.
through the ancient villages of the Columbia and Snake
The core beliefs informing the wéeyekin system find
River areas. As an intellectual and spiritual force, the tuulíim
their greatest elaboration in the annual winter ritual perfor-
cult and its progenitor the Prophet Dance provided a means
mance known as the wéeyekweecet (spirit-guardian dance).
of mediating the weakened, liminal state of existence by of-
The wéeyekweecet is primarily structured around the enact-
fering to restore vitality in a crisis-ridden world.
ment and display of wéeyekin powers. It includes the public
THE ’IPNÚUCILILPT RITUAL. By the post-contact era, the fun-
performance of one’s weeyekwe’nípt (spirit-guardian song) as
damental elements of the tuulíim cult were so fully integrated
well as power exhibitions by mature shamans. The wéeyek-
into Nez Perce life that it reemerged as a revitalized form of
weecet constitutes a collective communicative process in
worship called ’ipnúucililpt (making oneself turn). In its most
which information pertaining to one’s inner experience is ex-
basic form, the ’ipnúucililpt ritual is a modern adaptation of
ternalized through ritual performance.
its protohistoric progenitor. Significantly, it continues to be
The wéeyekin tradition is a belief system of great antiqui-
grounded in the transformative power of prophecy and reve-
ty and the empowering, transformative vision experience
lation precisely because many of its original prophetic predic-
upon which it is based is a core feature in recent Nez Perce
tions, such as the arrival of whites, the appearance of instru-
religious traditions. The visionary realm continues to retain
ments of writing, and other wondrous technologies, had
its inherent potency; narrative accounts show, however, that
come to pass. Drawing on the symbolic structure of its pre-
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NGUKURR RELIGION
6597
decessor, ’lipnúucililpt philosophy is distinguished by an ad-
THE SETTING. The Arnhem Land region has an area of about
herence to natural laws, ethical codes of respect, religious au-
ninety-five thousand square kilometers. It was set aside in
thority, and ritual order. World renewal rituals such as the
1931 by the Australian government as a reserve for the Ab-
First Foods ceremony and children’s rites of passage receive
origines and remained as such until 1977. Following the pas-
greater emphasis, as does the adoption and use of ancient
sage of the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act
symbolic imagery centering on primal sources of light such
of 1976, the ownership of Arnhem Land was transferred
as the sun, moon, and stars.
from the Australian government to various Aboriginal bo-
This process of reinterpretation provided the various
dies.
traditional bands of Nez Perce with a sense of social solidarity
Arnhem Land, and in particular southeastern Arnhem
and continuity in the face of rapid change. However, the in-
Land, is physically remote and economically under-
crease in opportunities for religious affiliation also had the
developed. The only productive enterprises in the area
effect of reducing the internal diversity of the ’ipnúucililpt ad-
around Ngukurr are beef-cattle raising and fishing. The
herents until they became collectively identified as followers
country to the south and west of Ngukurr is occupied by
of the Wanapam prophet Smohalla, a key historical figure
large cattle stations (ranches), varying in size from one thou-
in the native struggle to retain ancestral lands. In the political
sand to seven thousand square kilometers.
sphere, adherents of the ’ipnúucililpt faith eventually became
Prior to 1969 Ngukurr was known as Roper River Mis-
unified to fight U.S. government attempts to extinguish ab-
sion and was administered by the Church Missionary Soci-
original title to lands held sacred by the Nez Perce. Ultimate-
ety, an evangelical missionary body within the Anglican
ly, however, the deep fundamental differences in religion and
Church of Australia. The Aborigines were residents of the
worldview were too great to prevent the Nez Perce War of
mission settlement and lived under the control and direction
1877 and the division of the Nez Perce people. Today, rem-
of the mission staff.
nants of the ’ipnúucililpt religious practices and wéeyekin tra-
The administrative structure and political control of
dition continue in isolation in the life of a small group of tra-
Ngukurr has undergone sweeping changes beginning late in
ditional Nez Perce.
1968, when Ngukurr became a government settlement run
by the Welfare Division of the Northern Territory Adminis-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
tration. The administration of the town of Ngukurr was
Axtell, Horace, and Margo Aragon. A Little Bit of Wisdom: Con-
versations with a Nez Perce Elder. Lewiston, Idaho, 1997.
transferred to a locally elected council in 1975. Government
grants finance the town’s budget and the major part of the
Coale, George L. “Notes on the Guardian Spirit Concept among
people’s incomes with employment and social service pay-
the Nez Perce.” International Archives of Ethnography 47
(1958): 135–148.
ments. Ngukurr has few productive activities and a very high
rate of chronic unemployment.
Walker, Deward E. Conflict and Schism in Nez Perce Acculturation.
2d ed., with an introduction by Robert Hackenberg. Mos-
RELIGION AND THE MISSION. The Aboriginal community at
cow, Idaho, 1985.
Ngukurr operates within two religious universes. One de-
Walker, Deward E. “Plateau: Nez Perce.” In Witchcraft and Sor-
rives from the indigenous traditions of the Aboriginal people
cery of the American Native Peoples, edited by Walker,
who make up the present-day community, and the other
pp. 113–140. Moscow, Idaho, 1989.
from the people’s subjugation by Europeans, in particular
Walker, Deward E. “Nez Perce.” In Handbook of North American
the Christian missionaries.
Indians, vol. 12: Plateau, edited by Walker. Washington,
Christianity and indigenous religion today have an un-
D.C., 1998.
easy relationship within the community. Each tolerates the
PHILLIP CASH CASH (2005)
existence of the other, but they are considered as separate.
There is no intellectual cross-fertilization, though to an ex-
tent they share practitioners and believers.
NGARINYIN RELIGION SEE UNGARINYIN
The structure of Christianity at Ngukurr in the early
RELIGION
1970s reflects its mission origin. From 1908 until 1968, the
Church Missionary Society integrated Christianity and social
control: Aboriginal residents were able to gain social prefer-
NGUKURR RELIGION. The Aboriginal township
ence through participation in church activities and nonpar-
of Ngukurr is located on the remote Roper River in south-
ticipation provoked negative sanctions. Participation in the
eastern Arnhem Land in Australia’s Northern Territory. Its
church declined dramatically following the transfer of secular
population, which in the 1970s fluctuated between 350 and
control to the Australian government. By 1970 the active
500, consists of the descendants of the Aboriginal tribes of
Aboriginal congregation was reduced to less than twenty
the lower and middle Roper River and the adjacent coast,
adults, mostly older men and women who had a long history
mainly the Alawa, Mara, Ngalagan, Ngandi, Nunggabuyu,
of residence at the mission.
and Wandarang. The people of Ngukurr still retain close
The main point of contact between the local church and
spiritual and physical ties to their tribal land.
the indigenous religion in 1970 was through the composi-
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6598
NGUKURR RELIGION
tion of the church’s lay council. The adult male members
THE DEVELOPMENT OF NGUKURR RELIGIOUS PRACTICE. In
were all active participants in the indigenous religious realm.
their traditional habitat and across their own countries, peo-
Some, including two of the lay preachers, were leaders in the
ple held ceremonies at the sites being celebrated, but when
organization of indigenous cult performances. These men
colonists appropriated the land ceremonies had to be held
wore their dual positions lightly. As councillors they partici-
away from these places.
pated in the church’s decision-making process and occasion-
ally attended services at the church, but they fulfilled their
Mission authorities actively discouraged ceremonies
main religious role within the indigenous religion. However,
within the mission area, though they continued to be held
their political positions were maintained through participa-
with difficulty. The mission’s attitude prevented ceremonies
tion in both realms.
at Ngukurr until mission policy changed in the mid-1950s.
Up to the 1950s Ngukurr was only one of a number of popu-
THE INDIGENOUS REALM. The people of Ngukurr, as Ab-
lation centers (the others being cattle stations) that shared the
origines, see themselves and are seen by others as culturally
cult life of the Roper area. This cult life, richer than that now
distinct from the mainstream of Australian society, and this
performed at Ngukurr, included four secret male cults, the
distinctiveness is considered a positive value that encapsu-
Yabuduruwa, Gunabibi (called Kunapipi elsewhere), Balgin,
lates a traditional conception of society.
and Maddaiin. An elaborate circumcision ritual and secret
The conduct of religious cults is the main arena of social
women’s cults were also part of this religious practice.
life that appears fully contained by this traditional world-
All the ceremonies organized by Ngukurr men after
view. The social strictures found in the cults, together with
1957 were held in the vicinity of Ngukurr. This occurred
the Ngukurr kinship system, provide the framework for so-
alongside the decline in the attendance of Ngukurr men at
cial relations in those areas not yet entirely subordinated to
ceremonies elsewhere in the region, the dropping of the
the non-Aboriginal world. Today these manifold relations
Maddaiin and the Balgin cults from the men’s repertoire,
have two main foci: (1) the right to make decisions about
and the abbreviation of the circumcision rites. Performance
and to participate in the religious cults and (2) the distribu-
of the women’s cults had ceased before this time. Between
tion of rights and access to the land.
the mid-1950s and the mid-1970s about eight Yabuduruwa
Aboriginal religion is articulated around the relations
ceremonies and six Gunabibi ceremonies were held at
between groups of people and the land that their forebears
Ngukurr. Each was associated with one or two of the nine
occupied and exploited (and that the Aborigines are again
“estate-group territories” (for an explanation of the term es-
seeking to occupy). The foci of the Aboriginal religious sys-
tate, see below). It has been described elsewhere (Bern, 1979)
tems are supernatural, totemic beings that may or may not
the changes that brought about the establishment of a specif-
be representations of natural species. The more important to-
ic Ngukurr society. The changes during the 1950s resulted
temic powers in the Ngukurr pantheon are the nagaran (a
in the appearance of a ritual life specific to Ngukurr and of
supernatural spirit usually represented as a male giant), the
a distinct set of Ngukurr religious properties.
plain kangaroo, various species of monitor lizard (goannas),
THE CULTS. Indigenous religious practice at Ngukurr cen-
rain and lightning, the gilyiring-gilyiring (which takes various
ters on the conduct of the two cults of the Yabuduruwa and
forms, though it is most commonly glossed as a woman or
the Gunabibi. These cults celebrate, with great complexity,
a mermaid), and various species of snakes and fish.
the relations between people, between people and the totem-
At their most innovative, they are world-creative forces
ic powers, between people and the land, and between the
that transform an unfeatured landscape into its known social
land, people, and the totemic powers. Intergroup relations
forms. They pass through the country creating places, leaving
are specified through the identification of particular kinship-
their paths, establishing ceremonies, and meeting and estab-
based groups with particular territories. Such groups are
lishing structured relations with other powers. Different
called estate groups. Relations between people are also speci-
parts of the country are associated with different powers or
fied through sociocentric categories. Thus patrilineal moiety
ensembles of powers.
and semi-moiety affiliations are ritualized.
The totemic powers organize religious life by bonding
Moieties and semimoieties. At the most inclusive level
particular groups of people with particular sites, paths, or
the organization of the Yabuduruwa and Gunabibi cults is
tracts of land. They also articulate the relations between
based on the division of society into two patrilineal moieties,
groups that are linked to different sites and tracts of land
within which context people’s positions and actions are de-
made by a particular totemic power or constellation of pow-
fined. People who are related through their fathers to the to-
ers. This is made more complex by the fact that people are
temic powers represented in a cult are called mingeringgi, and
also related through the interconnections between their dif-
they have a certain set of rights and obligations. The people
ferent totemic powers. There is in Aboriginal religion, there-
of the opposite moiety, who are related to the powers
fore, an intricate interweaving of interests that structures and
through their mothers and fathers’ mothers, are called jung-
spreads sociality. Ideally this balances the contradictory ten-
gaiyi, and they have a set of rights and obligations comple-
dencies of parochial and universalizing interests.
mentary to those of the mingeringgi.
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NGUKURR RELIGION
6599
The mingeringgi are the celebrants and the human repre-
cousins and mother’s brothers would normally be found in
sentation of a cult. They bear the responsibility for any errors
different semimoieties of the opposite moiety.
or damage to the cult’s artifacts or integrity. The junggaiyi
The estates. The cults also have a narrower perspective
care for and organize the emblems, paraphernalia, and per-
in the celebration and reinforcement of social relations. The
formances of the cults. The Yabuduruwa cult celebrates the
social features of the landscape are established by the move-
estates and totemic powers of the people of the Yiridja moie-
ments of the totemic powers and the sites that they created.
ty and they are its mingeringgi. The Gunabibi cult celebrates
Particular groups have special attachment to and responsibil-
the estates and totemic powers of the people of the Dua moi-
ity for parts of the landscape associated with a particular
ety and they are its mingeringgi.
power or ensemble of powers. These are the ritual “estates.”
The Yabuduruwa and the Gunabibi are also semimoiety
The groups associated with each estate have a complex
cults. At Ngukurr the semimoieties belonging to the Yiridja
structure.
moiety are called Budal and Guyal. Those belonging to the
The core of the “estate group” is composed of people
Dua moiety are called Mambali and Murungun. The semi-
who are related to the estate through their fathers. Individual
moiety division is utilized in a number of ways in the two
members of the core group have names that are taken from
cults.
the names of features in the estate, and collectively the core
is known by the name of the estate. Other members of the
The totemic powers and the sites represented in the
estate group are people who trace their relationship to the
cults are identified with one or another of the semi-moieties
estate through their mothers, their fathers’ mothers, or their
as well as with a particular moiety. The nagaran estate-group
mothers’ mothers. In the context of the estate, the ones who
territories are celebrated in the Yabuduruwa cult. This power
trace their relationship through their fathers are the estate’s
is associated with the Yiridja moiety and the Guyal semimoi-
mingeringgi; those whose relationship is through their moth-
ety. Another Yabuduruwa-cult estate-group territory is the
ers or fathers’ mothers are the junggaiyi; and those people re-
Plain Kangaroo territory, which is also identified with the
lated through their mothers’ mothers are the dalnyin.
Yiridja moiety, but which is further identified with the Budal
and not the Guyal semimoiety. Similarly, the gilyiring-
A major emphasis in both the Yabuduruwa and the
gilyiring, which is celebrated in the Gunabibi cult, is associat-
Gunabibi cults is the celebration of particular estates and
ed with the Dua moiety and the Mambali semimoiety at
their totemic powers, in ceremonies initiated by the senior
Ngukurr, while the king brown snake is identified with the
men. The occasion is often to commemorate a recently de-
Dua moiety and the Murungun semimoiety.
ceased senior core-member (no less than two years and pref-
erably no more than ten years deceased). However, the rea-
At the moiety level both semimoieties of Dua are
son may simply be that this group has not had a ceremony
mingeringgi for the Gunabibi. However, there are times
for its own estate for a long time. Their ownership is ac-
when the semimoieties are structurally separated and only
knowledged by the initiated core members, who take the lead
one qualifies as mingeringgi. The other semimoiety of the
in most of the performances of the ceremony, and by the or-
Dua moiety then occupies a position called dalnyin (lit.,
ganizers of the ceremony, who are the estate’s senior junggai-
“mother’s mother”). The same applies for the Yiridja moiety
yi. The main dance ground and associated structures are built
in the context of the Yabuduruwa. The dalnyin have a largely
to dimensions that are specific to the estate.
supplementary role and can in certain circumstances act as
Estates are specifically celebrated in certain rites held in
both mingeringgi and junggaiyi.
both cults. Within these rites mingeringgi perform individual
In each of the cults there are important rites in which
dances, wearing designs that represent a totemic power and
the two semimoieties of the mingeringgi moiety are separated
site from their estate. The dances, designs, and paraphernalia
and perform distinct segments. A striking example of this
worn by the performers, as well as songs and myths that par-
separation occurs in the Yabuduruwa ceremony; in parts of
ticularly concern the estate, are part of the estate’s gulinga,
this ceremony, those in the opposite semimoiety (but the
a Ngukurr term which encompasses all aspects of an estate’s
same moiety) to that of the ceremony initiators can assume
religious property. A group without a gulinga has no ceremo-
the role of junggaiyi in the absence of appropriate senior
ny, though they may still have an estate.
junggaiyi.
Control and participation. Both the Yabuduruwa and
The same separation of semimoieties does not occur
the Gunabibi are cults of initiated men; the most important
within the junggaiyi category. Two of the most important
parts of a Yabuduruwa or Gunabibi ceremony’s perfor-
reasons for this are the composition of the estate group,
mance, its paraphernalia, and the knowledge it conveys are
which includes junggaiyi from both semi-moieties, and the
kept secret from the women, novices, and children of the
importance of individual kinship ties. Ego-centered kinship
community (as well as all other uninitiated people). The men
relations are activated in the organization and conduct of the
also control the organization and most aspects of the conduct
cults. For example, in the preparation of individual male per-
of the ceremonies, and perform most of the cult’s rites.
formers particular tasks can be performed only by cross-
Women, however, play an indispensable, though subor-
cousins and others only by a mother’s brother. One’s cross-
dinate, part in both the organization and the conduct of the
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6600
NGUKURR RELIGION
cults. They prepare food on behalf of the male participants,
fractions that have occurred during the course of the ceremo-
and they have responsibility for the public part of the cere-
ny and decide what, if anything, they will do about such in-
monial precinct, which is a cleared area within the total cere-
fractions.
monial precinct and which is located about half a kilometer
RELIGION AND THE COMMUNITY. The continuity of
from the main ceremonial ground. In the Yabuduruwa cult
Ngukurr religion, in the form outlined here, is not certain.
they also have the care of the novices, who remain at the pub-
The influences at work have contradictory effects. The rapid
lic precinct before they are taken to the main performing
changes of recent years have not yet been fully worked out
ground to observe the men’s performance. Women also par-
and externally imposed changes are still taking place. One
ticipate as actors in some of the central rites in both cere-
hope, that European authority would be replaced by one
monies.
based on traditional values, has not eventuated. For a while
While the two cults together impart symmetry to
the Gunabibi cult was seen as a possible vehicle of social con-
Ngukurr’s religious practice, there are significant differences
trol, especially of the teenage males. This hope has not been
between them. Unlike the Yabuduruwa, the Gunabibi in-
realized and even the rhetoric of this movement had disap-
cludes song cycles in its performance. The training of novices
peared by the mid-1970s.
is more thoroughly pursued in the Gunabibi than it is in the
People continue to believe in the bond between them-
Yabuduruwa. In the former, dogma prescribes that novices
selves and their land, and the myth and structures represent-
are withdrawn from the community for the duration of the
ed in the cults still mediate these beliefs. The legislation on
ceremony and put in the charge of initiated young men.
land rights has given this recent material support, and this,
However, at Ngukurr, this is usually modified to the extent
at least, can be seen as supportive of the indigenous religion.
that novices remain within the male area of the ceremonial
precinct for the duration of a session, which usually covers
SEE ALSO Australian Indigenous Religions; Dreaming, The.
a weekend of performances. In the Yabuduruwa cult, by con-
trast, the novices remain within the community and are only
BIBLIOGRAPHY
obliged to attend the ceremony for the duration of each per-
Bern, John. “Politics in the Conduct of a Secret Male Ceremony,”
formance. Even then they are kept at the women’s area dur-
Journal of Anthropological Research 35 (Spring 1979): 47–60.
ing the period of preparation for a performance.
In this article I deal with the political dimensions of the orga-
nization of a Yabuduruwa ceremony held at Ngukurr in
The Gunabibi cult emphasizes social control of the
1970. The article also contains a description of the cult.
emerging generation of males through the separation of nov-
Berndt, Ronald M. The Kunapipi. Melbourne, 1951. Berndt de-
ices from the secular world and their subjection to adult male
scribes the organization of a Gunabibi ceremony held in
discipline, while the Yabuduruwa cult lays less emphasis on
northeastern Arnhem Land in the late 1940s. This ceremony
such a rite de passage. The Yabuduruwa’s central concern is
was largely organized by men from east and south Arnhem
with the dramatization of exclusion and of the hierarchical
Land who had connections with the Ngukurr people.
order of society. The former has its highlight in the Goanna
Capell, Arthur. “The Wandarang and Other Tribal Myths of the
Tail rite, in which women, the main actors, are led to the
Yabuduruwa Ritual.” Oceania 30 (March 1960): 206–224.
men’s secret dance ground at night. They keep their heads
Capell presents and translates myths from the Ngukurr Ya-
bowed. They approach a fire on the ground and light rolls
buduruwa that he collected in the 1950s. There are versions
of paperbark and then return to the women’s precinct. (The
of both the nagaran and goanna myths.
rolls of paperbark symbolize the tails of goannas, which are
Elkin, A. P. Two Rituals in South and Central Arnhem Land. Syd-
a central motif of the Yabuduruwa. The goanna tails are an
ney, 1972. This is a collection of Elkin’s articles describing
important phallic representation and are also the most de-
Yabuduruwa and Maddaiin ceremonies from different parts
sired part of the goanna for eating.) If they were to raise their
of Arnhem Land. The most pertinent is an account of a Ya-
heads during their trip to the men’s secret dance ground, the
buduruwa ceremony held at Ngukurr in 1966. Elkin’s ac-
women could see the sacralia of the men. Kenneth Maddock
count is based on a film of the event made by the Australian
offers a convincing interpretation of this rite as a dramatiza-
Institute of Aboriginal Studies.
tion of the exclusion of women from the cult’s innermost se-
Hiatt, L. R., ed. Aboriginal Landowners: Contemporary Issues in the
crets (1982, pp. 133–134).
Determination of Traditional Aboriginal Land Ownership.
Sydney, 1984. The main theme of this collection of articles
The issue of hierarchy is encapsulated in the final rite
is the examination of the structure of traditional rights in
of the Ngukurr Yabuduruwa cult, performed after the cere-
land in the context of the current Australian government leg-
mony has been officially concluded. The senior men return
islation concerning the granting of title in land to Aborigi-
to the main ceremony ground, taking with them some spe-
nes. The articles by myself and Robert Layton and by Frances
cially chosen younger initiated men. They give as the reason
Morphy and Howard Morphy deal with land claims in the
for their return the need to clean up the ceremony ground.
Roper River area.
However, a rite is performed there by the two most senior
Maddock, Kenneth. The Australian Aborigines: A Portrait of Their
mingeringgi, which is witnessed only by this select group.
Society. Rev. ed. Ringwood, Victoria, 1982. Maddock’s study
During the preparation for this rite the men discuss any in-
is an important introduction to Aboriginal society written
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NIANFO
6601
from a structuralist viewpoint. His discussion of Aboriginal
Amita¯bha Buddha is also emphasized in the Larger
religion is comprehensive. He uses descriptions of parts of
Sukha¯vat¯ıvyu¯ha Su¯tra (Chin., Wuliangshou jing; Su¯tra on the
both the Yabuduruwa and Gunabibi cults in his analysis. His
Buddha of infinite Life), the Amita¯yurdhya¯na Su¯tra (Chin.,
description of these is largely based on his own research in
Guan wuliangshou jing, or Meditation su¯tra on the Buddha
southwestern Arnhem Land.
of immeasurable life), and the Smaller Sukha¯vat¯ıvyu¯ha Su¯tra
Stanner, W. E. H. On Aboriginal Religion. Sydney, 1964. Stan-
(Chin., Emituo jing; Su¯tra on the Buddha Amita¯bha). These
ner’s study is the definitive work on Aboriginal religion.
three scriptures are known in Japan as the Triple Su¯tra of the
While it is primarily an analysis of religious practice of the
Pure Land.
western part of the Northern Territory, it addresses general
theoretical issues. One of the cults discussed by Stanner is the
The Pratyutpannasama¯dhi Su¯tra preaches the practice of
Karwadi, which is cognate to the Gunabibi.
nianfo for the laity and the doctrine of emptiness (su¯nyata¯)
for monks. It teaches that one can see the Buddhas of the
JOHN BERN (1987)
ten directions by attaining the meditational consciousness of
emptiness. This is accomplished by keeping the precepts and
meditating on the Buddha Amita¯bha for a period of from
NIANFO. The Chinese term nianfo (Jpn., nembutsu) is
one to seven days and nights. The su¯tra also declares that it
a translation of the Sanskrit word buddha¯nusmr:ti. Anusmr:ti
is possible to be born in the Pure Land of the Buddha
is a feminine noun derived from smr:-, a verbal root, with the
Amita¯bha by wholeheartedly meditating on his name for a
prefix anu- meaning following, toward, or along. English
period of from one to seven days.
translations of anusmr:ti include holding in one’s mind, re-
Within the Pure Land tradition, a number of different
membering, thinking of [upon], contemplating, and recit-
types of meditative nianfo were introduced. These included
ing. Most of the definitions refer to aspects of meditation,
nianfo with a concentrated mind for those of advanced ca-
whereas the last definition, reciting, means the repeated oral
pacities, nianfo with a distracted mind for people of lower
recitation (of a particular formulaic utterance), or the mental
spiritual capacities, nianfo of formless principle, nianfo of a
recitation of this same formula. This usage gave rise to the
Buddha’s form, single-hearted nianfo on Amita¯bha alone,
recitative nianfo that became an important practice in East
nianfo on other Buddhas, nianfo through self-power, and
Asian Buddhism from about the fifth century CE.
nianfo through other-power.
PRIMITIVE NIANFO. In its earliest form, nianfo referred to
The Smaller Sukha¯vat¯ıvyu¯ha Su¯tra states that a person
buddha¯nusmr:ti, a simple remembrance or thinking about
who single-heartedly bears the name of Amita¯bha in mind
S´a¯kyamuni Buddha, as in reverence to a teacher. First men-
from one to seven days will see Amita¯bha at his deathbed and
tion of nianfo is found in the initiation ceremony of the Bud-
obtain birth in his Pure Land. This thought is presumed to
dhist order held while S´a¯kyamuni Buddha was still alive.
derive from the nianfo of the Pratyutpannasama¯dhi Su¯tra.
This simple profession of faith in the Three Treasures—the
The characteristic point of the Smaller Sukha¯vat¯ıvyu¯ha Su¯tra
Buddha, the Dharma, and the San˙gha (the Buddhist
is that birth in the Pure Land takes place at the moment of
order)—encouraged members of the order to put trust in,
death, not while visualizing the Buddha in one’s daily life.
worship, and adore S´a¯kyamuni Buddha as a teacher. This
Moreover, what is borne in mind here is the Buddha’s name,
type of nianfo gradually became practiced by believers even
not his figure or characteristics as was the case in meditative
far removed from S´a¯kyamuni in time or place as a means of
nianfo of the Pratyutpannasama¯dhi Su¯tra.
asking for his protection in times of crisis. From this, the ten
titles of S´a¯kyamuni, the ten faculties of the Buddha, and the
Traditionally, the Larger Sukha¯vat¯ıvyu¯ha Su¯tra has been
thirty-two features of the Buddha came to be regarded as the
considered the basic text of Pure Land teachings. The most
object of remembrance. By the constant and incessant
important section of the su¯tra is the description of
anusmr:ti the early disciples of S´a¯kyamuni Buddha thus kept
Amita¯bha’s vows, in which Amita¯bha sets forth the condi-
alive the memory of their master.
tions that he shall fulfill before achieving final enlighten-
M
ment. In the Wei dynasty translation of this su¯tra (252 CE),
EDITATIVE NIANFO. The simple practice of remembrance,
adoration, and trust in S´a¯kyamuni Buddha gradually devel-
the all-important eighteenth of Amita¯bha’s forty-eight vows
oped into an actual visualization of his features and virtues.
states: “If, when I shall attain Buddhahood, sentient beings
Such meditation was directed not only toward S´a¯kyamuni
in the ten quarters who have sincere mind, serene faith, and
but also toward such Buddhas as Amita¯bha (Jpn., Amida),
desire to be born in my country should not be born there
Bhais:ajyaguru, and Maha¯vairocana, and such bodhisattvas as
even after (directing) ten thoughts (to me), may I not attain
Avalokite´svara and Maitreya. One of the earliest su¯tras to ad-
Perfect Enlightenment.” Various interpretations of the pre-
vocate such a practice was the Pratyutpannasama¯dhi Su¯tra
cise meaning of the term ten thoughts have been given. Basi-
(Chin., Banzhou sanmei jing). In this su¯tra (as well as in
cally, the words may be taken to refer to the continuity, for
many other scriptures) the subject of nianfo came to be
a certain period of time, of sincere mind, serene faith, and
Amita¯bha and other Buddhas rather than S´a¯kyamuni, and
desire for birth in the Pure Land.
birth in Amita¯bha’s Pure Land rather than in the various
The Amita¯yurdhya¯na Su¯tra teaches thirteen methods of
Buddhist heavens. The practice of nianfo directed toward
meditation on the features of Amita¯bha and his Pure Land.
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6602
NIANFO
Through the successful accomplishment of this meditative
sciousness of the historical degeneration of the Buddha’s
nianfo the aspirant may be born in the Pure Land and see
teachings. Traditionally, Buddhism has postulated three pe-
all the Buddhas of the ten directions. In addition to these
riods of the Buddha’s Law. These are known in Chinese as
thirteen meditations, in the latter portion of the text another
chengfa (the era of the righteous law), xiangfa (the era of the
way of birth into the Pure Land is expounded for those with
counterfeit law), and mofa (Jpn., mappo¯; the latter days of
distracted minds. This section of the su¯tra teaches that even
the law). It was held that the Era of the Righteous Law was
the lowliest beings, those who have committed such mis-
a five-hundred-year period following the decease of
deeds as the Five Grave Sins or slander of the Dharma, can
S´a¯kyamuni during which the Buddha’s teaching, the aspi-
be born in the Pure Land by uttering the Buddha’s name ten
rants’ religious discipline, and their enlightenment all flour-
times at the last moment of life. For Pure Land Buddhists,
ished. The Era of the Counterfeit Law is a period in which
the importance of this su¯tra lies in the teaching that birth in
the teaching and practice remain, but none actually attains
the Pure Land by means of ten recitations of the name is as-
enlightenment. During the third period, the Latter Days of
sured even to beings of diminished spiritual capacities. This
the Law, there is neither practice nor enlightenment. Only
concept is pivotal in the historical development of nianfo
the Buddha’s teachings remain.
thought. Thus, all three Pure Land su¯tras played a decisive
role in the transformation of the concept of nianfo from
Concerning the duration of the three periods, Daochuo
meditation to simple recitation of the name of Amita¯bha.
writes in his Anluo ji (A collection of lines concerning the
country of peace and happiness) that the Righteous Law
RECITATIVE NIANFO. Although early nianfo practice was pri-
taught during S´a¯kyamuni’s lifetime had lasted for five hun-
marily meditative, oral recitation of the Buddha’s name was
dred years, the Counterfeit Law would prevail for one thou-
often used concurrently as an aid to concentration. Thus,
sand years, and the Latter Days of the Law for ten thousand
two types of nianfo, meditative and recitative, began to be
years. Daochuo lived during a period in which people were
used in all schools. It was generally believed that recitative
highly conscious of how the religious climate of their own
nianfo was easier, though inferior, to meditative nianfo: the
age differed from the one in which the influence and the per-
former was regarded as a mere accommodation to those not
sonality of S´a¯kyamuni were directly felt by the sam:gha. In
qualified to practice meditation or other forms of mental cul-
particular, the Chinese of the seventh century were vexed by
tivation. The practice of recitative nianfo as an independent
the perceived depravity of the Buddhist world, the episodic
and self-sufficient discipline, however, was developed later,
oppression of Buddhism by the secular authorities, and the
in the thought of several important Buddhist thinkers:
inferior capacity of contemporary members of the Buddhist
Na¯ga¯rjuna (c. 150–250) and Vasubandhu (c. 320–400) in
order with regard to the practice of monastic discipline.
India; Tanluan (476–542?), Daochuo (562–644), and Shan-
dao (613–681) in China, and Genshin (942–1017), Ho¯nen
Daochuo complemented Tanluan’s teachings by em-
(1133–1212), and Shinran (1173–1262) in Japan.
phasizing that a lifelong sinner could be born in the Pure
Land by means of the infinite compassion of Amita¯bha. This
Na¯ga¯rjuna divided the Buddha’s teachings into difficult
concept took into account the fact that people of the latter
and easy practices for the attainment of enlightenment. This
two stages of the Law’s degeneration were less capable of un-
latter path, better suited to beings born in an age of the five
dertaking strict meditative practice than those living in the
corruptions, requires only that one hear the name of
Era of the Righteous Law. Shandao, the third Chinese Pure
Amita¯bha and utter it with sincerity in order for the devotee
Land patriarch, emphasized a further point, that an ordinary
to achieve a state of spiritual nonretrogression in the Pure
person could be born in Amita¯bha’s true Pure Land rather
Land and thereafter attain enlightenment. Vasubandhu
than a provisional Pure Land where additional practice
taught that the practice of the wunian men (five devotional
would be necessary before supreme enlightenment is at-
gates: worship, praise, aspiration, perception, and the trans-
tained. He also stressed that the recitation of the name itself
fer of merit) would bring about birth in the Pure Land. The
is the true cause of entering nirva¯n:a. But this overall concept
disciplines set forth under the Five Devotional Gates, howev-
of the primacy of the recitative nianfo did not take perma-
er, were intended more for the sake of sages (i.e., the spiritu-
nent root in China, as evidenced by the fact that after the
ally advanced) than for the ordinary person, as they were dif-
middle of the Tang dynasty the Pure Land tradition gradual-
ficult to accomplish in the proper manner.
ly embraced a combined regiment of meditation, discipline,
Tanluan interpreted Vasubandhu’s teachings to mean
and recitation of the name.
that even the most sinful person could practice the Five De-
In Japan, however, the doctrine of recitative nembutsu
votional Gates insofar as the power to perform these practices
flowered through the teachings of Genshin and Ho¯nen.
originates in Amita¯bha’s sacred vow to save all sentient be-
Genshin stressed the belief that of all the teachings of
ings, not in the devotee himself. Tanluan asserted that birth
S´a¯kyamuni, the most important for people of the Latter Days
in the Pure Land is ensured by means of ten utterances of
of the Law, was recitation of the name. He taught that the
the name.
ordinary person, eyes blinded by passion, was constantly en-
A major concept contributing to the transformation of
veloped by the infinite compassion of Amida Buddha, there-
nianfo practice from that of meditation to recitation was con-
by assuring his or her salvation, Ho¯nen reemphasized the
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

NICHIREN
6603
point that for the defiled person the only way to attain en-
New Sources
lightenment was to recite the name. At the same time, he in-
Bloom, A., K.K.i. Tanaka, and E. Nasu. Engaged Pure Land Bud-
sisted that mere recitation of the name would not assure birth
dhism: Challenges Facing Jodo Shinshu in the Contemporary
in the Pure Land unless supported by sincere faith in Amida.
World: Studies in Honor of Professor Alfred Bloom. Berkeley,
Shinran took Ho¯nen’s teachings a step further by maintain-
1998.
ing that more important than recitation of the Buddha’s
Carter, J. R. The Religious Heritage of Japan: Foundations for Cross-
name was the true and real faith underlying the recitation.
Cultural Understanding in a Religiously Plural World. Port-
He taught that true faith could only be an endowment from
land, Ore, 1999.
Amida Buddha.
Ho¯nen and Senchakushu English Translation Project. Ho¯nen’s
Senchakushu: Passages on the Selection of the Nembutsu in the
In the history of the recitative nianfo many special forms
Original Vow. Honolulu, 1998.
of practice emerged. For example, the wuhui nianfo (Jpn.,
goe, five-toned, nembutsu) was introduced into Japan from
Tanabe, G. J. Religions of Japan in Practice. Princeton, 1999.
China by the Tiantai monk Ennin (749–864). This form of
Wright, Dale S. “Koan History: Transformative Language in Chi-
nianfo later developed in Japan into fudan nembutsu (inces-
nese Buddhist Thought.” In Koan: Texts and Concepts in Zen
sant recitation of the name) and inzei nembutsu (chanting of
Buddhism, edited by Steven Heine and Dale S. Wright,
pp. 200–212. New York, 2000.
the name with a prolonged voice). There also appeared such
nembutsu forms as yu¯zu¯ nembutsu (nembutsu of the interpen-
FUJIWARA RYO¯SETSU (1987)
etration of all beings), kan nembutsu (midwinter nembutsu),
Revised Bibliography
uta nembutsu (chanting the name in song), and odori nembut-
su
(dancing nembutsu).
Today, Pure Land devotees comprise the largest single
NICAEA, COUNCIL OF SEE COUNCILS,
Japanese Buddhist group. Daily worship of Amida Buddha
ARTICLE ON CHRISTIAN COUNCILS
before the family altar, including recitation of his name and
the chanting of Pure Land scriptures, is a widespread prac-
tice. Recitation of the name is heard during funerals and
NICEPHOROS SEE NIKEPHOROS
worship services and on radio and television programs. The
same recitation is heard coming from the lips of devout be-
lievers when they are walking, working, and resting.
NICEPHOROS CALLISTUS SEE NIKEPHOROS
Through the recitative nianfo, Amida Buddha is as close to
KALLISTOS
the believer as the movement of the lips.
SEE ALSO Amita¯bha; Jingtu; Jo¯do Shinshu¯; Jo¯doshu;
Mappo¯; Pure and Impure Lands.
NICHIREN (1222–1282) was a Japanese Buddhist
monk of the Kamakura period (1192–1282) and eponymous
BIBLIOGRAPHY
founder of the Nichirenshu (Nichiren sect). In his radical
Andrews, Allan A. The Teachings Essential for Rebirth: A Study of
insistence on the priority of the Lotus Su¯tra (Skt.,
Genshin’s O
¯ jo¯yo¯shu¯. Tokyo, 1973. This translation and study
of Genshin’s text provides detailed information on the nem-
Saddharmapun:d:ar¯ıka Su¯tra; Jpn., Myo¯ho¯rengekyo¯; also
butsu teachings of the Japanese Tendai sect.
known by its abbreviated title, Hokekyo¯) over all other teach-
ings and forms of Buddhism, Nichiren established himself
Fujiwara Ryo¯setsu. Nembutsu shiso¯ no kenkyu¯. Kyoto, 1957. A
comprehensive study of the historical development of the
as one of the major figures in the history of Japanese
concept of nembutsu.
Buddhism. His influence persists to this day through the var-
Fujiwara Ryo¯setsu. O
¯ jo¯ raisan gaisetsu. Kyoto, 1962.
ious schools and movements that look to Nichiren as their
founder.
Izumi Hokei. Bombun Muryo¯jukyo¯ no kenkyu¯. Kyoto, 1939. En-
glish and Japanese translations of the Larger Sukha¯vat¯ıvyu¯ha
LIFE. Nichiren was born in the village of Kominato in Awa
Su¯tra.
Province (Chibaken), the son of a fisherman and minor ma-
Mochizuki Shinko¯. Bukkyo¯ kyo¯ten seiritsushi ron. Kyoto, 1946.
norial functionary. His talents as a youth brought him to the
Robinson, Richard H., trans. Chinese Buddhist Verse. London,
attention of the lord of the manor, who had him enter the
1954. Contains translations of two short Pure Land works
Tendai monastery Kiyosumidera (Seicho¯ji) in 1233 in order
attributed to Na¯ga¯rjuna.
to begin his formal education. In 1237 he became a monk
Takakusu Junjiro¯, trans. “Amitâyur-dhyâna Sûtra.” In “Sacred
and adopted the religious name Rencho¯. Later, Nichiren left
Books of the East,” vol. 49. Oxford, 1894. Reprinted in Bud-
the Kiyosumidera for Kamakura, the seat of the military gov-
dhist Mahâyâna Texts (New York, 1969).
ernment, where he studied Pure Land Buddhism and Zen.
Tsujimoto Tetsuo. Genshi Bukkyo¯ ni okeru sho¯ten shiso¯ no kenkyu¯.
The year 1242 found Nichiren on Mount Hiei, the center
Kyoto, 1936. Includes an excellent discussion of the differ-
of the flourishing Tendai sect, and thereafter he studied on
ences in the Buddhist understanding of rebirth in heaven and
Mount Ko¯ya, the center of the Shingon (Esoteric) school,
in the Pure Land.
and in the ancient capital of Nara. Convinced of the inade-
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

6604
NICHIREN
quacy of the Buddhism of his times, Nichiren returned to
former, if not a radical, who departed from many of the
the Kiyosumidera in 1253 and began his self-appointed mis-
teachings of Saicho¯, the founder of that sect. Indeed, he vir-
sion to bring what he believed to be true Buddhism to the
tually reduced Tendai doctrines to the sole practice of chant-
Japanese. On April 28 of that year he publicly denounced
ing the Daimoku (“sacred title”) of the Lotus Su¯tra, that is,
all other forms of Buddhism as incomplete and ultimately
the recitation of the formula “Namu Myo¯ho¯rengekyo¯
false, and advocated a wholehearted faith in the teachings of
(“Adoration be to the Lotus of Perfect Law”). The Daimoku,
the Lotus. It was at this time that he adopted the name
according to Nichiren, contains the entire universe and sym-
Nichiren.
bolizes absolute truth or, in other words, S´a¯kyamuni Bud-
The remainder of Nichiren’s life was marked by his con-
dha. In his Kanjin honzonsho¯ (The object of worship revealed
flicts with the government and the leaders of the established
by the introspection of our minds), written while exiled on
Buddhist sects. The year 1253 found Nichiren expelled from
Sado Island, Nichiren established S´a¯kyamuni as the true ob-
Kiyosumidera and disseminating his teachings in Kamakura,
ject of worship and the Daimoku as the practice for revealing
where he became deeply concerned about the social and po-
the absolute truth.
litical disorder of the times. In 1260 he presented his treatise
An integral aspect of his method of conversion (shaku-
Rissho¯ ankokuron (Establish the right law and save our coun-
buku) was the condemnation of the popular sects of Bud-
try) to the government. In it he ascribed the increase in
dhism. Nichiren held that by deliberately provoking people
floods, pestilence, famines, political strife, and conspiracies
and raising their anger he would cause them to evaluate their
to the government’s refusal to accept the Buddha’s true
beliefs. Anger and hatred, in Nichiren’s system, were produc-
teachings as found in the Lotus and their tolerance of the
false doctrines of “heterodox” schools. He admonished the
tive and creative emotional states. While at Kiyosumidera
Ho¯jo¯ rulers (military regents from 1213 to 1333) to abandon
Nichiren’s denunciations were focused primarily on the pro-
these expedient teachings and warned of the inevitability of
ponents of Nembutsu and Zen practices. He criticized Pure
rebellions and foreign invasions that would result from fail-
Land for engaging in expedient practices that would lead (he
ure to embrace the true Buddhism. His criticism of the Ho¯jo¯
claimed) to rebirth in the lowest of hells and for emphasizing
family provoked the eldest member, Ho¯jo¯ Shigetoki, a fer-
the notion of a Western Paradise, a belief, Nichiren held,
vent Nembutsu (i.e., Pure Land) practitioner and a patron
that discourages people from establishing peace in their pres-
of Ryokan, the chief priest of the Shingon-Ritsu temple in
ent lives. He criticized Zen for stressing a transmission out-
Kamakura and one of Nichiren’s foremost rivals. It is highly
side scripture and for their belief in the efficacy of “no-
probable that Nichiren’s hermitage in Kamakura was de-
words.” Nichiren argued that without su¯tras and words the
stroyed in 1260 by outlaws hired by Shigetoki. In 1261 the
teachings of the Buddha could not be transmitted at all.
government exiled Nichiren to the province of Izu (Shizuo-
Later, Nichiren added Ritsu (Vinaya), Shingon, and the eso-
ka-ken), only to pardon him in 1263. While visiting his
teric subsects of Tendai to his list of heterodox schools.
home province in 1264, his old enemy To¯jo¯ Kagenobu, a
Nichiren’s exile on Sado Island proved to be a period
Nembutsu follower, planned an ambush from which
of great creativity. Among the essays and treatises he wrote
Nichiren narrowly escaped.
during this period was the Kaimokusho¯ (Liberation from
In 1268 a Korean envoy arrived in Japan demanding the
blindness). Here he departs from traditional Tendai notions
payment of tribute to the Mongolian ruler, Khubilai Khan.
of spiritual filiation by claiming that he is the successor to
Nichiren submitted a proposal to the government reminding
and reincarnation of the Vi´sis:t:aca¯ritra Bodhisattva (Jpn.,
the Ho¯jo¯ rulers that he had foretold such foreign invasions
Jo¯gyo¯ Bosatsu), to whom S´a¯kyamuni is said to have entrust-
in his Rissho¯ ankokuron and claiming that only he and, of
ed the Lotus Su¯tra and whose reappearance is prophesied in
course, faith in the Lotus, could save the country. Although
that text. Another work, the Daimandara (Great man:d:ala)
the government ignored both the request of the envoy and
reiterates this theme. The man:d:ala itself, inspirationally re-
Nichiren’s warning, the masses, fearing the threat of invasion
vealed to Nichiren, represents all living beings in the Buddha
by Mongolian troops, turned in greater numbers to
world expressed in the Lotus Su¯tra. It depicts the Daimoku
Nichiren’s school. Concerned over Nichiren’s growing pop-
surrounded by the names of S´a¯kyamuni, various bodhisattvas
ularity, the monks of several established Buddhist sects in
led by Vi´sis:t:aca¯ritra, ´s¯ravakas, Japanese gods (kami), and
Kamakura brought formal charges against Nichiren. These
Tendai masters arranged on levels in descending order. The
resulted in his arrest and, in 1271, his exile to Sado Island.
image of S´a¯kyamuni and the Daimandara became the chief
After more than two years, in 1274, he was pardoned and
objects of worship in Nichiren’s thought. Other of
returned to Kamakura. Soon after, Nichiren retired from
Nichiren’s writings include 434 essays and epistles and a
public life and secluded himself in a mountain retreat in
commentary on the Lotus Su¯tra. The original of this com-
Minobu (Yamanashi-ken). There he became ill; in 1276 he
mentary, which is still extant, is written on the back pages
moved to Ikegami in Musahi Province (Tokyo), where he
of a copy of the Triple Lotus Su¯tra, a set of three su¯tras includ-
died in 1282.
ing the Myo¯ho¯rengekyo (Lotus Su¯tra); the Muryo¯gikyo¯, regard-
THOUGHT AND WORKS. Although Nichiren remained fun-
ed as an introduction to the Lotus; and the Kan Fugen bosatsu
damentally within the Tendai tradition, he is known as a re-
gyo¯ho¯kyo¯, an epilogue to the Lotus. Aside from the Rissho¯ an-
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

NICHIRENSHU
¯
6605
kokuron, the most significant of Nichiren’s essays include
Montgomery, Daniel B. Fire in the Lotus: The Dynamic Buddhism
Kaimokusho¯, Kanjin honzonsho¯, Senjisho¯ (Selection of the
of Nichiren. New York, 1991.
Proper Time), and Ho¯onsho¯ (Requitment of Favors).
Osumi Kazuo. “Buddhism in the Kamakura Period.” In The Cam-
bridge History of Japan, vol. 3: Medieval Japan. New York,
SEE ALSO Nichirenshu¯.
1990.
B
Snow, David A. Shakubuku: A Study of the Nichiren Shoshu Bud-
IBLIOGRAPHY
dhist Movement in America. New York, 1993.
Primary Sources
The collected works of Nichiren are available in the Sho¯wa teihon
WATANABE HO¯YO¯ (1987)
Nichiren Sho¯nin ibun, 4 vols., compiled by Minobusan
Revised Bibliography
Kuonji (Yamanashi, 1952–1959). Some of these works have
been published in English. These include The Awakening to
the Truth; or Kaimokusho¯,
translated by Ehara Ryozui
(Tokyo, 1941); Rissho¯ ankokuron; or Establish the Right Law
NICHIRENSHU
¯ broadly refers to all religious bodies
and Save Our Country, translated by Murano Senchu
claiming derivation from the Japanese Buddhist teacher
(Tokyo, 1977); and Nyorai metsugo go gohyakusaishi kanjin
Nichiren (1222–1282), including traditional temple denom-
honzonsho¯; or, The True Object of Worship Revealed for the
inations as well as lay associations and new religious move-
First Time in the Fifth of Five Century Periods after the Great
ments. While Nichirenshu¯ is also the official name of a specif-
Decease of the Tathagata, translated by Murano Senchu
(Tokyo, 1954).
ic Nichiren Buddhist denomination, this entry will address
the larger Nichiren tradition. Nichiren Buddhism is based
Another collection of Nichiren’s works is the Nichiren Daisho¯nin
on faith in the Lotus Su¯tra (in Japanese, Myo¯ho¯-renge-kyo¯;
gosho zenshu¯ (Tokyo, 1952). Portions of this work are now
being published in English under the title The Major Writ-
sometimes shortened to Ho¯kekyo¯), a Maha¯ya¯na scripture re-
ings of Nichiren Daisho¯nin, edited and translated by the
vered throughout East Asia for its promise that all shall attain
Seikyo Times (Tokyo, 1979).
buddhahood. The central practice of Nichiren Buddhism is
chanting the daimoku or title of the Lotus in the formula
Secondary Sources
Namu Myo¯ho¯-renge-kyo¯ (literally, “Homage to the su¯tra of
Anesaki Masaharu. Nichiren, the Buddhist Prophet (1916).
Gloucester, Mass., 1966.
the lotus blossom of the wonderful dharma”), said to em-
body all the Buddha’s practices and resulting virtues as well
Anesaki Masaharu. Hokekyo¯ no gyo¯ja Nichiren. Tokyo, 1933.
as the essence of all Buddhist teachings.
Masutani Fumio. Nichiren. Tokyo, 1967.
THE FOUNDER NICHIREN. Nichiren is regarded as one of the
Matsunaga, Alicia, and Daigan Matsunaga. Foundations of Japa-
founders of the new Buddhist movements of the Kamakura
nese Buddhism, vol. 2, The Mass Movement (Kamakura and
period (1185–1333) and numbers among Japan’s most com-
Muromachi Periods). Los Angeles and Tokyo, 1976. See
pelling religious figures. Ordained at age sixteen at the tem-
chapter 3.
ple Kiyosumidera (or Seicho¯ji) in Awa province (modern
Mochizuki Kanko¯. The Nichiren Sect. Translated by Murano
Chiba prefecture), as a young man he traveled extensively for
Senchu. Tokyo, 1958.
study. He was versed especially in Tendai Buddhist teachings
Motai Kyo¯ko¯. Kanjin honzonsho¯ kenkyu¯ josetsu. Tokyo, 1964.
and also in Esoteric Buddhism. Eventually he based himself
Nichiren Sho¯nin ibun jiten. Edited by Rissho¯ Daigaku Nichiren
in Kamakura, center of the recently established shogunate or
Kyo¯gaku Kenkyu¯sho. Yamanashi, 1985.
military government, where he won followers among the
Nichirenshu¯ jiten. Published by the Nichiren Sect Headquarters.
warriors of the eastern provinces. Nichiren is known for his
Tokyo, 1981.
teaching of exclusive devotion to the Lotus Su¯tra, regarded
O
¯ no Tatsunosuke. Nichiren. Tokyo, 1958.
especially in the Tendai tradition as embodying the Buddha’s
ultimate teaching. Like many of his contemporaries,
Renondeau, Gaston. La doctrine de Nichiren. Paris, 1958.
Nichiren believed his own time to be that of the Final Dhar-
Satomi, Kishio. Japanese Civilization: Its Significance and Realiza-
ma age (mappo¯); in this degenerate era, he asserted that only
tion, Nichirenism and the Japanese National Principles. Lon-
faith in the Lotus Su¯tra leads to liberation, and he advocated
don, 1933.
chanting its daimoku as a universal practice. In chanting the
Takagi Yutaka. Nichiren. Tokyo, 1970.
daimoku with faith, Nichiren taught, the practitioner be-
Watanabe Ho¯yo¯. Nichirenshu¯ shingyo¯ron no kenkyu¯. Kyoto, 1979.
comes one with the eternal, original Buddha revealed in the
Yamakawa Chio¯. Hokke shiso¯shijo¯ no Nichiren Sho¯nin. Tokyo,
Lotus Su¯tra. He also devised a calligraphic man:d:ala written
1934.
chiefly in Chinese characters with the daimoku inscribed
down the center, surrounded by the buddhas, bodhisattvas,
New Sources
deities, and other members of the Lotus Su¯tra assembly.
Christensen, J. A. Nichiren: Leader of Buddhist Reformation in
Japan. Fremont, Calif., 2001.
Nichiren made numerous individual copies of this man:d:ala
as a personal object of worship for his followers.
Hurst, Jane D. Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism and the Soku Gakkai in
America: The Ethos of a New Religious Movement. New York,
Drawing on Tendai teachings concerning the unity of
1992.
mind and all phenomena, and of individuals and their objec-
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

NICHIRENSHU
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6606
tive world, Nichiren attributed the disasters of his day—
modern successor of the Fuji school—maintains its own dis-
including famine, epidemics, natural disasters, and the threat
tinctive interpretations. Further schisms and new lineage for-
of Mongol invasion—to widespread rejection of the Lotus
mation would occur during the fourteenth through sixteen
Su¯tra in favor of “inferior” teachings, such as those of Pure
centuries due to geographic separation, institutional rivalry,
Land Buddhism and Zen. Conversely, he held that the
and differences of interpretation.
spread of exclusive faith in the Lotus would transform the
present world into a buddha land. Nichiren maintained this
After 1333, when the Kamakura shogunate was over-
conviction throughout his life, but its most famous state-
thrown and the locus of political power shifted back to the
ment occurs in his admonitory treatise Rissho¯ ankoku ron
imperial capital in Kyoto, Hokke monks began to proselytize
(On establishing the true dharma and bringing peace to the
there. Nichiro¯’s disciples took the lead in this endeavor:
land), submitted in 1260 to Ho¯jo¯ Tokiyori, the most power-
Nichizo¯ (1269–1342) established the Shijo¯ lineage, and
ful figure in the Kamakura government.
Nichijo¯ (1298–1369) the Rokujo¯ lineage, followed by repre-
sentatives of other Hokkeshu¯ branches. In the predominant-
Nichiren’s growing conviction that only faith in the
ly rural east, Hokke temples were supported chiefly by the
Lotus Su¯tra could save the country from disaster led him to
patronage of provincial warriors or other local landholders.
adopt shakubuku, a confrontational method of teaching the
In the western cities of Kyoto and Sakai, however, while at-
dharma by directly rebuking attachment to mistaken views.
tracting some warrior and even aristocratic followers, the
His criticisms of other forms of Buddhism, and of high offi-
Hokkeshu¯ drew its major support from the emerging urban
cials for supporting them, provoked the anger of the authori-
mercantile class (machishu¯), whose wealth enabled the sect
ties. He himself was arrested and exiled twice, while a num-
to prosper. By the mid-fifteenth century, there were twenty-
ber of his followers were imprisoned, stripped of their land
one Hokke temples in Kyoto, and about half the city’s popu-
holdings, and in a few cases executed. For Nichiren, howev-
lation, it is said, were Nichiren followers.
er, loyalty to the Lotus Su¯tra superseded obedience to worldly
rule. His writings assert the need to admonish “slander of the
Despite institutional friction and differences of interpre-
dharma” as an act of compassion, even at the risk of one’s
tation, the Hokkeshu¯ shared doctrinal foundations with
life, and express confidence that enduring harsh trials for the
Tendai, and Hokke monks often studied at major Tendai
sake of the Lotus Su¯tra will eradicate the practitioner’s past
centers, such as Enryakuji on Mount Hiei near Kyoto or
sins and guarantee his or her future buddhahood. Nichiren’s
Tendai seminaries in the east. Nonetheless, they upheld a
ideal of realizing the buddha land in the present world, and
strong sense of independent Hokkeshu¯ identity and actively
his example in defying worldly authority for the sake of his
practiced shakubuku by preaching, writing, and debate.
faith, have inspired followers and sympathizers down to the
From time to time, temple abbots and lineage heads followed
present. At the same time, his exclusive truth claim has gen-
Nichiren’s example of “admonishing the state” by submit-
erated considerable controversy.
ting letters of remonstration to local or shogunal officials or
occasionally, to the shogun or emperor himself, urging a pol-
THE MEDIEVAL HOKKESHU¯. Shortly before his death,
icy of exclusive devotion to the Lotus Su¯tra for the country’s
Nichiren designated six senior disciples to assume leadership
peace and prosperity. Repeated remonstrations sometimes
of his community: Renge Ajari Nichiji (1250–?), Iyoko¯
provoked official wrath, and the sect’s hagiographical tradi-
Nitcho¯ (1252–1317), Sadoko¯ Niko¯ (1253–1314), Byakuren
tion celebrates those monks who, like Nichiren, endured per-
Ajari Nikko¯ (1246–1333), Daikoku Ajari Nichiro¯ (1245–
secution from the authorities in the course of their proselytiz-
1320), and Ben Ajari Nissho¯ (1221–1323). Nichiji is said to
ing efforts.
have embarked in 1295 on a journey to northern China to
spread Nichiren’s teachings abroad; the others proselytized
TENSIONS AND CONTROVERSIES. Like other medieval Japa-
chiefly in eastern Japan. Congregations formed around them
nese Buddhist traditions, the Hokkeshu¯ was characterized by
and their successors, giving rise to the first lineages of the
the development of rival lineages, each stressing the authority
Hokkeshu¯ (Hokke or Lotus sect), as Nichiren’s followers
of its own interpretations in both doctrinal and ritual mat-
would be known in medieval times. Mount Minobu in Kai
ters. Often these interpretations took the form of “secret
province (Yamanashi prefecture), where Nichiren had spent
transmissions” said to derive from Nichiren himself or from
his last years, held special significance for the sect as a whole;
his immediate disciples. One focus of ongoing doctrinal dis-
in addition, each lineage established its own major temple
pute involved the two parts into which traditional Tendai ex-
or temples, which served as centers of propagation and mo-
egesis divides the Lotus Su¯tra—the “trace teaching” (shaku-
nastic education. Branch temple networks formed as new
mon), or first fourteen chapters, which present S´a¯kyamuni
temples were built or converted. Within a half century of his
Buddha as a “trace” or historical manifestation, and the “ori-
death, Nichiren’s teachings had spread throughout Japan.
gin teaching” (honmon), or latter fourteen chapters, which
identify him as the eternal, original Buddha. Nichiren had
Early on, Nikko¯’s Fuji lineage broke away from the oth-
based his thought on the origin teaching, but his successors
ers. Nikko¯’s successors would claim retrospectively that he
debated the precise relationship between trace and origin
alone had been Nichiren’s true dharma heir. This first schism
teachings. The so-called itchi (unity) faction held them to be
was a decisive one; to this day, Nichiren Sho¯shu¯—the chief
ultimately one and inseparable, while the sho¯retsu (superior-
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NICHIRENSHU
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inferior) faction held the origin teaching to be distinct and
ples in their efforts to extend their rule. In 1595, when
superior. Both positions were variously elaborated. While
Hideyoshi demanded the participation of a hundred monks
this debate probably held little relevance for most lay believ-
from each sect in monthly memorial services for his deceased
ers, it afforded scholar-monks a vehicle to display their erudi-
relatives, most Hokke leaders saw no choice but to comply,
tion and was central to the self-definition of their particular
although joining in intersectarian rites and receiving offer-
Hokke lineages.
ings from Hideyoshi, a nonbeliever, violated strict Lotus ex-
clusivism. However, the monk Bussho¯in Nichio¯ (1565–
Other controversies involved matters of practice, such
1630) initiated a dissident movement known as fuju fuse
as whether Nichiren had ultimately intended the “Buddha”
(neither receiving nor giving), meaning a refusal to accept of-
or the “dharma” as the true object of worship, along with the
ferings from those who do not embrace the Lotus Su¯tra or
related issue of whether or not the icon employed in actual
to provide them with ritual services. Nichio¯ insisted that be-
practice should be an image of the eternal S´a¯kyamuni Bud-
lievers should defy even the ruler to uphold the purity of
dha or Nichiren’s calligraphic man:d:ala. Differences concern-
Nichiren’s teaching, even at the cost of their lives. His posi-
ing the object of worship continue to this day. Still other
tion eventually gained support, dividing the Hokkeshu¯ be-
controversies involved the ongoing issue of how rigorously
tween fuju fuse proponents and those favoring a more accom-
Nichiren’s Lotus exclusivism should be maintained, and what
modating stance. The new Tokugawa shogunate, established
concessions might legitimately be made to the larger religious
in Edo (modern Tokyo) in 1603, saw in the fuju fuse move-
culture. An example was the propriety of venerating the
ment a threat to its authority and policy of religious control
kami, or local Japanese deities. Since shrines to the kami were
and suppressed it repeatedly, sometimes with the coopera-
often affiliated with other Buddhist schools, some Hokke
tion of conciliatory factions within the Hokkeshu¯ itself. Fuju
monks argued that making offerings at such shrines was tan-
fuse leaders were killed or exiled and their followers driven
tamount to supporting “dharma slanderers.” In the four-
underground. Like the Japanese Christianity of the same pe-
teenth century, many Hokke temples began to incorporate
riod, which was similarly persecuted, the fuju fuse movement
their own mode of kami veneration in the form of a cult of
stands as a striking example of religiously based defiance of
thirty protector deities (sanju¯banjin), one for each day of the
ruling power.
month, and scholars of the sect produced distinctive theories
of Hokke Shinto¯, a subset of a larger medieval discourse in-
Under the new government, Buddhist temples of all
corporating kami into a Buddhist framework. Nonetheless,
sects were integrated into the state apparatus of census taking
a minority opinion within the Hokkeshu¯ opposed venerating
and social control; temple registration became mandatory for
kami altogether.
all families, and changing sectarian affiliation was forbidden.
Traditional shakubuku and intersectarian debates were no
ASCENDANCY, SUPPRESSION, AND ACCOMMODATION. As
longer possible. Like other sects, the Hokkeshu¯ (or
shogunal power declined following the O
¯ nin War (1467–
Nichirenshu¯, as the sect was by now alternatively called)
1477), townspeople in Kyoto had to mount their own de-
turned its energies toward doctrinal study, an effort that
fenses against incursions from provincial warlords and armed
flourished in the context of an emergent print culture. New
peasant leagues. In an era when religious institutions were
Nichiren Buddhist seminaries were established throughout
also economic, political, and even military powers in their
the country; compilations of Nichiren’s writings were edited
own right, the townspeople’s district organizations for self-
and published; and sectarian doctrine was codified. Accounts
government and self-protection were closely tied to their
of Nichiren’s life were also published, sometimes with illus-
Hokke temples. The sect’s exclusivist orientation served as
trations and in vernacular Japanese. These hagiographies
a basis for machishu¯ solidarity vis-à-vis traditional overlords,
both reflected and encouraged a trend toward founder vener-
who included not only aristocrats and warriors but also pow-
ation, expressed in pilgrimages to sacred sites, festivals mark-
erful shrines and temples. In 1532, having united with war-
ing events in Nichiren’s life, and the traveling display of stat-
rior allies to repel peasant forces organized by the Jo¯do Shin,
ues, man:d:alas, or other sacred objects held by noted temples.
or True Pure Land sect, the Hokke-based machishu¯ set up
Such activities were supported by the many associations of
a virtually autonomous government in Kyoto, carrying out
lay followers (ko¯ or ko¯chu¯) that flourished especially in the
police and judicial functions and refusing to pay various taxes
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, often under lay leader-
and rents. The reign of the Lotus League (Hokke ikki) lasted
ship. Images of Nichiren as a religious hero also circulated
until 1536, when monks of Mount Hiei, joined by other tra-
in the wider society, events in his life being dramatized in
ditional elites who resented the erosion of their authority in
kabuki performances, the puppet theater, and also popular
the capital, attacked and burned every Hokke temple in
storytelling.
Kyoto.
MODERN DEVELOPMENTS AND INTERPRETATIONS. After the
While eventually able to rebuild, the Hokkeshu¯ never
fall of the Tokugawa shogunate and the Meiji restoration
regained its original strength in the capital. It was further
(1868), the Nichiren Hokkeshu¯ was reorganized. In 1876
weakened by the religious policies of successive warlords—
the itchi lineages united as one denomination under the
Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieya-
name Nichirenshu¯, while the major sho¯retsu lineages each
su—who suppressed the power of Buddhist sects and tem-
took independent names; the fuju fuse faction also resurfaced
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NICHIRENSHU
¯
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and gained legal recognition. The most striking feature of
some Nichiren believers met persecution for their beliefs. In
modern Nichiren Buddhism, however, is its vigorous lay
the 1930s and 1940s, government ministries repeatedly de-
movements, often independent of traditional temples—a
manded that sectarian officials delete from Nichiren’s works
phenomenon unparalleled in other Japanese Buddhist sects.
passages deemed disrespectful to Japanese deities or emper-
Some lay Nichiren Buddhist organizations have roots in early
ors. So¯ka Gakkai founder Makiguchi Tsunesaburo¯ (1871–
modern lay associations such as the Butsuryu¯ko¯, founded in
1944) refused to have his followers accept the talismans of
1857. Others emerged after the Meiji restoration. The influ-
the imperial Ise Shrine and was imprisoned with other lead-
ential Kokuchu¯kai (Pillar of the nation society), founded by
ers of his society on charges of violating the Peace Preserva-
Tanaka Chigaku (1861–1939), promoted what he called
tion Law; leaders within the denomination Hokke
Nichiren-shugi (Nichirenism), a lay-oriented reading of
Honmonshu¯ were also indicted for asserting doctrinal posi-
Nichiren Buddhism welded to concerns of nationalism and
tions contrary to the imperial cult.
modernization. (This term, Nichiren-shugi, has also come to
be used in a broader sense to encompass all forms of
Since Japan’s defeat in 1945, Nichiren Buddhist follow-
Nichiren-Buddhist influenced thought.) Other Nichiren- or
ers have widely adopted the causes of peace and opposition
Lotus Su¯tra-based lay groups have often been categorized as
to nuclear weapons. The small monastic order Nipponzan
“new religions” and include Reiyu¯kai, Rissho¯ Ko¯seikai, and
Myo¯ho¯ji has embraced a stance of absolute nonviolence and
So¯ka Gakkai. Such groups frequently engage in active prose-
practices peaceful civil disobedience on the Gandhian model,
lytizing and stress personal benefits, character development,
while lay organizations such as So¯ka Gakkai and Rissho¯
and social transformation through faith. Nichiren himself
Ko¯seikai are NGO members of the United Nations and sup-
has continued to be celebrated as a Japanese cultural figure;
port various forms of relief work, peace education, and other
in the twentieth century alone, more than a hundred literary
humanitarian causes. The assimilation of Nichiren’s ideal of
works about him appeared, including novels, plays, and bi-
establishing the buddha land in the present world to a range
ographies.
of social and political agendas—from militant nationalism
to postwar pacifism—is a noteworthy development within
During Japan’s modern imperial period (1895–1945),
modern Nichiren Buddhism.
Nichiren’s mandate to spread faith in the Lotus Su¯tra was
O
widely interpreted in terms of Japanese national destiny and
RGANIZATION AND OBSERVANCES. At the turn of the twen-
ty-first century, there are some forty legally recognized
the armed expansion of empire. Tanaka Chigaku and Honda
Nichiren Buddhist religious bodies. Despite a forced merger
Nissho¯ (1867–1931), head of the Nichiren denomination
of some of the smaller Nichiren sects under the wartime gov-
Kenpon Hokkeshu¯, were especially influential in promulgat-
ernment’s policy of religious control, most of the denomina-
ing nationalistic Nichirenist ideology and won support from
tional divisions established in the 1870s were reasserted after
military officers, government officials, and intellectuals.
the war ended. The largest Nichiren Buddhist temple de-
Tanaka’s Japan-centered reading of Nichiren doctrine,
nomination takes Nichirenshu¯ as its legal name and has
which equated the Lotus Su¯tra with the Japanese national
Kuonji at Mount Minobu in Yamanashi prefecture as its
polity (kokutai), inspired such figures as the right-wing na-
head temple. Rissho¯ University, which is affiliated with
tionalist author Kita Ikki (1883–1937) and army officer Ishi-
Nichirenshu¯, is home to Japan’s leading research institute for
wara Kanji (1889–1949), who was instrumental in Japan’s
the study of Nichiren Buddhist doctrine and history. The
1931 armed takeover of Manchuria. Among Nichirenshu¯
other major Nichiren Buddhist denominations include
clerics as well, some extremist ideologues aligned themselves
Hokkeshu¯ Honmon-ryu¯, Hokkeshu¯ Jinmon-ryu¯, Hokkeshu¯
with state Shinto¯ and asserted the emperor to be the object
Shinmon-ryu¯, Honmon Butsuryu¯shu¯, Honmon Hokkeshu¯,
of worship.
Kenpon Hokkeshu¯, Nichiren Honshu¯, Nichiren
Nonetheless, one finds significant exceptions to these
Ko¯monshu¯, Nichiren Sho¯shu¯, and Nichirenshu¯ Fuju Fuse-
imperialistic readings. The Christian leader Uchimura Kanzo¯
ha. The numerical strength of contemporary Nichiren Bud-
(1861–1930) admired Nichiren for his devotion to scripture
dhism, however, lies in its lay movements. So¯ka Gakkai and
and the courage of his religious commitment. The leftist
Rissho¯ Ko¯seikai in particular claim membership figures in
writer Seno’o Giro¯ (1890–1961), imprisoned for his socialist
the millions, including substantial followings outside Japan.
activities, looked to Nichiren as a figure of resistance. Some
writers originally drawn to Tanaka’s Nichiren-shugi also came
Despite considerable differences of interpretation and
to reject his nationalistic interpretation: The literary critic
ritual observance among Nichiren Buddhist groups, one also
and novelist Takayama Cho¯gyu¯ (1871–1902) saw Nichiren
finds points of commonality. Reciting portions of the Lotus
as a heroic “Nietzschian” individual who valued truth above
Su¯tra and chanting the daimoku constitute the basic daily
nation, while the poet Miyazawa Kenji (1896–1933) depict-
practice of both clergy and laity and are also performed at
ed the plight of impoverished farmers from the perspective
formal ceremonies. In addition to annual rites conducted by
of his Lotus Su¯tra faith.
temples of all Japanese Buddhist sects, such as New Year’s
observances and memorial services for the dead at the equi-
During the Fifteen Years’ War (1931–1945), under a
noxes and during the summer Obon festival, Nichiren Bud-
government religious policy dominated by state Shinto¯,
dhist temples and lay organizations hold festivals and ritual
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NICHIRENSHU
¯
6609
observances on dates sacred to their tradition, usually trans-
Dolce, Lucia. “Hokke Shinto: Kami in the Nichiren Tradition.”
posed from the lunar to the Western calendar. These include
In Buddhas and Kami in Japan: Honji Suijaku as a Combina-
Nichiren’s birthday (celebrated February 16); his first ser-
tory Paradigm, edited by Mark Teeuwen and Fabio Rambelli,
mon, said to mark the founding of the Nichiren sect (April
pp. 222–254. London and New York, 2003.
28); commemorations of various persecutions that Nichiren
Fujii Manabu. Hokke bunka no tenkai. Kyoto, 2002. Collected
encountered in spreading his teachings; and the Oeshiki ob-
historical essays on medieval and early modern Hokke Bud-
servances commemorating the anniversary of his death (Oc-
dhist culture in Kyoto and other localities, prominent figures
tober 13).
within the sect, and its relations with the state.
Habito, Ruben L. F. “Lotus Buddhism and its Liberational
SEE ALSO New Religious Movements, article on New Reli-
Thrust: A Re-reading of the Lotus Sutra by Way of
gious Movements in Japan; Nichiren; Nikko¯; Reiyu¯kai
Nichiren.” Ching Feng 35, no. 2 (1992): 85–111.
Kyo¯dan; Rissho¯ Ko¯seikai; So¯ka Gakkai.
Habito, Ruben L. F., and Jacqueline I. Stone, eds. Revisiting
Nichiren. Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 26, nos. 3–4
BIBLIOGRAPHY
(1999). A special issue focused on Nichiren in his historical
Primary Sources
context and including a select bibliography of Western-
Nichiren’s works: The critical edition of Nichiren’s works is the
language studies of the Nichiren tradition.
four-volume Sho¯wa teihon Nichiren Sho¯nin ibun published
by Minobusan Kuonji (Yamanashi, Japan, 1952–1959; rev.
Hunter, Jeffrey. “The Fuju Fuse Controversy in Nichiren Bud-
ed., 1988), head temple of Nichirenshu¯. This edition forms
dhism: The Debate between Bussho¯in Nichio¯ and Jakusho¯in
the basis of the Writings of Nichiren Sho¯nin, two volumes of
Nichiken.” Ph.D. diss., University of Wisconsin-Madison,
English translations done by Kyo¯tsu¯ Hori and others of the
1989.
Nichirenshu¯ Overseas Propagation Promotion Association
Imatani Akira. Tenbun Hokke no ran: Buso¯ suru machishu¯. Tokyo,
(Tokyo, 2002 and 2003). A one-volume edition of
1989. A study of the rise and decline of the Hokkeshu¯ in me-
Nichiren’s works, with those originally written in Sino-
dieval Kyoto.
Japanese (kanbun) rendered into Japanese, is the Nichiren
Kageyama Gyo¯o¯. Nichiren kyo¯danshi gaisetsu. Kyoto, 1959. An
Daisho¯nin zenshu¯, published by So¯ka Gakkai (Tokyo, 1952).
overview of Nichirenshu¯ history through the 1950s.
The Selected Writings of Nichiren (New York, 1990) and Let-
ters of Nichiren
(1996), edited by Philip B. Yampolsky and
Kitamura Gyo¯on. Kinsei kaicho¯ no kenkyu¯. Tokyo, 1989. A study
translated by Burton Watson and others, are based on this
of the activities of early modern Nichiren Buddhist temples
edition. These translations represent revisions of those con-
and lay societies, focusing on the practice of kaicho¯, the ritu-
tained in So¯ka Gakkai’s The Major Writings of Nichiren Da-
alized display of man:d:alas, images, or temple treasures not
ishonin (7 vols., Tokyo, 1979–1994) and reissued in the one-
usually on view.
volume Writings of Nichiren Daishonin (Tokyo, 1999). In
Matsumura Jugon. Nichirenshu¯ gireishi no kenkyu¯. Kyoto, 2001.
addition to Nichiren’s writings, there are the critical edition
A study of the history of Nichiren Buddhist ritual practices,
of Nichiren’s personally annotated copy of the Lotus Su¯tra
including liturgies, funerals, and memorial rites.
(Teihon Chu¯ Hokekyo¯, 2 vols., Kyoto, 1980) and collection
Miyazaki Eishu¯. Fuju Fuse-ha no genryu¯ to tenkai. Kyoto, 1969.
of photographic reproductions, with notes, of his extant ho-
A classic study of the fuju fuse movement and its persecution,
lographic man:d:alas (Nichiren Sho¯nin shinseki no sekai, vol. 1,
with attention to doctrinal roots, social context, and histori-
Tokyo, 1992), both edited by Yamanaka Kihachi.
cal development.
The later tradition: The 23-volume Nichirenshu¯ shu¯gaku zensho,
Miyazaki Eishu¯, ed. Nichiren jiten. Tokyo, 1978. A basic dictio-
edited by the Rissho¯ Daigaku Nichirenshu¯ Kyo¯gaku
nary of the Nichiren tradition.
Kenkyu¯jo (Tokyo, 1959–1962), contains historical records
and other writings from the major Nichiren lineages. The
Mochizuki Shincho¯. Kinsei Nichirenshu¯ no soshi shinko¯ to shugojin
eight-volume Nichirenshu¯ zensho (Tokyo, 1910–1916; rev.
shinko¯. Kyoto, 2002. A study of founder veneration, sacred
ed., Kyoto, 1973–1978) contains late medieval and early
sites, pilgrimage, and cults of protective deities in early mod-
modern commentaries on Nichiren’s works, as well as biog-
ern Nichiren Buddhism.
raphies of Nichiren and later figures in the tradition. There
Nakano Kyo¯toku, ed. Kindai Nichiren kyo¯dan no shiso¯ka. Tokyo,
are also collections of the works of individual figures or re-
1977. Includes studies of eight leading figures in nineteenth-
cords of particular lineages in the Nichiren tradition, as well
and twentieth-century Nichiren Buddhism.
as the Honzon shiryo¯ (rev. ed., Kyoto, 1998), a collection of
Nakao Takashi. Nichiren shinko¯ no keifu to girei. Tokyo, 1999. A
medieval transmissions concerning Nichiren’s man:d:ala. As
historical study of the development of founder veneration
yet one finds little secondary scholarship on Nichiren Bud-
and related practices in Nichiren Buddhism.
dhism in Western languages, but numerous studies and refer-
ence works exist in Japanese, a few of which are cited below.
Nichirenshu¯ Jiten Kanko¯ Iinkai, ed. Nichirenshu¯ jiten. Tokyo,
1981. A comprehensive dictionary of the history of Nichiren
Secondary Sources
Buddhism, indispensable for scholarly study.
Allam, Cheryl M. “The Nichiren and Catholic Confrontation
with Japanese Nationalism.” Buddhist-Christian Studies 10
O
¯ tani Eiichi. Kindai Nihon no Nichiren-shugi undo¯. Kyoto, 2001.
(1990): 35–84.
A detailed study of the nationalistic Nichirenist movements
Dolce, Lucia. “Esoteric Patterns in Nichiren’s Interpretation of
of Tanaka Chigaku and Honda Nissho¯.
the Lotus Sutra.” Ph.D. diss., University of Leiden, Nether-
Rissho¯ Daigaku Nichirenshu¯ Kyo¯gaku Kenkyu¯jo, ed. Nichiren
lands, 2002.
kyo¯dan zenshi, vol. 1. Kyoto, 1984. The first in a projected
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

6610
NICHOLAS OF CUSA
two-volume history of the Nichiren sect, based on primary
gious life, and emphasizes the desire to know God. All
sources. This volume covers up to the early seventeenth cen-
inquiry requires a “proportion” between the known and the
tury.
as yet unknown, but there is no proportion between the in-
Shigyo¯ Kaishu¯. Nichirenshu¯ kyo¯gakushi. Kyoto, 1952. A history of
finity of God and the finite human intellect. Knowledge of
Nichiren Buddhist doctrinal studies, organized by lineage,
God therefore becomes “learned ignorance,” that is, the
up through the mid-nineteenth century.
knowledge that one cannot know God precisely in the divine
Stone, Jacqueline. “Rebuking the Enemies of the Lotus: Nichiren-
nature, but only symbolically through God’s self-revelation
ist Exclusivism in Historical Perspective.” Japanese Journal of
in the universe and in Christ, who unites finite humanity and
Religious Studies 21, nos. 2–3 (1994): 231–259.
divine infinity. Nicholas correlates learned ignorance with
Stone, Jacqueline I. Original Enlightenment and the Transforma-
“conjecture” (De coniecturis, 1442–1443). More than mere
tion of Medieval Japanese Buddhism. Honolulu, 1999. Chap-
guesswork, conjecture approximates truth in limited, indi-
ters six and seven deal respectively with Nichiren and his me-
rect ways. Nicholas’s conjectures include many metaphors,
dieval successors, with attention to their interactions with
mathematical symbols, and attempts to name God (e.g., as
Tendai Buddhism.
Absolute Maximum; as Possest, or the union of possibility
Takagi Yutaka. Nichiren to sono montei. Tokyo, 1965. A classic
and actual being; and as Not-other). Nicholas uses a distinc-
study of Nichiren and his early community of followers in
tive logic, the “coincidence of opposites,” which points be-
their medieval social context.
yond the contrasts of finite reason toward the infinite unity
Tamura Yoshiro¯ and Miyazaki Eishu¯, eds. Ko¯za Nichiren 3:
of God. The ability to formulate this logic indicates that the
Nichiren shinko¯ no rekishi. Tokyo, 1972. A collection of es-
mind, while finite, nevertheless conceives of divine infinity
says on the history of Nichiren Buddhism.
and approaches it without limit. In Idiota de mente (The Lay-
man: About Mind; 1450) Nicholas claims that the mind is
Tamura Yoshiro¯ and Miyazaki Eishu¯, eds. Ko¯za Nichiren 4: Nihon
kindai to Nichiren-shugi. Tokyo, 1972. Collected essays on
a living image of God that “has the power of corresponding
aspects of modern Nichirenism, including nationalism, im-
more and more without limit to its unreachable original.”
ages of Nichiren, and new religious movements.
Participating in God’s creative activity, humanity also creates
a cultural world. This human world provides examples for
Tanabe, George J., Jr. “Tanaka Chigaku: The Lotus Sutra and the
Body Politic.” In The Lotus Sutra in Japanese Culture, edited
Nicholas’s art of conjecture, for example in his De ludo globi
by George J. Tanabe Jr. and Willa Jane Tanabe,
(1463), in which a ball game becomes the focus for theologi-
pp. 191–208. Honolulu, 1989.
cal speculation.
Tokoro Shigemoto. Kindai shakai to Nichiren-shugi. Tokyo, 1972.
Nicholas’s tolerance of religious diversity emerges in
An overview of Nichirenist thought, figures, and movements
two works written in response to the Turkish conquest of
from the late nineteenth century up to the 1970s.
Constantinople. De pace fidei (The Peace of Faith; 1453) rec-
Watanabe Ho¯yo¯. Nichirenshu¯ shingyo¯ron no kenkyu¯. Kyoto, 1976.
ognizes the conjectural truth of all religions, yet sees their ful-
A study of medieval and early modern Nichirenshu¯ dis-
fillment in Christianity. Cribratio Alcoran (Sifting the
courses of faith and practice.
QurDa¯n; 1461) is perhaps the most tolerant examination of
JACQUELINE I. STONE (2005)
Islam in the late medieval West.
In controversies over conciliarism, theology, and Islam,
Nicholas of Cusa is an original, even idiosyncratic, thinker.
NICHOLAS OF CUSA (1401–1464), German can-
The roots of his thought run deep in the medieval world,
onist, Christian theologian, and philosopher. Nicholas was
particularly in the Christian Neoplatonic tradition. His
born at Kues (present-day Bernkastel-Kues) on the Moselle,
works were widely circulated in four early printed editions.
and studied at Heidelberg, Padua, and Cologne. At the
He influenced Giordano Bruno, through whom Leibniz and
Council of Basel, with his treatise De concordantia catholica
other German thinkers encountered Nicholas’s ideas. Com-
(1434), he defended conciliar authority over the pope and
mentators like Ernst Cassirer have viewed Nicholas as the
proposed extensive reforms consistent with this position. He
first modern philosopher because of his novel epistemology
later converted to the cause of the papacy. As papal legate
and cosmology. While claims for Nicholas’s modernity
he traveled to Constantinople to promote Christian reunifi-
should be tempered, his learned ignorance, conjectural theol-
cation (1437), and as cardinal and bishop of Brixen, he
ogy, and religious tolerance do address persistent problems
worked throughout Germany and Bohemia on behalf of
of religious knowledge and practice.
papal authority and ecclesiastical reform. During his last
years in Rome, Nicholas lived simply, having used much of
BIBLIOGRAPHY
his income to establish the Saint Nikolas Hospital in Kues,
The critical edition of Nicholas of Cusa’s Opera omnia (Leipzig
which still contains his large personal library.
and Hamburg, 1932–) is in progress under the direction of
the Heidelberg Academy. There is also a more accessible edi-
Amid this active life Nicholas wrote numerous specula-
tion of the Latin text, with German translation: Philosophis-
tive works, beginning with De docta ignorantia (Learned Ig-
che-Theologische Schriften (Vienna, 1964–1967; 3d edition,
norance; 1440). He accords intellect a central role in the reli-
1989). English translations include Paul E. Sigmund’s The
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NIEBUHR, REINHOLD
6611
Catholic Concordance (Cambridge, 1991), H. Lawrence
was no faculty opening, President Henry Sloane Coffin was
Bond’s Nicholas of Cusa: Selected Spiritual Writings (New
interested in Niebuhr, and Sherwood Eddy, a leader in many
York, 1997), and Jasper Hopkins’s Complete Philosophical
Christian causes, located funds to support the appointment
and Theological Treatises of Nicholas Cusa, 2 vols. (Minneapo-
initially. The move enabled Niebuhr to expand his scholarly
lis, Minn., 2001). Perceptive studies are Paline M. Watt’s
and organizational activities. Later he also joined the gradu-
Nicolaus Cusanus: A Fifteenth-century Vision of Man (Leiden,
ate faculty of Columbia University. He continued to preach
1982), James E. Biechler’s The Religious Language of Nicholas
almost every weekend in pulpits within and outside the city.
of Cusa (Missoula, Mont., 1975), Clyde Lee Miller’s Reading
Cusanus
(Washington, D. C., 2003), and the essays edited
He founded the Fellowship of Socialist Christians (1930)
by Gerald Christianson and Thomas M. Izbicki in Nicholas
and its quarterly, Radical Religion (1935), later renamed
of Cusa on Christ and the Church (Leiden, 1996).
Christianity and Society. He ran as a Socialist for the New
York State Senate (1930) and for Congress (1932), but as-
DONALD F. DUCLOW (1987 AND 2005)
sured Coffin that he had no chance of winning and would
continue his teaching without interruption.
NIEBUHR, REINHOLD (1892–1971), American
In 1931 Niebuhr married Ursula Keppel-Compton, an
theologian, ethicist, and political philosopher. Niebuhr was
English fellow at Union. They were a devoted pair and soon
born in Wright City, Missouri, on January 21, 1892. His
became parents. For many years students and friends, some
mother was a second-generation German-American; his fa-
famous and some unknown, crowded the Niebuhrs’ apart-
ther, a German immigrant, was a pastor in the Evangelical
ment at their frequent “at-homes.”
Synod of North America, the offspring of the Prussian
Union Church, which was predominantly Lutheran with a
Niebuhr was active in countless organizations involving
strain of Calvinism. At the age of ten Niebuhr declared that
labor unions, tenant farmers, and liberal or left-wing causes.
he wanted to become a minister because his father was the
In a period of great political tensions, he struggled with con-
most interesting man in town.
flicts between pacifists and those concerned about the men-
ace of Hitlerism, as well as conflicts between conservatives,
After studies at the denominational schools Elmhurst
liberals, and communists. In 1933 he resigned from the exec-
College and Eden Theological Seminary, Niebuhr entered
utive committee of the pacifist Fellowship of Reconciliation,
Yale Divinity School, where he earned B.D. (1914) and
of which he had been national chairman since 1931. In 1940
M.A. (1915) degrees. He later enjoyed recalling that he was
he resigned from the Socialist Party, and the next year he
admitted to the M.A. program on probation because he had
founded the biweekly Christianity and Crisis as an organ for
received his earlier education at unaccredited schools. Rather
relating theology to liberal anti-Nazi political policies. In
than embark on a program of doctoral studies, he accepted
1941 he was a chief organizer, and then national chairman,
assignment to a pastorate in Detroit, partly for family finan-
of the liberal anticommunist Union for Democratic Action.
cial reasons (his father had died in 1913), partly out of obli-
In 1944 he helped found the Liberal Party in New York and
gation to his denomination, and partly because he “desired
became a state party vice-chairman.
relevance rather than scholarship.”
During the thirteen years that Niebuhr served as pastor
Meanwhile, Niebuhr’s eminence as a theologian was in-
of Bethel Church, its membership grew from 65 to 650. The
creasing. Moral Man and Immoral Society (New York, 1932)
congregation reflected a broad spectrum of the American
was an epoch-making contribution to social ethics. Nie-
population, from automobile workers to two millionaires;
buhr’s international reputation flourished with his participa-
during his pastorate Niebuhr drew a few black families into
tion in the Oxford Conference on Life and Work (1937) and
some activities of the church. The Detroit ministry plunged
his delivery of the Gifford Lectures at the University of Edin-
the young pastor into the problems of urban, industrial
burgh (1939).
America. Niebuhr vociferously objected to the inhumanity
When World War II broke out, Niebuhr advocated
of the automotive assembly lines, the forced unemployment
American support of Britain and France, short of armed in-
during retooling, and the abject dependence of workers upon
tervention. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, he supported
corporations that resisted unions. After a period of racial
the war but criticized mass bombings of German and Japa-
conflict, he chaired the mayor’s Race Committee. Mean-
nese cities. After the war, Niebuhr became an adviser to the
while he won a reputation as a lecturer and preacher, espe-
State Department’s Policy and Planning staff, headed by
cially in colleges, and as a contributor to periodicals.
George Kennan. Although a strenuous critic of Soviet power,
Niebuhr supported World War I with mixed feelings,
he emphasized the necessity, in a nuclear age, of international
opposing the mixture of German loyalty and quasi-pacifism
policies that would build “mutual trust and tissues of com-
common in his denomination. A visit to Germany in 1923
munity.” He was a frequent visitor to Europe on religious,
added to his increasing disillusionment with war and con-
scholarly, and governmental missions, and served as a major
firmed his growing pacifism.
speaker at the first assembly of the World Council of
In 1928 Niebuhr joined the faculty of Union Theologi-
Churches in Amsterdam in 1948. In 1949 he cochaired the
cal Seminary in New York. Although in point of fact there
founding conference of Americans for Democratic Action,
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NIEBUHR, REINHOLD
an organization of the liberal left. The postwar years saw a
thodox by treating their fondest beliefs as “myths,” and he
stream of major lectureships and books.
offended liberals by taking those myths “seriously, but not
literally.” He provided fresh interpretations of Christian be-
In 1952, Niebuhr suffered the first of a series of strokes
liefs about the creation of humankind in God’s image, the
that sapped his strength for the rest of his life; from this point
Fall, original sin, justification by faith, and the coming king-
on, periods of severe illness alternated with periods of active
dom of God. Whereas he criticized liberalism for its opti-
life. In 1955 he became vice president of Union Theological
mism, its inattention to conflicts of power, and its utopian-
Seminary; in 1958 he was a visiting fellow at the Institute
ism, he was liberal in his acceptance of critical scholarship
for Advanced Studies in Princeton. After retirement from
and his eagerness to relate Christian faith to the whole range
Union in 1960 he spent one year at Harvard. He made his
of human knowledge. If university faculties saw Niebuhr as
home in New York, but later moved to Stockbridge, Massa-
a critic of liberalism, average Americans regarded him as
chusetts. In 1964 he was awarded the President’s Medal for
plainly liberal—as he discovered when a flood of “hate mail”
Freedom by Lyndon Johnson. In his final years he suffered
poured in after his public criticism of Billy Graham.
great pain and disability, but a steady stream of visitors and
correspondents helped him maintain ties with theological
Although the Gifford Lectures stand as Niebuhr’s great-
scholarship and public affairs. Death came on June 1, 1971.
est intellectual monument, they do not record his final posi-
DEVELOPMENT OF NIEBUHR’S THOUGHT. Niebuhr was a
tion. In the years following the lectures, his pragmatic ten-
man in motion, often (as he liked to say) tilting at windmills
dencies, significant from his Yale days onward, became more
he himself had built earlier. His thought was an ongoing dia-
conspicuous as he criticized doctrinaire theology and politi-
lectical process: usually the new idea was both a criticism and
cal thought, including his own. The concept of grace, always
a transformation of the old.
important to his thought but often subordinated in discus-
sions to the doctrine of sin, now became a major theme. Part-
His earliest writings—posthumously published in
ly under the influence of his friend Erik Erikson, the psychol-
Young Reinhold Niebuhr, edited by William G. Chrystal
ogist, Niebuhr became more appreciative of self-affirmation.
(Saint Louis, 1977)—reveal a seminarian in the pietistic
From the works of the eighteenth-century English statesman
evangelical tradition, objecting to the politicization of reli-
Edmund Burke he learned to consider the continuities and
gion and urging that the way to improve the world is “to
the organic characteristics of history as well as the historical
make more men Christians and all Christians truer” (p. 42).
conflicts and cataclysms that had always impressed him. But
At Yale Divinity School he imbibed liberal theology. The
to the end the polemical fires still flared, particularly against
Detroit pastorate moved him to the left wing of the Social
idolatries of race, wealth, and political power.
Gospel movement while intensifying his pastoral concern in
PRINCIPAL IDEAS. Niebuhr frequently denied that he was a
ministry to the sick and the dying. His adoption of socialism
theologian. He sometimes described himself as a circuit-
was a pragmatic one, and indeed was initially almost inno-
riding preacher with an interest in ethics. He had little inter-
cent of Marxism.
est in the niceties of doctrine. However, his chief insights
Moral Man and Immoral Society (New York, 1932) es-
have reverberated through the whole of theology.
tablished Niebuhr’s reputation as a major thinker. The title,
To find definitive statements of his main positions is
which Niebuhr admitted was an exaggeration for pedagogic
difficult. Niebuhr often wrote in polemical situations. If
reasons, expressed the book’s theme: the gap between the be-
some extravagant statement he had made was quoted back
havior of individuals in their personal relations and in their
to him later, he was likely to reply with a laugh, “That’s one
human collectivities (nations, classes, corporations, and so
of the many foolish things I’ve said.” He was too impatient
on). The book was an assault on liberal hopes for the effect-
to revise his own writings. Yet on many themes he was schol-
ing of social improvement through rationality and religion.
arly, subtle, and persistent. For the truest account of his
Rationality and religion, said Niebuhr, are more often instru-
opinions on a subject, one must look at his extended state-
ments of power than correctives of it.
ments on it, then dig out the scattered self-corrections made
Two years later, Niebuhr described himself as moving
over subsequent years.
to the left politically and to the right theologically. As he
Echoing Pascal, Niebuhr loved to speak of the grandeur
sometimes said, he was trying to relate Christian religion
and frailty of the human being. He saw the essence of self-
(which was politically deficient) to Marxist political realism
hood as freedom, which included qualities of imagination,
(which was religiously false). The theological movement was
rationality, and foresight—all captured in the biblical phrase
guided above all by Augustine’s conceptions of human na-
“the image of God.” Freedom brings anxiety: the awareness
ture and history. In the Gifford Lectures, published as The
of insecurity and of the inevitability of death. Faith, in turn,
Nature and Destiny of Man (New York, 1941 and 1943), he
can channel anxiety into creativity; without faith the creature
added Kierkegaard’s insights to those of Augustine, and he
strains for false security (the classical sin of pride) or tries to
became more critical of Marx.
avoid risk in a less-than-human existence (sloth). Of these
For his attacks on “liberalism,” Niebuhr was often called
two, Niebuhr wrote far more about pride—perhaps, as it is
“neoorthodox,” a term that he disliked. He offended the or-
often said, because sloth was no temptation for him. Pride
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NIEBUHR, REINHOLD
6613
overcomes individuals as well as groups; in the latter it may
Faith and political activity meet in a comparable dialec-
appear as nationalism, economic domination, racism, or
tical relation. Serious faith has implications for political life.
claims of gender superiority. Attempts to subdue pride by
Pretenses to the contrary, especially in a modern democratic
moral accomplishments usually reinforce it instead; the only
society, are an evasion of responsibility and usually a tacit
answer is the intervention of divine grace, both the common
support of an unjust status quo. But faith (or religious be-
grace known in many human experiences and the special
liefs) can never be embodied fully in politics. And the ulti-
grace known in Christ.
mate loyalties of faith relate only uneasily to the negotiations,
Niebuhr’s doctrine of history began with the Old Testa-
the maneuverings, and the exercises of power that character-
ment prophetic faith in history as showing marks of divine
ize politics. Niebuhr criticized those who try to keep faith
judgment and grace. He qualified this with the New Testa-
uncontaminated by politics as well as those who give their
ment belief that history finds its fulfillment only in the king-
political opinions divine sanction. As with love and justice,
dom of God that is yet to come. Any effort to find the mean-
there is no easy way to combine faith with politics.
ing of history within history—say, in the triumph of a nation
INFLUENCE. During Niebuhr’s lifetime he was a powerful
or a religion or a social class or even the best of projected so-
figure, an intimidating force in polemics, yet a friendly per-
cieties—is error and idolatry.
son known to many as “Reinie” (except to his wife, who
called him Reinhold). The South African novelist Alan Paton
Niebuhr affirmed the biblical idea of a linear, rather
in his autobiography, Towards the Mountain (New York,
than cyclical, history. But he rejected the “heresy,” nourished
1980), described Niebuhr as “the most enthralling speaker”
in the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, that transmutes
he had ever heard. Niebuhr’s style, despite many awkward
the directedness of history into faith in progress. There are
sentences, was impetuous, biting, witty, reverent, and serene,
obvious evidences in history of progress in technique, in
often in the course of a single speech or sermon. His writings
some kinds of rationality, and in social organization, but his-
have been translated into many European and Asian lan-
tory as a whole is not a progressive story, and its achieve-
guages. During his lifetime he set so many agendas that his
ments never eliminate the lurking threat and presence of sin.
critics, no less than his supporters, often acted on issues he
Thus Niebuhr became a constant critic of utopianism. De-
enunciated.
spite his excoriation of nationalistic idolatries, he objected to
proposals for world government. World government repre-
Niebuhr advocated an ethical “realism” that searched
sented to him either a “soft” utopia (relying on reason and
out the moral issues in every controversy yet never imposed
goodwill, without attention to the painful realities of power)
moral answers without giving due attention to the realities
or a “hard” utopia (imperialistic conquest resulting in one
of power. The famous political scientist Hans Morgenthau
power’s hegemony over the world). Instead, he advocated the
in 1961 called Niebuhr “the greatest living political philoso-
difficult effort to negotiate limited agreements among na-
pher of America” (Landon, 1962, p. 109). Through friend-
tions with attention to both morality and power.
ships with Eleanor Roosevelt, George Kennan, Arthur
Schlesinger, Jr., and Hubert Humphrey, as well as with sev-
Niebuhr’s critics charge that anti-utopianism cuts the
eral labor leaders and journalists, he exercised some influence
nerve of action. In fact, Niebuhr himself said the same in his
on public policy—although he rebuked Vice President
earlier writings, but later he renounced that position. He af-
Humphrey for supporting the war in Vietnam.
firmed that there are “indeterminate” possibilities for social
improvement, but he held that those who neglect the persis-
Who continues Niebuhr’s heritage? The question is a
tent power of sin are most likely to misconstrue its workings
controversial one. In 1981 a bemused Senate committee
in themselves and in history.
heard tedious arguments on just this issue. Neoconservatives,
For Niebuhr the ultimate ethical possibility is love,
pointing to his Burkean strain and his anti-utopianism,
which in mutuality enhances life and society, but which
sometimes claim him as part of their heritage. On the other
sometimes requires sacrifice, as represented in the cross of
hand, he always regarded himself as left of center; and his
Christ. However, love is sentimental unless it finds realiza-
final writings, produced in the years of pain and illness, were
tion in justice. Justice is the attempt to embody something
furious attacks against abuses of presidential power.
of the responsibility of love in human institutions. Yet jus-
Niebuhr’s influence is least among those who isolate
tice, with its legal and juridical forms, is at best an incom-
their religious faith from political action and those who
plete embodiment of love. And because justice requires en-
maintain any dogmatic religious and political position,
forcement, it readily becomes a contradiction to the free and
whether reactionary or revolutionary. But where people
voluntary nature of love. Whereas love gives freely, justice
struggle to relate faith to justice in a perplexing world, Nie-
imposes and enforces obligations.
buhr remains an important figure in the conversation.
Thus love and justice interact in a continuous dialectic.
They need each other: love that does not seek justice is unreal
BIBLIOGRAPHY
love, and justice without love is a graceless legalism that is
Works by Niebuhr
not really just. Yet the two live together in tension, and no
Niebuhr’s published books, articles, reviews, editorials, sermons,
formula can relate them perfectly.
and prayers number about a thousand. An identification of
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6614
NIEN-FO
all is impossible, because some were unsigned editorials. A
Gilkey, On Niebuhr: A Theological Study (Chicago, 2001).
diligent listing in 268 pages, including some publications
Other books are in process of publication.
about Neibuhr, is that of D. B. Robertson, Reinhold Nie-
ROGER LINCOLN SHINN (1987 AND 2005)
buhr’s Works: A Bibliography (Lanham, Md., 1983). What
follows is a selective list of books that provide sustained expo-
sitions of his major ideas.
Moral Man and Immoral Society. New York, 1932. The innovative
NIEN-FO SEE NIANFO
book that established Neibuhr’s national and international
reputation.
The Nature and Destiny of Man. Vol. 1, Human Nature, 1941.
Vol. 2, Human Destiny, 1943. Reprint in one volume, New
NIETZSCHE, FRIEDRICH (1844–1900), German
York, 1951. The Gifford Lectures and the most extensive ex-
philosopher and social, cultural, and religious critic. Frie-
position of Niebuhr’s thought.
drich Nietzsche is one of the most remarkable, controversial,
original, and important figures in modern philosophical and
The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness: A Vindication
of Democracy and a Critique of Its Traditional Defense. New
intellectual history. In his short productive life (which ended
York, 1944. A discussion of political and economic issues
with his collapse in 1889, although he lived on until 1900),
grounded in Niebuhr’s understanding of human nature.
he published an astonishing number and variety of works,
and wrote a great deal more. His writings attracted relatively
Faith and History: A Comparison of Christian and Modern Views
little attention prior to his collapse; but the subsequent im-
of History. New York, 1949.
pact of his thought was and continues to be both great and
The Irony of American History. New York, 1952. A study of the
diverse.
ways in which American experience exhibits an inner logic,
L
often contrary to its declared intentions.
IFE AND WORK. Nietzsche was born on October 15, 1844,
in Röcken, Saxony (in Prussia). The son of a Lutheran pastor
The Structure of Nations and Empires: A Study of the Recurring Pat-
(who died when he was six), he entered a boarding school
terns and Problems of the Political Order in Relation to the
in Pforta in 1858, excelling in his studies of religion and clas-
Unique Problems of the Nuclear Age. New York, 1959.
sical and German literature. In 1864 he entered the Universi-
Man’s Nature and His Communities: Essays on the Dynamics and
ty of Bonn, intending to study theology and classical philoso-
Enigmas of Man’s Personal and Social Existence. New York,
phy; but after only one year he transferred to the University
1965. Niebuhr’s last revision—although brief and written
of Leipzig, where he concentrated on philosophy. While
under great handicaps of illness—of the themes for which he
there he discovered Arthur Schopenhauer’s The World as
was famous.
Will and Representation, which profoundly influenced him.
Works about Niebuhr
It was as a classical philologist, however, that he received a
The two most personal books about Niebuhr, both rich in anec-
call from the University of Basel at the astonishingly early
dotal memories, are: June Bingham, Courage to Change: An
age of twenty-four.
Introduction to the Life and Thought of Reinhold Niebuhr
Nietzsche taught at Basel from 1869 until 1879, when
(New York, 1961, 1972) and Ursula Niebuhr, ed., Remem-
bering Reinhold Niebuhr: Letters of Reinhold and Ursula M.

he retired owing to the deterioration of his health (which re-
Niebuhr (San Francisco, 1991). The two most exhaustive bi-
sulted from illnesses he contracted in 1870 as a volunteer
ographies, written from clashing perspectives, are: Richard
medical orderly in the Franco-Prussian War). During this
Wightman Fox, Reinhold Niebuhr: A Biography (2d edition,
period he formed a close association with Richard Wagner,
Ithaca, N. Y., 1996) and Charles C. Brown, Niebuhr and His
his early fascination with whom is reflected in his first book,
Age: Reinhold Niebuhr’s Prophetic Role and Legacy, New Edi-
The Birth of Tragedy (1872). His later break with Wagner,
tion with Foreword by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. (Harris-
culminating in his polemic The Case of Wagner (1888), was
burg, Penn., 2002). Reinhold Niebuhr: His Religious Social,
both profound and painful to him. At first regarding Wagner
and Political Thought, edited by Charles W. Kegley and Rob-
as showing the way to a cultural and spiritual renewal, Nietz-
ert W. Bretall (New York, 1956), includes twenty critical es-
sche came to see him as epitomizing and fostering decadent
says about Niebuhr, along with Niebuhr’s short “Intellectual
Autobiography” and his response to the critics. A later edi-
and dangerous tendencies.
tion (New York, 1982) includes an essay by John C. Bennett
These concerns with the direction and health of con-
on Niebuhr’s social thought in his later years. Reinhold Nie-
temporary cultural and intellectual life were the real focus of
buhr: A Prophetic Voice in Our Time, edited by Harold R.
most of Nietzsche’s early writings. As he developed his own
Landon (Greenwich, Conn., 1962), contains essays by Paul
quite distinctive philosophical idiom and method, he drew
Tillich, John C. Bennett, and Hans Morgenthau, together
strongly upon the idea and practice of interpretation associ-
with Niebuhr’s response. Of the many books about Niebuhr,
there are three impressive treatments of different aspects of
ated with his discipline of classical philology. He departed
his mature thought and activity: Ronald M. Stone, Professor
increasingly from the conventional limits and norms of that
Reinhold Niebuhr: A Mentor to the Twentieth Century (Louis-
discipline, however, and the unorthodox character of his
ville, Ky., 1992); Robin W. Lovin, Reinhold Niebuhr and
published work during his tenure at Basel—beginning with
Christian Realism (Cambridge, U.K., 1995); and Langdon
The Birth of Tragedy and becoming more pronounced in his
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NIETZSCHE, FRIEDRICH
6615
Untimely Meditations (1873–1876) and Human, All-Too-
that their art held the key to human flourishing in a Sch-
Human (1878)—effectively divorced him from it. This ren-
openhauerian world. In his subsequent series of four essays
dered his retirement in 1879 merely the ratification of an ac-
collectively titled Untimely Meditations, he expanded upon
complished fact.
the need to reorient human thought and endeavor in a man-
ner more conducive to the creativity and vitality of human
The following decade, most of which Nietzsche spent
life.
alternating between residences in Switzerland and northern
Italy, was phenomenally productive. The Dawn (1881) and
These essays were followed by a number of aphoristic
the first four books of The Gay Science (1882) were followed
books in which Nietzsche refined and extended his assess-
by the four-part Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883–1885). The
ment of various human tendencies and social and cultural
next four years saw the appearance of Beyond Good and Evil
phenomena. During this period his thinking became much
(1886), the fifth book of The Gay Science and The Genealogy
more sophisticated, and he developed the philosophical style
of Morals (1887), The Case of Wagner (1888), and Twilight
and outlook that found mature expression in his writings of
of the Idols (1889) as well as the completion of several other
the 1880s. He prophesied the advent of a period of nihilism
works that were published some years later: The Antichrist
as traditional modes of interpretation and valuation col-
(1895) and Ecce Homo (1908). During this period he also
lapsed in conjunction with the “death of God,” the demise
amassed a great deal of material in notebooks. (A substantial
of metaphysics, and the discovery of science’s inability to
selection of this material, the significance of which is a matter
yield anything like absolute knowledge. However, the pros-
of considerable controversy, was arranged and published
pect of this forthcoming crisis deeply disturbed him. He took
posthumously under the title The Will to Power.)
the basic challenge of philosophy to be that of overcoming
not only traditional metaphysics and scientific rationalism
Having written the last four of these works in the single
but also the nihilism resulting from their abandonment. In
year of 1888, Nietzsche suffered a complete mental and
the early 1880s, when he conceived and wrote Thus Spoke
physical breakdown in early January of 1889, in Turin. His
Zarathustra, he arrived at a conception of human life and
illness probably was the consequence of his having contract-
possibility—and with it, of value and meaning—that he be-
ed syphilis many years earlier. He remained a partially para-
lieved could serve to fill the void left by the bankruptcy of
lyzed invalid, never regaining his health and sanity. During
traditional philosophy and religion and the poverty of sci-
the remaining years of his life he was cared for by his sister,
ence.
Elizabeth Förster-Nietzsche. She obtained control of his
writings, sought to enhance and exploit his reputation, and
What Nietzsche called the “death of God” was both a
was partly responsible for the misrepresentation of his
cultural event—the waning of the “Christian-moral” inter-
thought that culminated in the travesty of his work being
pretation of life and the world—and a philosophical develop-
presented as the philosophical inspiration of National Social-
ment: the dismissal of the idea of God as a concept deserving
ism. This seriously damaged his reputation and long ob-
serious philosophical attention. As a cultural event it was a
structed a just assessment of his work.
phenomenon to be reckoned with, and a source of profound
Nietzsche’s style and manner of writing have affected his
concern. As a philosophical development, on the other hand,
reception as well. Unlike most philosophers, he generally did
it was his point of departure, demanding a radical reconsider-
not set out his views systematically, in clearly discernible
ation of the nature of life and the world, human existence,
lines of argument cast in dry and measured prose. His works,
knowledge, value, and morality. Thus the “de-deification of
for the most part, consist of series of short paragraphs and
nature,” the “translation of man back into nature,” the devel-
sets of aphorisms, often only loosely (if at all) connected.
opment of a “naturalistic” value-theory and its application
Many deal with philosophical topics, but in very unconven-
to a “revaluation of values,” and the tracing of the “genealogy
tional ways. His language, moreover, is by turns coolly ana-
of morals” and their critique were among the main tasks he
lytical, heatedly polemical, and highly metaphorical. It is not
set for himself.
surprising, therefore, that many philosophers have found it
Nietzsche emphatically rejected not only the “God-
difficult to know what to make of him or whether to take
hypothesis” but also any metaphysical postulation of a “true
him seriously, and that they have interpreted his work in
world of ‘being’” transcending the world of life and experi-
many different ways.
ence, and likewise deemed the “soul” and “things-in-
THOUGHT. The early Nietzsche was greatly concerned with
themselves” to be ontological fictions. He conceived of all ex-
basic problems he discerned in contemporary Western cul-
istence in terms of an interplay of forces without any inher-
ture and society, for which he considered it imperative to
ent structure or final end; these forces ceaselessly refigure
seek new solutions. He was further convinced that Schopen-
themselves as the fundamental disposition he called “will to
hauer’s bleak picture of the world and the human condition
power” gives rise to successive arrays of power relationships
was fundamentally sound, and yet he was determined to dis-
among them. His idea of the “eternal recurrence” under-
cover some way of avoiding Schopenhauer’s pessimistic con-
scores this conception of the world, in which things ever hap-
clusions. In The Birth of Tragedy he looked to the ancient
pen in this same manner. He thus construed human nature
Greeks for clues and to Wagner for inspiration, believing
and existence naturalistically: “The soul is only a word for
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NIETZSCHE, FRIEDRICH
something about the body,” he wrote; and the body is funda-
as Heidegger and Jaspers and then by French existentialists,
mentally an arrangement of natural forces and processes
notably Sartre and Camus. For others, he was a leading rep-
manifesting the “will to power.” At the same time, however,
resentative of Lebensphilosophie; as such he influenced the
he stressed the importance of social institutions and interac-
philosophical-anthropological movement that developed out
tions in human development. He also insisted upon the pos-
of this school in central Europe. He was also one of the
sibility of the emergence of exceptional human beings
sources upon which members of the Frankfurt School drew
(“higher men”) capable of an independence and creativity el-
in their attempts to develop a critical theory of society and
evating them above the general human level (“the herd”),
culture. More recently still, he has been warmly embraced
and he proclaimed the “overman” (Übermensch) to be “the
by post-structuralist French philosophers, who derive much
meaning of the earth,” representing the overcoming of the
of their inspiration from their reading of him. Certain recent
“all-too-human” and the attainment of the fullest possible
Anglo-American analytical philosophers have discovered in
“enhancement of life.”
him a kindred spirit as well.
Thus, far from seeking to diminish one’s humanity by
NIETZSCHE AND RELIGION. Unlike most philosophers of im-
stressing animality, Nietzsche sought to direct one’s atten-
portance before him, Nietzsche was openly and profoundly
tion and efforts to the emergence of a “higher humanity” ca-
hostile to most forms of religious thought (with the notable
pable of endowing existence with a redemptive human justi-
exception of that of the early Greeks). He declared “war”
fication. He espoused a “Dionysian value-standard” based
upon the major world religions and their theologies, con-
upon an affirmation of the “will to power” as the creative
tending not only that they perpetuate superstitions and er-
transformation of existence; and he accordingly made the
rors for which there is no longer any excuse but also that they
“enhancement of life” and creativity the central themes of his
are deeply objectionable owing to their detrimental impact
“revaluation of values” and value-theory.
upon human life. It was above all their purported “crimes
against life” for which he attacked them, arguing that they
Insisting that moralities ought to be understood and as-
have fed upon and fostered weakness, sickliness, life-
sessed “in the perspective of life,” Nietzsche argued that most
weariness, and ressentiment, and that they have poisoned the
of them were obstructive rather than conducive to the en-
wellsprings of human health, strength, and vitality by “de-
hancement of life, reflecting all-too-human needs, weak-
valuing” all “naturalistic values.”
nesses, and fears. Distinguishing between “master” and
“slave” moralities, he found the latter to have eclipsed the
Thus Nietzsche undertook to “revalue” religious values,
former, issuing in a dominant “herd-animal morality” well-
to expose the “all-too-human” origins and motivations of re-
suited to the mediocre who are the human rule but stultify-
ligious ways of thinking, and to undermine all otherworldly
ing and detrimental to potential exceptions. Therefore he ad-
theologies, seeking to deprive them of any appearance of le-
vocated a “higher morality” for the latter, one that would be
gitimacy they might still retain. He intended both to make
“beyond good and evil” and better attuned to their attain-
their emergence and continuing acceptance understandable
ment of an enhanced, creative form of life. This reflects the
as human phenomena and at the same time to render them
linkage of his notions of such a “higher humanity” and the
unacceptable to those capable of doing without them and of
associated “higher morality” to his conception of art. Art, in-
thinking clearly and honestly. He had some respect for a reli-
volving the creative transformation, in restricted contexts, of
gion like Christianity as a form of life answering to a certain
the world as humans find it, anticipates the kind of life that
(interesting but flawed) configuration of human traits, and
might be lived more fully in this manner and constitutes a
associated Jesus with this human possibility, but he contend-
step toward its emergence.
ed that historical Christianity represented a perversion of it,
INFLUENCE. In the decades following Nietzsche’s collapse, a
fostering life-endangering attitudes and seducing potentially
veritable Nietzsche cult developed in central Europe, as self-
healthier human types into stunted or self-destructive forms
styled followers produced a variety of influential but simplis-
of existence.
tic and distorted interpretations of his thought. Thus he was
Although Nietzsche may have done religion in general
depicted by turns as a latter-day Romantic, an iconoclastic
and Christianity in particular a considerable injustice, he
nihilist, a social Darwinist, and a racist and protofascist. He
compelled their advocates to consider whether and how vari-
also attracted a substantial following in artistic and literary
ous forms of religion could be exonerated of his charges
circles beyond as well as within central Europe. It was only
against them. He also gave strong impetus to attempts to de-
slowly, however, that he began to be taken seriously by phi-
velop new theologies that dispensed with traditional concep-
losophers, and even then he was, and continues to be, inter-
tions of God and the soul in favor of alternative ways of con-
preted in ways lending themselves to diverse philosophical
ceiving of the divine and the spiritual nature of mankind. In
purposes that often stand in a rather problematical relation
other quarters, his attack upon traditional religious ways of
to his own.
thinking prompted their defiant defense, thereby contribut-
The common association of Nietzsche with existential
ing indirectly to the resurgence of neo-orthodoxy in opposi-
philosophy, for example, is owing to his appropriation (in
tion to the liberal-theological and naturalistic secular cur-
different ways) first by such German existential philosophers
rents of modern thought. Finally, Nietzsche helped to
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NIGHTINGALE, FLORENCE
6617
stimulate a reconsideration of the relation between religion
when planning her future as a young woman, her one idea
and theology. The idea that the most important thing about
was not to organize a hospital but to organize a religion.
a religion is the difference it makes in the lives of those who
Nursing researchers, sociologists, and scholars of religion,
embrace it, rather than the belief system it elaborates, owes
who are now examining Nightingale’s voluminous but previ-
much to him, even though most religious thinkers who have
ously unpublished ideological and religious writings, are dis-
followed him in this have tended to assess the effects of reli-
covering the truth of these words.
gion on the lives of believers very differently than he did.
NIGHTINGALE’S LIFE. Nightingale was born on May 12,
Nietzsche may not have subverted religion as decisively
1820, the second daughter of William and Frances Nightin-
as he desired and claimed to have done, for his criticisms do
gale, members of the upper class from Derbyshire, England.
not leave all its forms without any means of defense. His cri-
Although Florence Nightingale was raised in the Church of
tique cannot be lightly dismissed, however, and if it is ac-
England, her Cambridge-educated father instilled in her his
corded the serious consideration by religious thinkers it de-
Unitarian heritage while tutoring her in many languages, his-
serves, then the religious issue of this confrontation will be
tory, science, and philosophy. The young Nightingale dis-
arguably more deserving of respect than most of religion as
dained her privileged life, preferring to help the village poor.
he knew and conceived it. In any case, anyone well disposed
At age seventeen she received a call to serve God. Encounter-
toward religion would do well to make the experiment of at-
ing family resistance, she bided her time, studying hospital
tempting to view it through Nietzsche’s eyes. This may not
reports and documents on social reform. Trips to Europe ex-
lead one to abandon religion, but it is almost certain to alter
posed her to emerging political, religious, and social thought.
one’s view of it to good effect.
She visited convents, observed their work, and adopted their
spiritual exercises even though her religious ideas prevented
BIBLIOGRAPHY
her from joining a Catholic religious order. While in Egypt
Works by Nietzsche
at age thirty, Nightingale received a second call to serve the
The definitive new German edition of Nietzsche’s writings is the
poor and made a private vow to God. She visited a Protestant
thirty-volume Werke: Kritische Gesamtausgabe, edited by
deaconess order serving the poor in Kaiserswerth, Germany,
Giorgio Colli and Mazzino Montinari (Berlin, 1967–1978).
in 1850 and 1851, but further plans were sabotaged by her
The best English translations of most of his writings have
family. Nightingale channeled her rage into Cassandra
been made by Walter Kaufmann and R. J. Hollingdale
(1852), an autobiographical fiction about powerless Victori-
(sometimes in collaboration). These include The Birth of
an women that foreshadowed later feminist arguments. After
Tragedy and The Case of Wagner (New York, 1967); The Gay
receiving another call to serve England’s poor, she began a
Science (New York, 1974); Beyond Good and Evil (New York,
1966; Harmondsworth, 1973); On the Genealogy of Morals
theological treatise, Suggestions for Thought to the Searchers
and Ecce Homo (New York, 1968); The Will to Power (New
after Truth among the Artizans of England (1852).
York, 1967); Thus Spoke Zarathustra (Harmondsworth,
Leaving home in 1853, Nightingale became superinten-
1961); and Twilight of the Idols and The Antichrist (Har-
mondsworth, 1968). The last three, with Nietzsche Contra
dent of a home for destitute governesses. The following year
Wagner, are also contained in The Portable Nietzsche (New
Lord Sidney Herbert, the secretary of war, sent her to the
York, 1954). See also A Nietzsche Reader (Harmondsworth,
Crimea to care for wounded British soldiers. After sixteen
1977).
months Nightingale returned a heroine but refused to start
a nursing school with the Nightingale Fund established in
Works on Nietzsche
Danto, Arthur. Nietzsche as Philosopher. New York, 1965.
her honor, focusing instead on reform of the army and its
medical services. She wrote a lengthy report on army health;
Hayman, Ronald. Nietzsche: A Critical Life. Oxford, 1980.
helped launch royal commissions on Britain’s army in En-
Hollingdale, R. J. Nietzsche. London, 1973.
gland and India; analyzed her Crimean medical statistics;
Kaufmann, Walter. Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist.
wrote Notes on Hospitals (1859) and Notes on Nursing (1860),
4th ed. Princeton, 1974.
and declared herself an invalid. She retired to her home,
Magnus, Bernd. Nietzsche’s Existential Imperative. Bloomington,
where prominent politicians came to consult with her. The
Ind., 1978.
Nightingale Training School for Nurses was established at
Morgan, George A. What Nietzsche Means. Cambridge, Mass.,
Saint Thomas’s Hospital in London in 1860. While Night-
1941.
ingale submitted proposals, her first visit to the school did
not occur until many years later. Nightingale lived for many
Schacht, Richard. Nietzsche. London, 1983.
years as an invalid in seclusion while pursuing her many re-
Wilcox, John T. Truth and Value in Nietzsche. Ann Arbor, 1974.
forms. She died on August 13, 1910, and is buried in East
RICHARD SCHACHT (1987)
Wellow, Hampshire, England.
THEOLOGICAL IDEAS AND ACTIVITIES. Nightingale’s reli-
gious vocation was central to her life, and her work lies with-
NIGHTINGALE, FLORENCE (1820–1910), is re-
in this vocation. Each year she reviewed her spiritual prog-
membered as a nurse, yet she wrote in her seventies that,
ress, and later she celebrated the jubilee of her first call. She
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NIGHTINGALE, FLORENCE
read and translated medieval mystics in preparation for writ-
explanations from an era demanding judgment and punish-
ing a book. Her invalidism has been attributed to chronic
ment, not reform. Instead, Nightingale’s Trinity comprised:
illness, post-traumatic stress, and a desire to escape from fam-
(1) God as thought, purpose, and will-engendering develop-
ily demands, yet it also created a monastic existence in lieu
ment; (2) Son as divine manifestation in all humanity devel-
of a religious or secular order. In 1860 Nightingale expanded
oping according to God’s will, Jesus being the perfect exam-
Suggestions for Thought, sending drafts to six scholars, includ-
ple and greatest teacher; and (3) Spirit as the divine in each,
ing Benjamin Jowett of Balliol College, Oxford, and the re-
through which God as thought communicates. Life was
former John Stuart Mill. The manuscript addressed the same
about progressive learning from errors with the Spirit’s help,
issues as Essays and Reviews (1860), a Church of England
as well as help from many human saviors, like Nightingale,
Broad Church Movement publication that resulted in heresy
to lead to truth, both in this world and other reincarnations.
trials. While Essays and Reviews critiqued the church, Night-
WOMEN’S ISSUES. Nightingale challenged a divine order of
ingale’s Suggestions for Thought offered the working class a
creation automatically placing men over women; she be-
reasonable religion that rejected the prevailing teaching that
lieved that women were also called to serve God as hand-
poverty was God’s will. Nightingale’s topics included God,
maids of the Lord. She advocated a secular order of trained,
universal law, God’s will, human will, sin, evil, family life,
salaried single women across all classes to serve the poor
women, spirituality, and life after death. Mill quoted her in
while also gaining economic independence—her nursing
his parliamentary speech on women’s rights, and Jowett ac-
model. Her parliamentary efforts changed laws restricting
knowledged the qualities of her mind, beginning a thirty-
women’s rights to children, property, and divorce. She did
year intimate friendship with Nightingale.
not work for women’s suffrage in the 1860s because she was
Nightingale’s theology prefigured twentieth-century
busy with army reform and knew that, because not all men
liberation theology, which begins not with traditional doc-
could vote, any women’s votes would go to a privileged few.
trines and ancient texts but with the experience of the op-
The Adam and Eve story justifying male headship was tightly
pressed, as does feminist theology. Nightingale suggested
woven into Britain’s religion, class, and family systems and
that oppressive social systems were human constructions
needed challenging before women could vote.
held in place by the powerful, whether government or
When Nightingale died at age ninety, she left a formida-
church, not God’s will. A liberating religion should not ask
ble literary legacy. Her writings in the British Library form
people to passively believe and accept their lot but make ra-
one of its largest single collections. Since women of her era
tional sense to everyone. Since God’s spirit was in all people,
could not obtain university degrees, her scholarly writings re-
rich or poor, all could participate in God’s new society by
mained largely unpublished and unheeded until the late
learning, through observation, education, and statistical
twentieth century, yet her religious ideas parallel contempo-
analysis, God’s will written in the universe. Nightingale
rary process and relational theology and prefigure by one
called statistics a “sacred science” because it transcended indi-
hundred years liberation and feminist theology.
vidual experiences to uncover God’s larger thoughts, as her
Crimean statistics demonstrated.
SEE ALSO Feminist Theology, article on Christian Feminist
Theology; God, article on God in Postbiblical Christianity;
Prefiguring another contemporary debate, Nightingale
Liberation Theology.
argued that the concept of God evolved through history and
was still evolving. While primal people propitiated an all-
B
powerful God with sacrifice, worship, and prayer, believing
IBLIOGRAPHY
Calabria, Michael D., and Janet A. Macrae, eds. Suggestions for
suffering reflected divine displeasure, an arbitrary God inter-
Thought: Selections and Commentaries. Philadelphia, 1994.
vening at will was not viable for a scientific age. A moratori-
Seminal analysis of extracts of Nightingale’s unpublished
um on God language was necessary until divine metaphors
manuscript.
were reshaped. For Nightingale, God was embodied (incar-
Cook, Sir Edward T. The Life of Florence Nightingale. 2 vols. Lon-
nated) in the universe. Humans, as part of the universe, par-
don, 1913. Nightingale’s authorized biography published
ticipated in this divinity, being drawn into mystic union with
three years after her death.
God through learning divine universal laws more reliable
than claims of special revelation delivered in culturally
Dossey, Barbara Montgomery. Florence Nightingale: Mystic, Vi-
sionary, Healer. Springhouse, Pa., 2000. A comprehensive
bound language through selected interpreters. Good health
study of Nightingale and her context, including her social ac-
and social conditions did not come by divine intervention
tivism and mysticism.
but through human observation and application of divine
laws.
Jowett, Benjamin. Dear Miss Nightingale. Edited by Vincent
Quinn and John Prest. Oxford, 1987. Thirty years of letters
Incarnation, Trinity, and theories localizing God in one
from Benjamin Jowett to Nightingale.
incarnation and one day of suffering, while ignoring God’s
McDonald, Lynn, ed. Florence Nightingale: An Introduction to Her
suffering, work, and passion through eternity, needed re-
Life and Family. Collected Works of Florence Nightingale,
thinking. Medieval atonement ideas of God’s Son sacrificed
vol. 1. Waterloo, Ontario, 2002. A proposed 16 vols. of
because of divine offense at human sin were culturally bound
Nightingale’s known writings, with analysis, is planned. The
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NIKEPHOROS
6619
sheer volume of this project indicates the wide range of
tine V (741–775), which was also directed against Nike-
Nightingale’s creativity in the areas of social and philosophi-
phoros’s father. Attached to the service of the empire as secre-
cal thought, religion, spirituality, and mysticism.
tary and director of the largest poorhouse in the capital,
McDonald, Lynn, ed. Florence Nightingale’s Spiritual Journey: Bib-
Nikephoros also served as the imperial spokesman at the Sec-
lical Annotations, Sermons, and Journal Notes. Collected
ond Council of Nicaea (787). This experience was to serve
Works of Florence Nightingale, vol. 2. Waterloo, Ontario,
him well during his tenure as patriarch (806–815), during
2002.
which he witnessed the political vicissitudes of three imperial
McDonald, Lynn, ed. Florence Nightingale’s Theology: Essays, Let-
masters.
ters, and Journal Notes. Collected Works of Florence Night-
ingale, vol. 3. Waterloo, Ontario, 2002.
Like his predecessors Germanos and Tarasios, the patri-
McDonald, Lynn, ed. Florence Nightingale on Society and Politics,
arch was an advocate of a moderate policy through which
Philosophy, Science, Education, and Literature. Collected
concessions were made to extremists of both the imperial and
Works of Florence Nightingale, vol. 5. Waterloo, Ontario,
ecclesiastical factions. Nikephoros remained resolute when
2003.
the orthodox faith was at stake, as is proved by his long exile
McDonald, Lynn, ed. Florence Nightingale on Public Health Care.
under Leo V from 815 until his death.
Collected Works of Florence Nightingale, vol. 6. Waterloo,
Scholars have increasingly recognized that Nikephoros’s
Ontario, 2004.
role in the controversy was more important during this peri-
Sullivan, Mary C., ed. The Friendship of Florence Nightingale and
od of exile, when he turned to a literary refutation of the het-
Mary Clare Moore. Philadelphia, 1999. Twenty years of cor-
erodoxy of Constantine V and the iconoclastic Synod of
respondence between Nightingale and Mother Mary Clare
Hagia Sophia (815), than it was during the preceding period,
Moore of the Sisters of Mercy, who was with Nightingale in
the Crimea.
when he was a hierarch actively in office.
Vallée, Gérard, ed. Florence Nightingale on Mysticism and Eastern
Dogmatically sophisticated, Nikephoros displayed ex-
Religions. Collected Works of Florence Nightingale, vol. 4.
traordinary skill as he worked within the larger context of
Waterloo, Ontario, 2003.
theological concerns, which he presented in such a way as to
Webb, Val. Florence Nightingale: The Making of a Radical Theolo-
support the veneration of icons. Moreover, as a direct de-
gian. St. Louis, Mo., 2002. An analysis of Nightingale’s life-
scendant of the apostolic tradition and Cappadocian synthe-
long religious vocation and her radical theology for En-
sis, he worked out the problems faced by both John of Da-
gland’s poor that provides ample evidence that her
mascus and Theodore of Studios by elucidating the dogmatic
theological thought resonates more with contemporary femi-
and philosophical relation between an image and its arche-
nist, liberation, and process theology than with dominant
type, the difference between art and circumscription, and the
Victorian ideas of her own day.
continuity of tradition as exemplified in the church’s keryg-
Woodham Smith, Cecil Blanche Fitz Gerald. Florence Nightingale,
ma and witness concerning the icons. His subtle argumenta-
1820–1910. London, 1950. A biography including material
not available for Sir Edward Cook’s 1913 biography.
tion is a unique addition to the iconophiles’ arsenal support-
ing Christ’s iconographic depiction. Nikephoros’s singular
VAL WEBB (2005)
achievement was to sever the teaching on icons from an icon-
oclastic theology—traceable back to monophysitism with its
Origenistic, Neoplatonic spiritualism—and to identify this
NIHILISM SEE DOUBT AND BELIEF;
teaching as an uninterrupted continuation of Chalcedonian
NIETZSCHE, FRIEDRICH
Christology, with its reaffirmation of the historical facts of
the New Testament.
NIITSITAPPI RELIGION S
As the last well-known iconophile theologian, Nike-
EE BLACKFEET
RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
phoros may have wanted to be remembered primarily as the
author whose work could have served as the basis for a future
orthodox synod. But his generation overlooked, perhaps not
intentionally, his theological efforts and praised the sanctity
NIKEPHOROS (758–828), patriarch of Constantino-
of his life. The patriarch in exile became the symbol of unity
ple. Nikephoros lived during the Iconoclastic Controversy
for both clergy in the world and monastics and a reconciler
(726–843), a crisis that involved all levels of Byzantine soci-
between iconophiles and iconoclasts in the strife that lasted
ety in a desperate struggle. The reality of Christ became the
for two more decades. Not until the restoration of the icons
theological justification for the veneration of icons, which
(March 11, 843) could his followers transfer his holy relics
was tested and fought for in the arenas of imperial and eccle-
back to Constantinople and honor their prelate as a saint-
siastical authority. The iconophiles, who supported the use
confessor of Orthodox Christianity.
of icons in the church, perceived the challenge of their icono-
clast rulers as an attack against the person of Jesus Christ.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Nikephoros’s birth in Constantinople coincided with a
The published works of Nikephoros can be found in Spicilegium
brewing storm of persecution initiated by Emperor Constan-
Romanum, edited by Angelo Mai, vol. 10 (Rome, 1844),
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NIKEPHOROS KALLISTOS
pp. 152–156; Patrologia Graeca, edited by J.-P. Migne, vol.
Works about Nikephoros Kallistos
100 (Paris, 1860); and Spicilegium Solesmense complectens
Beck, Hans Georg. Kirche und theologische Literatur in Byzantinisc-
sanctorum patrum scriptorumque ecclesiasticorum anecdota
hen Reich. Munich, 1959. See pages 705–706.
hactenus opera, 4 vols., edited by Jean-Baptiste Pitra (Paris,
Krumbacher, Karl. Geschichte der byzantinischen Literatur von Jus-
1852–1858), vol. 1, pp. 302–503, and vol. 4, pp. 233–380.
tinian bis zum Ende des oströmischen Reiches, 527–1453. 2d
The most comprehensive book on the historical period, with an
ed. Munich, 1897. See pages 291–293.
excellent bibliography and a summary of the patriarch’s un-
Papadopoulos-Kerameus, A. “Nikephoros Kallistos Xan-
published Refutation, remains Paul J. Alexander’s The Patri-
thopoulos.” Byzantinische Zeitschrift 11 (1902): 38–49.
arch Nicephorus of Constantinople: Ecclesiastical Policy and
Image Worship in the Byzantine Empire
(Oxford, 1958). For
Polite¯s, Linos. “Agno¯sto ergo tou Nikephorou Kallistou Xan-
a systematic description of the patriarch’s theology, see my
thopoulou.” Kl¯eronomia 3 (1971): 69–84.
book In Defense of the Faith: The Theology of Patriarch Nike-
DEMETRIOS J. CONSTANTELOS (1987)
phoros of Constantinople (Brookline, Mass., 1984).
JOHN TRAVIS (1987)
NIKKO
¯ (1246–1333), Japanese Buddhist priest and one
of the chief disciples of Nichiren (d. 1282). Although
NIKEPHOROS KALLISTOS (c. 1256–1335),
Nichiren did not designate a particular successor, on his
more fully Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos; Byzantine
deathbed he selected six of his senior disciples, Nissho¯
theologian and church historian. Most probably Nikephoros
(1221–1323), Nichiro¯ (1245–1320), Niko¯ (1253–1341),
was a native of Constantinople and had served as a priest on
Nitcho¯ (1252–1317), Nichiji (1250–?), and Nikko¯, to carry
the staff of the Hagia Sophia cathedral. Of the very little that
on his work. Following the death of Nichiren, these six de-
we know about his life, it seems certain that, during the reign
cided among themselves to assume care on a rotating basis
of Emperor Andronikos the Elder (r. 1282–1328), Nike-
of the temple named Kuonji that had been founded at
phoros was active in ecclesiastical affairs and sided with those
Mount Minobu by Nichiren in 1281. Under this agreement,
who opposed union with Rome.
the priests, assisted by disciples living in the area, resolved
Nikephoros wrote several works. His eighteen-book Ec-
to take up residence at the temple in one-month shifts. Polit-
clesiastical History covers the period from the birth of Christ
ical circumstances, however, intervened to frustrate their
to 610 and is important because it provides information on
plans. Nikko¯ and Nichiji, who were living near Minobusan,
hagiology and on the theological and Christological contro-
faced little difficulty in fulfilling their obligations, but the
versies of the early centuries. A summary of five more books
other priests came under considerable pressure from Nagasa-
at the end of his introduction to the History has been accept-
ki Yoritsuna, minister of war and a powerful foe of the
ed as an indication that he intended to continue the narrative
Nichiren group, and thus were unable to leave the capital city
to 912. There is no evidence that Nikephoros intended to
of Kamakura. In 1285, Nikko¯ agreed to a request by Nambu
write a general ecclesiastical history from the church’s incep-
Sanenaga, a patron of the temple, and the other five senior
tion to his own time. Though the earliest books depend
disciples that he take up permanent residence on Minobu-
heavily on the church historians of the fourth, fifth, and sixth
san. By 1288, Niko¯ was able to join Nikko¯ there following
centuries, such as Eusebius of Caesarea, Socrates, Sozo-
the relaxation of Yoritsuna’s efforts to suppress the order.
menos, Theodoretos, Evagrios Scholastikos, and Theodore
Later, Nambu Sanenaga made an image of S´a¯kyamuni
the Lector, Krumbacher (1897) has rightly observed that “in
Buddha and worshiped it. Nikko¯ contended that the image
matters and topics dear to him, [Nikephoros] was an original
of the Buddha should be accompanied by companion images
and worthy author.”
of the four disciples of the “original” S´a¯kyamuni in order to
Of his other writings, Nikephoros’s didactic poems be-
distinguish it from that of the “historical” S´a¯kyamuni. Niko¯,
came very popular and have survived in many manuscripts.
on the other hand, was inclined to permit worship of the
He also wrote several liturgical, exegetical, and hagiographi-
icon unflanked by images of the four disciples. When
cal works, including a synopsis of the holy scripture in iam-
Nambu Sanenaga sided with Niko¯, Nikko¯ left Minobusan
bics, the Siege of Jerusalem, the life and miracles of Nicholas
and in 1288 founded the Ko¯mon-ha subsect. In 1290 he es-
of Myra, seven hymns to the theotokos, and several short
tablished his own temple, the Taisekiji, at O
¯ ishi-ga-hara in
hymns for the Akathistos Hymn. He wrote homilies on
Suruga province (Shizuoka-ken), and the following year
and commentaries to Psalms and homilies on Gregory of
moved to a new hermitage at Kitayama, two miles north of
Nazianzus.
the Taisekiji. In 1298 the hermitage was remodeled into a
full-fledged temple and renamed the Honmonji. Nikko¯
served as abbot of both temples until his death in 1333.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Works by Nikephoros Kallistos

Although Nikko¯ is not responsible for the formulation
The writings of Nikephoros Kallistos can be found in volumes
of any independent doctrine, he is historically significant for
145, 146, and 147 of Patrologia Graeca, edited by J.-P.
his role in creating the first split in the Nichiren school. Later
Migne (Paris, 1865).
generations of Ko¯mon-ha adherents, notably Nichiu (1409–
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NIKON
6621
1482), the ninth abbot of the Taisekiji, advocated an identi-
are Constantine Cavarnos’s St. Nicodemos the Hagiorite,
fication of Nichiren with the “original” Buddha and prohib-
“Modern Orthodox Saints,” no. 3 (Belmont, Mass., 1974),
ited the worship of images, but these doctrines cannot be
and my “St. Nicodemos the Hagiorite,” in Post-Byzantine Ec-
traced back to the influence of Nikko¯.
clesiastical Personalities, edited by Nomikos Michael Vaporis
(Brookline, Mass., 1978).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
GEORGE S. BEBIS (1987)
Works on the life of Nikko¯ include Hori Nichiko¯’s Fuji Nikko¯
Sho¯nin sho¯den (Tokyo, 1974) and Kawai Hajime’s Nikko¯
Sho¯nin den
(Tokyo, 1976).
NIKON (1605–1681), patriarch of Moscow, Russian Or-
MURANO SENCHU (1987)
thodox church reformer. Nikon briefly dominated the Rus-
sian political and ecclesiastical scene in the mid-seventeenth
century. Not least of his achievements was that he rose from
NIKODIMOS OF THE HOLY MOUNTAIN
utter obscurity to do so. He served a Moscow parish for ten
(c. 1749–1809), known also as the Hagiorite, Greek Ortho-
years but turned his back on the capital in the early 1630s
dox spiritual father and writer. Nikodimos was born on the
when his three children all died suddenly. Both he and his
Greek island of Naxos and studied in Smyrna, where he was
wife decided to become monastics. Much of the time Nikon
taught Latin, Italian, and French. His teacher was the famous
lived as a solitary (1634–1643). He was, however, elected
monk Chrysanthos Aitolos (d. 1785). Nikodimos was influ-
abbot of the Kozheezero hermitage and by 1646 was abbot
enced by the hesychast tradition, which stressed mental
of an important monastery in Moscow. There he was be-
prayer, and by the Kollyvades movement, which emphasized
friended by the tsar. Hardly three years later he was appoint-
strict adherence to the doctrinal and liturgical traditions of
ed metropolitan (archbishop) of Novgorod and by 1652 was
the church. At the age of twenty-six Nikodimos went to
in line for election to the patriarchal throne itself.
Mount Athos. Two years later, in 1777, Makarios of Corinth
By this time Nikon was clearly aligned with the reform-
arrived there, and a fruitful collaboration between him and
ers of the Russian church, the “God-seekers.” They had en-
Nikodimos began. Together, they published the Philokalia,
couraged a notable revival in the moral and liturgical life of
a collection of the writings and sayings of the great ascetic
the Russian people. At the time of his election Nikon had
Fathers of the church. Nikodimos also published Concerning
elicited an unusual promise of obedience from the tsar and
Continual Communion, in which he made the unusual rec-
boyars of the realm. He was now to implement it in an un-
ommendation to the Orthodox that they receive Holy Com-
precedented fashion. He proceeded at an accelerated pace—
munion frequently, in accordance with the ancient Christian
and at his own initiative—with new liturgical reforms. The
practice. In his Handbook of Counsel Nikodimos developed
principle on which he based these reforms was that Ortho-
the practice of mental prayer. In the Pedalion (The Rudder)
doxy was universal rather than merely Muscovite; that Russia
he collected and paraphrased the canons of the church. Final-
gained its Orthodoxy from the Greeks; and that Greek mod-
ly, in addition to editing hymns and publishing exegetical
els should be followed wherever any discrepancy could be de-
works and lives of the saints, Nikodimos translated into
tected between Greek and Russian practice. Nikon did not
Greek an Italian work by the Jesuit Giovanni P. Pinamonti
pause to consider that such discrepancies could well be legiti-
(1632–1703) that was probably based on the Spiritual Exer-
mate and that seventeenth-century Greek practice might not
cises of Ignatius of Loyola. He also translated Spiritual Com-
be any more “authentic” than Russian.
bat by Lorenzo Scupoli (c. 1530–1610) into Greek, calling
Popular piety was outraged by some of Nikon’s earliest
it Unseen Warfare.
reforms, not least because they involved the use of three fin-
In 1955 the ecumenical patriarchate of Constantinople
gers instead of two for the frequently used sign of the cross.
officially proclaimed Nikodimos a saint of the church, and
In any case, Russians had long been used to thinking of Mus-
his memory is commemorated on July 14. As a prolific writ-
covite faith and practice as normative. Within a few years a
er, splendid theologian, and practitioner of the prayer of the
schism developed. Whereas Nikon’s own commitment to his
heart, Nikodimos contributed greatly to the awakening of
reforms seems to have wavered within a few years, Old Ritu-
the Greek Orthodox people during the difficult years of the
alists (otherwise known as Old Believers) consistently accept-
Ottoman conquest.
ed persecution rather than tolerate the new ways.
Paradoxically, the Russian church councils of 1666 and
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1667, which accepted the Nikonian reforms and excommu-
Several works by Nikodimos have been translated into English.
nicated the conservative Old Ritualists, also sat in judgment
These include Eugènie Kadloubovsky and G. E. H. Palmer’s
Early Fathers from the Philokalia (London, 1954) and the
on Nikon himself. Their hidden agenda was the question of
complete text of The Philokalia, translated and edited by G.
authority. Nikon was seen by the councils as having too read-
E. H. Palmer, Philip Sherrard, and Kallistos Ware, 3 vols. to
ily accepted papal standards of authority. For example, he
date (Boston, 1979–); and The Rudder, translated by Denver
had published in Russian the spurious Donation of Constan-
Cummings (Chicago, 1957). Two books about Nikodimos
tine (a ninth-century document fabricated to strengthen the
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6622
NILSSON, MARTIN P.
power of the Roman see), and he advocated the medieval for-
religion to the early 1920s, James G. Frazer wrote as early
mulation of the “two swords,” which was held to justify the
as 1924 that Nilsson had “long been known to scholars as
pope’s authority over church and state alike. He insisted that
one of the most learned and sagacious exponents of ancient
the priesthood possessed primacy vis-à-vis the ruler and re-
Greek life and thought,” in his introduction to Nilsson’s A
sisted any secular challenge to church prerogatives or owner-
History of Greek Religion (1925). Among Nilsson’s other
ship of land. All this caused resentment among the boyars
studies on Greek and Roman religions in general, the most
and eventually also in the tsar. It was Tsar Aleksei himself
widely known are “Die Griechen,” a chapter in P. D.
who saw to it in 1666 that the church council depose his for-
Chantepie de la Saussaye’s edition of Lehrbuch der Religions-
mer friend Nikon. He thus paved the way for the 1720 re-
geschichte (1925), and especially his major work, Geschichte
forms of Peter the Great, which involved the absolute (ad-
der griechischen Religion (1941–1950). He dealt specifically
ministrative) subjugation of church to state.
with Greek folk religion and piety in Greek Popular Religion
(1940) and Grekisk religiostet (1946). By his careful analysis
Nikon was subsequently exiled to the north and his sta-
of the impact and influence of the Minoan-Mycenaean reli-
tus reduced to that of a simple monk. When the new tsar,
gion and culture upon ancient Greek religion, Nilsson has
Fedor, permitted him to return to Moscow (1681) it was al-
undoubtedly made his most widely recognized contribution
ready too late: Nikon died on the journey south at Yaroslavl.
to the field. In all his major studies on Greek religion Nilsson
Nonetheless, his burial was that of a patriarch.
discussed this subject, and a number of his publications spe-
cifically deal with it, especially The Minoan-Mycenaean Reli-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
gion and Its Survival in Greek Religion (1927).
A wide range of contemporary documents relating to Nikon
(some of them from his own hand) were translated by Wil-
Among his numerous other publications, several deal
liam Palmer as The Patriarch and the Tsar, 6 vols. (London,
with festivals, calendars, and time reckoning, primarily (but
1871–1876). A number of these have yet to appear in the
not exclusively) using data from the Greek world. Bordering
original. An important study of Nikon’s ideas is provided in
the field of New Testament studies is his The Historical Hel-
M. V. Zyzykin’s Patriarkh Nikon: Ego gosudarstvennye i
lenistic Background of the New Testament (1941), while some
kanonicheskie idei (Warsaw, 1931–1938). A vivid and au-
of his other essays treat the wider fields of religious studies
thoritative picture of the age is provided by Pierre Pascal in
in general and the history and comparative study of religions.
Avvakum et les débuts du Raskol: La crise religieuse au dix-
At points, his work touches on some methodological issues.
septième siècle en Russie, 2d ed. (Paris, 1963).
In his writings Nilsson often offers valuable surveys and criti-
SERGEI HACKEL (1987)
cal assessments of existing literature. For example, he rejects
Erwin Rohde’s thesis of the Thracian-Dionysian origin of
the belief in immortality; he objects strongly to all antievolu-
tionists and to every approach that he brands “ahistorical”
NILSSON, MARTIN P. (1874–1967), Swedish classi-
(including that of Walter F. Otto); and he speaks sarcastical-
cist. Martin Persson Nilsson enrolled as a student in classical
ly about Geo Widengren and other “adherents of the High
studies at the University of Lund in 1892, where in 1900 he
God Belief.” For the context of this last criticism, see his arti-
earned his Ph.D. degree with a dissertation on the Attic festi-
cle “Letter to Professor Arthur D. Nock on Some Funda-
vals of Dionysos. He became instructor of Greek language
mental Concepts in the Science of Religion” (Harvard Theo-
and literature at the same university, and also taught archae-
logical Review 42, 1949, p. 105).
ology; under the university’s auspices he participated in the
Nilsson’s own understanding of primitive religion in-
Danish excavations at Lindos, Rhodes, between 1905 and
cluded a modified notion of mana, or sacred power. He
1907. In 1909 he was appointed to the new chair of classical
opted, with Gerardus van der Leeuw, for the term dynamism
archaeology and ancient history at Lund, which he occupied
to describe the religions of primitive peoples, but he stressed
until his retirement in 1939. Among the numerous recogni-
that “power appears to consciousness only in separate phe-
tions he received were his appointment as member to the So-
nomena or cases” and that “one cannot speak of a concept
ciety of Letters (in Lund), membership in the Royal Acade-
of power” (ibid., p. 91). This integral aspect of Nilsson’s
my of Letters, History, and Antiquities (in Stockholm), and
work, along with his self-confessed evolutionism (not in the
membership in the Royal Danish Academy. In 1939–1940
sense of historical development but as a conceptual, logical
he taught at the University of California at Berkeley and lec-
series) are some of the points on which Nilsson has been
tured at various places in the United States under the aus-
most severely criticized. Specifically, the impact of his idea
pices of the American Council of Learned Societies and
of mana on his interpretation of the Greek concept of the
the Norton Lectureship of the Archaeological Institute of
daimon as “impersonal power” has been sharply attacked.
America.
In his early years, Nilsson was greatly interested in prim-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
itive religion and in anthropology, interests that resulted in
Many of Nilsson’s numerous publications are available in English
publications on primitive culture and religion. Although he
translation. A helpful bibliography of Nilsson’s major works
himself dated the beginnings of his extensive work on Greek
appears in Jacques Waardenburg’s Classical Approaches to the
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NIMBA¯RKA
6623
Study of Religion, vol. 2 (The Hague, 1974). Other biblio-
Nimba¯rka’s philosophy is usually called dvaita¯-
graphical resources include Erik J. Khudtzon’s “Beiträge zu
dvaita-va¯da, “the theory of dualism and nondualism.” This
einer Bibliographie M. P. Nilsson, 1907–1939,” in Dragma:
description is based upon the main question raised by all the
Martin P. Nilsson (Lund, 1939), pp. 569–656; and Christian
Veda¯ntins: what is the relation between brahman and the
Callmer’s article, “The Published Writings of Professor Mar-
world, or between brahman and man? Is this an absolute
tin P. Nilsson, 1939–1967,” Scripta Minora Regiae Societatis
nondifference (S´an˙kara) or absolute difference, or both? Un-
Humaniorum Litterarum Lundensia 1 (1967–1968): 117–
like S´an˙kara, all the Vais:n:ava Veda¯n tins argued that the
139. For biographical data, see Carl-Martin Edsman’s article,
“Martin P. Nilsson, 1874–1967,” Temenos 3 (1968): 173–
world is real. Ra¯ma¯nuja was the first to take the lead in at-
178.
tacking Advaita. But while Ra¯ma¯nuja called his view “quali-
fied nondualism” Nimba¯rka called it “both dualism and
New Sources
nondualism.” Madh-va asserted the view of “dualism” while
Bierl, Anton, and William M. Calder III. “Instinct against Proof:
the Correspondence between Ulrich v. Wilamowitz Moel-
Vallabha leaned toward “nondualism.” For Nimba¯rka, brah-
lendorff and Martin P. Nilsson on Religionsgeschichte
man was not an impersonal entity, but was identified as a
(1920–1930).” Eranos 89 (1991): 73–99.
personal, omnipotent God. Unlike S´an˙kara, all of the
Gjerstad, Einar, Erik J. Kundtzon, and Christian Callmer. Martin
Vais:n:avas talked about a personal god (=brahman
P. Nilsson. Lund, 1968.
=Kr:s:n:a=Hariisnu=Vis:n:u) and supported the cultivation of
Mejer, Jo
bhakti (“devotional attachment”) toward such a godhead.
⁄ rgen. “Martin P. Nilsson.” In Classical Scholarship. A Bio-
graphical Encyclopedia, edited by W. Ward Briggs and Wil-
Nimba¯rka’s Veda¯nta is very similar to Ra¯ma¯nuja’s in this
liam M. Calder III, pp. 335–340. New York and London
regard.
1990.
According to Nimba¯rka, the brahman is S´r¯ı Kr:s:n:a, who
Pasquali, Giorgio. “Martin Nilsson.” Atene e Roma 34 (1989):
is omniscient, omnipotent, and the ultimate cause. He is all-
655–673.
pervading. He has transformed himself into the material con-
Rüpke, Jörg. Römische Religion bei E. Norden: die “Altrömischen
stituents of the world and j¯ıvas (“sentient beings”). Two
Priesterbücher” im wissenschaftlichen Kontext der dreissig Jahre.
analogies are cited to emphasize that in spite of this essential
Im Anhang Briefe von E. Norden an M.P. Nilsson (1920–
nondifference (one interpretation of “transformation”) be-
1939). Marburg, 1993.
tween cause and effects, brahman maintains his indepen-
WILLEM A. BIJLEFELD (1987)
dence or difference. Just as the pra¯n˙a (“life force”) manifests
Revised Bibliography
itself into various activities of the senses and the mind, but
still retains its independence and individuality, and just as
a spider spins out of its own body the web and yet remains
NIMBA¯RKA (fl. mid-fourteenth century?), a Telugu
independent, brahman creates sentient beings and the mate-
brahman, also called Mimba¯ditya or Niyama¯nanda. It is be-
rial world out of himself but still remains pure and full and
lieved that Nimba¯rka came from Nimba or Nimbapura in
undiminished in his glory and power.
the Bellary district (Mysore state), but tradition associates
Nimba¯rka used his dialectical skill in refuting the views
him mostly with Mathura¯, the center of the Vais:n:ava faith
of S´an˙kara and other rivals. In spite of the fact that his theory
in North India. His date has been a matter of controversy
was very similar to that of Ra¯ma¯nuja, his skill in argumenta-
among scholars. Since he refers to Ra¯ma¯nuja’s view in his
tion and his novelty in presentation earned him a permanent
commentary on the Brahma Su¯tra, he must have lived short-
and independent place in the Vais:n:ava Veda¯nta tradition.
ly after Ra¯ma¯nuja (R. G. Bhandarkar’s conjecture). But Sur-
His explanation of the l¯ıla¯ theory (that creation is only a
endranath Dasgupta (1940) dates him roughly around the
spontaneous sport of the ever-perfect, ever-blissful Hari) had
middle of the fourteenth century CE. Dasgupta’s argument
a freshness that captured the imagination of many bhaktas
seems convincing, for this date fits well with the tentative
or devotees. His immediate pupil, S´r¯ıniva¯sa, wrote a com-
chronology of the four Vais:n:ava Veda¯nta schools—those
mentary called Veda¯nta-kaustubha on his Veda¯nta-
that opposed the Advaita Veda¯nta school of S´an˙kara.
pa¯rija¯ta-sau-rabha. Many other scholars followed S´r¯ıniva¯sa.
Nimba¯rka was the founder of one of the four traditionally
Among them were Ke´sava Ka¯´sm¯ır¯ı Bhat:t:a, Purus:ottama
recognized Vais:n:ava sects or samprada¯yas. These sects are
Prasa¯da, Mukunda, and Vanama¯li Mi´sra, who kept alive the
known as S´r¯ı Samprada¯ya (followers of Ra¯ma¯nuja), Brahma
Nimba¯rka substream of Vais:n:ava Veda¯nta.
Samprada¯ya (followers of Madhva), Rudra Samprada¯ya (fol-
lowers of Vallabhacarya), and Sanaka¯di Samprada¯ya (follow-
SEE ALSO Madhva; Ra¯ma¯nuja; S´an˙kara; Vallabha.
ers of Nimba¯rka).
Of the approximately nine works attributed to
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Nimba¯rka, the most notable are his commentaries on the
Bhandarkar, R. G. Vais:n:avism, S´aivism and Minor Religious Sys-
Brahma Su¯tra and on the Veda¯ntapa¯rija¯tasaurabha, and an
tems. Varanasi, 1965.
independent work, the Da´sa´slok¯ı. Some of the others are
Bose (Chaudhuri), Roma. Veda¯nta-Pa¯rija¯ta-Saurabha of Nim-
neither available in print nor completely preserved, even in
ba¯rka and Veda¯nta-Kaustubha of S´r¯ıniva¯sa. 3 vols. Calcutta,
their manuscript forms.
1940–1943.
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6624
NIMBUS
Dasgupta, Surendranath. A History of Indian Philosophy, vol. 3.
Another, possibly related, version of the aureole occurs
London, 1940.
in Islamic representations of a person inside a pearl: here the
BIMAL KRISHNA MATILAL (1987)
pearl represents Paradise, where those who are blessed go
after death.
SEE ALSO Iconography.
NIMBUS. The nimbus, or halo, usually pictured as a lu-
minous figure around the head of a god or holy person, is
BIBLIOGRAPHY
clearly related in some instances to the sun and solar divini-
The nimbus as a Christian symbol has been described in detail in
ties. Among the native civilizations of Central America,
many books on Christian symbolism in art. Typical of these
agrarian gods are often pictured with golden crowns or nim-
is George W. Ferguson’s Signs and Symbols in Christian Art
buses. The Inca deity Viracocha wears a tiara that is also the
(Oxford, 1954). Most of the time these discussions are gener-
sun. Combining the natures of a sun god and a storm god,
al and have little or no explanation of deeper meanings. The
Viracocha participates in the character of the highest univer-
Maha¯ya¯na texts in which the nimbus of the bodhisattva is de-
sal beings, such as Yahveh/El, Zeus, and the Buddha, who
scribed are the Amita¯yurdhya¯na Su¯tra and the Vajracchedika
in some representations both wields a thunderbolt and wears
Su¯tra.
a nimbus. The nimbus can also be traced, however, to the
New Sources
idea of an external expression of an internal supernatural
Hagstrom, Aurelie A. “The Symbol of the Mandorla in Christian
force, and hence partakes of the full range of light symbolism
Art: Recovery of a Feminine Archetype.” Arts 10 (1998):
from both Western and Eastern traditions; in particular, its
25–29.
light signifies intellect or mystical knowledge.
ELAINE MAGALIS (1987)
The Iranians pictured what the Avesta terms the
Revised Bibliography
khvarenah as a sort of supernatural fire, a nimbus, or an aure-
ole, which is like the nimbus but encircles the whole person.
It belonged primarily to the gods but could be given to royal-
NINHURSAGA (“lady of the mountain”) was the name
ty by the grace of the chief divinity, Ahura Mazda¯. In
given by Ninurta after his victory over the Kur to his mother
Vajraya¯na Buddhism in Tibet, the Vidya¯rajas represent the
Ninlil, who gave birth to him from his father Enlil, the pow-
wrathful side of the absolute wisdom of Vairocana as the bo-
erful god of Nippur. Under the name Ninhursaga, she creat-
dhisattvas represent the calm side. Encircling the supreme
ed the “black heads” (as the Sumerians called themselves)
being, they wear aureoles of blazing flames and direct them
along with An and Enlil. She also took part in the council
against the darkness of avidya¯ (ignorance), which prevents
of the major gods—An, Enlil, Enki, and Ninhursaga—when
aspirants from gaining emancipation.
they decided to inflict the universal flood upon the earth. In
More commonly, the nimbus expresses holiness or sa-
the myth of Enki and Ninhursaga she instead appears as the
cred character rather than action: two early texts of
wife of Enki, here with the name Nintu. After intercourse
Maha¯ya¯na Buddhism describe the bodhisattva as having a
with Enki she gives birth to Ninsar, “the lady of vegetation.”
halo studded with five hundred Buddhas, each of which is,
In the underworld myths Ninhursaga receives gifts from Gil-
in turn, attended by numberless gods. As a way of picturing
gamesh.
the wholly transcendent nature of the Buddha, some por-
Under the name Ninhursaga, she plays an important
traits show his head and halo as a wheel.
part in Sumerian texts of the pre-Sargonic period. She is di-
In Greece and Rome, the nimbus was often shown
rectly linked to the institution of the divine kingship: she
around the heads of gods and those in special relationships
“breastfeeds with delicious milk” the future sovereign at the
with them. It acquired fine distinctions in Christian art: the
moment of his birth (Eannatum of Lagash and Lugalzaggesi
rectangular nimbus, for example, belonged to someone still
of Uruk), while Mesalim styles himself the “beloved son of
living at the time the picture was made, whereas a nimbus
Ninhursaga.” Ninhursaga also appears with the great gods
with three rays or groups of rays was one of several forms that
who guarantee the treaty between Lagash and Umma in the
could be given only to the members of the Trinity, usually
list of curses on the Vulture Stele, where she is given the sec-
to the Son.
ond rank in the company of Enlil, Enki, Utu, and Ninki.
Between the sixth and twelfth centuries
The pre-Sargonic royal texts of Lagash record that their sov-
CE, the nimbus
was depicted as luminous and transparent. Later representa-
ereigns erected the Gigunu of Tirku for her, whereas in texts
tions were more stylized. Sometimes it was opaque, and be-
from Ur one learns that A’annepada of Ur built her a temple.
tween 1300 and 1500 the name or initials of a saint were
The text of the Barton cylinder, which Jan van Dijk says
often decoratively inscribed on the nimbus itself. During this
is a copy of a much older story predating the neo-Sumerian
same period, the nimbus sometimes appeared around ani-
period, mentions Ninhursaga by her epithet “mighty sister
mals when they symbolized divinities or holy persons. In de-
of Enlil.” The text may be subdivided into two sections: the
pictions of Jesus Christ or the Virgin Mary with the child
first is an etiological description of the outbreak of the myth-
Jesus, the aureole was sometimes used.
ical storm, which takes place in “a day, a night, a year,” near
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NINHURSAGA
6625
the sanctuary of Nippur, the historical abode of the poliad
In the document “Ninurta, Enki, and the Turtle” one finds
god Enlil, and which causes the sky and the earth to touch.
that Ninurta’s mother is Ninmena, “lady of the tiara,”
The second part describes a sacred marriage between An and
whereas in the Akkadian myth “Ninurta and Anzu” the
Ninhursaga, the mighty sister of Enlil. The appearance of a
hero’s mother is Mami, which suggests that the term had a
dragon, with whom the earth talks, introduces the mythical
generic value and meant “mother-goddess.” In almost all the
serpent into the story.
myths analyzed, the role of “mother” of the heavenly gods
is played by Ninhursaga, who is mentioned under various
The myth of “Enki and Ninhursaga,” as recognized by
names, including Mami, as in the last myth, and Nintu, as
Thorkild Jacobsen, is actually a conflation of two stories that
in the story of “Enki and Ninhursaga,” as well as Dingirmah
must have been transmitted separately. This can be clearly
and Ninmah.
seen from the name of Enki’s wife, who is called Ninsikil in
the first story and Nintu-Ninhursaga in the second. There
Ninhursaga also had the epithets Ninzizna (mistress of
are various perplexing difficulties with the text, so that, for
the embryo), Nindim (mistress fashioner), and Nagarshaga
example, Ninsikil is first the wife of Enki, whereas later Nin-
(carpenter of the womb). She is a very early goddess, with
hursaga gives birth to her.
roots in European and Anatolian Neolithic cultures. A
plaque dating from Old Babylonian times pictures her nurs-
With this caveat in mind, here is the structure of the
ing an infant and with babies’ heads protruding from her
myth as it survives. It starts with a description setting the
shoulders. On either side of her hangs on pegs her omega-
scene where events take place—Dilmun, which is still in pris-
shaped symbol, a representation of the uterus of a cow, and
tine condition but needs to be provided with water. When
on the ground squat two emaciated figures supporting their
Ninsikil complains about the lack of this essential commodi-
chins in their hands. They represent embryos, possibly pre-
ty; Enki promises that the god Utu will not only provide Dil-
maturely born fetuses, for which a Sumerian term was shusa-
mun with water but will grant it a host of good things from
gaduga ([with] the hands put to the head). Such figures have
other countries. This is virtually the entire first story.
been found with images of a birth goddess in Romania and
Moldavia dating from the fifth millennium
The theme of the second story consists of accounts of
BCE.
sexual intercourse between Enki and his wife, then with suc-
It is certainly surprising that Ninhursaga is mentioned
cessive daughters, who are in turn produced incestuously:
in the myth “Death of Gilgamesh,” where she is listed among
Enki and Nintu beget Ninsar, who begets Ninkurra, who be-
the gods of the underworld who receive Gilgamesh, who has
gets Ninimma, who begets Uttu. After Enki has tricked Uttu
just arrived in the Land of No Return. The goddess Ninhur-
into having intercourse with him, Ninhursaga intervenes and
saga is mainly active in heaven or on earth in the role of a
makes eight plants grow to protect Uttu’s daughter, but these
nurse for those destined to be king, as in the case of Eanna-
are eaten by Enki, who as a result becomes afflicted with
tum and others.
eight illnesses. At this point Ninhursaga curses Enki and goes
Ninhursaga has been connected with the theory of
off to hide so she will not see her hated husband any longer.
primitive matriarchy by some scholars. However, most con-
However, the death of Enki, the god of wisdom, would have
temporary historians of religion accept the anthropological
broken the balance of the universe, so Enlil (with the help
view that a stage of matriarchy never existed, although a few
of a fox) manages to bring Ninhursaga back to Nippur,
eminent scholars continue to support the idea of an age of
where she is finally ready to forgive her husband. Ninhursaga
“mother right” that preceded patriarchy. They insist that this
now gives birth to eight gods who will cure Enki of the eight
has been confirmed by archaeological evidence. Although
illnesses that have attacked and weakened his body, and she
most feminist scholars of the early twenty-first century agree
gives these gods eternal life.
with the anthropological position, there remain a few articu-
late feminist authors who continue to perpetuate the idea of
Jacobsen suggested that the goddess Nintu, whose name
an original matriarchal stage.
means “lady of childbirth,” may be simply a secondary name
for Ninhursaga, a theory upon which Marcos Such-Gutierrez
SEE ALSO Goddess Worship, overview article; Mesopota-
(2003) has cast doubt. In favor of Jacobsen’s theory is the
mian Religions, overview articles; Patriarchy and
fact that the sign TU in the name Nintu ends with the conso-
Matriarchy.
nant r, though it should end with the consonant d. Further-
more it has been demonstrated that during the second dynas-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ty of Lagash and the third dynasty of Ur, Ninhursaga is
Attinger, Pascal. “Enki et Ninhursaga.” Zeitschrift für Assyriologie
considered the wife of Enlil and is therefore synonymous
74 (1984): 1–52.
with Ninlil. This last assertion is confirmed by the myth an-
Braun-Holzinger, Eva. “Ninhursaga B. Archäologie.” Reallexikon
gim-dím-ma, in which Ninurta has Enlil as his father and
der Assyriologie 9 (1998–2001): 381–383.
Nintu as his mother.
Deimel, Anton. Pantheon Babylonicum: Nomina deorum textibus
cuneiformibus excerpta et ordine alphabetico distributa. Rome,
Along with the identification of Ninlil with Ninhursa-
1914. See pages 208–209.
ga, documented in the myth of “Ninurta from Lugal-e,” the
Edzard, Dietz Otto “Mesopotamien: Die Mythologie der Sumerer
mythological texts suggest other interesting identifications.
und der Akkader.” In Wörterbuch der Mythologie, vol. 1: Göt-
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

6626
NINURTA
ter und Mythen im Vorderen Orient, edited by H. W. Haus-
is not pleased. Sharur returns to Enlil, Ninurta’s father, ask-
sig, pp. 104–105. Stuttgart, Germany, 1965.
ing him to intervene on behalf of his son, who is in difficulty.
Frymer-Kensky, Tikva Simone. In the Wake of the Goddesses:
Enlil agrees and rallies his son, who launches a new, deadly
Women, Culture, and the Biblical Transformation of Pagan
onslaught and manages to defeat and kill the monster. The
Myth. New York, 1992.
first part of the myth concludes with the cursing of Asag and
Gimbutas, Marija. The Language of the Goddess: Unearthing the
the blessing of the weapon Sharur.
Hidden Symbols of Western Civilization. London, 1989.
The second part of the story begins with a description
Heimpel, Wolfgang. “Ninhursaga A.” Reallexikon der Assyriologie
of the organizing influence of the god. Up to this point the
9 (1998–2001): 378–381.
work has been undertaken entirely by the gods, and the
Jacobsen, Thorkild. “Notes on Nintur.” Orientalia 42 (1973):
mountain full of ice has required an enormous effort.
274–298.
Ninurta now melts the snows, channels the water along the
Krebernik, Manfred. “Muttergöttin A. I. in Mesopotamien.” Real-
bed of the Tigris, and creates dikes and canals for irrigation
lexikon der Assyriologie 8 (1993–1998): 502–516.
of the fields. In effect he invents agriculture.
Merlin, Stone. When God Was a Woman. New York, 1976.
After an interlude in which Ninurta’s mother Ninlil is
Selz, Gebhart. Untersuchungen zur Götterwelt der altsumerischen
given the new title “lady of the mountain” to commemorate
Stadtstaates von Lagaˇs. Philadelphia, 1995. See pages 252–
Ninurta’s victory, this part of the myth is wholly concerned
255.
with the fate of the stones that had taken part in the war.
Such-Gutierrez, Marcos. Beiträge zum Pantheon von Nippur im 3.
The hostile stones are cursed, whereas the stones that surren-
Jahrtausend. Rome, 2003. See pages 274–279.
dered meet with a more favorable fate.
Tallqvist, Knut. Akkadische Götterepitheta. Studia Orientalia 7.
OTHER DOCUMENTS. The myth an-gim dím-ma is directly
Helsinki, 1938. See pages 407–408.
linked to the preceding tale and describes the triumphant re-
THORKILD JACOBSEN (1987)
turn of Ninurta from his victorious campaign against the
GIOVANNI PETTINATO (2005)
Kur. On this occasion the writers, just in case some doubt
Translated from Italian by Paul Ellis
still remains, emphasize the extraordinary feat the hero
achieved. The mere list of the trophies brought back from
the Kur makes one realize that Ninurta engaged in combat
NINURTA. A divinity of Nippur, Ninurta was the son
with truly superhuman creatures.
of Enlil and Ninlil. Ninurta’s epithets include UtaDulu, “Sun
This story begins with a hymn to the hero, who resumes
of the South,” as well as “conqueror of the Kur” and “upright
his position in the Sumerian pantheon, and his exploits in
diadem of Ashnan.” He is said to have “sprung from Ekur,”
the Kur. It tells how he plundered the six-headed wild ram,
the main temple of Nippur and home of the divine couple
the warrior dragon, the Magilum of the deep sea, the buffalo
Enlil and Ninlil. In Sumerian mythology his greatest feat is
Kulianna, the chalk, the strong copper, the eagle Anzu, and
the epic war against the Kur, specifically against Asag, the
the seven-headed serpent. The son of Enlil loads these goods
fiendish monster begotten by An and given birth to by Earth,
aboard his boat, lays them all out decoratively, and sets sail
who wanted to oppose his supremacy. Ninurta not only kills
for Nippur. But the voyage is described as fraught with prob-
him but lays the foundations of agriculture, the life-giving,
lems. A messenger from Enlil rushes to Ninurta and asks him
essential activity of the land.
not to frighten the gods with his powerful splendor. The
THE NINURTA STORY. The myth begins with a hymn to the
hero understands the reluctance of the gods, because he has
god Ninurta and the background of the story. While he is
seen the fear of the divine world regarding the Kur already.
sitting with all the other gods, Ninurta orders his weapon
After a detailed list of the wonderful weapons that helped
Sharur to keep watch on the Kur. The response he receives
him in his fight, he asks humbly to reenter the city of his
is far from reassuring. The Kur are in revolt, on this occasion
birth. There follows a eulogy of self-praise, so Ninkarnunna,
provoked by an alliance formed between Asag and the coali-
on behalf of Enlil, accepts his good intentions and invites
tion of stones, and what is more the rebels have actually tri-
Ninurta to enter the temple dedicated to him and his wife
umphed. Ninurta wants to suppress the revolt immediately
Ninnibru. The myth concludes with a hymn of praise for the
and rushes against the Kur, armed with all his divine weap-
hero, who has indeed shown his heroism.
ons, unleashing a fiery tempest. But the weapon Sharur says
Ninurta goes to Eridu to the house of Enki twice, once
that the attitude of the Kur is not completely hostile. Sharur,
with hostile intent—that is, to steal the powers of Kur and
believing that the monster is no less powerful than the god,
the tablets of destiny from the god Enki. One journey finish-
is afraid of a straight fight between Ninurta and Asag and
es disastrously, but the second has a positive outcome as the
advises Ninurta not to attack. Ninurta is not inclined to lis-
hero pays a polite visit to the king of the underworld.
ten to reason, however, and wants the fight to take place in
the open. So the two heroic figures fight a duel, and Ninurta
The first story begins with a meeting between Ninurta
indeed comes off the worse. All the gods get wind of the
and the eagle Anzu, which the hero had caused to lose the
hero’s difficulties, and the mood of the assembly of the gods
“divine powers.” After the defeat these powers returned to
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NINURTA
6627
Eridu, to the house of the god Enki, the keeper and guardian
version, in which his wonderful qualities are elaborated.
of these symbols. Anzu bemoans the loss of the divine powers
After recalling the original drought, it continues with the
and tells Ninurta to go to Eridu to recover them. Ninurta
story of the birth of Anzu, news of which is brought to Enlil.
goes to Eridu and is welcomed joyfully by Enki. But the visi-
The god Ea advises his brother to take on the new being as
tor remains cold in the face of the happiness displayed by his
his bodyguard, and Enlil does so. Anzu thus receives the task
host because he is not really coming for a polite visit but to
of helping the god in his private chambers. In this role he
carry out a theft. The god of wisdom knows the secret
sees the god washing and getting dressed every day and also
thoughts of the hero and considers his response. He creates
at times remaining completely naked. At this point he con-
a turtle that begins to dig a pit in the underworld. When
ceives of an evil plan to steal the symbols of power. Once he
Ninurta, unaware of the trap, finally leaves Enki’s house and
has stolen them, Anzu flees to the mountain, leaving the di-
follows the turtle, the turtle grabs Ninurta by the ankles and
vine world in a state of near-complete despair. Champions
drags him into the pit, from which the hero cannot escape.
are chosen to kill Anzu and bring back the stolen property.
When Ninurta expresses surprise, Enki answers that he had
First Adad is sent, but his attempt is unsuccessful. Then
been goaded into doing this by the arrogance of the conquer-
Girru and Shara are chosen, with the same results. The god
or of Kur. The myth concludes with an invocation by
Ea next suggests calling upon Mami to ask her to send her
Ninurta’s mother, Ninmenna, who, weeping, wonders what
son Ninurta. The mother goddess agrees to the request, calls
she can do to save her son.
her son, and instructs him regarding the battle. Ninurta, in
full armor, goes to fight Anzu. The battle is bloody, but the
In the above myth, Ninurta disgraces himself with Enki
divine hero does not prevail and is thus obliged to send his
specifically because he is dishonest when he meets with his
powerful weapon Sharur to Ea to ask for help. The god Ea
host, who punishes him by mocking him. On this second
understands the reason for the initial failure and suggests
journey, which is to sanction the cosmic supremacy of
wearing out Anzu until he can no longer flap his wings.
Ninurta, matters turn out differently, in particular because
Sharur returns with Ea’s advice, and by putting it into action
everything happens with the complete consent of his father
Ninurta manages to kill Anzu and take from him the divine
Enlil, who has now appointed him as his successor. After the
symbols of his father and the tablets of destiny.
introduction of the god, in which it is emphasized that he
originates from Ekur, the reason behind the journey to Eridu
Enlil, who is called Dagan at this point, learns of his
is given, namely to ensure blessings and justice for the land
son’s victory and announces it to all the gods, who invite
of Sumer. Ninurta reaches the underworld of Enki, who
Ninurta to return. Ea suggests sending a messenger to his son
greets him joyfully and agrees to his proper requests. The
to bring back the tablet of destiny, and Enlil sends Birdu.
next part deals with the glorification of Ninurta, the rightful
But Ninurta refuses to hand over the symbols of power,
heir of Enlil. The epithets given to him rival those of the
reacting as Anzu had previously. When the surviving text re-
greatest gods in the pantheon. Following his war with the
sumes, it deals with a long votive offering to the gods and
Kur, Ninurta has been duly awarded a preeminent place in
a hymn of praise for Ninurta. The fragmentary nature of the
the divine world. This document can be considered as the
final part of the third tablet prevents a full understanding of
second part of the deeds of the god Ninurta, which are re-
the significance of the long list of titles attributed to Ninurta
corded in the myth Lugal-e.
and in particular syncretism with the other polyadic gods of
the numerous cities of Mesopotamia and the surrounding re-
Ninurta, the hero of the myth “Ninurta and Anzu,” al-
gion, which suggests an attempted and unfinished religious
ready paralleled in Sumerian mythology, also exists in As-
revolution.
syro-Babylonian mythology in the same “Ninurta and Anzu”
but always as the savior of the cosmic order. In the Sumerian
As the god of war, Ninurta achieved special prominence
cosmos he actively suppresses the revolt of the Kur, the cos-
in the militaristic Middle Assyrian and neo-Assyrian periods.
mic mountain, killing the monster Asag and showing com-
Ninurta was also god of the hunt. Tiglath-pileser I (ruled c.
plete mastery of the stones that rushed to help Asag. In the
1115–1077 BCE) recorded that at Ninurta’s command, dur-
Assyro-Babylonian myth, Ninurta has to fight the lion-
ing a certain hunt, he slew numerous “extraordinary wild vir-
headed eagle Anzu, and he is responsible for a serious theft
ile bulls,” ten strong bull elephants, hundreds of lions, and
when he meets with his father Enlil.
every kind of wild beast and winged bird of the heavens.
It is a great pity that the Old Babylonian version is not
SEE ALSO Herakles; Mesopotamian Religions, overview
complete, because the final outcome of the myth preserved
article.
in that version remains unclear. In contrast to the Sumerian
myths, in the Old Babylonian version Ninurta is portrayed
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Alster, Bendt. “Ninurta and the Turtle, UET 6/1 2.” Journal of
as disrespectful and rebellious. Instead of giving back the
Cuneiform Studies 24 (1972): 120–125.
symbols stolen from Anzu, he refuses to return them to their
Annus, Amar. The Standard Babylonian Epic of Anzu. Helsinki,
rightful owner, thus causing disorder in the cosmos.
Finland, 2001.
This myth is set down in three tablets. It unfolds with
Burkert, Walter. The Orientalizing Revolution. Cambridge, Mass.,
a hymn to the god Ninurta, called Ningirsu in the earliest
1992.
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6628
NIRVA¯N:A
Dijk, J. J. A. van. Lugal ud me-lam-bi nir-gal: Le récit épique et di-
cle to achieving the ultimate goal. In a famous story found
dactique des Travaux de Ninurta, du Déluge et de la Nouvelle
in the Majjhima Nika¯ya, for example, Ma¯lun˙kya¯putta asked
Création, vols. 1–2. Leiden, 1983.
the Buddha several metaphysical questions, including wheth-
Hallo, William W., and William L. Moran. “The First Tablet of
er the Buddha continues to exist after death. The Buddha
the SB Recension of the Anzu-Myth.” Journal of Cuneiform
responded that such questioning is beside the point; it would
Studies 31 (1979): 65–115.
be comparable to a man struck by a poison arrow who wor-
Hruˇska, Blahoslav. Der Mythenadler Anzu in Literatur und Vorstel-
ried about the origin and nature of the arrow rather than
lung des alten Mesopotamien. Budapest, 1975.
pulling it out.
Jacobsen, Thorkild. The Treasures of Darkness: A History of Meso-
Whether there is the view that the Tatha¯gata both is
potamian Religion. New Haven, Conn., 1976. See
and is not after dying, or whether, Ma¯lun˙kya¯putta,
pp. 127–134.
there is the view that the Tatha¯gata neither is nor is not
Pettinato, Giovanni, ed. Mitologia Sumerica. Turin, Italy, 2001.
after dying, there is birth, there is ageing, there is dying,
there are grief, sorrow, suffering, lamentation and de-
Saggs, X. W. F. “Additions to Anzu.” Archiv für Orientforschung
spair, the suppression of which I lay down here and
33 (1986): 1–29.
now. (Horner, 1954–1959, vol. 2, pp. 100–101)
Seminara, S. “Gli dei Enlil e Ninurta nel mito sumerico Lugal-e:
Politiche religiose, dibattito teologico e ‘riscrittura’ dei ‘testi
In short, the early Buddhist texts primarily approached
sacri’ nell’ antica Mesopotamia.” Rendiconti dell’Accademia
nirva¯n:a as a practical solution to the existential problem of
Nazionale dei Lincei 9–11, no. 3 (2000): 443–468.
human anguish. Specifically, they maintained that by under-
Such-Gutièrrez, Marcos. Beiträge zum Pantheon von Nippur im 3.
taking a disciplined praxis the Buddhist practitioner can
Jahrtausend. Rome, 2003. See pp. 143–172.
achieve a nondiscursive awakening (bodhi) to the interdepen-
dent nonsubstantiality of reality, especially of the self. With
West, Martin L. The East Face of Helicon. Oxford, 1997.
that insight, it was believed, one could be released from the
GIOVANNI PETTINATO (2005)
grips of insatiable craving and its resultant suffering.
Translated from Italian by Paul Ellis
In most cases nirva¯n:a is described in negative terms such
as “cessation” (nirodha), “the absence of craving”
(tr:s:n:a¯ks:aya), “detachment,” “the absence of delusion,” and
NIRVA¯N:A. About twenty-five centuries ago in northern
“the unconditioned” (asam:skr:ta). Although in the nika¯yas
India, Siddha¯rtha Gautama achieved nirva¯n:a. That event ul-
and subsequent Abhidharma school commentaries there are
timately changed the spiritual character of much of Asia and,
scattered positive references to, for instance, “happiness”
more recently, some of the West. That something indeed
(sukha), “peace,” and “bliss,” and to such metaphors of tran-
happened is an indisputable fact. Exactly what happened has
scendence as “the farther shore,” the negative images pre-
been an object of speculation, analysis, and debate up to the
dominate. Indeed, the word nirva¯n:a itself means “extinc-
present day.
tion,” and other words used synonymously with it, such as
Nirva¯n:a is both a term and an ideal. As a Sanskrit word
moks:a and mukti, refer to emancipation. One difficulty with
(nibba¯na in Pali), it has been used by various religious groups
the early texts, however, is that they were not always clear
in India, but it primarily refers to the spiritual goal in the
or unequivocal about what was extinguished and from what
Buddhist way of life. In the broadest sense, the word nirva¯n:a
one was emancipated. One prominent tendency was to un-
is used in much the same way as the now standard English
derstand nirva¯n:a as a release from sam:sa¯ra, the painful world
word enlightenment, a generic word literally translating no
of birth and death powered by passion, hatred, and igno-
particular Asian technical term but used to designate any
rance. According to the early texts, the Eightfold Path lead-
Buddhist notion of the highest spiritual experience. Of
ing to nirva¯n:a is the only way to break free of this cycle and
course, Buddhism comprehends a diverse set of religious
to eliminate the insatiable craving at its root. The Path is not
phenomena, a tradition with sacred texts in four principal
merely a set of moral exhortations, but rather, a program of
canonical languages (Pali, Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Chinese),
spiritual reconditioning that liberates one from the pain of
and a spiritual following throughout the world. Not surpris-
sam:sa¯ra.
ingly, then, when referring to the ultimate spiritual ideal
The Buddhist view of sam:sa¯ra developed as the notion
many Buddhist groups prefer to emphasize their own dis-
of rebirth was taking root in ancient India. So enlightenment
tinctive terms instead of nirva¯n:a.
came to be understood as the extinction (nirva¯n:a) of what
NIRVA¯N:A IN THE EARLY BUDDHIST AND ABHIDHARMA TRA-
can be reborn, that is, as the dissolution of any continuing
DITIONS. In the Pali nika¯yas and Chinese a¯gamas, works first
personal identity after death. This led to the need to distin-
written down or composed two or three centuries after the
guish between (1) the enlightenment of the person who has
death of the Buddha, there is little philosophical discussion
transcended in this world the suffering caused by craving,
about the nature of nirva¯n:a. Indeed, on technical points such
and (2) the perfect nirva¯n:a achieved only when that person
as the enlightened person’s status after death, the su¯tras ad-
dies and is fully released from sam:sa¯ra, the cycle of birth,
monish that such metaphysical speculation is only an obsta-
death, and rebirth. The Pali texts, therefore, distinguished
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nirva¯n:a with remainder” (saupa¯disesa nibba¯na) from
and nonlinguistic referents, Na¯ga¯rjuna reasoned that the in-
nirva¯n:a without remainder” (anupa¯disesa nibba¯na), or even
terdependent character of words precludes their referring to
more simply, enlightenment (nibba¯na) from complete en-
any absolute, nondependent realities. To the very extent one
lightenment (parinibba¯na; Skt., parinirva¯n:a).
can talk or reason about nirva¯n:a and sam:sa¯ra, therefore, they
must depend on each other. Neither can be absolute in itself.
The Abhidharma traditions interpreted the distinction
in the following way. After many lifetimes of effort and an
For the Ma¯dhyamikas, the real cause of human turmoil
overall improvement in the circumstances of rebirth, the per-
is that through naming and analyzing one tries to grasp and
son undertaking the Path finally reaches the stage at which
hold onto what exists only through the distinctions imposed
craving and its attendant negative effects are no longer gener-
by the conventions of language. From this perspective, Bud-
ated. This is the state of “nirva¯n:a with remainder” because
dhist practice frees one from this attachment to concepts by
the residue of negative karmic effects from previous actions
cultivating prajña¯, a nondiscursive, direct insight into the
continues. The enlightened person still experiences physical
way things are. Once one recognizes that the substantialized
pain, for example, as a consequence of the mere fact of corpo-
sense of ego is based on a linguistic distinction having no ul-
reality, itself a karmic “fruit.” Once these residues are burned
timate basis, an enlightened attitude develops in which one
off, as it were, the person will die and achieve the perfect
actively shares in the suffering of all other sentient beings.
nirva¯n:a without remainder.”
In this way, the wisdom of prajña¯ can also be considered a
universal form of compassion, karuna. This prajña¯-karuna
An ambiguity in the distinction between sam:sa¯ra and
ideal eventually became a major paradigm of enlightenment
nirva¯n:a is whether the contrasted terms refer to psychologi-
within the entire Maha¯ya¯na tradition in India, Tibet, and
cal or ontological states. That is, are sam:sa¯ra and nirva¯n:a
East Asia.
states of mind or kinds of existence? If sam:sa¯ra refers to the
psychological worldview conducive to suffering, then the
Nirva¯n:a in the idealistic and yoga¯ca¯ra traditions.
transition from sam:sa¯ra to nirva¯n:a is simply a profound
The typical approach of such idealistic texts as the
change in attitude, perspective, and motivation. If, on the
Lan˙ka¯vata¯ra Su¯tra and of its related philosophical school,
other hand, sam:sa¯ra refers to this pain-stricken world itself,
Yoga¯ca¯ra, was to assert that nirva¯n:a and sam:sa¯ra had a com-
then nirva¯n:a must be somewhere else. Here the ancient met-
mon ground, namely, the activity of the mind. The termi-
aphor of nirva¯n:a as “the farther shore” could assume a meta-
nology varied from text to text and thinker to thinker, but
physical status. In effect, nirva¯n:a could be understood as a
the thrust of this branch of Maha¯ya¯na Buddhism was that
permanent state of bliss beyond the world of birth, death,
the mind was the basis of both delusion (understood as
and rebirth. The reaction against such an interpretation in-
sam:sa¯ra) and enlightenment (understood as nirva¯n:a). For
fluenced the Maha¯ya¯na Buddhist views of enlightenment.
many in this tradition, this implied that there is in each per-
son an inherent core of Buddhahood covered over with a
NIRVA¯N:A IN THE INDIAN MAHA¯YA¯NA BUDDHIST TRADI-
shell of delusional fixations. Sometimes this core was called
TIONS. Indian Maha¯ya¯na Buddhists minimized the opposi-
the tatha¯gata-garbha (“Buddha womb, Buddha embryo,” or
tion between nirva¯n:a and sam:sa¯ra, renouncing the sugges-
“Buddha matrix”); in other cases it was considered to be part
tion that nirva¯n:a was an escape from the world of suffering.
of a store-consciousness (a¯laya-vijña¯na) containing seeds
Instead, they thought of enlightenment as a wise and com-
(b¯ıja) that could sprout either delusional or enlightened ex-
passionate way of living in that world. The adherents of the
perience. In either case, Buddhist practice was seen as a tech-
two major Indian branches of Maha¯ya¯na philosophy,
nique for clarifying or making manifest the Buddha mind or
Ma¯dhyamika and Yoga¯ca¯ra, each developed their own way
Buddha nature within the individual. This notion of mind
of rejecting the escapism to which, it was thought, the Ab-
and its relation to Buddhist practice influenced the later de-
hidharma interpretation led.
velopment of Maha¯ya¯na Buddhism, even the schools that
The Perfection of Wisdom and Ma¯dhyamika tradi-
first flourished in East Asia, such as Tiantai, Huayan, and
tions. One Maha¯ya¯na strategy was to undercut the epistemo-
Chan (Zen).
logical and logical bases for the sharp distinction between the
A problem raised by this more psychological approach
concepts of nirva¯n:a and sam:sa¯ra. Without nirva¯n:a there is
to enlightenment was the issue of universality. Is the inherent
no sam:sa¯ra, and vice versa. How then could one be absolute
core of enlightenment in one person the same as in another?
and the other relative? This question was most clearly raised
Is it equally present in everyone? With such questions, the
by the Perfection of Wisdom (Prajña¯pa¯ramita¯) literature and
difficulty of the ontological status of enlightenment once
philosophically analyzed in the Ma¯dhyamika school founded
again emerged. That is, if both nirva¯n:a and sam:sa¯ra are de-
by Na¯ga¯rjuna (c. 150–250 CE).
pendent on the mind in some sense, the problem for the
In effect, Ma¯dhyamika thought radicalized the Bud-
Yoga¯ca¯ra philosophers was to explain the objective ground
dha’s original silence on this critical issue by trying to dem-
for nirva¯n:a. Otherwise, truth would be merely subjective.
onstrate that any philosophical attempt to characterize reality
Yoga¯ca¯ra thinkers such as Asan˙ga (fourth century CE) and his
is limited by the logical interdependence of words or con-
brother, Vasubandhu, approached this problem by asserting
cepts. Assuming an isomorphic relationship between words
a transindividual, mental ground for all experience called
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NIRVA¯N:A
a¯laya-vijña¯na. Other Yoga¯ca¯ra thinkers such as Digna¯ga,
and laypersons: Laypersons were to support monastics in
however, rejected the existence of such a store-consciousness
their religious quest; such support would, in return, give the
and tried to establish the necessary ground for objectivity
laypersons meritorious karman leading to successively better
within mental cognition itself, while denying the substantial
rebirths until they too were born into circumstances allowing
reality of any object outside cognition. In general, the former
them to reach the final stages of the Path.
approach persevered in the transmission of Yoga¯ca¯ra’s philos-
The Maha¯ya¯na ideal, on the other hand, was that of the
ophy into East Asia, where the idea of the ground of enlight-
bodhisattva, the enlightened (or, more technically, almost en-
enment or of the Buddha nature would become a major
lightened) being who chooses to be actively involved in alle-
theme.
viating the suffering of others by leading them to enlighten-
Buddhahood in devotional Maha¯ya¯na Buddhism.
ment. In other words, the bodhisattva subordinates personal
Nirva¯n:a’s ontological or metaphysical nature was also a
enlightenment to that of others. Both Abhidharma and
theme in Maha¯ya¯na religious practices quite outside the for-
Maha¯ya¯na Buddhism aim for the enlightenment of everyone,
mal considerations of the philosophers. This development
but whereas in the Abhidharma view enlightenment is
was associated with the rise of the notion that the historical
achieved by one person at a time and the group as a whole
Buddha who had died in the fifth century BCE was actually
pushes upward in a pyramid effect, supporting most the spir-
only an earthly manifestation of an eternal Buddha or of
itual progress of those at the top, in Maha¯ya¯na Buddhism
Buddhahood itself. This line of thought developed into the
the bodhisattvas at the top turn back to pull up those behind
construction of a rich pantheon of Buddhas and bodhisattvas
them until everyone is ready to achieve enlightenment simul-
living in various heavenly realms and interacting with human
taneously. Ultimately, the Maha¯ya¯na model dominated in
beings in supportive ways. These heavenly figures became
East Asia, partly because the collectivist viewpoint was more
the objects of meditation, emulation, reverence, and sup-
consistent with indigenous Chinese ideas predating the in-
plication.
troduction of Buddhism.
The evolution of the Buddhist pantheon was consistent
When Buddhism entered China around the beginning
with the general Maha¯ya¯na principle that a necessary compo-
of the common era, Confucianism and Daoism were already
nent of enlightenment is compassion. The Buddha, it was
well established. Confucianism placed its primary emphasis
believed, would not desert those who had not yet achieved
on the cultivation of virtuous human relationships for the
nirva¯n:a and were still in a state of anguish. Whereas the
harmonious functioning of society. This emphasis on social
physical person of the Buddha was extinguished, the compas-
responsibility and collective virtue blended well with the
sion of his Buddhahood would seem to endure. Following
Maha¯ya¯na vision of enlightenment.
this line of reasoning, the historical Buddha was taken to be
only a physical manifestation of enlightened being itself.
Compared to Confucianism, Daoism was relatively as-
This interpretation made moot the question of nirva¯n:a as the
cetic, mystical, and otherworldly. Yet its mysticism was
release from the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. If Buddha-
strongly naturalistic in that the Daoist sage sought unity with
hood continues even after the physical disappearance of the
the Dao by being in harmony with nature. In Daoism, as in
enlightened person, enlightenment must be more manifested
Maha¯ya¯na Buddhism, the absolute principle was completely
than achieved. This way of thinking was conducive to
immanent in this world, accessible to all who attune them-
Maha¯ya¯na Buddhism’s transmission into East Asia.
selves to it by undertaking the proper form of meditation and
self-discipline. Because one of the root meanings of the term
NIRVA¯N:A IN EAST ASIAN BUDDHIST TRADITIONS. The
dao is “path,” the Chinese found parallels between the Bud-
Maha¯ya¯nists were generally more interested in the truth to
dhist sense of the Path and the Daoist understanding of
which enlightenment was an awakening than the pain from
achieving oneness with the Dao.
which it was a release. This emphasis on the positive aspect
of enlightenment also caused to be diminished the impor-
Nirva¯n:a in the Tiantai and Huayan schools. Eventu-
tance of nirva¯n:a as the release from rebirth. This perspective
ally there arose new forms of Maha¯ya¯na Buddhism distinc-
was well suited to Chinese thought. Because the Chinese had
tive to East Asia, schools either unknown or only incipient
no indigenous idea of the cycle of rebirth, release from that
in India. The term nirva¯n:a, possibly because it carried con-
cycle was not the existential issue in China it had been in
notations of a foreign worldview replete with such ideas as
India.
rebirth and the inherent unsatisfactoriness (duh:kha) of exis-
tence, tended to lose its privileged status in favor of such
A second Maha¯ya¯nist idea readily accepted by the Chi-
terms as “awakening” (chüeh) and “realization” (wu).
nese was that enlightenment is available to anyone in this
very lifetime. The Abhidharma traditions generally assumed
The Chinese Tiantai and Huayan traditions formulated
the path to enlightenment would take eons, and that the last
their own sophisticated philosophical worldviews out of
rebirth in this progression of lifetimes would be that of a
ideas suggested by Indian su¯tras. Both schools emphasized
monk blessed with the circumstances most conducive to con-
the interpenetration of all things. In Tiantai terminology as
centrating on the final stages of the Path. This view led to
developed by such philosophers as Zhiyi (538–597), all the
a distinction between the spiritual development of monastics
“three thousand worlds” are reflected in a single instant of
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NIRVA¯N:A
6631
thought. Reality’s underlying, unifying factor was under-
the personal encounters of great masters and disciples were
stood to be mind. For Tiantai followers the fundamental
recorded in order to serve as the object of meditation for fu-
mind is itself always pure and does not contain, as most Indi-
ture generations.
an Yoga¯ca¯rins held, both delusional and enlightened seeds.
One topic of debate about enlightenment in the Chan
The Tiantai assumption of an underlying, inherently
school concerned the issue of whether enlightenment was
pure, mind had two important consequences. First, the goal
“sudden” or “gradual.” The Northern school emphasized the
of its primary contemplative practice, known as “cessation
inherent purity of the mind and, therefore, advocated a prac-
and discernment” (zhiguan), was explained as immersion
tice intended to remove delusional thoughts covering over
into, rather than the purification of, mind. By ceasing to
that intrinsically undefiled core. Then, it was assumed, the
focus on the surface flow of ordinary phenomena, one can
inherent enlightenment of the mind could shine forth ever
discern the underlying single mind at the source of all things.
more brilliantly. According to the Platform Su¯tra, a text of
Second, because the underlying mind is pure or enlightened,
the Southern school, this position was expressed in a poem
it follows that all things, even inanimate ones, are endowed
by Shenxiu (606–706) as follows:
with Buddha nature. This corollary was first proposed by the
The body is the Bodhi tree,
ninth patriarch of the tradition, Zhanran (711–782), who
The mind is like a clear mirror.
clearly articulated the view that the entire world, as it is, is
At all times we must strive to polish it,
already somehow enlightened. The goal, then, is to realize,
And must not let the dust collect. (Yampolsky, 1967,
awaken to, or manifest that enlightenment in one’s own life.
p. 130)
The relationship between inherent and acquired enlighten-
ment became a central problematic in the Tiantai tradition
The members of the Southern school, on the other hand, ac-
and a major theme behind the development of the various
cused their Northern school counterparts of reifying enlight-
schools of Japanese Buddhism in the Kamakura period
enment into an independently existing thing. In the expres-
(1185–1333) as well.
sion of Huineng (638–713) also recorded in the Platform
Su¯tra
:
Chinese Huayan Buddhism also affirmed the interde-
pendence among, and harmony within, all things. Unlike the
Bodhi originally has no tree,
adherents of Tiantai, however, the Huayan philosophers did
The mirror also has no stand.
not think of mind as the underlying, unifying entity. Fazang
Buddha nature is always clear and pure;
(643–712), for example, preferred to deny any single unify-
Where is there room for dust? (ibid., p. 132)
ing factor and used the phrase “the nonobstruction between
In other words, enlightenment should be manifest at all
thing and thing” (shishi wu Eai). In other words, each phe-
times in all one’s activities. It is not a separate state or seed
nomenon itself was thought to reflect every other phenome-
to be nurtured or cared for. The goal for the Southern
non. Zongmi (780–841), on the other hand, favored the
school, therefore, was to make enlightenment manifest while
phrase “the nonobstruction between absolute principle and
going about one’s daily affairs. This viewpoint eventually led
thing” (lishi wu Eai). Thus, he regarded principle (li) as the
some Southern masters, especially those in the lineage of
fundamental unifying substrate, even the creative source, of
Mazu (709–788), to de-emphasize simple meditation in
reality.
favor of the shock tactics of shouting, striking, and using the
In all these Tiantai and Huayan theories is found a re-
gongan (Jpn., ko¯an). These special techniques were all ways
current, distinctively East Asian, interpretation of nirva¯n:a.
of making the disciple realize and manifest Buddha nature
Just as the Confucians sought harmony within the social
in a sudden manner.
order and the Daoists harmony within the natural order, the
Another approach to the sudden/gradual issue was origi-
Tiantai and Huayan Buddhists understood enlightenment in
nally taken by the previously mentioned Huayan (and Chan)
terms of harmony. Rather than emphasizing the painful as-
master Zongmi, and later developed extensively by the great
pect of the world and the means to emancipation from it,
Korean So˘n master, Chinul (1158–1210). Their view was
the Tiantai and Huayan Buddhists focused on recognizing
that the Southern school (which eventually dominated for
the intrinsic harmony of the universe and feeling intimately
political as much as religious or philosophical reasons) was
a part of it.
correct in maintaining that enlightenment, the awakening to
Nirva¯n:a in the Chan (Zen) school. Chan (Kor., Son;
one’s own Buddha nature, had to be a sudden realization.
Jpn., Zen) is another school with roots in India, but it devel-
Yet Zongmi and Chinul also maintained that realization had
oped into a full-fledged tradition only in East Asia. It is dis-
to be gradually integrated into one’s life through a continu-
tinctive in its de-emphasis of the role of formal doctrine and
ously deepening practice of spiritual cultivation. Thus, their
religious texts in favor of a direct “transmission of mind”
position is known as “sudden awakening/gradual cultiva-
from master to disciple. Chan focused most on the interper-
tion,” rather than “sudden awakening/ sudden cultivation.”
sonal aspect of the enlightenment experience. Enlightenment
This distinction exemplifies the importance Chan philoso-
was considered a stamp embodied in a particular lineage of
phers accorded the need to define as precisely as possible the
enlightened people going back to the historical Buddha, and
relationship between practice and enlightenment. Do¯gen
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6632
NIRVA¯N:A
(1200–1253), the founder of the Japanese So¯to¯ Zen tradi-
Amida and his vow to the principle of spontaneous natural-
tion, addressed the problem of how enlightenment could be
ness in this way, Shinran removed the otherworldly traces in
inherent and yet practice still necessary. That is, if people are
Pure Land teaching, making it more suitable to its East
already primordially enlightened why should anyone bother
Asian, particularly Japanese, context.
to sit in meditation? Do¯gen understood practice to be en-
Nirva¯n:a in the Esoteric traditions. The Esoteric,
lightened activity itself: one does not sit in meditation in
Vajraya¯na, or Tantric forms of Buddhism can be generally
order to achieve enlightenment, but rather, one’s enlighten-
viewed as extensions of Maha¯ya¯na. In general, however, Eso-
ment is expressed as one’s sitting in meditation.
teric Buddhism was most permanently influential in Tibet
For virtually all the Chan (and So˘n and Zen) traditions,
(including the Mongolian extensions of Tibetan Buddhism)
enlightenment is more than an insight or even a sense of har-
and in Japan. In both cases, Esotericism merged its practices
mony. It is also a mode of behavior to be continuously enact-
and doctrines with the indigenous shamanistic, archaic reli-
ed and tested in everyday life. Much of the interpersonal dy-
gions of, respectively, Bon and Shinto¯.
namics between master and disciple is designed to challenge
In terms of their understanding of nirva¯n:a the Esoteric
the person to make nirva¯n:a manifest in such ordinary activi-
traditions added an important dimension to their otherwise
ties as talking, working, eating, and washing, as well as
generally Maha¯ya¯nistic outlook, namely, that enlightenment
meditating.
should be understood as participation in the enlightenment
Nirva¯n:a in the Pure Land traditions. All forms of
of the Buddha-as-reality (the dharmaka¯ya). From this view-
Buddhism discussed up to now have assumed that one can
point, sacred speech (mantras), sacred gestures (mudra¯s), and
only achieve nirva¯n:a through years (or even lifetimes) of con-
sacred envisioning (man:d:alas) constitute a Buddhist ritualis-
centrated practice. The Pure Land tradition, especially as de-
tic practice having an almost sacramental character. That is,
veloped by Shinran (1173–1262) in Japan, radically reinter-
in performing the rituals outlined in the Tantras, the Esoter-
preted the notion of Buddhist practice, however.
ic Buddhist believes that one’s own speech, action, and
thought become the concrete expression of the cosmic Bud-
Pure Land Buddhism is another Maha¯ya¯na tradition
dha’s own enlightenment.
that had its basis in Indian su¯tras but that only fully blos-
somed in East Asia. It began with a rather otherworldly ori-
This notion found a particularly clear formulation in
entation: The present period of history was considered so de-
the Japanese Shingon Buddhism established by Ku¯kai (774–
generate that it was thought to be no longer possible for
835). According to Ku¯kai, the fundamental principle of
human beings to practice genuine Buddhism and to achieve
Shingon practice and philosophy is that of hosshin seppo¯, “the
nirva¯n:a. A bodhisattva named Dharma¯kara (Ho¯zo¯ in Japa-
Buddha-as-reality [dharmaka¯ya] preaches the true teaching
nese), however, vowed not to allow himself to achieve full
[dharma].” In making this claim, Ku¯kai rejected the exoteric
Buddhahood if people who called on his name with faith
Buddhist notion that only a historical Buddha
were not reborn in a Pure Land, a place ideally suited for
(nirma¯n:aka¯ya) or a heavenly Buddha (sam:bhogaka¯ya) can
Buddhist practice. In that Pure Land, people could attain en-
preach. All of reality in itself, according to Ku¯kai, is the sym-
lightenment and even come back into the world as bodhisatt-
bolic expression of the dharmaka¯ya Buddha’s enlightened ac-
vas to aid in the spiritual progress of others. The Pure Land
tivity and, as such, is the direct manifestation of truth. The
su¯tras go on to explain that Dharma¯kara became the Buddha
way to grasp this symbolic expression is not to be an audience
Amita¯bha/Amita¯yus (Jpn., Amida). Therefore, he must have
to it, but rather to take part in it directly through Esoteric
fulfilled his vow, and thus if people can call on that Buddha’s
rituals. The individual’s own enlightenment was considered
name with complete faith in his compassion and power to
an aspect of the cosmic Buddha’s enlightened activity. Ku¯kai
help they will be guaranteed rebirth in the Pure Land.
identified the Buddha-as-reality or the cosmic Buddha as the
Great Sun Buddha, Dainichi Nyorai (Skt., Maha¯vairocana).
The major lesson in this account for Pure Land Bud-
dhists like Shinran was that human beings today cannot
Ku¯kai’s view of enlightenment was, therefore, summa-
achieve nirva¯n:a by their “own power” (jiriki). Rather than
rized in the phrase “attaining Buddha in and through this
help themselves through the practice of calculated, self-
very body” (sokushin jo¯butsu). Through the ritualized, physi-
conscious actions (hakarai), people should simply resign
cal participation in the world, the person could become a
themselves completely to the “power of another” (tariki),
concrete expression of Dainichi Buddha’s enlightened ac-
that is, the power of Amida’s compassionate vow. Even this
tion. Ku¯kai expressed this intimacy between the individual
act of the “entrusting heart and mind” (shinjin) must itself
and Dainichi Buddha as “the Buddha enters the self and
be an expression of Amida’s vow and not an effort on one’s
the self enters the Buddha” (nyu¯ga ganyu¯). In effect, the
own part. In this way, Shinran maintained that enlighten-
Maha¯ya¯na Buddhist’s identification of nirva¯n:a with the
ment could ultimately only be achieved by first releasing one-
world was taken to its most radical conclusion. That is, from
self to the spontaneousness “naturalness” (jinen ho¯ni), the ac-
the Shingon perspective, this very world is the Buddha
tive grace of Amida’s compassion as this world itself. “Amida
Dainichi. This means that enlightenment is not inherent in
Buddha is the medium through which we are made to realize
the world, but rather, the world itself is the experience of en-
jinen” (Ueda, 1978, pp. 29–30). By subordinating even
lightenment.
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NIRVA¯N:A
6633
CONCLUSION. As this article has shown, there is no single
influence of egocentric thinking. If this perspective is misun-
Buddhist view of nirva¯n:a. The Buddhist ideal varies with the
derstood and overemphasized, however, it leads to a psychol-
culture, the historical period, the language, the school, and
ogism that holds that truth is simply in the mind without
even the individual. Still, one does find in the Buddhist no-
any connection to an external reality. The remedy for this
tions of nirva¯n:a what Ludwig Wittgenstein would have
distortion is to assert the ontological aspect of nirva¯n:a.
called a “family resemblance,” that is, a group of characteris-
Ontologically speaking, nirva¯n:a is the affirmation of the
tics that no single family member entirely possesses but that
inherent goodness of the world and even of human nature.
all members share to such an extent that the members of one
In this sense, nirva¯n:a is not merely a kind of experience (as
family are distinguishable from the members of another. In
depicted by the psychological view) but is also the content
this case, the Buddhist conceptions of nirva¯n:a share a set of
or even ground of an experience. If this ontological viewpoint
qualities that can be summarized as follows.
is overemphasized, on the other hand, it can lead to the dis-
1. Nirva¯n:a is the release from ignorance about the way
torted idea that diligence and practice are arbitrary or even
the world is. Because one does not understand the nature of
unnecessary. The remedy is, conversely, to neutralize that
human existence and the laws affecting human life, one lives
distortion with more emphasis on the psychological side of
in either a state of outright suffering or in a state of dishar-
nirva¯n:a.
mony. Nirva¯n:a is ultimately acknowledging and living by
In short, both the psychological and ontological views
the truths of the world. In that respect, its orientation is this-
contain truths about the nature of nirva¯n:a, but if either posi-
worldly.
tion is developed in such a way as to exclude the other, the
2. The knowledge achieved by nirva¯n:a is not merely in-
result is a distortion of the Buddhist Path. For this reason,
tellectual or spiritual. Nirva¯n:a is achieved through a process
the two views coexist throughout Buddhist history, one view
of psychological and physical conditioning aimed at reorient-
always complementing the other and checking any distor-
ing and reversing ego-centered forms of thinking and behav-
tions that might arise out of a one-sided perspective.
ing. Nirva¯n:a is achieved through and with the body, not de-
spite the body.
SEE ALSO A¯laya-vijña¯na; Amita¯bha; Asan˙ga; Bodhisattva
Path; Buddhism, Schools of, article on Esoteric Buddhism;
3. One is not alone on the Path. There is support from
Buddhist Ethics; Buddhist Books and Texts, article on Exe-
texts, philosophical teachings, religious practices, the Bud-
gesis and Hermeneutics; Buddhist Philosophy; Celestial
dhist community, the examples of masters, and even the
Buddhas and Bodhisattvas; Chan; Chinul; Confucianism;
rocks and trees. Most of all, there is the power of compassion
Daoism, overview article; Digna¯ga; Do¯gen; Eightfold Path;
that one receives from others and that grows stronger the
Fazang; Huayan; Huineng; Karun:a¯; Language, article on
more it is offered to others.
Buddhist Views of Language; Ma¯dhyamika; Maha¯vairocana;
Na¯ga¯rjuna; Prajña¯; Shingonshu¯; Shinran; Soteriology;
4. Nirva¯n:a is achieved by penetrating and dissolving the
Tatha¯gatha-garbha; Tiantai; Vasubandhu; Yoga¯ca¯ra; Zen;
slashes or virgules separating humanity/nature, self/other,
Zhenyan; Zhiyi; Zongmi.
subject/object, and even nirva¯n:a/sam:sa¯ra. The particular
pairs of opposition vary from place to place and time to time
BIBLIOGRAPHY
as Buddhism attacks the special dichotomies most destruc-
As the fundamental ideal of Buddhism, nirva¯n:a is discussed in a
tive in a given culture during a specific period. Nirva¯n:a en-
wide variety of works: su¯tras, commentaries, and secondary
tails a recognition of the inherent harmony and equality of
critical works by scholars of various traditions. Any bibliogra-
all things.
phy must be, therefore, incomplete and, at best, highly selec-
tive. The following works have been chosen for their particu-
5. Nirva¯n:a has an intrinsically moral aspect. By elimi-
lar relevance to the issues discussed in the foregoing article.
nating all egocentric ideas, emotions, and actions, the en-
lightened person approaches others with either complete
Nirva¯n:a in the Indian Buddhist Traditions
equanimity (wherein self and others are treated exactly the
Of the many references to nirva¯n:a in the early Indian texts, certain
same) or with a compassionate involvement in alleviating the
passages have traditionally received the most attention. For
example, in the Pali scriptures, the status of the Buddha after
suffering of others (wherein self is subordinated to the needs
death (parinibba¯na) is handled in various ways. Most promi-
of those less fortunate). Morality can be considered the alpha
nent, undoubtedly, is the traditional account of the Buddha’s
and omega of nirva¯n:a. That is, the Path begins with accept-
passing away described in chapter 6 of the Maha¯parinibba¯na
ing various rules and precepts of behavior, whereas nirva¯n:a
Suttanta. A translation of this text by T. W. Rhys Davids is
culminates in the open, moral treatment of other people and
readily available as Buddhist Suttas, volume 11 of “The Sa-
things.
cred Books of the East,” edited by F. Max Müller (1881; re-
print, New York, 1969). An interesting feature of this ac-
6. Although in any given context, one viewpoint is em-
count is its clear distinction between the Buddha’s nirva¯n:a
phasized over the other, generally speaking, nirva¯n:a can be
and his meditative capacity to cause the complete cessation
understood from either a psychological or ontological per-
(nirodha) of perceptions, thoughts, and feelings. This passage
spective. Psychologically viewed, nirva¯n:a is a radical change
is often quoted, therefore, against any claim that the early
in attitude such that one no longer experiences the negative
Buddhist view was simply nihilistic and world-renouncing.
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6634
NIRVA¯N:A
Notably absent in this text, however, is any detailed treat-
form of Hinduism. Whereas Kalupahana’s approach sharply
ment of the classic distinction between nirva¯n:a with remain-
distinguishes the early Buddhist view of nirva¯n:a from the
der and nirva¯n:a without remainder. That distinction is more
contemporary Hindu ideal of the unity of a¯tman with brah-
clearly presented in Itivuttaka, edited by Ernst Windisch
man, Johansson tends to see a common mystical element in
(London, 1889), esp. pp. 38–39. An English translation by
the two. A generally more balanced and convincing position
F. L. Woodward is in the second volume of Minor Antholo-
on this point can be found in the thorough discussion of
gies of the Pali Canon, edited by C. A. F. Rhys Davids (Lon-
Kashi Nath Upadhyaya’s Early Buddhism and the
don, 1935).
Bhagavadg¯ıta¯ (Delhi, 1971).
Another commonly analyzed theme is the Buddha’s own reticence
A good introduction to the modern view of nirva¯n:a from the
to describe the status of the enlightened person after death.
standpoint of the only living tradition of Abhidharma, the
On this point, there are two particularly provocative textual
Therava¯da, is Walpola Rahula’s What the Buddha Taught,
references. One is the above-mentioned story about
rev. ed. (Bedford, U.K., 1967), chap. 4. This small work is
Ma¯lun˙kya¯putta in Majjhima-Nika¯ya, 4 vols., edited by Vil-
highly regarded for its ability to explain the gist of centuries
helm Trenckner, Robert Chalmers, and C. A. F. Rhys Da-
of Abhidharmic analysis in a straightforward, accurate, and
vids (London, 1887–1925), suttas 63–64; the other is in The
yet nontechnical manner. On the way nirva¯n:a actually func-
Sam:yutta-Nika¯ya of the Sutta Pitaka, 6 vols., edited by Léon
tions today as an ethical ideal in Therava¯da daily life, see
Freer (London, 1884–1904), vol. 3, p. 118. English transla-
Winston L. King’s In the Hope of Nibbana: An Essay of Thera-
tions of these two complete collections are, respectively, The
vada Buddhist Ethics (La Salle, Ill., 1964). For a more histori-
Collection of the Middle Length Sayings, 3 vols., translated by
cal and specialized approach to the development of the early
I. B. Horner (London, 1954–1959), and The Book of Kindred
Abhidharma views of nirva¯n:a, see Edward Conze’s Buddhist
Sayings, 5 vols., translated by C. A. F. Rhys Davids and F.
Thought in India (1962; reprint, Ann Arbor, Mich., 1970),
L. Woodward (London, 1917–1930).
esp. sections 1.5 and 2.3. Although this book is poorly writ-
As already mentioned, descriptions of nirva¯n:a are for the most
ten and organized, it still contains some information not
part posed in negative terms; the interested reader can find
readily available in English elsewhere.
a multitude of examples by consulting, for example, the ex-
For Na¯ga¯rjuna and the Ma¯dhyamika school, the locus classicus is
cellent indexes in the collections of early Pali texts cited
Na¯ga¯rjuna’s discussion in chapter 25 of his Mu¯lamadhya-
above. One particularly striking exception to this rule, how-
makaka¯rika¯. The complete Sanskrit original and English
ever, is found in The Sam:yutta-Nika¯ya, vol. 4, p. 373. This
translation of this work with extensive commentary is found
passage gives a rather lengthy string of mostly positive equiv-
in David J. Kalupahana’s Nagarjuna: The Philosophy of the
alents to nirva¯n:a, including terms that mean “truth,” “the
Middle Way (Albany, N.Y., 1985). A good discussion of
farther shore,” “the stable,” “peace,” “security,” “purity,” and
Na¯ga¯rjuna’s basic position with respect to nirva¯n:a also ap-
so forth. Such positive characterizations of nirva¯n:a are found
pears in Frederick J. Streng’s Emptiness: A Study in Religious
elsewhere, but never in quite so concentrated a list.
Meaning (New York, 1967), pp. 69–81.
On the issue of the transcendent, mystical, or metaphysical aspect
of nirva¯n:a in the early Buddhist tradition, a pivotal textual
For studying the Yoga¯ca¯ra and idealist position, the reader may
reference is in Uda¯na, edited by Paul Steinthal (London,
wish to consult The Lan˙ka¯vata¯ra Su¯tra, translated by D. T.
1948). An English translation also occurs in volume 2 of
Suzuki (1932; reprint, Boulder, Colo., 1978). The identifi-
Woodward’s Minor Anthologies, cited above. On pages
cations of nirva¯n:a with the pure a¯laya-vijña¯na or the
80–81 of Uda¯na, there is found an indubitable reference to
tatha¯gata-garbha, as well as with the mind released from de-
a state of mind or a place beyond birth and death, beyond
lusional discriminations are particularly discussed in sections
all discrimination and ordinary perceptions. Controversy still
18, 38, 63, 74, 77, and 82. For the more systematically
continues over the proper interpretation of the passage. In
philosophical developments of the Yoga¯ca¯ra tradition, the
Rune E. A. Johansson’s Psychology of Nirva¯n:a (London,
reader may refer to the following works. Asan˙ga’s
1969), for example, there is a sustained discussion of the en-
Maha¯ya¯nasam:graha has been translated and edited by
lightened state of mind as being a mystical, transempirical,
Étienne Lamotte in La somme du Grand Véhicule d’Asan˙ga,
nondifferentiated state of consciousness. The passage from
vol. 2 (Louvain, 1939). Translations of Vasubandhu’s
Uda¯na naturally figures prominently in Johansson’s argu-
Vim:´satika¯ and Trim:´sika¯ by Clarence H. Hamilton and
ment. On the other hand, this viewpoint is severely criticized
Wing-tsit Chan, respectively, can be found in A Source Book
in David J. Kalupahana’s Buddhist Philosophy: A Historical
in Indian Philosophy, edited by Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and
Analysis (Honolulu, 1976), chap. 7. By interpreting this pas-
Charles A. Moore (Princeton, N. J., 1957). Sylvain Lévi’s
sage as referring to the state of cessation (nirodha) just prior
Matériaux pour l’étude du système Vijñaptima¯tra (Paris, 1932)
to the Buddha’s death but not to ordinary nirva¯n:a in this
remains the definitive discussion on Vasubandhu’s writings.
world, Kalupahana argues that early Buddhism consistently
For an analysis of Digna¯ga’s thought, see Hattori Masaaki’s
maintained that the achievement of nirva¯n:a does not require,
Digna¯ga, on Perception (Cambridge, Mass., 1968).
or entail, any transempirical form of perception. In this re-
For a straightforward and detailed discussion of Indian Buddhist
gard, Kalupahana is expanding on the theory that early Bud-
theories of nirva¯n:a, see Nalinaksha Dutt’s Maha¯ya¯na Bud-
dhism was primarily empirical in outlook, an interpretation
dhism (rev. ed., Delhi, 1978), chap. 7. Although sometimes
first fully developed in Kulitassa Nanda Jayatilleke’s Early
biased against the Abhidharma traditions, his account of the
Buddhist Theory of Knowledge (London, 1963).
differences among the Indian Buddhist schools is very good.
Another controversial issue among modern scholars is the rela-
For a thorough and fascinating discussion of the attempts of
tionship between early Buddhism and the contemporary
Western scholars to interpret the idea of nirva¯n:a as found
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NISHIDA KITARO
¯
6635
primarily in the Pali texts, see Guy R. Welbon’s The Buddhist
view of sudden enlightenment and gradual cultivation, as
Nirva¯n:a and Its Western Interpreters (Chicago, 1968). Wel-
well as Chinul’s elaboration on this point, see the discussion
bon includes a good bibliography of works in Western lan-
in The Korean Approach to Zen, translated by Robert E. Bus-
guages. His book culminates in the famous debate between
well, Jr. (Honolulu, 1983). For Do¯gen’s view of the oneness
Louis de La Vallée Poussin (1869–1938) and Theodore St-
of cultivation and enlightenment, see Hee-Jin Kim’s Do¯gen
cherbatsky (Fedor Shcherbatskii, 1866–1942). Both were
Kigen: Mystical Realist (Tucson, 1975), chap. 3, and my Zen
noted as first-rate commentators on Maha¯ya¯na Buddhism,
Action/Zen Person (Honolulu, 1981), chaps. 6–7.
but their own personalities and temperaments led them to
For an overview of the Pure Land tradition and, in particular,
take distinctively different views of Buddhism and its intent.
Shinran’s view that enlightenment is unattainable through
Thus, in examining the same early Buddhist texts, the former
any efforts of one’s own, see Alfred Bloom’s Shinran’s Gospel
emphasized the yogic and religious aspects whereas the latter
of Pure Grace (Tucson, 1965), still the only major objective
favored the philosophical. Despite their limitations, howev-
study of Shinran in English. There are two good translation
er, La Vallée Poussin’s Nirva¯n:a (Paris, 1925) and Stcher-
series of Shinran’s works: the “Ryu¯koku Translation Series”
batsky’s The Conception of Buddhist Nirva¯n:a (Leningrad,
and the “Shin Buddhism Translation Series,” both of Kyoto,
1927) remain classic works on this subject.
Japan. Neither series is complete but, between the two, most
East Asian Traditions
of Shinran’s works have been adequately translated. The
For the reasons given in the essay, the idea of nirva¯n:a is not dis-
quotation in the foregoing essay is from the first volume of
cussed as explicitly in the East Asian as the South Asian tradi-
the latter series, namely, The Letters of Shinran: A Translation
tions. When nirva¯n:a is analyzed by East Asian Buddhists, the
of Matto¯sho¯, edited and translated by Ueda Yoshifumi
sharply etched distinctions among the various Indian
(Kyoto, 1978).
Maha¯ya¯na schools are softened. A clear example of this is D.
For Ku¯kai’s view on the distinctiveness of Esoteric Buddhism, a
T. Suzuki’s Outlines of Mahayana Buddhism (New York,
key text is Benkenmitsu nikyo ron (On distinguishing the two
1963), chap. 13. In this chapter, and indeed throughout the
teachings—Exoteric and Esoteric). On the role of ritual in
book, Suzuki approaches the ideas of Maha¯ya¯na Buddhists
enlightenment, see his Sokushin jo¯butsu gi (On achieving
as coming from discrete traditions but involving an underly-
buddhahood with this very body) and Sho¯ji jisso¯ gi (On
ing common spirit.
sound-word-reality). English translations of these works and
For the view of the Tiantai school as developed by Zhiyi, the most
others can be conveniently found in Yoshito S. Hakeda’s
thorough discussion in English is Leon N. Hurvitz’s Zhiyi
Ku¯kai: Major Works (New York, 1972).
(538–597); An Introduction to the Life and Ideas of a Chinese
New Sources
Buddhist Monk (Brussels, 1962). For the impact of the
Collins, S. Nirva¯n:a and Other Buddhist Felicities: Utopias of the
Tiantai idea of inherent enlightenment on Japanese Bud-
Pali Imaginaire. New York, 1998.
dhism in the Kamakura period, see the comprehensive study
in Tamura Yoshiro¯’s Kamakura shinbukkyo¯ shiso¯ no kenkyu¯
Gombrich, R. F. Kindness and Compassion as Means to Nirva¯n:a.
(Tokyo, 1965).
Amsterdam, 1998.
Like Tiantai, the Huayan tradition has not yet been comprehen-
Kasulis, Thomas P. “Nirva¯n:a.” In Buddhism and Asian History,
sively studied in Western works. One of the better philo-
edited by Joseph Mitsuo Kitagawa and Mark D. Cummings,
sophical overviews of Huayan theory in relation to enlighten-
pp. 395–408. New York, 1989.
ment is the discussion about Fazang in Fung Youlan’s A
Obermiller, E., and H. S. Sobati. Nirva¯n:a in Tibetan Buddhism.
History of Chinese Philosophy, translated by Derk Bodde
Delhi, 1988.
(Princeton, N. J., 1953), vol. 2, chap. 8. Fazang is also cen-
tral to the analysis in Francis D. Cook’s Huayan Buddhism:
Sukla, K. Nagarjuna Bauddha Pratisthanam, Nature of Bondage
The Jewel Net of Indra (University Park, Pa., 1977). Essays
and Liberation in Buddhist Systems: Proceedings of Seminar
on the history of Huayan practice are included in Studies in
Held in 1984. Gorakhpur, India, 1988.
Chan and Huayan, edited by Robert M. Gimello and Peter
Swaris, N. The Buddha’s Way to Human Liberation: A Socio-
N. Gregory (Honolulu, 1984).
Historical Approach. Dehiwala, Sri Lanka, 1999.
On the theory of the four realms of reality (fajie), the culmination
Thomas, E. J. The Road to Nirva¯n:a: A Selection of the Buddhist
of which is the “nonobstruction between thing and things,”
Scriptures Translated from the Pali. Rutland, Vt., 1992.
a key text is Chengguan’s Huayan fajie xüanjing, a translation
of which is found in Thomas Cleary’s Entry into the Incon-
Tilakaratne, A., and the University of Kelaniya. Nirva¯n:a and Inef-
ceivable (Honolulu, 1983). One noteworthy point about the
fability: A Study of the Buddhist Theory of Reality and Lan-
translation, however, is that it translates li as “noumenon”
guage. Sri Lanka, 1993.
and shi as “phenomenon,” a rendering popular in earlier En-
THOMAS P. KASULIS (1987)
glish translations, but now usually replaced by terms less
Revised Bibliography
speculative and philosophically misleading, such as, respec-
tively, “principle” and “event” (or “principle” and “thing”).
On the Chan distinction between sudden and gradual enlighten-
ment, the exchange of poems by Shenxiu and Huineng is re-
NISHIDA KITARO
¯ (1870–1945) is generally consid-
corded in the first ten sections of the Liuzu tanjing, a good
ered the most original modern Japanese philosopher and the
translation of which is Philip B. Yampolsky’s The Platform
galvanizing force behind the creation of the Kyoto school of
Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch (New York, 1967). For Zongmi’s
philosophy. Nishida, who incorporated Maha¯ya¯na Buddhist
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NISHIDA KITARO
¯
6636
spirituality and its worldview into his philosophical system,
as with German neo-Kantianism and Husserlian phenom-
made his debut in Japanese philosophical circles in 1907,
enology.
while he was a professor of psychology and logic at the
This series of philosophical investigations resulted in
Fourth Higher School in Kanazawa. After a year of teaching
Nishida’s second book, Jikaku ni okeru chokkan to hansei (In-
at Gakushu¯in, the Peers School, in Tokyo, he became, in
tuition and reflection in self-consciousness, 1917). Therein
1910, a professor at the Imperial University of Kyoto, where
he made a detailed analysis of self-consciousness (jikaku);
his career flourished. Nishida’s personal life during this peri-
that is, consciousness that gives rise to self-awareness as the
od, however, was plagued by a series of illnesses and the
all-encompassing system of which intuition and cognition
deaths of several members of his family, causing him to call
are two aspects. Through this investigation, he arrived at the
the source of philosophy the “pathos of life” rather than the
primacy of free will, which transcends cognition and on ac-
“wonder.” His retirement from the university in 1928
count of which experiences are repeatable. Furthermore, he
marked the beginning of a productive period of philosophiz-
saw at the ground of free will (“that which acts”) a field of
ing. He died on June 7, 1945, two months before the bomb-
consciousness (“that which sees”), which he developed in his
ing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. During his lifetime, Nishida
essay, “Basho” (“Topos” or “Field,” 1926). Basho is the ma-
was widely recognized in Japan as a leading intellectual and
trix wherein all things come into being and from which they
a voice of conscience. His writings, lectures, and correspon-
disappear. Nishida called basho “absolute nothingness” (zet-
dence are compiled in nineteen volumes titled Nishida Kitaro¯
tai mu) because in itself it is an unobjectifiable reality tran-
Zenshu¯ (Collected Works of Nishida Kitaro¯, 4th edition,
scending both being (u) and nonbeing (mu). His reflections
1987–1989).
on the nature of time explain “absolute nothingness” as a
Beginning in his midtwenties, Nishida underwent Rin-
moment that comes into being at one “present” and disap-
zai Zen Buddhist practice for a decade, and this imparted a
pears in the next. If the present moment were some kind of
unique flavor to his philosophical thinking. Zazen, or the
being that could be grasped, there would be no time; if the
practice of seated meditation, requires the full engagement
present were simply nonbeing, there would also be no time.
of the mind and body. The questions, or ko¯an, given by the
Time, then, should be considered the coincidence of abso-
master, carry the practitioner beyond the ordinary mental
lutely nothing and being. The present moment (i.e., absolute
habits characterized by the subject-object dichotomy. Zen
nothingness) is where being and nonbeing come together
practice was a personally self-transforming experience for
(Collected Works 14, pp. 140–141). Furthermore, Nishida
Nishida, and it opened up the vital reality that preceded
saw time as the continuation of discrete or discontinuous
mental analysis. Nishida incorporated epistemological prin-
moments, and as such time has a spatial extension, inasmuch
ciples of unity (of mind and body, of subject and object) into
as space has a temporal direction. Nishida came to call these
his philosophical vocabulary, and he advanced such ideas as
contradictory features inherent in the very mode of reality
“dialectical.”
pure experience, absolute nothingness, and action-intuition.
The Zen tenet that each individual possesses the Buddha na-
Nishida’s basic assertion was that cognition is a phe-
ture also underscored Nishida’s philosophical vision.
nomenon of consciousness. Taking a hint from Aristotle’s
N
definition of hypokeimenon (substance), Nishida proposed a
ISHIDA’S THOUGHT. In 1939 Nishida reflected on his
philosophical path and noted that his aim had been “to ap-
“logic of basho” (basho no ronri) that includes the very act of
judgment within itself. If Aristotle’s logic is a logic that fo-
proach things from the most immediate and most funda-
cuses on the subject-term of the proposition, as the observer
mental standpoint from which everything emerges and to
studies and classifies the subject under discussion, Nishida
which everything returns” (Collected Works 9, p. 3). Indeed,
attempted to account for how such an observer is actually in-
while he was still a higher school student, he was convinced
cluded in making logical pronouncements. Nishida consid-
that reality (jitsuzai), as it is, is absolute (genjitsu sono mama)
ered predicates to be already contained in the field of con-
(Collected Works 1, p. 7). In his first book, Zen no kenkyu¯ (An
sciousness in which the observer is embedded. The one who
inquiry into the good, 1911), he unfolded his view of the on-
judges emerges from the field of consciousness at the mo-
tological primacy of experience over an individual self—
ment of intellectual reflection and submerges back into it at
experiences make up a person rather than a person “having”
the moment of volition and experience.
experiences. By taking pure experience (junsui keiken)—the
primary mode of experience before its bifurcation into sub-
Nishida sometimes developed his thought in response
ject and object—as the unifying principle, Nishida attempt-
to specific challenges and issues of his day. By the end of the
ed to analyze the objective world. In this study he was in-
1920s, Marxism had become an intellectual fashion among
debted to the philosophical language of William James
Japanese thinkers. Although Nishida did not personally em-
(1842–1910) and Henri Bergson (1859–1941). Dissatisfied
brace it, Marxism challenged him to add social and historical
with the psychological aspects of this approach, however,
dimensions to his thought. The rise to power of the Nazis
Nishida proceeded to question the nature of intuition and
in Germany in the 1930s drew his attention to world affairs
logical reasoning. He put these under scrutiny by engaging
and led him to reflect on the meaning of history and race,
in a dialogue with modern mathematical theories, as well
and on the nature and role of the state.
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NISHIDA KITARO
¯
6637
As Nishida’s perspective grew progressively global and
however, Nishida considered individuals as “self-fashioning,”
more concrete, he moved away from the language of self-
creative, and dynamic; each individual is a living history in
consciousness, and in its stead he developed his dialectics. In
that each, being creative, contributes to the formation of his-
his “Bensho¯ho¯teki ippansha to shite no sekai” (The world as the
tory (Collected Works 9, p. 155 and pp. 169–173).
dialectical universal, 1934), he described the individual self
For the rest of his life, Nishida continued to develop his
as “none other than an individual determination of the self-
dialectics in terms of the contradictory self-identity of the self
determining world” (Collected Works 7, p. 203). This is not
and the world as two vantage points, and the one and the
to belittle the significance of the individual self but rather to
many as the modality. His final essay, “Bashoteki ronri to
emphasize the universal dimension of each individual.
shu¯kyo¯teki sekaikan” (The logic of basho and the religious
Human existence, obtained as the self-determination of the
worldview), completed two months before his death, dealt
world, is by definition rife with self-contradictions. Precisely
with the religious consciousness of the person explained in
by knowing the profound contradictions that lie at the base
terms of the “logic of basho.”
of our self-existence, Nishida suggested that we undergo ab-
solute negation and arrive at absolute affirmation, which is
NISHIDA’S POLITICAL LIFE. Born in 1870, the third year of
a step beyond the philosophy of anxiety or Angst, the trend
the Meiji era, Nishida witnessed the dynamic period when
that dominated the European philosophical scene.
Japan began to interact with the wider world after two centu-
ries of self-imposed isolation. There was a prevailing sense
In his 1935 essay, “Ko¯iteki chokkan no tachiba” (The
of freedom and optimism among the young generation of
standpoint of action-intuition), Nishida elaborated on the
that time, and Nishida was no exception. He supported the
idea of action-intuition (ko¯iteki chokkan) and the role of
idea of a constitution and felt personal respect for Emperor
“things” (mono). A thing is not just an item over there, it ex-
Meiji as the head of the modern state. But he was against any
ists in vital relation to us and incites our action: “We see
ultranationalistic movements that deified the emperor to jus-
things by our action, and things determine us, just as we de-
tify Japan’s colonial aggression as staged by the military.
termine them” (Collected Works 8, p. 131). Further, he came
Nishida took no part in promoting the cult of Shinto¯ as a
to describe the authentic mode of action in terms of our “be-
national rite, and he was critical of the government’s indoc-
coming a thing,” that is, for us to embody the full objective
trination of youth.
reality of our physical existence. Nishida wrote the following:
“Just as the body of an artist is the organ of art, so the body
Through his connection with the Peers School, Nishida
of a scholar is an organ of scholarship; the life of an artist
came to know Konoe Ayamaro (or Fumimaro) and Kido
lies in beauty and that of a scholar in truth. The operation
Ko¯ichi, who were prominent members of the “court group”
of our cognition does not exist separate from our body” (Col-
that closely assisted Emperor Hirohito through 1945. But
lected Works 8, p. 174). Our body is established as the self-
Nishida’s opinions concerning politics and education were
determination of the historical world, and as such is a “his-
deemed overly idealistic to those engulfed in politics.
torical body” (Collected Works 8, p. 180).
Nishida’s political life came under criticism by Western
scholars from the 1980s through the mid-1990s, partly in as-
For Nishida, the essence of the self lies in one’s creativity
sociation with the German philosopher Martin Heidegger
and expressive operations. This emphasis on creativity (poie-
(1889–1976). The argument was made that if Heidegger was
sis, artistic and otherwise) is central to his definition of the
connected with Nazism, Nishida could have been similarly
person. We are born into this world as “that which is creat-
connected with Japanese fascism. Remarks by Nishida were
ed” (tsukurareta mono), but we in turn become “that which
taken out of context and used to depict him as an ultrana-
creates” (tsukuru mono). Accordingly, a society that does not
tionalist, and his philosophy as “intrinsically nationalistic” by
allow individual freedom to be creative is doomed—this was
implication. A clear distinction between regionalism and na-
his bone of contention with totalitarian societies.
tionalism could have clarified the confusion: celebration of
In “Ronri to seimei” (Logic and life, 1936), Nishida ex-
one’s cultural heritage (regionalism) does not necessarily
amined his thesis that logic is closely tied with the expressive
make a person nationalistic. The perspective of cultural plu-
self-formation of historical life. In “Shu no seisei hatten no
ralism can shed light on what Nishida was attempting to
mondai” (The problem of generation and development of
achieve by ideas such as “Oriental nothingness.” Nishida was
species, 1937), he emphasized the radical irreducibility of the
depicted as a nationalist by Western scholars who relied on
individual—“An individual is an individual only in standing
the views of a small number of ideological Japanese scholars.
against another individual” (Collected Works 8, p. 523)—as
The debate began to subside as scholars recognized the need
he meditated on “freedom” and “necessity” for individuals
for returning to and reevaluating Nishida’s philosophical
who exist in the historical world. In his 1939 essay “Zettai
texts, essays, and letters.
mujunteki jiko do¯itsu” (Absolutely contradictory self-
identity), he fully developed his dialectical logic, in which the
BIBLIOGRAPHY
individual, like a monad, assumes a double structure: that
Nishida’s works are cited above according to the volume and page
which reflects the world and that which is simultaneously a
number(s) of Nishida Kitaro¯, Nishida Kitaro¯ Zenshu¯ (Collect-
focal point of the world. Differing from Leibnizian monads,
ed Works of Nishida Kitaro¯), 19 vols., 4th ed. (Tokyo, 1987–
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6638
NIZ:A¯M AL-D¯IN AWLIYA¯D
1989). For an intellectual biography of Nishida see Michiko
Germany, 1922–1924,” Monumenta Nipponica 53, no. 1
Yusa, Zen and Philosophy: An Intellectual Biography of Nishida
(1998): 45–71.
Kitaro¯ (Honolulu:, 2002), which includes English transla-
tions of ten essays by Nishida. For a Japanese biography see
MICHIKO YUSA (2005)
Michiko Yusa, Denki Nishida Kitaro¯ (A biography of Nishida
Kitaro¯), supp. vol. 1 of Nishida Tetsugaku Senshu¯ (Selected
works of Nishidan philosophy; Kyoto, Japan, 1998). Invalu-
able biographical information can be found in Keiji Nishi-
NIZ:A¯M AL-D¯IN AWLIYA¯D (AH 636–725/1238–
tani, Nishida Kitaro¯, translated by Seisaku Yamamoto and
1325 CE) was a major S:u¯f¯ı saint of the Chisht¯ı order. Under
James Heisig (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1991).
his leadership, the order expanded into a mass movement
For translations of Nishida’s works, see An Inquiry into the Good,
across India. Great men of letters from Am¯ır Khusraw
translated by Masao Abe and Christopher Ives (London and
(d. 1325) to Muh:ammad Iqba¯l (d. 1938) have eulogized his
New Haven, Conn., 1990); A Study of Good, translated by
religious charisma and sought solace in prayers at his grave.
Valdo Viglielmo (Tokyo, 1960); Intuition and Reflection in
Muh:ammad Tughluq (r. 1324–1351) was a pallbearer at his
Self-Consciousness, translated by Valdo Viglielmo, Yoshinori
funeral and built the mausoleum over his grave. It is a mea-
Takeuchi, and Joseph O’Leary (Albany, N.Y., 1987); Art and
sure of Niz:a¯m al-D¯ın’s authority with the people that Ba¯bur
Morality, translated by David Dilworth and Valdo Viglielmo
(r. 1526–1530), founder of the Mughal dynasty, felt it neces-
(Honolulu:, 1973); L’Io e il Tu, translated by Renato Andol-
sary, during his conquest of Delhi, to pay his respects at the
fato (Padova, Italy, 1996); Fundamental Problems of Philoso-
shrine. It remains a major site of pilgrimage for non-Muslims
phy: The World of Action and the Dialectical World, translated
as well as Muslims.
by David Dilworth (Tokyo, 1970); Intelligibility and the Phi-
losophy of Nothingness
, translated by Robert Schinzinger
Niz:a¯m al-D¯ın’s paternal and maternal grandparents
(Tokyo, 1958; reprint, Westport, Conn., 1973); Logik des
were refugees from Bukhara, two of many distinguished fam-
Ortes: Der Anfang der modernen Philosophie in Japan, translat-
ilies who fled the depredations of the Mongols in Central
ed by Rolf Elberfeld (Darmstadt, Germany, 1999); Last
Asia. They eventually settled in Badaon, a city to the east of
Writings: Nothingness and the Religious Worldview, translated
by David Dilworth (Honolulu:, 1987); and Michiko Yusa,
Delhi, where Niz:a¯m al-D¯ın was born. When he was perhaps
“The Logic of Topos and the Religious Worldview,” Eastern
five, his father died. His religious temperament was forged
Buddhist 19, no. 2 (1986): 1–29 and Eastern Buddhist 20, no.
during the years of privation that followed. His mother,
1 (1987): 81–119.
Zulaykhah, faced extreme hardship with a serene reliance on
Other translations of Nishida’s essays include “On the Doubt of
the compassion of God that proved a decisive, lasting influ-
Our Heart,” translated by Jeff Shore and Fusako Nagasawa,
ence. She recognized in her son an instinct for learning and
Eastern Buddhist 17, no. 2 (1984): 7–11; “An Explanation
devotion and encouraged it. His intellectual talents recom-
of Beauty,” translated by Steve Odin, Monumenta Nipponica
mended him to the best of Badaon’s teachers, and he excelled
42, no. 2 (1987): 215–217; “Gutoku Shinran,” translated by
in all branches of the Islamic sciences.
Dennis Hirota, Eastern Buddhist 28, no. 2 (1995): 242–244;
and “The Principle of the New World Order,” translated by
At sixteen, knowing he could get no further as a scholar
Yoko Arisaka, Monumenta Nipponica 51, no. 1 (1996): 100–
in Badaon, he asked permission to go to Delhi. His mother
105. For a more complete listing, see Wayne Yokoyama,
consented, and the family moved to even deeper penury in
“Nishida Kitaro¯ in Translation: Primary Sources in Western
the capital. In later life, Niz:a¯m al-D¯ın recollected with plea-
Languages,” Eastern Buddhist 28, no. 2 (1995): 297–302.
sure how often his mother would say, as if announcing an
For critical works on Nishida and the Kyoto School, see James
honor, “Today we are the guests of God,” meaning that there
Heisig, Philosophers of Nothingness: An Essay on the Kyoto
was no food in the house. He soon established a reputation
School (Honolulu, 2001); James Heisig and John Maraldo,
as a devout scholar with formidable debating skills. He con-
eds., Rude Awakenings: Zen, the Kyoto School, and the Ques-
sidered a career as a qa¯d:¯ı, intending to help the people by
tion of Nationalism (Honolulu, 1994); Michiko Yusa,
dispensing justice. But instinctive asceticism and mystical
“Nishida and the Question of Nationalism,” Monumenta
yearning, deepened by the example of his teachers (in Ba-
Nipponica 46, no. 2 (1991): 203–209; Michiko Yusa, “Cor-
daon, Sha¯d¯ı Muqr¯ı and EAla¯Dal-D¯ın Us:u¯l¯ı, and in Delhi,
respondence,” Monumenta Nipponica 49, no. 4 (1994): 524–
Khawa¯jah Shams al-D¯ın and Kama¯l al-D¯ın Za¯hid), had
527; Michiko Yusa, “Reflections on Nishida Studies,” East-
marked him for a different vocation. Accounts he heard of
ern Buddhist 28, no. 2 (1995): 287–296; Yoko Arisaka, “The
Nishida Enigma,” Monumenta Nipponica 51, no. 1 (1996):
the sanctity of Ba¯ba¯ Far¯ıd al-D¯ın Ganj-i Shakar, then head
81–99; and Graham Parkes, “The Putative Fascism of the
of the Chisht¯ı order, stirred his heart. He visited the venera-
Kyoto School and the Political Correctness of the Modern
ble shaykh in Ajodhan (now Pak Pattan) in northwest Pun-
Academy,” Philosophy East and West 47, no. 3 (1997): 305–
jab, and there enrolled as his disciple.
336. On select philosophical concepts of Nishida and his
successors, see Michiko Yusa, “Contemporary Buddhist Phi-
According to traditional accounts of Niz:a¯m al-D¯ın’s
losophy,” in Eliot Deutsch and Ron Bontekoe, eds., A Com-
life, Ba¯ba¯ Far¯ıd perfected his moral character, erasing from
panion to World Philosophies (Oxford, 1997), pp. 564–572.
it traces of pride in academic reputation. When Niz:a¯m
For Nishida’s students and European thinkers, see Michiko
al-D¯ın was only twenty-three, Ba¯ba¯ Far¯ıd appointed him as
Yusa, “Philosophy and Inflation: Miki Kiyoshi in Weimar
his successor, ordering him to found a kha¯nqa¯h (lodge) in
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NIZ:A¯M AL-MULK
6639
Delhi and to “take the spiritual kingdom of Hindustan.”
sance, did not impede Niz:a¯m al-D¯ın in his calling: the order
Niz:a¯m al-D¯ın settled in Ghiyathpur, a village beside the
continued to expand, and people still flocked to him for
river Jumna, a little way outside the capital. Originally a
guidance and blessing.
straw hut, the kha¯nqa¯h of Niz:a¯m al-D¯ın became the largest
A lifetime of vigils and fasting weakened the health of
of its kind in India. His reputation grew, as did the futu¯h: or
Niz:a¯m al-D¯ın. He continually suffered ailments of the stom-
unsolicited gifts upon which the kha¯nqa¯h depended. People
ach and bowels. He died on April 3, 1325, and was buried
from all classes, including the social and political elite, sought
in the garden of the kha¯nqa¯h. He left no written works.
his counsel; many submitted to the rigors of kha¯nqa¯h life to
Niz:a¯m al-D¯ın’s legacy was a lived example, cherished and
become disciples. His famous disciples included Na¯s:ir
relived through the centuries by his followers. They remem-
al-D¯ın Chira¯gh in Delhi, Qut:b al-D¯ın Munawwar in the
ber his example of spiritual wakefulness expressed as service
Punjab, Burha¯n al-D¯ın Ghar¯ıb in the Deccan, the famous
to humanity and his teachings that emphasized that divine
poet Am¯ır Khusraw, the historian Z:iya¯D al-D¯ın Bara¯n¯ı, and
compassion was ever present, without discrimination of class
the noted scholar Fakhr al-D¯ın Zarra¯d¯ı.
or creed: the role of those who loved God was, accordingly,
Niz:a¯m al-D¯ın never turned anyone away, whatever
to mirror his compassion and relieve the human distress that
their initial motives for calling on him, and he did his utmost
arises from physical and spiritual poverty.
to satisfy them. He is said to have had achieved such self-
transcendence that he lived the problems of others as his own
BIBLIOGRAPHY
and attended to them with unfailing compassion. He taught
The most important collections of Niz:a¯m al-D¯ın’s teachings and
through parables (typically presented as anecdotes from the
anecdotes (malfu¯z:a¯t) are the Fawa¯ Did al-fuDa¯d by H:asan Sijz¯ı
life of holy men) with implicit relevance for the questioner’s
(Lucknow, India, 1884) and Durar-i Niza¯m¯ı by EAl¯ı Ja¯nda¯r
situation. The latter then had to engage his own resources
(Hyderabad, India, n.d.). Fawa¯ Did al-fuDa¯d has been translat-
to work out the course of action appropriate for him, and
ed by Bruce B. Lawrence as Niz:a¯m ad-D¯ın Awliya¯: Morals
was thereby relieved of the psychological burden of having
for the Heart (New York, 1992). Useful biographical ac-
counts are available in Jama¯l Qiwa¯m al-D¯ın, Qiwa¯m
felt helpless.
al- Eaqa¯ Did (Hyderabad, India, n.d.), and M¯ır Khurd, Siyar
The people’s trust in Niz:a¯m al-D¯ın also rested on the
al-awl¯ıya¯ D (Delhi, 1885). The best contemporary chronicle
moral reputation of the kha¯nqa¯h. Following the traditions of
of the Delhi sultanate is Z:iya¯D al-D¯ın Baran¯ı, Ta¯r¯ıkh-i F¯ıru¯z
Sha¯h¯ı
(Calcutta, 1860). In English a popular biography of
the order, any association with political power was rejected;
the saint is Khaliq A. Nizami, The Life and Times of Shaikh
government employment was forbidden to senior disciples;
Nizam-u’d-din Auliya (Delhi, 1991). For a history of the pe-
gifts with conditions attached or gifts (like grants of property
riod, see Mohammad Habib and Khaliq A. Nizami, eds., A
or land) offering a regular income were refused. Poverty was
Comprehensive History of India, reprint ed. (Delhi, 1982).
allowed to alternate with plenty in the resources of the
For an excellent historical account and evaluation of the
kha¯nqa¯h. Income from futu¯h: was distributed to the poor as
Chisht¯ı order, see Khaliq A. Nizami, Religion and Politics in
soon as received, or expended in the form of food prepared
India during the Thirteenth Century (Oxford, 2002).
and served in the kha¯nqa¯h. All who entered the discipline of
AZRA ALAVI (2005)
the kha¯nqa¯h, whatever their eminence outside, were expected
to and did serve the poor at table. Such service was essential
training for, and the primary expression of, service of God.
Niz:a¯m al-D¯ın encouraged Islamic scholarship and insisted
NIZ:A¯M AL-MULK (AH 408–485/1018–1092 CE) was
on the normal rites and other demands of the shar¯ı Eah. The
a celebrated Persian vizier. Abu¯ EAl¯ı al-H:asan ibn EAl¯ı ibn
goal of his efforts was a deeper relationship with God, and
Ish:a¯q al-T:u¯s¯ı was born in Nawqa¯n, a village near T:us in
his Islam was vigorously tolerant and inclusive. Non-
Khura¯sa¯n. He served two Salju¯q sultans, A¯lp Arsala¯n (r.
Muslims as well as Muslims were drawn to the kha¯nqa¯h as
1063–1073) and his son Maliksha¯h ibn A¯lp Arsala¯n (r.
a haven of gentleness and spiritual serenity.
1073–1092), and held the honorifics Niz:a¯m al-Mulk (ad-
The formative years of the Delhi kha¯nqa¯h coincided
ministrator of the realm), Qawa¯m al-D¯ın (upholder of reli-
with the expansion and consolidation of the Delhi sultanate
gion), and Ghiyâth al-Dawla (mainstay of government).
during the reign of EAlaD al-D¯ın Khalj¯ı (r. 1296–1316). The
Niz:a¯m al-Mulk was a Sha¯fiE¯ı in law and an AshEar¯ı in theolo-
sultan’s invitations to the saint were always refused, but the
gy. He befriended S:u¯f¯ıs and built numerous educational in-
sultan neither resented nor feared the other’s popularity: am-
stitutions, known as madrasahs. He was assassinated in 1092
bitious himself, he recognized the absence of worldly ambi-
in a small village outside of Is:faha¯n. In his seventy-four years,
tion in the saint, and exempted his kha¯nqa¯h from the intru-
Niz:a¯m al-Mulk rose from being a member of the bureaucra-
sive control he favored for all aspects of political and
cy of the provincial governor of Balkh (in present-day Af-
economic life in his dominions. Later Niz:a¯m al-D¯ın again
ghanistan) to the de facto ruler of a vast empire, with a final
became the object of court intrigue focused on his sanction-
apotheosis as the archetypal good vizier in the world of Islam.
ing of music as an aid to religious rapture, which the court
Modern appraisals of Niz:a¯m al-Mulk, often based on
scholars disapproved. But these machinations, though a nui-
an uncritical distillation of medieval sources, tend to cast him
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6640
NIZ:A¯M AL-MULK
in the mold of later reformist but absolutist rulers, who pro-
cies and brought the downfall of his rival. Even in the most
moted religious orthodoxy, particularly through the found-
sympathetic accounts of the life of Niz:a¯m al-Mulk, he is held
ing of religious institutions, to counter latent forces of anar-
responsible for the execution of al-Kundur¯ı in 1064, whose
chy inherent in a world of steadily disintegrating spiritual
office he inherited. The dramatic aspect of the episode is en-
authority and ever increasing tribal incursions and political
hanced in a number of sources by inserting al-Kundur¯ı’s
conflicts. But a reading of the same sources, shorn of these
oracular last words, addressed to Niz:a¯m al-Mulk: “You have
underlying assumptions, reveals other traits and priorities.
taught these Turks the practice of killing their viziers.”
The ideal medieval statesman emerging from the scattered
The long years of Niz:a¯m al-Mulk’s administrative reign
references to Niz:a¯m al-Mulk in chronicles, biographies of vi-
are regarded as the halcyon days of the dynasty he served,
ziers, manuals of conduct, panegyrics of court poets, and
with his own personal retinue reflecting the opulence of the
other sources is not the homogenized single icon of a bureau-
realm he managed. Al-Subk¯ı’s (d. 1369/70) entry on Niz:a¯m
cratic state-builder, but the emblematic site where seemingly
discordant civic and personal virtues can be fused together
al-Mulk in his T:abaqa¯t al-Sha¯fiE¯ıyah al-kubrá suggests that
in a concatenated bio/hagiographical account of a life depict-
he had a personal army of Turkic slaves numbering over
ed in distinct stages. Thus, as in the biographies of many an
eighty thousand men, that he was one of the richest men in
outstanding spiritual figure before and after him (including,
the Islamic lands, and that he conducted the affairs of the
for example, the Prophet himself or the great poet and mystic
vast empire with effortless ease. But worldly riches are nicely
Jala¯l al-D¯ın Ru¯m¯ı), his precocious gifts are at once spotted
balanced in the sources by unworldly concerns, and many
and remarked upon, and so in a sense authenticated, by an
anecdotes depict him identifying himself with S:u¯f¯ıs and
outstanding contemporary luminary, in his case the great
their spiritual interests and taking an active part in religious
S:u¯f¯ı master Shaykh Abu¯ al-SaE¯ıd Abu¯ al-Khayr (d. 1049).
debates of his time. In his Ghiya¯th al-’umam f¯ı iltiya¯th
Later we see Niz:a¯m al-Mulk climb up rapidly on the slippery
al-z:ulam, written between 1072 and 1085, the ima¯m
bureaucratic ladder, stepping on his rivals’ toes whenever
al-H:aramayn al-Juwayn¯ı alludes to Niz:a¯m al-Mulk as the
necessary.
most qualified and capable administrator of his time, clearly
surpassing the reigning Abbasid caliph in both real power
Although biographical information in the medieval Is-
and spiritual legitimacy, a significant compliment, coming
lamic sources on Niz:a¯m al-Mulk is sketchy and the sources
as it does from one of the leading jurists of the eleventh
often contradict each other, almost all concur on his arduous
century.
early years, fraught with financial and political difficulties,
before he became a vizier. Although born to a dihqa¯n (landed
Niz:a¯m al-Mulk’s downfall also bears the teleological
aristocracy dating back to pre-Islamic Iran) family, Niz:a¯m
stamp of the didactic and polemical reading of history inher-
al-Mulk (or his father, for here sources vary) witnessed sever-
ent in the sources. In spite of his long years in power, Niz:a¯m
al injustices in his youth, and the family possessions were
al-Mulk finally fell victim to the arbitrary nature of medieval
confiscated several times when he (or his father) served Ghaz-
kingship, like so many of his predecessors and successors.
navid (r. 977–1186) officials in Khura¯sa¯n. But Niz:a¯m al-
Spearheaded by the sultan Maliksha¯h’s favorite wife, Turka¯n
Mulk’s fortune changed when the Salju¯qs entered Khura¯sa¯n
Kha¯tu¯n (d. 1094), and exploiting a succession dispute, his
in 1038. He was recommended to the new sultan either by
enemies at the Salju¯q court succeeded in convincing the sul-
the provincial governor of Balkh or by the ima¯m al-
tan that the old vizier harbored ambitions to rule the empire.
Muwaffaq (d. 1048), the respected leader of the Sha¯fiE¯ı fac-
The history of the demise of Niz:a¯m al-Mulk is cast in the
tion of N¯ısha¯pu¯r, again depending on the source one uses.
familiar medieval mold of heresy, the stealthy intervention
In so doing, al-Muwaffaq bypassed another student of his,
of women in politics, and conspiracy at court. Turka¯n
the Eam¯ıd al-Mulk al-Kundur¯ı. Although al-Muwaffaq rec-
Kha¯tu¯n, allied with the Isma¯E¯ıl¯ıs and others accused of being
ommended Niz:a¯m al-Mulk, al-Kundur¯ı also entered into
enemies of Islam, persuaded Maliksha¯h to charge Niz:a¯m al-
Salju¯q service, serving the governor of Khura¯sa¯n, who was
Mulk with nepotism and treachery. The vizier wrote back,
the brother of the reigning sultan.
reminding the sultan that his fate was intertwined with
Niz:a¯m al-Mulk’s fate, and that God, who had given one the
In 1063, when A¯lp Arsala¯n succeeded his father and
turban, had given the other the crown. Maliksha¯h replaced
uncle as the sole ruler of the Salju¯q Empire, he kept
him with one of his wife’s allies, the Sh¯ıE¯ı Ta¯j al-Mulk
al-Kundur¯ı in office, as recommended by his father. Al-
(d. 1093), a person of unsound religious views, according to
though initially a Sha¯fiE¯ı and AshEar¯ı himself, al-Kundur¯ı
the sources. A year later, Niz:a¯m al-Mulk was assassinated, al-
initiated the public cursing of Sh¯ıEah and Asha¯Eirah from the
legedly by adherents of another unorthodox creed, the
pulpits in Khura¯sa¯n in 1062, in retaliation for the ima¯m al-
Isma¯E¯ıl¯ıs. On that oft-evoked complicity, too, there is much
Muwaffaq’s support of his rival. Several eminent
disagreement in the sources, as some hold Maliksha¯h respon-
AshEar¯ı/Sha¯fiE¯ı figures, among them the ima¯m al-H:aramayn
sible for his vizier’s death and some even claim that
al-Juwayn¯ı (d. 1085) and the S:u¯f¯ı master Abu¯ Qa¯sim
Maliksha¯h himself had, at the instigation of his wife, con-
al-Qushayr¯ı (d. 1072), left for Mecca in protest. They did
verted to Isma¯E¯ılism and was thus manipulated into arrang-
not return until Niz:a¯m al-Mulk reversed these divisive poli-
ing for the murder of his own vizier, the upholder of ortho-
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NJORÐR
6641
D
dox religion. Perhaps the only flicker of truth in this fog of
BIBLIOGRAPHY
conspiracy was the charge of nepotism, for the Vizier did,
For a general introduction to the life of Niz:a¯m al-Mulk, see
after all, secure the continuation of his policies by installing
Neguin Yavari, “Niz:a¯m al-Mulk Remembered: A Study in
a number of his relatives in prominent positions. Five of his
Historical Representation,” Ph.D.diss., Columbia Universi-
sons, two of his grandsons, and one great-grandson held the
ty, 1992. For sectarian strife, see Richard W. Bulliet, Patri-
cians of Nishapur: A Study in Medieval Islamic Social History

office of vizier to one or another of the rulers after him,
(Cambridge, Mass., 1972). For a critique of the Sunn¯ı reviv-
though none could reach his eminence, as recounted suc-
alist project, see Roy Mottahedeh, “The Transmission of
cinctly in Ibn Funduq’s (d. 1170) Ta¯Dr¯ıkh-i Bayhaq, a rich
Learning: The Role of the Islamic Northeast” in Madrasa: La
source on the rise and lingering influence of Niz:a¯m al-
transmission du savoir dans le monde musulman, edited by Ni-
Mulk’s family in the Salju¯q empire.
cole Grandin and Marc Gaborieau (Paris, 1997); see espe-
cially pages 65 and following. For the madrasas, see Daphna
The more general attribution that he lived and died a
Ephrat, A Learned Society in a Period of Transition: The Sunni
stalwart of orthodoxy, tacitly accepted by many modern
‘Ulama’ of Eleventh-Century Baghdad (Albany, N.Y., 2000).
scholars of medieval Islam, should be reconsidered. Nearly
For the Siyar al-Mulûk, see Hubert Darke’s “Introduction”
contemporary Sh¯ıE¯ı sources, such as EAbd al-Jal¯ıl al-Qazv¯ın¯ı
in Niz:a¯m al-Mulk, The Book of Government or Rules for
(d. after 1189) in his Kita¯b al-naqd (1164/65), and the poet
Kings, translated and edited by Darke (London, 2d ed.,
Ibn al-Habba¯r¯ıyah (d. 1115) in his anthology, have praised
1978); and Charles-Henri de Fouchécour, Moralia: Les no-
Niz:a¯m al-Mulk for his evenhandedness, and it should be
tions morales dans la littérature persane du 3e/9e au 7e/13e siè-
cle
(Paris, 1986).
borne in mind that one of the vizier’s daughters was married
to the son of the prominent Sh¯ıE¯ı leader, Sayyid Murtad:a¯
NEGUIN YAVARI (2005)
al-Qumm¯ı. There is praise for his tolerance from opposing
sides. In the annals of the year 1077 in his Al-Muntaz:am, the
H:anbal¯ı historian Ibn al-Jawz¯ı (d. 1200) has preserved a let-
NJORÐR (Njord) is the most outstanding of the group
ter from Niz:a¯m al-Mulk to Shaykh Abu¯ Ish:a¯q al-Sh¯ıra¯z¯ı
D
of Germanic gods known as the Vanir. Their war with the
(d. 1083), whom he had appointed to teach at the
Æsir (the primary group of gods) and the move of Njorðr,
Niz:a¯m¯ıyah in Baghdad. It concerns a series of riots by the
D
his son Freyr, and his daughter Freyja to the Æsir’s citadel,
H:anbal¯ıs of Baghdad following fiery sermons by the Sha¯fiE¯ı
Ásgarðr, as hostages has been seen as a reflection of an actual
professor at the Niz:a¯m¯ıyah. Niz:a¯m al-Mulk advises the pro-
religious war or the replacement of one cult with another,
fessor to be prudent in his sermons, especially as many
but it has also been taken as a symbolic explanation of the
H:anbal¯ıs lived in Baghdad, and the ima¯m Ah:mad ibn
existence of different aspects of divinity. According to Snorri
H:anbal (d. 855), the founder of the legal and theological
Sturluson (1179–1241), Njorðr is extremely wealthy and
school that bore Niz:a¯m al-Mulk’s name, was among the
D
prosperous and can grant land and movables to those who
most venerated figures of Islam. Niz:a¯m al-Mulk also in-
call on him. The protector of seafarers and fishermen, he
formed the shaykh that the Niz:a¯m¯ıyah, in line with his over-
sends favorable winds and calm seas. His dwelling in Ásgarðr
all policy, was conceived to facilitate learning, to protect the
is called Nóatún (Harbor), a name that points to his associa-
learned, and to discourage sectarian strife. Should the madra-
tion with sailing. But Njorðr does not stay with the Æsir for-
sahs fall short of this objective, he would have no alternative
D
ever; according to the eddic poem Vafþrúðnismál (st. 39),
but to shut them down. This last cautionary statement is sig-
after their last battle against the giants and monsters at
nificant in the context of the persisting misapprehension that
Ragnarok, Njorðr will return to the land of the Vanir.
clouds modern scholarship on the madrasahs sponsored by
D
D
Niz:a¯m al-Mulk. The Niz:a¯m¯ıyah were not generally per-
The mythology about Njorðr is dominated by his move
D
ceived as instruments of government policy by medieval
to Ásgarðr. The incestuous relations allowed among the
Muslim historians, nor did they succeed in transforming the
Vanir were alien to the Æsir, and in the eddic poem Lokasen-
highly personal structure of Islamic education. In fact, medi-
na (st. 36), Loki reproaches Njorðr with having begotten his
D
eval histories preserve little to document a long-lasting effect
children with his own sister. Njorðr enters into a marriage
D
of the Niz:a¯m¯ıyahs, beyond their founder’s lifetime, on the
that serves the Æsir but turns out to be a disaster of tempera-
educational infrastructure of Islamic society.
mental incompatibility for both spouses. The legitimacy of
Freyr and Freyja was evidently a problem for Snorri, who im-
Similarly, and contrary to the tone of most modern
plies they were the offspring of Njorðr and his new wife. The
studies on Niz:a¯m al-Mulk, his authorship of a treatise on po-
D
story of this marriage is an intertwining of Märchenmotive
litical and courtly decorum, the Siyar al-Mulu¯k, does not
(folktale motifs) and fertility rites. Through Loki’s deceit, the
loom large in the medieval accounts. The Siyar al-Mulu¯k,
giant Þjazi was killed by the Æsir, and when his daughter
rather than a treatise on political thought in the modern
Skaði came to Ásgarðr to claim compensation, she was of-
sense of the term, is essentially an ethical treatise, which bears
fered her choice of a husband from among the Æsir, provid-
more of a resemblance to the ninth-century pseudo-
ed that she look only at their feet. She expected her choice
Aristotelian Secretum Secretorum than to Machiavelli’s The
to be the handsome Baldr, but she had picked Njorðr, whose
D
Prince.
feet were evidently washed clean by his watery domain. Skaði
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

6642
NOAH
had accepted this arrangement only on condition that the
the throne of Sweden after “King Óðinn” passed away. Such
gods would make her laugh; Loki was able to do so by tying
peace and plenteous harvests followed that the Swedes be-
one end of a string to his scrotum and the other to a goat’s
lieved he controlled the crops and the well-being of human-
beard; when both pulled, there was a lot of shouting and
kind.
howling until Loki fell on his knees in front of Skaði, who
burst out laughing. Unfortunately, Skaði and Njorðr turned
SEE ALSO Germanic Religion; Loki; Óðinn.
D
out to be incompatible; they alternated living at Nóatún and
at Þrymheimr, but she hated living by the sea, and he hated
BIBLIOGRAPHY
living in the mountains. Snorri mentions that she left her
Clunies Ross, Margaret. Prolonged Echoes: Old Norse Myths in Me-
husband, so there was probably a myth recounting her return
dieval Northern Society, vol. 1, The Myths. Odense, Denmark,
1994.
to her father’s estate.
Dumézil, Georges. From Myth to Fiction: The Saga of Hadingus.
Despite the scanty information about Njorðr in Old
D
Translated by Derek Coltman. Chicago, 1973.
Norse literature, his cult was important in Germanic antiqui-
Lindow, John. Scandinavian Mythology: An Annotated Bibliogra-
ty. This is confirmed by the considerable number of cult
phy. New York, 1988.
place-names, which occur particularly in eastern Sweden and
Turville-Petre, Gabriel. Myth and Religion of the North: The Reli-
western Norway, but in Denmark and Iceland as well.
gion of Ancient Scandinavia. London, 1964.
Whereas the Norwegian and Icelandic place-names are al-
Vries, Jan de. Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte, vol. 2. 2d rev. ed.
ways found near the coast, as would be expected for a seafar-
Berlin, 1967.
ing god, the Swedish place-names are always found in inland
agricultural areas, suggesting that Njorðr was worshiped as
EDGAR C. POLOMÉ (1987)
D
a fertility god in those areas. A number of the Swedish place-
ELIZABETH ASHMAN ROWE (2005)
names go back to an original Njarðarvé (Njorðr’s temple)
D
and show that he was publically worshiped at an early period.
Worship at a later period is implied by the place-names in
NOAH, son of Lamech and father of Shem, Ham, and Ja-
southeastern Norway going back to Njarðarhof, where hof is
pheth, according to the Hebrew scriptures (Gn. 5:29–30,
a newer word that also means temple. Another indication of
6:10); chosen by God to be saved from the universal flood
his importance in the pagan religion is found in the extant
that destroyed the earth. Plausibly, this story has ancient
remnant of the pagan law code of Iceland, where it is laid
Mesopotamian roots, as do many other features of the bibli-
down that a person performing legal business should swear
cal flood traditions. But while ancient Sumerian tradition
an oath on the holy ring, saying “so help me Freyr and
and its reflexes refer to a hero who attained immortality after
Njorðr and the all-powerful god.”
D
the flood, biblical tradition speaks of the mortality of Noah.
A major problem in discussing Njorðr is his relation to
D
As one born in the tenth generation after Adam, Noah
the mother goddess of the Inguaeonic tribes, Nerthus, whom
is clearly linked to Adam. Indeed, his position as an Adam
the first-century CE Tacitus (Germania, ch. 40) says was wor-
redivivus is more expressly indicated in the popular etymolo-
shiped on an island in the Baltic; he equates her with Terra
gy of his name in Genesis 5:29, which regards him as the one
mater (Mother Earth). Njorðr and the Latino-Germanic
D
who “will comfort us from our labor and the travail of our
Nerthus reflect the proto-Germanic *nerþuz, but why is the
hands, out of the earth which Yahveh has cursed,” a thematic
earlier deity a goddess and the later one a god? The change
and verbal allusion (and, indeed, a hoped-for end) to the di-
has been ascribed to the “masculinization” of agriculture that
vine curses announced in Genesis 3:17. Moreover, after the
occurred between Roman times and the Viking Age, for ac-
flood Noah and his sons are given the same blessing and
cording to Tacitus, the early Germanic tribes left the cultiva-
earthly stewardship as was Adam, with the singular exception
tion of the land to women, the elderly, and the weaker mem-
that now flesh is permitted as food, whereas Adam was a veg-
bers of the extended family (Germania, ch. 14), whereas
etarian (Gn. 9:1–7, 1:28–30). In the postdiluvian world,
farming in the Viking period was carried out by men. Ac-
Noah also goes beyond his ancestor Adam insofar as he is
cording to Jan de Vries in Altgermanische Religiongeschichte
considered a man of domesticated labor—a vintner (Gn.
(1967), such an explanation is not wholly convincing, as it
9:19). Later biblical tradition remembered Noah as the hero
does not account for the shift of the deity’s main domain
of the flood (Is. 54:9) and as one of the three most “righ-
from fertility to the sea and navigation. Modern research
teous” men of antiquity (Ez. 14:14, 14:20). In this latter
tends to emphasize the fact that Njorðr has always been a
D
attribution, there is an obvious link to the statement in
“man of the sea,” and the change of sex is explained by postu-
Genesis 6:9 that “Noah was a righteous man; perfect in his
lating a hermaphroditic deity or supposing that Njorðr and
D
generation.”
Nerthus were brother and sister.
In the Midrash and aggadah, rabbis developed the tradi-
The significance of Njorðr is also reflected in his role
tions of Noah’s righteousness, emphasizing, on the one
D
in medieval euhemeristic tales describing the legendary early
hand, both his fellow feelings and his concern that his gener-
history of Scandinavia, in which he is said to have assumed
ation repent of their sins (a tradition also found in the church
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

NOCK, ARTHUR DARBY
6643
fathers) and, on the other hand, his concern for all animals
A fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, Nock shared
and species of life. A more jaundiced note is sounded by both
some of the interests, if not all the beliefs, of a group of
the rabbinic view that Noah merely excelled in his own gen-
learned Anglo-Catholics who were producing a set of essays
eration, which was very evil, but was not himself of exempla-
on the Trinity and the Incarnation. He maintained his inde-
ry righteousness (Gn. Rab. 30.9) and the later Hasidic com-
pendence and objectivity while preparing an enduringly
ment of YaEaqov Yosef of Polonnoye that Noah was a self-
valuable essay entitled “Early Gentile Christianity and Its
centered tsaddiq, or righteous leader, since he did not seek
Hellenistic Background,” in which he anticipated much of
the spiritual-social transformation of the entire people.
his later work on both subjects. Quite soon Nock was invited
In Christianity, Noah served as one of the most impor-
to Harvard University, where he became Frothingham Pro-
tant typological figures insofar as he symbolized the just per-
fessor of the History of Religion in 1930. His Lowell Lec-
son who, in a sinful world, submitted in faith to God (cf.
tures were published as Conversion: The Old and the New in
Heb. 11:7, Lk. 17:26, 1 Pt. 3:20, 2 Pt. 2:5). The flood, ark,
Religion from Alexander the Great to Augustine of Hippo (Ox-
and dove prominent in the biblical story also serve as Chris-
ford, 1933).
tian prefigurations, for just as Noah rises above death by
Nock’s scholarly range was immense, his depth and in-
water, so Jesus and the Christians defeat Satan and death by
tensity remarkable. His shorter papers reflect great energy
the waters of baptism (1 Pt. 3:18–21). In other traditions,
governed by a strong mind. Legend has it that he had spent
Noah prefigures Jesus as one who announces judgment and
his earlier years reading all the Teubner texts before going
saves humanity from complete destruction, and his ark sym-
on to all the secondary literature. For many years he worked
bolizes the church. The dove sent forth by Noah comes to
with A.-J. Festugière, O.P., on an edition of the theosophical
symbolize the Holy Spirit of peace and divine reconciliation
Corpus Hermeticum (Paris, 1945), freeing the text from need-
moving over the baptismal waters. In Muslim tradition,
less emendations and setting the whole in its Middle Platonic
Noah (Arab., Nuh) also plays a strong role: an entire su¯rah
environment. To clarify historical context was always his
of the QurDa¯n (17) is devoted to him, and Muh:ammed con-
goal. As he wrote in the preface to Conversion, “We shall seek
sidered Noah’s life as prototypical of his own.
to see as a pagan might the Christian Church and the Chris-
tian creed. The evidence at our disposal does not admit of
BIBLIOGRAPHY
complete success in this quest; we can but hope to have a rea-
Allen, D. C. Legend of Noah: Renaissance Rationalism. Urbana, Ill.,
sonable approximation to the truth and, in the Swedish prov-
1949.
erb, ‘to put the church in the middle of the village.’”
Ginzberg, Louis. The Legends of the Jews (1909–1938). 7 vols.
Publication of Nock’s Gifford Lectures, delivered in
Translated by Henrietta Szold et al. Reprint, Philadelphia,
1937–1966. See the index, s.v. Noah.
1939 and 1946, was delayed by World War II and was finally
nullified by his perfectionism. He was too busy to look back.
Sarna, Nahum M. Understanding Genesis. New York, 1972.
He had already produced a masterly chapter on late Roman
Speiser, E. A. Genesis. Anchor Bible, vol. 1. Garden City, N.Y.,
religion, “The Development of Paganism in the Roman Em-
1964.
pire,” making full use of the coins, for the Cambridge Ancient
New Sources
History, vol. 12 (Cambridge, 1939), and he was responsible
Bailey, Lloyd R. Noah: The Person and the Story in History and
for editing the Harvard Theological Review—which he con-
Tradition. Studies on Personalities of the Old Testament.
tinued to do for thirty-three years—as a journal for ancient
Columbia, S.C., 1989.
religion, chiefly Greek and Roman.
Ochs, Carol. The Noah Paradox: Time as Burden, Time as Blessing.
Notre Dame, Ind., 1991.
Nock was opposed to the proliferation of hypotheses
Pleins, J. David. When the Great Abyss Opened: Classic and Con-
and to the building of theory upon theory. Reluctant to gen-
temporary Readings of Noah’s Flood. Oxford and New York,
eralize, he spoke of the sacredness of fact, although he valued
2003.
facts not for their own sake but as the foundation stones of
knowledge. Revered by his students and colleagues for his
MICHAEL FISHBANE (1987)
Revised Bibliography
knowledge and judgment, he helped many to resist specula-
tion, thus pointing the way to a truly collaborative study of
religion.
NOCK, ARTHUR DARBY (1902–1963), Anglo-
American historian of religions. Nock, who was born in
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Portsmouth, England, and died in Cambridge, Massachu-
Particularly notable, along with the works mentioned above, is
Nock’s Early Gentile Christianity and Its Hellenistic Back-
setts, showed early promise of becoming what Martin P. Nil-
ground (New York, 1964), which includes the essay by that
sson was to call him: “the world’s leading authority on the
title as well as two other papers. Among Nock’s many arti-
religion of later antiquity.” His Sallus-tius: Concerning the
cles, it is difficult to select the most important, although cer-
Gods and the Universe (Cambridge, England, 1926), a model
tainly his “Sarcophagi and Symbolism,” “Hellenistic Myster-
edition of an allegorical treatise from late antiquity, is nota-
ies and Christian Sacraments,” and “The Roman Army and
ble for its essay on the treatise in its fourth-century setting.
the Religious Year” deserve attention. Nock’s 415 publica-
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6644
NOISE
tions are listed—and 59 of them are reprinted—in his Essays
(c. 1070–1121), largely influenced by the Platonic realism
on Religion and the Ancient World, 2 vols., edited by Zeph
of the early church fathers, maintained that predicable terms
Stewart (Oxford, 1972).
immediately reflect common natures in creatures and medi-
New Sources
ately reflect ideas in the mind of God. The earliest opponent
As far as secondary literature is concerned, besides the obituaries
of such realism was the French teacher Roscelin (fl. 1080–
written by André-Jean Festugière, Revue Archéologique 1
1125), who taught Peter Abelard (1079–1142). Arguing that
(1963): 203–205; Martin P. Nilsson, Gnomon 15 (1963):
things as such exist only as individuals and cannot be predi-
318–319; Henry Chadwick and Eric Robertson Dodds,
cated universally, Roscelin attributed universality solely to
Journal of Roman Studies 53 (1963): 168–169, and other
vocal utterances. Modifying the extreme view of Roscelin,
ones, see, more recently, William M. Calder III, “Harvard
Abelard held that in predication it is simply names that are
classics 1950–1956.” Eikasmos 4 (1993): 39–49. The same
predicated of subject-terms, and the main function of names
author has devoted some pages to Nock in his Men in Their
is to signify whatever is agreed upon by men. The meaning
Books: Studies in the Modern History of Classical Scholarship,
edited by John P. Harris and R. Scott Smith (Hildesheim,
of the term rose being agreed upon, the name of the rose and
1998). Nock’s scientific legacy is well outlined in Mario
its signification remain even when there are no more roses.
Mazza’s valuable introductory essay premitted to the Italian
Signification, for Abelard, exists only in the mind, not in in-
translation of Conversion (Bari, 1974), pp. i–xlvi.
dividual things existing outside the mind. Abelard, however,
did not raise the more serious questions of psychology or
ROBERT M. GRANT (1987)
Revised Bibliography
epistemology, since he did not know the rest of Aristotle’s
philosophy.
Logicians after Abelard distinguished between the
meaning (significatio) of names and their intended use (sup-
NOISE SEE PERCUSSION AND NOISE
positio) in sentences. Three kinds of supposition were noted:
“simple,” as in the simple meaning of a name; “material,” as
in the sounds or letters with which it is composed; and “per-
sonal,” as in the proper subject possessing the attribute. In
NOMINALISM. The philosophical view of nominalists
the thirteenth century wider issues were also discussed, such
is based on the conviction that in human discourse only
as the psychology of knowledge and the epistemological
names (nomina), nouns, or words are “universal,” not things,
foundations of all knowledge. Moderate realists explained
common natures, or ideas, as claimed by the realists. The
universal concepts in terms of “abstraction” by the human
problem of universals, first raised in logic, concerned the sta-
intellect from sense knowledge directly perceiving existing
tus of terms that are predicable of many subject-terms. The
individuals.
problem raised other questions that had to be answered in
psychology or epistemology, with serious ramifications in
Early in the fourteenth century William of Ockham (c.
theology. The logical problem of universals was heatedly de-
1285–1349) rejected every shade of universality in things
bated in the eleventh and twelfth centuries in response to Ab-
outside the mind, even fundamentally and potentially: “All
elard; the larger problem was debated even more heatedly in
those whom I have seen agree that there is really in the indi-
the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in response to Ock-
vidual a nature that is in some way universal, at least poten-
ham and his followers.
tially and incompletely” (Sentences 1.2.7). Ockham’s unique
nominalism rests on three crucial positions. First, in logic he
In the early Middle Ages logicians encountered the
substituted a new meaning for “simple” supposition: namely,
problem of universals in teaching Aristotle’s Categories and
when a term used stands for a mental intuition (intentio ani-
Porphyry’s Isagoge (Introduction). In the Categories Aristotle
mae), but without that meaning, that is, without signifying
listed ten classes of terms that are predicable of subject-terms
something mental. As a consequence “personal” supposition
in discourse (substance and the nine accidental characteris-
became the concrete individual indicated by the name (Sum
tics). Porphyry grouped these into five types of univocal
of Logic 1.64). Second, in psychology Ockham eliminated all
predicability called “universals” (uni-versus-alia), namely,
distinctions between the soul and its faculties, among the fac-
genus, species, difference, property, and accident. Concern-
ulties themselves, and between intellectual and sense knowl-
ing their status Porphyry raised three questions: namely,
edge. For Ockham, the intellect directly perceives the con-
whether they exist substantially or only in the mind; if the
crete individual by “intuitive” knowledge. Third, as for
former, whether they are corporeal or incorporeal; and, third,
existing realities, only “absolute things” (res absolutae) can
whether they exist separately from objects of sense or only
exist, namely, individual substances (matter or form) and
in them. Porphyry gave no answer but implied a Platonic so-
sensible qualities: “Apart from absolute things, viz. sub-
lution. Boethius (c. 475–c. 525), in his commentary, further
stances and qualities, nothing can be imagined [to exist] ei-
asks whether these universals are “things,” as the Platonists
ther actually or potentially” (ibid., 1.49). Thus the other Ar-
hold, or only “names” as Aristotle seems to hold.
istotelian categories, such as quantity, relation, and the like,
Early teachers such as John Scottus Eriugena (fl. 847–
were reduced to mental intuitions (intentiones animae) that
877), Anselm (c. 1033–1109), and William of Champeaux
referred to individual “absolute things” variously perceived.
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NONVIOLENCE
6645
Ockham’s nominalism eliminated much of what was
Despite the general agreement over the immorality of
traditionally considered “real” in philosophy and theology.
killing, however, there is a great deal of disagreement within
Thus the name “motion” in any variation did not refer to
and among religious traditions over such crucial matters as
a reality other than the body itself in motion; it signified a
(1) how the rule against killing is justified; (2) when the rule
body (personal supposition) considered as being in one place
may be abrogated; (3) whether it applies to all animate life;
after another without interruption (in simple supposition).
(4) whether it includes a prohibition against forms of
Since “without interruption” is a negation, it cannot exist
harm other than physical; and (5) how central it is to each
outside the mind in order to be distinct from the body in
tradition.
motion. Similarly, “grace” signifies a sinner acceptable to
A comparative survey of the concept of nonviolence is
God as pleasing to him, not a reality in man distinct from
also complicated by the fact that the terms used for nonvio-
the sinner. This simplification of names appealed to many
lent acts and attitudes differ widely from culture to culture
philosophers and theologians after Ockham.
and from one century to the next. The words pacifism and
Many of the leading theologians in the fifteenth centu-
nonviolence, for instance, are relatively new inventions in the
ry—Gabriel Biel, Pierre d’Ailly, and Peter of Candia (the an-
English language. Nonviolence, a translation of the Sanskrit
tipope Alexander V), for example—were nominalists. More-
term ahim:sa¯ (lit., “no harm”), came into common English
over, most universities of Europe in the sixteenth century
usage only in the twentieth century through its association
considered nominalism a mark of Catholic orthodoxy.
with Mohandas Gandhi and his approach to conflict. While
the term has parallels in religious traditions throughout the
SEE ALSO William of Ockham.
world, the idea is central primarily in the religious traditions
B
found in India.
IBLIOGRAPHY
Carré, Meyrick H. Realists and Nominalists. Oxford, 1946.
In the following survey of nonviolence in the world reli-
Oberman, Heiko A. The Harvest of Medieval Theology: Gabriel
gious traditions, the concept can be seen as conceived in
Biel and Late Medieval Nominalism. 2d ed. Grand Rapids,
three basic ways:
Mich., 1967.
1. As an inner state or attitude of nondestructiveness and rev-
Reiners, Joseph. Der Nominalismus in der Frühscholastik. Beiträge
zur Geschichte der Philosophie des Mittelalters, vol. 8, no. 5.
erence for life. This idea is expressed primarily in the
Münster, 1910.
Jain, Buddhist, and Hindu traditions through the no-
Vignaux, Paul. “Nominalisme.” In Dictionnaire de théologie
tion of ahim:sa¯. It is also found in certain African and
catholique, vol. 11. Paris, 1931.
Native American tribal societies and in some Christian
Vignaux, Paul. Nominalisme au quatorzième siècle. Montreal,
communities, including the Quakers.
1948.
2. As an ideal of social harmony and peaceful living. This
New Sources
concept, associated with the Hebrew term shalom and
Dupré, Louis. Passage to Modernity: An Essay on the Hermeneutics
the Islamic term sala¯m, is also found in ancient Greek
of Nature and Culture. New Haven, 1993.
religion, where gods such as Demeter and Apollo incar-
Langer, Ulrich. Divine and Poetic Freedom in the Renaissance:
nated the virtues of peace. It is linked with visions of
Nominalist Theology and Literature in France and Italy.
a perfect future found in Christianity and in various
Princeton, N.J., 1990.
tribal religions.
Tooley, Michael, ed. The Nature of Properties: Nominalism, Real-
ism, and Trope Theory. New York, 1999.
3. As a response to conflict. A nonviolent approach to con-
frontation, even in oppressive situations, has been the
JAMES A. WEISHEIPL (1987)
hallmark of the Christian notion of sacrificial love, the
Revised Bibliography
Jewish concept of martyrdom, and the Gandhian strate-
gy of nonviolent conflict.
NONVIOLENCE. Virtually every religious tradition
ANCIENT INDIA. During the Vedic period (c. 1500–500
contains some sort of injunction against taking human life.
BCE), the concept of nonviolence was virtually unknown.
The biblical instruction “Thou shalt not kill” (Ex. 20:13, Dt.
The culture of the time was permeated with the values of a
5:17), considered normative for both Jewish and Christian
military society, and animals were widely used for food and
traditions, is echoed in the New Testament (Mt. 5:21) and
sacrifice. The mythological accounts of Vedic gods are filled
also in the QurDa¯n: “Slay not the life that God has made sa-
with acts of violence, vengeance, and warfare—activities in
cred” (6:152). In the Buddhist tradition, the first of the Five
which the gods of the great epics also participated.
Precepts mandated as part of the Eightfold Path of righteous
The first mention of nonviolence as a moral virtue is
living is the requirement not to kill. A Jain text claims that
found in the Cha¯ndogya Upanis:ad (3.17.4), where the word
“if someone kills living things . . . his sin increases”
ahim:sa¯ implies self-sacrifice and restraint. The Yoga Su¯tra
(Su¯trakr:ta¯n˙ga 1.1), a sentiment that is also found in Hindu-
later requires it as a vow for those undertaking yogic prac-
ism: “The killing of living beings is not conducive to heaven”
tices. The further evolution of the concept, however, is
(Manusmr:ti 5.48).
linked with another notion that arises in the Upanis:ads, the
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6646
NONVIOLENCE
belief in karman, that is, that one’s attitudes and deeds in this
thority rely on other religious traditions, such as Confucian-
life will influence one’s status in the next. Acts and attitudes
ism and Shinto, to justify political force.
destructive to life are considered to have an especially bad in-
Chinese culture has been receptive to Buddhist ideas on
fluence. The concept of ahim:sa¯, thus elevated, came into a
nonviolence, however, due to the existence of similar notions
central position in the teachings of the heterodox masters of
in traditional Chinese thought. The Daoist concept of wuwei
the sixth century BCE, notably Maha¯v¯ıra, the prominent
(“nonstriving”) connotes an ideal of peaceful living and the
figure in the Jain tradition, and Siddha¯rtha Gautama, the
absence of aggression much like that conveyed by the con-
Buddha.
cept of ahim:sa¯.
JAIN TEACHINGS. The importance of nonviolence in Jainism
is due to the tradition’s stark view of the law of karman: any
MEDIEVAL AND MODERN HINDU ATTITUDES. Sometime
association with killing, even an accidental one, is a serious
after the rise of Buddhism, and perhaps because of its influ-
obstacle on the path of karmic purity. For that reason, pious
ence, the idea of nonviolence gained popularity throughout
Jains wear masks over their faces to avoid breathing in (and
India and became linked with two other notions, vegetarian-
thereby destroying) tiny insects, and they sweep the ground
ism and respect for the cow. Some scholars regard cow wor-
before them in order to avoid stepping on anything living
ship as a vestige of an earlier nature-goddess religion in India,
as they walk. In addition, all Jains adhere to a vegetarian diet.
but in its later, Hindu interpretation, veneration of the cow
Vegetables are also living things, of course, but certain vege-
became a symbol of respect for all living beings, and by ex-
tables are thought to carry a greater karmic weight, and these
tension, a symbol of nonviolence. Despite the popularity of
the Jains try to avoid. Jain monks, whose code is even stricter
the concept, however, the political history of India has been
than that of the laity, hold as an ideal the logical conclusion
dominated by military rulers, often members of the warrior
of an extreme form of ahim:sa¯: the completion of one’s life
caste (ks:atriya) whose moral obligation (dharma) includes
by starving to death.
leadership in battle.
BUDDHISM. The Buddhist ideal of ahim:sa¯, even as practiced
It was Mohandas Gandhi (1869–1948) who brought
by Buddhist monks, is not as strict as that of the Jains. Bud-
the concept of nonviolence into the political sphere. By com-
dhists emphasize motivation as well as action, and traditional
bining the notion of nonviolence with a traditional means
Buddhist teachings require five conditions, all of which must
of protest—dharn: (a general strike)—Gandhi made move-
be present before one can be considered culpable of an act
ments of nonviolent noncooperation into instruments of sig-
of killing: (1) something must first have been living; (2) the
nificant political power. By employing nonviolence as an es-
killer must have known that it was alive; (3) he or she must
sential element of the consensus style of decision making
have intended to kill it; (4) there must have been an act of
traditionally practiced by India’s village councils (pañcha¯yat),
killing; and (5) it must, in fact, have died.
Gandhi developed a novel method of conflict resolution he
It is the absence of the third of these conditions that typ-
called satya¯graha (“truth force”). He applied this term both
ically allows for some mitigation of the rule of total nonvio-
to his campaigns for India’s independence and to his way of
lence in the Buddhist case. For instance, many Buddhists will
dealing with differences of opinion in everyday life.
eat meat as long as they have not themselves intended that
Although Gandhi insisted on nonviolence as a general
the animal be slaughtered or been involved in the act of
rule, he allowed for several significant exceptions. He con-
slaughtering. Armed defense—even warfare—has been justi-
doned the violence required to stop snipers or rapists as they
fied on the grounds that such violence has been in the nature
attacked, and permitted the killing of pests and wild animals
of response, not intent. To use violence nondefensively,
that threatened his rural commune. He claimed that he pre-
however, for the purpose of political expansion, appears to
ferred violence over cowardice, and he placed the battle for
be prohibited under the Buddhist rule.
truth on a higher plane than the strict observance of nonvio-
Perhaps for this reason, the great Buddhist emperor
lence. Yet Gandhi also regarded nonviolence as the litmus
A´soka came to accept the principle of nonviolence only after
test that would reveal where truth was to be found. In Gan-
his bloody wars of expansion. From his headquarters in what
dhi’s view, any form of coercion or intimidation was violent
is now the North Indian state of Bihar, Asoka conquered a
and to be abhorred.
goodly portion of the South Asian subcontinent in the third
HINDU AND SIKH MILITANTS. The persistence of violence
century BCE. Once in power, however, he instituted the rule
in India’s public life is ample testimony that Gandhi’s ap-
of nonviolence as state policy.
proach was not unanimously accepted even in his own land.
Even in modern Buddhist societies such as Thailand,
The movement for national independence that Gandhi led
where kingship is a religious as well as a political role, there
was marred by violence, including that perpetrated by Ben-
is a tension between the obligations of political authority and
gali nationalists inspired by Durga, a goddess to whom great
the adherence to the rule of nonviolence. In countries such
destructive powers were ascribed. At the time of indepen-
as China and Japan, where Buddhism is intertwined with
dence, Hindu militants led violent assaults against their old
other religious traditions, the stringent Buddhist standards
Muslim foes and, in 1948, one of them led the fatal assault
are maintained only by monks, while those in political au-
on Gandhi’s life as well.
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NONVIOLENCE
6647
The assassination in 1984 of Prime Minister Indira
and resistance, both as individual and as communal actions.
Gandhi of India was also motivated by religious concerns.
The confrontations with the occupying Roman government
Mrs. Gandhi was killed by a member of the Sikh community
included not only militant clashes, such as the Maccabean
in retaliation for her part in ordering a military assault on
Revolt (166–164 BCE), but also nonviolent encounters, as
the Sikh Golden Temple. The fundamental teachings of the
when the Jewish community resisted Caligula’s attempt to
Sikhs are not, however, violent: the fifteenth- and sixteenth-
establish a statue of himself as Zeus in the Temple at Jerusa-
century spiritual masters who are regarded as founders of the
lem in 40 CE. The revolt at Masada in 73 CE, although vio-
faith are portrayed as such gentle souls that Gandhi himself
lent, involved a show of religious solidarity that culminated
claimed to have been inspired by them. But over the years
in mass suicide, and the rebellion led by Bar Kokhba (c. 132–
the ranks of the Sikh movement swelled with members of
135 CE) involved a kind of passive resistance that resulted in
a militant tribal group, the Jats, and Sikhs were involved in
martyrdom.
violent clashes with the Mughals, the British, and other Indi-
The concept of martyrdom, kiddush ha-Shem
an rulers. The core of the Sikh community is known as “the
(“sanctification of the divine name”), is central to the Jewish
army of the faithful,” and their symbol is a double-edged
tradition of nonviolent resistance. The term implies that
sword.
those who revere the divine order must be unflagging in their
BIBLICAL JUDAISM. Western religious traditions are no less
witness to it, even at the cost of their lives. A rabbinical coun-
inclined than their Eastern counterparts to combine violent
cil in the second century CE narrowed to three the number
and peaceful images of the divine. And, as in the Hindu tra-
of offenses that one should refuse to commit even under the
dition, some of the earliest images are the most violent. “The
threat of death: idolatry, unchastity, and murder. By exten-
Lord is a warrior,” proclaims Exodus 15:3. The utter desola-
sion, however, martyrdom was expected in any situation
tion with which God destroyed his enemies indicated just
where one was forced to deny the basic tenets of the faith.
how fierce a warrior he could be.
In times of political oppression, the ideal of kiddush ha-
Later sections of the Hebrew scriptures temper this
Shem has served to inspire Jewish resisters to acts of courage
image with an attitude of compassion, and some even show
and faithfulness even at the risk of their lives. This ideal was
a disdain of things military (see Ps. 20, 30, 33, 147; Is. 30).
tested in the fifteenth century when, during the Spanish In-
David, for instance, was not allowed to build the Temple be-
quisition, many Jews were persecuted for adopting a tech-
cause he had shed blood (1 Chr. 28:2–3), and the prophetic
nique that amounted to passive resistance: they claimed to
vision that nations will “beat their swords into plowshares”
be Christian converts when in fact they were secretly observ-
and “never again be trained for war” (Is. 2:4, Mi. 4:3) is
ing the Jewish faith. In the twentieth century, faced with
one of the most vivid images of pacifism in any religious
massive Nazi attempts at genocide, the European Jewish
scripture.
community adopted both violent and nonviolent forms of
An even more positive approach is indicated by the
resistance. One of the most common responses to the Nazis,
growing prominence of the biblical term for “peace,” shalom,
especially among the Orthodox, was based on the traditional
which appears often in the prophetic books of the Hebrew
notion of kiddush ha-Shem: they faced their opponents with
scriptures, especially Jeremiah and Isaiah. The term signifies
dignity and faithfulness, rather than adopting any aspect of
not only an absence of warfare, but the presence of a spirit
the enemy’s behavior, even if it meant risking death.
of well-being and harmony. In this respect, shalom is the He-
EARLY CHRISTIANITY. Martyrdom was an important feature
brew equivalent for the positive aspects of ahim:sa¯, especially
of early Christianity as well, partly because it seemed an imi-
the absence of the desire to harm.
tation of the sacrifice of Jesus, but there has been disagree-
RABBINIC AND MODERN JUDAISM. Writings in the Babylo-
ment among Christians from that time to the present over
nian Talmud continue this Jewish emphasis on shalom and
whether Jesus’ example of selfless love (agape) was meant to
further elaborate a series of ethical restrictions on using vio-
be followed to similar extremes by other members of the
lence. On an interpersonal level, the absence of violence is
Christian community. Those who thought so expected that
applauded even in the face of provocation. If one is attacked,
the peaceable kingdom of God that is often depicted in the
a fourth-century rabbi advised, “let him kill you; do you
Gospels would be realized in this world, and they took liter-
commit no murder” (Pes. 25b). At the level of statecraft, the
ally Jesus’ advocacy of a nonviolent approach to conflict:
rabbis did sanction warfare, but they distinguished between
“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”
“religious” war and “optional” war. The former they required
(Mt. 5:44).
as a moral or spiritual obligation—to protect the faith or de-
The early church fathers, including Tertullian and Ori-
feat enemies of the Lord. These contrasted with wars that are
gen, affirmed that Christians were constrained from taking
waged for reasons of political expansion and power; such op-
human life, a principle that prevented them from participat-
tional wars are justified only if they are initiated for virtuous
ing in the Roman army. The fact that soldiers in the army
reasons.
were required to swear allegiance to the emperor’s god was
During the rabbinic period, the Jewish community was
also a deterrent, since it would have forced Christians into
also beginning to develop nonviolent forms of self-defense
what they regarded as idolatry.
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NONVIOLENCE
The adoption of Christianity as the state religion by
and A. J. Muste. The largest Christian pacifist organization
Constantine in the fourth century CE brought about a major
of modern times, the Fellowship of Reconciliation, was
reversal in Christian attitudes toward pacifism and led to the
founded in England in 1914; and a number of statements
formulation of the doctrine of just war. This idea, based on
urging nonviolence have been issued from the Vatican and
a concept stated by Cicero and developed by Ambrose and
from the World Council of Churches in response to the two
Augustine, has had a significant influence on Christian social
world wars of this century. In the United States during the
thought. The abuse of the concept in justifying military ad-
mid-twentieth century, Christian pacifist ideas played a sig-
ventures and violent persecutions of heretical and minority
nificant role in Martin Luther King, Jr.’s nonviolent move-
groups led Thomas Aquinas, in the thirteenth century, to re-
ment for racial justice, the movement against the American
affirm that war is always sinful, even if it is occasionally
involvement in the Vietnam War, and in movements against
waged for a just cause.
the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Some Christian “nucle-
PACIFIST CHRISTIAN MOVEMENTS. The late medieval period
ar pacifists,” however, restrict their advocacy of nonviolence
witnessed the rise of a series of movements dedicated to paci-
to nuclear arms, whose massively destructive power, they
fism and the ethic of love that Jesus had advocated in his Ser-
feel, vitiates the traditional Christian defense of weaponry in
mon on the Mount. One of the first of such groups was the
a “just war.”
Waldensian community based in France and North Italy;
this was founded by Pierre Valdès, who in 1170 had commit-
ISLAM. The concept of nonviolence is not so thoroughly de-
ted himself to a life of poverty and simplicity, and who re-
veloped in Islam as it is in many other religious traditions,
fused to bear arms. Although Valdès was excommunicated
but certain parallels do exist. The Islamic concept of peace,
from the church, he is said to have influenced the young
for instance—sala¯m—is as central to Islam as shalom is to Ju-
Francis of Assisi, whose religious order later adopted many
daism, and plays a similar role in providing a vision of social
of Valdès’s principles. Similar pacifist teachings were advo-
harmony. To that end, Islamic communities have placed
cated by John Wyclif and his Lollard followers in fourteenth-
great emphasis on arbitration and mediation so that intra-
century England, and in the same century the Hussite and
communal conflicts will not erupt into violent confronta-
Taborite movements in Czechoslovakia rejected all forms of
tions.
violence, as did their successors, the Moravians.
Yet there are times when recourse to violence is permit-
The Protestant Reformation provided a new stimulus
ted in Islamic law: inside Islam, it is justified as a means of
for groups that rejected the church’s compromise with what
punishment, and beyond Islam, as a tool to subdue an enemy
it often regarded as the political necessity of military force.
of the faith. The latter situation is known as jiha¯d, a word
In the first decades of the sixteenth century, the Anabaptists
that literally means “striving” and is often translated as “holy
broke away from Ulrich Zwingli’s branch of the Swiss Refor-
war.” This concept has been used to justify the expansion of
mation over the issues of voluntary baptism and absolute
territorial control by Muslim leaders into non-Islamic areas.
pacifism—teachings the Anabaptists affirmed and that, later
But Muslim law does not allow it to be used to justify forc-
in the same century, were adopted by Menno Simons and
ible conversion to Islam; the only conversions regarded as
his Mennonite followers in Holland. In a tragic and ironic
valid are those that come about nonviolently, through ratio-
twist of fate, many of these pacifists were persecuted by fel-
nal persuasion and change of heart. For that reason, non-
low Protestants as heretics, and were burned at the stake.
Islamic groups have traditionally been tolerated in Islamic
Perhaps the best-known Protestant pacifist movement
societies, and the Jews in Moorish Spain are often said to
is the Society of Friends, commonly known as the Quakers,
have been treated less harshly under their Muslim rulers than
which was established by George Fox in England in 1649.
under subsequent Christian ones.
The nonviolent ethic of this radical Puritan movement was
Muslim mystics, known as S:u¯f¯ıs, have on occasion re-
based on the notion that a spark of the divine exists in every
jected the common notion of jiha¯d by redefining it so that
person, making every life sacred. With this in mind, the
it refers primarily to an inner struggle, which they consider
Quaker colonialist William Penn refused to bear arms in his
“the greater jiha¯d”: the conflict of truth and evil within every
conflict with the American Indians, with whom he eventual-
person. In addition, there have been overtly pacifist sects in
ly negotiated a peace settlement.
Islam, such as the Ma¯ziya¯r¯ıyah and Ah:mad¯ıyah movements.
Many pacifist Christian movements in the nineteenth
The twentieth-century Muslim Pathans in North India, in-
and twentieth centuries, such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses,
fluenced by Gandhi and led by Abdul Ghaffir Khan, con-
owe a substantial debt to Christian predecessors such as those
ducted an extensive nonviolent campaign for independence
mentioned above. Others have been influenced by Western
from the British. In other cases, Muslims have responded to
humanist and Asian pacifist thought, especially, in the twen-
oppressive regimes by noncooperation and witnessing to the
tieth century, by the ideas of Mohandas Gandhi. Gandhi, in
faith even at peril of death—a form of martyrdom much like
turn, was influenced by Christian pacifists, including the
that found in the Jewish and Christian traditions.
Russian novelist and visionary Lev Tolstoi and the American
Christian social activists Kirby Page, Clarence Marsh Case,
SEE ALSO Ahim:sa¯; Gandhi, Mohandas; Peace.
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NORITO
6649
BIBLIOGRAPHY
NORITO are religious statements addressed to the deities
A general overview of concepts of nonviolence in the major reli-
(kami) in Shinto¯ rituals. They usually follow upon a one- to
gious traditions is to be found in John Ferguson’s War and
three-day purification rite, at the conclusion of which the
Peace in the World’s Religions (New York, 1977), and a de-
kami are invited by the Shinto¯ priests to be present at the
scription of the various ways religious traditions have put
ceremony. A norito generally contains the following ele-
nonviolence into practice in conflict situations is provided in
ments: (1) words of praise to the kami, (2) an explanation
Richard B. Gregg’s The Power of Non-Violence (Philadelphia,
of the origin of, or reasons for, this particular ritual or festi-
1934); in The Quiet Battle: Writings on the Theory and Prac-
val, (3) entertainment for the kami, (4) expressions of grati-
tice of Nonviolence, edited by Mulford Q. Sibley (Chicago,
tude for protection and favor given, and (5) prayers for the
1963); and in Gene Sharp’s The Politics of Nonviolent Action,
successful completion of the matter at hand. Norito are com-
3 vols. (Boston, 1973–1980).
posed in the classical language, and contain expressions of
Other works are specific to particular religious traditions. For the
great beauty; they are usually written exclusively in Chinese
concept of ahim:sa¯ in ancient India, see W. Norman Brown’s
characters, some of which have merely a phonetic function.
Man in the Universe: Some Continuities in Indian Thought
The rhythm produced by the peculiar word arrangement,
(Berkeley, 1966); for early Buddhism, see David S. Ruegg’s
which involves many pairs of expressions and sets of words
“Ahim:sa¯ and Vegetarianism in the History of Buddhism,” in
to modify the same object, is intended to pacify both the
Buddhist Studies in Honour of Walpola Rahula, edited by So-
kami and the participants and instill in them a feeling of
maratna Balasooriya et al. (London, 1980); and for the Jain
unity.
tradition, see Padmanabh S. Jaini’s The Jaina Path of Purifi-
cation
(Berkeley, 1979). Later developments of the idea in
Although there are many etymological theories regard-
Buddhism are explored in Winston L. King’s In the Hope of
ing norito, examples drawn from the classics and Shinto¯ his-
Nibbana: An Essay on Theravada Buddhist Ethics (LaSalle,
tory suggest that they were words of blessing spoken to all
Ill., 1964) and Stanley J. Tambiah’s World Conqueror and
the kami and to the people by the emperor, the descendant
World Renouncer: A Study of Buddhism and Polity in Thailand
of the sun goddess Amaterasu and the “great life-giving”
against a Historical Background (Cambridge, 1976). The
kami Takamimusubi. Norito, therefore, were originally re-
Gandhian approach is described in Joan Bondurant’s Con-
garded as able to produce a beneficial response from heavenly
quest of Violence: The Gandhian Philosophy of Conflict
kami. Later, however, two families, the Nakatomi and the
(Princeton, 1958) and in my Ghandi’s Way: A Handbook of
Imbe, were given the exclusive right to recite norito on pre-
Conflict Resolution (Berkeley, Calif., 2003).
scribed occasions to all enshrined kami.
With regard to the Jewish tradition, biblical attitudes are exam-
The oldest known norito are a collection of twenty-four
ined in D. Martin Dakin’s Peace and Brotherhood in the Old
such documents edited in 820 CE, during the reign of Em-
Testament (London, 1956), and a number of works explore
peror Saga, as part of detailed legal regulations that were
the rabbinic views, including Nahum N. Glatzer’s “The
eventually compiled in the Engishiki in 927. The most im-
Concept of Peace in Classical Judaism,” in his Essays in Jew-
portant norito are entitled “Grain-Petitioning Festival,” “Fes-
ish Thought (University, Ala., 1978), and André Neher’s
tival of the Sixth Month,” “Festival of the First-Fruits Ban-
“Rabbinic Adumbrations of Non-Violence,” in Rationalism,
Judaism, and Universalism
, edited by Raphael Loewe (Lon-
quet,” and “Great Exorcism of the Last Day of the Sixth
don, 1966). For one of the Jewish responses to Gandhi dur-
Month.” All of these begin with the expression “By the com-
ing World War II, see Judah L. Magnes’s “A Letter to Gan-
mand of the sovereign ancestral male kami and the female
dhi,” in Modern Jewish Thought: A Source Reader, edited by
kami who remain in the High Celestial Plain.” The first three
Nahum N. Glatzer (New York, 1977).
are concerned with ensuring a bountiful rice harvest so that
the country may be stable and prosperous. The last is a puri-
A useful sourcebook of Christian writings on nonviolence is War
fication ritual for the land and people, and is especially valu-
and the Christian Conscience: From Augustine to Martin Lu-
able for its precise description of both heavenly and earthly
ther King, Jr., edited by Albert Marrin (Chicago, 1971), and
sin, in the Shinto¯ sense.
an excellent discussion of the historical development of the
idea is to be found in the brief essays by Geoffrey Nuttal in
A second group of six important norito in the Engishiki
his Christian Pacifism in History (Oxford, 1958). Good ex-
collection is dedicated to the personal safety and repose of
amples of the current discussion of nonviolence in the field
the emperor. Among them, the “Ritual for the Tranquillity
of Christian ethics are James F. Childress’s Moral Responsibil-
of the Imperial Spirit” is recited to lay to rest the emperor’s
ity in Conflicts (Baton Rouge, 1982) and William Robert
spirit in the Office of Rites sanctuary. The next three, “Bless-
Miller’s Nonviolence: A Christian Interpretation (London,
ing of the Great Palace,” “Festival of the Gates,” and “Fire-
1964). The Islamic point of view is presented in Majid
Pacifying Festival,” are dedicated to the protection of the em-
Khadduri’s War and Peace in the Law of Islam (Baltimore,
peror from external danger. Although the remaining two are
1955), and comments of Muslim writers on the subject of
peace and nonviolence can be found in Eric Schroeder’s Mu-
not regular or seasonal, they too have the same basic func-
hammad’s People (Portland, Maine, 1955).
tion, protecting the emperor from evil spirits. It should also
be mentioned that the formula “the heavenly ritual, the sol-
MARK JUERGENSMEYER (1987 AND 2005)
emn ritual words” is used only in norito connected with paci-
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6650
NORSE RELIGION
fication of evil spirits. This unusual phrase is believed to refer
tertribal diffusion, social structure and environmental pres-
to a special magic formula that was transmitted to the Naka-
sure combined to form among the North American Indian
tomi family from the deities but that has been lost over time.
tribes a series of religions that were only secondarily influ-
Most of the remaining norito are for rituals observed at
enced by elements from outside the continent. North Ameri-
the Grand Shrine at Ise. Of special significance is the norito
can religions have become known as varied, colorful, and
called “Divine Congratulatory Words of the Kuni no Miyat-
spiritual. In the religio-scientific debate among anthropolo-
suko of Izumo,” which indicates through its title that in an-
gists and historians of religion, such concepts as power and
cient times the chief priest of Izumo Shrine, who was also
supreme being, guardian spirits and totems, fasting visions
the ruler of that area, represented other local leaders in the
and shamanism, myth telling and ritualism, have drawn on
ritual presentation of local land-spirits to the emperor.
North American ideas and religious experiences.
With the decline of imperial power in the late twelfth
Soon after the arrival of the white man in the 1500s the
century, a new type of norito emerged, a type deeply influ-
first information concerning Indian religious worship
enced by Buddhism and concerned especially with ritual pu-
reached the Europeans. Through Jesuit documents and other
rification. After the eighteenth century a movement to revive
reports the religious development of the Iroquoian and east-
Shinto¯ arose, but no attempt was made to standardize norito
ern Algonquian groups can be followed continuously from
until the beginning of the Meiji era (1868–1912). In 1875,
1613 onward. Spanish sources from the same time illuminate
and later in 1914, the government ordered that the shrine
at least some aspects of Southwest Indian religious history.
rites and rituals as well as official norito be standardized, but
In the eighteenth century travel records and other documents
today there is a tendency to use contemporary expressions
throw light on the Indians of the Southeast Woodlands, of
in order to adjust to the demands of a changing society.
the mid-Atlantic region, and of the Prairies and on their reli-
gions. It was, however, only at the end of the eighteenth cen-
B
tury and in the course of the nineteenth century that knowl-
IBLIOGRAPHY
Kamo no Mabuchi’s treatise of 1768, Noritoko¯, in Kamo Mabuchi
edge spread of the Plains, Basin, California, Plateau,
zenshu¯, vol. 7 (Tokyo, 1984), and Motoori Norinaga’s com-
Northwest Coast, western Canadian, and Alaskan Indian
mentary of 1795, Oharae kotoba ko¯shaku, in Motoori Norina-
religions.
ga zenshu¯, vol. 7 (Tokyo, 1971), remain classic introductions
MAIN RELIGIOUS FEATURES. North America is a continent
to the topic. For more modern studies, see the following
with many diverse cultures, and it is therefore meaningless
works.
to speak about North American religion as a unified aggre-
Orikuchi Shinobu. “Norito.” In Orikuchi Shinobu zenshu¯,
gate of beliefs, myths, and rituals. Still, there are several reli-
no¯to-hen, vol. 9. Tokyo, 1971.
gious traits that are basically common to all the Indians but
Philippi, Donald L., trans. Norito: A New Translation of the An-
variously formalized and interpreted among different peo-
cient Japanese Ritual. Tokyo, 1959.
ples. These traits are also found in the religions of other con-
Tsuita Jun. Norito shinko¯. Tokyo, 1927.
tinents and areas, particularly among the so-called primitive
Ueda Kenji. “Shiki noritoko.” In Shinto¯ shisoshi kenkyu. Tokyo,
or primal peoples. Two characteristics are, however, typically
1983.
Amerindian: the dependence on visions and dreams, which
can modify old traditional rituals, and an intricate and time-
UEDA KENJI (1987)
consuming ceremonialism that sometimes almost conceals
the cognitive message of rituals.
NORSE RELIGION
Spirit World. To these common elements belongs the
SEE GERMANIC RELIGION
idea of another dimension of existence that permeates life
and yet is different from normal, everyday existence. Con-
cepts such as the Lakota wakan and the Algonquian manitou
NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN RELIGIONS
refer to this consciousness of another world, the world of
This entry consists of the following articles:
spirits, gods, and wonders. This supernatural or supranormal
AN OVERVIEW
world is sometimes manifest in nature, which then receives
MYTHIC THEMES
a sacred import. Often the campsite or the village is arranged
NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS
HISTORY OF STUDY
in a pattern that establishes a ritual identity with the super-
natural world. In twentieth-century pan-Indian religion the
connection between terrestrial phenomena and the other
NORTH AMERICAN [INDIAN] RELIGIONS: AN
world is extremely important.
OVERVIEW
Because of the isolation of the New World from the high civ-
Supreme being. The supernatural world is primarily ex-
ilizations of Europe, Asia, and Africa and from the commu-
pressed through the spiritual powers residing in a host of
nicative network between them, North America had pre-
gods, spirits, and ghosts. In many American tribes prayers are
served, until the end of the last century, cultures and
directed to a collectivity of divine or spiritual beings, as in
religions of archaic types. Local historical traditions, in-
the pipe ceremony. Foremost among these divinities is, in
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NORTH AMERICAN [INDIAN] RELIGIONS: AN OVERVIEW
6651
most tribes, a sky god who represents all other supernatural
Spirits and ghosts. The other beings of the supernatural
beings or stands as their superior and the ruler of the uni-
world—and they are innumerable, varying from tribe to
verse. The Pawnee Indians in Nebraska, for instance, know
tribe—may be partly distinguished according to their physi-
a hierarchy of star gods and spirits, all of them subservient
cal location:
to the high god in the sky, Tirawa. It could be argued that
1. Sky beings, including star gods, Sun (usually a manifesta-
their idea of a high god is formed after Mexican conceptual
tion of the supreme being), and Moon (who sometimes
patterns, since the Caddoan-speaking peoples to whom the
represents the vegetation goddess). The Milky Way is
Pawnee belong were much inspired by the Mexican-derived
thought of as the road of the dead in some places, and
prehistoric Mississippian culture. However, there are clear
the northern lights as the dead at play.
examples of a supreme being among many North American
peoples, and scholarly attempts to trace these figures to
2. Atmospheric spirits, which usually comprise the Four
Christian influence have so far failed. In most cases the su-
Winds (they emanate from caves situated in the four
preme being is vaguely conceived as the ulterior religious
cardinal directions), Whirlwind (often thought of as a
force in situations of need and frustration.
ghost), the rain spirits, and Thunderbird. This last spir-
it, of which a parallel conception is also found in Sibe-
The supreme being is closely associated with the axis
ria, is a giant eaglelike bird; according to many infor-
mundi, or world pillar. The Delaware Indians say that he
mants his blinking eyes make the lightning, while his
grasps the pole that holds up the sky and is the center of the
flapping wings cause the thunder.
world. In ceremonial life the world pole, or world tree, is the
central cultic symbol in the great annual rites of peoples of
3. Spirits of the biosphere, many of them rulers, or owners,
the Eastern Woodlands, the Plains, the Basin, and the Pla-
of animal species or plant species (Buffalo Spirit, Cari-
teau. At this annual celebration the Indians thank the su-
bou Spirit, Maize Spirit), others connected with natural
preme being for the year that has been (the ceremony takes
places like mountains, stones, deserts, swamps, waters,
place in the spring in most cases) and dance in order to secure
and so on. Human beings (medicine-men, for example)
the support of the Great Spirit and all the powers for the year
may also manifest supernatural powers.
to come: the Plains Sun Dance is a good example.
4. Powers of the underworld, such as Mother Earth, under-
water monsters (snakes or panthers), and the ruler of the
In California, a region of frequent earthquakes, similar
underground dead, who is usually identical with the
world renewal rituals have as their main aim the stabilizing
first ancestor or is a brother of the culture hero.
of the universe. In the east, the Delaware Big House ceremo-
ny is an adaptation of the hunters’ annual ceremony to the
However, there are powers that do not fit into this scheme.
cultural world of more settled maize-growing peoples: the sa-
Such powers are the dead, who operate in different places in
cred pillar is here built into a ceremonial house. In many
different types of cultures. Hunters believe the dead are in
places throughout North America myths testify that the an-
the sky or somewhere beyond the horizon—beyond the
nual ceremony is a repetition or commemoration of the cos-
western mountains, beyond the sea where the sun sets. Hor-
mic creation at the beginning of time. This connection is,
ticulturists may believe that the dead are in the ground, re-
however, not present everywhere, and many Sun Dance ritu-
turning to Our Mother’s bosom, or at the place of emergence
als have origin myths of quite a different character.
of mankind; and in stratified agricultural societies like those
of the Mississippian culture there are different abodes for dif-
The culture hero. The connection of the supreme being
ferent social categories of dead. At the same time there is ev-
with creation is often concealed by the fact that in mythology
erywhere a belief in ghosts on earth, who are often heard
another supernatural being, the culture hero, is invested with
whistling in the night. Independent of these beliefs is a ubiq-
creative powers. His true mission is to deliver cultural insti-
uitous idea of reincarnation or transmigration into animals.
tutions, including religious ceremonies, to the first human
beings, but he is sometimes an assistant creator as well. In
Guardian spirits and vision quests. Other spirits are the
this quality he competes with the Great Spirit and appears
guardian spirits acquired in fasting visions by youths of the
as a ludicrous figure, a trickster, or an antagonist of the Great
Plateau and the Northeast Woodlands and by both boys and
Spirit, an emergent “devil.” (It should be observed that all
men of the Plains and the Basin. These spirits are mostly zoo-
this takes place only on a mythological level, for the culture
morphic. They may be animal spirits or spirits that show
hero disappears after his work has been completed and in
themselves in animal disguise. Everywhere except among the
many quarters becomes a star.)
pueblo-dwelling peoples of the Southwest it has been the in-
dividual hunter’s ambition to acquire one or several of these
Trickster tales occupy a major part of American Indian
guardian spirits. They usually appear to the person after a vi-
mythologies and have attracted all kinds of comic folktale
sion quest during which he has spent several days and nights
motifs. The tales usually portray the culture hero/trickster as
in fasting and isolation at some lonely spot in the wilderness.
a zoomorphic being: a white hare in the Northeast; a coyote
The spirit endows his client with a particular “medicine,”
on the western Plains, in the Basin, the Plateau, and Califor-
that is, supernatural power (to hunt, to run, to make love,
nia; and a raven in the Northwest.
to cure), gives him a sacred song, and instructs him to make
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NORTH AMERICAN [INDIAN] RELIGIONS: AN OVERVIEW
a pouch or medicine bag in which he is to keep the sacred
passing through a series of ritual events. An example of this
paraphernalia associated with his vision. The vision quest is
is the Midewiwin, or Great Medicine society, of the Ojibwa,
basic to most American Indian hunting religions.
which is organized like a secret order society and has four or
eight hierarchical grades.
In some places special societies were established for
young spirit seekers who expected to meet the same spirit.
In some cultures in the Southwest where collectivism is
This was, for instance, the case among the Kwa-kiutl of Van-
part of the cultural pattern—as, for instance, among the agri-
couver Island and vicinity. The vision itself was no longer
cultural Pueblo—the medicine man is replaced by an organi-
central here, the neophyte being abducted by masked men
zation of professional healers, and rituals are performed to
to the woods and told there the secrets of his patron, Canni-
aid individuals. Among the Navajo, the old medicine man
bal Spirit, whose frenzied behavior he imitates in a ceremony
lives on as a diagnostician (“hand trembler”) whereas the cur-
on his return.
ing itself is performed by a ritually skilled singer. The regain-
ing of the patient’s health means that harmony has been re-
There seems to be a direct relationship between the in-
stored between man and the world of the gods and spirits.
dividual’s guardian spirit and the complex of totemism. If to-
Ritual acts. Harmony or spiritual balance is what
temism is defined as the mysterious relationship between a
North American Indians want to achieve in their relations
segment of a tribe, usually a clan or other unilineal kinship
with the supernatural powers. A harmonious balance can be
group, and a particular animal species that is its congener and
reached through prayers and offerings or through imitative
patron, then totemism exists in many places where unilineal
representation of supernatural events.
societies exist. Several American cases suggest that the totem
is the original guardian spirit of an individual that has then
Prayers and offerings. Prayers range from a few words
been inherited by this person’s descendants as their common
at meal offerings to detailed ritual prayers, from casual peti-
supernatural partner.
tions of blessing to deeply emotional cries for help and suste-
nance. Indeed, Navajo prayer has been characterized by one
In some more complex societies the medicine bags, or
researcher as “compulsive words,” by another as “creative
sacred bundles, have become inherited treasures within the
words.” There is often beauty in Indian prayers, the usual el-
vision seekers’ families; in other societies they can even be
oquence of the Indians giving moving expression to their re-
purchased. Where a powerful object has been handed down
ligious experience.
in a family it is often made a symbol for a larger community,
There are many kinds of offerings. A simple form is
and its uncovering is surrounded by rituals and recitations
throwing tobacco or food into the fire or onto the ground
of its origin myth. A typical example is the sacred bundle of
at mealtimes. Another example is the placing of tobacco
the Arapaho, which contains a flatpipe.
pouches on the ground at the beginning of dangerous pas-
Medicine men and medicine societies. The medicine
sages, such as crossing a lake or walking over a mountain
man is a visionary who has succeeded in receiving power to
ridge.
cure people. However, visionaries with other extraordinary
Tobacco has been intimately related to American Indian
powers, such as the capacity to find lost things or divine the
religious practice. Even today no Indian conventions or pow-
future, have also been labeled “medicine men.” In very many
wows are undertaken without a preliminary pipe ceremony,
cases a bear spirit is the medicine man’s patron, so he dresses
an invocation of the powers that grant harmony between
in a bearskin and mimics a bear’s movements and sounds
men and between gods or spirits and men.
when doctoring people. Diseases may be ascribed to any of
When hunters killed game they usually performed rites
several causes, such as witchcraft or the breaking of a taboo.
over the body. For instance, after the animal was eaten, the
They manifest themselves mainly in two ways: a spirit or dis-
bones might be given a ritual burial; they were reassembled
ease object is supposed to have intruded into the body (or
in anatomical order, and the skull of the animal was elevated
even, on the Northwest Coast, to possess the person in a psy-
on a pole or a tree. These rituals were especially important
chological sense); or the sick man’s soul—in some cases, his
in the case of the bear. This so-called animal ceremonialism
power—has been stolen. In the former case it is the medicine
was often intended to appease a particular spirit, the master
man’s task to frighten the spirit away or to remove it from
of the game, but the primary purpose of such burials was to
the body by sucking, fanning, or drawing it out; in the latter
ensure the return of the game by showing proper respect for
case he has to catch the lost soul, which can be done in an
the animals. True sacrifices were not common, but did occur
imitative séance. Alternatively, the medicine man may sink
in the Northeast Woodlands, where white dogs were sacri-
into a trance, release his own soul, and send it out after the
ficed to the powers. In many places the skins of animals (and,
runaway or stolen soul. The medicine man who becomes en-
later, pieces of cloth as well) served as offerings. There was
tranced in this way may be characterized as a shaman.
religious cannibalism in the East, even endocannibalism (the
In cultures with more complicated social organizations,
eating of one’s family dead) in ancient times. Mutilations of
medicine men may join together, exchanging experiences
fingers and other cases of self-mutilation as offerings oc-
and working out a common, secret ideology, or they may
curred in the Sun Dance of the Lakota and in the closely re-
form medicine societies into which persons are accepted after
lated Mandan Okipa ceremony.
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NORTH AMERICAN [INDIAN] RELIGIONS: AN OVERVIEW
6653
Ritual representations. Harmonious relations with the
spread to North America, where it influenced the Northwest
supernatural world could be restored by the dramatic imita-
Coast Indians and the Inuit (Eskimo). Other shamanic ritu-
tion of the creation, often in an annual rite, as, for instance,
als in North America, such as the so-called Shaking Tent (the
the Sun Dance. The performance of such rituals often had
tent is shaking when spirits enter at the request of the sha-
the character of dancing, and most observers have therefore
man, who is fettered in the dark), found among Inuit groups,
described American Indian ceremonies as dances. In the en-
and Algonquian- and Salish-speaking tribes of the Plateau,
actment of mythical drama, performers assumed the roles of
also have their close counterparts in Siberia. But these other
supernatural beings, as in the representation of the kachina,
rituals derive from a more general form of shamanism that
cloud and rain spirits, and spirits of the dead in the Pueblo
is also present in South America and Southeast Asia and is
Indian Kachina Dances. In the Pawnee sacrifice to Morning
certainly a heritage from very ancient times.
Star, a young captive girl was tied to a frame and shot with
The languages of the North American Indians are enor-
arrows; she was supposed to represent Evening Star, a per-
mously diverse, and with the exception of the relatively lately
sonification of the vegetation whose death promotes the
arrived Athapascan groups none seem related to known Old
growth of plants. Even today a Navajo patient is cured
World languages. The common factor joining them all is
through a process of ritual identification with the universe
their polysynthetic structure, whereby many sentence ele-
and its powers: the patient sits in the middle of a sand paint-
ments are included in a single word by compounding and
ing symbolizing the cosmos and its powers while the practi-
adding prefixes and suffixes. Paul Radin suggested many
tioner pours colored sand over him.
years ago that there may be a genetic relationship between
HISTORICAL SURVEY. Most North American religions ex-
most of these languages, except those of the Aleut and Inuit,
press the worldview typical of hunters and gatherers. This is
who differ from the mainstream of American aborigines in
natural, since the first immigrants who arrived perhaps forty
race, culture, and religion.
to sixty thousands years ago were Paleolithic hunters who
Development of hunting religions. The early hunters
came by way of the Bering Strait. At that time the sound be-
brought with them a legacy of ideas and rituals developed in
tween Asia and North America was dry, due to the absorp-
the Old World. These were adapted to the changing habitats
tion of oceanic waters into the glaciers of the Great Ice Age.
in the New World. We can follow the major trends in cultur-
A narrow corridor stretched between the ice fields, allowing
al differentiation after about 10,000 BCE, and we
the migration of North Asiatic proto-Mongoloid groups into
can draw some conclusions also about probable religious ori-
Alaska. The migration probably involved small groups who
entations.
traveled independently, perhaps at a rate of four miles a year.
Since ecological conditions were similar on both sides of the
Thus, the Paleo-Indians of eastern North America were
Bering Sea, the migration did not entail any break in histori-
big-game hunters, concentrating on animals like the mam-
cal and cultural traditions.
moth, the giant bison, the three-toed horse, and the camel.
In all likelihood the inherited concepts of animal ceremonial-
The Arctic substratum. This origin in northern Asia
ism and the master of the animals were applied to these ani-
explains why so much of American Indian religion bears an
mals. The big game died out, because of climatic changes or
Arctic or sub-Arctic stamp, and why so many features even
human overkilling, during the period from 8000 to 4000
in more temperate areas seem to be derived from northern
BCE. Only one big animal—the bear—survived and contin-
cultures. Of course, particularly in the extreme north, we
ued to be the focus of special rites. The ritual around the slay-
find native religions that are direct counterparts to the cir-
ing of the bear, distributed from the Saami (Lapps) of Scan-
cumpolar religions of northern Eurasia. Both ecological and
dinavia to the Ainu of northern Japan, and, in North
historical factors account for this uniformity. We may pin-
America, from the Inuit and Athapascans in the north and
point such common religious elements as belief in a high
west to the Delaware in the east and the Pueblo Indians in
god, Thunderbird, and Mother Earth; practices such as the
the south, seem to be a leftover from these Paleolithic and
bear ritual, hunting taboos, the sweat bath for ritual cleaning,
Mesolithic days.
and shamanic rituals; and a good many myths and tales. All
these circumpolar traits represent Arctic or sub-Arctic forms
It is difficult to say whether Asian ideas still streamed
of the ancient Paleolithic hunting culture in Eurasia.
into North America at this time, but it seems probable. We
know that many myths disseminated from Asia are mostly
There are some problems in establishing American con-
found south of the sub-Arctic area in North America. To this
nections with the Old World circumpolar culture, however.
category belongs the myth of the earth diver, a primeval di-
The weaker cultural links in eastern Siberia may be correlated
vine hero who fetches mud from the bottom of the sea, there-
with the influx into this area of Tunguz and Turkic tribes
by creating the ground on which men live. It is important
from the south during the last millennia. Perhaps under the
because it includes not only the flood myth, or the myth of
influence of Lamaism and other forms of Buddhism, there
the primeval sea, but also the idea of twin creators, one good
evolved in Siberia an intense form of shamanism, with em-
and one less good or even bad, or one the main creator and
phasis on deep ecstasy and possession by spirits. This special-
the other his assistant (the culture hero). Another important
ized form of shamanism, so typical of parts of Siberia, finally
myth that scholars have traced to Asia is the Orpheus myth,
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6654
NORTH AMERICAN [INDIAN] RELIGIONS: AN OVERVIEW
but proofs of its dissemination are inconclusive. Several
revival pattern is fundamental to both animal and vegeta-
mythic motifs have, however, definitely spread from the Old
tional ceremonialism.
World, such as the magical flight and the Symplegades
Appearance of maize religion in the Southwest. The in-
(clashing rocks), or the motif of the celestial vault that moves
troduction of maize into North America occurred in two
up and down.
places, the Southwest and the Southeast. From all appear-
The old hunting culture slowly disintegrated into a se-
ances it was known earlier in the Southwest, where it is re-
ries of more specialized regional cultures about 7000–5000
corded from 3000 to 2000 BCE in the wooded highland val-
leys of New Mexico. Village agriculture was firmly
BCE, and there are reasons to presume that the religious struc-
tures changed accordingly. In fact, it seems that the native
established at the beginning of the Common Era and was ef-
hunting, fishing, and gathering cultures and religions that
fective after 500 CE.
persisted into the historical period began to take form at this
Some of the religious innovations surrounding the
time, the changes stimulated to a major extent by ecological
maize complex and accompanying it on its diffusion from
and climatic shifts.
Mexico have been revealed through archaeology. The best il-
lustrations are provided by the so-called Hohokam culture
An exceptional development took place in the south. In
in southern Arizona. It was deeply influenced by Mesoameri-
the increasingly arid regions of the Great Basin, the South-
ca from about 500 to 1200 CE, when it suddenly declined,
west, and parts of California a so-called desert tradition was
probably as a consequence of the fall of its model, the Toltec
established, with heavy dependence on wild plants, seeds,
empire in Mexico. The most important evidence of the cul-
and nuts. The corresponding religious system survived in late
tural influence from the south is the architectural planning
Great Basin religions, and part of it was also preserved in
of the towns: irrigation canals, oval ball courts for ritual
many Californian Indian religions. In the Southwest, the
games, and platform mounds of earth or adobe serving as
Basket Making culture, while an example of the desert tradi-
substructures for temples with hearths and altars.
tion, also served as a link to horticultural development.
The Mexican influence on religion can also be seen in
There is some evidence that psychotropic or hallucino-
the neighboring Anasazi or Pueblo cultures down to our own
genic drugs were used primarily in plant-collecting areas.
time. Mesoamerican symbols appear in the bird designs that
Within the region covered by the desert tradition jimson-
decorate Hopi pottery. Some of the religious fraternities that
weed, peyote (in northern Mexico), pulque, and, of course,
meet in the semisubterranean ceremonial chambers probably
tobacco were all employed.
have Mexican prototypes, for instance, the kachina societies
Growth of agricultural religions. It seems fairly cer-
that are reminiscent of the cult organizations that surround-
tain that the cultivation of tobacco spread from Mexico into
ed the Mexican rain god Tlaloc.
North America with maize, for maize and tobacco cultiva-
Appearance of maize religion in the Southeast. The
tion share the same general distribution within the eastern
maize complex entered the Southeast slightly later than the
regions of North America. In the Southwest, however, while
Southwest, perhaps sometime after 1000 BCE; there is, how-
maize was cultivated, tobacco was gathered wild.
ever, no certain proof of agriculture there until the birth of
Christ. It seems that influences from Mesoamerica were re-
The introduction of maize, or Indian corn, had basic
sponsible for the so-called Burial Mound cultures, 1000 BCE
consequences for aboriginal religions, for it changed the
to 700 CE, with their earthworks, including mortuary
whole outlook on life, the religious pattern, and the character
mounds, and for their ceramic figurines. At least the latest
of supernatural powers. There were many incentives for this
of these cultures, the Hopewell, was acquainted with maize
change: the concentration of the population in more or less
ceremonialism.
settled villages; the preoccupation with sowing, planting, and
harvesting; the enhanced position of women (from that of
A major change took place with the introduction of the
seed collectors to that of seed producers); and the new forms
so-called Mississippian tradition about 700 CE. Large rectan-
of social organization (matrilineage, or, among the Iroquois,
gular and flat-topped mounds of unprecedented size were ar-
even some sort of matriarchy). Typical of these agricultural
ranged around rectangular plazas. The mounds served as
religions were concern for crops and fertility, the rise of
foundations of temples, whence the name Temple Mound,
priestly organizations, the creation of temples and shrines,
also used to designate these cultures. Intensive agriculture be-
and the appearance of deities, often of the female sex (or even
longed to this new tradition, which flourished in the lower
androgynes), who impersonate the plants or lend fertility.
and middle Mississippi Valley but was particularly anchored
Rituals, in turn, grew more complex, incorporating greater
in the Southeast. Its last representatives were the historical
numbers of discrete actions, and sacrifices of a bloody kind
Natchez Indians of the lower Mississippi, known for their hi-
(including human sacrifice) became more widespread. No-
erarchical class system with a sacred king, called the Great
where, however, did agriculture entirely supplant hunting,
Sun, at its apex, for their sacred center, including temple and
particularly not in the east, where the rituals for encouraging
burial mounds, and for an elaborate ceremonial complex.
the growth of maize, beans, and squash are basically the same
The agricultural religions rarely reached such an ad-
as the rituals for slain animals. Of course, the death-and-
vanced stage of development in eastern North America, but
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NORTH AMERICAN [INDIAN] RELIGIONS: AN OVERVIEW
6655
they spread from the Southeastern hearth in different direc-
The region is inhabited by hunting cultures, with inland
tions. Mississippian traits mingled with older Woodland
game, in particular the caribou and the moose, as food re-
traits in the Iroquois culture in the north and, after 1000 CE,
sources. People are organized in loose bands or, since the in-
with Plains hunting religions in the river valleys to the west.
troduction by Europeans of the hunting of fur-bearing ani-
mals, in family groups who have hunting grounds reserved
A REGIONAL SURVEY. The religions of the indigenous peo-
for their exclusive use.
ples in North America have developed on the foundations
that have just been described. However, factors other than
Religion is dominated by hunting ceremonialism and,
historical have contributed to the differentiation in religious
to a certain extent, by shamanism. Bear ceremonialism is
profiles that occurs in every region, and especially in the Pa-
widespread, and hunting taboos are very common. Sweat
cific Northwest, the Southwest, and the Plains. Such factors
baths grant their practitioners ritual purity before hunting or
include local geographic conditions and the ecological adap-
important ceremonies. The vision and guardian-spirit quest
tations of individual cultures. Religious differentiation is
is fairly common. Shamanism is characterized by shaking
closely related to cultural diversity, for geographical and eco-
tent ceremonies, usually performed for divination, and by
logical factors act first of all on a group’s cultural and social
scapulimancy (foretelling the future by inspecting the shoul-
structure, and then through these structures on religion.
der blades of animals). Athapascan and Algonquian groups
show separate development: the former hold girls’ puberty
Roughly speaking, North America can be divided geo-
rites and fear their dead; the latter are known for a strong
graphically into two main parts, the mountainous regions in
high-god belief, a consistent system of masters of the animals
the west, or the Rocky Mountains system, and the large plain
(in which each species has its own master), and an intense
and woodland country to the east. We find a relatively great-
dread of cannibal monsters, which are called windigo.
er number of tribes and tribelets, often in great isolation
from each other, in the mountainous West. The cultural
Northeast woodlands. Formerly covered by mixed co-
variation there is therefore considerable. The vast eastern
niferous and deciduous trees, the Northeast woodlands held
country, on the other hand, is populated by widely dispersed,
a large population of Algonquian-, Iroquoian-, and Siouan-
large tribes in close contact with each other. Culturally, it can
speaking tribes. In historical and protohistorical times both
be seen as one large, relatively uniform area, in which the re-
agriculture and hunting were practiced, particularly by the
gional variants are relatively undifferentiated.
Iroquoian groups; the Algonquian tribes were hunters with
only limited horticulture. The social systems of these groups
As Clark Wissler and others have noted, the geographic
were often complicated, with unilineal kinship groups, clan
regions and the cultural areas correspond closely to each
organization, and chieftaincy.
other. Since geographical and ecological factors have influ-
enced religious forms, each region reveals unique features.
The double economic heritage is to some extent mir-
rored in the religious pattern. The hunters concentrate on
Arctic. The barren country around the Arctic coasts is
hunting rituals and vision quests, the planters on rituals and
sparsely inhabited by the Inuit and, on the Aleutian Islands,
beliefs surrounding the crops. The Iroquois, for instance,
their kinsmen the Aleut. Inuit religion carries all marks of
have a series of calendar rites celebrating the planting, ripen-
a hunting religion, concentrating on beliefs and rituals relat-
ing, and harvesting of the “three sisters”: maize, squash, and
ed to animals and on shamanism. The hunting rituals are
beans. The midwinter ceremony, formerly a new year cere-
rather intricate, in particular in Alaska where they focus on
mony with the kindling of new fire and the sacrifice of a
the whale (whale feasts are also found among the Nootka of
white dog, is the main ritual event. As in many other rituals
the Northwest Coast and the Chukchi and Koriak of Sibe-
of agricultural peoples, great attention is paid to the dead,
ria). A great role is played by the mistress of the sea animals,
in whose honor feasts are arranged.
called Sedna among the Central Inuit. She figures in sha-
manic rites: when taboos have been transgressed her hair gets
Southeast woodlands. In the southern deciduous for-
filthy, and in rage she holds back the animals; it is the sha-
ests, with their savannas and swamps, the tribes of Muskoge-
man’s task in a séance to descend to her home at the bottom
an stock, interspersed with Siouan groups and the Iroquoian-
of the sea and clean her hair so that she will free the animals
speaking Cherokee, kept up a peripheral high culture, the
again.
last vestiges of the prehistoric Mississippian culture. The
Southeastern Indians were, at least at the beginning of the
Sub-Arctic. A vast region of the coniferous forests,
historical era, predominantly engaged in agriculture, and
lakes, and swamps in interior Alaska and Canada, the sub-
their sociopolitical organization was adjusted to this fact.
Arctic is sparsely inhabited by Athapascan-speaking Indians
Thus, the Creek had a maternal clan system, with clans sub-
in its western half and Algonquian-speaking Indians in its
ordinated to both phratries and moieties. The latter had cere-
eastern half. The Athapascans are latecomers from Siberia,
monial functions, often carried out in ball games.
arriving perhaps around 9000 BCE; their linguistic affiliations
are with the Sino-Tibetan tongues. The Algonquian tribes
Characteristic of Creek religion is the emphasis laid on
conserve religious traits that associate them closely with the
ceremonialism and priestly functions. The priests, who were
circumpolar culture.
instructed in secrecy in the woods, along lines reminiscent
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NORTH AMERICAN [INDIAN] RELIGIONS: AN OVERVIEW
of the vision quest, were divided into several classes: one was
contacts with both northern and eastern Asian cultures, al-
in charge of the sacred cult objects, another divined hidden
though the nature of this exchange is little understood. The
things (such as the causes of diseases), and still another cured
basic substratum seems to be a fishing culture that developed
people from diseases. Even today, a major part of the curing
on both sides of the North Pacific and gave rise to both Inuit
ceremonies is the recitation of sacred formulas.
and Northwest Coast cultures. The abundant animal and
fish life along the coast, together with the rich herbal and ani-
The main religious ceremony is the maize harvest cere-
mal life of the dense woods, provided a living standard that
mony, called the Busk. It is also a New Year ritual, in which
sometimes excelled that of the agriculturists. It is perhaps not
old fires are extinguished and a new fire is kindled and people
surprising that rank differentiation, based partly on wealth,
ritually cleanse themselves through washing and the drinking
and slavery appeared here.
of an emetic.
The religion is characterized partly by its association
Prairies and plains. The tall-grass area (with some
with the activities of hunters and fishermen, partly by its se-
parkland and river-bottom woodland) between the wood-
cret societies adapted to the complicated social structure.
lands in the east and the high Plains in the west is known
The animal ceremonialism is focused on the sea fauna, and
as the Prairies. The Plains are the short-grass steppe country,
there are many sea spirits in animal forms. The dead have
too dry for agriculture, that stretches toward the mountains
their realm, or one of their realms, at the bottom of the sea.
and semideserts in the far West. (In Canada, the Great Plains
The secret societies recruited individuals who had an inherit-
are sometimes referred to as the Prairies.)
ed right to make contact with a certain kind of guardian spir-
The historical cultures were formed during the seven-
it. Famous societies are the Wolf society of the Nootka and
teenth and eighteenth centuries when the acquisition of
the Cannibal society of the Kwakiutl. Possession by spirits
horses made the wide-open spaces easily accessible to sur-
also occurred in shamanism, which here reached a high point
rounding tribes and white expansion forced woodland Indi-
of development in America.
ans to leave their home country for the dry, treeless areas. Al-
Plateau. The Intermountain area, which includes both
gonquian and Siouan tribes immigrated from the east and
the Columbia and the Fraser river drainages, is known as the
northeast, Caddoan tribes from the south. Several groups
Plateau; it was inhabited by Salish and Shahaptin tribes that
ceased practicing horticulture (the Crow and Cheyenne) and
lived on fish and, secondarily, on land animals and roots.
turned into buffalo hunters, but they kept parts of their old
The area is partly wooded, partly a bunchgrass steppe. The
social and political organization. In the west, Shoshonean
culture area is an offshoot of the sub-Arctic hunting culture,
groups held the ground they had traditionally occupied, and
tempered by influences from the Northwest Coast and the
groups of Athapascans—for example, the Apache—forced
Plains. The sociopolitical group consisted of the village,
their way to the southern parts of the region.
under the formal control of a hereditary chief.
Whereas the Prairies could be regarded as a periphery
In their religion the Plateau Indians stressed the vision-
of the Eastern Woodlands, the Plains region offers a late cul-
ary complex and food ceremonies. The vision quests were
tural and religious complex of its own. The religion is a mix-
undertaken at puberty by both sexes. The relation between
ture of derived agricultural ceremonialism and hunters’ belief
the guardian spirit and his client was displayed in the Winter
systems. The major New Year ceremony is the Sun Dance,
Dance, or Spirit Dance, a ceremony, under the supervision
during which asceticism, dancing, praying, and curing take
of a medicine man, in which the spirit was impersonated.
place. Other forms of ritualism center around tribal and clan
Important celebrations were firstling rites, first-fruits rites,
bundles, and the sacred ritual known as the Calumet Dance,
and the First-Salmon rite. In this last rite, which was guided
or Pipe Dance. There is much cosmological speculation and
by a so-called salmon chief (who had the salmon as one of
an advanced concept of the godhead. The vision and guard-
his guardian spirits), the first salmon was greeted and its
ian spirit complex is well developed. The Plains religious pat-
“leader” hailed with special ceremonies.
tern has become among modern Indians the model for a
pan-Indian religion, transcending old tribal and cultural
Great Basin. A dry region of sands and semideserts, the
boundaries.
Great Basin was inhabited by Shoshonean (Numic) groups,
some of them, like the Gosiute, the most impoverished of
Northwest Coast. The broken coastline, high moun-
North American groups. Seeds, nuts, and rodents provided
tains, and deep fjords of the Northwest Coast were the home
the principal food. The social organization was often atomis-
of the Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and Wakashan tribes and
tic. The cultural profile represented a remnant of the old de-
some Coast Salish and Chinookan groups in the south. With
sert tradition.
their totem poles, their plank houses and canoes, and their
headgear reminiscent of East Asian conic hats, these Indians
The religious pattern was closely adapted to a lifestyle
make an un-American impression, an impression that is
based on the bare necessities. Hunters had to be blessed by
strengthened by their social organization with its give-away
spirits in visions in order to be successful, but there was little
feasts (pot-latches) intended to “shame” invited guests and
elaboration of guardian-spirit beliefs. Medicine men had spe-
thus increase the host’s prestige. There have apparently been
cialized powers; for instance, the antelope medicine man at-
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NORTH AMERICAN [INDIAN] RELIGIONS: AN OVERVIEW
6657
tracted the antelopes by singing. Harvest ceremonies were
BIBLIOGRAPHY
round dances at which thanks were given to the supreme
For discussion of sources and research the reader is referred to my
being.
work The Study of American Indian Religions (Chico, Calif.,
1983) and Harold W. Turner’s North America, vol. 2 of his
California. Whereas the northern, eastern, and south-
Bibliography of New Religious Movements in Primal Societies
ern parts of California were peripheral to the Northwest
(Boston, 1978).
Coast, Great Basin, and Southwest cultural areas, respective-
On the topic of North American Indian religions, several surveys
ly, the central valleys and coastland constituted a separate
and introductions are available. In chronological order there
cultural area, known as the California region, densely popu-
is first Werner Müller’s “Die Religionen der Indianervölker
lated by Penutian, Hokan, and Numic groups. These na-
Nordamerikas,” in Die Religionen des alten Amerika, edited
tives, living in a mild climate, dedicated themselves to col-
by Walter Krickeberg (Stuttgart, 1961), a thoughtful presen-
lecting, hunting, and fishing. Their staple food consisted of
tation of native religious structures. Ruth M. Underhill’s Red
wild plants and their fruits, in particular acorns, all of which
Man’s Religion (Chicago, 1965) describes religious beliefs
were found in abundance. The political unit was usually the
and practices in their cultural interaction. Two later synthe-
village (under the leadership of a headman), but was some-
ses are my The Religions of the American Indians (Berkeley,
times a lineage.
1979), which concentrates on religious ideas in historical
perspectives, and Sam D. Gill’s Native American Religions
In this diversified culture area religious expressions were
(Belmont, Calif., 1982), which emphasizes some major fea-
most varied. North-central California is known for its lofty
tures of Indian religious life. A detailed, provocative investi-
concept of a supreme being and for its initiation of youths
gation of the religions east of the Rocky Mountains will be
into religious societies, such as the Kuksu, Ghost, and Hesi
found in Werner Müller’s Die Religionen der Waldlandind-
societies. Guardian spirit quests were rare, and medicine men
ianer Nordamerikas (Berlin, 1956).
received unsought visions. In the southern part of the area,
A number of scholars in the field have issued collections of their
initiation ceremonies were accompanied by the drinking of
articles on North American native religions. Here could be
drugs prepared from jimsonweed and by various symbolic
mentioned Müller’s Neue Sonne—Neues Licht, edited by Rolf
acts referring to death and rebirth. In some places there were
Gehlen and Bernd Wolf (Berlin, 1981), a representative se-
great commemorative ceremonies for the dead.
lection of this author’s most engaging articles; my Belief and
Worship in Native North America
(Syracuse, N. Y., 1981),
The Southwest. A magnificent desert country with
which among other things discusses belief patterns, ecology,
some oases, particularly along the Rio Grande, the Southwest
and religious change; and Joseph Epes Brown’s The Spiritual
was populated by hunting and farming groups of Piman and
Legacy of the American Indian (New York, 1982), a book that
Yuman descent, by former hunters like the Athapascan
beautifully outlines the deeper meaning of Indian philosophy
Apache and Navajo—who did not arrive here until about
and ceremonialism. An older publication in the same genre
1500
is the philosopher Hartley Burr Alexander’s posthumous
CE—and by the Pueblo peoples, intensive agriculturists
work, The World’s Rim: Great Mysteries of the North American
mostly belonging to the Tanoan and Keresan linguistic fami-
Indians (Lincoln, Nebr., 1953). Anthologies by several au-
lies. I shall here concentrate on the Pueblo groups, the de-
thors are Seeing with a Native Eye, edited by Walter Holden
scendants of the prehistoric Anasazi culture. Their culture is
Capps (New York, 1976), and Teachings from the American
famous for its big community houses on the mesas, its inten-
Earth, edited by Dennis Tedlock and Barbara Tedlock (New
sive horticulture (with irrigation in the Rio Grande region),
York, 1975). The former contains articles by scholars of reli-
and its complex and beautiful ceremonialism. Each Pueblo
gion; the latter, articles by anthropologists.
town is an independent unit governed by the heads of the
Among general comparative works, a classic in the field is Ruth
religious societies.
Fulton Benedict’s The Concept of the Guardian Spirit in
Religion penetrates all aspects of Pueblo life. A rich set
North America (Menasha, Wis., 1923). Shamanism in North
of ceremonies that mark the divisions of the year are con-
America is the object of a study by Marcelle Bouteiller, Cha-
manisme et guérison magique
(Paris, 1950). The patterns of
ducted by different religious societies. Their overall aim is to
soul and spirit beliefs are analyzed in my work Conceptions
create harmony with the powers of rain and fertility, symbol-
of the Soul among North American Indians (Stockholm,
ized by the ancestors, the rain and cloud spirits, and the Sun.
1953). The corpus of American Indian myths and legends
Each society has its priesthood, its attendants, its sacred bun-
is carefully annotated in Tales of the North American Indians,
dles, and its ceremonial cycle. There are also medicine socie-
edited by Stith Thompson (Cambridge, Mass., 1929). My
ties for the curing of diseases—the inspired, visionary medi-
study The North American Indian Orpheus Tradition (Stock-
cine man has no place in this collectivistic, priestly culture.
holm, 1957) is an extensive treatment of the Orpheus myth
and its religious prerequisites. One mythological character,
No other American Indian societies lay so much stress
the culture hero and trickster, is the subject of Arie van Deur-
on ceremonialism as do the Pueblo. Their supernatural be-
sen’s detailed research work Der Heilbringer (Groningen,
ings are almost unthinkable without the rituals through
1931). Secret societies and men’s societies are penetratingly
which they are manifested.
discussed in Wolfgang Lindig’s Geheimbünde und Männer-
bünde der Prärie- und der Waldlandindianer Nordamerikas

SEE ALSO Cosmogony; Inuit Religious Traditions; Sedna;
(Wiesbaden, 1970). Among comparative works on rituals
Tobacco.
and ritualism three interesting studies are Ruth Underhill’s
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6658
NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN RELIGIONS: MYTHIC THEMES
well-known Ceremonial Patterns in the Greater Southwest
tween four types of narrative: navoiti, or knowledge to which
(New York, 1948), John Witthoft’s illuminating Green Corn
the speaker has a direct link, even if that link is from a very
Ceremonialism in the Eastern Woodlands (Ann Arbor, 1949),
distant past; tutavo, or stories about the Sacred; wuknavoti,
and William N. Fenton’s detailed ethnohistorical study The
which is usually translated as “prophesy” but includes all
Iroquois Eagle Dance: An Offshoot of the Calumet Dance
sorts of prognosticative stories; and tuuwutisi, the term most
(Washington, D. C., 1953).
often translated as “myth” but also considered a historic ac-
An Indian’s own view of native American religions in their rela-
counting of events that occurred in sacred time. This is dis-
tions to Christianity and to whites is presented, somewhat
tinguished from navoiti in that the connections to the events
polemically, in Vine Deloria Jr.’s God Is Red (New York,
and actors in the story are secondhand or happened in the
1973).
esoteric realm of the before-time.
A
˚ KE HULTKRANTZ (1987)
There is a Chumash term, timoloquinas, often translated
as “stories generally thought to be true,” that also describes
this category of tale, where “truth” is a very slippery concept
NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN RELIGIONS:
and relative to the overall meaning of the tale to its intended
MYTHIC THEMES
audience. It is via these orally transmitted tales that the en-
The very broad subject of mythology among traditional peo-
tirety of a people’s history is conveyed—spiritual, economic,
ples is often juxtaposed with “history” in the modern, West-
and political. These tales represent a body of knowledge the
ern sense. However, this confluence presents problems for
continuity of which is only recently beginning to become ap-
both traditional indigenous communities and Western mo-
parent to non-Indian minds.
dernity. There is a dichotomy between these subjects that
This knowledge is passed from generation to generation
generally rests on the issue of veracity, so that the broad class
through oral narratives that encode both pertinent and prop-
of narrative known as myth, along with such subgenera as
er behaviors for the edification of future generations. In the
legend, folktale, fable, and the like, is easily subsumed into
telling of these tales, both the narrator and the audience have
one broad “false but relevant” classification with semiotic sig-
active roles: the teller of the tale is expected to maintain the
nificance to the narrative’s home culture.
story’s integrity from telling to telling, and the audience
However, it is also possible to view aspects of “historic”
holds the storyteller to task with their own memories of the
events and their retelling from one generation to the next
stories. These tales are told at events bound by communal
through the same lens with which we view myth. In this ap-
dictates, which must be supported by the audience. The
proach, the mythic narratives of a culture have many levels
young people learn the importance of these events and come
of significance, both for their culture of origin and for those
to give them the kind of attention and respect that facilitates
who analyze them. It is assumed here that both of these posi-
those dictates. The telling of stories, then, provides opportu-
tions are valid. However, the Western terms myth, tale, and
nities for the truths contained in them to be practiced as well
legend will be employed at times as this designates the esoter-
as learned.
ic nature of certain aspects of these sacred histories.
Stories about the community’s sacred history also allow
In the case of American Indian sacred narrative, those
the people to examine specific ideas that the community con-
communities for whom the stories are culturally relevant
siders important. Some narratives relay information about
view these tales in ways which cross, and often transcend, the
the origins of a particular Native American people, as well
Western category of history. These “sacred histories” serve
as their indelible links to their sacred past. Others revolve
to orient their communities in time and space in ways that
around pertinent political, economic, and social issues or ex-
operate within the logic of the universe they inhabit, and in
plore themes of community membership and identity.
turn provide outsiders with insight into the ethos and world-
Prior to the devastating effects of colonialism, these sto-
view of their home cultures.
ries were the key link between members of particular tribal
Western historical narratives tend to rely upon a linear
groups, as well as that group’s link to their land. Elders serve
pattern in which one event transpires after, and sometimes
as repositories of the knowledge and wisdom that makes the
due to, the one preceding it, which also makes specific dates
people a people, transferring moral precepts and appropriate
and actors the key issues in these tales. American Indian sa-
community parameters to the next generation. When the
cred narratives operate in a different way, developing within
U.S. government attempted to assimilate Indian children,
the specifics of the producing culture based on the logic of
they did so by taking them away from their families and plac-
their universe. This logic is often cyclical, or rhythmic, in na-
ing them in boarding schools, in hopes that separating them
ture, and the focus is not on linearity but on the maintenance
from their elders and storytellers would destroy their cultural
of ongoing natural rhythms.
identity.
There usually exists, in each Native American commu-
Fortunately, much of the imagery, humor, pathos, and
nity, various categories of story, each with a specific purpose
personality of the tales was nevertheless passed along to the
and appropriate use. The Hopi, for example, distinguish be-
boarding-school generation, and the translation of the stories
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN RELIGIONS: MYTHIC THEMES
6659
into English, especially due to the rising discipline of ethnog-
ation, theories about the natural world, and stories that place
raphy around the turn of the last century, guaranteed that
the people within their tribal sacred history. The following
most of these tales, and the cultures that they encode, would
sections will look at some examples of these myths.
not be lost. Though these are properly oral traditions, many
C
tales have been transcribed by non–Native Americans and,
REATION. Creation stories not only tell the people how the
universe came to be, but also set in motion the logic within
more recently, written down by American Indians them-
which it operates. Origin myths, those that draw upon the
selves. The shift to written form should, however, be seen as
creation of all things (as opposed to the post-creation estab-
archival in nature, as the pressures of modernity make the
lishment of a feature of the landscape or a ritual complex),
regular telling of these tales difficult for some Native Ameri-
effectively frame the ways in which all that comes after is pos-
can communities. This is not, therefore, a shift away from
sible. Like the origin myth found in the first part of the book
the oral tradition, but a response to the challenges presented
of Genesis, the world subsequently responds in ways that are
by current conditions.
in keeping with its initial creation, such as the dynamics of
Given the cultural continuity and thematic integrity
male–female or human–animal relationships or the hierar-
that these tales have displayed, it is somewhat counter-
chical theme found in subsequent Hebrew and Christian
intuitive to say that they remain dynamic tales for which
mythologies.
there is rarely a definitive version. However, the changes in
the narrative flow or differences in details are often due to
The Navajo origin myth. The Dinée (Navajo) origin
the shifting needs of the audience, rather than omissions or
story is an example of a creation story from Native America.
transformations designed by the narrator. For example, in
In this tale, the present world of the Dinée comes about only
the Ojibwe tales of Nanabush, the trickster/creator and cul-
after three preceding worlds have emerged, one from anoth-
tural hero reacts to European invasion by moving west, and
er, on the surface of the earth. First Man (’Altsé Hastiin) and
sleeps as a large promontory at Thunder Bay. Nanabush
First Woman (’Altsé ’Asdzáá) were two of the beings from
sleeps there still, waiting for the time when the Ojibwe can
the First, or Black, World. First Man was made in the east
bring about a resurgence of Ojibwe culture and religion.
from the meeting of the white and black clouds. First
Some contemporary Ojibwe speak of a recent stirring in
Woman was made in the west from the joining of the yellow
Nanabush, as his people are working to realize this
and blue clouds. Spider Woman (Na ashje’ii ’Asdzáá), who
resurgence.
taught Navajo women how to weave, was also from the First
World, as was Begochiddy, a creator figure who made and
There are also smaller, subtler changes in the tales, such
ordered all that was in the First World. The Black World
as when Nanabush gets tangled up in telephone wires, in
produced many creatures, and it became a crowded place of
contrast to the ropes found in older versions. This dynamic
quarrelling and strife, necessitating the move into the Sec-
quality reinforces the ability of Native American myth to re-
ond, or Blue, World. In some variations of the tale, this
main relevant and meaningful throughout the whole of the
movement was facilitated by a reed which allowed some of
community’s experience. And it illustrates the fact that
the First People to climb into the Blue World, bringing with
American Indians, while they remember the sacred stories
them all that Begochiddy had made.
from many generations past, are not themselves mythic fig-
ures trapped in antiquity.
There were creatures already inhabiting the Second
World, and as Begochiddy continued the task of creation,
For the American Indian communities, the world is
those beings hampered the process, and strife, fighting, and
populated not only by humans, but by other beings as well.
killing made the Second World an undesirable place. So
These beings include the natural world and all that is in it,
some of the inhabitants climbed upward into the Third
as well as spiritual or other-worldly beings who have the abil-
World. The Third, or Yellow, World was where sexual desire
ity to communicate with, to do harm and good to, and gen-
was created. The essences of maleness and femaleness had
erally act within the human realm. The most important as-
been part of the creative endeavor, and Begochiddy created
pect of this arrangement is the other-than-human beings’
a class of people, not yet the Dinée, who were male and fe-
ability to form relationships, with each other as well as with
male. Tensions arose between them that were ultimately re-
the people. It is important to stress that these beings are not
solved by bringing about an inexorable connection between
simply natural forces or unknown events that have become
them. Problems within the Yellow World, of different types
personified, but fellow inhabitants of the world—neighbors
and origins depending upon the telling, necessitated the
and relatives—who require respectful attention of one kind
move into this, the Fourth, or Glittering, World. This is
or another. The other-than-human realm interacts with its
when the Dinée were created, along with the original Hogan.
human cousins and neighbors in Native American sacred his-
The Hogan, the archetypal house and sacred space for the
tories in many different ways, sometimes benevolently,
Dinée, held the first Beauty Way, the girls’ puberty ceremo-
sometimes malevolently, all due to the fact that they are near-
ny. This first Beauty Way was for Changing Woman, the ul-
ly always more powerful and erudite than humans.
timate creatrix of the Dinée and scion of feminine creativity.
This system of sacred narrative and the actors, events,
Young Dinée women undergo a ritual transformation into
and lessons contained therein can be divided into tales of cre-
Changing Woman in the course of their initiation, and it is
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN RELIGIONS: MYTHIC THEMES
during this ceremony that the Dinée creation story is told
traded among themselves. Consequently, the people became
in its entirety, culminating in the ritual reenactment of the
greedy for material possessions, and strife again ensued. Next
first Beauty Way.
the people emerged into the Third World, Kuskurza, a name
whose meaning remains unknown. Again the people in-
The Dinée origin narrative contains the deeply held ex-
creased, expanding into larger and more complex villages.
istential truths of Dinée culture. Changing Woman creates
Again corruption, greed and infighting led to imbalance, and
the Dinée using elements found in the Glittering World
Kuskurza was flooded. Only a few emerged into the Fourth
along with flakes of her own skin; thus their very bodies are
World, Túwaqachi (World Complete), via a hollow reed.
made up of the place the Dinée call home. Nothing in the
Like the Dinée, it is up to them to maintain the balance of
logic of Dinée culture derives from outside the place of their
this world.
emergence.
The balance that in all three subsequent worlds was
The Zuni creation is very similar, but the Sun brings
upset by human foibles must be maintained in this world,
about the movement from one world to the next after the
lest the Dinée bring about their own destruction. The cre-
people fail to adequately make prayer offerings. In the Third
ation story, then, also serves as a cautionary tale, and with
World, hero twins come to bring the Zuni into this, the
it is passed along the traditional wisdom that, when dutifully
Fourth World. In both Zuni and Hopi creation tales, the
employed, helps the Dinée maintain that balance. This in-
emergence into the Fourth World requires that each clan
cludes the elements of the story that speak of the importance
find its place, and the tales describe the Pueblo people’s divi-
of corn, which, in addition to being an important food sta-
sions and establishe the territories assigned to each.
ple, is also a symbol for what is truly important for the uni-
What finally emerges out of this epic narrative is a wor-
verse and how one is to behave in it.
ldview characterized by six directions, which are inhabited
Pueblo cultures. The Hopi, Zuni, Tewa, Keres, Tiwa,
by a pantheon of sacred beings. For the Zuni, each of the
and Jemes, have a similar creation epic in which the world
four cardinal directions contains an ocean, and in these four
known to the Pueblos is created after they have migrated up-
oceans are four mountains, each symbolized by a different
ward through a succession of worlds, usually three, before ar-
color. For the Dinée, both the orientation to the landscape
riving in the fourth world, which is the world of today. As
and the ethos of the people derive from the creation story.
in the Dinée tale, the people in each of the worlds were typi-
Therefore, Pueblo mythology is locatable in the surrounding
cally compelled to move on because various transgressions
landscape, and pertinent to everyday life.
against the order of things led to imbalance and conflict. In
Orientation. Elements of a culture’s sense of itself and
the Pueblo tales, however, individuals often caused the con-
what it is supposed to be about in the world often have their
flict by directly violating the sacred order, and were subse-
roots in the creation narrative. For hunting and wild-
quently left behind for their behavior. The rest of the people
horticulture groups, animals and plants play heavily in the
would be assisted in their journey to the next world by sacred
creation story. The Ojibwe, for whom the Great Lakes re-
beings, often in the form of animals.
gion is home, are among the cultures with earth-diver ele-
The animals who lend their support not only play a lo-
ments to their tale. The earth-diver is a familiar animal—
gistical role in the people’s migration, but also teach the peo-
Muskrat, in the case of the Ojibwe—who dives to the bot-
ple valuable lessons about how the world works and what
tom of a vast body of water to retrieve a small bit of earth
their responsibilities are in it. These responsibilities include
that becomes the world.
both an understanding of the world and gaining knowledge
Many Native American communities in the Eastern
of important rituals and ceremonies. Among the Hopi and
Woodlands and Great Lakes area share the Pueblo and Nava-
Zuni, for example, the people acquire the knowledge neces-
jo idea that the present earth has been remade from a world
sary for summoning the rain. Among the Hopi, the tale be-
salvaged after the destruction of a previous one. The earth-
gins in Tokpela (Endless Space). Tokpela was shapeless until
diver in these tales must dive to the bottom of the waters that
Taiowa, the Sun and Creator, made his nephew, Sótuknang,
have flooded the old world to retrieve earth with which a new
the god of the universe and creator of all ceremonies. On this
world can be made. In the Ojibwe versions, characters some-
world was placed a helper, Spider Woman, who also pos-
times shift, and regional variations may occur, but the core
sessed creative power and used her abilities to make the world
narrative line always includes a friendship or kinship between
ready for human habitation. In addition to creating the nec-
Nanabush, the Ojibwe trickster and creator, and a wolf. The
essary elements of the world such as plants and animals, Spi-
wolf, usually because he is capricious or unwary, falls
der Woman made a pair of hero twins who would protect
through thin ice into a lake and is killed by underwater spir-
the people from harm. While they were in Tokpela, however,
its, the manitous, led by their chief, Mishebeshu. Mishe-
the people’s numbers increased and they began to drift apart,
beshu is a very powerful manitou who owns the water world
and illness came to be.
and appears as a horned serpent or dragon. Mishebeshu
The people then moved on to the next world, Tokpa
means “Great Lynx,” and he is so powerful that his name is
(Dark Midnight), where they built villages, stored food, and
only to be mentioned in winter when he is safely under the
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN RELIGIONS: MYTHIC THEMES
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ice. Mishebeshu is not evil, but neither is he a friend to
who have been created in order to keep creation balanced,
humans.
but creation itself effects the possible choices of those crea-
tures. Therefore, many American Indian narratives contain
It is always best in Ojibwe culture to treat the other-
explanatory elements as well as evidence of what happens
than-human realm with enormous amounts of respect,
when the creatures do or do not complete the tasks for which
which the wolf fails to do when he ignores the melting spring
they are responsible.
ice. Devastated by the loss of Wolf, Nanabush exacts revenge
by traveling to Mishebeshu’s home and killing him. Since
In these stories, the way in which creation looks and acts
Mishebeshu is a powerful manitou, he either regenerates
is explained, but in a multilayered way that allows these sto-
himself or his many other selves multiply to flood the world.
ries to remain relevant throughout the life of the listener.
Nanabush takes refuge on a turtle’s back and calls the diving
Children delight in the stories while gaining important infor-
animals to him to ask them to retrieve a bit of earth from
mation about the world, and adults perceive nuanced aspects
below the waters. It is usually the least among these, Musk-
appropriate to their lives as well. For example, the Seneca tell
rat, who succeeds, and the earth is regenerated. Nanabush,
of Old Man Winter and his companion North Wind being
or in some variations Kitche, or Great Manitou, creates hu-
defeated by Spring, which gives children imagery with which
mans and readies the earth for them with the help of the
they can envision the changing seasons, but the story can also
plant and animal people.
be told in a way that allows adults to ponder the need to
allow old feelings to melt away like Old Man Winter does
This, like most creation tales, is replete with lessons
in the tale, to make room for a renewal in their hearts and
about the fragility of the earth, the need to respect the
minds that mirrors the coming of Spring.
boundaries set out by the manitous, and the ultimate cost
of revenge.
The Cherokee explain the origin of the deer’s curly tail
The people. Another key feature of many creation tales
in a story about Wild Boy and his brother, who make a game
is the role that the animal and plant kingdoms play in human
of allowing all of the animals to escape, thus causing the need
life. They are seen as elder siblings, here before the people
for hunting. In this story, we discover not only why the deer’s
and wiser because of that. Often plants, animals, water be-
tail is curly and why people must hunt game to eat, but also
ings, wind, and rocks play an important role in the creation
that there is potential harm in not attending to one’s duties,
of the people.
and that there can be no doubt as to what a good person
must do when faced with opportunities for impetuous and
The Chumash of the central California coast tell of their
facetious behavior.
creation by a committee of animals that includes Coyote,
Lizard, Hawk, and others, who debate the various features
Trickster tales. Another type of story that falls into this
that the humans will possess. Coyote and Lizard enter into
category is the so-called trickster tale, an extensive and largely
a debate about what kind of hands the new creatures will
misunderstood genre of traditional storytelling. It is the
have, and the other animal beings take sides. In the end Coy-
trickster—usually in the form of an animal known to the
ote wins out, and he prepares to press his hand into the sur-
people, such as Raven, Coyote, or Hare, and almost always
face of a fine-grained stone and create the model for human
a male—who tends to represent both the best and the worst
hands. But, at the last second, Lizard sneaks up and places
that a person can be. At times, the trickster is a creator, bring-
his hand into the stone, deciding the form of the human
ing about aspects of the world, such as fire, that make life
hand.
much more pleasant. At other times, the trickster behaves
badly, usually in the realms of gluttony or lust, bringing
In addition, the group debates human mortality. The
about negative aspects of the world or merely providing an
Jerusalem Cricket argues that human beings should eventu-
entertaining way to point out the consequences of bad be-
ally die, while Coyote argues for immortality in the form of
havior.
a lake where humans can immerse their dead and bring them
back to life. Cricket wins the debate, sealing his fate as an
One fine example of the latter is the tale told by the
omen of bad luck for the Chumash people. In both stories,
Yokuts of California about Coyote tricking Cricket into be-
the roles of animals, the vicissitudes of life, and the need for
lieving that she is the most beautiful of all insects. He uses
proper behavior are all established along with the creation of
her to demand tribute from the rest of the animals as their
human beings, forging a strong link between the way the
chief. Eventually, the Animal People grow tired of Coyote
world works and how the people are to behave in it. In cre-
and Cricket and their demands, and Coyote impersonates
ation tales, the universe, created with a working logic in place
the Creator in order to exact tribute. For this he is punished
that represents balance and attention to the rhythms of na-
and sent to live in the North Star, and Cricket, for her vanity,
ture, is established for all creatures. And all creatures have
must forever visit her lover Coyote during the day only, re-
some responsibility for and to that creation in order that it
turning to Earth at night to play her sad song.
continue on in balance.
Another California tale, from the Karuk, shows the
NATURE. The operation of the universe can be seen as a sort
trickster in his creator aspect, as Coyote obtains fire from the
of dependent variable, in that things must be done by those
stingy yellow jackets. Through a sort of relay race that sends
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN RELIGIONS: MYTHIC THEMES
the burning ember from animal to animal until it eventually
where the women would attend her while the men averted
falls into a softwood tree, Coyote shows the animals, and
their gazes until the appropriate time.
thus the people, how to extract fire from the wood, bringing
It came to pass as she instructed, and the woman made
the warmth and utility of fire to the world. A similar tale
her way into the camp carrying a bundle. After she was
from around the Indian communities of the Pacific North-
bathed and dressed, she called all of the people together and
west has Raven, their trickster, retrieving the sun from a self-
taught them the ceremonies that would keep their minds and
ish chief and placing it in the sky for the benefit of all.
hearts attentive to their responsibilities to the world. She
The key issue with regard to these trickster tales is that
taught them to pray with the pipe, presenting a pipe to them
the term trickster cannot adequately convey all of the nuances
and instructing them as to how subsequent pipes were to be
in the tales to which it is assigned. This glossing over of an
made. As she left them, she rolled in the dust four times, each
important theme in American Indian sacred narrative, there-
time turning into a buffalo of a different color. The last was
fore, must be used with caution. The negative connotations
a white buffalo, and then she was gone.
usually associated with the word trick creates a view of these
This tale is seen as a history of the religious use of the
tales that is somewhat skewed. In the sense that it denotes
pipe among the Lakota, and the pipe that White Buffalo
clown-like and regrettable behavior, the term trickster places
Woman gave to the people is still in existence, in the care
this important Native American cultural theme into roughly
of descendants of the first recipient. The tale, along with the
the same category as Brer Rabbit, Wile E. Coyote, and the
ceremonies the people learn in the course of it, reoriented
Three Stooges. When this term is applied to characters who
fallen ones to their sacred responsibilities to the world, espe-
may be heroes, creative deities, and powerful advocates of
cially to their relatives, the Buffalo Nation. In the Lakota cre-
humans, these cultural icons are denigrated. American Indi-
ation narrative, the people and the buffalo emerge together
an thinkers such as Gerald Vizenor stress that trickster, as a
from the Black Hills with common ancestors who can now
term, should not be understood as an anthropological or
be traced as easily as one traces their biological family tree.
folkloric category, but rather as a metaphorical idea or a con-
In addition to these important aspects of Lakota life, the
sciousness within the stories that explains to the people who
story teaches humility and the proper treatment of women,
they are, where they are from, and how it is that they should
as well as providing an inexorable link between the Lakota,
live.
their ritual cycle, and the land that produced them both.
SACRED HISTORY. All of the above tales can be considered
aspects of sacred history, and important mythic themes con-
In a similar way, the Chumash tell of their movement
nect Native American people to their traditions through
to the mainland of what is now California from the Channel
their direct relationships with the actors in the tales. While
Islands via a rainbow bridge placed by Hutash, the earth and
characters like Coyote or the animal and plant beings may
fertility goddess. Hutash wanted to move some of her people
not qualify as relatives in the sense that Western biological
from the islands to the mainland, so she provided a bridge.
or historic realities dictate, the realities of Native American
There was only one caveat: do not look down as you cross.
communities render a much different accounting of the fam-
Some of the people did look down, and fell into the ocean
ily tree.
below. Several of the beings from Chumash mythology asked
Hutash to do something for the people, as they would surely
For the Lakota of the Great Plains, the story of White
die as a result of the mishap. So Hutash turned them into
Buffalo Woman’s visit to the people to bring them their
dolphins as they fell, and they safely lived out their lives in
seven central ceremonies and the sacred pipe affirms the al-
that form. Thus the Chumash see themselves as related to
ready established, but perhaps neglected, familial relation-
the dolphins that inhabit the waters off the coast, and also
ship between the Lakota and the bison. The story tells of a
remember to heed the lesson learned and remain mindful of
time when the Lakota were experiencing famine, due in part
the rules set out by Hutash.
to the reluctance of the Buffalo Nation to appear and be
In a Haida tale (one with many variations), a child dis-
hunted. The people had forgotten the way to behave, and
covers a bit of mold on the fish he is about to eat and com-
became more angry and confused as the consequences visited
plains about it, ultimately refusing the fish entirely. The peo-
themselves upon them.
ple warn him that if he continues to speak disrespectfully,
Then it happened that two young men were travelling
the Fish People will see to it that he learns a difficult lesson.
in search of game when they spied a white mist, from which
Sure enough, as the child is playing by the shore he is taken
a beautiful young woman emerged. As she neared them, the
into the sea by the Salmon, who change him into one of their
men could see that she was naked. One young man averted
own. The story contains many vignettes about the boy’s trav-
his eyes and maintained decent thoughts, while the other ap-
els as a salmon, and he eventually returns to the shore from
proached her with evil intentions. The latter was swallowed
which he was abducted. His mother catches him and starts
up by a mist which left him nothing more than a skeleton.
to prepare him for drying when she notices that the salmon
The other young man humbled himself, still covering his
has a small charm around his neck. The village priest is
eyes, and the woman told him to go back to his people and
called, and he sees that the fish is her long-lost son. The
have them make ready for her arrival, preparing a lodge
woman is to lay the salmon on the roof of her house, and
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN RELIGIONS: MYTHIC THEMES
6663
when it rains, the fish will be transformed back into her son.
Themes that make up American Indian sacred narrative
This does indeed come to pass, and the boy grows to become
are governed by several key factors. First is the logical work-
a powerful priest and healer in his own right. This mul-
ing of the universe as each specific tribal culture sees it. The
tilayered tale contains lessons about respect and propriety,
creation stories set the parameters of the possible and the
and also establishes traceable links between the human world
necessary, giving the people a guide by which decisions can
and the other-than-human world. The boy who becomes a
be made, relationships understood, and success measured.
priest is invariably referred to by people as a relative, and this
Second, the narratives emphasize the way the actual day-to-
relative was himself a salmon, if only for a while.
day world works, which is similar to the first concept, but
The Ojibwe have a series of tales about the Thunderers,
different in scope.
sometimes called the Thunder Birds or Thunder Beings,
Whereas each tribal tradition can be seen as a philosoph-
who continue to interact with the people. There are tales in
ical system, the stories about the earth and how it operates
historic times of the Thunderers coming to people’s aid in
can be seen as a science of sorts, a method for working within
dire circumstances. The Thunderers provide a connection
the rules set out in the creation narratives that will bring
between the people and their sacred history, as these power-
about expected results while avoiding the pitfalls that occur
ful beings appear in stories of long, long ago as well. The
when one does things incorrectly. Often, tribal traditions
Thunderers are seen by the Ojibwe as grandparents, power-
make it clear that things must be done in a good way, which
ful manitous who assist those humans who know enough to
generally translates into a protocol within which propriety
respect them. They bring rain, they signal changes in the sea-
can be maintained, needs met, and problems assuaged. Final-
sons, and they speak to humans and protect them from the
ly, these are histories, stories of the people—where they came
threats of Mishebeshu and his kin.
from and where they are going. Actors in these tales are often
In one story, Nanabush creates the Thunderers in order
beings that one could encounter at any time, and one does
to keep the people, whom he has made, from disappearing.
encounter them, thus providing the impetus to maintain
The Thunderers are instructed to watch over the humans
these traditions in perpetuity.
and to strike against Mishebeshu. To continue to interact
Modernity, in many ways, is anti-traditional, favoring
with these beings in contemporary circumstances brings the
the new, the innovative, and the topical. Sacred histories
Ojibwe mythic cycle deeper relevance. The stories are taken
allow traditional cultures to exist in the modern world and
as a nexus of events, and when one person evokes the sacred
yet maintain their link to the past, keeping their stories of
narrative through a personal experience of an other-than-
the before-time, powerful other-than-human beings, and
human nature, it validates the entire corpus. Such hero fig-
plant, animal, and elemental relatives because they are old.
ures, often the focus of ethnographic or folkloric analyses of
Wisdom comes with age, and American Indian stories have
American Indian mythic narratives, also fall into the category
the power to bring ancient wisdom to bear on current topics.
of sacred history in that they are often the originators of spe-
Contemporary indigenous communities the world over re-
cific families or clans. Many Native American communities
main faithful to their own stories and legacy, rather than the
are organized along clan lines, with the clans originating in
sometimes more popular myths of modernity.
mythic times.
SEE ALSO Fiction, article on Native American Fiction and
Another common theme in the hero tales is that of
Religion; Lakota Religious Traditions; Poetry, article on Na-
human heroes who provide edification or resolve via their be-
tive American Poetry and Religion; Sedna; Tricksters, over-
havior, as in the Coeur d’Alene accounts of a boy who, in
view article and article on North American Tricksters.
the face of intimidation by a camp bully or certain defeat at
the hands of an enemy, uses his courage and tenacity to over-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
come his adversary. Such a tale is that of Four Smokes, which
Aoki, Haruo. “Nez Perce Texts.” University of California Publica-
tells of a group of men who are surrounded by enemies while
tions in Linguistics 90 (1979).
hunting in Crow country. A young boy is asked to divert the
Basso, Keith H. Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language
warriors away from the camp while the rest of his family es-
among the Western Apache. Albuquerque, 1996.
capes. Out of concern for his family, the young boy reluc-
Bunzel, Ruth L. Zuni Ceremonialism. Albuquerque, 1992.
tantly agrees. At each of four enemy charges the young boy
Courlander, Harold. The Fourth World of the Hopis: The Epic Story
gives a war cry and, with bullets flying about him, runs to
of the Hopi Indians as Preserved in Their Legends and Tradi-
a nearby bush. On each occasion he makes it to safety, and
tions. Albuquerque, 1987.
the Crow warriors, convinced that the boy has special pow-
Cruikshank, Julie. The Social Life of Stories: Narrative and Knowl-
ers, retreat. That evening the elders give the young boy the
edge in the Yukon Territory. Lincoln, Neb., 1998.
name Four Smokes in honor of the four times the Crow rifles
Deloria, Vine. Red Earth, White Lies: Native Americans and the
discharged gun smoke but failed to hit the boy. The modern
Myth of Scientific Fact. New York, 1995. See pages 37–61,
weaponry of the Crow party proves that Four Smokes is a
81–107.
historic character; one who can be seen as a close relative of
Dongoske, Kurt, Leigh Jenkins, and T. J. Ferguson. “Understand-
the contemporary Coeur d’Alene and an exemplar of familial
ing the Past through Hopi Oral Tradition.” Native Peoples
fidelity and courage in the face of adversity.
Magazine 6, no. 2 (1993): 24–31.
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN RELIGIONS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS
Dozier, Edward P. The Pueblo Indians of North America. New
Native nations have sought to preserve their cultures, com-
York, 1970.
munities, political rights, and territories. Social and religious
Ferguson, T. J., Kurt Dongoske, Mike Yeatts, and Leigh Kuwan-
movements have been among the ways in which Native peo-
wisiwma. “Hopi Oral History and Archaeology.” In Working
ple have sought to preserve core aspects of their cultures
Together: Native Americans and Archaeologists, edited by Kurt
while accommodating changing political, economic, and cul-
E. Dongoske, Mark Aldenderfer, and Karen Doehner,
tural relations in an increasingly globalized world.
pp. 45–60.Washington, D.C., 2000.
MILITARY AND DIPLOMATIC MOVEMENTS. Eastern North
Frey, Rodney. Landscape Traveled by Crane and Coyote: The World
America was colonized by an assortment of colonial powers,
of the Schitsu’umsh (Coeur d’Alene). Seattle, 2001.
including the English, French, Spanish, Dutch, and Swedes.
Kawagley, A. Oscar. A Yupiaq Worldview: A Pathway to Ecology
As the competitive and warring nation states of Europe trans-
and Spirit. Prospect Heights, Ill., 1995.
ferred their disputes to the colonies, diplomatic and econom-
Kidwell, Clara Sue, Homer Noley, and George E. “Tink” Tinker.
ic rivalries were played out as part of the policies of the moth-
A Native American Theology. Maryknoll, N.Y., 2001.
er countries. The hunt for gold was an early motivating
factor for the colonizers, but they soon turned their attention
McPherson, Robert S. Sacred Land, Sacred View: Navajo Percep-
tions of the Four Corners Region. Salt Lake City, 1992.
to the export of furs and skins. Native people were willing
to trade furs for European manufactured goods such as iron-
Nequatewa, Edmund. Truth of a Hopi: Stories Relating to the Ori-
ware, rifles, traps, cloth, and pots and pans. Native trappers
gin, Myths, and Clan Histories of the Hopi. Flagstaff, Ariz.,
and hunters became sources of labor in complex interconti-
1990.
nental markets extending back to the European capitals.
Ortiz, Alfonso, ed. Handbook of North American Indians, vol. 9,
Southwest. Washington, D.C., 1979.
Native communities soon became dependent on trade
Parkhill, Thomas C. Weaving Ourselves into the Land: Charles
with Europeans for manufactured products they could not
Godfrey Leland, “Indians,” and the Study of Native American
produce themselves. Economic dependence required a Euro-
Religions. Albany, N.Y., 1997.
pean trading partner, and the eastern Native nations soon
found themselves forced to ally with one or another Europe-
Vizenor, Gerald “Trickster Discourse.” American Indian Quarterly
an colony for trade and military protection. Trade allies be-
14 (1990) 277–288.
came military allies during times of war, and the Native na-
Walker, James R. “James R. Walker: His Life and Work.” In La-
tions were soon swept into a series of conflicts that were often
kota Belief and Ritual, edited by Raymond J. DeMallie and
initiated to serve European interests far away from North
Elaine A. Jahner, pp. 3–61. Lincoln, Neb., 1980.
America. Warfare became more frequent, involved more
DENNIS F. KELLEY (2005)
combatants, marshaled greater firepower, and was far more
deadly than traditional Native American conflicts.
Working according to the dictates of the European mar-
NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN RELIGIONS: NEW
ket, European traders demanded more and more furs from
RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS
Native American hunters and trappers, coercing them to trap
From the time of their earliest contact with European settlers
more by reducing the value of furs relative to trade items;
and explorers, Native Americans have defended their lands,
thus more furs were required to trade for necessities. Traders
cultures, religions, and political rights. Often, Native Ameri-
used alcohol as an inducement to bring in more furs or a dis-
can efforts to preserve their communities and cultures take
traction leading to poor trades, requiring additional hunting.
the form of religious, military, political, and cultural move-
Market demands for furs led to Native hunters overhunting
ments. The ways that Native nations have sought to preserve
local animal resources, and often forced tribes like the Dela-
their cultures and territories have varied considerably
ware and Munsee to fall back into the interior to follow the
throughout colonial history and in the contemporary world.
disappearing hunting grounds. Movement into the interior,
There were wars, battles, and strategic political alliances dur-
however, often led to conflict with other nations who had
ing the colonial period before and after the establishment of
already claimed the hunting grounds.
the United States. Religious movements, or revitalization
By the 1640s the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) saw their
movements, characterize Native responses to colonialism as
local beaver and deer supplies shrink to levels that could not
American Indian peoples sought cultural solutions to drasti-
sustain trade with the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam.
cally changing economic, political, and cultural situations.
Consequently, the Iroquois sought trade agreements with the
Many Native American traditions, religions, and revital-
Native nations of the interior, but were rebuffed because the
ized cultures continue into the present day as living commu-
interior nations had their trade and diplomatic alliances with
nities. During the last quarter of the twentieth century, Na-
the French. With Dutch support, the Iroquois initiated a se-
tive peoples openly practiced, reclaimed, and maintained
ries of battles and wars in the middle 1640s that lasted until
their religious beliefs and understandings. If there is one gen-
about 1700, known as the Beaver Wars. From the 1640s
eralization about Native American communities over the
until 1820 in eastern North America there was nearly contin-
past five hundred years of colonial contact, it might be that
uos warfare and economic and diplomatic competition that
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6665
ended only with the emergence of the United States and the
at Albany in the New York colony. The Iroquois managed
extension of its control over the region.
this alliance for their own and English trade and diplomatic
interests, but it unraveled after the 1750s as trade moved far-
The trade and diplomatic ties of the Native nations to
ther west and Pennsylvania traders moved into the Ohio re-
European colonies not only involved them in the European
gion. The alliance was increasingly taken over by Shawnee
wars but intensified military and economic interactions
and Delaware leadership.
among the Native nations. The Iroquois, supported by
Dutch and later English alliances and weapons, pushed out
During the early 1760s, Pontiac (c. 1720–1769) assem-
or dispersed many of the Native nations of the lower Great
bled many groups from the northern confederacy to attack
Lakes, and forced the Ojibwa, Potawatomi, Odawa, Sac and
British forts in the Great Lakes region. This same confedera-
Fox, Wyandot, and others farther west. In turn, the migrat-
cy was united to oppose U.S. expansion during Little Tur-
ing Native nations, often better supplied with weapons,
tle’s War in the 1790s, and in 1812 Tecumseh (1768–1813)
pushed others like the Lakota, Dakota, Nakota, Gros Ventre,
was appointed warrior head of the confederacy that fought
and Cheyenne farther to the west and onto the plains.
with the British against the United States in the War of
1812. After the War of 1812 the northern alliance was left
The intensification of diplomatic, military, and trade re-
depleted and in disarray.
lations greatly affected the ability of many Native nations to
maintain their territorial and economic integrity. Most na-
The Creek nation also tried to strengthen its trade and
tions in eastern North America were forced into a trade, mili-
diplomatic position by inviting coastal groups and other na-
tary, or diplomatic alliance with one or another European
tions or villages to join the Creek Confederacy. The Creek
colony. Many coastal nations were quickly subjugated by the
leadership tried to manage relations among the English,
English colonies. The Pamunkey Algonquins under Powha-
French, and Spanish colonies of the south in order to gain
tan (c. 1550–1618) were early subject to English land en-
diplomatic and trade advantages. The Creek were relatively
croachments, taxes, and pressures to convert to Christianity
successful with these methods during the second half of the
that resulted in several conflicts, ending with the social, polit-
1700s. During the early 1760s the southern tribes, including
ical, and cultural marginalization of the Virginia nations by
the Creek, rejected overtures by the Shawnee and Delaware
1675.
to join with the northern confederacy against the British.
And in 1811 the southern Native nations generally declined
At about the same time, the Native nations of New En-
to ally with the northern confederacy by refusing to join Te-
gland were increasingly forced to cede land and political au-
cumseh to oppose the expansion of the United States into
tonomy to the English. The Wampanoags did not believe
Native lands.
they could live under English rule, and the economic and
cultural changes were corrupting their way of life. The defeat
Many Native nations during the late 1700s and 1800s
of the Wampanoags and allied New England nations in King
engaged the U. S. government in warfare. Most were defend-
Philip’s War (1675–1676) led to their relegation to small
ing territory and their way of life, or moving to preserve an
tracts of land and communities often called Indian Praying
economic resource like the buffalo. Native military alliances
Towns. The New England nations adopted town-
were usually loose coalitions of friendship, and often season-
government democracy and Christian Protestant religions,
ally deployed. In general, they were hard to sustain in the
although they have maintained a sense of Native identity to
field, could not manufacture their own rifles and ammuni-
the present day.
tion, and depended on the backing of a strong European co-
lonial ally who was willing to provide military supplies and,
While most Native nations in the thirteen original U.S.
hopefully, armed forces. After the War of 1812 and the sale
colonies were eventually brought under colonial control, the
of Florida and West Florida (present-day Alabama and Mis-
nations farther to the west continued to engage in trade, dip-
sissippi) by Spain to the United States, the eastern Native na-
lomatic, and military relations with the rival European colo-
tions were left without effective allies and were forced to rec-
nial powers. By 1700 some of them began to realize that the
ognize U.S. authority in the region.
expansionist goals of the English colonists were a threat to
M
their sovereignty and traditional territories. The Iroquois and
OVEMENTS OF RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISM AND RE-
Creek confederacies began to form alliances of Native na-
FORM. As eastern North America became increasingly en-
gaged in trade, diplomacy, and the economic markets, the
tions in order to manage relations with the Europeans more
encroachments of colonial power led to the dispersion and
effectively. During the early 1700s the Iroquois often boast-
social and economic degradation of Native life and culture.
ed that they had a military alliance with fifty Native nations,
Native communities were forced to migrate farther west,
although most likely this claim was a bargaining ploy for ne-
game disappeared, colonists took over land and made farms,
gotiating with the Europeans.
disease greatly reduced the numbers and life expectancy of
The Iroquois Confederacy held together an alliance of
Native peoples, and economic and political dependencies re-
Native nations based on economic treaties that allowed the
quired interaction and compliance with colonial authorities
Iroquois access to western hunting grounds, and in exchange
and traders. European trade goods, access to alcohol, over-
they gave the western nations access to British trade goods
specialization in the fur-trade economy, and new Christian
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN RELIGIONS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS
religious ideas and concepts were changing and modifying
The second Delaware religious movement during the
everyday life. Native social and living conditions deteriorated
early 1760s led to the political, social, and religious reform
noticeably, and the colonial expansion westward was
of Delaware society. This prophet synthesized elements of
increasing.
traditional Delaware religious views, brought them together
into a common ceremonial structure, the Big House, unified
Under these conditions many Native American leaders
three phratries of a dozen clans each into a common reli-
and spiritual guides began to lament the declining conditions
gious-kinship structure, and established unified chief and
of the Native nations and sought answers. While military ac-
leadership positions for all three phratries. The phratries are
tion was one option, many leaders hoped to understand the
known to us as the Wolf, Turkey, and Turtle divisions, or
spiritual and religious significance of the changes that were
perhaps more generally as four-leggeds, two-leggeds, and
occurring and sought remedies through spiritual means.
those that walk on land and water.
There are reports of spiritual preaching among the Iroquois
as early as the 1720s, but not to the extent of becoming a
The newly established chief of the Turtle division was
full-fledged movement. There may have been many spiritual
the first leader of the newly reformed Delaware nation. The
leaders who discussed the issues of the day in spiritual terms
reformed Delaware religion-society helped centralize and
but did not lead recognizable movements, or who have been
unify Delaware political and religious relations, and helped
lost in history.
the Delaware more effectively manage relations with other
tribes and Europeans. The Delaware Big House religion was
Among the Delaware in the 1740s, there appears to have
practiced until at least the 1920s. This movement can be
been much distress because of migrations and declining con-
called a reform movement because it led to long term and
ditions, and there are hints of spiritual unrest. Several proph-
durable institutional change in Delaware society. Its purpose
ets appeared among the Delaware in the late 1750s and early
was religious, moral, social, and political reform.
1760s. The British had just won the French and Indian War,
and many tribes in the northern alliance, including the Dela-
The fundamentalist movements. The Native religious
ware and Odawa, who were both allied with the French, were
landscape had numerous fundamentalist and reform move-
highly suspicious of British motivations. The British now
ments. The fundamentalist movements have generally been
controlled trade and gained control of the military forts in
more historically colorful and often gained considerable at-
the Great Lakes region. The Native nations in the region ex-
tention. They include the Pueblo Revolt (1680s), the Shaw-
pected British retaliation and were unhappy under British
nee Prophet movement (1805–1811), the Cherokee Prophet
administration. Under these conditions two religious move-
movement (1811–1813), the Red Stick War (1813–1814),
ments emerged among the Delaware. One led to the unified
White Path’s Rebellion (1826), the Winnebago Prophet
national Delaware Big House religion, and the other to the
movement (1830–1832), the first Ghost Dance (1869–
militant teachings that the Odawa Pontiac endorsed and
1870) and the second Ghost Dance (1889–1890), and the
used to collect a military coalition to try to force the British
Snake movements among the Cherokee, Choctaw, and
out the Great Lakes region.
Creek during the 1890s. These generally fundamentalist
movements favored a return to traditional ways and rejected
The militant prophet’s teachings combined elements of
the social, cultural, and economic changes brought by the
Christianity with selected Native teachings. The prophet
colonies or the United States.
Neolin (the Delaware Prophet) had a near death experience
and dreamed he went to heaven and received instruction di-
Many of these movements adopted elements of Chris-
rectly from god. In general, his teachings suggested that the
tianity, such as the idea of a second coming or the concepts
Native people had abandoned the religious teachings and
of heaven and a single anthropomorphic God, but their solu-
lifeways of their forebears and had adopted too many Euro-
tion to the economic, demographic, and political decline of
pean ways, including their clothing, trade, alcohol, and
the Native communities was to seek a solution through spiri-
Christianity. These changes had corrupted Native life, and
tual intervention and a restoration of the way of life that ex-
the solution was to return to the beliefs and life of their an-
isted before the Europeans arrived. The second Ghost Dance
cestors, which would help restore the Native American na-
asked the faithful to dance at regular intervals in a circle to
tions to their former health and prosperity. The Europeans
induce dreams and communication with the ancestors in
would have to be pushed off the continent through warfare,
order to learn about the ancestors’ immanent return and res-
and no warrior could reach the next world if he did not be-
toration of the Native way of life. The Cherokee Prophet,
lieve in the prophet’s teachings and do his bidding. Pontiac
in 1811–1813, taught that the changes in Cherokee society
and the militant Delaware prophet used these teachings to
were corrosive and that the community would be destroyed
organize the northern confederacy against the British, but
in a hailstorm of fiery rocks. Only those who went to Look-
after losing a brief war, called Pontiac’s War, the teachings
out Mountain would be saved. The first Ghost Dance taught
were lost or went underground. This movement, which em-
that the people would be saved by trainloads of manufac-
phasizes spiritual solutions to colonial situations and a return
tured goods that would arrive only for the Native people.
to the culture and religion of the ancestors, we can call fun-
This movement is reminiscent of the cargo cults in the
damentalist.
Pacific.
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN RELIGIONS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS
6667
The Winnebago Prophet taught that by resisting the
and plow while women focused on horticulture using hand
Americans militarily, the Winnebago and Sac and Fox would
implements. The prophet advocated social and culture re-
regain their traditional lands when a group of spiritual war-
form as a means of helping the community adapt to life on
riors appeared to defeat the U.S. Army. The Creek Red
small reservations. Strong emphasis is given to moral issues
Sticks opposed economic and political change introduced by
and individual responsibility, and Christian concepts of
U.S. Indian agents, and they started a civil war for cultural
heaven and hell and punishment in the afterlife are empha-
reasons, which later developed into the Creek War (1812–
sized for those who would break the new moral code. Hand-
1813). The Pueblo Revolt was strongly influenced by a rejec-
some Lake is given credit for introducing significant social
tion of Christianity and Spanish political domination, and
reform into Iroquois society. His followers established a
it earned the Pueblo the right to practice their own religion,
church about fifteen years after his death.
although most Pueblo people were returned to Spanish con-
The Kickapoo Prophet, Native American Church, and
trol in the 1690s. The Cherokee, Choctaw, and Creek Snake
Indian Shaker movements follow analogous patterns of
movements were ways to mobilize a political organization to
moral and community reform and continue as contemporary
oppose the abolishment of the tribal governments and force
religious movements. The Yaqui religion is an example of the
their inclusion in the state of Oklahoma. The members of
formation of a reformed religion, borrowing significantly
the Snake movements were the most culturally conservative
from Christian Catholic teachings but recreated and relocat-
members of the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Creek nations.
ed within Yaqui tradition and history. Some movements are
The fundamentalist movements, generally, have been
less influenced by social or cultural change and instead em-
strongly resistant to cultural and political change, favoring
phasize and support the continuity of community and tradi-
military or spiritual solutions to the degradation of life under
tion. Such movements are the Munsee Prophetess move-
colonial domination. Some of the movements have relied on
ment, the New Tidings religion, and the Ojibwa Drummer
a cataclysmic spiritual event to intervene and restore the old
movement.
order and tradition. If the significant spiritual event does not
The religious reform movements are generally responses
occur, however, then most people lose faith in the movement
to radically changing social, cultural, political, and economic
and the movement disintegrates, though sometimes small
conditions experienced by many Native communities over
groups of adherents remain and carry on the beliefs, often
the past two centuries. Traditional religions seemed ill
in secret.
equipped to interpret and give guidance under radically
The reform movements. Reform religious movements
changing colonial conditions, and some people have looked
are aimed at changing or supporting community social and
for new ways to understand the world and make accommo-
cultural values to accommodate fluctuating political, cultur-
dations to it. Some Native Americans have adopted Chris-
al, and political conditions. Native American reform move-
tianity, but often continue to engage with the Native com-
ments include the Yaqui religion (1500–present), the Hand-
munity and beliefs. Native American Christian churches,
some Lake movement (1797–present), the Munsee
such as the Cherokee, Seminole, Choctaw, and Creek, are
Prophetess movement (1804–1805), the Kickapoo Prophet
based on Native languages and social and cultural organiza-
movement (1815–present), the Cherokee Keetoowah Soci-
tions. Native religious reform movements often provide syn-
ety (1858–present), the Washat Dreamers religion (1850–
cretic religious solutions to a community undergoing rapid
present), the Indian Shakers (1881–present), the Native
change, as well as provide a new set of moral values, beliefs,
American Church (1800s–present), the Shoshoni Sun Dance
ceremonies, and sometimes community organization to help
(1890–present), and perhaps the New Tidings religion of the
people endure and live under the new conditions. The re-
Canadian Sioux (1900–present) and Ojibwe Drummer
form movements usually retain many central Native con-
movement (contemporary). Most of these religions adopt
cepts and philosophies.
some concepts from Christianity but have a predominantly
CONTEMPORARY SOCIAL MOVEMENTS. Current Native
Native cultural and philosophical focus that would not be
American social movements take many forms. Native peo-
generally recognized as Christian.
ples are actively engaged in many activities in the area of land
claims, education, Native rights, international rights, and
The most characteristic of the religious reform move-
many others. The focus here will be on the movements that
ments is the Handsome Lake movement among the Seneca
are related to religious issues.
and Iroquois. Handsome Lake, after having a near-death ex-
perience, brought back a message of reform to the Seneca
During the 1970s the Red Power movement’s activities
from god. Elements of Catholicism and Quakerism are inte-
ranged from the occupation of Alcatraz Island to the second
grated with selected features of traditional religion and cere-
Long Walk in 1978. Contemporary Red Power activities
mony to create a reform message. Handsome Lake’s move-
have been less visible, but have taken the form of occasional
ment emerged as the Iroquois were relegated to small
protests, especially over nuclear waste sites on or near reserva-
reservations. He advocated no gambling or drinking and le-
tion land, as well as sacred walks or sacred runs. American
gitimized the role of men in farming, which previously was
Indian Movement (AIM) chapters are still active, meet in na-
women’s work, by suggesting that males take up the horse
tional meetings, and are engaged in community issues and
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6668
NORTH AMERICAN [INDIAN] RELIGIONS: HISTORY OF STUDY
cultural events. Native American students at colleges and
Knaut, Andrew L. The Pueblo Revolt of 1680: Conquest and Resis-
universities are engaged in Native American issues, recruit-
tance in Seventeenth-Century New Mexico. Norman, Okla.,
ment, cultural events, and community activities.
1995.
One major outgrowth of the Red Power movement was
Lassiter, Luke E. “Southwestern Oklahoma, the Gourd Dance,
and ‘Charlie Brown.’” In Contemporary Native American
the open revival of Native traditions in many Native Ameri-
Cultural Issues, edited by Duane Champagne, pp. 145–166.
can communities. Activism in the 1970s started in urban
Walnut Creek, Calif., 1999.
areas but soon moved to the reservation communities, where
McLoughlin, William. The Cherokee Ghost Dance. Mercer, Ga.,
young Native Americans sought greater knowledge and un-
1984.
derstanding of traditional culture. These events encouraged
many spiritual leaders and traditionalists to bring Native cer-
Mooney, James. The Ghost Dance Religion and Wounded Knee.
Mineola, N.Y., 1973.
emonies, dances, and stories out into public view, when they
had been hidden away for many years. Elders and traditional-
Newcombe, William W., Jr. The Culture and Acculturation of the
ists gained more respect, and they became more active and
Delaware Indians. Ann Arbor, Mich., 1956.
visible in Native American communities. Tribal community
Parker, Arthur C. Parker on the Iroquois. Syracuse, N.Y., 1968.
colleges and universities started teaching Native languages
Pflug, Melissa. Ritual and Myth in Odawa Revitalization: Reclaim-
and culture.
ing a Sovereign Place. Norman, Okla., 1998.
Native religious freedom issues were defended in the
Ruby, Robert H., and John A. Brown. John Slocum and the Indian
courts to preserve the right to smoke sacred peyote in cere-
Shaker Church. Norman, Okla., 1996.
monies. Twice Congressional bills were written to preserve
Shultz, Jack M. The Seminole Baptist Churches of Oklahoma:
Native American religious rights through the American Indi-
Maintaining a Traditional Community. Norman, Okla.,
an Religious Freedom Acts. Native Americans moved to pro-
1999.
tect sacred sites and places of worship, both on and off the
Smith, Huston, and Rueben Snake, eds. One Nation under God:
reservations. Native religion and traditional knowledge be-
The Triumph of the Native American Church. Santa Fe,
came more highly regarded within Native American commu-
N.Mex., 1996.
nities. Contemporary Native peoples are actively engaged in
Speck, Frank. A Study of the Delaware Indian Big House Ceremony.
the world through a variety of social, religious, political, edu-
Harrisburg, Pa., 1931.
cational, and cultural movements aimed at preserving their
Spier, Leslie. The Prophet Dance of the Northwest and Its Deriva-
communities, identities, religions, and political autonomy.
tives: The Source of the Ghost Dance. Menasah, Wisc., 1935.
Stevens, Frank. The Black Hawk War. Chicago, 1903.
SEE ALSO Ghost Dance; Handsome Lake; Neolin; North
Stewart, Omer C. Peyote Religion: A History. Norman, Okla.,
American Indians, article on Indians of the Plains; Sun
1987.
Dance; Tecumseh; Wovoka.
Trafzer, Cliff E., and M. A. Beach. “Smohalla, the Washani, and
Religion as a Factor in Northwestern Indian History.” In
BIBLIOGRAPHY
American Indian Prophets, edited by Cliff E. Trafzer,
Aberle, David F. The Peyote Religion among the Navajo. Norman,
pp. 71–86. Sacramento, Calif., 1986.
Okla., 1991.
Wallace, Anthony F. C. “New Religious Beliefs among the Dela-
Brown, Joseph Epes. The Spiritual Legacy of the American Indian.
ware Indians, 1600–1900.” Southwest Journal of Anthropology
New York, 1995.
12 (1956): 1–21.
Champagne, Duane. “The Delaware Revitalization Movement of
Wallace, Anthony F. C. The Death and Rebirth of the Seneca. New
the Early 1760s: A Suggested Reinterpretation.” American
York, 1972.
Indian Quarterly 12:2(1988):107–126.
DUANE CHAMPAGNE (2005)
Eby, Cecil. That Disgraceful Affair, The Black Hawk War. New
York, 1973.
Edmunds, R. David. The Shawnee Prophet. Lincoln, Neb., 1983.
NORTH AMERICAN [INDIAN] RELIGIONS:
Hendrix, Jane B. “Redbird Smith and the Nighthawk Keet-
HISTORY OF STUDY
oowahs.” Journal of Cherokee Studies 8 (1983): 73–86.
The religions of North American Indians manifest consider-
Herring, Joseph B. Kenekuk: The Kickapoo Prophet. Lawrence,
able complexity and diversity. In 1492 several hundred cul-
Kans., 1988.
tural groups practiced distinctive forms of religion. While we
Hittman, Michael. Wovoka and the Ghost Dance. Yervington,
customarily begin the documentary record at the time of ini-
Nev., 1990.
tial European contact, discoveries in archaeology have ex-
Johnson, Troy, Joane Nagel, and Duane Champagne. American
tended religious perspectives far back into prehistory. Burial
Indian Activism: Alcatraz to the Longest Walk. Urbana, Ill.,
mounds in the Midwest, Southeastern ceremonial sites,
1997.
abandoned kivas in the Southwest, stone medicine wheels on
Jorgensen, Joseph G. The Sun Dance Religion: Power for the Power-
the Plains, California petroglyphs, and other remains all
less. Chicago, 1972.
evoke the antiquity of North American religions.
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NORTH AMERICAN [INDIAN] RELIGIONS: HISTORY OF STUDY
6669
Despite its intrinsic value for comparative religion, the
forts were made to convert the heathens to the “true faith”
field of indigenous North American religions has been un-
through both coercion and persuasion.
dercultivated by religious scholars. Too often dismissed as
Later explorers of the interior regions were scarcely more
“primitive,” these religions have been generally relegated to
perspicacious than their predecessors concerning native reli-
an undifferentiated residual category shared with other reli-
gions. Older stereotypes persisted: Indians were said to be
gions of primal peoples around the world. Interest in these
haunted by demons, their religious practitioners were derid-
religions has been limited to their supposed evolutionary po-
ed as conjurors, jugglers, and imposters, and their rites were
sition as stages logically antecedent to what are commonly
regarded as ridiculous and absurd. On matters of religion,
called the “great religions,” which command the allegiance
the accounts of the explorers replay their presuppositions
of the majority of the world’s population. Rarely, until re-
with monotonous regularity.
cently, have North American Indian religions been studied
as valid subjects in their own right. Nevertheless, research has
Nevertheless, in the performance of their evangelical
revealed intricately structured rituals and ceremonies, myths
tasks, missionaries sometimes mastered native languages and
densely packed with symbolic meanings, cosmologies that
were able to penetrate the belief structures of their potential
embrace subtle relations with nature, and highly elaborated
converts. The Recollet and Jesuit fathers bequeathed an un-
varieties of individual religious experience.
precedented record of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century
religious customs among Algonquian- and Iroquoian-
One difficulty in studying native North American reli-
speaking groups in the Northeast. Not only does the seventy-
gions is that their institutions tend to be much less obviously
three-volume The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents
compartmentalized than those of the so-called great reli-
(compiled 1610–1791; first published in 1896–1901; re-
gions. Their religious beliefs and practices pervade many
print in 39 vols., New York, 1959) contain accurate first-
spheres of practical activity; for example, among the Nootka
hand observations, but the scholarly training of these priests
constructing a canoe is considered a religious act, as is Hopi
enabled them to engage in speculative comparative ethnolo-
horticulture, the rabbit drive of the Rappahanock, the Paiute
gy. The high point of Jesuit anthropology was reached by the
piñon gathering, and so on.
priest Joseph François Lafitau in his two-volume Moeurs des
A second problem confronting students of North Amer-
sauvages ameriquains comparées aux moeurs des premiers
ican Indian religions is the absence of literacy in traditional
(1724; translated by William N. Fenton and Elizabeth L.
native societies. Lacking bodies of orthodox written doctrine,
Moore as Customs of the American Savages, compared with the
they have depended on oral and visual transmission of reli-
Customs of Primitive Times, Toronto, 1977). Lafitau offered
gious tradition. Such modes place a premium on mnemonic
a detailed overview of religious customs based on the works
devices, rhetorical skills, and tacit understandings gained
of his Jesuit predecessors and supplemented by his own in-
through participation. The absence of written texts has in the
quiries. He systematically compared Indian religious prac-
past allowed considerable flexibility in adapting to change
tices with those of classical antiquity. Convinced that the In-
and permitted considerable latitude for idiosyncratic inter-
dians had emigrated from Asia, Lafitau argued for the unity
pretation.
of the human race, all of whom had in the remote past, he
believed, shared a common God-given religion. Lafitau
A third difficulty is that the religions of North American
maintained that through migrations, local adaptations, and
Indians are typically dynamic. Efforts to depict or recon-
forgetfulness, primal beliefs and practices degenerated; yet
struct these religions as timeless, fully integrated systems of
vestiges of this original condition could still be discerned in
belief and action are usually doomed to failure. Religious
the customs of contemporary savages, which presented clues
movements are recurrent features in North American history
for unraveling unwritten history. Lafitau’s ideas were not
and prehistory. These movements, usually inspired by
unique, but the reliability of his documentation and his at-
prophecy, originated within particular tribes but often
tempts at systematic comparison place him in advance of his
spread beyond tribal boundaries. Deeply embedded in many
times.
of these religions are many reintegrated traits that ultimately
derive from early contacts with Christianity.
Spanish and English missionaries, with rare exceptions,
E
fell far short of the high standards set by the French. The
ARLY OBSERVERS. The study of North American religions
rigid religious orthodoxy of the Spanish and the notorious
begins with the early European explorers. Many explorers
ethnocentrism of the English seemed to conspire in preclud-
carried with them strong Christian theocentric biases that
ing sympathetic tolerance for native beliefs. Only in the late
denied the existence of religion in aboriginal societies. People
eighteenth century do missionary accounts of native religions
who went naked and lived communally, who practiced po-
begin to possess substantive worth.
lygamy, anthropophagy, and human sacrifice were some-
times judged as less than human. What served as religion to
Along with the records of enlightened missionaries, the
the Indian was disdainfully dismissed by the European new-
reports of early travelers and traders offer valuable material
comer as devil worship, idolatry, or irrational superstition.
on North American Indians. Travelers, by virtue of their ex-
However, since part of the European mission to explore and
periences with a series of different groups, frequently were
settle the New World was religiously motivated, earnest ef-
sensitive to religious variations. Lack of sustained observation
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NORTH AMERICAN [INDIAN] RELIGIONS: HISTORY OF STUDY
tended to diminish the reliability of these reports, but this
frontier as a geological explorer and Indian trader. After tak-
deficiency was overcome by exceptional traders and adminis-
ing up residence among the Chippewa of Sault Sainte Marie,
trators who resided for long periods in Indian communities,
he married an Indian woman, learned Chippewa, and be-
learned Indian languages, and often married Indian women.
came a governmental agent. In 1839 he published his influ-
For example, the trader John Long in his account of the
ential Algic Researches, (New York, 1839) in which he sought
Ojibwa (Voyages and Travels of an Indian Interpreter and
to reveal the deeper levels of Indian mentality through the
Trader, 1791) is the first to refer to the concept of totem,
collection of myths and folklore and the analysis of subtleties
which he describes as an association established with a guard-
in Algonquian linguistics. His scholarly reputation thus es-
ian spirit during a vision quest. Later scholars misappropriat-
tablished, Schoolcraft deserted the frontier to promote the
ed and universalized the term to denote names for descent
fledgling science of ethnology. He secured federal support
groups and elementary forms of religion.
and was responsible for compiling the mammoth, six-volume
Historical and Statistical Information Respecting the History,
Much knowledge about traditional religion among In-
Condition and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United
dians of the Southeast Woodlands derives from James
States (Philadelphia, 1851–1860). This work is laced with
Adair’s The History of the American Indian (1775). Adair,
important data from missionaries and Indian agents, but its
who lived for forty years among the Cherokee and Chicka-
cumbersome and disorganized format limits its utility.
saw, believed that the Indians were descended from the lost
tribes of Israel. To sustain his argument, he established twen-
ADVANCES UNDER THE BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY. The
ty-three points of specific convergence between Indian and
founding of the Bureau of Ethnology in 1879 auspiciously
Israelite customs. Despite his erroneous thesis, Adair’s mode
launched formal government anthropology in the United
of analysis forced him to ask questions and record important
States. The bureau’s mission was primarily salvage ethnology
religious information that might otherwise have been ig-
and scientific systematization of knowledge about America’s
nored.
original inhabitants. Under the inspired directorship of John
Wesley Powell, a dedicated group of scholars was assembled
EMERGENCE OF A FIELD OF STUDY. Early theories about the
who left enduring contributions to the understanding of In-
indigenous people of North America revolved around ques-
dian religions.
tions of origin. Who were they? Whence did they come? Few
theorists subscribed to an autochthonous origin; some, influ-
The Southwest became an important area of investiga-
enced by the foreshortened biblical chronology, attempted
tion, since Apachean-speaking and Pueblo groups retained
to link them with historically known Old World peoples.
viable neoaboriginal religious systems. Such bureau-
Such speculations encouraged the collection and analysis of
sponsored researchers as James Stevenson and Matilda Ste-
ethnological materials, among which religious information
venson, J. W. Fewkes, Washington Matthews, J. G. Bourke,
was considered critical. Simple connections proved untena-
and Frank Hamilton Cushing produced papers and mono-
ble, and the origins of North American Indians were pushed
graphs on Southwestern ceremonialism that attracted inter-
farther into the past. Many European and colonial philoso-
national attention.
phers and universal historians equated indigenous peoples
Other areas as well were attended to by the bureau. Clay
with early stages of human development, as epitomized in
MacCauley, James Mooney, and, later, John R. Swanton
Locke’s famous phrase, “in the beginning all the World was
studied Southeast Woodlands religions. Research on Iro-
America.” Themes of native degeneracy and inherent inferi-
quois religion persisted through the works of Lewis Henry
ority were countered by the philosophical and literary image
Morgan and Horatio Hale, whose The Iroquois Book of Rites
of the “Noble Savage,” a convention that attained popularity
(Philadelphia, 1883) represents the first modern mono-
in the mid-eighteenth century more as a critique of Western
graphic treatment of North American Indian ceremonialism.
morality than as a serious effort accurately to portray Native
Such bureau scholars as Erminnie Smith and J. N. B. Hewitt
Americans.
contributed significant studies on Iroquoian myths and cos-
The post-Revolutionary consolidation of a national
mology. Other aspects of Eastern Woodlands religion were
identity on the part of Americans provided another stimulus
documented by W. J. Hoffman’s works on the Ojibwa and
to the study of North American Indians. Intellectuals of the
Menomini and later by Truman Michaelson’s impressive
new republic sought to advance evidence proving that their
corpus on the Fox.
continent was not inferior to the Old World and could sup-
The heyday of Plains culture still survived within living
port civilization. Under the influence of such leaders as
memory when bureau ethnologists entered the field. J. Owen
Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Barton, Peter DuPonceau,
Dorsey collected valuable information on Siouan religions;
Lewis Cass, and Albert Gallatin, coordinated efforts were un-
James Mooney reported on the Kiowa and Cheyenne; Alice
dertaken not only to “civilize” the Indians but also to pre-
Fletcher, in collaboration with native intellectuals Francis La
serve for posterity a record of their traditional cultures.
Flesche and James Murie, produced classic monographs on
The career of Henry Rowe Schoolcraft (1793–1864) ex-
Omaha and Pawnee religion. Mooney’s brilliant description
emplifies the transition from amateur observer to profession-
and analysis of the contemporary Ghost Dance remains a
al ethnologist. Schoolcraft’s younger years were spent on the
recognized masterpiece of religious ethnology. Very little bu-
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6671
reau work was undertaken among tribes west of the Rocky
Durkheim, Marcel Mauss, Lucien Lévy-Bruhl, Wilhelm
Mountains until the twentieth century.
Schmidt, and Adolf E. Jensen. American reaction to these
theories has typically been defensive and critical. It must be
RISE OF UNIVERSITY SPECIALIZATIONS. By 1900 the center
admitted that, with few exceptions, these theorists and subse-
of American anthropology began to shift from museums and
quent European ethnologists, comparativists, and religious
government agencies to universities. As gifted and resource-
historians lacked direct American field experience. Yet they
ful as the early researchers of the Bureau of Ethnology were,
have contributed significantly by viewing the American data
none had received formal academic training in anthropology.
from the broader perspective of world religions, by con-
The central figure in the movement toward professionaliza-
structing typologies with which the American evidence can
tion was Franz Boas, a European-trained scholar, who exert-
be analyzed and compared, and by probing deeply into the
ed a dominant influence on American anthropology for the
philosophical implications of these materials. Recent Euro-
next half century. Boas developed the modern concept of
pean scholars whose work deserves greater recognition by
culture, set new standards for fieldwork, and trained several
their American colleagues include Kaj Birket-Smith, Josef
generations of students destined to make decisive contribu-
Haekel, Rolf Krusche, Werner Müller, Raffaele Pettazzoni,
tions to the study of Indian religions. Boas’s own works on
and Anna Burgitta Rooth. The prolific and more accessible
the Northwest Coast demonstrated a meticulous concern for
works of A˚ke Hultkrantz, a Swedish scholar, deserve special
ethnographic particularism aimed toward problems of cul-
comment. Hultkrantz conducted field research among the
tural-historical reconstruction. Later he moved from an em-
Shoshoni and Arapaho, but his principal eminence derives
phasis on trait analysis and diffusion toward interpretation
from his unparalleled grasp of the published literature on na-
of the dynamics of cultural integration. Reluctant to general-
tive North American religions, displayed in several compre-
ize and distrustful of grand theory, Boas assiduously collected
hensive comparative monographs and in numerous topical
native-language texts, many of which involve religious top-
essays.
ics. Some have argued that Boas’s strong positivistic empiri-
cism inhibited theoretical development in North American
RECENT TOPICS OF STUDY. The post-Boasian period from
anthropology; however, his insistence on obtaining the na-
World War II to the present has witnessed an accelerating
tive viewpoint through texts provides a tangible legacy for
interest in the indigenous religions of North America, and
modern anthropology.
many profitable approaches have been taken. Psychological
anthropology, for example, has brought new insights into the
Regardless of how one evaluates Boas’s direct contribu-
nature of religious experience through the study of alternate
tions to religious ethnology, his students and collaborators
states of consciousness induced through ritual use of halluci-
succeeded in filling out in fine descriptive detail the major
nogens and other means. Weston La Barre’s The Ghost Dance
lineaments of indigenous North American religions. Sub-
(Garden City, N. Y., 1970) is particularly notable for its pro-
stantive works by such field-workers as Ruth Benedict, Ruth
found psychological interpretation of Native American reli-
L. Bunzel, Roland B. Dixon, Alexander A. Goldenweiser, Es-
gions.
ther Goldfrank, Erna Gunther, Herman Haeberlin, George
L. Hunt, Melville Jacobs, A. L. Kroeber, Robert H. Lowie,
Another approach is through environmental issues,
Elsie Clews Parsons, Paul Radin, Gladys A. Reichard, Ed-
which have stimulated considerations of the effects of reli-
ward Sapir, Frank G. Speck, Leslie Spier, John R. Swanton,
gious ideology on ecological adaptation. Calvin Martin’s
James A. Teit, Ruth M. Underhill, and Clark Wissler cannot
Keepers of the Game (Berkeley, 1978), a historical account of
be reviewed here. However, some brief comments on emer-
Indian participation in the fur trade, has evoked a wide vari-
gent trends can be mentioned. Increasingly, one finds con-
ety of responses on the role of religious motivation in hunt-
cern with the nature of religious experience and religious
ing activities. Probably the most solidly crafted study to ad-
meaning for the individual. Stylistic and literary features of
dress this problem is Adrian Tanner’s monograph on the
myths and tales are given serious attention. Interest in cultur-
Cree, Bringing Home Animals (New York, 1979).
ally constituted worldviews becomes more apparent. Finally,
there emerges an implicitly functional approach that relates
The study of religious movements, too, commands
religion to other aspects of culture, society, and the individu-
much attention. Anthony F. C. Wallace’s The Death and Re-
al. Many of these scholars reached beyond ethnographic par-
birth of Seneca (New York, 1969), an eloquent account of the
ticularities to address problems of general theory and to im-
Handsome Lake religion, is a modern classic. Considerable
part the facts of native North American religions to a wider
study has been devoted to variations of the peyote religion.
audience.
La Barre’s enlarged edition of The Peyote Cult (New York,
1969) offers the best general overview of the subject, while
From the beginning, religious materials from North
David F. Aberle’s The Peyote Religion among the Navaho
American Indian sources served as ammunition for the heavy
(Chicago, 1982) and J. S. Slotkin’s several publications on
artillery of European “armchair” theorists. These materials
Menomini peyotism provide excellent accounts of specific
were employed in hit-or-miss fashion to support the global
manifestations. Homer Barnett’s monograph Indian Shakers
theories of such commanding figures as E. B. Tylor, James
(Carbondale, Ill., 1957) stands as a definitive treatment of
G. Frazer, Andrew Lang, R. R. Marett, W. J. Perry, Émile
its subject.
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NORTH AMERICAN [INDIAN] RELIGIONS: HISTORY OF STUDY
The structuralism of Claude Lévi-Strauss has opened
Landes’s monograph on The Prairie Potawatomi (Madison,
new vistas for the reinterpretation of North American totem-
Wis., 1970) and James H. Howard’s summary of Shawnee
ism, art, myths, rituals, and the witchcraft-sorcery complex.
ceremonialism (Shawnee: The Ceremonialism of a Native In-
Lévi-Strauss himself has utilized North American materials
dian Tribe and Its Cultural Background, Athens, Ohio, 1981)
extensively in his provocative publications. Structuralism has
enlarge our picture of Algonquian religions.
inspired a whole generation of primarily younger scholars to
The Southwest continues as a focus of important re-
think about previously collected data in interesting new
search on religion. The complexities of Navajo religion, in
ways.
particular, have been elucidated in the ethnographic and tex-
Several noteworthy reworkings of important manuscript
tual works of David F. Aberle, Leland C. Wyman, Berard
collections have recently appeared. Irving Goldman, synthe-
Haile, David P. McAllester, Charlotte J. Frisbie, Louise
sizing Boas’s notes and scattered publications, has accom-
Lamphere, and Gary Witherspoon, as well as in useful work
plished what Boas was never able to do—produce a coherent,
by Sam D. Gill and Karl W. Luckert, both skilled historians
theoretically informed account of Kwakiutl religion. Gold-
of religion. Elsewhere in the Southwest, Alfonso Ortiz, a
man’s The Mouth of Heaven (New York, 1975) is comple-
leading Tewa anthropologist, has written a sensitively in-
mented by Stanley Walens’s symbolic analysis of Kwakiutl
formed account of Pueblo religion (The Tewa World: Space,
art and ritual, Feasting with Cannibals (Princeton, 1981).
Time, Being and Becoming in a Pueblo Society, Chicago,
Raymond J. DeMallie and Elaine A. Jahner have made avail-
1969), and Carobeth Laird, an affinal Chemehuevi, has re-
able the rich previously unpublished Lakota materials that
corded religious materials based on a lifetime of observation
were collected early in the century by James R. Walker (La-
in her richly textured The Chemehuevis (Banning, Calif.,
kota Belief and Ritual, Lincoln, Nebr., 1980; Lakota Society,
1976).
Lincoln, Nebr., 1982; and Lakota Myths, Lincoln, Nebr.,
Knowledge of Southeast Woodlands Indian religion has
1983). DeMallie has also assembled primary materials relat-
been enriched by studies of religious continuities in modern
ing to the renowned Lakota medicine man Black Elk (The
Oklahoma (to which many Southeast Woodlands tribes were
Sixth Grandfather: Black Elk’s Teachings Given to John G.
forcibly removed in the mid-nineteenth century); William
Neihardt, Lincoln, Nebr., 1984). William Power’s Oglala Re-
L. Ballard’s elegant analysis, entitled The Yuchi Green Corn
ligion (Lincoln, Nebr., 1977) and his excellent descriptions
Ceremonial (Los Angeles, 1978), and James G. Howard’s
of an Oglala curing ritual in Yuwipi (Lincoln, Nebr., 1982)
Oklahoma Seminoles: Medicine, Magic, and Religion (Nor-
amplify our understanding of Lakota religion. James R.
man, Okla., 1984) are notable in this regard. Howard also
Murie’s account of Pawnee ceremonialism has been edited
provocatively analyzed the ceremonial complex of the prehis-
by Douglas Parks and published as Ceremonies of the Pawnee
toric Southeast Woodlands Indians in The Southeastern Cere-
(Washington, D.C., 1981). Another important contribution
monial Complex (Columbia, Mo., 1968), in which he gains
to Plains research is Peter J. Powell’s masterful, two-volume
insights from surviving beliefs and practices. A collection of
opus on Cheyenne religion, Sweet Medicine (Norman, Okla.,
papers edited by Charles M. Hudson, The Black Drink (Ath-
1969). Elisabeth Tooker has combed The Jesuit Relations to
ens, Ga., 1979), represents another effort to link prehistoric
reconstruct Huron religion in her An Ethnography of the
and ethnographic horizons.
Huron Indians, 1615–1649 (Washington, D.C., 1964), and
The present surge in attention to native religions of
she has also published a useful study entitled The Iroquois
North America derives from many sources. Most important
Ceremonial of Midwinter (Syracuse, N.Y., 1970). William N.
is the growing recognition by Indians and non-Indians alike
Fenton has contributed mightily to Iroquois studies with his
that religion constitutes a viable aspect of past, present, and
superb monograph on the Eagle Dance (The Iroquois Eagle
future North American Indian societies, a point made in
Dance, Washington, D.C., 1953) and a continuing stream
Vine Deloria’s vigorous manifesto God is Red (New York,
of research on Longhouse rituals. Information on several ex-
1973). Not only have areas such as the Southwest enjoyed
tinct Californian religions have been resurrected from the
unbroken religious continuity, but elsewhere, once-
field notes of the remarkable J. P. Harrington and published
moribund ceremonies—such as the potlatch in the North-
in various books and articles.
west, the Spirit Dance among the Salish, and the Sun Dance
The Ojibwa and the Winnebago remain two of the best-
in the Plains—have been revivified. Syncretic and ecumeni-
documented American religious traditions. The works of Al-
cal native religions are achieving legitimacy, and in many
anson Skinner, John Cooper, A. Irving Hallowell, and Paul
areas Christianity has assumed a distinctively native flavor.
Radin have provided sturdy scaffolding for subsequent re-
These trends reflect changes in the political atmosphere to-
search. Ruth Landes’s Ojibwa Religion and the Midewiwin
ward native self-determination. Among other developments,
(Madison, Wis., 1968) and recent historically oriented works
passage of the Religious Freedom Act in 1978 has had far-
on the Ojibwa by Christopher Vecsey (Traditional Ojibwa
reaching consequences in preserving sacred sites.
Religion and its Historical Changes, Philadelphia, 1983) and
Academic concern with indigenous North American re-
John A. Grim (The Shaman: Patterns of Siberian and Ojibwa
ligions has grown dramatically in recent years. The establish-
Healing, Norman, Okla., 1983) illustrate this continuity.
ment of special programs of study in many universities, the
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE FAR NORTH
6673
increased number of religion scholars of Native American de-
Laurentide Ice Sheet from the late Pleistocene era. Through-
scent, and the seriousness with which indigenous religions
out these sub-Artic tundra areas in both Alaska and Canada,
are now treated in many theological centers all testify to a
drumlins, glacial moraines, swamps, and post-glacial hum-
new enlightenment. Yet despite the enhanced academic and
mocks provide continuous variation in landforms. In some
popular visibility of Native American religions and the pro-
cases the treeless taiga reaches hundreds of miles longitudi-
liferation of publications in the field, much groundbreaking
nally and latitudinally, into the interior of both Canada and
work remains. Only the surface has been scratched.
northern and western Alaska. The low-growing sedges, moss-
es, and lichens provide food and shelter for a plethora of
BIBLIOGRAPHY
small mammals, indigenous and migratory waterfowl, many
A˚ke Hultkrantz’s The Study of American Indian Religions (New
species of flies and mosquitoes, and occasional large mam-
York, 1983) has proved indispensable in preparing this entry.
mals. The octagonal shapes of post-glacial flora seem flat
The same author’s The Religions of the American Indian
from a distance, but in actuality are dense with vegetation
(Berkeley, 1979) and Belief and Worship in Native North
and hillocks just tall enough to hide the approach of preda-
America (Syracuse, N. Y., 1981) are valuable sources on na-
tors for long distances. According to oral traditions, native
tive North American religions. A slightly older synthesis,
North Americans have long harvested tundra berries and
Ruth M. Underhill’s Red Man’s Religion (Chicago, 1965), re-
mains a useful introductory survey. A pair of works by Sam
many species of plants for nutritional and medicinal pur-
D. Gill, Native American Religions: An Introduction (Bel-
poses.
mont, Calif., 1981) and Native American Traditions: Sources
The tundra regions give way to taller shrubs and sedges,
and Interpretations (Belmont, Calif., 1983), offer a lively in-
and in the interior areas boreal forests provide wood for
troduction to the subject. Three anthologies with diverse
housing, transportation, and other forms of hunting around
contents are Teachings from the American Earth, edited by
Dennis Tedlock and Barbara Tedlock (New York, 1975);
the Great Slave Lake, Lake Athabasca in Canada, and the
Seeing with a Native Eye, edited by Walter H. Capps (New
Yukon Flats region in Alaska. Both coniferous and deciduous
York, 1976); and Native Religious Traditions, edited by Earle
trees (spruce, cottonwood, alder, birch, tamarack, and pop-
H. Waugh and K. Dad Prithipaul (Waterloo, Ont., 1979).
lar) cover this region. In both the eastern and western regions
A carefully annotated areal selection of native texts is pres-
of the southern extension of the sub-Arctic, the boreal forests
ented in Elisabeth Tooker’s Native North American Spiritual-
surround prairies and the northern rain forests of the Pacific.
ity of the Eastern Woodlands (New York, 1979). Other areal
ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE. The harsh extremes of the cli-
guides can be found in the available volumes of the new
mates in the region, including six to eight months of severe
Smithsonian Handbook of North American Indians (Wash-
ington, D.C., 1978–). Systems of North American Witchcraft
winters and correspondingly short summers, set some of the
and Sorcery, edited by Deward E. Walker (Moscow, Idaho,
cultural limits of the indigenous peoples. One common fea-
1970), and Virgil Vogel’s American Indian Medicine (Nor-
ture crossing all cultural boundaries and surviving the pas-
man, Okla., 1970) are useful sources. Harold W. Turner’s
sage of time has been the small size of communities. In the
Bibliography of New Religious Movements in Primal Societies,
past, most sub-Arctic communities were comprised of two
vol. 2, North America (Boston, 1978), is a major resource.
or more nuclear families ranging in population from twenty
R
to fifty individuals. The small group sizes reflected the nature
AYMOND D. FOGELSON (1987)
of continuous travel with children, and the need to keep
noise to a minimum for safety and hunting success. In the
present day sub-Arctic communities are inhabited year-
NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS
round and range in population from a few dozen people to
This entry consists of the following articles:
several thousand.
INDIANS OF THE FAR NORTH
INDIANS OF THE NORTHEAST WOODLANDS
Another dominating feature of pre-colonial social life in
INDIANS OF THE SOUTHEAST WOODLANDS
the sub-Arctic was reliance on partners. Men and women
INDIANS OF THE PLAINS
INDIANS OF THE NORTHWEST COAST [FIRST EDITION]
usually had “same gender” partners among neighboring
INDIANS OF THE NORTHWEST COAST [FURTHER
communities. Partners of this sort depended on each other
CONSIDERATIONS]
for protection while in the partner’s territory, for temporary
INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA AND THE INTERMOUNTAIN
housing, and for lifelong friendship. They vouched for each
REGION
INDIANS OF THE SOUTHWEST
other’s credibility and found marriage partners for each
other’s children. Within their own communities, men and
women formed lifelong partnerships among those with
NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF
whom they hunted, sharing household tasks, family respon-
THE FAR NORTH
sibilities, medical and other emergency needs, and company.
The North American sub-Arctic, home to the indigenous
cultures of the far north and the largest region in North
Although contemporary societies make desultory at-
America, stretches from Labrador to Alaska and features sev-
tempts at agriculture, none of the indigenous sub-Artic in-
eral ecological zones. Wide swathes of upland and lowland
habitants appeared to make consistent use of horticulture.
tundra in the coastal areas reflect the former weight of the
Humans depended on hunting and fishing and moss, frond
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6674
NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE FAR NORTH
and berry picking. Most of them engaged in seasonal travel
The Algonkians. The three largest Algonkian nations
between camps, depending on hunting resources such as
are the Crees, the Naskapis, and the Innus. The Innus of
muskrats in early spring, followed in some areas by caribou
eastern and northern Quebec refer to themselves as Innuat,
and moose hunting in late spring; fishing in lakes and
or human beings. The French explorers early on named them
streams during the summer; and early fall hunts for large deer
for their mountainous environment, hence Montagnais. Like
such as caribou and moose. Mid-winter often kept people
many First Nations peoples in Canada and the United States,
captive in their dwellings during blizzards, long freezing
they have reclaimed their indigenous name for themselves.
spells, or heavy snow. They relied during winter on stored
The Innu dwell among heavily forested mountains and river
food such as dried or smoked meat, fish, berries, and plants.
drainages. Like most people of the pre-colonial and colonial
Sometimes their attempts to harvest and successfully prepare
sub-Arctic, the Innus spent their time making seasonal trips
food for winter were inadequate. Themes of starvation figure
in quest of subsistence game animals and fish. Among the
prominently in oral traditions of most of the sub-Arctic na-
animals they sought were beaver, about which there are nu-
tions. Hunting tools included the bola, spears, bows with ar-
merous stories that match the large technology that attends
rows, and snares designed for most land species from mink
hunting and processing both fur and meat from the catch.
to caribou. Weirs, nets, spears, and occasionally hooks served
Besides beaver, the Innu are known for their skill in hunting
most regions for fishing.
birds with arrows and darts. Innu fishing technology is simi-
Housing designs varied depending on region, materials
lar to that of their Algonkian neighbors as well as most Atha-
available, and traditions. In most areas, dome-shaped struc-
bascans to the north. The Innus also used stone fences to
tures were made from elaborately woven willows covered
guide fish into weirs.
with deer hide in the more northerly regions, and bark or
Besides fish, caribou and other large deer used to domi-
straw served as convenient winter structures in the south.
nate the Algonkian landscape. Like the Athabascans in Alas-
The willow housing structure was often made in such a way
ka and northern Canada, Algonkian hunters developed skills
that it could be transported by sled or boat to the next sea-
in organizing annual caribou hunts in which corrals made of
sonal camp and covered anew in little time. In Alaska, the
stone, willow, sinew, and natural formations of cliff sides,
Athabascans near the coastal Yup’ik and Inupiat peoples
rivers, and lakes formed boundaries to trap caribou. Some
made use of semi-subterranean sod houses for winter. Sum-
of the corrals were open-ended but with a tightened funnel
mer shelters varied significantly by region and culture. Today
shape through which many deer were expected to escape.
these structures have given way to year-round framed wood-
The purpose of such corrals was to cull specifically sized deer
en houses, often subsidized by governmental funding.
from the rest of the herd for limited harvests. In such a corral,
Cool, rainy summers in the sub-Arctic can pose a chal-
the hunters, including women as well as men, would fashion
lenge, preventing the collection of adequate dry tinder and
snares of varying sizes and set them at appropriate heights
wood for smudge fires by which meat and fish can be pre-
for the desired size, gender, and rank of the deer taken. Stone
pared for winter usage. Additionally, the sub-Arctic is fre-
mannikins or inuksuks, found throughout Canada nowadays
quently visited by random spring and summer snowfalls, yet
as decorations or roadside sculptures, were used, in the way
another environmental calamity that can prevent families
farmers use scarecrows, to deceive the caribou into thinking
from processing their seasonal catches in time or at all.
the stones were humans, thus leading them away from free-
Hordes of mosquitoes, bot flies, horse flies, and numerous
dom toward the corrals.
other flying insects often prevent humans (and other ani-
mals) from accomplishing planned harvests in a timely man-
As might be expected when winter temperatures can
ner. The final impact of such disasters occurs in midwinter
reach fifty degrees below zero Celsius (eighty degrees below
when supplies dwindle and travel to the nearest human com-
zero Fahrenheit), survival is a constant theme of human exis-
munity to get help may prove difficult due to inclement
tence in the sub-Arctic. Surprisingly, the freezing tempera-
weather.
tures and strong winds pose less of a threat in the sub-Arctic
than does starvation. Each of the cultural areas developed
INDIANS OF THE SUB-ARTIC. European and Asian explorers
and have shared with each other their techniques for clothing
from the east and west encountered sub-Arctic nations be-
construction and the best materials to use for each environ-
longing to three linguistic families: the Eskimo-Aleut along
mental challenge. Where the appropriate fur-bearing crea-
the Arctic Ocean; the more than twenty-five Athabascan na-
ture cannot be trapped or hunted, trading provides a wel-
tions in Alaska and northern Canada; and the fourteen Al-
come reason for travel to trade in late winter (February
gonquian nations in eastern Canada, including the Naskapis,
through March), when the still-frozen rivers provide conve-
Ojibways, Innu (formerly known as Montagnais), and Crees.
nient sled or snowshoeing avenues for the entire family.
Among the Algonquian are also included the Abnaki of New
Brunswick and Maine (Mi’kmaq, Maleseet, Passamaquoddy,
The Athabascans. Occupying the greatest portion of
Penobscot, and Abnaki), who have preserved vestiges of their
the sub-Arctic are the Athabascan-speaking nations, of which
sub-Arctic way of life up to the present. The non-Indian
eleven inhabit Alaska and fourteen or more occupy Canada.
Inuit will not be treated here, as they are the subject of a sepa-
Linguistically, the Athabascans speak languages that are
rate article.
closely related to Apache, Navajo, and a number of Pacific
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE FAR NORTH
6675
coast peoples in northern California and southern Oregon.
Constant awareness of the need to survive these elements of
Culturally there are many aspects of material culture held in
life in the sub-Arctic serves as a common denominator of the
common between the Athabascans and the Algonkians. One
human experience, which is awareness of human vulnerabili-
of the most well known and used by men, women, and chil-
ty in a world that treats human beings as subsistence re-
dren alike are snowshoes. Archeologists conjecture that Atha-
sources rather than as predators and dominators of the world.
bascans began dog sledding around fifteen hundred years ago
MYTHOLOGY. As Nelson (1983) observed about the
in Alaska. Davidson (1937) considers that open-frame snow-
Koyukon of the Yukon and Koyukuk Rivers in Alaska, the
shoes may have originated with Athabascans. In Davidson’s
Athabascan world is alive and always watching its human in-
view, the style of snowshoe featuring two pieces of willow or
habitants. Even thoughts become apparent to the animals,
alder bound at toe and heel with babiche and held together
plants, and other environmental factors such as wind, moun-
with layouts based on a mesh of nested triangles, a distinc-
tains, rivers, and air that pass judgment on the struggling
tively Athabacan design, may be the oldest style of snowshoe.
sub-Arctic hunters. Epistemological tenets in the sub-Arctic
A frequent character appearing in Athabascan narratives is
religious traditions inform humans that their hierarchical po-
He-Who-Faces-Ahead-and-Behind. Often a villain, He-
sition in the combined worlds is low, that all other creatures
Who-Faces-Ahead-and-Behind provides mystery and ten-
in the natural and spiritual worlds have powers that can harm
sion, much as the tracks of Athabascan snowshoes, pointed
human beings and interfere with human efforts. Failure to
at both ends, bewilder the person who happens upon them
be respectful, generous, loving, or loyal to one’s human com-
as to the direction the snowshoer may have taken.
panions as well as all creatures in the environment can result
in the “withholding” of hunting success or good food pro-
Athabascan values are centered on self-sufficiency, hard
cessing conditions from people whose central theme is sur-
work, and family. In-born in Athabascan cultures is the ten-
vival. Mythological figures fit imagery complying with the
sion between individual autonomy and expectations that
omniscience of the physical and spiritual worlds.
one’s extended family is more important that any given indi-
vidual. All Athabascan stories and ritual activities engage in
Four genres of myth are common in Algonkian and
explorations of this core area of trouble and offer three modes
Athabascan oral traditions. The first genre consists of onto-
of resolution: humor, generosity, and respect. Stories reflect
logical stories designed to enculturate youth about the key
the terrors befalling people who fail to meet any of those
forces in the natural, social, and spiritual worlds. The second
standards, and life cycle potlatches, particularly memorial
involves voyager stories in which one and sometimes two
potlatches, provide ritualized opportunities for elders and
characters travel to new places, either populating the world
others who have established their authority in the communi-
as the first of any given species or performing key actions or
ty to remind the others of their obligations to share with each
behaviors for the first time. Petitot (1886) argued that these
other, cooperate with each other, and to follow relatively in-
stories make up a large pantheon of tales that fit into a large
formal rules of protocol in social areas. The most rigidly en-
opus of narrative similar to the Iroquoian creation stories.
forced rule of behavior is silence and waiting before speaking.
The third genre is made up of morality stories featuring a
Long pauses, by American or European standards, between
frightening being of indeterminate ontology who lurks in the
the end of one person’s speech and the next fill every notion
forests causing trouble, abducting children, or simply fright-
of respect for reciprocal relations between humans, the spirit
ening people.
world, and the rest of the natural world.
The Gwich’in Athabascans of both Alaska and Canada
The sub-Arctic methodologies for survival reflect inge-
refer to such entities as nain, and in Koyukon they are called
nious adaptation to their inland environments, and therefore
nicolina. Algonkian stories are rife with a similar entity
make a strong contrast with the material cultures of the Inuit
known as Windigo, varying from story to story as a tall man
along the Arctic coast, who have a complex toolkit special-
or as a tree. The fourth genre consists of raven stories in Alas-
ized for maritime hunting and weather. Another distinctive
ka and parts of Canada that serve to explain family relations,
contrast between Inuit peoples and their interior counter-
in which the raven plays the part of the relation one must
parts is the abundance of subsistence resources. Cold and ice-
regard with simultaneous suspicion and respect.
jammed as the coastlines in the Arctic may be, they provide
As nineteenth-century writers like Petitot discovered,
larger game animals in greater frequency than can be found
Canadian mythologies reveal a chronological, environmen-
in the sub-Arctic. The Algonkian and Athabascan peoples
tal, and social order that complies with social norms of both
have designed a wide array of tools and methods of process-
Athabascan and Algonkian cultures. Mythological tradition
ing food to meet the ever-constant threat of uneven harvests
is structured by epochal events beginning with a time in
throughout the year. Algonkian and Athabascan religious
which all beings spoke the same language and understood
traditions all reflect the domination of the climate, the need
each other’s social needs. Petitot wrote of two Dene (Athaba-
for reliable means of providing food to growing families on
scan) first people, a mythological woman who wore dentalli-
a daily basis, and the dangers represented by animals that are
um shells and her husband, Ko’ehdan (The Man without
larger, more aggressive, and better suited biologically to
Fire), who named her Ch’atthan Vee (Dentallium Shell
hunt, survive, and defend themselves from their enemies.
Woman) in eastern Gwich’in and Latpatsandia (Prize
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE FAR NORTH
Woman) in western Gwich’in after he rescued her from her
today in traditional beliefs and customs recalling events or
Inuit abductors. The term Ch’atthan calls to mind the White
conditions revealed in each epoch. Especially important are
Shell Woman in the Apache and Navajo (southern Athaba-
the earliest periods in which boundaries between human,
scan language speakers) creation stories, although in fact it
natural, and spiritual worlds are permeated, inhabited, and
carries a direct reference to the Tlingit traders of the Pacific
fully understandable as such. An important theme contained
Coast, as dentallium shells were once highly prized trade
in the mediation between realms is unity, harmony, and
goods the Athabascans sought from the Northwest Coast.
peace throughout the known world of each nation occupying
Ko’ehdan by turns reveals his shamanic powers in many ad-
the sub-Arctic. By the ontological rules represented in their
ventures, including his blindness and subsequent recovery of
oral traditions, the Gwich’in (formerly known as Kutchin),
his vision. The couple had two sons: the younger is mischie-
a northern Athabascan nation inhabiting the region between
vous and the elder is heroic. The brothers engage in adven-
the Mackenzie River delta and the upper Yukon in both
tures that give rise to the voyager or traveler stories known
Alaska and Canada, possess a special relationship with the
throughout the sub-Arctic. Among the Gwich’in Athaba-
caribou. Ontologically, every Gwich’in human being carries
scans, the older brother is known as Vasaagihdzak. The pair
a small piece of caribou heart, and likewise, every caribou
of brothers figure together and separately in a number of
holds a portion of human heart. Hence, each of these part-
stories.
ners knows what the other feels and thinks (Slobodin, 1981,
p. 526). The Sekani of British Columbia believe that a mysti-
EPOCHS OF THE WORLD. Generally speaking, the sub-Arctic
cal bond links human beings and other animals (Denniston,
oral traditions fall into three eras or stages (see Jetté, 1907;
1981, p. 439). The Koyukon call the bear “Grandfather” and
Osgood, 1932; and Goddard, 1917). In the earliest period
the wolf “Brother” (Clark, 1981, p. 593). The Chipewyan,
there were no divisions between living creatures; each could
an Athabascan nation west of Hudson Bay, identify with the
assume any animal’s form and discard it again at will. All
wolf (Smith, 1981, p. 279). The names of certain Athaba-
moving creatures spoke a single language; no barriers stood
scan nations—Dunne-Za (formerly known as Beaver), Do-
in the way of understanding. A second period began with the
grib, Hare—point to familial ties with certain animals. In all
birth of a culture hero (woman or man) whose identity
of these examples we hear an echo of the earliest epoch, when
changes by region, language and culture. The culture hero
a common language prevailed and all creatures had the abili-
is a great teacher and leader. Material and spiritual knowl-
ty to transform themselves and thus to overcome every barri-
edge derived from the culture hero. The house, tent, snow-
er between them.
shoe, sled, bark canoe, bow, arrow, lance, and knife—in
short, all material cultural objects—stem from the culture
THE CULTURE HERO. Legends about culture heroes contin-
hero, as does knowledge of the land of the dead, the stars and
ue to be popular in the sub-Arctic literary canon. Athaba-
constellations, the sun, the moon, and the calendar months.
scans nickname their sons Ko’ehdan after The Man without
In an Algonkian version, a male culture hero ordered the
Fire, and many eastern Athabascan storytellers recount epi-
muskrat to dive into the water to begin creation of the world
sodes of his mythic life. The figure of the hero is well devel-
from the mud that was brought up. This story is patterned
oped by Algonquians of the Atlantic coast. The Mi’kmaq of
along lines similar to Iroquoian, Mayan, Aztecan, and other
Cape Breton Island, for example, call the teacher of mankind
more southern Native American mythologies. The third
Kuloscap (“liar” or “deceiver”) because he always does the
epoch is the present time, and genealogy plays an important
opposite of what he says he will do. Oral traditions of the
role in explaining one’s role in society. Culture heroes are
Maliseet of New Brunswick hold forth Gluscap, a culture
shamans who continue to mediate between the spirit world
hero whose adventures are remarkably akin to those of the
and the physical world. Oral traditions in the third era are
Mi’kmaq and the Passamaquody. The settings and events of
located in the family and the region, and reveal historical
Kuloscap’s life still can be seen in the natural features of the
specificity.
maritime sea and landscapes. Cape Breton Island abounds
in references to the hero. Every large rock, every river, every
Cultural differences prevail, emphasizing differing onto-
waterfall, testifies to his deeds.
logical realities. For example, among the Koyukon, the
northwestern-most Athabascan nation in Alaska, oral tradi-
All the sub-Arctic Indians have a similar mythical geog-
tions address five world periods: the hazy time before there
raphy. West of the Mi’kmaq and Maliseet, other names for
was light on the earth; the epoch when man could change
the culture hero emerge. In Labrador the Montagnais-
into animals and animals could change into men; the time
Naskapi call their culture hero Little Man or Perfect Man.
when the traveler created the present state; the past time of
The Cree on either side of James Bay refer to the One Set
legends; and the present as far back as memory reaches
in Flames or the Burning One. Among the Chipewyan Atha-
(Clark, 1981, p. 595).
bascans, he is called Raised by His Grandmother. Among the
Dunne-Za Athabascans, he is called He Goes along the Shore.
UNITY BETWEEN REALMS. The mythologies of each region
in the sub-Arctic represent worldviews, ontologies, and epis-
Northern Athabascan mythological names exploit their
temologies that organized the unity of life for each human
various culture heroes’ wanderlust. In the Canadian northern
being within the province of the tale. Such worldviews persist
lake regions, the Gwich’in, Koyukon, and Kolchan names
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE FAR NORTH
6677
for their traveler have been translated as the Wanderer, Fer-
garding a supreme being, but instead they encountered nu-
ryman, Celestial Traveler, He Paddled the Wrong Way, He
merous terms for indeterminate powers dominating the lives
Who Went Off Visiting by Canoe, or One Who Is Paddling
of all creatures. The Gwich’in Athabascans of Canada and
Around, designations that refer to a particular task of the
Alaska refer to them by two terms, K’eegwaadhat and
hero. He is said to labor continuously to combat giants, can-
Vit’eegw__hchy’aa. K’eegwaadhat means both heat and that
nibals, and monsters for the benefit of mankind. The mass
which gives orders. Vit’eegw__hchy’aa means that upon which
of fantasy figures in whose deeds the mythologies abound—
we depend. Both terms refer to something powerful and ubiq-
such minor heroes as Moon Boy, Moon Dweller, Shrew,
uitous with no identifiable physical construction. In com-
Moss Child, Wonder Child, White Horizon, the Hero with
mon with other cultures of the sub-Arctic, Gwich’in leaders
the Magic Wand—follow the same path as the tireless figure
had to demonstrate prowess in communication with the sa-
of the Wanderer. The designation First Brother reveals that
cred for hunting, war, trading, and healing to gain the re-
pairs of brothers also appear among these parallels to the
spect of their communities. Much of this activity was related
great culture hero.
to dreams that contained prophetic data. Leadership in the
sub-Arctic reflects standards of life in an unmerciful environ-
Robin Ridington’s 1978 account of the religious culture
ment as well as continental attitudes toward the nature of
of the Dunne-Za Athabascans of Alberta is the most vivid
power. In the sub-Arctic, a crucial aspect of the ineffable
report we have about an Athabascan people. The emergence
quality of the numinous has been its lack of interest in any
of a genuinely sub-Arctic world genesis is remarkable in it-
being, humans included.
self, but of equal importance is the picture of the culture
hero, Saya (Swan), that Ridington brings to light. The
Life in the harsh sub-Arctic environment has led to reli-
Dunne-Za view this figure as a paradigm of their most im-
gious and social theories that expect no special treatment
portant cultural values. Saya illustrates the means by which
from either the natural or spiritual realms, but expect punish-
young men acquire spirit guides and a song bearing his medi-
ment for egocentric behavior. Leaders are thus faced with a
cine power. In the myths, Saya eliminates the hostile mon-
dilemma, which is to remain self-effacing while giving or-
sters and teaches humans (both male and female) to hunt and
ders, making hard decisions, and pulling together human re-
to avoid being caught unprepared for unexpected danger.
sources to perform community efforts together. Motivation-
Daily life mirrors the epistemological expectations presented
al factors stem from demonstrations of shamanic power, thus
in Athabascan oral traditions about their culture heroes.
displacing cause from the personal motives of the leader to
In winter, people of the sub-Arctic abide in their winter
the numinous. Like ordinary hunters (both women and
dwellings rather than attempt to hunt for animals that are
men), who act upon dreams or other signals from the numi-
either emaciated themselves or hidden in hibernation. Dur-
nous, leaders are expected to receive ideas or corroboration
ing this time of year, people tell stories to while away long
for their decisions directly from the unseen forces of the uni-
periods of inactivity. Rituals, such as the Athabascan funeral
verse. The disparity between these two opposing issues finds
and memorial potlatches, occur irregularly, but some activi-
resolution through the union of two concepts of strength:
ties have become routinely attached to a time of year. For
vat’aii (personal strength) and dat’aii (public strength). In
example, many Athabascan nations in Alaska and Canada
this sense, the Gwich’in are metaphorically reminded that
engage in riddling contests. Such contests, like the Messen-
these two realms of behavior are supposed to co-exist harmo-
ger Feasts of the Inuit, are planned events in which one com-
niously. The net effect is that Gwich’in leaders come and go,
munity invites another community to feast with them. Gifts
but individual projects succeed through communal action
are mandatory, but the decision about which community
and need.
provides the gifts depends on which is unsuccessful in solving
SHAMANISM. Central to all hunting, medical, and life cycle
a riddle posed by the other group. Riddling feasts usually
events is the development of shamanic skills. Every hunter
happen in winter.
is expected to develop his or her shamanic skills to the great-
In spring, the return of specific species and the emer-
est extent possible. While both men and women are viewed
gence of new plant life are celebrated in ritual. The national
as equally capable of such power, shamanic power is general-
holiday of the Mi’kmaq, Saint Anne’s Day (26 July), is a
ly thought of as weaker than the power of women to create
blend of Christian and Indian traditions and celebrated with
life. As a consequence, most sub-Arctic cultures include nu-
games, dances, singing and feasting. The Koyukon, for ex-
merous prohibitions against contact between men or men’s
ample, celebrate the winter solstice, a time at which they also
hunting tools and women engaged in their creative powers,
honor their dead. It is the time “when the long and short
meaning menses, pregnancy, or nursing.
days meet” (Clark, 1981, p. 593). Implicit in that phrase is
Common to all Arctic and sub-Arctic peoples are princi-
precise knowledge of the movements of the sun, moon, and
ples of mutual interdependence and individual autonomy in
stars, all part of the hunters’ knowledge base for finding his
the face of imminent danger and starvation. Thus, adherence
or her way to and from homesites.
to such cultural norms follows lines of cultural logic that are
SUB-ARTIC INDIANS AND A SUPREME BEING. Early explorers
substantiated time and again through oral traditions. Sub-
sought terms among indigenous peoples of the sub-Arctic re-
Arctic shamans are reputed to engage in a number of feats,
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE FAR NORTH
including healing through surgery and herbs, levitation and
ny that honors two forms of spiritual power: the power to
transportation. All such abilities reflect cultural epistemolo-
predict weather, warfare and subsistence resources and the
gies about reciprocal relationships between humans, animals,
power to create new life. Men and women of the sub-Arctic
plants, and entities of the spirit world. The most common
are expected to be equals in terms of providing food and shel-
ability, Dreaming, makes prophecies about the specific loca-
ter for each other, but different in terms of life cycle events
tion and markings of wildlife. The many who have re-
and usage of spiritual powers.
searched sub-Arctic dreaming customs include Hugh Brody
(1981) in northeastern British Columbia and Jean-Guy A.
SEE ALSO Dreaming, The; Inuit Religious Traditions; Sun
Goulet (1994) among the Dénés Tha (formerly known as
Dance.
Slavey Athabascans). Marie-Françoise Guédon (1994), in a
B
comparison of the Ahtna of Alaska and the Nabesna of Brit-
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ences of the past four centuries. The severing of cultural and
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by some Native American religious leaders not simply as a
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loss of natural resources but as a sacrificial or holocaust event
mos, or guardian spirits. An oki could be either benevolent
with profound consequences for the survival of individual
or malevolent. The supreme oki, Iouskeha, dwelt in the sky,
tribes and their religious practices. In particular, the loss of
watched over the seasons and the affairs of humans, wit-
ancient ancestral sites has disrupted the linkage between the
nessed to vows, made crops grow, and owned the animals.
North American Indian peoples and the land through which
He had an evil brother, Tawiskaron.
the insights, power and meaning of their religious culture
manifested itself.
The Iroquois orenda, a magico-religious force, was exer-
cised by spirit-forces called Otkon and Oyaron; it was pres-
COSMOLOGICAL BELIEFS. The cosmological beliefs of the
ent in humans, animals, or objects that displayed excessive
Northeast Woodlands peoples involve the concept of power
power, great ability, or large size. The Iroquois had a dualistic
as manifested in the land, in the dialectic of the sacred and
system whereby all of the spirit-forces deemed good were as-
the profane, and in patterns of space and time. According to
sociated with the Good Twin and all of those deemed evil
the mythic thought of these peoples, power is that transfor-
with his brother the Evil Twin.
mative presence most clearly seen in the cycles of the day and
the seasons, in the fecund earth, and in the visions and deeds
The land. In many of the mythologies of the peoples
of spirits, ancestors, and living people. This numinous power
of the Northeast Woodlands this cosmic power was inti-
is so manifestly present that no verbal explanation of it is ade-
mately connected with the land. In their origin myth, the
quate; rather it is itself the explanation of all transformations
Menomini relate that they came into existence near the
in life. While generally regarded as neutral, power may be
mouth of the Menominee River in Wisconsin; here two
used for good or ill by individuals.
bears emerged from the earth and became the first man and
Power. This all-pervasive power is expressed among Al-
woman. Near Fond du Lac, where a prominent rock ledge
gonquian-speaking tribes by the word manitou or one of its
projects into Lake Winnebago, three thunderbirds descend-
linguistic variants. Manitou is a personal revelatory experi-
ed and also became humans. Thus the Menomini use sacred
ence usually manifested in dreams or in visions of a spirit
stories associated with the local landscape to mark their ori-
who is capable of transformation into a specific human or
gin as well as to relate the division of the tribe into earth and
animal form. The efficacy of power is symbolized as “medi-
sky clans. The interweaving of tribal myth and sacred geogra-
cine,” either as a tangible object reverently kept in a bundle
phy serves to integrate the community into both personal
or as an intangible “charm” possessed internally. The term
and cosmic levels of meaning. The intimate relationship of
manitou is used here to indicate both the singular form of
these Algonquian speakers with the land was reflected in
power as the binding concept throughout the highly individ-
their image of the land as Nokomis (“grandmother earth”),
ual Algonquian belief systems and as the plural form of tute-
who nurtured her grandchildren.
lary spirits who embody such binding force. Manitou, in its
A Seneca myth derives the presence and power of the
various contexts, has both noun forms that indicate entities
land from twin sources: the mud brought up by Muskrat,
that empower and verb forms that indicate a moral responsi-
the earth-diver, from the deep waters and deposited onto the
bility to cultivate power. While individually experienced,
back of Great Turtle; and the soil and seeds grasped from
these plural forms of power manifestation reached their high-
the sky world by Mature Flowers as she fell through a hole
est religious expresion in actions undertaken for the benefit
in the sky and was lowered by fowl onto the back of Great
of the community as a whole.
Turtle.
The belief in manitou can be found among the coastal
This intimacy of kinship with the earth was also part of
Algonquians from New England to North Carolina. Similar-
an elaborate hierarchical perspective that located the earth
ities may be seen in the name for the Great Manitou: for the
within a vast schema of layers of power in the cosmos. These
Narraganset he was Kautantowwit and for the Penobscot,
plural expressions have been labeled pantheism but this term
Ktahandowit. The Delaware worshiped as Great Manitou a
stresses an abstract and conceptual sense of divinity rather
spirit called Keetan’to-wit, who had eleven assistants (mani-
than the place-based, ecological, and communitarian ideals
towuks), each having control over one of eleven hierarchically
evident in Algonkian religious thought. Both the Algonquian
organized “heavens.” The most ancient of the manitou was
speakers and the Siouan-speaking Winnebago developed cos-
Our Grandfather, the great tortoise who carries the earth on
mologies in which the heavens above and the earth regions
his back. The Virginia Algonquians called those manitou
below were seen as layered in hierarchies of beneficial and
who were benevolent quiyoughcosuck; this was also the name
harmful spirits. The highest power was the supreme being
given to their priests. The evil manitou were called tagkany-
called Great Spirit by the Potawatomi, Ottawa, Miami, and
sough. Southeast Woodlands influences led to the depiction
Ojibwa; Master of Life by the Menomini, Sauk, and Fox;
of manitou in carvings and statues, usually found in the sa-
Finisher by the Shawnee and Kickapoo; and Earthmaker by
cred architecture of the North Carolina and Virginia Algon-
the Winnebago. Among the Iroqouian peoples, the highest
quians.
power was known by several names: the Master of Life, Sky-
The Huron concept of oki referred both to a super-
Holder, the Good-Minded Twin and Creator. This “great
abundance of power or ability and to spirit-forces of the cos-
mysterious” presence maintained a unique relationship with
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE NORTHEAST WOODLANDS
6681
the last and weakest members of creation, namely, human
of several matrilineally connected families. That the long-
beings.
houses and big houses were seen as microcosms is most clear-
Spirit-forces. Power and guidance entered human exis-
ly reflected in the symbolism of the Delaware big house. The
tence from the cosmic spirit-forces, from the guardian spirits
floor and ceiling represented the earth and sky, respectively.
of individuals and medicine societies, and from spirits of
There was a door where the sun rose and a door where the
charms, bundles, and masks. Dreams, in particular, were a
sun set, and these doors were connected by the ceremonial
vehicle for contacting power and thus gaining guidance for
Good White Path, symbolizing the journey human beings
political and military decisions. New songs, dances, and cus-
make from birth toward death. The fact that there was a
toms were often received by the dreamer and were used to
door, an opening toward the west, and the fact that the
energize and reorder cultural life; dreams channeled power
dances eventually circled back, point to the Delaware hope
as consolation and hope during times of crisis, and often ini-
in an afterlife and, for some, a rebirth. Ritual movement in
tiated contact between visionary power and the shamans.
relation to the sacred architecture suggests a concern for the
One means of describing the human experience of this cos-
flow of relational meaning and identity rather than fixed or
mic power is through the dialectic of the sacred and the
hieratic devotional presences. In the center of the big house
profane.
stood a post with a carved face that was made from a tree
and that symbolized the axis mundi; from its base the post
This dialectic is useful even though the Northeast
was believed to run upward through the twelve cosmic levels,
Woodlands peoples did not draw a sharp distinction between
the last being the place of the Great Manitou. This post was
the sacred and profane. The dialectic refers to the inner logic
the staff of the Great Manitou, whose power filled all cre-
of the manifestation of numinous power through certain
ation. Power manifested in the spirits was symbolized by the
symbols. Profane objects, events, or persons might become
faces carved into low posts situated around the inside of the
embodiments of the sacred in moments of hierophany. This
big house.
manifestation of the sacred in and through the profane fre-
quently became the inspiration for sacred stories and mythol-
Sacred time. The period of contact with sustaining
ogies that narrated the tribal lore. Among the Winnebago
power is “sacred time.” Such contact was believed to occur
and other Northeast Woodlands peoples, narrative stories
in the movement of the seasons, the fecundity of nature, and
were distinguished as worak (“what is recounted”) and waika
the personal life cycle. Among the native peoples of the upper
(“what is sacred”). Telling the worak stories of heroes, human
Great Lakes, time was also sacralized in the narratives and
tragedy, and memorable events was a profane event, whereas
rituals that reconstituted the mythic time of manitou revela-
narrating the waika stories evoked the spirits and was there-
tion. During the Menomini Mitawin, or Medicine rite,
fore a sacred ritual. Thus the ordinary act of speaking could
while the origin myth of the ceremony itself was narrated,
become the hierophany that manifests power. Not only nar-
the society members imagistically participated in the original
rative but also the interweaving of sacred space and time gave
assembly of the manitou who began the ceremony in mythic
real dimensions to cosmic power.
time. Such an evocation of relationship with cosmic powers
Sacred space. A place of orientation that provides indi-
and identification with them in the oral narratives structured
viduals or groups with a sense of both an integrating center
an experience of sacred time.
and a cosmic boundary is called “sacred space.” This concept
The Delaware Big House ceremony evoked powers that
is exemplified by the Medicine society’s rite, which originat-
made possible the transition from the old year of chaos to
ed among the Ojibwa and was transmitted throughout the
the new year of cosmos. The origin myth narrated during
eighteenth century to the other tribes of the upper Great
that ceremony set the context for a renewal of the earth and
Lakes. For this Medicine rite a special lodge was constructed
of the tribe’s binding relationships with the spirit-forces. The
of arched trees, covering an earthen floor with a rock and an
myth related that long ago the very foundation of life itself,
elaborate pole in the center. These items varied slightly
the earth, was split open by a devastating quake. The forces
throughout the area of the ritual’s diffusion, but in every in-
of evil and chaos erupted from the underworld in the form
stance they were used to delineate sacred space and to sym-
of dust, smoke, and a black liquid: all creatures were struck
bolize the cosmos. For the Winnebago, the arched trees of
with fear at these events. The humans then met in council
the lodge symbolized the water spirits (snakes who occupied
and concluded that the disruptions had occurred because
the four cardinal directions). For the Potawatomi the earthen
they had neglected their proper relationship with the Great
floor was Nokomis (“grandmother earth”). Among the Sauk
Manitou. They prayed for power and guidance. The manitou
the central stone in the lodge indicated the abiding presence
spoke to them in dreams, telling them how to build a house
of power. For the Ojibwa, originators of this ceremony,
that would recreate the cosmos and how to conduct a cere-
which they called Midewiwin (“mystic doings”), the pole
mony that would evoke the power to sustain it. This ceremo-
symbolized the cosmic tree that penetrated the multilayered
ny would establish their moral relationship with the manitou,
universe and united all the assembled manitou.
and by the carvings of their mesingw (“faces”) on the posts
Iroquoian and coastal Algonquian peoples lived in rec-
an identification with each of these cosmic forces would
tangular “longhouses” or “big houses,” in groups comprised
occur as one moved ritually along the Good White Path.
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6682
NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE NORTHEAST WOODLANDS
Furthermore, the recitation of puberty dream-visions would
ture. With the introduction of agriculture new symbol com-
renew and revivify the individual’s relationship with his or
plexes developed, giving meaning and power to this new
her personal manitou. The old time was one of impurity,
subsistence activity and integrating it into the larger cosmic
symbolized by dirt and smoke. To make the transition into
order. The northern Iroquois, for example, linked together
sacred time everyone and everything had to be purified, in-
woman, earth, moon, and the cycles of birth and death.
cluding attendants, reciters of dreams, and the big house it-
According to northern Iroquois mythology, agricultural
self. Purifying fires burned on either side of the center post.
products first emerged from the dead body of the Creator’s
Power objects or persons from different religious contexts
mother. Out of her breasts grew two corn- stalks, and from
such as menstruating women were considered inappropriate
her arms and body came beans and squash. Her death had
to enter the Big House at this time.
been caused by the Creator’s evil-minded brother, who was
The Iroquois Midwinter ceremony renews life at the
frequently associated with winter and ice. In giving birth to
turning of the year. Ashes are stirred, prior dreams and cures
winter the Earth Mother “dies,” but she brings forth life in
renewed, stories are told and ceremonies performed. At the
the spring. The gathering of plants and the planting of crops
center is the Tobacco Invocation which begs all the spirit-
were also the practical tasks of Iroquois women. Consequent-
powers of the universe to perform their duties as assigned by
ly, these women played a key role in scheduling and celebrat-
the Creator in the coming year. And as the seasons and sub-
ing the ceremonies marking the yearly cycle of life: the Our-
sistence activities unfold during the year, the Thanksgiving
Life-Supporters Dances, the Bush Dance, and the Maple,
Address, which opens each of a sequence of celebratory cere-
Seed Planting, Strawberry, Raspberry, Green Bean, Little
monies, gives thanks to the Creator and all spirit-powers for
Corn, Green Corn, and Harvest rituals.
responding to the Midwinter prayers of the people.
The spirit of the Earth Mother was also made into the
CEREMONIAL PRACTICES. Some understanding of the rich
Moon by her son, the Creator (or Master) of Life. Grand-
and complex ritual life of the Northeast Woodlands peoples
mother Moon was connected with life, as it was her duty to
can be obtained by considering selected ceremonies con-
watch over all living things during the night. The monthly
cerned with subsistence, life cycles, and personal, clan, and
cycle of the moon and the yearly cycle of vegetation were as-
society visions.
sociated with the mystery of life, death, and rebirth; women
Subsistence. Through subsistence rituals, tribes con-
and the earth were seen as connected because they both have
tacted power to ensure the success of hunting, fishing, or
the power to bring forth and nourish life.
trapping; gathering of herbs, fruits, or root crops; and agri-
The domestic ceremony of apology for taking life is also
cultural endeavors. Among the Sauk and Menomini there
found among all these Northeast Woodlands people. This
were both private and public ceremonials for hunting that
profound yet often simple ceremony illustrates the moral
focused on sacred objects now generically labeled “medicine”
character of the force that was believed to bind the cosmos
in English. The large public medicine-bundles of three types
together. The ceremony consisted of a spoken apology and
were believed to have been obtained by the trickster-culture
a gift of sacred tobacco for the disturbance caused to the web
hero Manabus from the Grandfathers, or manitou spirits.
of life by taking animal life, cutting trees, gathering plants,
The first hunting bundle, called Misasakiwis, helped to de-
or taking minerals. For example, William Jones, in his Eth-
feat the malicious medicine people who tried to foil the
nography of the Fox Indians (1939), quotes a Fox tribesman
hunter’s success. Both the second bundle, Kitagasa Muskiki
as saying: “We do not like to harm trees. Whenever we can,
(made of a fawn’s skin), and the third (a bundle with deer,
we always make an offering of tobacco to the trees before we
wolf, and owl skins), fostered hunting success. Each bundle
cut them down. If we did not think of their feelings . . . be-
might contain a variety of power objects such as animal skins,
fore cutting them down, all the other trees in the forest
miniature hunting implements, wooden figures, herbal prep-
would weep, and that would make our hearts sad, too”
arations, and often an actual scent to lure animals. The bun-
(p. 21). This ceremony is both a thanksgiving for the blessing
dle’s owner obtained the right to assemble or purchase such
of a material boon and an acknowledgment of the environ-
a bundle from a personal vision. Songs, especially, evoked the
mental ethics that binds the human and natural worlds.
powers of the bundle; these songs often recalled the agree-
Life cycles. Life-cycle rites of passage are illuminating
ment between the visionary and the manitou as well as the
examples of these peoples’ recognition that the passage
prohibitions and obligations that impinged upon the owner
through life’s stages required a structured encounter with
of a bundle. In this way the bundle owner, and the hunters
power. These ceremonies included private actions that in-
he aided, thwarted the evil ones and contacted the manitou
voked power at liminal moments such as menstruation, mar-
masters of the hunted animals. Thus power objects from the
riage, and birth. For example, menstruating women with-
environment, along with the empowered hunters, chanting,
drew to specially constructed lodges, and the marriage
and the ritually imaged manitou-spirits, functioned together
ceremony was generally validated by an extensive exchange
to bring sustenance to the people.
of gifts between families. Similarly, conception was ensured
Although the growing season varied within the North-
by protective fetal spirits, and new birth required a period
east, most of these peoples practiced some form of agricul-
of seclusion for purification of the mother and cradle-
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE NORTHEAST WOODLANDS
6683
amulets for the child. Although there were taboos surround-
The northern Iroquois, the Delaware, and the coastal
ing pregnancy and delivery, there were no elaborate birth rit-
Algonquians secluded girls in huts during their first menstru-
uals among the northern Iroquois or coastal Algonquians.
ation. Among the Delaware the girls observed strict rules re-
Other life-cycle ceremonials, however, were marked by elab-
garding food, drink, and bodily care; while in seclusion they
orate ritual activities, such as naming, puberty, and death
wore blankets over their heads, and they were not permitted
ceremonies.
to leave the huts until their second menstrual period. This
rite signified a girl’s eligibility for marriage. There is evidence
Birth and early childhood. Naming ceremonies arise
that some northern Iroquoians did not seclude their women
both from the belief that humans are born weak and require
during menstruation, although certain taboos had to be ob-
power for growth and survival as well as a belief that new life
served.
should be introduced into the cosmos. Generally, two types
of naming ceremonies have been found. Among the South-
Among the Kickapoo a young girl was isolated from the
east Woodlands tribes a child was given an ancestral clan
village in a small hut during her first menses. Tended by her
name. This situated that child in the clan lineage and em-
female kin, the girl followed strict prohibitions. Her dreams,
powered the child by directly connecting him or her to the
like those of the isolated youth in the forest, were of special
ancestral vision embodied in the clan medicine bundles. An-
importance. Accounts of these momentous visions and
other ceremony associated with the Menomini, Potawatomi,
dreams speak of encounters with tutelary manitou who be-
Ojibwa, and Ottawa, but occasionally practiced by the other
stowed blessings. Visions of such entities as wind, trees, fire,
groups, involved naming by virtue of a dream vision. In this
or birds, were all considered symbolic indications of the
ritual a person was chosen by the parents to undergo a fast
young person’s future life. A successful dreamer might nar-
or a sweat lodge purification so that they might receive a
rate part or all of his or her dream to an elderly family mem-
name for the child from the manitou.
ber or a shaman empowered to interpret dreams. This
dream-vision was a means of acquiring psychic integration
Among the Iroquois and Delaware the naming ceremo-
and spiritual strength so as to meet the challenges of life and
ny, which was conducted in the longhouse, was the most sig-
death.
nificant ritual of early childhood. Delaware parents were at-
tentive to their dreams for a revelation of the name. They
One of the most striking puberty rites was the Hus-
would give their child to an elder in the big house who would
kanawe of the Algonquians of Virginia. This rite was under-
announce the child’s name and offer prayers of blessing for
gone by boys selected to be future chiefs and priests, posi-
it. A similar ceremony would be conducted for an adult who
tions of great importance in a highly stratified society. The
decided to change his or her name due to a significant deed
ceremony began with the ritual tearing away of the children
or because the first name no longer seemed appropriate. The
from their mothers and fathers, who had to accept them
Huron pierced the ears of the child and named it shortly after
thenceforth as “dead.” The boys were taken into the forest
birth; the child’s name then belonged to the clan and could
and were sequestered together in a small hut. For months
not be used by another member of the tribe. The Iroquois
they were given little to eat and were made to drink intoxicat-
named their children either at the Green Corn ceremony in
ing potions and take emetics. At the end of this period of
the summer or before the Midwinter ceremonies. A child
mental and emotional disorientation, they completely forgot
who resembled a dead ancestor might be given his or her
who they were, and they were unable to understand or speak
name since it was believed that the name might have some
the language they had known. When the initiators were sure
of the ancestor’s personality. The name remained the child’s
that the boys had been deconditioned, they took them back
exclusive privilege and the focus of his or her early spiritual
to the village. Under close supervision from their guides, the
formation until the puberty ceremonials.
boys formed a new identity; they relearned how to speak and
were taught what to wear and the intricacies of the new roles
Puberty. It is uncertain whether the puberty rites of the
now assigned to them. As rulers or priests they had to be free
Algonquians of Virginia and North Carolina involved a vi-
from all attachments to family and friends. Their minds had
sion quest. However, the vision quest was part of the puberty
been cleansed and reshaped so that they might see clearly and
rites of all of the upper Great Lakes peoples with variations
act wisely. Their claim to authority and their power to lead
according to the tribe. Some southern Ohio River groups
others rested on their successful ritual transition to a sacred
such as the Shawnee emphasized less ecstatic experiences
condition.
such as a boy’s first kill. Among the Potawatomi, however,
on specially designated mornings the parents or grandparents
Death. The form of death rites varied widely among the
would offer a youth in his or her early teens a choice of food
Northeast Woodlands peoples. In the tribes of the upper
or charcoal. Encouraged to choose the charcoal and to black-
Great Lakes area, bodies were usually disposed of according
en their faces, the youngsters were taken to an isolated place,
to the individual’s wishes or clan prerogatives for scaffold ex-
often to perch in the limbs of a tree. There, alone, they fasted
posure, ground burial, or cremation. Among the Fox, death
for dream visions. Although boys and girls might undertake
was a highly ritualized event announced to the village by a
vision quests, many tribes in this area had special ceremonies
crier. The members of the deceased’s clan gathered for a
for girls.
night of mourning. The clan leader addressed the corpse, ad-
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6684
NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE NORTHEAST WOODLANDS
vising it not to look back with envy on those still alive but
with it by means of rhythmic singing, drumming, rattling,
to persevere in its journey to the ancestors in the west. After
or chanting; one would then channel the power brought by
burial there were the rituals of building a grave shed and in-
the spirit to a specific need such as hunting, the healing of
stalling a clan post as a marker. A six-month period of
sick people, or, in some cases, toward more selfish ends.
mourning then followed, during which time a tribesperson
The Huron owned power charms (aaskouandy). Many
was ceremoniously adopted to substitute for the deceased
of these were found in the entrails of game animals, especially
person, especially at memorial feasts.
those who were difficult to kill. Charms could be small
Burial practices differed among the peoples of the lower
stones, tufts of hair, and so on. One of the abilities of a power
Great Lakes and coastal region. The Algonquians of Carolina
charm was to change its own shape, so that a stone, for exam-
buried common people individually in shallow graves. The
ple, might become a bean or a bird’s beak. Aaskouandy were
Algonquians of Virginia wrapped the bodies of common
of two types: (1) those that brought general good luck and
people in skins and placed them on scaffolds; after the decay
(2) those that were good for one particular task. The particu-
of the flesh was complete, the bones were buried. The rulers
lar use of a charm would be revealed to its owner in a dream.
of both peoples, however, were treated differently. After
An individual or family might collect a number of
death their bodies were disemboweled and the flesh was re-
charms and keep them in a bundle consisting of, for example,
moved, but the sinews were left attached to the bones. The
tufts of hair, bones or claws of animals, stones, and miniature
skin was then sewn back on to the skeleton, after being
masks. The owner was periodically obliged to offer a feast
packed with white sand or occasionally ornaments. Oil kept
to his charms, during which he and his friends would sing
the body’s oils from drying. The corpses were placed on a
to the charms and show them honor. The owner usually es-
platform at the western end of the temple and attended by
tablished a relationship to the charm spirit, similar to that
priests.
between an individual and a guardian spirit, although charm
The Nanticoke and other tribes of the southern Mary-
spirits were known to be more unpredictable and dangerous
land and Delaware peninsula area practiced a second ossuary
than guardian spirits. An individual or family who wished
interment, in some cases preceded by an inhumation and in
to get rid of a charm had to conduct a ritual and bury it; even
others by scaffold burials. The rulers of most of these tribes
then uneasiness surrounded the event.
were treated like those of the Algonquians of Virginia and
Among the Huron and Iroquois, there were masks that
North Carolina. Some of the southern Delaware also had a
had to be cared for in addition to a charm or bundle. A per-
second ossuary burial, but the main tribal group had one in-
son acquired a mask through dreaming of it or having it pre-
humation only; no special treatment for chiefs was noted.
scribed by a shaman. A carver would go into the forest and
The Huron and some Algonquian groups had two inhu-
search for a living tree; basswood, cucumber, and willow
mations, the second one in an ossuary. Their Feast of the
were the preferred woods. While burning tobacco, he recited
Dead was conducted at periodic intervals of ten to twelve
prayers to the tree spirit and the False Face spirits. The mask
years. At that time all of the bodies buried during the preced-
was carved into the tree and then removed in one piece. The
ing decade were disinterred, their remaining flesh was re-
finishing touches, including the eye-holes (which were sur-
moved, and after a ten-day ceremony the skeletons were re-
rounded with metal) and the mouth hole, were added later.
buried. Village bands solidified alliances in these ceremonies
If the tree had been found in the morning, the mask would
in which the bones were deliberately mixed. This was a sym-
be painted red; if in the afternoon, black. The hair attached
bol of the unity that should exist among the living. The
to the mask was horsetail.
Petun followed the Huron, while the Neutral and Wenro
Because the mask was considered sacred and full of
had a scaffold burial followed later by burial in an ossuary.
power the owner had to treat it correctly. He would keep it
The Wyandot and Iroquois had only one inhumation but
in a cloth carrier with a turtle rattle placed in the hollow side.
had an annual or semiannual feast for the dead. Eastern New
If a mask was hung on a wall, it had to face the wall, lest some
York State, including Long Island, may mark the northern
unsuspecting person be possessed by it. Periodically the mask
coastal border of secondary burials.
would be fed mush and anointed with sunflower oil. If a
These life-cycle ceremonials were an integral part of
mask fell or if a person dreamed of his mask, he would burn
every tribesperson’s passage through life. Indeed, in the Win-
tobacco to it. One or two small bundles of tobacco were also
nebago Medicine rite the image of human aging in four steps
hung inside the mask. The owner of a mask belonged to the
is presented as a paradigm of all life. However, such ceremo-
False Face society and engaged in its curing rituals. The mask
nial rites of passage can be distinguished from certain person-
not only brought the owner power and protection but also
al, clan, and group rituals.
the ability to heal the sick.
Individual, clan, and group. Power objects given by
Personal power could overwhelm individuals, causing
the manitou, such as medicine bundles, charms, and face-
them to seek only self-aggrandizement. The Shawnee have
paintings, became the focus of personal rituals, songs, and
myths that relate the origin of witchcraft to that mythic time
dances. An individual evoked his or her spirit and identified
when a crocodile’s heart, which was the embodiment of evil,
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE NORTHEAST WOODLANDS
6685
was cut out and carried home to the village by unwitting tri-
correlates of the False Faces; they are dedicated to the spirits
bespeople. While the tribes of the Northeast fostered belief
of maize, beans, and squash. Besides having private curing
in contact with power, they also condemned the misuse of
ceremonies, members of the Husk Face society are doorkeep-
such power in sorcery. They tried to control their exceptional
ers at the longhouse when the False Faces perform and also
personalities by threatening the return of all evil machina-
function as police during Longhouse ceremonies.
tions to the perpetrator. Nonetheless, witch societies have
R
been prominent in Menomini history. Even though these de-
ELIGIOUS PERSONALITIES. The shaman is the most impor-
tant religious figure among the upper Great Lakes and Ohio
structive medicine practices may at times have been wide-
River native peoples. Primarily a healer and diviner, the sha-
spread among the Northeast Woodlands tribes, their many
man contacts power by means of a trance and channels that
religious societies never completely abandoned the construc-
power to specific needs. Shamans are known by a variety of
tive use of power.
names derived from the calls to their vocation they have re-
These religious societies could be either temporary or
ceived by way of visions, as well as from their particular heal-
permanent. Participants were usually selected according to
ing functions. Generally, four shamanic vocations are found
criteria based on clan membership, on blessing from the
among the northeastern Algonquian peoples. There are also
same tutelary spirit, or on personal conduct and achieve-
a number of shamanic techniques. Both the shamanic voca-
ment. Their ceremonial activities, including narrative rituals,
tions and techniques are documented from the seventeenth
feasts, dances, and games, all had sacred meaning because
century.
they were performed to honor clan ancestors, guardian spir-
its, or departed society members. The Miami and Winneba-
The most celebrated shamanic figure among the Algon-
go each had religious societies formed around clan war-
quian peoples is the shaking-tent diviner and healer, whom
bundles. The Kickapoo still have clan societies that hold
the Ojibwa call tcisaki, the Menomini tcisakos and the
spring renewals centered on their ancestral bundles. Vision
Potawatomi tcisakked. Among the Ojibwa, this shamanic fig-
societies also developed among individual Winnebago, Sauk,
ure received the vocation after a dream “call” from the mani-
Fox, Kickapoo, Illinois, Miami, and Shawnee people who
tou called Mistabeo had occurred four times. The tcisaki’s
had received vision revelations from the same manitou spirit.
technique was to enter a special lodge that swayed when the
Throughout this region societies also formed around those
manitou arrived. The tcisaki then mediated between the spir-
warriors or braves whose heroic acts in battle were seen as
its and the audience during a question-and-answer session in
special signs of personal power. So also the Potawatomi
which the location of a lost object or the cause of an illness
Southern Dance temporarily brought together tribespeople
was sought. In the case of illness, the diviner might deter-
who still grieved for deceased relatives. The medicine socie-
mine the cause of the sickness while inside the shaking tent
ties and other groups, such as the Dream Dance (or Drum
and then come out to perform a sucking cure.
Dance) and the Native American Church (Peyote), admitted
Another ancient shamanic profession is that of the tube-
tribespeople who felt called to these societies and were will-
sucking curer whom the Ojibwa called nanandawi. Several
ing to submit to the societies’ ethics.
manitou could give this healing vocation, but the Thunderer
At present the primary medicine society among the Iro-
was especially favored. The sucking curer often used the
quois is the Society of Medicine Men (also known as Shake
bones of raptorial birds to suck the affected area and to re-
the Pumpkin) to which most members of other societies be-
move objects believed to have been shot into a person by ma-
long. This society is dedicated to the medicine animals who
licious witches. The curer would partially swallow as many
long ago promised to heal humans in exchange for ceremo-
as seven bones down his esophagus; he would apply the
nies and feasts.
bones, which projected out of his mouth, to the area of the
patient’s body that was being treated.
The Society of Mystic Animals includes the Bear, Buffa-
lo, Otter, and Eagle societies; members of each group take
The manipulation of fire for healing purposes is also an
its tutelary spirit as their own when they are healed by it. The
ancient shamanic vocation; the Ojibwa call this healer wa-
Little Water Medicine society guards and cures with the
beno, the Menomini called him wapanows, and the Potawa-
most potent of Iroquois medicines, which come from parts
tomi, wapno. The traditional call to this vocation came from
of animals, birds, and plants. Rituals to renew the power of
Morning Star, who was imaged as a manitou with horns. The
this medicine are held several times a year. The Little People
wabeno, working individually or in a group, healed by using
society (also known as Dark Dance) receives power from its
the heat of burning embers to massage and fascinate his pa-
relationship with the “little people” who live in stream banks,
tients.
forests, and underground.
An initiated shamanic personality resulted from mem-
The False Face society is one of the most popular Iro-
bership in one of the medicine societies. For example, the
quois societies. As described above, the wooden faces repre-
Ojibwa Mide, or Medicine society, is composed of the tribe’s
sent spirits of the forest who appear to people in dreams. The
recognized shamans and candidates initiated into the society
society has its own curing ceremonies, but it also participates
as well as healed patients. Thus the healing shamans and ritu-
in the Midwinter ceremony. The Husk Faces are agricultural
ally initiated members perform together with the healed pa-
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6686
NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE NORTHEAST WOODLANDS
tients during the ritual. There is a basic difference in tech-
and the peace chiefs, who did not go to fight but who acted
nique between the members of these shamanic societies and
as mediators, working for peace within the tribe as well as
the individual shamanic healers previously discussed. Among
between separate tribes. The Menomini chose hereditary war
individual healers, healing through spontaneous trance is
chiefs from the Bear clan and peace chiefs from the Thunder-
central, whereas within shamanic societies, transmission of
er clan. All Northeast Woodlands tribes used a war and peace
sacred knowledge is primary and trance states are more for-
chief system, but the clan totems from which these leaders
mally structured and ritually transmitted. Thus the role of
were selected often differed from band to band.
the religious leader in the medicine societies may be more
accurately described as that of a shaman-priest.
Occasionally singular religious figures appear in the eth-
nohistory of the Northeast Woodlands peoples. The Winne-
Shamanism among the Huron and the Iroquois of the
bago have had sacred clowns and “contraries” who per-
seventeenth century was primarily an individual enterprise,
formed ritual actions backward or in a humorous manner to
although societies did exist. In subsequent centuries the Iro-
accentuate the ambiguity of life. Transvestite visionaries such
quois channeled shamanistic powers and skills into the grow-
as the Miami “whitefaces” wore women’s clothes and did
ing number of medicine societies. The central concern of the
women’s work; occasionally they gained reputations as heal-
Huron shamans was the curing of illness. Illness was caused
ers or diviners because of their unusual call and personal abil-
by either (1) natural events, (2) witchcraft, or (3) desires of
ities. Among other exceptional personalities were the ecstatic
the soul. The first could be handled by an herbalist or other
visionaries often called “prophets.” The Delaware prophet
practitioner. The second and third required the diagnostic
Neolin called for a rejection of white influences and a return
and healing abilities of a shaman (arendiwane), including di-
to the old ways and inspired many to join Pontiac’s uprising
vining, interpreting dreams, sucking, blowing ashes, and jug-
in the 1760s. The famous Shawnee prophet, Tenkswatawa,
gling hot coals.
brother to Tecumseh initiated a nativistic movement uniting
The ocata was a shaman skilled in diagnosis. In the case
many woodland peoples against American expansion in the
of a hidden desire of the soul whose frustration was causing
late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Handsome
illness he would seek to have a vision of what was desired.
Lake, of the Seneca, inspired a reformed way of life for the
To do this he might gaze into a basin of water until the object
Iroquois in the early nineteenth century. During the same
appeared or enter into a trancelike state to see the object or
period the Kickapoo prophet Kenekuk led a religious move-
lie down in a small dark tent to contact his spiritual allies to
ment that fostered his people’s accomodation to some Amer-
assist him.
ican cultural influences. The Winnebago prophet Wabo-
kieshiek began a short-lived revitalization of traditional val-
A personal spirit relationship (oki) was won after a long
ues during Black Hawk’s War in the 1830s. These and other
fast and isolation in the forest; it could take the form of a
minor prophets received revelations concerning the need to
human, an animal, or a bird such as a raven or eagle. Some-
transform specific historical situations. They represented a
times the power and skill needed to cure would come
through a dream. There were shamanic specialists who han-
shift in religious thought among these native peoples from
dled hot coals or plunged their arms into boiling water with-
the predominantly individual concern and responsibility for
out injury; frequently a power song, which allowed the per-
harmony with cosmic powers in nature to a more structured
son to accomplish this, was sung. Other shamans cured by
ethics based on an interior religious imperative.
blowing hot ashes over a person or by rubbing the person’s
Northeast Woodlands peoples have struggled to main-
skin with ashes.
tain their traditions into the present period. Not only have
Witchcraft was combatted by the aretsan; usually the ar-
they endured the cultural inroads of a variety of Christian
etsan would suck out the evil spell that the witch had magi-
missionaries, but these native traditions have also persisted
cally injected into his victim. Divining shamans could see
in the face of tribal fragmentation and degradation. This
things at a distance, cause rain, persuade animal guardian
struggle was reflected in the life of the Seneca leader Hand-
spirits to release game, or give advice on military or political
some Lake; he was able to give focus to his people’s plight
matters.
by drawing on the spiritual power of dreams that came to
him during an illness brought on by drunkenness and despair
Outside of these established vocations, certain shamanic
in the face of the pervasive oppression of his cultural way of
techniques were available to all lay people among the tribes
life. The traditional sanction of dreams and visions in native
of the Northeast. These included tattooing, naming, divin-
Northeast Woodlands religions continues into the present
ing, bloodletting, induced vomiting as a cure, weather con-
revitalization of the sweat lodge, the vision quest, and medi-
trol, and herbal healing. However, at times individual sha-
cine-wheel gatherings. The relevance of these traditional cer-
mans or shamanic societies were so strong that they absorbed
emonies to contemporary needs is highlighted by the grow-
these and other curing practices as their exclusive pre-
ing participation of non-Indians in these meditative rituals.
rogative.
In summary it is evident that the spiritual life of the Indians
Other outstanding religious personalities included the
of the Northeast Woodlands resists any attempt to simply
war chiefs, who led war bundle ceremonies and war parties,
objectify and list representative paractices or beliefs. Even the
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE NORTHEAST WOODLANDS
6687
term religion may not be as helpful for understanding these
information on all Native American tribes, including those
complex lifeways that activate visionary experiences, the sov-
of the Northeast.
ereignty of the community of life, ecological affectivity, and
Flannery, Regina. “An Analysis of Coastal Algonquian Culture.”
cosmological centeredness.
Ph.D. diss., Catholic University, 1939. A detailed classifica-
tion of cultural topics and documentation for all areas of
SEE ALSO Handsome Lake; Iroquois Religious Traditions;
coastal Algonquian life, drawn mostly from sixteenth- and
Neolin; Shamanism, article on North American Shamanism;
seventeenth-century documents.
Tecumseh.
Greeman, Emerson F. The Wolf and Furton Sites. Occasional Con-
tributions, Museum of Anthropology, University of Michi-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
gan, no. 8. Ann Arbor, 1939. Study of a woodland archaeo-
Anthropological Papers. New York, 1907–. These volumes, pub-
logical site of proto-historical period.
lished by the American Museum of Natural History, contain
Grim, John A. The Shaman: Patterns of Siberian and Ojibway
extensive materials on the religious beliefs and practices of
Healing. Norman, Okla., 1983. A study of the Ojibwa sha-
Northeast Woodlands peoples as, for example, in Alanson
man that, in addition, traces broad patterns of shamanic ex-
Skinner’s Social Life and Ceremonial Bundles of the Menomini
pression. Includes an extensive bibliography on the religious
Indians and Folklore of the Menomini Indians, in volume 13,
figure of the shaman.
parts 1 and 3 (New York, 1915).
Hallowell, A. Irving. “Ojibwa Ontology, Behavior, and World
Beverley, Robert. The History and Present State of Virginia (1705).
View.” In Culture in History: Essays in Honor of Paul Radin,
Edited by Louis B. Wright. Chapel Hill, N. C., 1947. A pri-
edited by Stanley Diamond, pp. 19–52. New York, 1960.
mary document on the Virginia Algonquians drawing on the
An important analysis of the categories and orientations of
author’s own observations and those of earlier sources,
Ojibwa ethnometaphysics that is helpful in interpreting the
written and verbal. More sensitive than most works of the
religious practices of these woodland peoples.
period regarding both the native peoples and the natural en-
Harrington, Mark R. Religion and Ceremonies of the Lenape. New
vironment.
York, 1921. The first and still the best work on the religion
Black, Mary. “Ojibwa Power Belief-Systems.” In The Anthropology
of the Delaware in the late nineteenth and early twentieth
of Power, edited by Raymond Fogelson and Richard Adams,
centuries.
pp. 141–151. New York, 1977. A seminal study of the con-
Hewitt, J. N. B., ed. “Iroquois Cosmology,” part 1. In Bureau of
cept of power in the religious belief systems of the Ojibwa
American Ethnology Twenty-first Annual Report,
peoples.
pp. 127–339. Washington, D.C., 1899–1900.
Blair, Emma, ed. and trans. The Indian Tribes of the Upper Missis-
Hewitt, J. N. B., ed. “Iroquoian Cosmology,” part 2. In Bureau
sippi Valley and the Region of the Great Lakes (1911). 2 vols.
of American Ethnology Forty-third Annual Report,
New York, 1969. A fine collection of primary documents de-
pp. 449–819. Washington, D.C., 1925–1926. The best col-
scribing the upper Great Lakes and Ohio River native peo-
lection of Iroquois cosmogonic myths available.
ples during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Kinietz, W. Vernon. The Indians of the Western Great Lakes,
Bureau of American Ethnology. Annual Reports and “Bulletins.”
1615–1760. Occasional Contributions, Museum of Anthro-
Washington, D.C., 1888–. These reports and bulletins pres-
pology, University of Michigan, no. 10. Ann Arbor, 1940.
ent materials on native peoples’ beliefs and religious practices
which, however, often need further interpretation. Special
Landes, Ruth. Ojibwa Religion and the Midewiwin. Madison,
mention can be made here of the following monographs
Wis., 1968.
published as “Bulletins of the Bureau of American Ethnolo-
Landes, Ruth. The Prairie Potawatomi. Madison, Wis., 1970.
gy”: The Midewiwin or ‘Grand Medicine Society’ of the Ojib-
Both of Landes’s works explore, from an anthropological
wa, no. 7 (1885–1886), and The Menomini Indians no. 14,
perspective, selected myths and rituals associated with the
(1892–1893), both by Walter J. Hoffman; Ethnography of the
presence of religious power.
Fox Indians, no. 125 (1939), by William Jones; Contributions
McNally, Michael. Ojibwe Singers: Hymns, Grief, and a Native
to Fox Ethnology, 2 vols., nos. 85 (1927) and 95 (1930), and
Culture in Motion. New York, 2000. A study of the changing
The Owl Sacred Pack of the Fox Indians, no. 72 (1921), by
religiosity among Anishinabe Great Lakes peoples.
Trumen Michelson; and The Winnebago Tribe, no. 37
Parker, Arthur C. Parker on the Iroquoi. Edited by William N.
(1915–1916), by Paul Radin.
Fenton. Syracuse, 1968. Contains important documents
Callicott, J. Baird, and Michael Nelson. American Indian Environ-
such as “The Code of Handsome Lake, Seneca Prophet,” and
mental Ethics: An Ojibwa Case Study. Upper Saddle River,
“The Constitution of the Five Nations.”
N.J., 2004. A study of stories from the Ojibwa that demon-
Radin, Paul, ed. The Road of Life and Death. New York, 1945.
strates how their cultural worldview supports specific princi-
Contains the text of the Winnebago Medicine rite with some
ple and practices related to an environmental ethics.
commentary by Radin on the circumstances that prompted
Dobyns, Henry. Their Numbers Became Thinned: Native Popula-
Crashing Thunder (Jasper Blowsnake) to narrate this esoteric
tion Dynamics in Eastern North America. Knoxville, Tenn.,
lore. This book also includes Big Winnebago’s autobiogra-
1983. This study proposes a major revision of population es-
phy, as edited by Paul Radin.
timates of Native American population for the New England
Shimony, Annemarie Anrod. Conservatism among the Iroquois at
region based on early death records of native villages.
the Six Nations Reserve. Syracuse, 1994. Essential reading for
Driver, Harold E. Indians of North America. 2d ed., rev. Chicago,
an understanding of contemporary Iroquois religion and the
1969. Somewhat dated in parts but overall good statistical
struggle to assure its continuation.
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6688
NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE SOUTHEAST WOODLANDS
Speck, Frank G. A Study of the Delaware Indian Big House Ceremo-
east count as many as tens of thousands of members, while
ny. Harrisburg, Pa., 1931. The foremost study of the Big
many more individuals living in the region claim some mea-
House ceremony among the Delaware of Oklahoma.
sure of Native American heritage.
Sturtevant, William C., and Bruce Trigger, eds. Handbook of
Historically, the Native American religious traditions of
North American Indians. Rev. ed. Washington, D.C., 1981.
An excellent overview of the specific tribal groups in this area
this region included a variety of ritual practices, beliefs, and
with a brief treatment of religious beliefs and practices.
narrative traditions, and this is still the case today. Individual
communities each have distinct religious systems, and there
Thornton, Russell. American Indian Holocaust and Survival: A
continues to be diversity within communities as well. A vari-
Population History Since 1492. Norman, Okla., 1987. A sig-
ety of Christian denominations flourish, in addition to con-
nificant study of early records to reassess native populations
and the deaths by pandemic diseases to which native popula-
tingents of people who maintain indigenous religious sys-
tions had little or no resistance.
tems. There also are people who draw comfortably from both
types of systems throughout their lives.
Thwaites, Reuben Gold, ed. The Jesuit Relations and Allied Docu-
ments..., 1610–1791 (1896–1901). 73 vols. in 39. Reprint,
Research suggests that there are some elements of reli-
New York, 1959. An indispensable work especially on the
gious systems that are, and have been, common to most
tribes of “Huronia” and “Iroquoia” as related by Jesuit mis-
southeastern groups. Certain ritual activities, cultural narra-
sionaries.
tives (“myths”), and beliefs that reflect recurrent themes are
Tooker, Elisabeth. Native North American Spirituality of the East-
discernable, and oral transmission of knowledge continues
ern Woodlands. New York, 1979. Ethnographic selections
in many communities. However, what the anthropologist
from the religious rituals of various Northeast Woodlands
John R. Swanton observed in the 1940s is still the case today:
peoples with some general interpretative sections.
while “the background of the religious beliefs of these tribes
Trigger, Bruce G. The Children of Aataentsic: A History of the
and their medical practices. . .[are] similar, . . . the reli-
Huron People to 1660. 2 vols. Montreal, 1976. Excellent re-
gious attitude seems to . . . [vary] considerably from one
construction of the history, culture, and religion of the Hu-
tribe to another and the ceremonial patterns . . . [are] often
rons, relying on the earliest documents available.
markedly distinct” (Swanton, 1946, p. 805).
Trowbridge, C. C. Meearmar Traditions. Occasional Contribu-
THE “SOUTHEAST WOODLANDS” AND FIRST PEOPLES. It is
tions, Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan,
difficult to speak about groups and precise land area when
no. 7. Ann Arbor, 1938. A study of the Miami people.
discussing First Peoples of the region, past and present, and
Trowbridge, C. C. Shawnese Traditions. Edited by W. Vernon
benchmark surveys do not always agree. Generally speaking,
Kinietz. Occasional Contributions, Museum of Anthropolo-
scholars have identified the Southeast as that sector of North
gy, University of Michigan, no. 9. Ann Arbor, 1939.
America bounded by the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico
Williams, Roger. The Complete Writings of Roger Williams (1643).
at the east and south, by the longitude 95° west, and by a
7 vols. Edited by Reuben A. Guild et al. New York, 1963.
latitude between 35° and 40° north. Historically as many as
Especially valuable for information on the Narraganset is
170 tribes are thought to have made the Southeast their
“The Key into the Language of America” found in
home, with the following language families represented: Al-
volume 1.
gonquian, Caddoan, Iroquoian, Muskogean, Siouan, Tuni-
JOHN A. GRIM (1987 AND 2005)
can, and Yuchean. Today, depending on criteria, estimates
DONALD P. ST. JOHN (1987 AND 2005)
of communities in this large area range from the mid-
twenties to fifty.
The process of colonization had manifold effects on the
NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF
First Peoples of this region. In certain cases, distinct indige-
THE SOUTHEAST WOODLANDS
nous linguistic and cultural social units joined together as na-
Culturally and linguistically diverse Native American com-
tions to meet the challenges posed by European colonists.
munities of various sizes recognize the area now known as
Other politically and ceremonially autonomous groups
the southeastern region of the United States as their ancestral
linked by such factors as language and geography coalesced
homeland. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, sev-
in a like manner. Most groups were organized by means of
eral are federally recognized groups, while other communi-
matrilineal clans, which provided a ready-made organiza-
ties continue to press for state and federal recognition. While
tional structure for such amalgamations as the Cherokee,
those that have governmental recognition are officially iden-
Creek, Chickasaw, Seminole, and Choctaw. For example,
tified as “American Indian tribes” or “bands,” members of
the Cherokee, or Tsa:la:gi nation was formed from many
these groups self-identify in a number of ways, but most
towns or villages of people who referred to themselves as An-
often by means of group names, which are either indigenous
i:Yunwiya (the Principal People) and spoke three dialects of
or commonly accepted English terms. Depending on person-
what is now called the Cherokee language. The term Chero-
al preference, individuals also may employ such terms as First
kee is of uncertain origin, and all three terms are still in use
Nations, First Peoples, Indigenous Nations, Native Ameri-
today, though Cherokee and its Cherokee translation, Tsalag
cans, or Indians. Certain of these First Peoples of the South-
or Anitsalagi, predominate.
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE SOUTHEAST WOODLANDS
6689
A different model is presented by the towns, or talwa
states even as they continue to seek federal recognition. The
(tvlwv) of distinct peoples who, in order to repel outside
fact that they are not always supported in their efforts by fed-
threats, formed what became known as the Creek Confeder-
erally recognized Native American communities speaks to
acy. These included communities speaking the Muskogean
the complexity of identity issues in the United States; the on-
linguistic family languages—Mvskoke (Muskogee), Ala-
going efforts of such groups also highlight the complex and
bama, Koasati, Apalachee, Hitchitee, and Mikasuki, in addi-
often contradictory systems of classification by which federal
tion to, at some point in time, members of Yuchi, Shawnee,
and state agencies determine Native American identity.
Natchez, Guale, Yamasee, Cusabo, and Tawaso groups
O
(Lewis and Jordan, 2002, p. 5). The terms Mvskoke, Musko-
VERVIEW OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL DATA:
C
gee, and Creek can refer to the people, the language, or both.
ONTACT, COLONIZATION, AND CULTURAL NEGOTIATION.
Standard archaeological timelines, often constructed with a
Some of these amalgamations were decimated by war-
strong teleological component assuming Western civilization
fare and disease, as were many autonomous communities be-
as the goal, have traced the history of religious traditions in
fore them. Others were torn asunder by the U.S. government
the Southeast by means of a developmental societal pattern,
policy of forced removal during the 1830s. Consequently,
with the religious systems reflecting changes in other social
until that time the contemporary South was populated by
spheres as societies “progress” toward “civilization” in terms
groups that for the most part now have larger populations
of complexity and technology. Typically, five periods of
in Oklahoma. Because indigenous peoples that now have
human occupation are delineated in the region: Paleo-Indian
communities in the Southeast as well as in Oklahoma once
(c. 9000–7000 BCE), Archaic (c. 7000–1000 BCE), Wood-
belonged to the same cultural units, they have shared com-
land (c. 1000 BCE–700 CE), Mississippian (c. 700–1500 CE),
mon elements of religious systems, although time and place
and Historic (c.1500 CE–present). Generally speaking, schol-
have created differences. In Oklahoma, close proximity to
ars have linked the religious behavior of communities in the
other groups from the Southeast created further augmenta-
region to subsistence activities in each of these periods.
tions of belief and ritual. During the twentieth century, par-
ticularly the second half of the century, many eastern and
Because of the archaeological evidence that led to such
western communities increased efforts to strengthen their
a timeline, the concept of a “Southeastern Ceremonial Com-
ties.
plex” or “Southern Cult” was popular in the field of archae-
ology for many years. As originally conceived, the theory—
Despite adversity, contingents of certain nations were
based on archaeological evidence from “late prehistoric
able to maintain a presence on some portion of their ances-
sites”—was that during the Mississippian and early historic
tral lands, and over time solidify this presence. Currently,
periods the societies in what is now the southeastern United
many indigenous religious systems are undergoing revivals as
States shared many similar material characteristics, suggest-
part of wider cultural revitalizations. The Eastern Band of
ing broader religious and political affinities (Muller, 1989,
Cherokee Indians (North Carolina), the Poarch Band of
pp. 11, 19). Common religious features included the devel-
Creeks (Alabama), the Seminole Tribe and Miccosuke Tribe
opment of a chiefly/priestly social class, veneration of and
(both in Florida), the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians,
tribute to a sun deity tied to corn production, and ritualized
and the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas, as well as the
burial techniques. In addition, shell gorgets and other items
Coushatta, Chitimacha, and Tunica-Biloxi Tribes (all in
from these periods bear common artistic motifs such as spi-
Louisiana), are testaments to the resolve of indigenous south-
rals, circles, and spiders, which scholars speculate have spiri-
eastern nations to retain their religious, social, and political
tual significance. The theory still has its adherents, but con-
identities while undergoing cultural change.
temporary scholarship has greatly abridged its explanatory
Lengthy legal or legislative actions often were required
capacity. While there were iconographic similarities across
to guarantee and insure the rights associated with such group
the region during the Mississippian period, it remains un-
identity, and circumstances could and did change. To give
clear to what extent ritual activities and beliefs can be inter-
one example, the Catawba people of South Carolina banded
polated from archaeological data.
together for survival with several North and South Carolina
Although Spanish political influence was temporary in
peoples in the first half of the eighteenth century. The Ca-
most areas of the present-day Southeast other than Florida,
tawba Indian Nation was terminated as a federally recog-
the travels of the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto
nized tribe in 1962, recognized by the federal government
throughout the region in the 1540s would prove to have
again in 1993, and received a monetary settlement to resolve
more lasting consequences. As other expeditions followed in
a land dispute that began in 1840.
his wake, the ensuing combination of warfare and epidemics
Other communities have worked for full recognition of
devastated numerous groups. In the seventeenth century cer-
their collective identities as well. At the start of the twenty-
tain southeastern peoples were decimated (Yamasee,
first century, North Carolina groups such as the Lumbee
Timicua) while others were forced to emigrate and reside
(who list approximately fifty thousand members), Haliwa-
with confederacies of nations or emerging nation-states
Saponi, Waccamaw, and Coharie, as well as the Pamunkey
(Tuscarora, Yuchi). Within societies that avoided these two
and Mattaponi of Virginia, are recognized by their respective
fates, in addition to the obvious effects of such upheaval and
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE SOUTHEAST WOODLANDS
depopulation, in some cases the transmission of religious
tion resisted such efforts, and the U.S. military ultimately
knowledge to younger generations was interrupted.
succeeded only partially in removing them.
Religious-studies scholar Joel W. Martin argued in the
The cultural impacts of Christianity upon southeastern
late 1990s that such factors led to the fourth in a series of
communities have been complicated and multiple. The focus
religious revolutions, the first three of which coincided with
on acculturation created conflicts, and in the eighteenth,
the transitions from the Archaic period to the historic period.
nineteenth, and early to mid-twentieth centuries, the result
According to Martin this resulted in the seventeenth- and
in sectors of many communities was a de-emphasis on tradi-
eighteenth-century “postholocaust, village-based religions”
tional beliefs and practices in favor of Christianity. However,
of such groups as the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and
there were individuals and contingents throughout the
Muskogee (1997, p. 156). This theory is suggestive and situ-
Southeast who steadfastly maintained indigenous religious
ates postcolonial history in the much longer time span of
systems, though they often did so away from the gaze of ob-
human occupation of the region; further questions remain,
servers, scholarly and otherwise. On the other hand, in some
however, as to the extent of regional homogeneity (as dis-
cases (as with the Choctaw and Cherokee) Christian church-
cussed above).
es actually have worked to preserve cultural and group identi-
British, French, and Spanish forces arriving in the
ty by incorporating local languages into services or by being
Southeast encountered diverse sociopolitical entities with
a focal point for communities (see, for example, Pesantub-
longstanding ties to the land. Yet the peoples of the region
bee, 1999).
were not passive observers; among indigenous groups, there
CONTEMPORARY LANDSCAPE. The Mississippi Choctaw res-
was a gradual shift in power relations that initially favored
ervation is about seventy miles northeast of Jackson, mostly
those groups able to manipulate European governments and
in Neshoba County. Of the approximately 9,000 Choctaw
pit them against each other. Indigenous communities also
people living there, the majority identify themselves as Chris-
had longstanding alliances or disputes in the region, which
tian. While there is a range of denominations, Baptist, Cath-
colonists were able to exploit to their advantage. This was the
olic, and Pentecostal denominations dominate. However,
case especially once the British gained control of the region
people in certain communities, such as the Bogue Chitto,
in 1760s after the war against the French and their Native
have steadfastly maintained their traditions, and refused to
American allies. All the while, people were on the move and
accept Christianity (Mould, 2003, p. xxiv). Additionally,
new alliances were being formed. For example, Muskogee
since the 1970s there has been a resurgence of interest in
people immigrated to Florida in the eighteenth century, in-
“distinctly Choctaw” culture in Mississippi, where in addi-
corporated (in some cases forcibly) people from Yamasee,
tion to all-night sings at churches and other community-
Apalachee, and other communities, including Africans, and
based events, an annual Choctaw Labor Day Festival features
became known as Seminoles.
social dancing, traditional crafts, food, and stickball along-
side country music and other standard attractions (Lambert,
In the early nineteenth century, increasingly encroach-
2001, p. 317). Other activities such as sweat lodges also are
ing colonial settlements and government designs on natural
gaining in popularity, though opinions are mixed as to
resources such as farmland and gold resulted in land loss for
whether or not this affects the uniqueness of Choctaw tradi-
many groups who had survived earlier hardships. This period
tions (Mould, 2003, p. 204).
coincided with sustained Christian missionary efforts among
groups throughout the Southeast. The prevalent ideology of
Similar events also take place on the Qualla Boundary
the times inextricably linked Christianization and “civiliza-
in western North Carolina, in Swain and Jackson counties
tion,” and students in missionary schools were taught all as-
(about sixty miles west of Asheville), where approximately
pects of “civilized” social behavior. European American ob-
7,000 members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (of
servers dubbed the Cherokee, Choctaw, Muskogee,
a total membership of 13,000) support at least twenty-two
Chickasaw, and Seminole nations the “Five Civilized
churches. Baptist churches are the most numerous, and there
Tribes,” because they felt that these groups best approached
are several different Holiness tradition churches, as well as
the appropriate level of cultural development.
those of other denominations. Since the late twentieth centu-
ry, certain townships (though members of all townships are
Even these nations eventually were targets for forced re-
involved) have been at the forefront of efforts to revive or
moval. Although many missionaries saw this as the only solu-
preserve particular cultural elements such as traditional danc-
tion, a small number were actively involved in the efforts of
ing, the Green Corn Ceremony, and the Cherokee language.
nations to retain their homelands. In the 1830s the majority
As they have for centuries, religio-medicinal specialists con-
of the Cherokee, Choctaw, Muskogee, and Chickasaw na-
tinue to work and pass on traditions to younger generations;
tions, who had for the most part preserved their homelands
in a like manner traditions such as anetso, the Cherokee ball
and remained relatively autonomous until that time, were
game, and its associated ceremonial cycle continue to be
forcibly marched to territories in Oklahoma. These involun-
maintained in some townships.
tary emigrations resulted in great loss of life, and each has
become known as a Trail of Tears, though frequently history
In Alabama, approximately 1,500 Mvskoke people (of
texts focus only on the Cherokee Removal. The Seminole na-
approximately 2,200 members) predominantly associate
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with Protestant denominations, including Baptist, Holiness,
mans or beseeched for assistance. They are not worshipped,
and Episcopal churches. They reside near Poarch, Alabama,
but are respected for their power and abilities, both positive
in Escambia County, fifty-seven miles east of Mobile. In re-
and negative. Defying characterization as “good” or “evil,”
cent decades specialists from Oklahoma have been retained
they have the capacity to help as well as harm humans, espe-
to revive various cultural activities, including the Mvskoke
cially if they are not treated with proper respect.
language and sweat bath activities. Religio-medicinal special-
These can be natural elements, “archetypal forms” of
ists have continued to work in this community as well (see
animals or human-like beings such as Corn Woman (see
below).
below). Depending on the religious system, natural phenom-
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, approxi-
ena including the sun, thunders, and running bodies of water
mately 1,200 to 1,500 Seminole and Miccosukee (Mikasuki)
such as rivers and streams are considered sentient beings
people live in Florida, many on three reservations: Brighton
(Cherokee, Choctaw, Natchez, Mvskoke). All of these beings
(northwest of Lake Okeechobee), Big Cypress (the northeast
can be understood as “other-than-human persons,” to use A.
edge of Big Cypress Swamp), and Dania, or Hollywood (out-
Irving Hallowell’s term from his seminal article on Ojibwe
side Hollywood, Fla.). Perhaps between 15 and 20 percent
traditions ([1960] 1975, p. 145).
do not officially affiliate with either tribal entity; according
to one source, approximately 60 percent of the Seminole
NARRATIVE TRADITIONS AND COSMOLOGY. Southeastern
people in Florida are non-Christian (Beck et. al, 1996,
communities traditionally have transmitted a variety of his-
p. 245). Today, they are known as the Seminole Tribe.
torical accounts, cultural narratives, and items of religious
Though initially considered by the federal government as
knowledge orally. Though the proliferation of scholarship
just a splinter Seminole group, the Miccosuke Tribe of Flori-
has made written accounts readily available over the last cen-
da gained a corporate charter and drafted a constitution in
tury and a half, in many cases the preferred mode of trans-
1961, and they established separately in 1965 along the
mission continues to be oral. The term “cultural narratives”
Tamiami Trail highway. The Miccosuke people distinguish
is used in the context of this article to refer to what are com-
themselves from Seminoles culturally; their Hitchiti lan-
monly called “myths”; this term implies cultural significance
guage, ilaponki, is spoken by about two thirds of the larger
without assigning a truth-value. While there are a variety of
group, with the rest speaking Mvskoke.
such cultural narratives, several southeastern communities
share certain narratives in common, though individual de-
SUPERNATURAL OR “OTHER-THAN-HUMAN” BEINGS.
tails differ.
Many First Peoples of the Southeast reference a “supreme
being,” but often the term connotes a more abstracted
Certain of these narratives are of a sacred character, and
power, force, or perpetuity. These beings or entities can be
are equal in significance to narratives contained in the holy
beseeched for assistance and are considered important forces
books of other cultures. As is the case in any religious com-
in many peoples’ lives. Though different terms can be used
munity, individuals in southeastern groups interpret these
to refer to them, a select few are the Cherokee term une:h-
narratives in a variety of ways, both literally and metaphori-
lanv´:hi (translated as “Provider,” from the verb “to pro-
cally, and incorporate other information in their assessments.
vide”; also translated “Creator”) and the Mvskoke terms
These narratives can be used to explain current circum-
Hesaketvmes¯e (translated as “Breath Holder,” “Master of
stances, for instance how a people came to live where they
Breath,” or “Breath”) and Ibofanga (translated as “the exis-
do, and why they perform certain activities, be they subsis-
tence of all things and energy within all things,” or “the one
tence-related or ceremonial. Other narratives, which some-
above us” (Kilpatrick, 1991, p. 58; Fixico, 2003, p. 3; Swan-
times are humorous, allegorically highlight human foibles or
ton, [1928] 2000, p. 481).
are etiological.
The Choctaw term for this entity most often cited is
Both Cherokee and Mvskoke cultural narratives present
hvshtahli [hvsh-táh-li] and is translated as “Great Spirit,” with
cosmologies that recognize different worlds, or planes, in-
the caveat that this term was a pre-Christian concept (Haag
cluding the world humans now inhabit, an underworld, and
and Willis, 2001, p. 334). According to one source, it also
a world above the sky. The middle world is conceived as
can be translated as “governor of the world, whose eye is the
being a flat surface surrounded by water, over which a stone
sun”; both this term and the term for sun—nanapisa (the one
sky vault arches and tilts daily to allow beings and forces to
who sees)—express the distinction that the sun was an aspect
pass between worlds. Other groups of human-like beings also
of a more abstract force and not in and of itself a deity or
inhabit the middle world, including the Little People (Cher-
focus of worship (O’Brien, 2002, p. 3). Similarly, the Chick-
okee, Yun:wi Tsun:sdi´), recognized by many groups. Mostly
asaw term for this supernatural being, Luak Ishto Holo A˚ba,
keeping to themselves, they are sometimes mischievous; on
is translated as “the great holy fire above,” and the Natchez
occasion their presence is more dangerous.
term, Uwa’sh¯ıł, as “Big fire” (Swanton, [1928] 2000,
Cherokee cosmology posits a tiered series of planes cul-
p. 482).
minating in the seventh height, or galv’:ladí (galunlati),
Cultural narratives often are populated by a variety of
which translates as “above” or “above everything,” located
other beings that may be more regularly involved with hu-
above the sky vault; this is home to various forces such as
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE SOUTHEAST WOODLANDS
thunder and the sun, as well as for archetypal animals (Kil-
According to a Cherokee narrative, the animals, meet-
patrick, 1991, p. 58; Irwin, 1992, p. 240). Typically, the un-
ing in emergency council, determined to thin out the human
derworld does not have a negative moral value. Certain be-
population by devising individual diseases. Hearing of the
ings such as large horned snakes and panthers make their
animals’ plans, the plants decided to come to the aid of the
home in the underworld, accessed through rivers, streams,
humans by providing themselves as medicines to cure
and waterfalls. However, even such dangerous beings possess
the various diseases. Thus humans gained a valuable ally. At
ambiguous attributes; the large horned snake (Cherokee, uk:-
least one Mvskoke cultural narrative relates how plants made
tena), for example, has a jewel-like crest on its forehead that
a pact with a “Holy Man,” or M¯ekko-hoyvn¯ecv (King passing
is prized for its powers. The Mvskoke narrative tradition
through) to cure people together (Lewis and Jordan, 2000,
speaks of the tie snake as another such being.
pp. 74–76).
CREATION OF THE WORLD AND THE APPEARANCE OF HU-
NARRATIVES CONCERNING THE CORN WOMAN. In most
MANS. According to one Cherokee cultural narrative, the
southeastern traditions, a significant narrative recounts the
world of human habitation was created when animals living
selfless, ultimately sacrificial act of a Corn Woman who in
in galv’:ladí felt crowded and sent a water beetle to search for
life provided food from her body and in her death the plants
a place to live below the sky vault, where all was water. The
for cultivation to sustain her people (Cherokee, Mvskoke,
water beetle retrieved mud from the bottom of the water, and
Natchez). Though it varies somewhat within and between
this mud was fastened to the sky vault with four cords, one
communities, the basic storyline is that one or two sons (in
at each cardinal direction. Individual Mvskoke narratives dif-
one Natchez version it is twin girls, in another it is a single
fer somewhat in describing the creation of the world, but sev-
boy) spied on their mother or grandmother as she privately
eral examples revolve around an animal or bird (e.g., craw-
rubbed her body to produce corn (and sometimes beans as
fish, dove, pigeons) procuring the dirt or blade of grass that
well). They were shocked as they saw the food emanate from
would be used to create the earth. The Seminole oral tradi-
between her legs (in at least one Cherokee version it is said
tion describes the creation of the earth from the back of the
to have come from her vagina; in Mvskoke versions it came
Great Turtle, who emerged from the sea. His shell cracked
from either between her legs as she scratched her thighs, or
and four giant ant brothers put it back together; though the
from her feet; and in a Natchez version it issued from her
turtle perished, he decreed that Earth Children should walk
anus). Fearing this trusted woman was a witch, they refused
over it. They emerged from beneath an earth mound that
to eat the food, and then either she offered herself to them
had formed on this surface. There are Alabama, Chitimacha,
as a sacrifice (Natchez, Mvskoke, Cherokee), she did so after
Natchez, and Yuchi versions of this “earth diver” narrative
they resolved to kill her (Cherokee), or she sent them off to
form as well.
live elsewhere for a time (Mvskoke).
Cultural narratives also locate inhabitants in the south-
One further version of the narrative, from the Koasati
eastern region. While some narratives describe migration
people (of present-day Alabama), tells of an old woman who
from elsewhere at a distant time in the past (Mvskoke, Cher-
provided food for orphans, though she had been shunned be-
okee, Choctaw, Chickasaw), others state that present-day
cause of sores and uncleanliness. Choctaw narratives attri-
southeastern locales are in fact ancestral homelands
bute the origin of corn to the daughter of a Choctaw sacred
(Mvskoke, Cherokee, Choctaw). Thus, in several cases,
being who, after being fed by two hunters, instructed them
emergence from the earth is either stated (Mvskoke, Choc-
to return to their meeting place at the next midsummer
taw) or implied (Cherokee). The existence of different narra-
moon. When they did they discovered a corn plant, which
tives about single events within religious systems should not
they cultivated.
be misconstrued as problematic, nor considered as logical
In Cherokee and Mvskoke versions of the Corn Woman
flaws in the system. For example, the presence of two differ-
narrative, there appears to be a link between the production
ent creation stories as well as two flood narratives woven to-
of corn and menstruation. Interestingly, both Cherokee and
gether in the Book of Genesis does not typically result in such
Shawnee narratives feature menstruating women defeating
conclusions about Judaism and Christianity; nor does the ex-
malevolent beings (such as a stone-covered cannibal or great
istence of Four Gospels do so for the latter.
horned serpent). It seems clear that these are expressions of
In these southeastern narrative traditions, animals exist-
women’s power—although scholars continue to debate the
ed on the earth before humans, and engaged in a variety of
narratives’ perspectives on this power (i.e., whether or not
activities that humans would as well, including conducting
it is portrayed positively or negatively). Either way, women
councils, staging dances, and engaging in athletic contests.
play key roles in these foundational narratives; in the former
Humans arrived on the earth soon after, and quickly began
cases the women provide a staple crop for the benefit of fu-
to wear out their welcome by killing animals, competing
ture generations, and in the latter they defeat enemies threat-
with them for resources, and driving them from their homes.
ening their communities.
Many of the animals played a role in alterations to both the
MEDICO-RELIGIOUS SPECIALISTS AND MEDICINAL TRADI-
landscape and the way of life in the world of human inhabi-
TIONS. Generally speaking, ritual specialists seek the interces-
tation.
sion of supernatural beings in the affairs of humans; they can
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE SOUTHEAST WOODLANDS
6693
offer prayers, divine information, and administer medicinal
can be male or female. Unlike the Cherokee tradition, writ-
substances. Such specialists can be either male or female.
ten books with songs and words (“formulas”) are considered
These activities and the forces and beings they involve are
a sign of weakness.
part of religious systems that encompass both positive and
negative elements. Due in part to the common English trans-
Choctaw terms applied to human beings, such as
lation of these activities as “conjuring,” and an unfortunate
ishtahullo (“being endowed with occult power”; see also
focus upon its negative aspects, many observers have misla-
stahullo, “witch,” below), also refer to the power of natural
beled the activity “witchcraft.” Such beliefs are still strong
forces such as thunder, or to the power provided by dreams.
among some circles in southeastern communities, though
The word ishtahullo can be applied to all women generally,
they are rejected as superstition by others in the same com-
as well as to particular men and women of distinction, in-
munities. Many people find traditional and Christian activi-
cluding at least one Jesuit missionary (O’Brien, 2002, pp. 3,
ties complementary, and certain contemporary practitioners
4, 7, 8). Its roots refer to generative principles and the genita-
report that Christian beliefs power their abilities.
lia associated with them (hullo, menstruation, and hasi, penis
or vagina) (O’Brien, 2002, p. 5). At one time a number of
Such Cherokee practitioners often are known in English
medicinal and ritual specialists were active in Choctaw soci-
as “conjurers” or those who “doctor”; they are identified by
ety; though the designations have differed, many sources
terms that designate their particular abilities and specialties.
agree on three groups rendered in Choctaw and English by
For example, religious studies scholar Lee Irwin culled terms
one scholar as “alikchi (physician), apoluma (conjurer), and
from several works, including ada’nunwisgi (healers or
stahullo (witch)” (Noley, in Mould, 2003, p. 121). Accord-
curers); amayi didadzun:stisgi (the one who “takes them to
ing to one Choctaw source, contact produced a kind of as-
water”—interpreted as “priest”); and dida Dnunwiski (sing.,
similation of all three functions into single individuals,
well-known and mature healer) (Irwin, 1992, pp. 244–
though today most such individuals are gone (Denson in
245). This final term was translated by Cherokee studies
Mould, pp. 121, 122). Some medicine men and women do
scholar Alan Kilpatrick as “knowledgeable shaman” (1991,
continue to practice, however; and at present according to
p. 50). Some specialists focus primarily on divination, which
one scholar, the term hopaii, which once meant “prophet,”
can include locating lost objects, diagnosing disease, or pre-
now means “witch,” someone who harms others by means
dicting the date of an individual’s death.
of supernatural powers (Mould, 2003, pp. 121, 126).
Formulaic utterances, or idi:gawé:sdi (often called
In all southeastern communities where such individuals
“songs” or “formulas”), are integral to any healing activity,
are still active, their presence often goes unnoticed by re-
as well as to other pursuits such as hunting or warfare. They
searchers and other visitors, because most of these specialists
are standardized speech acts that incorporate elements of
do not seek publicity. While some do publicize themselves,
prayer, entreaty, and instruction on producing desired ef-
often the most powerful and respected individuals go out of
fects, as well as directions for preparation and usage of medi-
their way not to draw attention to themselves. This unobtru-
cines. Through the use of formulas, ritual specialists can seek
siveness in many cases shields them from the nuisance of cu-
the intercession of supernatural beings and effect circum-
rious visitors and allows them to concentrate all their energy
stances in the course of human events. With the creation of
on the important tasks they are called upon to perform.
the Cherokee syllabary by Sequoyah in 1821, many special-
Those entrusted with transmission of cultural narratives also
ists began writing these formulas in notebooks.
may adopt this strategy, in part out of a sense of propriety.
In Mvskoke culture, Heleswv (medicine) is utilized in
Historically, incorrect conclusions about the survival of cul-
individual cases of illness, as well as for activities such as ball
tural traditions have resulted from long-standing precepts re-
games. Tools include specially prepared sticks, crystals
garding appropriate times and places to discuss such infor-
(sabia¯), and horns made from pieces of a special horned
mation as well as people with whom it should be shared.
snake—the latter are used to extract negative substances from
These attitudes continue to impact both ethnographic and
ill patients. These crystals were once in use among several
missionary enterprises in indigenous communities.
groups in the region, including the Cherokee, Mvskoke, Ala-
RITUAL ACTIVITIES. There are several activities that south-
bama, and Natchez.
eastern communities practice in common. One key activity
For Mvskoke people, the ideal of hecvs, or “seeing,” in-
is ritual immersion or laving in naturally running water
volves the simultaneous recognition of the presence of a vari-
(Cherokee, amó:hi atsv’:sdi, “going to water”), which can be
ety of beings and forces, both physical and metaphysical, and
performed daily by solitary individuals in order to maintain
of the “totality of Ibofanga [‘the one above us’]” (Fixico,
health and well-being. People also can enjoin ritual special-
2003, pp. 7, 11). Religio-medicinal specialists are divided
ists to accompany them in order to diagnose conditions, ad-
into three categories, though the first, the heles-hayv (medi-
minister medicinal treatments, and beseech other-than-
cine maker), can possess the abilities of all three. The other
human persons for assistance. On ceremonial occasions such
two specialists are the “owalv (prophet or seer)” and the
as green corn ceremonies, entire families might join together
kerrv (one who knows),” or Kerrata (key-tha) (Lewis and
in this activity, as would groups on the occasions of births,
Jordan, 2002, p. 39; Fixico, 2003, p. 3). These individuals
marriages, and deaths. In the past, on particular occasions
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE SOUTHEAST WOODLANDS
people took sweat baths in special structures before the ritual
and consistency of a brackish tea; it is actually commonly
immersion (Cherokee, osi), and this latter practice has been
known within communities as the “the white drink” (Swan,
revived lately among some groups, but, as discussed above,
in Swanton, [1928] 2000, p. 548). While several observers
not without controversy.
have attributed this name to the substance’s properties of
“purification,” it might be more accurate to think of it in
For a range of conditions, psychological as well as physi-
terms of the regulation of interpersonal and therefore societal
cal, medicines prepared from plant substances are either in-
harmony (Martin, 2000, p. 95)
gested or applied externally to those in need by ritual special-
ists, and this practice almost always is accompanied by the
For Seminole and Miccosuke people in Florida, the
recitation of formulas. Scarification or scratching is another
Green Corn Dance continues as a time for renewal of both
activity that has been used in medicinal and religious con-
humans and certain medico-religious tools. These ceremo-
texts to aid in general healing or in specific treatment rou-
nies have continued to be public occasions in Florida. Over
tines. It is usually performed with comb-like instruments and
the course of four days (including the weekend) at the time
accompanied by the application of medicine on the scratch-
of the new moon either in late June or early July, elders meet
es. Community dances, once weekly events lasting through
in council, and men fast, participate in sweat baths, and in-
the night, typically have incorporated expressions of thanks-
gest an emetic. Both adults and children are “scratched” or
giving, celebrations of human achievement, and ribald social
undergo scarification, to revitalize the blood, though in more
commentaries, in addition to specific dances of a social na-
recent times women and girls have not participated. Boys
ture in which dancers imitate particular animal movements.
and girls are honored for growing into new phases of their
Finally, though there is a paucity of research in this area,
lives, and two kinds of ball games are played during the
scholarship suggests that women in most southeastern
weekends: a more lighthearted single-pole game between
groups made use of menstrual huts, and that these structures
men and women, and a rougher game between teams of men
were places of instruction and communion.
who compete to score goals at either end of a playing field.
GREEN CORN CEREMONIALISM. Ceremonial activities tied
As one source noted, each stomp ground does things a
to the first harvest and consumption of green corn once were
bit differently, and these variations can be likened to those
widespread religious events throughout the Southeast, al-
between denominations (Beck et. al, [1977] 1996, p. 254).
though as noted above by Swanton, particularities of mean-
At the end of the Dance, a medicinal specialist gives a sum-
ing and performance often have differed. Dances and several
mation of the proceedings as he offers prayers of thanks to
other activities marked the yearly occasions. These harvest
the corn and the “The Mighty One” (Beck et. al, [1977]
thanksgiving ceremonies, such as the Mvskoke posketv, are
1996, p. 256). The medicine bundle—containing all sub-
commonly known as “green corn ceremonies” or just “green
stances necessary for success in a wide range of endeavors and
corn”; in some communities these events also initiate the
for the general health of all community members—also is re-
new year. These names refer to the central activity of the cele-
newed with blessings before sunrise on the final day of the
bration, the preparation and consumption of boiled or roast-
Dance. The same source reported that only two medicine
ed green corn, symbolic of the first fruits of the harvest.
men were still knowledgeable about the medicine bundles
and their renewal during the Green Corn Dance (Beck et.
A key ceremony was the kindling of new fires from a
al, [1977] 1996, pp. 250, 245).
central, consecrated fire, after all old fires had been extin-
CURRENT SCHOLARSHIP ON RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS OF
guished. Other activities have included dancing, singing, and
THE SOUTHEAST WOODLANDS. Though elements of several
ritual cleaning of homes. An emetic (often containing Ilex
religious systems are isolated and categorized above in this
vomitoria) was at one time utilized to cleanse male individu-
article, each community combines them into internally logi-
als, both physically and spiritually, during this ceremony. In-
cal systems that provide meaning as well as help to define in-
terestingly, one Oklahoma Mvskoke individual has suggest-
dividuals, groups, and the relationships of existence. Provid-
ed that at least in cases with which he was familiar, the
ing important counter-perspective to existing and ongoing
substance was not an emetic and the vomiting was “a cultur-
scholarship, many of the significant recent works on the reli-
al, not a biological act” (Howard and Lena, 1984, p. 43). In
gious systems of southeastern groups have been authored or
addition, drinking a green corn medicine was at one time a
coauthored by indigenous scholars or elders who write about
common requirement before tasting the corn.
their own cultures and who elucidate indigenous epistemolo-
The posketv (mistransliterated as “Busk” by some ob-
gies. In addition, a lively debate has developed regarding the
servers) or Green Corn Ceremony is the most visible of the
1976 book The Southeastern Indians, by the historian Charles
Mvskoke stomp dances, and is held in July. Still actively ob-
M. Hudson. As the historian James T. Carson noted of this
served in many Mvskoke dance grounds in Oklahoma, and
text, “Hudson crafted what has become the orthodox inter-
increasingly in Alabama communities of the Poarch Creek
pretation of not just Creek religion but southeastern cosmol-
band, the ceremony includes activities such as dancing, fast-
ogy as a whole by combining Swanton’s work on Creek reli-
ing, stickball, and the ingestion of the vsse medicine. This
gion with his colleague James Mooney’s observations of the
substance, mistakenly referred to by many observers as the
faith of Eastern Cherokees” (Carson in Swanton, [1928]
“black drink,” is made from a red root and is more the color
2000, p. vi).
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6695
Hudson, it should be noted, made no such claims about
Howard, James H., in collaboration with Willie Lena. Oklahoma
his book. He did rely heavily on Cherokee materials, and less
Seminoles: Medicines, Magic, and Religion. Norman, Okla.,
so on Mvskoke materials, in the chapters “The Belief Sys-
1984.
tem” and “Ceremony”; elsewhere in the book he provided
Hudson, Charles. The Southeastern Indians. Knoxville, Tenn.,
ample individual examples from many southeastern nations
1976.
(see Hudson, 1976, pp. 120–183; 317–375). Mary Chur-
Hudson, Charles. “Reply to Mary Churchill.” American Indian
chill, a religious studies and women’s studies scholar, pub-
Quarterly 24, no. 3 (Summer 2000): 494–502.
lished an interesting 1996 article critiquing Hudson’s work,
Irwin, Lee. “Cherokee Healing: Myth, Dreams, and Medicine.”
focusing upon notions of “purity” and “pollution” in the
American Indian Quarterly 16 (Spring 1992): 237–257.
Cherokee universe, to which Hudson responded with an ar-
Kilpatrick, Alan Edwin. “Going to the Water: A Structural Analy-
ticle of his own (see bibliography). The increase in area schol-
sis of Cherokee Purification Rituals.” American Indian Cul-
arship that began in the 1980s continues to produce more
ture and Research Journal 15, no. 4 (1991): 49–58.
varied studies and highlight additional perspectives, ensuring
Lambert, Valerie Long. “Contemporary Ritual Life.” In Choctaw
continued scholarly interest and theoretical development
Language and Culture: Chahta Anumpa, edited and written
while complementing the large body of valuable existing
by Marcia Haag and Henry Willis. Foreword by Grayson
work.
Noley. Norman, Okla., 2001.
Lewis, Jr., David, and Ann T. Jordan. Creek Indian Medicine
SEE ALSO Cherokee Religious Traditions; North American
Ways: The Enduring Power of Mvskoke Religion. Albuquer-
[Indian] Religions, article on History of Study.
que, 2002.
Martin, Joel W. Sacred Revolt: The Muskogees’ Struggle for a New
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Hallowell, A. Irving. “Ojibwa Ontology, Behavior, and World
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE PLAINS
Swanton, John R. The Indians of the Southeastern United States.
The American Indian Languages Act of 1994 was in-
Washington, D.C., 1979. Originally published as the Smith-
tended to provide Native students with the opportunity to
sonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin
study and learn their heritage language. Elders who speak
137 (Washington, D.C., 1946).
these languages have much information to impart, not only
Witthoft, John. Green Corn Ceremonialism in the Eastern Wood-
about vocabulary and grammar, but also about kinds of
lands. Occasional Paper from the Museum of Anthropology
knowledge, worldviews, and the ways in which utterances
of the University of Michigan 13. Ann Arbor, Mich., 1949.
construct their lives. Intensive efforts to document conversa-
MICHAEL J. ZOGRY (2005)
tions among fluent speakers are underway in many tribal
communities, at tribal colleges, and at four-year institutions
in an effort to preserve the heritage languages. In most cases,
NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF
the urgency of these linguistic efforts is pressing because
THE PLAINS
many heritage language speakers are elderly, and with each
The Plains region, an area delineated by the Rocky Moun-
successive generation fewer people are learning the lan-
tains on the west; the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Sas-
guages. This is one of the devastating results of forced school-
katchewan, and Manitoba on the north; the Mississippi
ing, missionization, and assimilation measures. Although
River on the east; and the Gulf of Mexico on the south, is
language education is working to increase the number of flu-
home to philosophies, traditions, and ways of life that are
ent speakers, currently the number of heritage language
some of the most varied and complex in the United States.
speakers in all groups remains small. Of twenty-seven Native
The Great Plains measure 1,125,000 square miles, roughly
American languages spoken in Oklahoma today, only four
equal to one-third the landmass of the United States, and
are learned from childhood.
serves as home for more than fifty American Indian nations,
Linguists identify more than ten different language fam-
sometimes referred to as bands, tribes, and confederacies,
ilies and language isolates in the Plains region. These include:
representing significant linguistic, cultural, and traditional
diversity. This complexity also is reflected in the extensive
1. Algonquian, largely spoken by groups along the Atlantic
geo-ecological diversity and biodiversity of the region.
Coast, but also spoken by woodlands and northern
Plains groups such as Cree, Ojibwe (or Ojibwa), An-
Some American Indian groups who currently occupy
ishinaabeg, Chippewa, and Ottowa in Wisconsin,
areas of the Plains do not consider this region their ancestral
Michigan, and the northern Great Lakes region. Algon-
homeland as bestowed by the Creator. Over thirty American
quian-language-speaking groups include Northern
Indian groups were removed to the Oklahoma Territory as
Arapaho of Wyoming and Southern Arapaho of Okla-
part of the Indian Removal Act of 1830, signed into law by
homa; Atsina or Gros Ventre of the Prairies; the Black-
Andrew Jackson. Removal was enforced first for Indian com-
feet Confederacy, comprising Siksika, Kainah (Blood),
munities east of the Mississippi in the southeastern portion
and Piegan; Northern Cheyenne (in Montana) and
of the United States, including Creek, Choctaw, Cherokee,
Southern Cheyenne (in Oklahoma); Menominee (in
and Chickasaw. Later, groups in the Plains region also were
Michigan and Wisconsin); Potawatami and Sauk and
subject to removal, including the Pawnee, Cheyenne, Arapa-
Fox (originally from Michigan, now also in Wisconsin,
ho, and Comanche. Between 1830 and 1843 more than
Iowa, Oklahoma, and Kansas); and Blackfoot (in the
100,000 Native Americans were relocated to the Oklahoma
northern Plains and Alberta).
Territory. During the long march to Oklahoma, which was
enforced by the U.S. military, many thousands died, includ-
2. The Athapascan-Apachean branch, represented by Lipan
ing over a third of the Cherokee people who were removed.
Apache (whose original homeland is part of what is now
This horrific event is often referred to as the Cherokee “Trail
southwestern Texas); Kiowa Apache in Oklahoma; and
of Tears,” but all of the Native Nations removed remember
Mescalero, Chiricahua, and Jicarillo Apache in Arizona
this time with great sadness.
and New Mexico.
LANGUAGE DIVERSITY. Today, the Plains region is one of the
3. Caddoan, represented by Arikara (in North and South
most linguistically diverse areas in the United States as far
Dakota); Caddo (originally in Louisiana, Arkansas and
as American Indian languages are concerned. It is the ances-
Texas, but removed to Oklahoma); Pawnee (originally
tral homeland of linguistic groups that include speakers of
in Nebraska, but removed to Oklahoma); and Wichitas
Algonquian, Athapascan, Caddoan, Kiowa-Tanoan, Salish,
(in Kansas and Oklahoma).
Siouan, and Uto-Aztecan languages, whose languages reflect
4. Kiowa-Tanoan, represented on the Plains by only one
cultures and traditions associated with the natural world. Be-
tribe, the Kiowa, who now live in Oklahoma. This lan-
cause of forced removal, some American Indian languages are
guage family is also represented in New Mexico and Ari-
represented in Oklahoma that historically were not found in
zona by Pueblo peoples who are speakers of the Tewa,
the Plains region, such as Muskogean and Euchee. In all
Tiwa, and Towa languages.
communities, stories and narratives in the language of the
Peoples, often referred to as “Heritage Language,” provides
5. Muskogean, represented by Choctaw and Chickasaw
the context for cultural and traditional knowledge.
peoples (originally in Mississippi, Louisiana, Kentucky,
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6697
and Tennessee; after forced removal also in Oklahoma);
tories and “stories of the people,” and archaeologists as well
Creek (Muskogee), including Seminole (originally in
have found evidence that supports human habitation for
Alabama, Georgia, and Florida; after forced removal
more than twelve thousand years. With the introduction and
also in Oklahoma).
diffusion of the horse in the seventeenth century, the number
6. Salish, represented in the northwestern Plains region by
of equestrian groups whose economy was based on buffalo
Salish-Kootenai, Spokane-Kalispel-Flathead, and Coeur
hunting increased. Those most recognized as nomadic in-
d’Alene, whose ancestral homeland includes Idaho,
clude, among northern peoples, the Absaroka, Assiniboine,
Montana, and Washington, as well as parts of what is
Cheyenne, Gros Ventre, and Lakota; and, among southern
now southern Canada.
peoples, the Arapaho, Comanche, and Kiowa. Some river
valley and northern woodlands peoples maintain aspects of
7. Siouan, by far the largest group on the Plains, represent-
their traditional horticultural way of life. For example, Man-
ed by Assiniboine, also known in Canada as Stoney;
dan, Hidatsa, and Arikara on the northern high Plains, and
Crow (Absaroka) in Montana; a subdivision of the Siou-
Pawnee, Cree, Iowa, and Deghiha speakers on the southern
an family known as Deghiha, comprising Kansa (Kaw),
Plains, as well as Shoshone and Ute in the western moun-
Omaha, Osage, Ponca, and Quapaw, all of whom live
tains, established traditions and worldviews significantly dif-
in Oklahoma; Hidatsa (Gros Ventre); Iowa, Oto, and
ferent from those of the more nomadic peoples. In the past,
Missouri, who form a linguistic subdivision called Chi-
river valley and woodlands peoples lived in earth lodges,
were and who reside in Oklahoma; Mandan, who share
tilled the soil near their homes, and maintained agricultural-
a reservation with Arikara and Hidatsa in North Dako-
ist and agrarian lifestyles. The more nomadic peoples lived
ta; Hochunk (Winnebago); Dakota (Santee) in Minne-
most of the year in more portable housing, such as tipis, and
sota, Nebraska, and parts of the Dakotas; Lakota, pri-
transportation was by horse and dog travois over land and
marily in the western Dakotas; and Nakota or Yankton,
by round-shaped bullboats over water.
primarily in the eastern Dakotas. The Mandan, Arikara,
and Hidatsa are referred to as the Three Affiliated
The most common forms of burial on the Plains were
Tribes. The Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota are conven-
scaffold and tree burials. The deceased were dressed in fine
tionally know as the “Sioux,” a pejorative term loosely
clothing and wrapped in a buffalo hide, then placed on a
translated as “snakes in the grass,” continues to be em-
scaffold or tree and secured tightly. During the burial, close
ployed in the literature and in everyday speech.
relatives prepared foods for the spirit’s journey to the hereaf-
8. Tonkawan, represented exclusively by Tonkawa in
ter and placed necessary implements and objects for the spirit
Oklahoma.
near the burial site. The Cree and Ojibwa, unlike some of
the other Plains peoples, buried their dead in the ground and
9. Uto-Aztecan, the speakers of which are found in a wide
conducted an annual Feast of the Dead. As in times past,
area of western North America and northwest Mexico.
most Native peoples today are respectful of the spirit of the
Currently represented in the Plains by Comanche origi-
deceased, so burial grounds are considered sacred. Although
nally from the southern Plains and now in Oklahoma;
some of the above-ground burial practices have changed, the
Shoshoni (in Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, and Utah); and
traditional respect for the spirit and the practice of helping
Ute-Southern Paiute (in Utah, Colorado, California,
the spirit prepare for its journey remain.
and Nevada).
10. Euchee (Yuchi), a language isolate, spoken by only a few
Extensive contact, trading, sharing of resources, and
remaining elders. Euchee people were moved from their
competition among and between groups took place prior to
homeland in Georgia to Oklahoma during the period
white encroachment, and sharing and crossover of traditions
of forced removal.
likely occurred. This blending of traditions was accelerated,
paradoxically, by various U.S. government measures, such as
In addition to these spoken languages, Plains tribes used sign
the Removal Act of 1830, which through forced relocation
language, which facilitated trade by permitting people speak-
put previously separated groups into contact with one anoth-
ing diverse languages to communicate with each other.
er. For many groups and contributed to a crossover of tradi-
CULTURAL DIVERSITY. Plains Indian nations present cultural
tions. Even more destructive to the survival of Native cul-
diversity and complexity as well as linguistic diversity, and
tures was a series of U.S. government measures aimed at
display significant cultural variation and resiliency—yet sim-
assimilation and acculturation, or the outright theft of their
ilarities exist. Philosophy and values acknowledge a holistic
land, most notably the Dawes Act (1887), the Curtis Act
view of life that is cyclic in nature, representing unity and
(1989), the Indian Reorganization Act (1934), the Reloca-
equality for all members. Concepts are interconnected and
tion Program (1952), the Termination Act (1953), and the
unified throughout all aspects of life including art, literature,
Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act
music, language, social organization, religious traditions,
(1975). However, with the civil rights and Red Power move-
law, and the environment. This integrated approach is
ments of the 1960s and 1970s, many American Indian na-
thought to make life more satisfying and fulfilling.
tions increased cultural preservation efforts and began reviv-
Plains Indian communities document continuous habi-
ing and recovering their languages, traditions, and
tation of the region for thousands of years through their his-
ceremonies, each culturally unique and significant.
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE PLAINS
RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY. Christian missionaries who prosely-
other ceremonies and activities. The pipe is smoked as a
tized throughout the Plains region were particularly Euro-
means of communicating with the spirits, as preparation for
centric in their response to Native religious beliefs, holding
making a good decision, for thoughtfully considering one’s
that Christianity provided a more bona fide religion than
actions, and while deliberating on important topics of con-
Native traditions and that conversion to Christianity was
cern. Pipes can be made from a number of substances. Those
necessary to help the peoples become assimilated and accul-
made with a bowl fashioned from catlinite, a red stone found
turated. Many actively sought government sanctions and
in Pipestone, Minnesota, are valued and distributed
laws against the practice of Native traditions, and worked as-
throughout the Plains. Because the pipe is a gift from the
siduously to eradicate Native beliefs. They also believed that
spirits and considered sacred and powerful, it is treated with
Native religious practices were primitive and that the self-
respect. The bowl is made separately from the pipe stem,
mortification practiced by some of the tribes was immoral.
which is wood or, in some cases, pipestone. Some tribes con-
The U.S. government banned most religious traditions and
sider it disrespectful to store the pipe with the bowl attached
ceremonies, including the Sun Dance, during the 1880s and
to the stem; consequently the two parts are separated when
specifically in 1894 through an act of Congress. On the
not in use. People are careful of the language they use around
northern Plains, however, the Sun Dance went underground
the pipe, and individuals who act as “pipe carriers” assume
and was maintained by medicine men and holy interpreters.
a great responsibility for acting on behalf of the community.
This ceremony cautiously emerged into public view again
Children are taught respect for the pipe from an early age.
only in 1934. Many Indian religious practices, however, re-
Showing disrespect to the pipe by stepping over it or drop-
mained underground or were lost during this time period
ping it is avoided. If such an incident occurs, prayers and
until the Native American Religious Freedom Act of 1978.
cleansing ceremonies directed by someone identified as
Although missionaries and Christian religions in general be-
knowledgeable in this area are employed.
came more accepting of Native beliefs over time, many of
Tobacco. Several types of Indian tobacco are smoked
the attitudes of the past persist, as evidenced by continuing
in the pipe. Tobacco is considered sacred and is spoken to
missionary proselytizing and conversion efforts.
as a spirit that is alive. It is sometimes wrapped in small
For most Indian nations, the terminology and con-
pieces of cloth, called “prayer or tobacco ties,” and used as
structs used to describe religion, religious practices, and ideas
offerings for honoring the spirits. Among the Crow (Absaro-
of the sacred do not translate from the Native language with
ka), various types of tobacco historically were cultivated and
the same meanings and connotations as in English and West-
traded with both European and Indians alike. Crow people
ern religious thought. For example, spirituality and a rela-
consider tobacco important to their welfare and developed
tionship to the sacred permeate daily life, and most Indian
“tobacco societies” inspired by the visions and dreams of in-
languages do not have specific terms for the word religion;
dividuals. Members are given the task of overseeing the
likewise, the English word religion does not accurately en-
planting and harvesting of the crops. In times past, both men
compass Native ways of life, beliefs, traditions, and ceremo-
and women belonged. Specific songs, dances, and ceremo-
nies. Furthermore, the term sacred encompasses both indi-
nies are associated with tobacco societies, most of which are
vidual and collective revitalization, as well as the knowledge
known only to members. For the Crow as well as other Plains
gained through visionary experiences. Therefore, the descrip-
nations, tobacco is viewed as medicine, bestowed by the spir-
tions of various aspects of Native religion presented below
its that brings the gift of power.
should serve only as illustrations of general concepts, and
The eagle. The eagle is regarded as the most significant
should not be understood as exact replications in English of
of all birds because of its great strength, prowess, hunting
Native meanings.
ability, and capacity to see. This bird is believed to be a mes-
PREVALENT TRADITIONS. This category encompasses beliefs,
senger to and from the Creator or Great Spirit, and it assists
practices, and roles that are characteristic of a number of
humans in communicating with the spirits. Through the
Plains peoples, yet have elements that are particular to each
smoke that is emitted from the pipe, the eagle carries the
group. It includes symbols such as the pipe, tobacco, the
smoke—that is, the prayers and supplications of humans—
eagle, and a spirit known as the trickster; the role of spiritual
to the Great Spirit. Eagle feathers are prized for ceremonial
leaders or interpreters, who often consider themselves “com-
purposes because of the bird’s qualities and powers. They are
mon men” with a gift, but not holy (referred to as medicine
bestowed on individuals deemed worthy on the basis of some
men, shamans, or ritual practitioners in anthropological lit-
act or supplication, or as a marker when an individual is
erature); and primary religious practices and ceremonies such
moving through a life transition.
as the Sun Dance, the vision quest, and the sweat lodge.
The Hidatsa are known for their ability to trap eagles.
The pipe or calumet. A symbol of Plains Indian com-
Eagle trapping is regarded as both a sacred and a dangerous
munities, the long-stemmed pipe or calumet, is a medium
event. In the past, late in the fall, eagle trappers would build
for prayer. When people pray with the pipe, the smoke rising
a camp a mile or so from the village. High atop the hills each
from the pipe carries their message to the Creator. In many
trapper dug a pit about three feet deep and covered it with
communities, smoking the pipe is also a prelude to various
grass and twigs to form a blind. Using a rabbit or small fox
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE PLAINS
6699
for bait, the trapper climbs into the pit and waits for an eagle
Spiritual leaders and interpreters are consulted in a vari-
to soar overhead and spot the bait. When the eagle lands on
ety of circumstances and involved in a range of activities,
top of the pit, the trapper thrusts his hands upward and grabs
such as healing the sick, advising in family matters, naming
the eagle by its legs, pulling it down into the pit and stran-
children, conducting ceremonies, praying for an individual’s
gling it. After the feathers are secured, there is a ceremony
welfare, and interpreting visions. In formal ceremonies such
in which the eagle’s body is buried and offerings are made
as the Sun Dance, the interpreter serves as an intermediary
in thanks to its spirit.
between the people and the spirits, and as someone who pro-
vides exclusive and extensive knowledge of the cosmological
The trickster. The trickster image figures prominently
mysteries. Often, this knowledge is reflected in the use of a
in Plains oral traditions as a humorous comic spirit, mediator
sacred language, one that is only understood by the spirits
between the spirits and humankind, and significant part of
and other interpreters or medicine men.
cultural identity. The trickster is admired for taking risks,
and for transforming and breaking rules, yet also is held up
The Plains Cree and Ojibwe brought a number of cere-
as an example of what not to do. The trickster goes by a
monies from their Great Lakes homeland. One ceremony,
number of names, such as Iktomi (spider) among the Lakota;
probably related to the ceremonies of the Midewiwin or
Manabozho (the compassionate trickster) among the An-
“Great Medicine society” in the Great Lakes, includes a prac-
ishinaabeg; Great White Hare among the Algonquian speak-
titioner (or leader) who is bound hand and foot and placed
ers; Rabbit among the Seminole; and Old Man or Coyote
in a tipi. During the ceremony, spirits enter the tipi, untie
among the Crow. In creation stories, the trickster teaches hu-
the practitioner, and teach him how to cure the sick and find
mans about culture after the establishment of the earth. He
lost articles. Sometimes the tipi shakes while the practitioner
also is the principal character in a cycle of morality stories
is being untied. On the northern Plains among the Arapaho,
Cheyenne, Lakota, and others a similar tradition exits. For
in which positive values are taught through negative exam-
Lakota, Yuwipi is the term for a curing ceremony held in a
ple—that is, the hero always makes mistakes and demon-
darkened room with a yuwipi man who is completely
strates poor judgment. Children are told the stories to ensure
wrapped in a blanket and securely tied with ropes. At the end
that they grow up to be good people and do not behave like
of the ceremony, the spirits have healed the individual and
the trickster.
untied the yuwipi man.
Spiritual leaders or interpreters. Most Plains tradi-
The Sun Dance. An important religious ceremony of
tions include community members who are spiritual leaders
the Plains is the Sun Dance, often participated in to offer
or interpreters for the spirits. Each leader or interpreter is
one’s suffering as sacrifice so that others may not suffer. Each
well known in the community for his or her specialization
participant makes a commitment that necessitates humility,
in healing, prayer, or communication with the spirits, and
respect, and supplication. The ceremony is usually per-
this role is considered a gift from the spirits that is demand-
formed during the summer months. Men and women make
ing, requiring many hours of service. Acceptance of responsi-
vows to participate in the ceremony throughout the year (or
bility for using the gift to the best of their ability is critical
during previous years; commitments can be for four consecu-
to the lives of spiritual leaders and to the lives of people in
tive years). They dance for several days (the number of which
the community. For many Plains groups, the spiritual leader
varies according to the tradition) gazing at the sun, or more
may be someone who the spirits have given the power to act
precisely, in the direction of the sun. It is useful to note that
as an interpreter. Sometimes, they are given the power to
the Sun Dance is held also in cloudy and even rainy weather,
cure illness with the help of spirits or by ritual means, such
and may be performed at night during the time of a full
as singing, dancing, or praying. Other times, they act as spe-
moon. In fact, in Lakota there is no distinction between the
cialists in herbal curing.
words for sun and moon; both are called wi, and the only
way to differentiate between them is by the use of a qualifier:
Spiritual leaders differ according to the specific type of
the sun is known as “day wi” and the moon as “night wi.
knowledge they have gained from the spirits and through vi-
Thus a phrase translated as “to gaze at the sun” cannot neces-
sions. Although shaman and medicine man are general terms
sarily be linguistically differentiated from “to gaze at the
applied by scholars and others to a range of spiritual leaders,
moon,” although conventionally the current translation al-
in each Native language specific and discrete terms are used
ways refers to the sun.
to identify these individuals. For example, in Lakota, some
of these leaders are known as wocekiya wicasa or wapiya wica-
The Mandan Sun Dance, called Okipa, traditionally
sa, men of prayer, intercessors to the spirits, or “one who
was held indoors in the tribe’s medicine lodge, and typically
fixes.” Public and private ceremonies directed by spiritual
lasted four days. During this time, the dancers are suspended
leaders take many forms, since they are conducted and per-
from the lodge rafters. In other tribes, the Sun Dance is held
formed according to the instructions received by the inter-
outdoors within a defined sacred space at the center of a large
preter. The spiritual leader is usually paid for his services in
circular arena that is surrounded by a shade arbor. The medi-
food, money, or other necessities, although most indicate
cine man uses skewers or eagle claws to pierce the chest or
that payment is not required.
back muscles of the male dancers who are prepared and in
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE PLAINS
“the right frame of mind” for participation. Then, the skew-
to remain cognizant of the gift that has been given. These
ers are attached to rawhide thong ropes that are tied to a sa-
manifestations of the spirits and the sacred may be used in
cred center pole. The dancers pull backward until they break
times of need as important knowledge given to the seeker for
free, thus releasing themselves from the thongs. According
a specific purpose. Sometimes these manifestations are evi-
to Lakota philosophy, the only thing that one can offer to
denced in the creation of a painting, with attention given to
the Great Spirit is one’s own body, because it is the only
specific colors and shapes that signify the vision. Power and
thing that a human being really owns. The Sun Dance allows
knowledge gained through a vision also can be recalled
such an offering to be made, and its ritual of suffering and
through an object used in a medicine bundle, or through
release from suffering is offered as a service to the people.
prayers and songs acquired and learned during the vision.
The seeker also might acquire a new name, receive a calling
The Blackfeet Sun Dance differs inasmuch as a woman,
to act in service to the people or be given a task to perform
known for her industry, leads the dancers and bears the title
or goal to be pursued. Guardians, helpers, or spirits may
“medicine woman.” Although she does not go through the
present themselves and provide the seeker with guidance. In-
physical practices that her male counterparts do, she partici-
terpretation of the vision may come soon after the experience
pates in a number of ceremonies that precede the actual
in conversation with the medicine man or may not become
dance. She presides over two important ceremonies: the Buf-
available to the seeker until some time after the experience.
falo Tongues ceremony and the sweat lodge ceremony. Be-
In all cases, the purpose of the quest is to receive instructions
fore the Sun Dance, people are asked to bring buffalo
about important actions, events, or opportunities that will
tongues to a certain lodge erected for this purpose. The
affect the seeker’s life and, often, the life of the community.
tongues are ceremoniously skinned, cleaned, boiled, and
then distributed. A sweat lodge is constructed from one hun-
The sweat lodge. The sweat lodge is regarded as a
dred willow saplings that are placed in the ground and tied
means of purifying individuals both physically and spiritual-
together at the top. The dancers fast and join in the sweat
ly. Participation provides an opportunity to contemplate,
lodge before dancing.
pray for those in need, and enter into a sacred space. A small
number of participants join together with a medicine man
The vision quest. The vision quest, or “dream seeking,”
in a dome-shaped lodge constructed of saplings and covered
is an essential part of Plains Indian conceptual and linguistic
with hides and blankets to make it airtight and dark. Some
worldview, which is very much focused on dreaming and
preparations are necessary prior to the ceremony. The lodge
dream experiences. The ideas behind the vision quest are
must be maintained, kept clean and ready for use, with rocks
based in experiential processes that are broadly similar for
and wood collected. A fire for heating the stones is started
many Native peoples, but that vary in specific detail depend-
and tended for a number of hours prior to the ceremony, and
ing on the tradition. Dream seeking is considered a mythic
individuals who know the songs and can participate in the
discourse incorporated into an intentional structure and re-
singing must be on hand. In the center of the lodge floor,
garded as a primary source of knowledge and power. The
a hole is dug into which the heated stones are ladled by the
context of the vision, the knowledge that is gained, and the
fire tender. The hides are secured firmly over the lodge and,
type of vision are unique to each individual. Some have de-
closing the door flap, the medicine man sprinkles water over
scribed the experience as a merging of the dreaming and wak-
the heated stones, causing steam to fill the lodge. The partici-
ing state that provides the seeker with knowledge and aware-
pants perspire as they sing and pray together, asking for help
ness. It is an intentional act, a search for power and explicit
from the spirits who come into the lodge and praying for the
contact with the sacred.
welfare of the people. Frequently, a sweat lodge is conducted
During the vision quest, a person, usually male, seeks
as a prefatory or cleansing ritual, or before undertaking a vi-
to find their purpose within their community. The dreamer
sion quest or other religious ceremony. Sometimes the focus
embarks upon an ordeal in isolation from the community.
of prayers is for the healing of specific individuals who suffer
Under the direction of a medicine man, each dreamer is led
from mental, physical, or spiritual illness.
to a hill or other secluded spot, where they stay for an agreed-
INTERTRIBAL AND DIFFUSED TRADITIONS. The Ghost
upon number of days in constant prayer and fasting in an
Dance and the Native American Church provide examples
effort to receive a vision that will be useful for their life and
of beliefs and rituals that are acknowledged as intertribal and
the lives of community members. The Lakota notion of wa-
diffused traditions, and that are not limited specifically to
cinksapa or “respectful attention” characterizes the dreamer’s
Plains peoples.
attitude, concentration, and state of mind before, during,
and after the ceremony. If a vision occurs, the dreamer may
The Ghost Dance. Between 1869 and the 1890 massa-
receive knowledge presented in experiential and imagistic
cre at Wounded Knee, a pacifistic movement called the
forms; visions can be a vivid communication visualized as an
Ghost Dance spread throughout the Plains. Participants in
animate form, an inanimate object, an idea, or a sensory ex-
the dance sought to fight against white domination and sing
perience. These communications from the spirits are treated
the spirits of the ancestors back to life. It is often associated
with great care. The seeker may be instructed on how to
with the Earth Lodge Cult, begun around the same time,
maintain a connection to or awareness of the vision in order
which called for the destruction of whites in a cataclysmic
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE PLAINS
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event. The Ghost Dance began when Wovoka, a Paiute
and respect. Likewise, peyote (Lophophora williamsii Le-
prophet, had a vision in which he was instructed that if Na-
Maire) is regarded by members of the Native American
tive peoples retained their ways, danced, and prayed for a fur-
Church as a sacred plant, a sacrament, and a gift from the
ther vision, then the whites would disappear and all the rela-
Great Spirit that may be consumed for the welfare of the
tives who had died, including the four-legged ones such as
people during prayer meetings.
the buffalo, would return. In his vision, Wovoka said he vis-
The peyote plant, whose “buttons” contain the halluci-
ited with the spirits of the deceased, and they taught him a
nogen mescaline, is found in Mexico and Texas on both
dance that would bring about these events. Talk of the vision
banks of the Rio Grande. From the tribes of Mexico, the
spread across the Plains and prompted people to participate
plant itself and certain ceremonies associated with it diffused
in an effort to restore lost relatives and the traditional way
northward to the Comanche, Apache, Tonkawa, Kiowa,
of life. The dancers performed for long periods of time until
Cheyenne, and Arapaho, and ultimately to other surround-
they fell to the ground. When they awoke, they talked and
ing tribes. Some credit Quanah Parker, a Comanche leader,
sang of meetings with their dead relatives and of how happy
with bringing Half Moon–style peyote meetings to the
they were that the old way of life would soon return.
southern Plains. After being injured while traveling south,
The prophet’s vision and the Ghost Dance emerged out
he was cured by a Lipan Apache curandera who practiced the
of a time of desperation, intense suffering, starvation, death,
sacred use of peyote.
and loss of a way of life for Native peoples. The return of
The Peyote Road or Road of Life has been influenced
relatives did not come during Wovoka’s time or at the height
by Christianity as well as individual tribal beliefs; thus there
of the movement. Instead, the federal government, fearing
are minor differences in the ceremonies from one church
that the dance would serve to engender hostilities, ordered
meeting to another. There are two major divisions, analo-
all dancing stopped. On December 29, 1890, a band of
gous to denominations: the Half Moon, by far the most pop-
peaceful peoples fleeing persecution were surrounded at
ular and freer of Christian influences, and the Big Moon
Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge Reservation. For
(also known as Cross Fire). The rituals of the two divisions
allegedly participating in the dance, and out of fear of Indian
differ somewhat, the greatest ideological difference being
community revitalization, over three hundred disarmed La-
that Big Moon uses the Bible in its ceremonies and does not
kota men, women, and children from Chief Big Foot’s Mni-
always employ tobacco as a catalyst for prayer. Members of
coujou band were massacred. This event has served as a
both divisions pray to Jesus Christ, equate the consumption
marker for the end of the Ghost Dance movement and the
of the peyote button with the sacrament of Holy Commu-
Plains Indian wars. However, Native American scholars ac-
nion, and espouse basic tenets of Christian churches in their
knowledge that the principles behind the Ghost Dance
prayers and songs. If all members attending a meeting are
movement continue to be evidenced today in Native com-
from the same tribe, it is likely that one Native language will
munities through the recognition of the importance of the
be used. If members from several tribes gather together, often
past, assessments of current conditions in Indian communi-
English is used, and the songs are sung in a variety of Native
ties, personal commitments to taking action against existing
languages, many in Diné (Navajo) and Lakota. The content
conditions, and visions of a better life in the future. Further-
and form of meetings are decided by “the peyote roadman,”
more, some Native scholars believe that the prayers of the
and despite variations, there are some features, customs, and
Ghost Dancers are coming true today because the white man
practices that are common to all.
is leaving the Great Plains and the buffalo are coming back.
Peyote meetings are held on Saturday nights, usually
In this, the buffalo are considered to be an agent in the resto-
from sundown to sunup on Sunday. They take place in tradi-
ration of their way of life.
tionally shaped tipis made from canvas, which are conscien-
The Native American Church. An intertribal religion
tiously erected for the occasion and dismantled after a meet-
established well over 7,000 years ago that spread across the
ing is concluded. To insure the proper attitude of respect,
Plains at the turn of the twentieth century is the Native
great care and attention is paid to all details including bead-
American Church, also known as the “Peyote Road.” Long
work, paintings, and the creation of the altar. The doorway
before Columbus arrived in the New World, the Native peo-
of the tipi faces east, and in the center of the tipi a fireplace
ples of Mexico were using a plant from the cactus family in
is built, behind which is a crescent-shaped earthen altar. On
their religious ceremonies. The Aztecs called it peyotl, a term
top of the altar is placed a large peyote button called Father,
that refers to a number of plants with elements that produce
or Chief, Peyote. Between the fire and the altar is another
hallucinatory sensations when ingested in a green or dry state
crescent made from ashes. Between the fireplace and the
or in a tea. The Huichols of Mexico established a complex
doorway of the tipi are placed food and water that later will
cultural life in relation to the use of peyote that includes a
be ceremonially consumed.
long history, dating back to before 200 CE, of pilgrimages to
The principal leaders of the meeting are assigned special
gather peyote and care for the peyote fields. They believe
seats inside the tipi. The peyote “roadman,” or “road chief,”
peyote to be the heart, soul, and memory of the Creator,
sits directly opposite the doorway, in what is for most Plains
given to them so that they could learn about relationships
tribes the traditional seat of honor. To his left sits the cedar
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE PLAINS
chief, and next to the doorway sits the fire boy. To the right
mony. This is sung four times, and when he finishes, each
of the roadman sits the drum chief, the keeper of the special
member in turn eats some of the peyote buttons and sings
drum used in the ceremony. The drum chief is entrusted
four songs. The man to the right of the singer plays the drum
with keeping a commercially made three-legged brass kettle
while the singer shakes the gourd rattle. In this manner the
over which he stretches a hide. The kettle is partially filled
ritual of eating and singing progresses around the tipi clock-
with water to regulate the tone, and the hide is tied to the
wise. Concurrent with the visionary experience, during
kettle by a rope in such a manner that when the tying is com-
meetings there is a feeling of closeness with God. The pray-
plete the rope forms an outline of a six-pointed star, called
ing, eating of peyote, and singing continue until midnight,
the “morning star,” on the underside of the drum. Each per-
when the fire boy informs the peyote roadman of the time
son has his own drumstick, usually carved out of the same
and leaves the tipi to get a bucket of water. He returns with
wood as the staff and gourd handle also used in the ceremo-
the water for the roadman, who dips a feather into the bucket
ny. The rest of the congregation is interspersed between the
and splashes water on the people. After smoking and praying,
ritual leaders around the perimeter of the tipi. If a Bible is
the water is passed around to the members so that each may
used it is placed between the earth altar and the roadman.
drink. During this part of the meeting another standard song
is sung. After the water drinking, the bucket is removed and
Each member has their own ritual belongings that are
the singing and drumming continue.
stored in a “feather box,” typically rectangular and made of
wood and often decorated with inlaid silver or with painted
Before each major segment of the meeting, the cedar
designs, including representations of the crescent moon, the
chief burns incense and the members purify themselves and
tipi, a stylized version of a water turkey (Anhinga anhinga),
their belongings in the smoke. The ceremony lasts until
a star, and utensils used in the ceremony. The box usually
dawn, when the morning-water woman is called into the
contains a “loose fan,” so called because the feathers are not
lodge bearing another bucket of water. She is usually a rela-
set rigidly into the handle; a large Father Peyote; a staff—
tive of the peyote chief, who now sings the dawn song. The
constructed in three sections from a rare wood such as ebony
roadman smokes and prays and may doctor those who are
(in Christian-influenced meetings this is often called the
ill or pray for the welfare of the people. After the ceremonial
“staff of life”)—and sometimes a gourd rattle; and an arrow
water drinking, the woman retrieves the bucket and leaves
with a blunt head; all (except for the peyote itself) are sym-
the tipi. The peyote chief then sings the “quittin’ song” while
bols of peace. Most peyotists wear a blanket made of red and
the morning-water woman prepares the traditional breakfast
blue material, usually a copy of old-time wool cloth received
consisting of water, corn, fruit, and meat.
from traders. The red is symbolic of day, the blue of night.
Many missionaries frown on participation and member-
Peyote meetings are generally held to pray for the wel-
ship in the Native American Church, despite its Christian
fare of the people. They also may be conducted for special
aspects. Yet, it has become increasingly popular among many
purposes such as curing ceremonies, birthday celebrations,
tribes, currently having approximately 300,000 members. In
funerals, or memorial services, or when people leave the com-
1965 the Federal Drug Administration classified peyote as
munity to travel great distances or return from the armed ser-
a controlled substance, and there has been a great deal of con-
vices. Someone wishing to initiate and participate in the cere-
troversy over Indians’ use of the plant in their religious meet-
mony formally asks for a meeting to be conducted and offers
ings. Yet neither the legal issues nor the implication of im-
tobacco to a roadman. When a meeting is scheduled, partici-
morality on the part of whites has prevented the Native
pants arrive at the home of the sponsor, who provides all the
American Church from becoming an important religious
peyote buttons for consumption during the meeting, as well
movement in the United States and Canada. The American
as the food that will be shared by the participants at the con-
Indian Religious Freedom Act (1978) guaranteed protection
clusion of the ceremony. At dusk the roadman asks all who
of religious rights for Native Americans, including the right
wish to pray for a good life for their families and others to
to use peyote. However, church members were still liable to
follow him into the tipi. The roadman places Father Peyote
prosecution for possession. It was not until the Religious
upon the altar and the cedar chief sprinkles needles on the
Freedom Restoration Act (1993) and, a U.S. Supreme Court
fire. Often, cigarettes made from cornhusks and tobacco are
ruling regarding the transportatin of peyote in 1994 (see
rolled and passed around the circle of participants. When the
Smith and Snake) that members of the Native American
ritual smoking has ended, the ashes of the cigarettes are col-
Church were guaranteed the right to both use peyote during
lected and placed near the altar. Sage is passed around and
ceremonies and transport it from the gathering fields across
each member rubs sage on his hands, arms, and face, or
state lines.
chews pieces of it. Next the peyote buttons are passed around
A
and each member takes four of them. At this point the sing-
DDITIONAL PHILOSOPHY. Ideas of the sacred, as well as
ing begins.
proscriptions against what is forbidden or profane, are
unique to each nation and community. Many Native peoples
The peyote chief takes some sage, the staff, and the
describe their histories and the contexts of their ceremonies
gourd rattle and tells the drum chief to begin. As the drum
as particular to time and place and originating from specific
resounds, the peyote chief sings the opening song of the cere-
events or through the mentorship of a prophet or holy per-
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE PLAINS
6703
son, someone who brings the ceremonies to the people for
The hereafter. A belief that each person has more than
their continued well-being. Both states, the sacred and pro-
one “spirit,” often equated with the Christian notion of
fane, may be changed through the intercession of the spirits
“soul”—one that inheres in the living until death, another
and the mediation of prayer, song, and dance to strengthen
that corresponds to the notion of a ghost, as well as to other
the community by contact with the spirits. Aspects of the sa-
concepts—is common among Plains peoples. When some-
cred and profane can be changed through this intercession.
one dies, they travel along the path of the dead, associated
The idea of the holy is often expressed in Native terms such
with the Milky Way, toward their final destination located
as Wakan (Lakota), Algonquian variants of Manitu, Xube
in the Southern Hemisphere. Death is respected as part of
(Ponca), Wakonda (Omaha), and Puha (Comanche). All ani-
the path of life, and throughout one’s life there is meaning,
mate and inanimate objects serve as evidence of the sacred.
purpose, and responsibility. Mourners may stay near a rela-
The rituals employed to transform persons or objects from
tive’s body for several days after death, and during funeral
a profane state to a sacred one have frequently, but errone-
proceedings the deceased as well as the mourners are ad-
ously, been called “medicine,” or “making medicine”; like-
dressed. Women and men may show respect for those who
wise, the source of a medicine man’s personal power is kept
have died by cutting their hair short or by acts of physical
in a “medicine bundle.” Medicine, however, is a term en-
sacrifice that may include an attitude of mourning for a peri-
compassing sacred power in all its revelations.
od of time. It also is customary for relatives to give away all
of the deceased’s belongings. The Lakota mourn their dead
The supernatural. In each Native language, power and
for one year, sometimes through a special ceremony called
sacredness are distinguished from each other. Certain En-
Ghost Keeping in which a close relative keeps a lock of the
glish-language renderings of Native terms, such as Great
deceased’s hair in a special bundle for one year. Each day dur-
Mystery and Great Spirit, seem to refer to a single creator or
ing the year, the ghost (that is, the deceased’s spirit) is fed
prime mover, and this led Christians to falsely ascribe to Na-
by the relative keeping the ghost. At the end of the year a
tive Americans a belief in a monotheistic god prior to Euro-
farewell ceremony is held on the ghost’s behalf, relatives as-
pean contact. However, there is no empirical evidence for
semble for the last time, and the spirit is freed.
this belief, and today terms such as Supreme Being or Mysteri-
ous Being
are usually acknowledged as designating the totality
Belief in spirits is common among Plains Indians, and
of all supernatural beings and powers, as well as “a Power”
it is accepted that spirits are capable of advising humans
greater than the individual. Various terms in Native lan-
about the welfare of the tribe. Medicine men may ask the ad-
guages reference the idea of the “great holy,” including
vice of spirits on how to cure people, and spirits may predict
Behä’tixtch, “the Leader of All” (Gros Ventre); Wakantanka,
certain events in the lives of the living. Spirits also are capable
most often translated as “Great Mystery” or “Great Spirit”
of finding lost or stolen articles, and in some cases of taking
(Lakota); and Mahópini, “inexplicable power” (Mandan).
another life. It is commonly believed that when a person dies,
Often symbols are used to designate important spirits associ-
the spirit may attempt to entice a close relative to join it in
ated with star phenomena, and the Great Mystery may be
death. Spirits herald their presence in numerous ways, and
addressed as the Sun or Morning Star, or as a terrestrial
some believe that the sound of a baby crying outside in the
counterpart, Mother Earth. These references are significant
night, or of a wolf howling or rooster crowing, means a spirit
since Plains peoples are avid and accurate astronomers and
is calling someone to die. Family members may fire guns to
geographers who carefully note the cyclic nature of the stars
frighten away the spirit, or medicine men may burn incense
with an aroma that is displeasing to spirits.
and planets.
Creation stories. Plains peoples have developed com-
Often, prohibitions associated with intercourse, men-
prehensive philosophies, religious systems, and sacred ways
struation, and food—prominent on the Plains as in a num-
based on oral tradition and knowledge. Their origin or cre-
ber of traditions and cultures—have been misinterpreted and
ation stories express complex truths about the histories of
misconstrued. For example, previously in the anthropologi-
Native peoples, and the stories are used to educate children
cal literature, restrictions on menstruating women were in-
and to document the history of each nation.
terpreted as degrading toward women. It is more accurate,
however, to see women’s isolation and separation as related
Among Plains nations, the Pawnee provide an example
to issues of power and access to power. Women are seen as
of religious innovation, having established a comprehensive
powerful particularly during times of fertility because of their
religious philosophy. Pawnee creation stories describe the
ability to create life. (From the time a woman begins to men-
creation of the world; the origin of animals, humans, and all
struate she is seen as having the power to create life, regard-
other living things; and the power of the spirits. The Pawnee
less of the time of her specific cycle.) Men protect their
creation story tells of Tirawa, the Supreme Being, who was
power by not associating with women during this time in a
married to the “Vault of Heaven.” Purely spiritual beings
woman’s cycle, and rather than originating in a view of men-
with no physical shape, these two reigned somewhere in the
struation as “taboo,” the proscriptions associated with avoid-
heavens beyond the clouds. Tirawa sent his commands to
ance of menstruating women reflect reverence for power in-
humans through a number of spirits and messengers who
herent in women and the sacred nature of life.
manifested themselves to the Pawnees. Tcuperika (Evening
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE PLAINS
Star) is personified as a young maiden and is keeper of a gar-
ferred to in English as the Cheyenne. The Cheyenne are
den in the West, the source of all food. She has four assis-
closely related to “Our Own Kind of People,” known as the
tants, Wind, Cloud, Lightning, and Thunder, and is married
Arapaho, and the creation story of both groups is closely
to Oprikata (Morning Star), a strong warrior. From
guarded and considered sacred. The Cheyenne believe that
Tcuperika and Oprikata, the first human on earth was born.
long ago Maiyun, the Supreme Being, gave four sacred (med-
Other spirits include the four directions, the northeast,
icine) arrows to their prophet, Sweet Medicine, in a cave lo-
southeast, southwest, and northwest, and the three spirits of
cated in the Black Hills of South Dakota. When Sweet Medi-
the north: “North Star,” chief of all stars; “North Wind,”
cine gave the arrows to the People, one person was appointed
who gave the buffalo to humans; and Hikus (Breath), who
Keeper of the Sacred Arrows. In 1833, according to Chey-
gave life itself to the People. “Sun” and “Moon” were mar-
enne histories, the Pawnee captured the Sacred Arrows and,
ried and produced the second person on earth, whose mar-
as a result, difficulties befell the People. Although two of the
riage to the offspring of “Morning Star” and “Evening Star”
arrows were returned, two substitutes remain in place of two
gave rise to the human race. At the southern end of the Milky
other arrows that are still missing.
Way stood “Star of the South,” and the campfires of the de-
parted that received the spirits of the dead. Another star
Maiyun instructed Sweet Medicine in the proper care
named Skiritiuhuts (Fool Wolf) became offended at one of
of the arrows and the sacred ceremonies associated with
the councils of star people and in revenge introduced death
them. Sweet Medicine was given the responsibility of teach-
to the world of humans.
ing the Cheyenne about the powers of the arrows and their
importance for the survival of the People. Sweet Medicine
The Hako. Pawnee ceremonies include those dedicated
lived with the People for 446 years and provided them with
to “Thunder,” to “Morning Star,” and to “Evening Star,”
instructions on ways to live; among other things he coun-
practiced in connection to the planting and harvesting of
seled them to form a representative government in which
Mother Corn as well as for the general welfare of the people.
spiritual and medicine people are vested with the highest au-
The Hako is performed to acknowledge relationships and a
thority. He prophesized the coming of the white people, and
sense of responsibility between community members, and to
of the misfortune, illness, death, and devastation that would
ensure that community members enjoy long life, happiness,
befall the People with their arrival. Another prophecy de-
and peace. The Ku’rahus (elder, or “Man of Years”), who is
scribed a prophet the People would meet named So’taaeo’o
venerated for his knowledge and experience, conducts the
(Erect Horns), who later taught them the Sun Dance and
Hako. To him is entrusted the supervision of the songs and
other sacred traditions distinctive to the Cheyenne.
prayers, which must be performed precisely in the same order
each time. The Hako is usually performed in the spring when
The Sacred Arrow Renewal ceremony traditionally takes
birds are nesting or in the fall when they are flocking. Per-
four days to perform and occurs every other year. After the
formers pray for the life, strength, and growth of the people.
site has been chosen by a group of individuals (usually men
held in high esteem), a special lodge is prepared on the first
Those taking part in the ceremony are divided into two
day. New poles are cut and the lodge covering is borrowed
groups: the fathers who sponsor the ceremony and the chil-
from families of good reputation. Inside the lodge the medi-
dren who receive the focused intentions, prayers, and gifts
cine people of the tribe sit on beds of sage. As part of the
from the fathers. The head of the fathers’ group, called Fa-
preparations, each Cheyenne family provides a special count-
ther, is responsible for employing the Ku’rahus. The head of
ing stick to the leader of the ceremony that symbolically rep-
the children’s group, called Son, acts on behalf of the other
resents each member of the tribe. An individual pledges to
children. The most important objects used in the Hako are
sponsor a Sacred Arrow Renewal ceremony, and the arrows
the sacred feathered wands resembling pipe stems without
are unwrapped and displayed. The man making the pledge
the bowls attached. In the past the ceremony took three days
does so to fulfill a vow. Although only one person makes the
and three nights, during which time twenty-seven rituals
pledge, the ceremony is given on behalf of all Cheyenne, to
were performed, each ritual and song unveiling sacred histo-
protect against famine and annihilation and to ensure a long
ry and stories and cementing the relationships of fathers and
and prosperous life for all.
children. At the end of the ceremony the wands are waved
over the children, sealing the bond between fathers and chil-
On the second day the sacred arrows are obtained from
dren. Most of the ritual objects are discarded, with the excep-
the keeper and the bundle is opened and examined. If the
tion of the feathered wands, which are given to one of the
flight feathers of the arrows are in any way damaged, a man
children for keeping. At a later date the children assume the
known for his bravery is chosen to replace the feathers. On
fathers’ role and offer prayers to another group of children,
the third day the arrows are renewed and each of the count-
thus perpetuating the tradition and solidarity of the Pawnee.
ing sticks is blessed on behalf of all the families in the tribe.
The children may also take the wands to other tribes as an
On the last day the arrows are exhibited to the male members
offering of peace.
of the tribe. The Cheyenne say that it is difficult to look di-
rectly at the arrows because they give off a blinding light. To
Sacred Arrow Renewal. The Sacred Arrow Renewal
conclude the ceremony, the medicine people make predic-
ceremony is an important one for the “People Like Us,” re-
tions about the future of the People. With the conclusion of
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE NORTHWEST COAST [FIRST EDITION]
6705
a sweat lodge ceremony, the Sacred Arrow Renewal ritual is
Bureau of Ethnology Annual Report 14, pt. 2 (1896): 641–
officially over, and the Cheyenne symbolically began life
1136. Mooney interviewed participants of the Ghost Dance
anew.
at the time it was being performed. The book provides com-
parative materials on the Arapaho, Caddo, Cheyenne, Co-
SEE ALSO Blackfeet Religious Traditions; Ghost Dance; La-
manche, Kiowa, Kiowa Apache, and Lakota, and on some
kota Religious Traditions; Sun Dance; Tobacco; Wovoka.
non-Plains tribes.
Powers, William K. Indians of the Northern Plains. New York,
B
1969. A survey of the principal tribes of the northern Plains
IBLIOGRAPHY
Beck, Peggy V., Anna Lee Walters, and Nia Francisco. The Sacred:
with a separate chapter on religion.
Ways of Knowledge, Sources of Life. Tsaile, Ariz., 1977. Good
Powers, William K. Indians of the Southern Plains. New York,
overview reference and study of concepts and ways for think-
1971. A survey of the principal tribes of the southern Plains
ing about the traditional practices, beliefs, and sacred ways
with separate chapters on traditional religion and on the Na-
of Native North America.
tive American Church.
Bowers, Alfred W. Mandan Social and Ceremonial Organization.
Powers, William K. Yuwipi: Vision and Experience in Oglala Ritu-
Chicago, 1950. This book, written by a ethnographer, in-
al. Lincoln, Neb., 1982. A translation of an entire shamanic
cludes a detailed description of the Okipa, the Mandan Sun
curing ceremony conducted on the Pine Ridge reservation in
Dance.
1966, showing the relationship among Yuwipi, the vision
Catlin, George. O-kee-pa: A Religious Ceremony and Other Customs
quest, and the sweat lodge ceremony.
of the Mandan. Rev. ed. Edited and with preface by John C.
Ryan, Allan J. The Trickster Shift: Humour and Irony in Contempo-
Ewers. New Haven, Conn., 1967. This edition of Catlin’s
rary Native Art. Seattle, Wash., 1999. Excellent text for expli-
1867 work contains the controversial “Folium Reservatum,”
cating the trickster’s cultural importance, particularly as a
not included in the original edition because of its discussion
humorous spirit reflective of Native identity.
of sexual symbolism in the ceremony.
Silver, Shirley, and Wick R. Miller. American Indian Languages:
Fletcher, Alice C., and Francis La Flesche. The Omaha Tribe.
Cultural and Social Contexts. Tucson, Ariz., 1997. Compre-
Washington, D.C., 1911; reprint, Lincoln, Nebr., 1972. In-
hensive survey of indigenous languages in the Americas that
cludes important information on Omaha religion compiled
introduces readers to the diversity of Native languages.
by one of the earliest female ethnographers in collaboration
Smith, Huston, and Reuben Snake, eds. One Nation under God:
with a member of the Omaha tribe.
The Triumph of the Native American Church. Santa Fe, N.
Grinnell, George Bird. The Cheyenne Indians: Their History and
Mex., 1996. Excellent source of information on the Native
Ways of Life. 2 vols. New Haven, Conn., 1923; reprint, Lin-
American Church and U.S. government actions and court
coln, Nebr., 1972. Volume 2 contains information on the
decisions regarding it.
medicine lodge, Sweet Medicine, and the Massaum ceremo-
Underhill, Ruth M. Red Man’s Religion: Beliefs and Practices of the
ny, and is a classic cultural history of the Cheyenne.
Indians North of Mexico. Chicago, 1965. A classic survey of
Hultkrantz, A˚ke. Religions of the American Indians. Translated by
American Indian religions and ethnology. The language is
Monica Setterwall. Los Angeles, 1979. Written by a leading
somewhat dated but the book nonetheless provides a wealth
historian of comparative religions who specializes in Ameri-
of information.
can Indian religion. It contains a great deal of comparative
Weaver, Jace, ed. Native American Religious Identity: Unforgotten
material on Plains Indians.
Gods. Maryknoll, N.Y., 1998. Well-edited volume of topics
Hinton, Leanne. Flutes of Fire: Essays on California Indian Lan-
of interest in the discussion of Native religious identity.
guages. Berkeley, Calif., 1994. Exceptional text from a fore-
White, Phillip M. Peyotism and the Native American Church: An
most scholar of California Native languages, with informa-
Annotated Bibliography. Westport, Conn., 2000. Excellent
tion on language families and histories and on efforts to keep
compilation of references concerning the Native American
various languages alive.
Church.
Irwin, Lee. The Dream Seekers: Native American Visionary Tradi-
Wood, W. Raymond, and Margot Liberty, eds. Anthropology on
tions of the Great Plains. Norman, Okla., 1994. The most
the Great Plains. Lincoln, Neb., 1980. Anthropological re-
comprehensive and scholarly treatment of an important sub-
search on Plains Indians with separate chapters on the Sun
ject, that reaches into the substance of visionary experiences.
Dance, the Ghost Dance, and the Native American Church.
Lowie, Robert H. The Crow Indians. New York, 1935; reprint,
WILLIAM K. POWERS (1987)
1956. The religious life of the Crow Indians is related to
KATHLEEN J. MARTIN (2005)
their workaday world in one of the classics of anthropology.
Mann, Henrietta. Cheyenne-Arapaho Education, 1871–1892.
Niwot, Colo., 1997. Significant text documenting the edu-
cational history of Cheyenne and Arapaho peoples and their
NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF
relationship with the U.S. educational system during this
THE NORTHWEST COAST [FIRST EDITION]
time period.
The peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North Ameri-
Mooney, James. The Ghost Dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak
ca live along a narrow strip of land that extends from the
of 1890. Introduction by Anthony F. C. Wallace. Chicago,
mouth of the Columbia River north to Yakutat Bay in Alas-
1965. Abridgement of study originally published in the U.S.
ka. Cut off, for the most part, from the tribes around them
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE NORTHWEST COAST [FIRST EDITION]
by the rugged, impenetrably forested mountains that rise
SOCIAL ORGANIZATION. The basic principles of Northwest
from the sea, and relatively isolated from one another by the
Coast social organization have been the object of much theo-
scarcity of habitable beach sites, they developed a variety of
retical controversy. Traditional tribal appellations may lump
distinct but intertwined local traditions.
together groups with similar languages but very different cus-
toms, and vice versa. Essentially the basic unit of social and
For the sake of convenience, the Northwest Coast cul-
political organization was the independent extended local
ture area has been divided into three subareas: the northern
family, defined by some degree of lineal descent and by core-
area is inhabited by the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian peo-
sidence in a single communal household in a single winter
ples; the central by the Bella Coola, Nootka, and Kwakiutl
ceremonial village. (Winter was the season in which virtually
groups; and the southern by the Coast Salish and Chinookan
all ceremonies were held.) Group membership was defined
tribes of the Washington and Oregon coasts. While the cul-
less by kinship than by concerted economic and ceremonial
tures within each sub-area share some basic traits that distin-
activity, though in the northern subarea suprafamilial kin
guished them from one another, the bewildering variety of
groups played a role in setting the boundaries of a group. The
linguistic, social, political, and ideological variations within
head of each household was its political and spiritual leader,
each area implied numerous migrations, acculutrations, and
the inheritor and custodian of the house’s aristocratic titles,
cultural borrowings that make any retrospective synthesis of
and its ambassador to both human and supernatural worlds.
Northwest Coast culture a formidable task.
All aristocratic titles in each area were ranked hierarchically
Adding complexity are the effects of contact with white
for all ceremonial activities. Whether or not the hierarchical
culture, which did not begin until the late eighteenth centu-
system created a class structure as well as a rank structure is
ry. The vast wealth introduced into the area by the sea-otter
a controversial theoretical question. While there was some
fur trade altered the balance of wealth and power that had
social mobility, social position was primarily ascribed and in-
existed in the aboriginal period. During the nineteenth cen-
herited. However, all succession to rank had to be validated
tury (usually referred to as the “historical” period, and the
by the giving of a potlatch at which the heir recounted or
time frame for this essay) the peoples of the Northwest Coast
reenacted in dance drama the family myths that proved the
underwent dramatic social change, including cultural efflo-
legitimacy of his claim; the potlatch also proved his personal
rescence, drastic population decline, wholesale abandonment
power and spiritual worthiness by the heir’s distribution of
of ancestral villages, the formation of new composite villages,
wealth to other chiefs. The potlatch was a major mechanism
increased trade, and intermarriage between all of which con-
for promoting group solidarity, organizing labor, and main-
tributed to the tribes, diffussion of religious traditions at a
taining the structure of the hierarchical system. As one goes
vastly accelerated rate. The indigenous peoples eventually,
north within the area, hierarchical systems seem to increase
came under heavy governmental and missionary pressure to
in importance and are firmly embedded in a religious matrix.
abandon all native customs.
The peoples of the southern subarea seemed to put little em-
phasis on hierarchy and exhibited a social structure and reli-
MATERIAL CULTURE. The lives of the Northwest Coast Indi-
gious ideology with more similarities to peoples of the Pla-
ans were entirely oriented toward the sea, on whose bounty
teau and California areas than to the coastal peoples to their
they depended. The staple food of the area was salmon; varie-
north.
ties of salmon were smoked and stockpiled in immense quan-
BELIEF AND RITUAL. There was little synthesis of religious
tities. However, many other types of fish, sea mammals, large
ideas and institutions on the Northwest Coast. Rituals and
land mammals, water birds, shellfish, and varieties of wild
myths developed into a multiplicity of local traditions that
plants were also collected. Though food was plentiful, the
directly integrated local history and geographical features
rugged topography of the land limited access to food-
with the more universal elements of creation. Different fami-
collecting sites. Access to these sites was also controlled by
lies and different individuals within families might have con-
an oligarchy of hereditary nobles (called “chiefs”) who main-
flicting accounts of family history and its mythic events, giv-
tained their power primarily through ritual performances
ing the religious traditions an atomistic quality that
that legitimized their claims.
permitted a continual restructuring of ceremonies and rene-
gotiating of meanings. However, much of the cognitive con-
Northwest Coast technology was based on a complex of
flict that might arise from such discrepancies was mitigated
wood and animal products. Wood and tree bark, especially
by the fact that although there was an extraordinary amount
from cedars, were the fundamental materials and were used
of public ceremony most rituals were performed in secret and
ubiquitously. Humans lived in houses, traveled in canoes,
were known only to the rankholder and his heir.
caught fish with hooks, trapped salmon in weirs, stored their
belongings and were themselves interred in boxes, and wore
Like the religious traditions of other native North
clothing and ceremonial costumes all made from wood prod-
American peoples, the beliefs of the Northwest Coast Indians
ucts. A system of symbolic correspondences between objects
focused on the critical relationship of hunter to prey and on
underlay the entire ceremonial system. Skins, flesh, and
the set of moral principles that permitted that relationship
bones from animals were also used and played a critical sym-
to continue. Humans were thought to be essentially inferior
bolic role in religious activities.
to the rest of the world’s inhabitants and were dependent on
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE NORTHWEST COAST [FIRST EDITION]
6707
other creatures’ good will for survival. Humans were impor-
ous creatures of the universe. The world was filled with a
tant as mediators between different spirit realms because su-
seemingly endless variety of raptorial creatures who feed on
pernatural beings had granted them gifts of knowledge and
human flesh and souls just as humans feed on salmon flesh.
insight about how the world operates and how they fit into
Man-eating birds and other animals, ogres, dwarves, giants,
the world. The features unique to Northwest Coast religion
and monsters were believed to prey upon humans as raptorial
centered on the private possession and inherited control of
birds prey upon mice (a frequent image in Northwest Coast
the religious institutions by titled aristocrats. Access to the
myths).
supernatural beings (called “spirits” by anthropologists be-
Animals, which were seen as the material representa-
cause of their essential rather than corporeal nature) and their
tions of spiritual beings, sacrificed themselves for the benefit
power was strictly under the control of chiefs, as was access
of human survival because humans had agreed to sacrifice
to food.
themselves for the benefit of the spirits. The metaphors of
Spirits. The origin of all power—both the power to
Northwest Coast ritual continually repeat the image of the
control and, more importantly, the power to become
responsibility of humans to support the spirit world. Hu-
aware—was in the spirit world, and the actions of spirit
mans and spirits, living off each other’s dead, were inter-
power, which gave form and purpose to everything, were vis-
twined in a reincarnational web. By eating the substance of
ible everywhere. All objects, ideas, forces, and beings were
each other’s bodies, they freed the souls and permitted their
believed to have inherent power that could be released and
reincarnation. If any link in the ritual chain was lost, the en-
directed into human affairs, if correctly integrated into ritual
tire system of reincarnation broke down.
action. The world was seen as filled with spirit power that
Food. Food was thus a sacramental substance, and
could be reified in human rituals. Spirits, the personified cat-
meals were inherently ceremonial occasions. Northwest
egories of power, were less characters than ineffable forces.
Coast religosity placed a heavy emphasis on the control of
As a salmon could be brought into the human world when
food-related behavior, on the denial of hunger (which was
caught in a properly constructed net, so could spirit power
thought to be a polluting desire), and on the ritual distribu-
be brought into the human world when caught in a net of
tion of food and other material substances. The rules, taboos,
properly constructed ritual action. Humans could never per-
and rituals associated with food are ubiquitous and enor-
ceive the true nature of spirits, but they could see that the
mous in number.
costumes—created as coverings for the spirits—became ani-
mated when the spirits covered themselves with them and
Of all the ceremonies directed toward the propitiation
danced.
of the animals on which humans feed, those known collec-
tively as the first-salmon ceremonies were the most wide-
An example may better explicate the idea of spirits as
spread. These were sets of rituals performed every year in
essences: the sisiutl, visible to humans in its manifestation as
each area over the first part of the salmon catch of each spe-
a huge double-headed serpent, was one of the most powerful
cies. Similar ceremonies existed for other species as well. The
spirits in Kwakiutl ceremony. It was the reification of all the
fish were addressed as if they were chiefs of high rank and
inherent qualities and power of that which is wet and fluid—
were killed, prepared, and served in a ceremonious manner.
ocean, rain, blood, tears, and so on—and by extension all
Their released souls returned to the land of their compatriots
that is uncontainable and transitory and all that is insignifi-
to inform them of the proper treatment that they had been
cant in small quantities, life-sustaining in proper amounts,
accorded. Like most other Northwest Coast rituals, these cer-
and dangerous in excess. The sisiutl thus provides a metaphor
emonies were the property of individual chiefs, who per-
for a key ideological tenet of Kwakiutl thought: that the
formed them for the benefit of all of the people. All hunting
world is in motion and can be stopped (and thus perceived
was imbued with ceremony, since success in the hunt was
as a material entity) only temporarily; that human life, ritual,
strictly a matter of the proper ritual relationship to the hunt-
understanding, wealth, and power will come to pass but will
ed animal. The ceremonies associated with hunting were an
flow away like water. The sisiutl was only one among hun-
important part of a family’s inheritance.
dreds of creatures depicted in Northwest Coast myth and rit-
ual—each a vision, a realization, of the processual nature of
Guardian spirits. In theory, a person could obtain a
the universe, and each a metaphorical statement of a funda-
guardian spirit by dedication to a regimen of self-
mental philosophical idea.
mortification, abstinence, fasting, prayer, and ritual bathing.
However, the most powerful contracts with the spirits were
The peoples of the Northwest Coast saw their world as
obtained in mythic times through the group’s ancestors, and
one in which myriad personified forces were at work, com-
these contracts formed the basis of the rank system. Every
peting for a limited supply of food and souls. Every human,
ranked position was actually an embodiment of a spiritual
every group, every species, and every spirit-being had its own
contract—a covenant between the rankholder and the spirit
needs, its own specialized niche in the food chain. All of their
world. The relationship between the ancestor and the spirit
conflicting demands and needs had to be balanced against
was the primary element of a family’s patrimony and was
one another, and this could be achieved only through ritual,
constantly reaffirmed in ritual. As the living representative
which was seen as a method of mediation between the vari-
of the ancestor, the rankholder acted as an intermediary to
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE NORTHWEST COAST [FIRST EDITION]
the spirits on secular occasions and as an impersonator or
ical intrusion of a foreign substance into the body or by the
embodiment of a spirit on sacred occasions.
wandering or the loss of the soul. When methods for reestab-
lishing one’s spiritual purity failed to alleviate the symptoms,
The relationships between particular aristocrats and par-
a curer (or “shaman”) was called in. A shaman cured an ill-
ticular spirits were manifested in a system of “crests,” which
ness by going into a trance during which his guardian spirits
were images of spirits that have become allied with individual
would fight with the soul of the disease or of the witch who
families. The right to depict the image of a spirit, or in some
had sent the disease. When the shaman came out of his
cases even to pronounce its name in public, was a fiercely
trance, he was able to display a small object that symbolically
guarded possession. All objects of spiritual importance were
represented the empty husk of the diseased spirit body. Sha-
decorated with images of a person’s guardian spirits. This
manic paraphernalia, like other ritual objects, were formed
gave the objects a name, an identity, and the ability to act
and moved so as to direct the spirit power in the proper ways
as a conduit through which spirit power could be directed.
to effect a cure. Shamanic performances were dramatic
While crest images acted on one level as emblems of a
events, with much stage illusion as well as singing, dancing,
group’s status, they were more than mere coats of arms—
and praying.
they were ritual objects of causal power. Most crest images
presented representations of transformation, a key idea in
Shamans acted as intermediaries between humans and
Northwest Coast thought, which expressed the interlocked
the forces of nature and the supernatural, and were thought
identities and destinies of humans and spirits. Through the
to be able to foretell the future, control the weather, bring
crest, the identity of the aristocrat was connected to that of
success in war or in hunting, communicate with other sha-
the spirit being, and through this connection the aristocrat’s
mans at a distance, and, most importantly, cure illnesses and
self expanded to a more cosmic identity. The widespread use
restore souls stolen by witches or maleficent spirits. The sha-
of crest objects was graphic proof of the extent to which reli-
man was believed both to control and to be inspired by the
gious ideas permeated the entire fabric of Northwest Coast
spirits with whom he was connected. Among the Tlingit,
culture.
shamanic rituals were usually inherited, but among the cen-
In addition to having shared destinies, humans and spir-
tral tribes they were obtained through visions. Shamans had
its were interrelated in that all creatures were considered to
to undergo strict regimens if they were to retain their powers;
be human and to possess human souls. Each lived in its own
shamanism was a route to prestige but not to title, nor was
place in one of the levels of the universe, where it inhabited
it a lucrative profession. It was believed that the shaman re-
a house, performed ceremonies, and otherwise acted like a
ceived his calling involuntarily, but that, having been chosen,
human being. At the proper season, the spirits donned cos-
it was his responsibility to accept wholeheartedly the burdens
tumes and visited the world of humans, where they appeared
of his profession.
in their transformed identity. Similarly, humans who ap-
Witches. Northwest Coast Indian beliefs about sha-
peared to themselves as humans put on costumes and ap-
mans were complemented by their beliefs about witchcraft,
peared to the spirits as spirits.
an introduced concept. Witches were thought to be motivat-
With the exception of Frederica De Laguna’s account
ed by envy and jealousy, either conscious or unconscious,
of Tlingit culture (1972), Northwest Coast Indian ideas of
and there was no act, no matter how terrible, of which they
the self, its components, and its relationship to the spirits are
were thought incapable. Patterns of witchcraft among the
not well documented. It is clear that the soul was believed
Northwest Coast Indians were parallel to those of other
to have several material manifestations as well as several in-
North American groups: it seems likely that few if any people
corporeal components. A person was viewed as a combina-
practiced witchcraft, but accusations of witchcraft were an
tion of life forces and parts from different planes of existence,
important means of articulating rivalry and competition.
and therefore as having spiritual connections in many direc-
Among the central tribes, witches were generally thought to
tions. Whatever their component parts, souls were thought
be shamans from enemy tribes; among the northern groups,
to exist in only limited numbers, to undergo metempsycho-
where fear of witches was more prevalent, witches were
sis, to be transferred from one species to another, and to be
thought to belong to the same kin group as their victims.
reincarnated alternately in first a human and then either a
Witches were thought to be under the compulsion of a pos-
spirit or animal being. A human death freed a soul for an ani-
sessive spirit, from whose influence the witch could be freed
mal or spirit, and vice versa, linking humans, animals, and
by torture. Occasionally witches died under torture or were
spirits in a cycle of mutual dependency. Ideas about the soul
executed despite their confession. The best protection
and its nature seem to have been better codified among the
against witches was to maintain spiritual purity through fast-
Northern peoples, though this impression may be an artifact
ing and the correct performance of ceremonies. As long as
of the high quality of De Laguna’s ethnography.
the ceremonies were performed, the world existed in the
proper balance, and witches could not do harm.
Shamanism. Connections to the spirit world could be
made through inheritance or by acquiring, through a vision,
The causal principle underlying the ideas of the North-
the power to cure disease. All illnesses and death were consid-
west Coast Indians on the effectiveness of ritual lay in the
ered a sickness of the spirit that was caused either by the mag-
idea that under the proper analogical conditions, the pat-
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE NORTHWEST COAST [FIRST EDITION]
6709
terned motions or words of human beings have an inherent
the Northwest Coast mythology. However, not all North-
ability to coerce the spirits into parallel actions. Thus a
west Coast transformers are trickster figures: the Kwakiutl
human action could be magnified and intensified into a
culture hero is one of a set of rather solemn mythic beings.
power that alters the state of the world. Human beings were
conduits for supernatural power: although they possess no
Myths of origin. Every feature of the geographic, social,
powers themselves, humans could become the vehicles of su-
and ceremonial world had an origin myth that encapsulated
pernatural power if they observed the proper ritual actions.
it into the basic structure of power and ideology, and these
In creating analogies between themselves and the spirits, hu-
myths formed the basic material for Northwest Coast reli-
mans gained the ability to influence the actions of those more
gion and ceremony. No public ceremony occurred without
powerful than themselves.
the retelling—either in recital or a dance reenactment—of
the origin myths of the people involved, which is to say that
Creation. Supporting the social and ritual systems was
no ceremony took place without the reenergizing of the con-
an extensive and varied body of myths and tales (which, ex-
nection between humans and spirits. Clan and family myths
cept in the work of Claude Lévi-Strauss, have been little ana-
were integrated individually into the larger corpus of hero
lyzed). There were few myths about the creation of the world
mythology, so that every family and person of title was in
as such, since the world was seen as a place of innumerable
some specific way linked to the events and forces of the uni-
eternal forces and essences. Like other North American
verse. Myth is a depiction of the interaction of universal
groups, the Indians of the Northwest Coast were less inter-
forces, and the retelling of the myth reactivates and redirects
ested in how the world was created as material substance than
those forces.
in how it was made moral or how the inherent powers of the
universe could be controlled for the benefit of its inhabitants.
Northwest Coast rituals, like myths, developed into a
The creation of material phenomena—the sun and moon,
multiplicity of local traditions, resulting in the direct linking
human beings, animal species—is always secondary to the
of local history to the more cosmic elements of creation. Cer-
moral dilemmas presented in the myths and the resolution
emonies were always changing as new rituals were acquired
(or lack thereof) of those dilemmas. For example, though
through war, marriage, new visions, or the emigration of
there are no myths about the sun being created out of noth-
families. There was a constant renegotiation of the meanings
ing, there are many myths about the sun being placed in the
and structure of all rituals and stories, as traditions coalesced,
sky, in order to fulfill its proper role by enabling people to
melded, or broke apart; conflicting versions of stories were
see—reminding them of the continual motion and flux of
constantly being reworked.
the world and of the balance of light and darkness.
Winter ceremonials. Spirit power was an essential part
Transformers. Although there are few myths about a
of the success of any task; thus there was ceremony in all
creator spirit (and those possibly developed after contact
human endeavor. Even so, there was a clear division of the
with whites), there are cycles of myths about a transformer
year into secular (summer) and sacred (winter) seasons.
or trickster figure who through his actions places the forces
Large-scale ceremonial performances were given in the win-
of the world in balance. The most detailed and integral of
ter. These were most important among the Kwakiutl and
these is the Raven cycle found among the Tlingit (though
Nootka. Among the southern tribes there was a ceremony
each tribe had some form of trickster or transformer cycle,
of spirit-possession and occasional rituals of world renewal
not always associated with Raven). Raven is a creature of un-
similar to those of the peoples of northern California. Some
controllable desires and excesses, and in the act of trying to
scholars feel that the spirit-possession ceremony was more
satisfy his desires, he inadvertently creates moral order and
widespread until the beginning of the nineteenth century,
constraint. Incidental to each act of moral creation is the cre-
when cultural change promoted the rapid efflorescence and
ation of some physical attribute of the world—a mountain
diffusion of northern and central ceremonial forms, but the
or other geographical feature, or the color of a mallard’s head
evidence for such a historical change is contradictory.
or an ermine’s tail—that serves to remind people of the myth
and its moral import. Thus the world is made up of signs
The narrative structure of the Kwakiutl winter ceremo-
and images of mythic significance for those who know the
nials, like that of the family origin myths, was based on a
stories behind them.
simple set of images that were endlessly elaborated: a hero
cuts himself off from the material world of humans, seeks or
In general, the trickster cycles of the Northwest Coast
is kidnapped by spirits who take him to their home, learns
parallel those of other areas in their nature and social func-
the rituals of the spirits, obtains some of the spirits’ power,
tion, although imagistically the Northwest Coast trickster
and then brings the rituals back to the human world. He be-
stories more strongly emphasize the maintenance of the flow
comes frenzied as his frail human form attempts to contain
of wealth as representation of the correct motion of the uni-
the potency of the spirit power. During the ceremony the
verse. This image of flow—the release of wealth from its tem-
hero’s fellow humans gradually came to control the power
porary container, whether it be the material wealth of a chief
that threatened to destroy them, and it was they who
or the spiritual soul that is released from the body of a dead
“tamed” him. These rituals were performed in the most sen-
person when ravens begin to tear it apart—runs throughout
sationalistic fashion, with elaborate stage effects and illu-
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE NORTHWEST COAST [FIRST EDITION]
sions, masked performances, complicated props, and stun-
sentation of the intensity of the struggle or task that humans
ning displays of strength and athletic agility.
had to accept if the world were to be kept moral. The burden
of spiritual power demanded not a quiet acceptance but ener-
The winter ceremonials were complex and changing
getic activity, a ferocity for right action.
ceremonies. All performances were carefully integrated into
a larger dramatic structure with important ritual implica-
CONCLUSION. Although founded on the same basic philo-
tions, depending on the number and type of dances being
sophical principles as that of other native North American
given, the guests’ status, the time of the season, and a number
religious traditions, Northwest Coast religion developed
of other factors. Each type of dance, of which there were
those ideas into a distinct set of social and religious institu-
hundreds, was a metaphorical connection to the spiritual
tions that were adaptable to the changing fortunes and histo-
universe. Just as the world is made up of people separate but
interdependent, so were Northwest Coast rituals structured
ries of each village and its individual members. It was a sys-
so as to place individuals in a web of mutual reinforcement.
tem in which atomistic elements could be separated from
The agenda of dances was ordered so that each individual
their original relationships with each other and reformed in
dance would contribute to their combined effect. One dance
new combinations dealing in a powerful, cohesive, creative,
would act as contrast or catalyst for the next, giving added
and poetic way with the purposes and dilemmas of human
power to their combined performance. Feasts were carefully
existence.
interspersed so as to distribute, in the form of food and
wealth, the powers that had been brought into the human
Unfortunately, much of Northwest Coast culture was
world through the preceding dances.
irrevocably altered or destroyed in the course of the nine-
teenth and early twentieth centuries. All Northwest Coast re-
The rituals of the winter ceremonials were under the ju-
ligion was illegal in Canada from 1876 to 1951, though en-
risdiction of groups called “dance societies” or “secret socie-
forcement of applicable laws was uneven, and some
ties.” Membership in these groups was inherited and strictly
ceremonial life persisted. In the last several decades, there has
limited. A new member could be invested only upon the re-
been a new emphasis on the traditional rituals, but how
tirement of his predecessor, but there were many stages of
much they retain of their original character and the place
initiation and many years of preparation before complete ini-
they hold in the lives of the people today are questions that
tiation. Most of the ceremonies of the dance societies were
remain to be answered. As North American Indians and con-
performed away from public scrutiny, to maintain private
cerned scholars both reexamine the historical record to deter-
ownership of the rituals and to prevent the uninitiated from
mine the significance of the Northwest Coast for the present,
being harmed by the presence of immense spirit power. A
it can only be hoped that there will be new interpretations
small proportion of the ceremonies were performed only for
and understandings of what is unquestionably one of the
members of the dance society or for a small group of aristo-
most vibrant and fascinating of the world’s tribal ceremonial
crats, and a very few were performed for the entire village.
complex.
Yet even this small proportion of rituals went on for hours
every day over a period of four or five months. In essence,
then, the entire winter period was given over to ceremony—a
SEE ALSO Potlatch.
fact that belies the usual claim by anthropologists that the
peoples of the Northwest Coast were primarily interested in
BIBLIOGRAPHY
status.
Traditional trait-oriented surveys of Northwest Coast culture can
Of all the winter-ceremonial performances, the most fa-
be found in Philip Drucker’s Cultures of the North Pacific
mous and widely discussed is the Hamatsa dance, which the
Coast (New York, 1965) and in the excellently illustrated
Kwakiutl considered to be their most powerful ceremony.
People of the Totem by Norman Bancroft-Hunt, with photo-
The Hamatsa dance seems to best encapsulate the ethos of
graphs by Werner Forman (New York, 1979). No synthe-
Northwest Coast religious ideology. The hamatsa was a
sized scholarly accounts of Northwest Coast religion exist.
human who had been carried away by those supernatural
The best ethnographic accounts of the beliefs of specific
creatures who preyed on the flesh and substance of human
tribes are the many volumes by Franz Boas on the Kwakiutl,
beings; while living with these supernatural creatures in their
Philip Drucker’s The Northern and Central Nootkan Tribes
(Washington, D.C., 1951), and Frederica De Laguna’s
ceremonial house, the hamatsa took on their spiritual quali-
Under Mount Saint Elias (Washington, D.C., 1972). Irving
ties (especially their affinity with death and killing); and
Goldman’s The Mouth of Heaven (New York, 1975) and my
when he returned to the land of human beings, he was pos-
Feasting with Cannibals (Princeton, 1981) both reanalyze
sessed with the wild desire to eat human flesh. In a long series
Boas’s materials and emphasize the critical role of religious
of rites, the members of the tribe gradually tamed his wild-
thought in Kwakiutl life. Pamela Amoss’s Coast Salish Spirit
ness through a series of pledges to sacrifice their wealth and
Dancing (Seattle, 1978) is the best account of contemporary
(when they eventually died) their souls, to feed the spirits so
Northwest Coast religious activity.
that the world would remain in equilibrium. The violence
and energy with which the hamatsa acted was a potent repre-
STANLEY WALENS (1987)
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE NORTHWEST COAST [FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS]
6711
NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF
together these two pieces of legislation not only began to ad-
THE NORTHWEST COAST [FURTHER
dress the return of burial remains and sacred objects to Na-
CONSIDERATIONS]
tive American communities but also the protection of those
The principal legislative developments in the United States
communities’ religious practices. However, as Native Ameri-
are the passing of the American Indian Religious Freedom
can communities sought to claim their rights to religious
Act (AIRFA) of 1978 and the Native American Graves Pro-
practices and the return of burial remains and sacred objects,
tection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) of 1990. Taken to-
it became apparent that they faced much resistance. For ex-
gether the two pieces of legislation were intended to redress
ample, the right to use sacred landscapes for religious practice
past wrongs relative to the systematic eradication of Native
and observance was constantly challenged by logging or rec-
American religious practices. Despite their intention the two
reational interests. The lower courts frequently recognized
acts led to unexpected complexities and dilemmas. Canada
that specific Native American religious practice were protect-
has also responded to repatriation requests and is negotiating
ed by AIRFA, but all too often the higher courts would over-
with Aboriginal First Nations to determine the terms of self-
turn the lower courts’ rulings. Similarly, Native claims to
governance. The significance of these developments is in the
burial remains and sacred objects would often require media-
diverse ways that the varied Northwest Coast peoples have
tion over the definition of “sacred” and discussion of whether
approached the repatriation of their material and cultural
particular objects did or did not fit the definition. In the case
property. Underlying these efforts is the repatriation of the
of the Northwest, the Kennewick Man controversy in Wash-
sacred, be it objects and burial remains or intangible pro-
ington State has fueled contentious debate, most notably re-
perties such as religious practices and sacred or esoteric
volving around tensions between Native American religious
knowledge.
practices and the physical anthropological sciences. On the
northwest coast of Washington, an archaeological excavation
The main body of this article succinctly sketches out the
begun in 1970 and completed in 1981 produced yet another
complexity of the Northwest Coast cultural phenomenon.
controversy regarding repatriation efforts. The Makah site of
To do so, it divides its topics by linking them to themes such
Ozette has revealed a well-preserved Makah village dated to
as kinship, social organization, ceremonies, and so on. The
around the 1490s. Archaeologists have been collaborating
process of repatriation does the opposite. Through the vari-
with the Makahs in the excavation project. But when the
ous repatriation claims the objects that are being repatriated
Makahs attempted to repatriate objects in museum holdings
are not merely returning to their respective communities.
the process became more difficult. NAGPRA did not recog-
They are also being reintegrated into their particular world-
nize individual ownership of sacred objects, whereas the
views. For example, the Kwakiutls were forced to relinquish
Makahs traditionally regarded many of the sacred objects as
their potlatch regalia when their potlatch was raided by Ca-
individually owned. As NAGPRA was being negotiated, no
nadian authorities in December of 1921. In the intervening
one had thought to consult the Makah Nation. Despite this
years the Kwakiutl communities have endured the loss of
oversight, the Makah people are repatriating many sacred ob-
their cultural property as well continual challenges to their
jects. Through traditional ceremonies these objects have
lifeways. When they were able to repatriate the potlatch rega-
been reintegrated into personal and social Makah networks.
lia, not only was the material returned, but prestige was re-
turned to the community as well. This is clearly expressed
Farther to the north in Alaska, the Tlingits are engaged
in their new Kwakwaka’wakw First Nation museum. Simi-
in their own repatriation projects. As with the above exam-
larly, the Haidas have been repatriating sacred objects and
ples, the properties being repatriated are not only tangible
burial remains. When smallpox epidemics decimated the
properties (material objects) but also intangible properties,
Haida population in the early nineteenth century, collectors
such as language, clan totems, stories, and law. One such
“acquired” much treasured material from the Haida commu-
project involves the recognition of the sacred aspects of the
nities. Today, the Haidas are actively pursuing the repatria-
landscape of the Tlingit region. This landscape is not only
tion of those objects. As in the Kwakwaka’wakw case, the
a resource to be exploited for subsistence but is also a sacred
Haidas are also celebrating through traditional ceremonies
place. It is through the sacred that the resources are there for
the return of not only the objects but also the honor, pres-
the peoples’ benefit. But the resources must be honored and
tige, and spirituality inherent in the objects. In both cases,
protected. The landscape is a sacred map, to which Tlingit
as happened with many other Northwest Coast peoples, the
clan names, histories, and stories are tied. Taken together the
collected objects had become objects of curiosity and nation-
landscape is a cosmological reminder of Tlingit connection
al treasures bereft of their sacred and social significance.
to place. This kind of project is a repatriation of intangible
Their successful repatriation is also the successful repatria-
properties like cosmology, kinship, history, and language but
tion and revitalization—better yet, the re-vindication—of
most important of all, it is the repatriation of Tlingit
Northwest Coast cultural beliefs and practices.
identity.
As stated above the U.S. government has made attempts
All the above repatriation projects could be viewed as
to recognize the integrity of Native American religious prac-
various forms of retrieval or revitalization of cultural life-
tices through the passage of AIRFA and NAGPRA. Taken
ways—but that would only belittle the process. Rather, repa-
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6712
NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA AND THE INTERMOUNTAIN REGION
triation is on ongoing form of a process that Northwest
bate and the implications for all interested parties see David
Coast peoples have practiced all along. It is their attempt to
Hurst Thomas’ Skull Wars: Kennewick Man, Archaeology, and
continue to live as Tlingits, Haidas, Kwakwaka’wakws,
the Battle for Native American Identity (New York, 2000).
Makahs, or any other Northwest Coast peoples, and to live
The Tlingit cultural revitalization project and their reap-
on their own terms. Repatriation is merely a formal process
praisal of their connectedness to the landscape can be found
in their Will the Time Ever Come? A Tlingit Source Book [as
for returning items that were wrongfully taken from the
edited by Andrew Hope III and Thomas F. Thornton] (Fair-
Northwest Coast peoples. In effect, repatriation is the Cana-
banks, 2000).
dian and United States Governments’ belated show of re-
spect for the integrity and the vitality of the Northwest Coast
BERNARD C. PERLEY (2005)
peoples.
B
NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF
IBLIOGRAPHY
CALIFORNIA AND THE INTERMOUNTAIN
The Handbook of American Indian Religious Freedom, edited by
REGION
Christopher Vecsey (New York, 1991), provides good com-
mentary on the practice and politics of AIRFA by providing
The Intermountain Region of North America is framed on
analyses of several case studies. Some of the issues served as
the east by the Rocky Mountains of Canada and the United
the legal and ideological background for NAGPRA. Repatri-
States and on the west by the Cascade and the Sierra Nevada
ation became a hotly contested subject and many of the is-
ranges. Ethnographers customarily divide this region into
sues are discussed in Devon A. Mihesuah’s [ed.] Repatriation
two indigenous “culture areas,” the Plateau and the Great
Reader: Who Owns American Indian Remains? (Lincoln,
Basin. The Plateau is bounded on the north by the boreal
Neb., 2000). The cases and positions provide a good intro-
forests beyond the Fraser Plateau of British Columbia and
duction to the theory and practice of repatriating tangible
on the south by the Bitterroot Mountains of Idaho and the
property. However, for the theory, law, and practice of re-
arid highlands of southern Oregon and northwestern Mon-
patriating intangible properties, Phyllis Mauch Messenger’s
tana. It includes the Columbia River’s plateau and drainage
[ed.] The Ethics of Collecting Cultural Property: Whose Cul-
in Washington, Oregon, and a small portion of northern
ture? Whose Property? [foreword by Brian Fagan, 2nd ed., up-
California. The Great Basin is the area of steppe-desert lying
dated and enl.] (Albuquerque, 1999) provides valuable criti-
cal essays of cases and issues. More general discussions of
primarily in Nevada and Utah but including parts of south-
property rights and intangible property can be found in Bor-
ern Idaho, western Wyoming, and western Colorado. It runs
rowed Power: Essays on Cultural Appropriation [edited by
south from the Salmon and Snake rivers of Idaho to the Col-
Bruce Ziff and Pratima V. Rao] (New Brunswick, N.J.,
orado Plateau, is bounded by the Colorado River on the
1997). The above discussions provide the necessary back-
south, and includes the interior deserts of southwestern Cali-
ground to understand the religious importance of the repatri-
fornia. “California,” as an indigenous culture area, thus com-
ation of sacred objects among the Kwakwaka’wakw and
prises the lands west of the Sierra Nevada crest to the Pacific
Haida. A good general discussion of the potlatch can be
Ocean, most of southern California and northern Baja Cali-
found in An Iron Hand upon the People: The Law against the
fornia, and most lands north from there to the present Ore-
Potlatch on the Northwest Coast, by Douglas Cole and Ira
gon border.
Chaikin (Vancouver, Canada, and Seattle, Wash., 1990) and
The Potlatch Papers: A Colonial Case History by Christopher
California and the Plateau have supported large and var-
Bracken (Chicago, 1997). However, two articles—
ied native populations. The Great Basin, with its exceedingly
“Contested Ethnie in Two Kwakwaka´wakw Museums” by
restrictive ecology, has always been less heavily populated
Ian Fowler and “Art, Argument and Anger on the Northwest
and more culturally uniform than either California or the
Coast” by Barbara Saunders—in Contesting Art: Art, Politics
Plateau. Nonetheless, even in the Basin, sweeping areal gen-
and Identity in the Modern World, edited by Jeremy Mac-
eralizations can serve only as starting points in investigating
Clancy (Oxford and New York, 1997), illustrate the com-
both intra- and inter-areal diversity among native peoples,
plexities of the repatriation issues for Northwest Coast com-
for the three areas are foci of cultural adaptation, expression,
munities; and Mary Lee Stearns’s Haida Culture in Custody:
and influence, rather than impermeably bounded cultural or
The Masset Band (Seattle, 1981) is an excellent discussion of
historical isolates.
the history of dispossession and subsequent social revitaliza-
tion among the Haida of the Masset Band. In the United
Although the indigenous peoples of the Basin were all
States, the Makah have been involved in repatriation projects
speakers of closely related Numic languages, the languages
and two excellent sources for information are Voices of a
of the Plateau were more varied, and those of California had
Thousand People: The Makah Cultural and Research Center by
a truly extraordinary diversity. Broadly speaking, cultural
Patricia Pierce Erikson with Helma Ward and Kirk Wachen-
and linguistic diversity were correlated in the three areas. In
dorf [foreword by Janine Bowechop] (Lincoln, Neb., 2002)
terms of religious practice, the greatest diversity was in Cali-
and Drawing Back Culture: The Makah Struggle for Repatria-
fornia and the least in the Basin, with the Plateau falling
tion by Ann M. Tweedie [foreword by Janine Bowechop]
somewhere between.
(Seattle, 2002). Also in Washington, the Kennewick Man
debate has been a focal point for challenging and/or protect-
GENERAL THEMES. The pervasiveness of religious concerns
ing NAGPRA legislation. For a general overview of the de-
and behavior in the daily lives of all of these peoples is sug-
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA AND THE INTERMOUNTAIN REGION
6713
gested by the range of religious themes that are common to
cialized powers for human beings. Other unique power po-
the three areas, despite the diverse, area-specific expressions
tentials might reside in celestial and landscape features and
given them.
in common, manufactured objects. People might encounter
such spirits, usually in their anthropomorphic forms, in vi-
Power. Significant contacts with European influences
sions or in dreams. Through such encounters individuals
occurred in the three areas beginning in the eighteenth cen-
gained spirit-helpers, enhancing the power innate in them-
tury and had achieved devastating impact by the mid-
selves and gaining particular powers that, through volitional
nineteenth century. As will be seen, European influence
control, brought success in specific endeavors. Vision quests
tended to elevate concepts of anthropomorphic creator fig-
in many different forms are found throughout the three
ures to new eminence. Before contact, however, a widespread
areas.
perception of a diffuse, generalized, and impersonal cosmic
force, often referred to today as “power,” was far more signif-
Seeking increased, specialized power and protection
icant. This energic field of all potentials is a neutral, amoral,
through intentional encounters with spirit-beings was a pri-
and generative presence that produces all things.
mary concern of the religions of the Plateau. In the Basin,
Mythology. In some cases, power was first manifested
visions and personal powers tended to come to individuals
by a world creator who, through it, brought the world into
spontaneously, at the spirits’ will, and were not often sought
its present form. Such creators might be culture heroes and
through formal quests. In California, spirit encounters some-
transformers, such as Komokums among the Modoc, a peo-
times resulted from stringent austerities and Plateau-style
ple interstitial between California and the Plateau. Ko-
questing, as among the Achomawi and Atsugewi in the
mokums and many others like him acted in conjunction
northeast. Often they were sought through participation in
with earth divers to form the earth from a bit of soil raised
initiatory “schools” of pubescent boys seeking power collec-
from the depths of a primordial sea. In other cases, especially
tively under the tutelage of older initiates. Such schools were
in north-central California, world creators are likely to be
central to the visionary religions of the south and the elabo-
true creator gods, thinking the world into existence or bring-
rate dance and healing societies of northern California.
ing it forth with a word. In southern California we find cre-
In many such California initiation schools, sodalities—
ation myths of great metaphysical complexity and subtlety,
secret, mythically chartered societies—were at the forefront.
such as those of the Luiseño, for whom creation arose by
Membership in such sodalities was often restricted; males
steps, out of an absolute void. Even here, however, we find
alone were accepted, and sometimes only those representa-
a transformer, Wiyot, shaping the present world from an
tive of elite kin groups. In parts of the Plateau, especially
earth that preceded his existence, and this seems the more
among the Nez Perce and the Tenino, specific guardian spir-
typical pattern. Such gods and heroes tend to become otiose
its might be transmitted through inheritance. In the notably
after their work is accomplished, rather than lingering on as
egalitarian Plateau, however, this did not have the effect of
moral overseers.
centralizing both spiritual and social ascendency in elites, as
Unlike the Californians, neither the peoples of the Basin
did sodality membership in the more stratified of California
nor those of the Plateau seem to have been much concerned
groups.
with world origins. Yet they shared with Californians a pro-
More generally, both males and females had access to
found concern for a variety of prehuman spirits—usually an-
the spirits and, thus, to personal power. In the Plateau,
imals, but also celestial beings, monsters, and others—who
young boys and girls alike often sought visions, although
aided in bringing the world to its present shape and in estab-
boys did so more frequently than girls. In the Basin, both
lishing culture. Thus, throughout the region one finds arrays
males and females could receive spirit powers at any time
of such prehuman beings, each exercising power for good or
during their lives, although it appears that men were more
ill according to its innate proclivities. The actions of each are
often so favored. The situation in California was more com-
recounted in a broad spectrum of myths and stories. Com-
plex. In each of three major subareas, women were initiated
monly, one or more of these beings, most often Coyote but
into some groups but not into others and, among these
others as well, emerge as a trickster, undoing the good works
groups, there were often varying, ranked degrees of male and
of the heroes and creators through a peculiar blend of inno-
female spirit acquisition and initiation.
cence, greed, and stupidity. Such tricksters may be creatively
helpful as well as negatively influential, and sometimes cre-
Throughout the three culture areas, the specific spirits
ators and tricksters are one and the same, which accounts for
that one might encounter and the powers that they enabled
the multivocality of existence. Often the trickster is the sib-
were varied. Hunting or fishing skill, the ability to cure and
ling of a culture hero, as Coyote (“little wolf”) is of Wolf
to injure, success in courting and in fighting, finesse in crafts
among the Shoshoni, Short-tailed Weasel is of Long-tailed
and in song making, gambling luck, wealth, wisdom, and
Weasel among the Washo of the eastern Sierras, and Frog
many other potentials might be realized.
Woman is of Wiyot among the Luiseño.
Although increased and specialized powers could be ac-
Spirits and personal power. Many animal spirits, in-
quired and maximized through contacts with spirits, they
cluding tricksters, remained in the world as sources of spe-
could also be lost by offending those spirits through failure
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6714
NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA AND THE INTERMOUNTAIN REGION
to adhere to taboos imposed in vision or dream; through mis-
sorts of illnesses. Some, especially in the Plateau, traveled out
use of songs, rituals, or power objects; through more general
of their bodies to find and retrieve the lost souls of patients
breach of custom, or simply through baffling happenstance.
or to regain these in other ways. Illnesses might be caused
Every increase in an individual’s power had its price.
by the misdeeds of members of the community other than
the patient himself, and both public confessions and the
Shamans. The shamans were the most powerful of peo-
identification of sorcerers were common features of perfor-
ple, the most respected for their spirit contacts, and the most
mances.
feared. It was they who paid the highest price for their acu-
men. (Shaman here means a healer who obtains and exercises
Shamans in most groups acquired other, noncurative
his powers through direct contact with spiritual beings.) In
powers and specialties as well. In the Great Basin, in south-
the Plateau, special effort was not usually exerted to obtain
ern California, and north through the central California sub-
the guardian spirits that brought shamanic powers. Here, as
area, rattlesnake handling was practiced by shamans specially
in the Basin, both men and women could receive shamanic
related to this powerful creature and capable of curing its
powers, although male shamans predominated. The same
bites. Weather shamans who both caused and stopped rains
was largely true of Californians, although shamans among
were found in these areas as well. In the Basin, shamans
Shoshoni, Salinan, and some Yokuts groups were exclusively
served as hunt leaders, dreaming of quarry such as antelope,
male, whereas in northwestern California female shamans
leading drives, and charming the game into enclosures.
vastly predominated, those who were the daughters and
Other specialties abounded. Paiute shamans in the Basin and
granddaughters of shamans having the greatest proclivity to-
many in central and northern California became “bear doc-
ward acquiring such powers.
tors,” imitating these animals and using their powers for both
Throughout the three areas, initial encounters with spir-
benign and malign ends. Others might gain the power to
its capable of bestowing shamanic powers (sometimes voli-
find lost objects, to predict the future, or to conjure, as
tionally sought in California and, to a lesser extent, in the
among the Colville and the Kutenai of the Plateau, whose
Basin) were followed by intensive and often longterm train-
rites were similar to the shaking tent rites more common far
ing in the control of the spirit-power and an apprenticeship
to the east. Virtually everywhere, even among the Plateau
in its use under a recognized shaman. Such training might
and Basin groups whose shamans first obtained their powers
include initiation in the secrets of legerdemain, fire handling,
without special questing, such practitioners often sought to
and ventriloquism, on which shamanic performances often
augment their acumen through gaining additional spirit
depended for their dramatic impact. Yet although shamans
helpers, often seeking these in special places.
everywhere were expected to display their powers in such
Power itself is neutral, its potential for good and ill
feats, and occasionally to best other shamans in public power
being manifested at the discretion (or indiscretion) of those
contests, their primary function was as curative specialists,
spirits, ghosts, or human beings who have more than usual
and the tricks of the trade were subordinate to success in this
control of it. Thus shamans were universally feared for their
important function.
potential to use power in malign ways, as sorcerers. In the
Theories of disease were fairly uniform. Illness came
Basin and in much of California shamans were viewed with
through magical objects projected into the sufferer’s body by
great suspicion; they were thought to induce or prolong ill-
human sorcery or witchcraft. Again, ghosts or spirits whose
ness in order to collect higher fees and to kill outright for a
rules for conduct had been ignored or whose special places
fee from an aggrieved party. Among the Mohave and other
had been defiled might make people ill. The spiritual essence
River Yuman groups in southeastern California, the killing
of the patient could be called away by unseen beings or in-
of a shaman, on whatever grounds, was not considered repre-
jured by a sorcerer or witch. Finally, one could be poisoned
hensible. Elsewhere shamans were killed only in the event of
by a witch, either psychically or physically. In the Plateau all
their patient’s death. In northwestern California, shamans
such power-related disease was distinguished from natural,
simply returned their fee should the patient die, greed being
physical illness; shamans treated only the former, whereas the
more commonly attributed to them than sorcery. The sha-
latter were treated through exoteric remedies, often by lay
man’s position was not always enviable, and, particularly in
specialists. Among the Washo of the Basin, however, all
the Great Basin and Plateau, people tended to become sha-
death was attributed to sorcerers.
mans only at the behest of a spirit who could not be refused,
or they refused to accept shamanic powers when opportuni-
As theories of spiritually induced disease were quite uni-
ties to acquire them arose.
form, so were therapeutic measures. Shamans diagnosed the
illness and then entered a trance through singing, dancing,
First-fruits rites. First-fruits rites, celebrated for a vari-
and, occasionally, the ingestion of powerful substances. The
ety of resources throughout the region, were often conducted
shaman then sucked out the introjected objects and disposed
by shamans. This was true, for example, of the small, local
of them or used his breath to blow off the “shadows” of of-
first-salmon rites that were common along many of the rivers
fended spirits that had lodged in the patient’s body. He
and streams of the Plateau, along the northern California
might also heal through various forms of massage. Many sha-
coast south to San Francisco Bay, and among the Pyramid
mans specialized in one or another approach to particular
Lake Paviosto, the Lemhi Shoshoni, and some other groups
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA AND THE INTERMOUNTAIN REGION
6715
in the northern Great Basin. In some cases, however, first-
Elsewhere, a small hut for the individual menstruant was
salmon and other first-fruits rites were incorporated into
constructed, as in much of the Basin, or her movements were
larger-scale renewal ceremonies, as in northwestern Califor-
restricted to the family’s dwelling, as among the River
nia, and were directed by specialized priests—intermediaries
Yuman groups. Menstrual seclusion and dietary and other
between the human and nonhuman worlds who, as holders
restrictions varied in duration from the time of the flow up
of inherited and appointed offices, recited codified liturgies.
to ten or twelve days, as in northwestern California.
Girls’ puberty and menstrual seclusion. The ritual
Sudatories. Male concern for menstrual pollution and
initiation of females into adulthood at menarche and, often,
for other pollutants that might hinder the exercise or acquisi-
the public celebration of this event constitute a second wide-
tion of power, or “luck,” was certainly related to the preva-
spread ritual element in the religions of the three culture
lence of male sweating, carried out in a variety of sudatories
areas. In general, throughout the region women were isolated
in all three areas. Such sudatories might be small and tempo-
at menarche and placed under a variety of restrictions, their
rary or large and permanent structures. In northwestern Cali-
conduct during the time being thought to presage their fu-
fornia, for example, “sweat houses” were sizeable, semisub-
ture. Emphasis on girls’ puberty tended to be greater among
terranean houses, men’s clubs where all adult males slept,
peoples more dependent on hunting than on gathering.
worked, and practiced rituals, as well as sweated. Among the
Thus, periods of training might be as short as five days, as
Nomlaki substantial men’s sweat houses were the domain of
among the peoples of the western Basin, or extended as long
a male sodality, the huta. The religious nature of purification
as four years, as among the Carrier Indians of the northern
through regular sweating is evident in the veneration with
Plateau. In coastal southern California, puberty was a com-
which the sudatory was regarded. Among certain Plateau
munity concern, and all young women reaching menarche
groups, such as the Sanpoil, the sweat house itself was the
during a given year were secluded and instructed together,
mundane manifestation of a powerful sweat-house god.
sometimes being “cooked” in heated pits in a way reminis-
MAJOR RELIGIOUS SYSTEMS. In each area, and often in spec-
cent of the training of novice shamans to the north in Cali-
ifiable subareas, the general themes outlined above were
fornia. Indeed, it can be argued that puberty rites in many
manifested within the context of—and were given particular
groups represent a female equivalent of male spirit quests and
ideological inflections by—area-specific religious systems.
sodality initiations. Such “cooking” of pubescent girls is
found elsewhere, as among the Gosiute of the Basin. Com-
Among the peoples of the Great Basin, environmental
munal rites are paralleled in the Plateau, where the Chilcotin,
conditions demanded small populations divided into highly
the Southern Okanogen, the Tenino, and the Nez Perce uti-
mobile bands, reduced at times to the extended nuclear fami-
lized communal seclusion huts for the initiation of young
ly, and expanding at more abundant times to small bands of
girls.
such families. There was little need for social or political or-
ganization on a wider scale that would ensure the privileges
There were, however, no elaborate public female puber-
of more complex kin groups or the territorial autonomy of
ty celebrations in the southern Plateau, where girls’ puberty
a large political unit. By the same token, dispersed resources
was marked by simple elaborations of more general menstru-
could not be collected in sufficient quantities to provide for
al customs. Public ceremonies did occur, usually at the dis-
the needs of frequent, large gatherings. Complex ritual sys-
cretion of the girl’s family, in the Great Basin—as among the
tems depending on cyclic collective action did not develop
Washo and others. Here, girls’ puberty might be celebrated
in the Basin as they did in both California and the Plateau.
in conjunction with a Big Time, an intergroup gathering for
By contrast, in these latter areas more sedentary peoples, en-
shared subsistence enterprises, ritual, feasting, trading, danc-
joying richer resource bases and enacting more complex and
ing, gambling, and games. In California, girls’ puberty
farther-reaching kinship and political organizations, created
dances were held by many northern groups as the year’s ritual
religious systems through which large numbers of people
highlight—again, often in conjunction with Big Times. Oc-
were regularly assembled for collective ritual experience.
casionally, and especially among the Athapascan-speaking
groups of the northwest, such dances were the prerogative
The Great Basin. Basin religion was largely an individ-
of elite Californian families.
ual or small-band concern, and shamans provided spiritual
leadership sufficient to the needs of most bands. Rituals,
The prevalence of concern for female puberty in the
such as girls’ puberty celebrations, that in other areas served
three areas is clearly related to a concern for menstruation
as foci for large gatherings here tended to be small, family
in general. Menstrual blood was viewed as among the most
affairs. The healing performances of shamans might provide
powerful of substances, highly dangerous if not properly con-
occasions for shared ritual participation, but such gatherings,
trolled and, although often of positive virture to the woman
too, were small, limited to band members, and not held ac-
herself, inimical to the welfare of others, especially males.
cording to a fixed schedule.
The isolation and restriction of girls at menarche was thus
widely repeated—although with far less elaboration—at each
Large-scale Big Times did occur with some regularity
menses. Communal menstrual shelters were found in some
among the Washo and Paiute of the western Great Basin,
Plateau communities and perhaps in parts of California.
several bands gathering together for harvest of the more
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA AND THE INTERMOUNTAIN REGION
abundant wild crops (such as piñon nuts) for ritual, and for
Other components of the dances included feasting and the
recreation. The Paiute reciprocated such Big Times with the
giving of gifts to visitors, the offering of gifts to spirits at a
Mono and Miwok of California. Interband antelope drives,
center pole, and shamans’ displays and contests. The conduct
sometimes in conjunction with Big Times, were ritually pre-
of the audience was rigidly controlled during the dances, and
pared and imbued with religious significance, as suggested
in some groups their behavior was policed by officiants.
by the many Basin rocks displaying petroglyphs and picto-
Among the Sanpoil, Colville, Kutenai, Kalispel, Spo-
graphs that date from the remote past through the nine-
kan, Coeur d’Alene, and Flathead, a society of men possess-
teenth century.
ing Bluejay as guardian spirit served this policing function.
The Big Times of the western Great Basin and Califor-
These “Bluejay shamans” identified entirely with Bluejay
nia were supplanted in the eastern portion of the Basin area
during the winter dance period, painting their faces black,
by other sorts of events. Ute and Shoshoni bands convened
keeping to themselves, and scavenging food. The Bluejay
several times a year for “round dances.” Among the Ute, a
shamans perched in the rafters of dance houses during per-
more ritually focused Bear Dance, marking the return of
formances, swooping down on those who broke the rules of
bears from hibernation and thus the renewal of the world in
conduct. They also performed services as finders of lost ob-
spring, was performed annually in late winter.
jects and as curers, and were ritually returned to a normal
state at the end of the dance period. Although the Bluejay
The Plateau. In the Plateau the common western
shamans suggest an at least latent sodality structure in the
theme of personal spirit-power was honed to its greatest re-
southeastern Plateau, such sodalities were fully developed
finement and served as the basis for an areal religious system
only in California.
keynoted by collective “winter spirit-dances.” Although there
were a great many variations in the specifics of individual
California. There were four major subareal ritual com-
guardian-spirit quests and of winter dances among Plateau
plexes in aboriginal California. Beyond serving as vehicles for
tribes, a generalized account may be offered as an intro-
religious expression, such complexes served important func-
duction.
tions in social, economic, and ecological regulation, in ethnic
maintenance, and, through creating unifying networks, in
Among the Sanpoil-Nespelem and most other Salish
political organization.
groups, boys and many young girls began spirit questing at
or before puberty, often when they were as young as six or
Toloache. From the Yuman tribes of the south, north
eight. (Sahaptin groups placed less emphasis on spirit quests,
through the Yokuts and, in diminished forms, to the Miwok,
and others, such as the Carrier, restricted them to certain
the use of Datura stramonium—jimsonweed, or toloache
males.) The child was sent out to fast, scour himself with
(from the Nahuatl and Spanish)—was a common and cen-
rough foliage, bathe in cold pools, and keep vigils in isolated
tral feature of religious practice. A psychotropic decoction
places. In dreams, as among the Carrier, or in visions, the
was made from the root of this highly toxic plant and careful-
supplicant was visited by an animal spirit or the spirit of an
ly administered to initiates by shamans or by specialized
object or place. The spirit instructed the person in a song that
priests. After a period of unconsciousness the initiates awoke
often had an associated dance step, and sometimes revealed
to a trancelike state of long duration during which, guided
power objects. In many groups, the supplicant, on returning
by adepts, they acquired animal or celestial spirit-helpers.
from a successful quest, “forgot” both encounter and song.
Such collective, drug-induced vision questing was often un-
(The Kutenai, whose youths sought only a single, immedi-
dertaken by males at puberty and in the context of an extend-
ately effective spirit, present an exception.) Among the Sa-
ed “school,” as among the Luiseño-Juaneño, the Cahuilla,
lish, when the individual reached full adulthood, usually
the Ipai-Tipai, the Cupeño, and the Gabrielino. Schooling
about age twenty-five for men, the spirit returned, often
included severe physical ordeals, instruction in mythic cos-
causing illness. With the aid of a shaman, the individual “re-
mology carried out through dry painting, and in some cases
membered” the song and spirit. Once fully accepted, one’s
the creation of rock art. In such groups as the Chumash and
spirit became an intrinsic aspect of one’s being, like a soul,
the Serrano, training was restricted to the sons of an elite.
a “partner” whose loss was life-threatening. Throughout
In all cases, the group of initiated men, and—among the
their lives, people might seek different, additional spirits with
Monache and the Yokuts—women, formed a sodality that
associated powers and specialties.
bore defined religious, economic, and political responsibili-
ties. Among the Chumash, such an organization provided
During a two-month period in the winter, anyone who
the basis for a highly complex, elite socioreligious guild, Ian-
had a guardian spirit—a shaman or a layman—might spon-
tap, led by priest-astronomers. Throughout the subarea, sha-
sor a spirit dance. The dances, held in a winter lodge, lasted
mans made use of toloache in achieving curing trances.
two or three nights and were scheduled so that people of a
given locale might attend several in a winter. Under the su-
In the extreme southeast, among the Mohave, the role
pervision of shamans, dancers imitated their own guardian
of toloache was secondary to that of dreaming. Men learned
spirits, singing their songs and performing their dance steps.
clan myths through intentional dreaming and chanted these
New initiates to whom spirits had recently returned used the
in long, collective “sings.” Kin group solidarity was impor-
occasion to legitimize their relationships with their spirits.
tant to religious practice among other southern California
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA AND THE INTERMOUNTAIN REGION
6717
groups as well, many keeping sib medicine bundles that were
and also to some young women, as among the Cahto and
revealed only to toloache adepts.
the Yuki. More commonly, membership in such sodalities
was restricted to males. In some groups, membership was
Mourning anniversaries. With their stress on ritual
further restricted to elite cadres who worked their way up
death and rebirth, the toloache religions of southern and cen-
through the sodality’s ranked levels, as among the Pomo-
tral California reflected an overriding concern with personal
speaking groups. In such groups a second sodality, the Ghost
and cosmic death and renewal. A second feature, the
society, was open to all young men, as among the Patwin,
“mourning anniversary,” accompanied the toloache complex.
and sometimes to women as well, as among the Eastern
In broad outline, mourning anniversaries were large public
gatherings in which effigies of the year’s dead, together with
Pomo. These less prestigious sodalities presented masked
large quantities of property, were burned on poles erected in
dances that paralleled those of the Kuksu type and empha-
circular brush shelters, the assembled audience mourning its
sized the honoring of the departed, the curing of ghostdis-
collective losses. The occasion often served as a vehicle for
ease, and the continuity of generations. Such themes were
girls’ puberty celebrations, for the giving of new names, for
present in the mourning anniversaries prevalent to the south.
honoring chiefs, and for expressing reciprocity between kin
Thus, the Ghost society was not found among groups in the
groups. Often an Eagle (or Condor) Dance, in which sha-
Kuksu subarea (such as the Maidu and the Nisenan) that
mans displayed their power by slowly killing a sacrificial bird,
practiced mourning anniversaries.
formed an important part of the event.
World renewal. Mythic reenactment, collective mourn-
The mourning anniversary, with many local variations,
ing, generational continuity, and world renewal are all mo-
was practiced by the Basin peoples of the southern portion
tives present in the Kuksu religion that found other expres-
of contemporary California—the Cheme-huevi, the Pana-
sions in northwestern California, where a fourth areal ritual
mint, the Kawaiisu, and the Tubatulabal —as well as by vir-
complex, the World Renewal cult, flourished. This complex
tually all groups in the southern California culture area. The
featured cyclic ten-day ceremonials within more extended
practice extended northward through the toloache-using
periods of ritual activity performed by specialized officiants.
groups and beyond, being performed by the Maidu and
The various dances were given reciprocally at two- to three-
Nisenan of northern California in conjunction with another
year intervals at perhaps thirteen ceremonial centers in
religious complex, the Kuksu cult.
Yurok, Karok, and Hupa territories. Close equivalents of
these World Renewal dances were held by Tolowa-Tututni,
Kuksu. In northern California the toloache complex gave
Wiyot, Chilula, and Shasta groups as well. The focal occa-
way to a second great ritual system, the Kuksu cult. The term
sions were religious festivals, extended periods of public and
Kuksu derives from the Pomo name for a creator-hero who
private ritual, dancing, feasting, and communality that at
is impersonated by masked dancers in the periodic perfor-
times attracted several thousand participants. World Renew-
mances that are the focus of the religious system. A parallel
al festivals thus replaced both Big Times and mourning anni-
figure, Hesi, was prominent in the performances of groups
versaries in the northwestern subarea. However, the primary
in the Sacramento Valley and the Sierra Nevada foothills.
purpose of these large gatherings was the prevention of world
The Hill Maidu expression of the complex featured a third
disorder and the reaffirmation of interdependency. The
such figure, Aki, who is found together with Hesi among the
world, potentially imbalanced by the weight of human mis-
Northwestern Maidu. Kuksu and Hesi are sometimes found
conduct, was “fixed” or “balanced” through the Jump
together among other groups.
Dance, the interdependence and abundance of all life reaf-
Masked and costumed dancers impersonated these and
firmed and ensured through the Deerskin Dance. In both,
other spirits and mythic figures in elaborate ceremonials per-
teams of dancers displayed finery and power objects emblem-
formed in dance houses before large audiences during gather-
atic of the spiritual ascendency of their sponsors, and it was
ings that lasted several days. Dances at various ceremonial
in this sense that such costumes and objects were considered
centers were reciprocally supported. As with toloache reli-
“wealth.”
gions, the various Kuksu religions provided collective
The World Renewal religion was given different inflec-
“schools” for pubescent initiates who were, through cultic in-
tions by the different participating groups: the Yurok incor-
doctrination and participation, conducted into secret, often
porated first-salmon rites and collective fishing as well as the
ranked sodalities. Such sodalities could exercise great politi-
rebuilding of a sacred structure; the Karok included “new
cal and economic influence, as well as spiritual power. The
fire” (new year) elements, as well as a first-salmon rite; and
Kuksu dances themselves returned the world to its pristine,
the Hupa celebrated a first-acorn rite, the rebuilding of a cos-
mythic condition and often included first-fruits and curing
mographic structure, and so on. All stressed the reenactment,
elements in their scope. Intergroup trading, gambling, sha-
by priests, of the origins of the dances and their attendant
mans’ contests, and recreation were features of the Big Times
rituals. The recitation of long, codified mythic scenarios was
that usually followed Kuksu performances.
a central feature. School-like organizations of “helpers” were
Among groups that had both Kuksu and Hesi sodalities,
instructed by the priests. These organizations were similar to
as well as some others, participation was open to young men
the initiatory sodalities of south and central California and
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6718
NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA AND THE INTERMOUNTAIN REGION
included both men and women. Neither priests and their as-
crisis cults inspired by a variety of “prophets” whose visions
sistants nor dancers impersonated spirit beings, however, as
had been shaped by Christian influences. Typically, such vi-
was done in Kuksu performances or the spirit dances of the
sions occurred in deathlike states in which prophets met God
Plateau.
or his emissary and received word of the coming millennium
The sketches given here do not exhaust the aboriginal
and the practices and moral codes that would ensure Indians’
ritual inventories in any of the areas and subareas dealt with.
survival of it. Perhaps the best known of such crisis cults are
There were many less prominent but no less meaningful ritu-
the Paiute Ghost Dances of 1870 and 1890.
al activities, both private and public. Throughout these areas
The first of these, initiated by the prophet Wodziwob
religious knowledge and practice were fully integrated with
in 1870, moved through the Basin and into central Califor-
social action. The European invasion of the American West,
nia. It was taken up by a number of California groups and
in disrupting ecological, social, and political systems, also
moved north to the Shasta. The Ghost Dance doctrine
disrupted religious systems.
stressed the destruction of the whites by the Creator, the re-
POSTCONTACT RELIGIOUS CHANGE. The religions of Cali-
turn of the Indian dead, and the restoration of the earth to
fornia, the Great Basin, and the Plateau have undergone
its pristine, precontact condition. It inspired a number of
thousands of years of slow change and development. They
variants in the years following 1870. Most of these represent-
were probably changed most suddenly and drastically by the
ed fusions of Kuksu-type and Ghost society dances with the
direct and indirect influences of Europeans and Euro-
new millenarianism. Such cults included the Earth Lodge re-
Americans that began in the eighteenth century.
ligion practiced by many central and northern California
The Roman Catholic missionization of California, be-
peoples. Adherents awaited the millennium in large, semi-
ginning in 1769, had largely disastrous effects on the native
subterranean dance houses. Other cults inspired by the 1870
populations of the area. Voluntary conversions took place,
Ghost Dance included the Big Head and Bole-Maru cults
but forced baptism and forced residence in mission commu-
of the Hill Patwin, the Maidu, and the Pomo-speaking
nities were more common. Ultimately, the successes of Cath-
groups, and a succession of other local cults led by various
olic missionization north to San Francisco Bay were negated
“dreamers.”
by the fearsome toll exacted by the diseases fostered by over-
The 1890 Ghost Dance, initiated in 1889 by the Paiute
crowded missions and forced labor under the Spanish enco-
prophet Wovoka, again spread through the Basin, this time
mienda system. Success measured in lasting conversions was
moving east onto the Plains. It directly affected neither Cali-
modest, and negative in terms of human welfare, but the
fornia nor the Plateau.
missionaries contributed to native religious revitalization.
For example, Catholicism seems to have provided the basis
The two Ghost Dances are but the better known of a
for a new high god, Chingichngish, in the toloache religions
large number of similar efforts toward religious revitalization
of the south. This moralistic, omniscient creator, which orig-
that flourished, particularly in the Plateau area, in the nine-
inated among the Gabrielino, also supplemented the mythic
teenth century. In the 1830s, many prophets, not acting in
pantheons of the Luiseño-Juaneño, the Ipai-Tipai, the Chu-
concert, spread the Prophet Dance through the central and
mash, and the Yokuts.
southern Plateau. This round dance, always performed on
Other missionaries, primarily Protestant and Mormon,
Sundays and reflecting belief in a high god, showed Christian
also made extended efforts in the nineteenth century in Cali-
influence, although some have argued that it had aboriginal
fornia, the Basin, and the Plateau. Yet the effects of later mis-
precedents as well. The dance took many forms under the
sionization were broadly similar: rather than supplanting na-
guidance of many prophets and dreamers, of whom the best
tive religions, Christianity provided symbolic means through
known is perhaps Smohalla, a Sahaptin dreamer who revived
which native religions found new forms to cope with the rad-
the Prophet Dance in the 1870s in a form that spread widely.
ically changing circumstances of life.
In 1881 a Salish Indian from Puget Sound named John
However, the effects of conquest were not limited to in-
Slocum underwent what was by that time the established vi-
novations informed by Christian ideology. The introduction
sionary experience of a prophet. Together with his wife Mary
of the horse onto the Plains and thence into the Plateau and
he inaugurated the Indian Shaker church, a Christian church
the northwestern Basin in the early eighteenth century had
in which the presence of God’s power, signified by physical
an important impact on the peoples of these areas. Together
trembling (“the shake”), was used by congregants to cure the
with the horse came other Plains influences. Military sodali-
sick. This mixture of Christian and native shamanistic ele-
ties were integrated into the religions of the Kutenai and the
ments proved highly appealing, and the Indian Shaker
Flathead, as was the Sun Dance. The Sun Dance also spread
church spread into the Plateau, where it was accepted by
to the Great Basin, where it was taken up by the Wind River
Yakima, Umatilla, Wasco-Tenino, Klamath, and, to a lesser
Shoshoni and the Bannock and was introduced to the Utes
extent, Nez Perce Indians. In northwestern California in
by the Kiowa as late as 1890.
1926, churches were built by Yurok, Tolowa, and Hupa con-
The preponderant contact phenomena evidenced in the
gregations. The Shakers’ popularity in California began to
religious life of all three areas, however, were the millenarian
wane in the 1950s, the result of internal schism, competition
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA AND THE INTERMOUNTAIN REGION
6719
with evangelical Christian churches, and increasing stress on
ited by Robert F. Heizer, was issued in 1978. Heizer’s Cali-
“Indianness” and the accompanying return to old ways.
fornia volume to an extent supplants A. L. Kroeber’s Hand-
book of the Indians of California
(1925; reprint, New York,
These two apparently conflicting ideologies, based on
1976), although this earlier work remains of interest.
the salvific powers of Jesus Christ, on the one hand, and on
Useful bibliographies can be found in the volumes of the new
an Indian identity perceived as traditional, on the other,
Handbook and in several other important sources: Ethno-
seem to have reached mutual accommodation in peyotism
graphic Bibliography of North America, 4th ed., 5 vols., edited
and its institutionalized expression, the Native American
by George Peter Murdock and Timothy J. O’Leary (New
Church. The Peyote Way has been accepted by a large num-
Haven, 1975); Robert F. Heizer, The Indians of California:
ber of Basin Indians, spreading among the Ute, Paiute, Gos-
A Critical Bibliography (Bloomington, Ind., 1976); Joseph P.
iute, and Shoshoni in the early twentieth century, its accep-
Jorgensen, Western Indians (San Francisco, 1980); and Omer
tance perhaps facilitated by the collapse of the 1890 Ghost
C. Stewart, Indians of the Great Basin (Bloomington, Ind.,
Dance. The Washo received peyote from Ute believers in
1982).
1936.
Jorgensen’s Western Indians is a computer-assisted distributional
study with chapters on a number of pertinent topics, placing
Peyotism spread through the Basin despite the resistance
religious practices in ecological and political context. As
of many traditionalists, becoming itself the basis for a new
such, it is a sophisticated continuation of earlier culture-
traditionalism. It was not, however, established in California,
element distribution surveys. One such study by Harold E.
although Indians from such cities as San Francisco make fre-
Driver, “Girls’ Puberty Rites in Western North America,”
quent trips to take part in peyote meetings sponsored by the
University of California Publications in Anthropological Re-
Washo and others in Nevada.
cords 6 (1941/42): 21–90, provides a comprehensive over-
view of its topic, an important one in all three culture areas
Many other postcontact religious systems, including the
under consideration here. Other such Western themes are
Sun Dance, continue to be enacted. Chingichngish remains
explored in Willard Z. Park’s Shamanism in Western North
central to religious life on the Rincon and Pauma reserva-
America (1938; reprint, New York, 1975) and in Erna Gun-
tions in southern California; Smohalla’s Prophet Dance is
ther’s two analyses of first-salmon ceremonies in the Ameri-
still practiced as the basis of the Pom Pom religion of the
can Anthropologist 28 (1926): 605–617, and in Washington
University Publications in Anthropology
2 (1928): 129–173.
Yakima and Warm Springs Indians; and Bole-Maru and
Park’s Shamanism contains a detailed account of Northern
other postcontact transformations of Kuksu religions are via-
Paiute (Paviosto) shamanism and thus serves to introduce
ble among Pomo and other central Californian groups. The
specific aspects of Great Basin religion, while Verne F. Ray’s
Indian Shaker church survives in many communities.
Cultural Relations in the Plateau of North America (Los Ange-
les, 1939) surveys the complexities of that area’s religious life
Since the 1960s Indians of all three culture areas have
in a way that remains important.
made concerted efforts to reassert religious, as well as politi-
There are various sources on the major religious systems of Cali-
cal, autonomy; indeed, the two realms continue to be closely
fornia. A. L. Kroeber and E. W. Gifford’s “World Renewal:
intertwined. Traditional religious specialists and, in many
A Cult System of Native Northwestern California,” Universi-
cases, collective ritual activities have survived both conquest
ty of California Publications in Anthropological Records 13
and christianization. Younger Indians are increasingly turn-
(1949): 1–56, gives good descriptive materials, although its
ing to elderly specialists and investing themselves in old ritual
interpretations are rather narrow. Edwin M. Loeb’s “The
practices. Annual mourning ceremonies are still prominent
Western Kuksu Cult” and “The Eastern Kuksu Cult,” Uni-
in parts of southern California; northwestern Californians
versity of California Publications in American Archaeology and
continue to dance in World Renewal rituals; and shamanism
Ethnology 33 (1932/33): 1–138, 139–232, are comparable,
survives in the Basin, as does spirit questing on the Plateau.
Kroeberian works. More recent studies include IAntap: Cali-
A myriad of other native ritual events and private practices
fornian Indian Political and Economic Organization, edited by
continue throughout the region. Such state agencies as Cali-
Lowell John Bean and Thomas F. King (Ramona, Calif.,
1974), and Raymond C. White’s “The Luiseño Theory of
fornia’s Native American Heritage Commission, as well as
‘Knowledge,’” American Anthropologist 59 (1957): 1–19. The
federal legislation such as the 1978 American Indian Reli-
two, together, provide entrée into the study of southern Cali-
gious Freedom Act, support these efforts to a degree. Withal,
fornian religions. White’s essay is also included in a volume
one can see the durability of the ancient ways, their persis-
of largely theoretical papers, Native Californians: A Theoreti-
tence, and their ability to continue through modern transfor-
cal Retrospective, edited by Lowell John Bean and Thomas C.
mations.
Blackburn (Socorro, N. Mex., 1976), which provides a num-
ber of stimulating interpretations of aboriginal California re-
SEE ALSO Ghost Dance; Psychedelic Drugs; Sun Dance.
ligious systems.
Finally, the Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology
BIBLIOGRAPHY
(Banning, Calif., 1979–), succeeding the Journal of Califor-
The most valuable sources in the beginning study of the religions
nia Anthropology (1974–1979), publishes current explora-
of California, the Great Basin, and the Plateau are the perti-
tions in the religions of California and the Great Basin fairly
nent volumes of the Handbook of North American Indians, 20
regularly.
vols. (Washington, D.C., 1978–). Volume 8, California, ed-
THOMAS BUCKLEY (1987)
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6720
NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE SOUTHWEST
NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF
tions in permanent villages of stone and adobe construction.
THE SOUTHWEST
These are the Pueblo peoples, who have come to be regarded
From the southern end of the Rocky Mountains in Colora-
as the archetypical indigenous agriculturalists of the South-
do, the Southwest culture area extends southward through
west. The Tanoan Pueblos include the Tiwa, Tewa, and
the mountains, high sandstone mesas, and deep canyons of
Towa, whose villages stretch up and down the upper portion
northern New Mexico and Arizona, and dips over the Mogo-
of the Rio Grande in New Mexico. Also living for the most
llon Rim—the southern edge of the Colorado Plateau—into
part along the Rio Grande or its tributaries are several Kere-
the arid, flat, and sparsely vegetated, low-lying deserts of
san Pueblos, with linguistically close Laguna and Acoma a
southern New Mexico and Arizona and northwestern Mexi-
little farther west, on the San Jose River. Moving west across
co, to the warm shores of the Gulf of California. It is inter-
the Continental Divide lies the pueblo of Zuni on a tributary
spersed throughout with mountain ranges, some bearing
of the Little Colorado River. At the western edge of Pueblo
dense forests and large game animals. Major rivers are few:
country, on the fingerlike mesas that extend southwestward
the Colorado, its tributaries, and the Rio Grande are the pri-
from Black Mesa of the Colorado Plateau, are the eleven
mary sources of water for large sectors of the southwestern
Hopi villages, whose inhabitants speak Hopi, a Uto-Aztecan
ecosystem.
language. Also located in this vicinity is one Tewa village,
Given the variegation in topography, vegetation, and
Hano, settled by refugees from the Rio Grande valley after
climate, it is not surprising that the Southwest should con-
the Great Pueblo Revolt of 1680.
tain an equal cultural variety. Four major language families
The Pueblos are intensive agriculturalists. Among the
(Uto-Aztecan, Hokan, Athapascan, Tanoan) are represented
Eastern Pueblos (those occupying the Rio Grande area) and
by a large number of peoples, and two other languages (Zuni
in Acoma, Laguna, and Zuni (which with the Hopi consti-
and Keres) comprise language isolates. But it should not be
tute the Western Pueblos), agriculture is based on a variety
thought that language boundaries are a guide to cultural
of irrigation techniques. Hopi country has no permanent wa-
boundaries. The thirty-one pueblos of New Mexico and Ari-
tercourses, and agriculture there is practiced by dry farming.
zona include speakers of six mutually unintelligible languages
Their sedentariness is a striking feature of the village peoples:
from four language groups. Yet they share numerous cultur-
Acoma and the Hopi village of Oraibi vie for the status of
al, and specifically religious, features. On the other hand,
oldest continuously inhabited community in North Ameri-
among the groups speaking Uto-Aztecan languages are found
ca, with ceramic and tree-ring dates suggesting occupation
sociocultural forms as disparate as the hunter-gatherer bands
from at least as far back as the twelfth century CE.
of Shoshoneans in the north and the great Aztec state to the
south of the Southwest culture area.
Spicer’s third subtype is that of the band peoples, all
Athapascan speakers. These consist of the Navajo and the
ECONOMIC PATTERNS. General typologies of Southwest cul-
several Apache peoples. These Athapascans migrated into the
tures inevitably simplify such diversity. Despite such short-
Southwest, probably via the Plains, from northwestern Can-
comings, they may provide a framework within which to
ada not long before the arrival of Spanish colonists at the
make some systematic generalizations. Edward Spicer (1962)
turn of the sixteenth century. They variously modified a tra-
has suggested four major divisions according to distinctive
ditional hunting and gathering economy with the addition
economic types at the time of European contact: rancheria
of agriculture from the Pueblos (Navajo and Western
peoples, village peoples, band peoples, and nonagricultural
Apache) and of sheep (Navajo) and horses (all groups) from
bands. The rancheria peoples all traditionally practiced agri-
the Spanish. The means of acquisition of these economic in-
culture based on the North American crop triumvirate of
crements—through raiding of the pueblos and Spanish set-
maize, beans, and squash. They lived in scattered settlements
tlements—points up another important feature of Apache
with households, or “small ranches,” separated by some dis-
economies.
tance from each other. This general economic pattern was
followed by groups as disparate as the Tarahumara and Con-
The fourth economic subtype Spicer refers to as non-
cho in the Sierra Madre of Chihuahua, the Pima and Papago
agricultural bands. The Seri of the northwestern coastline of
of southern Arizona, the Yaqui and the Mayo concentrated
the Mexican State of Sonora are the primary representatives
in the river deltas along the Sonoran coast of the Gulf of Cal-
of this subtype. Traditionally, they hunted small game,
ifornia, and the riverine and upland Yuman groups. Consid-
fished and caught sea turtles, and gathered wild plant re-
erable differences of settlement pattern, including greater
sources along the desert coast of the Gulf of California.
population concentrations among Pimans and seasonal
Variations in economy do not, of course, suggest varia-
movements from ridges into valleys for the Tarahumara and
tions in religious structure and orientation tout court. Still,
Concho, obtain from people to people. Still, the designation
modes of environmental adaptation do, within certain
rancheria is helpful as a general characterization of Southwest
bounds, constrain the possibilities of social complexity.
agricultural economies that do not support densely populat-
Southwest Indian religious patterns frequently do reflect
ed, permanently sedentary communities.
forms of environmental adaptation because of a prevailing
The village peoples of Spicer’s classification are, by con-
notion of social rootedness within a local environmental set-
trast, sedentary communities with tightly integrated popula-
ting. Since many of the religious concerns of Southwest peo-
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE SOUTHWEST
6721
ples pertain to man’s relationship with environmental forces,
life. The traditional Yaqui and Mayo system of three reli-
the interplay between economic and religious spheres is fun-
gious sodalities fused in the seventeenth century with Jesuit
damental.
beliefs and came to embody largely Christian notions, but
these peoples’ version of Christian ceremonies, such as the
RELIGIOUS PATTERNS. Among the panoply of indigenous
rituals recapitulating the Passion of Christ, incorporate tradi-
Southwestern cultures, two general patterns of religious ac-
tional figures with clear similarities to the kachinas and
tion are evident: that focusing on the curing of sickness and
clowns of the Pueblos. Since such syncretic processes began
that celebrating, reaffirming, and sanctifying man’s relation-
long before careful ethnographic records were made of indig-
ship with the cyclical forces of nature. Religious actions of
enous belief and practice, the “pure forms” are simply irre-
the former type are usually shamanic performances whose
participants include an individual patient and an individual
trievable.
ritual specialist (or a small group of specialists). The latter
The Pueblos, the Navajo, and the Apache have main-
type includes communal rituals involving large groups of
tained more of their traditional religious systems intact than
participants under the direction of cadres of hereditary
other Southwest peoples. Of these groups, the Pueblos have
priests. These two general forms are present in the Southwest
the most complex religious systems, which in many instances
in a variety of combinations and permutations. Among the
preserve indigenous forms intact and distinct from religious
Yumans, the Tarahumara, and the Apache, shamanistic cur-
elements introduced by Europeans. Hence I shall focus upon
ing is the prevalent religious form, and little emphasis is
the Pueblos in this essay. The persistence of Pueblo religious
placed on communal agricultural rituals. (The Havasupai,
patterns, despite almost four hundred years of colonial domi-
who until the turn of the century held masked ceremonial
nation, is remarkable. The presence of Puebloan peoples in
performances at stages of the agricultural cycle—a practice
the Southwest, and of the earlier so-called Basket Makers,
probably borrowed from their near neighbors, the Hopi—
with whom there is a clear cultural continuity in the archaeo-
provide a partial exception.) Historically the Pima and Papa-
logical record, reaches far back into antiquity. The remains
go peoples held communal agricultural rituals as well as sha-
found in New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon and Colorado’s Mesa
manic performances, but with sociocultural change the for-
Verde of the civilization of the Anasazi are simply the better-
mer have passed from existence while the latter, by
known evidences of this socially complex and culturally so-
themselves, have come to represent traditional religion. At
phisticated people, the direct ancestors of the historical
the other end of the continuum, the Pueblos devote most re-
Pueblos. The height of Anasazi culture (twelfth and thir-
ligious attention to the calendrical cycle and have even com-
teenth centuries CE) is represented by monumental architec-
munalized their curing ceremonies by creating medicine so-
ture and elaborately constellated settlement patterns that
cieties to fill the role played in less communally oriented
suggest extensive social networks over large regions. For rea-
societies by the individual shaman. (The Hopi are an excep-
sons we can only guess at—perhaps drought, war, disease,
tion, in that they still recognize individual medicine men and
population pressure, internal social strife, or all of these in
women.)
concert—the larger Anasazi pueblos had given way to the
In general, the religious activities oriented around sha-
smaller pueblos by the time of the earliest historical records
manic curing and the acquisition of personal power through
(c. 1540).
individual control over supernatural resources occur in those
How much change and persistence have occurred in re-
societies with less (or no) emphasis on agriculture and with-
ligion is an unfathomable problem. Nevertheless, the reli-
out concentrated settlement patterns. Communal ceremo-
gious conservatism of the modern Pueblos, as well as archae-
nies interwoven with the seasonal cycle predominate in agri-
ological indications (such as certain petroglyphs) suggest that
culture-dependent societies, which have developed highly
more than a few Pueblo religious practices have persisted for
elaborate and complex ritual systems; as A˚ke Hultkranz
a very long time. These two factors—the conservatism and
states, “No other Amerindian societies lay so much stress on
antiquity of Pueblo religious practices—reflect another
ceremonialism” as do the Pueblos.
prominent characteristic: that the more important Pueblo
SEVERAL CAVEATS TO STUDENTS OF SOUTHWEST RELI-
beliefs and ritual practices are deliberately and rigorously pre-
GIONS. A key problem facing the student of Southwest Indi-
served by an all-encompassing cloak of secrecy. The Pueblos
an religions is sociocultural change. The Spanish conquest
have been and remain today extremely reluctant to reveal
and colonization of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
anything beyond the superficial aspects of their religious life.
affected all Southwest cultures, though individual peoples
No anthropologists, apart from native Pueblo individuals,
were treated differently. Our knowledge of indigenous reli-
have been allowed to conduct extended resident field re-
gious beliefs and practices is in some cases (for example, the
search by any of the Eastern Pueblos. Questions about reli-
Seri) severely limited by the wholesale abandonment of in-
gion meet with evasion or a purposive silence. Often infor-
digenous beliefs and their replacement with Christian con-
mation obtained by outsiders has been gathered in unusual
cepts. Syncretism of traditional and introduced forms is, as
ways, such as by interviewing individuals in hotel rooms dis-
among the Yaqui and Mayo, so historically entrenched that
tant from their pueblos. Only limited aspects of Pueblo reli-
it is impossible to isolate the threads of precontact religious
gious performances are public; no non-Indian outsider has
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6722
NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE SOUTHWEST
been permitted to witness a kachina performance in any of
a sealed pot toward the eastern house of the Sun, but before
the Rio Grande pueblos since the seventeenth century.
he reached his destination he grew weary and decided,
against instructions, to lift the lid off the pot. All the stars
Secrecy is pervasive not simply to preserve the integrity
flew out and formed the Milky Way. In Zuni tradition, a su-
of traditional religion from the corrupting influences of the
pernatural slayer of monsters cut up one monster’s body
outside world, but also to protect the religious practices’ in-
parts and threw them into the sky, where they became the
tegrity within the pueblos themselves. Initiates into religious
stars.
societies are inculcated with the idea that their disclosure of
secret, ritually imparted knowledge will have dire supernatu-
The timing and methods of the creation of natural phe-
ral (their own or their relatives’ deaths) and social (their os-
nomena vary, but the trajectory of human progress is the
tracism from the pueblo) consequences. The result is that
same throughout the various Pueblo traditions. After their
knowledge of Pueblo religion is fragmentary, flimsy, and in
emergence onto the earth’s surface through an opening re-
some cases inaccurate. We do know something of the surface
ferred to as an “earth navel,” the people migrated over the
contours of Pueblo religion, and these are discussed below.
earth, stopping at locations that are identified by oral tradi-
In deference to the Pueblos’ rights to maintain their religions
tion with the numerous ruins throughout the Southwest, be-
as they see fit, perhaps this surface level is as far as we may
fore reaching their final destination in the present-day vil-
conscionably prosecute our inquiries.
lages. Variant migration patterns reflect differing forms of
T
social organization: the matrilineal clans of the Hopi migrat-
HE PUEBLO COSMOS. In Pueblo thought generally, there
is no absolute origin of life or of human beings. Although
ed independently and arrived at the present Hopi towns as
there have been a number of transformations since the earli-
separate units, whereas the two moieties of the Tewa— Win-
est times, the earth and the people have always existed. Ac-
ter and Summer—migrated down opposite banks of the Rio
cordingly, there is less concern with primordial origins than
Grande from their Emergence point in the north.
with the process through which human beings were trans-
Hence Pueblo origin myths emphasize the process of be-
formed into their present state of being from previous states.
coming the Pueblo peoples of the present. Each pueblo is
Southwest peoples in general envision a multilayered
highly independent, and, but for exceptional occasions re-
cosmos whose structure is basically tripartite: “below,” “this
quiring dire responses (such as in the Pueblo Revolt of 1680
level,” and “above.” Each level has subdivisions, but the
or during severe famines), there is no political unity among
number and character of the subdivisions vary from culture
pueblos whatsoever. Such independence is reflected in Pueb-
to culture. All the Pueblos believe themselves to have origi-
lo worldview: each pueblo regards itself as the center of the
nated beneath the present earth’s surface. The layer below
bounded universe. Forces radiate both centripetally from the
is characterized as a previous world, or as several previous
outer limits and centrifugally from a shrine at the pueblo’s
worlds (or “wombs”) stacked one atop another. The Zuni
center, which is represented as the heart of the cosmos. Thus
and the Keresans conceive of four previous worlds, the Hopi
the Zuni are “the people of the middle place,” the Hopi of
of three, and the Tewa only one. The last world “below” lies
Second Mesa live at the universe center, and each of the vari-
under a lake or under the earth’s surface. At the beginning
ous Tewa villages lies about its “earth-mother earth-navel
of the present age, the people were impelled—by supernatu-
middle place” (Ortiz, 1969, p. 21). The outer limits of the
ral signs in some versions of the Emergence story, by the
world are marked variously. Among the Eastern Pueblos and
need to flee evil in other versions—to seek a new life in the
the Acoma and Laguna, the world is a rectangular flat surface
world above. By methods that vary from story to story (in
(although of course broken by topography) bounded by sa-
some versions by climbing a tree, in others a giant reed), the
cred mountains in the cardinal directions. For the Zuni, the
people ascended to this level. The earth’s condition was soft,
surface is circular and is surrounded by oceans that are con-
and it required hardening. This was accomplished with the
nected by underworld rivers. The Hopi world is more ab-
supernatural aid of the War Twins, who are found among
stractly bounded, although sacred mountains and rivers act
all the Pueblo groups, or it was done by a human being with
as circumscribing features.
special powers—for example by the Winter Chief, who in
All Pueblo worlds are rigorously aligned by six cardinal
the Tewa story hardened the ground with cold.
directions, four of which correspond to our north, west,
south, and east (or, in the Hopi case, sunrise and sunset
Accounts differ with regard to the creation of the Sun,
points on the horizon at the solstices—roughly northwest,
Moon, and stars and to the origin of cultigens. For the East-
southwest, southeast, and northeast) and the zenith and
ern Pueblos, the Sun was a beckoning force encouraging the
nadir. From the viewpoint of its inhabitants, each pueblo lies
people’s ascent into this world. In Hopi tradition, by con-
at the center formed by the intersection of the axes of op-
trast, the ritual leaders had to create the Sun and Moon by
posed directions. The directions are symbolized by numer-
flinging disks of buckskin or cotton into the sky. After the
ous devices: colors, mammals, birds, snakes, trees, shells, sa-
Emergence, the Hopi met with a quasi-anthropomorphous
cred lakes, deity houses, and so forth.
supernatural, Maasawu, who introduced them to maize,
beans, and squash. The stars were formed, the Hopi recount,
The Zuni and the Tewa seem to have elaborated the
by Coyote’s negligence. Coyote had been instructed to carry
axial schema to the greatest extent. For the Zuni, the six di-
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE SOUTHWEST
6723
rections serve as a multipurpose organizational model for so-
surface of the earth. But each of these figures has multiple
ciety—in terms of matrilineal clan groupings, priesthood so-
aspects and cannot be neatly slotted into an abstract cosmic
dalities, kiva (ceremonial chamber) groupings—and for
layer. Through his power to shoot lightning like arrows, Soo-
nature, in that the taxonomy of species is directionally
tukw-nangw is also an important war deity, and Maasawu,
framed. The fourfold plan (i.e., excluding the vertical axis)
especially, has a cluster of characteristics. He is associated
of the earth’s surface is represented by the Tewa as a series
with fire, war, death, and the night, and he looks and behaves
of concentric tetrads, which are marked by four mountains
in a more manlike fashion than do the deities of above and
at their extremities and by four flat-topped hills, four direc-
below. Supernaturals associated with cosmic features also
tional shrines, and four village plazas as the center is ap-
embody moral principles (Maasawu represents humility,
proached. Neither is this a static abstraction in Tewa belief:
conservatism, lack of avarice, serious commitment to the du-
ritual dancers in the plazas must face the four directions;
ties of life, and the terrifying consequences of excessive indi-
songs have four parts; and so forth. Each of the physical fea-
vidualism) and biological principles (Sootukwnangw’s light-
tures marking the corners of the concentric boundaries (the
ning arrows are associated with male fertilization). Further,
four mountains, hills, shrines, and plazas) is a place of power.
there is a plethora of other supernaturals who are not ar-
Each contains an “earth navel” that connects the three levels
ranged hierarchically but who crystallize a number of reli-
of the cosmos and that is presided over by particular super-
gious concerns. The Pueblo pantheon lacks systematization:
naturals.
supernaturals often overlap in meaning and function, and
this is further evident in the pattern of religious organization.
THE PUEBLO PANTHEON. Associated with the levels and sec-
Discrete segments of Pueblo society often focus exclusively
tors of the Pueblo world is a panoply of supernatural beings.
upon the sets of supernaturals under their control; individu-
Elsie C. Parsons (1939) divides these beings into collective
als not in a particular social segment do not have rights of
and individualized categories.
appeal to its set of deities, and they risk severe social repercus-
Collective supernaturals. The collective category sig-
sions for unauthorized attempts at intercourse with such
nally includes clouds, the dead, and the kachinas. Clouds and
deities.
the dead have an explicit association: the specific destiny of
The sun, regarded everywhere as male, is a powerful fer-
the deceased person depends upon the role he played during
tilizing force, the father in relation to the earth, who is the
life, but in general the dead become clouds. The cloud beings
mother. Traditionally, every individual was expected to offer
are classified according to the directions and, accordingly, as-
cornmeal and to say a prayer to the sun at dawn, when the
sociated with colors. Kachina is a fluid spiritual concept that
sun leaves his house (or kiva) at the eastern edge of the world
refers both to supernatural beings and to their masked imper-
and begins his journey to his western house. Prayers to the
sonators at Pueblo ceremonies. Kachinas appear in numerous
sun refer to the desire for a long and untroubled path of life
guises and represent many features of the natural and super-
for each individual. After a period of seclusion in darkness,
natural worlds. They are dramatized in masked imperson-
the newborn Pueblo infant is taken out and shown to the sun
ation and in stories, where they appear in the forms of ani-
to request a long and happy life and the sun’s beneficent at-
mals, plants, birds, the sun, and stars and as spirits such as
tention. As Father, the sun is equated with the care and spiri-
the War Twins, sky deities, culture heroes, and so on. Some
tual nurturance of his children. Songs are addressed to him
kachinas also represent game animals, and kachinas associat-
to ask for his life-giving powers of light and warmth, kept
ed with the directions are also linked with hunting. Kachinas
in balance so as not to burn the crops or dry them out. Sun
dwell in locations on the edges of the bounded world: in
is also a deity of hunting and war; the Keresans, Tiwa, and
mountains, for instance, or in lakes or other sites associated
Hopi seek his assistance in these endeavors.
with the powers of moisture. The three concepts of the dead,
the clouds, and the kachinas overlap: the dead may become
Other celestial deities. Less significant by comparison,
kachinas, and kachinas may manifest themselves as clouds.
other celestial deities include, first, the moon, who is various-
The interrelation among clouds, the dead, and kachinas
ly female (Zuni, where Moonlight-Giving Mother is the
points up a significant concern of Pueblo beliefs and ritual
sun’s wife) and male (Tewa, Towa, Tiwa). Moon is rarely
practices: the importance of rainfall in this largely arid envi-
addressed in prayer or song. In association with the sun and
ronment is paramount, and the kachinas, as rain spirits, have
some constellations, however, the moon’s movements and
the power to bring rain to nourish the crops—the central
phases are utilized to plan the calendrical cycle of ceremo-
link in the Pueblo chain of being.
nies. The antiquity of such practices is suggested by the nu-
merous lunar and solar marking devices found in prehistoric
Individualized supernaturals. In some respects, indi-
Puebloan sites, such as the well-known Sun-Dagger petro-
vidualized supernaturals reflect the arrangement of the cos-
glyphs in Chaco Canyon.
mos into levels. Thus among the Hopi, Sootukw-nangw
(“star-cumulus cloud”), the zenith deity, is associated with
The morning star and the constellations Orion and the
lightning and powerful rain; Muyingwu, an earth deity asso-
Pleiades have associations with war and with the timing of
ciated with the nadir, is the spirit of maize, germination, and
ceremonies. The movement of celestial phenomena is criti-
vegetation; and Maasawu is the guardian of this level, the
cally linked to the seasonal passage of the year. The ceremo-
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6724
NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE SOUTHWEST
nial moiety division of the Tewa into Winter and Summer
moisture, adequate heat and light, and the effective preven-
people, each of which has ritual and political charge of half
tion of many crop pests and of excessive wind and cold. Ritu-
the year, is an indication of the thoroughgoing nature of sea-
als concerning game animals and hunting may be divided ac-
sonal principles. The Hopi and Zuni divide their seasons by
cording to the species pursued. War society rituals are
the solstices, the Tewa by the equinoxes, but the pattern of
prophylactic, ensuring strength and success, as well as being
opposed dual principles is pervasive.
celebrations of victory and rituals of purifying and sacralizing
scalps taken in battle. Curing societies are organized accord-
Dawn is deified in the form of Dawn Youths (Tewa),
ing to the types of sicknesses they cure. “Bear medicine,”
Dawn Mothers (Zuni), and Dawn Woman (Hopi). At Hopi,
“Badger medicine,” and so forth are sympathetically and
Dawn Woman is linked with another female deity, Huruing-
contagiously associated with particular ailments and are used
wuuti (“hard substances woman”), who has a formative role
by societies of the same names to produce cures. Typically,
in the cosmogonic process. In the Keresan pueblos, she seems
societies are composed of small numbers of priests and some
to have a counterpart in Thought Woman, whose every
lay members, and each society follows an annual cycle of rit-
thought became manifest into substance. Thought Woman
ual undertakings. In their most spectacular forms, such un-
mythologically precedes Iyatiku, a chthonic being who is the
dertakings climax in dramatic public performances at speci-
mother of people, kachinas, game, and maize and who occu-
fied times of the calendrical cycle.
pies the most prominent role in the Keresan pantheon. Iya-
tiku is in some respects parallel to Muyingwu, the Hopi
Hopi religious societies. An examination of Hopi reli-
maize and germination deity of the below. The principle of
gious societies provides insight into the structure of such so-
human and animal fertility is represented at Hopi by Tiikuy-
cieties in Pueblo cultures generally. In Hopi thought, the re-
wuuti (“child-water woman”), who is Muyin-gwu’s sister.
ligious societies have different degrees of importance and
confer different degrees of power on the initiated. A ranking
Other common supernaturals. This group includes
of the societies into three orders of ascending importance
the War Twins, who are war gods, culture heroes, and pa-
may be constructed as follows (translations are given where
trons of gamblers; the maternal spirit animating the earth
Hopi names are translatable): Kachina and Powamuy are
(whose body parts may be represented by vegetation, hills,
third-order societies; Blue Flute, Gray Flute, Snake, Ante-
and canyons); the Feathered and Horned Serpent, who lives
lope, Lakon, and Owaqöl are second-order societies; and
in the water forms of the earth—springs, pools, rivers, the
Wuwtsim, One Horn, Two Horn, Singers, Soyalangw, and
oceans—and who is a dangerous, powerful water deity re-
Maraw are first-order societies.
sponsible for floods and earthquakes; Spider Grandmother,
a cosmogonic creator whom the Hopi consider grandmother
Each of these societies focuses upon a different set of su-
of the War Twins; Salt Woman or Salt Man, deities of salt
pernatural beings and a different set of specific concerns. The
lakes and other salt sources; Fire Old Woman, Ash Man, and
ranking into three orders parallels the age requirements for
Ash Boy, with obvious associations; a giant eagle, or Knife
initiation into particular societies. All children aged six to ten
Wing (Zuni), one of several war deities; Poseyemu, generally
(male and female) are initiated into either (the choice is their
father of the curing societies, a miracle worker, and a possible
parents’) the Kachina or the Powamuy society. After this ini-
syncretic counterpart of Christ; the master spirits of particu-
tiation, they are eligible to join second-order societies, al-
lar animals, such as Bear, Badger, Mountain Lion, Wolf, and
though not all individuals will actually join. (Second-order
Coyote, who are patrons of specific curing societies; the sun’s
societies are distinguished by sex: Lakon and Owaqöl are fe-
children, patrons of the clown societies; and many others.
male; the rest male.) At about age sixteen, all males (tradi-
Each of these supernatural entities embodies a different
tionally) are initiated into one of the four manhood societies
form of power. They are, however, discrete forms and not
(Wuwtsim, One-Horn, Two-Horn, Singers) and females
subsumable under a concept of pervasive supernatural power
into the Maraw (womanhood) society. Initiation into one of
such as mana or orenda. They may be harnessed by human
the manhood societies, together with birthright, is prerequi-
beings and used to transform events and states in the world.
site to participation in the Soyalangw society; since this soci-
Access to power is, however, strictly limited in these societies
ety carries no formal initiation, it can be regarded as a more
and is based upon initiation into a religious sodality and, es-
exclusive extension of the manhood societies.
pecially, a priestly office. There is no vision quest whereby
The ceremonial cycle. The public dimension of each
power (at least for males) is democratically accessible.
society’s activities is concentrated at particular points in an
RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATION AND RITUAL PRACTICE. The
annual liturgy. The beginning of the year, which is reckoned
basic form of religious organization in the pueblos consists
in lunar months, falls from late October to late November
of ritual societies, which serve a variety of purposes. Pueblo
and is marked by the manhood society ceremonies. Follow-
religion focuses on a number of issues: agricultural fertility
ing an eight-day retreat in the kivas (semisubterranean cere-
and productivity, human fertility, fertility and productivity
monial chambers), which involves private rituals, two of the
of game animals, war, and curing. These major issues are fur-
societies (the Wuwtsim and the Singers) process slowly
ther divisible into aspects. Thus agricultural concerns are
around the village in two facing columns. (Members of both
trained on the attainment of adequate—but not excessive—
societies are in each column.) The columns are “guarded” at
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE SOUTHWEST
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both ends by some members of the Two-Horn society. The
same kachina. Often a kachina represents many elements and
Wuwtsim and Singers sing songs composed for the occasion,
practices simultaneously and contains a thick condensation
some of which poke fun at the sexual proclivities of the
of symbolic devices. Some kachinas (“chief kachinas”) are
Maraw society (the women’s counterpart to the Wuwtsim
more important than others and are “owned” by particular
society). The remaining members of the Two-Horn society
clans and regarded as significant clan deities. Usually from
and all the One-Horns are meanwhile continuing with pri-
January through March kachinas appear in groups to dance
vate rituals in their respective kivas. After the final circuit of
at night in the kivas; for the remainder of the kachina season,
the Wuwtsim and Singers, all the Two-Horn and One-Horn
they appear during the day to dance in the village plaza. Dur-
members, in two separate processions (which are dramatic
ing daytime performances, the kachinas may be accompanied
although unaccompanied by song) visit a series of shrines
by a group of unmasked sacred clowns, who conduct a cere-
around the village and deposit offerings. Each manhood soci-
mony in parallel to the kachina performance. Clowns are
ety is regarded as complementary to the other three, and each
given broad license and are social commentators par excel-
is associated with a particular religious concern: the Wuwt-
lence. They expose numerous social aberrancies on the part
sim and Singers with fertility, the Two-Horns with hunting
of village members and poke fun at everything from sacred
and game animals, and the One-Horns with the dead and
ceremonial actions to current events.
with supernatural protection of the village.
The two most important kachina ceremonies occur in
A month later, at the time of the winter solstice, the
February (Powamuy, “the bean dance”) and in July (Niman,
Soyalangw ceremony occurs. This is one of the most complex
“the home dance”). At Powamuy, children may be initiated
Hopi ceremonies and involves the participation of the most
into either the Kachina or Powamuy society in an evening
important priests in the village. They ritually plan the events
ceremony inside a kiva. During the day a large and multifari-
of the coming year and perform a variety of ritual activities
ous assemblage of kachinas proceeds in ceremonial circuits
concerned with reversing the northward movement of the
around the village. This facinating and beautiful pageant fea-
sun and with the regeneration of human, floral (both wild
tures a series of minipageants occurring in different parts of
and cultivated), faunal (wild and domestic), and meteorolog-
the village simultaneously. Powamuy purifies the earth and
ical harmony. Several key themes of Hopi religious concern
also prefigures the planting season. Beans are germinated in
are sounded in this winter solstice ceremony, which renews
soil boxes in the kivas by the artificial warmth of constant
and reorients the world and man’s position within it. After
fires. During the day of the public pageant, the bean plants
Soyalangw, game animal dances are held (nowadays particu-
are distributed by kachinas to each household, where they are
larly Buffalo Dances). These are regarded as “social” dances,
cooked in a stew. At the same time the kachinas distribute
as are a group of dances performed in September, which in-
painted wooden kachina dolls and basketry plaques to girls
clude, among others, Butterfly Dances and “Navajo
and painted bows and arrows to boys, ensuring their futures
Dances.” The distinction between social dances and sacred
as fertile mothers and brave warrior-hunters.
performances is not completely clear; songs sung at social
dances frequently express desires for beneficial climatic con-
The Niman (“homegoing”) ceremony, marks the last
ditions, and in general the social dances evince continuity
kachina performance of the year. At the close of Niman, the
with the religious concerns of the sacred performances.
kachinas are formally “sent” by several priests back to their
Clearly, however, the social dances are regarded with less so-
mountainous homes in the San Francisco Peaks and else-
lemnity, and there are only minor religious proscriptions on
where. They are requested to take the prayers of the people
the performers.
back with them and to present them to the community of
kachina spirits.
The Soyalangw ceremony opens the kachina “season.”
Kachinas are impersonated in repeated public performances
The kachina season is followed by the season of “un-
from January to July. As has been noted, the kachina concept
masked” ceremonies. In August occur the Snake-Antelope
is multiple. The kachina costume worn by impersonator-
ceremonies or the Flute ceremonies, the performance of
performers includes a mask (there are more than three hun-
which alternates from year to year. In either case, the two so-
dred kinds) and specific garments and body paints. The
cieties from which the ceremonies take their names come to-
Hopi regard the masked representations of kachinas to be
gether at this time to perform complex rituals that last nine
fully efficacious manifestations of the kachina spirits; when
days. The Snake-Antelope rites include a public performance
speaking English, they avoid the term mask because of the
in which the Snake men slowly dance in pairs around the
implication that “masking” is somehow less than real. Many
plaza while the Antelope men form a horseshoe-shaped line
kachinas have distinct emblematic calls and stylized body
around them and intone chants. The Snake-Antelope and
movements. Kachina performers represent a great variety of
the Flute ceremonies are densely expressive. Both include a
spirits, including those of plant and animal species, deities,
magical attempt to bring clouds over the fields to give rain
and mythological figures of both benign (e.g., the “mud-
to the crops; both mark the sun’s passage; and both drama-
heads”) and severe (e.g., the cannibal ogres) countenance.
tize the mythological entrance of particular clans into the
Positive and negative social values are sometimes fused in the
village.
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE SOUTHWEST
Following these ceremonies in the annual liturgy come
the mother of people, since it is the primary sustainer of
the ceremonies of the women’s societies. The Lakon and
human life. “Corn is life,” the Hopi say. Two perfect ears of
Owaqöl, both referred to in English as Basket Dances, fea-
white maize are given to a newborn child as its “mothers”;
ture a circular dance in the plaza. Selected society members
when a person dies, ears of blue maize similarly accompany
run in and out of the circle throwing gifts to the men, who
him on his journey beyond life. Maize seeds, ears, tassels,
throng the edges of the circle and dispute over the gifts. Both
milk, pollen, and meal all serve as sacramental elements in
Lakon and Owaqöl women hold basketry plaques in front
differing contexts. Moreover, other important symbols are
of them while they sing. The Maraw society’s ceremony fea-
related to the maize cycle. Clouds, rains, lightning, feathered
tures a similar circle in which women hold long prayer-sticks.
serpents, and various species associated with water, such as
A number of other rites occur during the nine-day Maraw,
frogs, ducks, reeds, and so forth, all underline a paramount
including burlesques of male ceremonial activities. Maraw
interest in securing water for maize.
rites relate to war and fertility; Lakon and Owaqöl rites stress
Two devices, above all others, serve as mechanisms for
fertility and the celebration of the harvest.
establishing holiness or for communicating with supernatu-
This bare outline of the Hopi ceremonial cycle reveals
ral forces: cornmeal and prayer feathers. Corn-meal is an all-
some basic concerns of Pueblo religion. The timing of cere-
purpose sanctifying substance; it is sprinkled on kachina
monies is intimately connected with the annual progress of
dancers, used to form spiritual paths for kachinas and the
nature. The kachina performances are especially related to
dead, offered to the sun and to one’s own field of growing
the life cycle of cultivated plants, and they occur at critical
maize plants, and accompanies all forms of private and pub-
points in this cycle. The first ceremonies of the year prefigure
lic prayer. The act of making a prayer to various supernatural
the planting and successful fruition of crops; they are de-
forms with the sprinkled offering of cornmeal may be consid-
signed to bring snow and rain to saturate the earth with
ered the most fundamental religious act for the Hopi as for
moisture, which will remain there until planting occurs in
all the Pueblos.
April. The daytime kachina performances likewise seek rain-
Feathers of many different bird species are used in innu-
fall to help the crops grow. Niman, the Homegoing, signals
merable ways in Hopi ritual; they are worn in the hair and
the end of the early phases of crop maturation; the kachinas’
around arms and ankles, and they decorate kachina masks,
departure suggests that the spirits of the crops are sufficiently
altars, and religious society emblems. Prayer sticks and prayer
mature no longer to require the kachinas’ nurturance. The
feathers are the two basic forms of feather offerings. Prayer
Snake-Antelope and Flute ceremonies complete the course
sticks, carved in human or supernatural forms, are living
of metaphysical encouragement and nourishment of the
manifestations of prayer and are simultaneously petitions for
crops. Coming at the hottest, driest time of the year, they
aid. Feathers are regarded as particularly effective vehicles for
invoke powerful forces to bring one last bout of rain to en-
conveying messages to supernaturals: they “carry” the prayers
sure the full maturing of the crops and to prevent the sun’s
of people with them.
fierce gaze from withering them. The women’s society Basket
Dances celebrate the success of the harvest by the joyful dis-
COMPARISONS. It is evident from the Hopi situation that re-
tribution of basketry plaques and household goods.
ligious action is multiple. There is no single set of activities
we can demarcate as “Hopi religion” as distinct from Hopi
Private rituals. All ceremonies include private rituals in
agriculture or even Hopi politics, since political activity goes
kivas prior to the public performance. Typically such private
on even within the context of private ceremonial gatherings.
rituals include the construction of an altar, which consists of
Also, the exclusiveness of religious societies above the third
a rectangular sand painting in front of a vertical assemblage
order suggests a socially fragmented pattern of religious belief
of painted and carved wooden pieces that incorporate sym-
and practice. Religious knowledge is highly valued and tight-
bolic designs of birds, animals, and supernaturals. The sand
ly guarded, and it serves as the primary means of making sta-
painting also incorporates many symbolic elements. Long
tus distinctions in Hopi society. Hopi explanations of the di-
songs are incanted over the altar, and tobacco is ceremonially
versity of their religious activities point to historical
smoked and blown to portray clouds. (Smoking binds to-
circumstances: each cult is identified with a particular clan
gether the hearts of the priests as they pass the pipe around
that introduced it when the clan negotiated admission to the
a circle and gives them a collective power to express their
village in the distant past. Although lay cult members may
prayers more forcefully.) The kiva itself is a multiplex sym-
be from any clan, the chief priests should always be of the
bol: it is axially oriented by the directions, and at its center
clan which “owns” the ceremony. In part, then, ceremonial
is a hole representing the sipapu, the place of emergence from
performances celebrate separate clan identities and mark off
the world below. The kiva’s four levels, from the underfloor
particular ritual activities as the exclusive prerogative of par-
to the roof, are identified with the worlds through which
ticular clans. This pattern of closed ceremonial societies with
man has ascended; the passage into this world is portrayed
exclusive rights in certain forms of religious action is a funda-
by the sipapu and the kiva ladder that leads to the roof.
mental characteristic of Pueblo religion.
MAIZE SYMBOLISM AND RITUAL. Maize is the dominant,
The Zuni cult system. Other Pueblo groups depart sig-
pervasive symbol of Hopi religious life. Maize is regarded as
nificantly from the Hopi scheme yet still exhibit similarities
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE SOUTHWEST
6727
that suggest some common patterns of belief and practice.
Each cult has a cycle that includes private and public ritual
Ethnologists have identified six major types of cults or socie-
actions and that begins and ends with the winter solstice. As
ties among the Zuni.
among the Hopi, the year is divided by the solstices. From
1. The Sun cult. Responsibility for the important re-
winter to summer solstice, the main focuses of ceremonial
ligiopolitical officer called the pekwin (Sun priest) be-
action are medicine, war, and human and game-animal fer-
longs to the Sun cult. Membership is restricted to males,
tility. Throughout the summer, ceremonial emphasis is upon
and the sodality conducts its ceremonies at the solstices.
rain and the maturation of the crops. At the solstices, all
major religious interests converge. Thus at Zuni, religious or-
2. The Uwanami (“rainmakers”) cult. This cult is com-
ganization shows significant differences of emphasis, formal-
posed of twelve distinct priesthoods of from two to six
ly and functionally, though these appear as nuances rather
members each. Membership is hereditary within certain
than radical divergences. Overall, there appears to be greater
matrilineal families. Each priesthood holds retreats (but
emphasis on curing and less on agriculture than at Hopi, a
no public ceremonies) during the summer months from
difference of emphasis that intensifies as one moves on to
July through September.
Pueblo groups further east.
3. The Kachina cult. Unlike the Hopi Kachina society,
Keresan Pueblo religious practice. Among the Kere-
membership in the Zuni Kachina society is not open to
san Pueblos—Acoma and Laguna to the west, Santo Domin-
females. The cult has six divisions, which are associated
go, Cochiti, San Felipe, Santa Ana, and Zia to the east on
with the six directions and are accordingly head-
the Rio Grande and its tributaries—the chief religious orga-
quartered in six kivas. Each kiva group dances at least
nizations are referred to as “medicine societies.” With varia-
three times per year: in summer, in winter following the
tions from pueblo to pueblo, the basic pattern consists of
solstice, and following the Shalako ceremony in late No-
four major medicine societies—Flint, Cikame (an untrans-
vember or early December.
latable Keresan word), Giant, and Fire—and a number of
4. The cult of the kachina priests. Whereas the Kachina soci-
minor societies, including Ant, Bear, Eagle, and Lizard. The
ety is primarily concerned with rain and moisture, the
medicine societies conduct a communal curing ceremony in
cult of the kachina priests focuses on fecundity—of
the spring, echoing a theme of the Hopi Bean Dance, and
human beings and game animals. The kachina priests
they hold performances throughout the year to effect the
are responsible for the six Shalako kachinas, the ten-
cure of individual patients. The societies also have rainmak-
foot-tall, birdlike figures whose appearance marks the
ing functions, which they fulfill at private ritual retreats dur-
most spectacular of Zuni religious dramas, and for the
ing the summer months. Reportedly, these societies erect al-
koyemsi (“mudhead”) kachinas, who are at once danger-
tars and construct sand paintings similar to those described
ously powerful beings and foolish clowns. Other kachi-
for the Hopi and the Zuni. The same major sacramental ele-
nas under the charge of the kachina priests appear at sol-
ments—prayer sticks and cornmeal—are central vehicles for
stice ceremonies, at the Shalako ceremonies, and every
religious action, and extensive songs and prayers designed to
fourth year at the time when newcomers are initiated
make unseen power manifest in the world are a key part of
into the general Kachina cult.
ceremonial content. The medicine societies also have impor-
tant roles in solstitial ceremonies aimed at reversing the
5. The War Gods cult. The Bow priesthood, which is exclu-
course of the sun.
sively male, controls the War Gods cult. Traditionally,
initiation required the taking of an enemy’s scalp. The
Other important Keresan societies include a paired
Bow priests are leaders in war and protectors of the vil-
group: the Koshare, which is a clown society parallel in many
lage, and they serve as the executive arm of the re-
ways to Hopi clown societies, and the Kwirena, which is pri-
ligiopolitical hierarchy, in which role they prosecute
marily associated with weather control. A Hunters society,
witches. (The extinct Momtsit society may have been
with a permanently installed “hunt chief,” and a Warriors so-
the Hopi counterpart of the Bow priests.)
ciety, composed of scalp-takers, are other important societies
that traditionally held ceremonies during the winter. A vil-
6. The Beast Gods cult. The cult is overseen by twelve cur-
lage-wide Kachina society is divided into two ceremonial
ing societies, and membership is open to both men and
moieties, Turquoise and Squash, associated with the two
women. Each society focuses on a particular source of
kivas in the village. Kachina performances by both moieties
supernatural power, which is embodied in the bear,
occur during fall and winter, but especially during the sum-
mountain lion, or another predatory animal. The indi-
mer immediately following the rainmaking retreats of the
vidual societies practice general medicine, but each also
medicine societies. These retreats include a supernatural
specializes in healing specific afflictions. The collective
journey to the sipapu, from which the kachinas are brought
ceremonies of the societies are held in the fall and win-
back to the village. As among other Pueblo groups, ritual ac-
ter.
tivities among the Keresans are dominated by males; al-
The division of Zuni religious practice into cults is underpin-
though both sexes may join medicine societies, women serve
ned by an extremely complex ceremonial calendar that coor-
as secondary assistants, and only men may perform as
dinates and interrelates ritual activities throughout the year.
kachinas.
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE SOUTHWEST
The climatic and ecological situation of the Keresan
kivas (which are divided into three on the “north side” and
Pueblos is of much greater reliability than that of the Hopi.
three on the “south side” of the pueblo) houses a religious
The Keresans’ religious concern with the agricultural cycle
society. Kiva society initiation involves a set of rituals pro-
is evident, but, since the Keresans have irrigation and more
longed over a number of years and is restricted by inheritance
plentiful precipitation, they put less emphasis on the agricul-
to a select group. The kiva organization at Taos seems to
tural and more on the curing functions of religious societies.
serve the same purpose as religious societies at other pueblos.
A primary function of the more important medicine societies
At Taos, there is greater ritual emphasis upon game animals
is to combat witchcraft by evil-hearted human beings and
and hunting, in line with the pueblo’s close cultural ties with
evil supernaturals, which is believed to be the cause of illness.
Plains peoples, than there is upon the agricultural cycle. Taos
Witchcraft is, and has been historically, a profound concern
may be the only pueblo in which kachinas are not represent-
of Hopi and Zuni also, although at Hopi the concern
ed in masked performances. Picuris seems traditionally to
receives less concerted attention from the major religious
have done so, and it otherwise exhibits more religious simi-
societies.
larity with the Tewa pueblos than it does with Taos, its close
linguistic neighbor. Kachinas do occur, however, in Taos
The theme of dualism, which appears at Hopi and Zuni
myths.
in the form of the solstitial switching of ritual emphases, is
manifested at the Keresan Pueblos with the division of the
The southern Tiwa in Isleta pueblo have a system of cer-
ceremonial organization into moieties centered in two kivas.
emonial moieties divided into Winter (Black Eyes) and Sum-
Tewa, Tiwa, and Towa religious systems. The theme
mer (Red Eyes), each with its “moiety house” (which is
of dualism in Southwest religion achieves perhaps its maxi-
equivalent to a kiva). In addition, Isleta Pueblo’s five Corn
mum expression in the religious life of the six Tewa pueblos:
groups, associated with directions and colors, seem to parallel
San Juan, Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, Tesuque, Nambe, and
kiva organizations at Taos. The moieties conduct seasonal
Pojoaque. The division of people into Winter and Summer
transfer ceremonies similar to those at Tewa pueblos, and
ceremonial moieties is part of a thoroughgoing dual scheme
likewise each moiety controls the ritual activities for the sea-
phrased in terms of seasonal opposition. The division of sig-
son over which it presides. The ceremonial cycle is attenuat-
nificance among the Tewa is by equinoxes; the seasonal
ed in comparison with that at other pueblos; there is a Land
transfer ceremony that is held (roughly) at each equinox
Turtle Dance in the spring and a Water Turtle Dance in the
places one or the other of the ceremonial moieties in charge
fall. Although unverified, it has been reported that kachina
of the village for the following season. Hence there are two
performances are conducted by a colony of Laguna Pueblo
overarching religious leaders, or caciques, each the head of
people who have lived in Isleta since the late nineteenth
a moiety. The calendar of religious activities is planned in
century.
accordance with the division into summer (agricultural activ-
Jemez, the only modern representative of the Towa
ities) and winter (nonagricultural activities).
Pueblos, exhibits an extraordinarily complex ceremonial or-
Typically, each Tewa pueblo has two kivas in which the
ganization, with twenty-three religious societies and two kiva
ceremonial moieties are headquartered. There are eight reli-
moieties. Every Jemez male is initiated into either the Eagle
gious societies in all: the Winter and Summer moiety socie-
society or the Arrow society; other societies are more exclu-
ties, each headed by a moiety priest; the Bear Medicine soci-
sive. Societies can be classified according to function: curing,
ety; the Kwirena (“cold clowns”) and Kossa (“warm clowns”)
rainmaking and weather control, fertility, war and protec-
societies; the Hunt society; the Scalp society; and the
tion, and hunting. The Jemez ceremonial cycle includes a se-
Women’s society. The most intensive ritual activity occurs
ries of retreats by the different religious societies. In the sum-
between the autumnal and vernal equinoxes. This contrasts
mer, these celebrate agricultural growth; in the fall the
with the Hopi model, in which the most active part of the
ripening of crops; in the winter war, rain, ice, snow, and
cycle occurs from the winter to the summer solstice (and just
game animals; and in the spring the renewal of the forces of
thereafter). Parallel elements are otherwise clear: religious-
life. The two ceremonial kiva moieties are Turquoise and
society organization among the Tewa is reminiscent of the
Squash, the same as among the eastern Keresans, and al-
nearby Keresans. Religious concerns, too, are similar be-
though the principle of dualism is in evidence it is not so pro-
tween the Tewa and Keresan Pueblos, though the Tewa
nounced as among the Tewa.
Pueblos place less emphasis on curing. The main sacraments
LIFE, DEATH, AND BEYOND. The Pueblos hold that an indi-
are the same; the kachina performance is a fundamental reli-
vidual’s life follows a path, or plan, that is present in his fate
gious practice, though more restricted here than among the
from birth. A long, good life and a peaceful death in old age
Hopi, Zuni, and western Keresans.
are the main requests contained in prayers delivered at the
The traditional religious practices of the Tiwa pueb-
birth of a new person. Through the course of maturation,
los—Taos and Picuris in the north and Sandia and Isleta in
the person becomes increasingly incorporated, in a ritual
the south—are the least well known. Taos, in particular, has
sense, into the world. So the Tewa, for example, perform a
been most effective in protecting matters it regards as not ap-
series of childhood baptismal rites—“name giving,” “water
propriate for public consumption. At Taos, each of the six
giving,” “water pouring,” and “finishing”—that progressive-
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NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE SOUTHWEST
6729
ly fix and identify the individual in relation to the forces of
oppression, all the pueblos united in an uprising in 1680,
society and the cosmos. Religious society initiations and
under the leadership of Popé, a Tewa priest. Many Spanish
marriage mark further passages in the individual’s path of
priests and colonists were killed, and the rest were forced to
life.
withdraw from New Mexico. Most of the pueblos immedi-
ately dismantled their missions. The Oraibi Hopi record that
Beliefs about and rituals surrounding death reveal some
in the Great Pueblo Revolt the Roman Catholic priests were
of the most essential features of Pueblo conceptions of the
actually killed by warrior kachinas, symbolically demonstrat-
nature of existence. I have noted above the association be-
ing the spiritual rectitude of the action and the greater power
tween the dead, clouds, and kachina spirits. In general, Pueb-
of the indigenous religion.
los believe that when a person dies, the spirit, or breath, re-
turns to the place of the Emergence and becomes
Removed from the mainstream of Spanish settlements,
transformed into cloud. Cloud spirits have myriad conceptu-
the Hopi never allowed Spanish missions to be built among
al associations, and the dead (or certain of them) may like-
them again, and their religious practices remained free of
wise be given special associations. So, although clouds are
Franciscan influence. The other Pueblos all suffered the rees-
generally regarded as the spirits of all the ancestral dead, dis-
tablishment of missions after the Spanish reconquest of the
tinctions are also made between different afterlife destina-
1690s. The influence of the missions depended upon the reg-
tions, which vary according to the status the deceased person
ularity and zeal with which they were staffed. At Zuni, a des-
held while alive.
ultory missionary presence seems to have had little impact
All the Pueblos distinguish between two kinds of peo-
on traditional religious forms. The Rio Grande pueblos, on
ple: those who hold important religious offices (or who are
the other hand, came under a great deal of Franciscan influ-
initiated members of religious societies) and everyone else.
ence. These pueblos are all nominally Catholic and observe
The former are regarded as supernaturally and socially pow-
many ceremonies of the Christian calendar. Each town has
erful, ritually significant people; the latter are commoners.
a patron saint and holds a large dance—called a Corn Dance
For the Tewa, the distinction is between “made,” or “com-
or Tablita Dance—to celebrate the saint’s day. The dance is
pleted,” people and “dry food” people; for the Zuni, the dis-
thoroughly indigenous in character; however, a Christian
tinction is between valuable and ceremonially poor, or un-
shrine honoring the saint stands at one side of the plaza dur-
valuable, people; among the Keresans the term sishti
ing the dance. At the conclusion of the dance, all the partici-
(“commoners”) denotes those without ceremonial affiliation;
pants enter the church and offer prayers and thanks in a
and for the Hopi, the distinction is between pavansinom
Christian fashion. Thus the two traditions coexist in a “com-
(“powerful” or “completed” people) and sukavungsinom
partmentalized” fashion. In some areas, such as rites of pas-
(common people).
sage, Christian practices have supplanted indigenous Pueblo
forms, especially in those pueblos that have become increas-
The afterlife fate of these different categories may vary
ingly acculturated during the twentieth century (Pojoaque,
from one Pueblo group to another. Deceased members of the
Isleta, Picuris, and Laguna are examples). Many Eastern
Hopi Two-Horn and One-Horn societies judge the newly
Pueblos have also taken over Spanish and Mexican religious
dead at the house of the dead. Witches, suffering a different
dramas, such as the Matachine performances, which are also
fate from that enjoyed by the righteous, may be transformed
practiced among the Yaqui, Mayo, and Tarahumara.
into stinkbugs! Zuni rain priests join the uwanami spirits
who live in the waters, whereas Zuni Bow priests join their
Protestant churches have been attempting to proselytize
spiritual counterparts in the world above as makers of light-
the Pueblos since the latter nineteenth century, though in
ning. Other religious society members return to the place of
general without much success. Despite sustained longterm
the Emergence, but Zuni commoners go to “kachina village,”
efforts by the Mennonites, Baptists, Methodists, Roman
the home of the kachinas, which is at a distance of two days’
Catholics, Mormons, and Jehovah’s Witnesses among the
walk to the west of Zuni. In short, the social and religious
Hopi, their rate of conversion to Christianity has remained
organization in life is replicated in the organization of the
below 10 percent. On the other hand, major Christian holi-
dead.
days such as Christmas and Easter are popular occasions and
may be having some impact on traditional religion. A kachi-
SYNCRETISM AND CHANGE. The Pueblos were first exposed
na dance is regularly scheduled for Easter weekend nowa-
to Christian practices through the Franciscan friars who ac-
days, and among the array of presents they bring the kachinas
companied Francisco Vasquez de Coronado during his ex-
include baskets of colored eggs. Regarding other nontradi-
ploration of the Southwest (1540–1542). When the Prov-
tional religions, only at Taos has peyotism to some extent
ince of New Mexico was made a colony of Spain in 1598,
been adopted, and even there its practice is evidently kept
the Franciscan order was given special jurisdiction over the
compartmentalized and apart from both indigenous religious
souls of the Indians. Missions were built in most of the pueb-
practice and Catholicism.
los; tributes were exacted; strenuous discipline was enforced;
and extremely brutal punishments were levied for infractions
CONCLUSION. The religious traditions of other Indians of
of the total ban on indigenous religious practices. In reaction
the Southwest contain their own conceptual and historical
to this colonial domination, and especially to the religious
complexities. I have chosen to focus upon the Pueblos here
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

6730
NOWRU
¯ Z
because of the richness of their extant religious practices and
cha Titiev’s Old Oraibi: A Study of the Hopi Indians of the
because of the separate treatment that the Apache and the
Third Mesa (Cambridge, Mass., 1944) is perhaps the best
Navajo receive in this encyclopedia. This does not imply that
single account of the Hopi, although the second volume of
Pueblo religions are somehow representative of the religions
R. Maitland Bradfield’s A Natural History of Associations: A
of other native Southwest peoples, though certain Pueblo
Study in the Meaning of Community, 2 vols. (London, 1973),
themes are echoed in different ways among non-Pueblo peo-
brings together an enormous amount of earlier material on
Hopi religion for a novel synthesis. Alfonso Ortiz’s The Tewa
ples. Sodalities and clown societies exist among the Yaqui
World (Chicago, 1969) is the most sophisticated and best-
and Mayo; sand painting is practiced by the Navajo, Pima,
written account of any of the Pueblos, and it stands as the
and Papago; and masked impersonators of supernatural be-
single most essential monograph on one Pueblo people. Ed-
ings perform rainmaking dances among the Havasupai,
ward P. Dozier’s The Pueblo Indians of North America (New
Yavapai, Pima, and Papago: but these common threads occur
York, 1970) is a complete, concise summary concerning all
in cloths of quite different weaves. Let me emphasize at the
the Pueblos. New Perspectives on the Pueblos, edited by Alfon-
last that the indigenous Southwest is enormously diverse.
so Ortiz (Albuquerque, 1972), contains several articles on re-
The sheer complexity of its religious practices belies any at-
ligious practices and beliefs. Although somewhat difficult of
tempt to standardize these into a meaningful common
access for readers of English, two exceptionally good inter-
pattern.
pretations of Pueblo ritual and myth have appeared in
French: Jean Cazeneuve’s Les dieux dansent à Cibola (Paris,
S
1957) and Lucien Sebag’s L’invention du monde chez les In-
EE ALSO Apache Religious Traditions; Clowns; Navajo Re-
ligious Traditions; Power.
diens pueblos (Paris, 1971).
Beyond the Pueblos, and excluding the Navajo and the Apache,
B
little of comparable depth exists. Ruth M. Underhill’s Papago
IBLIOGRAPHY
On account of their richness and complexity, Southwest Indian
Indian Religion (New York, 1946) and Singing for Power
religions have proven irresistible to generations of scholars.
(Berkeley, 1938) are notable exceptions, and her Ceremonial
As the cradle of American anthropology, the indigenous
Patterns in the Greater Southwest (New York, 1948) is anoth-
Southwest has produced perhaps a greater volume of ethno-
er historic synthesis. For sources on other Southwestern cul-
graphic studies than any other comparably populated area in
tures, volume 10 of the Handbook is the best guide. Edward
the world. W. David Laird’s Hopi Bibliography: Comprehen-
H. Spicer’s Cycles of Conquest: The Impact of Spain, Mexico,
sive and Annotated (Tucson, 1977), for example, contains
and the United States on the Indians of the Southwest, 1533–
listings for about three thousand items on this people alone.
1960 (Tucson, 1962), cited above, is a thorough historical
The contemporary sine qua non of Southwest ethnographic
study of all indigenous Southwestern peoples.
material is the Handbook of North American Indians, vols. 9
PETER M. WHITELEY (1987)
and 10, The Southwest, edited by Alfonso Ortiz (Washing-
ton, D.C., 1979, 1983). Encyclopedic in scope, these vol-
umes treat Pueblo (vol. 9) and non-Pueblo (vol. 10) cultures;
particularly pertinent synthetic articles include Dennis
NOWRU
¯ Z (lit., “new day”), the Iranian national festival
Tedlock’s “Zuni Religion and World-View” (vol. 9,
that celebrates the arrival of spring. A festival of renewal,
pp. 499–508), Arlette Frigout’s “Hopi Ceremonial Organi-
hope, and happiness, Nowru¯z begins on the first day of
zation” (vol. 9, pp. 564–576), Louis A. Hieb’s “Hopi World
View” (vol. 9, pp. 577–580), and Louise Lamphere’s “South-
Farvard¯ın, the first month of the Iranian solar calendar, at
western Ceremonialism” (vol. 10, pp. 743–763). Complex
the spring equinox, and continues for twelve days. It is the
and detailed statements on specific religious practices may be
most widely celebrated, the longest, and the most colorful
found in the numerous writings of Jesse Walter Fewkes,
of Iranian festivals, and though inherited from Zoroastrian
H. R. Voth, and A. M. Stephen for the Hopi (see the Laird
Persia, it is the only festival that is not confined to a single
bibliography mentioned above); Frank H. Cushing for the
religious group.
Zuni; Matilda Coxe Stevenson for the Zuni and Zia; Leslie
White for the individual Keresan pueblos; and Elsie C. Par-
The origins of Nowru¯z are obscure. In popular legend
sons for many Pueblo groups (the bibliography in volume 9
its institution is associated mostly with Jamshe¯d, the mythi-
of the Handbook should be used for specific references).
cal Iranian king. In Firdawsi’s epic, the Sha¯h-na¯ mah (com-
I recommend a number of works (presented here in order of pub-
pleted about 1000 CE), it is said that the feast commemorates
lication) that either focus specifically on religious practice or
Jamshe¯d’s ascent into the skies in a chariot built by the de-
devote significant attention to it. H. K. Haeberlin’s The Idea
mons whom he had subdued and forced into the service of
of Fertilization in the Culture of the Pueblo Indians (Lancaster,
mortals. Nowru¯z appears, however, to have been originally
Pa., 1916) is an early synthesis that has yet to be superseded.
a pagan pastoral festival that marked the transition from win-
Ruth L. Bunzel’s “Introduction to Zuni Ceremonialism,” in
ter to summer: rites of fertility and renovation can be easily
the Forty-seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of American
recognized in some of its customs.
Ethnology (Washington, D.C., 1932), and her other articles
in the same volume are excellent windows not only into Zuni
Zarathushtra (Zoroaster), the ancient prophet of Iran,
religion but into Pueblo religion more generally. The classic,
probably reconsecrated Nowru¯z to his religion. In any event,
comprehensive (albeit fragmentary) source is Elsie C. Par-
like Mihragan, the festival that marked the end of summer,
sons’s Pueblo Indian Religion, 2 vols. (Chicago, 1939). Mis-
Nowru¯z continued to be observed in Zoroastrian Iran with
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NOWRU
¯ Z
6731
full vigor; the two celebrations formed the festive poles of the
Stripped of its Zoroastrian connotations, Nowru¯z sur-
Iranian calendar year. Nowru¯z was immediately preceded by
vived the advent of Islam and continued as the Iranian na-
Hamaspathmae¯daya, a major religious feast that fell on the
tional festival. The Abbasid caliphs celebrated with banquets
thirtieth day of the last month of the year (March 20) and
of wine, song, music, and exhange of gifts. The Sh¯ıE¯ı Mus-
was dedicated to the spirits of the departed, the fravashis.
lims of Iran, however, came to associate important religious
These spirits were thought to come down to the earth during
events with Nowru¯z. Muh:ammad Ba¯qir Majlis¯ı quotes a
this period to visit their abodes and to dwell with their fami-
number of traditions from the Sh¯ıE¯ı imams (in Bih:ar
lies. In anticipation of the fravashis’s arrival, houses were
al-anwa¯r, volume 14, the section on nayr¯ız), who report that
cleaned, and food and drink were laid out for them. Nowru¯z
it was on Nowru¯z that Adam was created, that God made
thus had a sober and commemorative prelude, informed by
a covenant with humankind, that Abraham destroyed the
the remembrance of the departed family members, ancestors,
pagan idols, that the prophet Muh:ammad took his young
and pious believers. Among the Zoroastrians the two festivals
son-in-law EA¯li on his shoulders to smash the idols in Mecca,
eventually merged, and the Farvardigan holidays came to
and, most important of all, that he chose EA¯li as his rightful
comprise both.
successor. The Muslim rulers of Iran, continuing the Sassa-
In Zoroastrian Iran, Nowru¯z proper began at dawn as
nid tradition, celebrated Nowru¯z with pomp and circum-
the fravashis withdrew and the old year faded away. For the
stance. The ceremonies generally included the recitation of
Zorastrians the festival also celebrated the creation of fire and
congratulatory panegyrics, feasting, the reception of dignitar-
its celestial guardian, Artavahisht. On the first day of spring,
ies, music and dance, and the exchange of gifts. From about
prayers were offered to Rapithwan, a helper of the powerful
the middle of the sixteenth century, when Iran came into the
deity Mehr (Avestan, Mithra). Rapithwan, who personified
possession of firearms, the onset of Nowru¯z was announced
noon, the ideal time, would withdraw underground during
in larger cities by the firing of cannon.
the winter months to protect the roots of plants and springs
As a religious feast, Nowru¯z apparently began as a one-
of water from frost, a creation of the demons. At Nowru¯z,
day celebration, but calendar reforms, combined with the
he would appear above ground to usher in the summer
popular tendency of observing the festivals according to the
season.
old calendar, seem to have stretched it first to six days, with
The Achaemenid kings (559–330 BCE) celebrated
its division in Sassanid times into Lesser Nowru¯z (the first
Nowru¯z above all at Persepolis, their capital, and some schol-
day) and Greater Nowru¯z (the sixth day), and eventually to
ars have hypothesized that the parade of gift-bearers from
its present length. In or about the year 1006, the first of
various nations depicted in the bas-reliefs of the palace walls
Farvard¯ın fell on the first day of spring, and in 1079 a calen-
represent Nowru¯z ceremonies. Under the Sassanids (226–
dar reform, in which the poet EUmar (Omar) Khayya¯m par-
652 CE), Nowru¯z, together with Mihraga¯n, was to some ex-
ticipated, fixed the date of the feast on the first of Farvard¯ın
tent secularized. People cleaned their houses, put on new
and arranged for keeping it constant by intercalating one day
clothes, visited relatives and friends, exchanged gifts, and en-
before the New Year festival every four years.
gaged in merrymaking with wine, music, and songs, especial-
Preparations for Nowru¯z begin well in advance of the
ly the melodies composed for the occasion. Newly enthroned
holiday. Although there are local variations, some practices
kings celebrated their official coronation on Nowru¯z, and
are fairly general. A week or two before the New Year, grains
monarchs in general held court and at times remitted taxes.
of wheat or lentils are soaked in water and, after they germi-
It is even recorded that kings were obliged to hold public
nate, are spread over a dish to grow. The resulting fresh mass
court and answer any complaint against or addressed to
of green blades (sabzeh) is an essential and symbolic decora-
them. Contemporary accounts as well as reports in early Is-
tion of the festival. In addition to the sabzeh and the haft-s¯ın,
lamic sources attest to the Sassanid kings’ lavish celebration
the Nowru¯z table is adorned with a mirror, a copy of the holy
of Nowru¯z and its colorful ceremonies and customs. Some
book of the household’s faith, a bowl of water in which green
of these tended to observe the number seven: for instance,
leaves or flower petals may float, and colored eggs, as well
seven kinds of seeds were grown in small containers as part
as fruits, fresh herbs, cakes, and candies. The “turn” of the
of the festival rites and decoration, a custom still observed
year is awaited with eagerness and excitement, particularly
in the few remaining Zoroastrian villages in Iran. Further-
by the young. A few moments before the solemn announce-
more, it is said that at Nowru¯z seven kinds of grain, twigs
ment of Nowru¯z, the members of the family, by this time
from seven different trees, and seven silver coins were placed
all bathed and clad in new or clean clothes, gather around
before the king. In the early twenty-first century, an essential
the table, ready to embrace and exchange greetings and gifts.
and cherished decoration of Nowru¯z is a collection of seven
The visiting of relatives and friends is a common Nowru¯z ac-
items whose names begin with the letter s in Persian (haft
tivity. In villages young men often engage in wrestling and
s¯ın). Of ambiguous or obscure origin, these are most often
other athletic games.
apple, seeds of wild rue, samanu (a paste prepared by slowly
cooking the sap of ground germinating wheat in water, oils,
On the thirteenth day of Nowru¯z, the ceremonies are
and flour), vinegar, sumac, garlic, silver coins, sorbapple, and
brought to an end with a picnic in the countryside. The sab-
fresh grass.
zeh must now be taken out and thrown into running water,
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

6732
NOYES, JOHN HUMPHREY
which is thought to take away with it any bad luck of the
These beliefs, which Noyes attempted to propagate
previous year. Wishes are made, especially by young girls, for
throughout New York State and New England, attracted lit-
a happy future. The Parsis of India, who left Iran in the tenth
tle support. In 1836 Noyes returned to his family estate in
century in order to preserve their Zoroastrian faith, also con-
Putney, Vermont, and started a Bible school, which became
tinue to celebrate Nowru¯z (jamshed¯ı Navroz) as a major feast.
the Putney Community. By 1845 the group had moved to-
ward full communal ownership of property, inspired by the
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Christian communism of Acts 2:44–45. An effort in 1846
For Nowru¯z in ancient Iran and its religious significance see Mary
to introduce a form of group marriage led to expulsion from
Boyce’s accounts in the Cambridge History of Iran, vol. 3, pt.
Putney in 1847 and the establishment of the Oneida Com-
2, edited by me (Cambridge, 1983), pp. 792–815 (esp.
munity in central New York State in 1848.
pp. 792–800) and the bibliographical section; for Nowru¯z in
Islamic sources and bibliography see Nadir Karimiyan Sar-
At Oneida, and at the smaller related community estab-
dashti and DAlireza DAskari Chavardi, Kitabshenasi-e Nowru¯z
lished in 1851 at Wallingford, Connecticut, the practices
(Bibliography of Nowru¯z) (Tehran, 2000). Descriptions of
that had originated at Putney became fully institutionalized.
current Nowru¯z ceremonies with bibliography will be found
Central to these was “complex marriage.” Oneida Commu-
in my “Now Ruz: The New Year Celebrations in Persia,”
nity members, who eventually numbered more than two
Iran Review 4 (March 1959): 12–15; Henri Massé, Croyances
hundred adults, all considered themselves married to each
et coutumes persanes suivi de contes et chansons populaires
other in an “enlarged family.” Men and women exchanged
(Paris, 1938), pp. 145–162; Abollah Mostofi, The Adminis-
sexual partners frequently, and exclusive romantic attach-
trative and Social History of the Qajar Period [The Story of My
Life],
translated by Nayer Mostofi Glenn, 3 vols. (Costa
ments were broken up as threats to group stability. Members
Mesa, Calif., 1997), vol. 1, pp. 200–205; A. Shapur Shah-
lived, ate, and worked together, had a system of communal
bazi, “Haft sin,” in E. Yarshater, ed., Encyclopaedia Iranca IX,
child rearing, and held all but the most basic property in
2002, pp. 524–526; and Shabazi’s “Nowru¯z,” available at
common. Government was achieved through a daily reli-
www. Iranica.com. Jivanji Jamshedji Modi gives an account
gious and business meeting, a method of group feedback and
of the rites and ceremonies of the Farvard¯ıga¯n, the holidays
control called “mutual criticism,” and an informal hierarchy
for the remembrance of the dead, among the Parsis (Zoroas-
known as “ascending and descending fellowship.” A system
trians) of India in his Religious Ceremonies and Customs of the
of birth control called “male continence,” technically coitus
Parsees, 2d ed. (Bombay, 1937). On the historical develop-
reservatus, was used exclusively until the final decade of the
ment and religious purport of Nowru¯z in general, with com-
community’s existence, when a “stirpiculture,” or eugenics,
parative data, see Josef Marquart’s “Das Nawru¯z, seine Gech-
ichte und seine Bedeutung,” in Dr. Modi Memorial Volume
experiment was inaugurated among some members. At
(Bombay, 1930), pp. 709–765, translated by Manilel Patel
Oneida there was far less sex-role stereotyping than in com-
as “The Navraz: Its History and Its Significance,” Journal of
parable American groups. Men and women worked along-
K. R. Cama Oriental Institute (Bombay) 31 (1937): 1–51;
side each other, and women served in positions of authority
Konstantin Inostrantsev (Inostrancev), Sasanidskie etiudy (St.
over men in certain jobs.
Petersburg, 1909), pp. 82–109; Arthur Christensen’s Les
types du premier homme et du premier roi dans l’histoire légen-

Complex marriage existed at Oneida from 1848 until
daire des Iraniens (Leiden, 1934), pp. 85ff., 138–160, and
1879, when it was renounced because of internal dissatisfac-
Mary Boyce, above. For calendrical aspects of Nowru¯z, see
tions and external pressure. Noyes, with a few of his follow-
S. H. Taq¯ıza¯dah’s Ga¯hshuma¯r¯ı dar ¯Ira¯n-i qad¯ım (Tehran,
ers, had meanwhile fled to Canada, where he lived until his
1937), pp. 53ff., 115ff., 154–157, and 191.
death in 1886. In 1881 the group also gave up its communis-
E
tic system of economic organization, reorganized as a joint-
HSAN YARSHATER (1987 AND 2005)
stock corporation, and went on to become a successful busi-
ness, best known for its silverware. Throughout his career,
Noyes was primarily concerned with disseminating his reli-
NOYES, JOHN HUMPHREY (1811–1886), Amer-
gious ideas through the newspapers that he and his associates
ican religious reformer and founder of the Oneida Commu-
published. Subsequent scholars and popular writers, howev-
nity. Born to a prominent family in Brattleboro, Vermont,
er, have been most fascinated by his unorthodox sexual ideas
John Humphrey Noyes graduated from Dartmouth College
and practices, which sometimes have been held up as a proto-
and attended Andover and Yale theological seminaries,
type for the future.
studying under Nathaniel W. Taylor. Because of his unor-
thodox “perfectionist” beliefs, Noyes soon lost his ministerial
BIBLIOGRAPHY
license and became the focus of opprobrium and ridicule. He
The only comprehensive biography that captures the spirit of John
argued that Christ’s second coming and the end of the Jewish
Humphrey Noyes and his communal efforts is Robert Aller-
dispensation had occurred in 70 CE, when the Temple was
ton Parker’s A Yankee Saint: John Humphrey Noyes and the
destroyed in Jerusalem. Henceforth, “perfect holiness,” a
Oneida Community (New York, 1935). The most accessible
right attitude that would lead to right works, was literally
primary materials are found in George Wallingford Noyes’s
possible on earth as part of the establishment of the kingdom
two edited documentary volumes, The Religious Experience of
of God.
John Humphrey Noyes (New York, 1923) and John Humphrey
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

NUBU
¯ WAH
6733
Noyes: The Putney Community (Oneida, N. Y., 1931), and in
prophets, such as the African Isaiah Shembe, who delivered
Free Love in Utopia: John Humphrey Noyes and the Origin of
intelligible and unintelligible messages alternately. Since the
the Oneida Community (Urbana, Ill., 2001), compiled by
“mystery letters” that begin certain chapters in the QurDa¯n
George Wallingford Noyes and edited by Lawrence Foster.
have remained unintelligible, albeit subject to intense scruti-
Two classic and complementary nineteenth-century studies
ny and multiple interpretations, it can be said that messen-
that analyze the Oneida Community within the context of
gers must deliver intelligible messages as a primary task but
the communitarian movement of which it was a part are
may also deliver unintelligible ones. In Islamic exegesis of the
John Humphrey Noyes’s History of American Socialisms
(Philadelphia, 1870) and Charles Nordhoff’s The Commu-
QurDa¯n, this distinction is observed through two key words
nistic Societies of the United States (New York, 1875). For the
provided in su¯rah 3:7: muhkamat, referring to passages that
most important primary source material on Noyes and his
form a firm or categorical basis for gauging the divine will,
various communal ventures, serious scholars must consult
and mutashabihat, referring to metaphoric or allegorical pas-
the periodicals that he and his associates published between
sages and also to the mystery letters at the outset of some
1834 and 1879. These went by many different titles, includ-
QurDanic chapters.
ing The Circular (Brooklyn and Oneida, N. Y., and Walling-
ford, Conn., 1851–1864), and are available through Uni-
Within these parameters, the social roles of commis-
versity Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Mich., or the Syracuse Uni-
sioned communicators vary significantly. Some “publish”
versity Library, the official repository of Oneida materials.
their message in response to the request of other human be-
ings; others, only in response to an inner urging interpreted
LAWRENCE FOSTER (1987 AND 2005)
as having a supernatural source. Biblical prophets did both;
the human channels for the Greek oracles, only the former;
and Muh:ammad, only the latter. Although the sense that
NUBU
¯ WAH, communicating with supernatural beings
they have been called usually precludes social and political
or realms, is a major element in religious life. It is usually ac-
passivity as a response, there is no mandate that such figures
complished by persons acting as direct or indirect intermedi-
mobilize and lead others. Sometimes their messages are ran-
aries, be they human, divine, or part human and part divine.
dom and disorganized; they may also have only local signifi-
Shamans, mystics, and soothsayers are examples of direct in-
cance. At other times, they are canonized into a book with
termediaries. Unlike them, indirect intermediaries do not
decisive moral guidelines that are deemed to have universal
communicate with the divine except through a text that they
applicability.
presume to interpret in order to uncover the sacred message
Beyond functional similarities, there are historical rea-
embedded within it. Someone who deciphers entrails, casts
sons to argue that messengers can be grouped for purposes
horoscopes, reads magical numbers, or performs charismatic
of cross-cultural study; few roles have such strong diachronic
exegesis is an indirect intermediary. Some individuals can be
commonalities as messengership. Monotheistic messenger-
direct as well as indirect intermediaries, and they may also
ship grew out of an ancient tradition of direct mediation be-
intermediate on special occasions rather than regularly or
tween the divine and the human, prevalent throughout the
predictably.
Mediterranean and the Nile-to-Oxus regions. After it
Important intermediaries are referred to in English by
emerged—first in Judaism, then in Christianity, Zoroastri-
such terms as prophet and apostle, in Greek by proph¯et¯es and
anism, and Islam—the role was conveyed to various societies
promantis, in Hebrew by navi’, in Arabic by nab¯ı or rasu¯l,
not only through scriptures but also through a shared folk-
and in Persian and Turkish by payghambar or peygamber.
lore. To the present day, these common symbols, figures, and
Since each label has connotations associated with the reli-
stories have continued to supply standards against which
gious outlook of a particular culture, generic terms are need-
claimants to the role can be evaluated. Near-contemporary
ed to facilitate comparative discussions. All of these terms
messenger figures, such as Tenskwatwa, Joseph Smith, Baha¯D
refer to some kind of “commissioned communicator”—a
Alla¯h, and Isaiah Shembe, were culturally unconnected yet
human being who feels called upon to speak on behalf of a
they shared the inheritance of messengership. Their temporal
force perceived to be beyond his or her control. Within mo-
convergence underscores the extent to which messengership
notheistic communities, commissioned communication
is a central religious phenomenon, at once diffuse and perva-
took on the form of messengership; it involved delivering in-
sive. Yet scholarly labor has remained narrowly focused on
telligible messages to other human beings from the Unseen
only a fraction of the relevant data, with Old Testament pro-
that reinterpreted, and often challenged, the status quo.
phethood remaining the norm for most comparative general-
izations. If few comparativists have paid attention to Islam,
This minimal definition distinguishes messengers from
a religious tradition in which messengers and messengership
such commissioned communicators as shamans or soothsay-
are central, Islamicists, for their part, have continued to ne-
ers—spirit helpers whose primary function is not to deliver
glect the cross-creedal, comparative dimensions of nubu¯wah.
intelligible messages but to invoke friendly spirits during
trance. It also excludes a phenomenon sometimes called
THE QURDANIC MESSENGER FIGURE. The QurDa¯n, the foun-
prophecy, one in which the “messages” take the unintelligi-
dational text of Islam, uses two Arabic nouns for messenger
ble form of speaking in tongues. However, there have been
figures: nab¯ı and rasu¯l. The latter frequently appears in the
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phrase rasu¯l Alla¯h (messenger of God), which became the
gion of Islam. Before it became the birthplace of
preferred term for Muh:ammad and a key element in
Muh:ammad, Mecca had been the site of Abraham’s house
the shaha¯dah, or profession of faith, as central to Islam as
of God, at its center the KaEbah or sacred mosque, and with-
baptism is to Christianity. A common Persian equivalent,
in the KaEbah the Black Stone vouchsafed to Isma¯’¯ıl as a di-
payghambar, literally means “messenger,” as does rasu¯l. The
vine bequest.
noun for the role or office of nab¯ı is nubu¯wah, just as risa¯lah
Muh:ammad is Abraham’s legatee and more. As rasu¯l
is sometimes used to denote the mission or message of a
Alla¯h, messenger of God, Muh:ammad becomes the compos-
rasu¯l.
ite of all the major messengers who preceded him—a radical
Much has been made of the QurDanic use of two terms
monotheist like Abraham, a lawgiver and warrior like Moses,
for such figures. Both Muslim and non-Muslim scholars
and a friend of God like Jesus. What others received partially
have tried to clarify the presumed distinctions between the
Muh:ammad received in full. He is given a perfect form of
two. Some have concluded that the words are interchange-
the revealed truth that God has sent through every messenger
able; others have identified nab¯ı as a word for figures who
since the beginning of humankind. Functionally Muh:am-
are called to receive revelation, and reserved rasu¯l for those
mad resembles his predecessors and becomes who he is by
who not only receive revelation but also are sent on a mission
comparison with them:
to a particular community. Some have linked nab¯ı to ordi-
• He is chosen by God from among his own people, nei-
nary messengers, while marking as rasu¯l only seven prophets,
ther seeking to be chosen, nor showing enthusiasm for
those deemed to be the greatest: Adam, Noah, Abraham,
the task. He is guided by God, whose guidance is par-
Moses, David, Jesus and Muh:ammad. A less common inter-
celed out as needed. He is distinct from the angels, who
pretation links nab¯ı with messengers who were descended
are neither human nor divine. He is mortal and subject
from Abraham and therefore specially gifted with nubu¯wah,
to death.
while rasu¯l is said to connote a messenger sent to bring his
• He polarizes his audience: he is believed by some and
own community to God. Further complicating the picture
opposed by many, including Satan, partly because he re-
is that angels can be denoted as rusu¯l (su¯rah 35:1), but never
jects polytheistic ancestral custom in favor of tawh:¯ıd,
as nabiyu¯n.
that is, the declaration of God’s unequivocal and un-
While the full significance of this etymological complex-
qualified oneness. Those who oppose him call him a
ity remains unclear, its very existence calls attention to the
liar. They harm his person and expel him from his
fact that in the QurDa¯n nubu¯wah is a rich, vital and evocative
hometown. Yet they are marked in turn by God
topic. Nubu¯wah has been the primary vehicle by which the
through the term kufr. A kafir (unbeliever) exhibits kufr:
divine communicates with humankind. It involves a long
one who is both unfaithful and ungrateful displays infi-
and continuous chain of revelation-bearers who were related
delity and ingratitude to the Almighty. Kufr becomes
both functionally and genealogically. They were sent to help
one of the strongest terms of opprobrium in the QurDa¯n,
God communicate to humankind his desire for their surren-
and the status of kafir amounts to a sentence of spiritual
der (isla¯m) to his will. They were therefore all given the same
and social exile for Muslims.
message, except that certain ones were sent to fulfill very spe-
• He has two major functions related to the Day of Judg-
cific leadership missions within their own communities. The
ment: to bring good tidings of the possibility of salva-
chain stretched from the very first human, Adam, to the de-
tion, and to warn of punishment for wrongdoers and
liverer of the QurDa¯n, Muh:ammad. It included figures con-
naysayers (the kuffar, plural of kafir). Both functions are
sidered prophets by Jews and Christians (Abraham, Jacob,
announced and supported in the noble book, the holy
Moses), along with others familiar to them but not classed
QurDa¯n, which God reveals to humankind through the
by them as prophets (Joseph, David, Jesus). It included still
agency of Muh:ammad.
others entirely unfamiliar to any but Arabs (Hu¯d, S:a¯lih:,
• He possesses a constellation of exemplary personal char-
Shu’ayb). Joseph is the subject of the longest QurDanic narra-
acteristics: patience, unswerving devotion, compassion,
tive (su¯rah 12).
trust in God, and a pure faith that is the absolute oppo-
All these prophets share Abrahamic descent. Abraham
site of shirk. A mushrik performs shirk: one who profess-
was the patriarch of a single family whose lineages, for Israel-
es loyalty to others along with God (an idolator or poly-
ites and Arabs respectively, stemmed from Isaac or Ish:a¯q and
theist) denies God’s oneness (tawh:¯ıd) and replaces it
Ishmael or Isma¯D¯ıl. In accepting isla¯m or submission, in sur-
with diluted loyalty (shirk).
rendering to God’s absolute authority, and in putting them-
• Obeying God extends to honoring his prophet and up-
selves in the only right relationship with him, Arabs contem-
holding his community. Obedience means belief in
poraneous with Muh:ammad not only acknowledged their
God’s book, the angels, and the last day, but it also
own forefathers as divine messengers, they also saw them-
means esteeming the prophet and his companions, and
selves as returning to their original religion, and also to the
then helping to establish an ummah, that is, a communi-
original religion of all humankind. Mecca was the natural
ty based on God’s revelation and committed to estab-
center of this reclaimed trust that now became the new reli-
lishing the rules necessary for its survival and expansion.
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The special significance of nab¯ı/rasu¯l is further underscored
within Islamic societies, but it also affected almost all subse-
by the QurDanic insistence on distinguishing this from other
quent non-Muslim conceptualizations of prophecy and
roles that presumed divine-human mediation in seventh-
prophets.
century Arabia. The major competitive roles were ka¯hin (di-
LITERARY DEVELOPMENTS. Muslims enlarged previous no-
viner, shaman, seer) and sha¯ Eir (poet). Both recur in the
tions of nubu¯wah simply by putting all messengers into a
QurDa¯n but with different valuations. Divination is never ex-
class that ended with Muh:ammad. Just as Muh:ammad had
plicitly condemned; prophecy, in one sense, is a perfected
to be shown to be like them, they had to be shown to be like
form of divination. Poetry, however, is condemned, largely
Muh:ammad. This “leveling” is particularly evident in three
because the poet’s inspiration is seen to be his own and not
literary genres, h:ad¯ıth, s¯ırah, and qis:as: al-anbiya¯.’
divine. Muh:ammad’s task was not unlike the biblical
nevi’im, who had to distinguish themselves from figures
The h:ad¯ıth comprise an expansive and contested corpus
claiming direct mediation with the divine while lacking the
of reports that convey Muh:ammad’s sunnah—his exemplary
historical and moral significance reserved for prophets.
words, deeds, and silent approval. Their content varies enor-
mously within Sunn¯ı and Sh¯ıE¯ı branches of Islam, but com-
Notably absent from the QurDa¯n’s picture of nubu¯wah
mon to all h:ad¯ıth compilations is the notion that the nab¯ı
is the element of futurism, or prophecy as prediction, that
became a personal exemplar of unprecedented and unparal-
dominates many Christian understandings of Old Testa-
leled authority. The wide circulation of h:ad¯ıth about other
ment prophetic action. Although many of Muh:ammad’s
nab¯ıs, especially Moses, Joseph, Abraham, and Jesus, made
messages are future-oriented in an apocalyptic sense, predic-
them exemplary as well. Later Muslim scholars explored the
tion of specific historical events is virtually absent. (Su¯rah
possibility of extrascriptural revelation to prophets, especially
105 is an exception. It predicts the destruction of a Yemeni
in a subclass of h:ad¯ıth known as h:ad¯ıth quds¯ı, which quote
Christian army intent on invading Mecca. But even that is
direct speech from God to Muh:ammad that does not appear
a prediction given after the fact, since the failed invasion took
in QurDa¯n but remains authoritative beyond “ordinary”
place in the year of Muh:ammad’s birth.) Miraculous acts are
h:ad¯ıth.
also absent; Muh:ammad’s message is seen as an encompass-
ing and ongoing miracle. The giving of the QurDa¯n validates
The chain of Muslim messengers grew so large that by
Muh:ammad as messenger without the need for ancillary
some counts it was said to number 124,000. It also included
proof from the redirection of nature. One future event is pre-
figures not considered prophets by non-Muslims, principal
dicted, the end of time, also known as the Day of Judgment.
among them Jesus. Muslims viewed Jesus as a major rasu¯l,
Neither specified nor left open to debate, the Day of Judg-
a completely human emissary whom God saved from dying
ment will be knowable from clear signs, vividly described in
by substituting another on the cross. Thus they preserved,
su¯rah 82.
in reworked form, an early Judeo-Christian view of Jesus that
had fallen into disuse with the rise of Gentile Christianity
THE SEALING OF PROPHECY. Shortly after Muh:ammad’s
and the conciliar decrees of the Roman church.
death, the core of his supporters articulated and enforced a
particular understanding of the QurDanic reference to
Using the h:ad¯ıth as an important source, a genre known
Muh:ammad as khatm al-anbiya¯,D or “seal of the nab¯ıs” (su¯rah
as s¯ırah presented the life of Muh:ammad specifically as the
33:40). Muh:ammad was said to be the culmination and ter-
life of a messenger of God. Most early s¯ırahs were written
mination of that long process of direct revelation that God
in the crosscultural, multicreedal environment of the em-
had begun with Adam. The decision to view Muh:ammad in
pire’s central cities; some, such as the S¯ırat Rasu¯l Alla¯h of Ibn
this way was necessitated by competing claims to revelation
Ish:a¯q (d. 768), were produced by converts to Islam. They
of other Arab tribal leaders. Although it invalidated them
sought to establish Muh:ammad’s legitimacy with regard to
and made Muh:ammad unique, it did not demote previous
previous messengers and, by extension, the right of Muslims
messengers. Rather, accepting the finality of Muh:ammad’s
to rule over Jewish and Christian subjects. They viewed
messengership became an essential part of being a Muslim;
Muh:ammad’s particular blend of social, military, and politi-
it redefined Muslims as Abrahamic loyalists who embraced
cal leadership, as well as his revelatory utterances, spiritual
but also fulfilled prophecies given earlier to Jews, Christians
guidance, and lawgiving, as a standard against which others
and Zoroastrians. Although the decision did not entirely pre-
could be measured. Perso-Semitic concepts of prophetic
vent later Muslims from using the labels nab¯ı and rasu¯l or
leadership became institutionalized and idealized for the first
even claiming to bring a new QurDa¯n, it did restrict such ac-
time in history: Muh:ammad not only brought a book but
tivity: claimants were compelled to make implicit rather than
also constructed, on the basis of that book, a lasting, divinely
explicit claims to be “like” Muh:ammad.
guided community. Gradually, a Muslim vision of world his-
tory crystallized: Muh:ammad’s creation of a divinely guided
It is difficult to overestimate the historical impact of the
community culminated earlier epochs marked by divine-
concept of nubu¯wah as exemplified in Muh:ammad’s life and
human mediation, at the same time that its own initial
clarified after his death. It expanded previous Perso-Semitic
epoch, the so-called period of the first three generations, pro-
notions of prophetic action, and stretched them to new lim-
jected an ever present ideal for leading the good Muslim life.
its. Not only did it direct the course of leadership patterns
While Muh:ammad was preeminent among messengers, a
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small number of others, most notably Abraham, Moses, and
al-Fauz al-Kabir of the Indian S:u¯f¯ı theologian Sha¯h Wal¯ı
Jesus, were also held in high esteem as major messengers.
Alla¯h (d.1762), numerous messengers exhibit one or more
Jews and Christians had been sent “Muslim” messengers but
aspects of the S:u¯f¯ı search for truth, even as they exemplify
had misconstrued or diluted their messages. As a conse-
humanity’s complete dependence on God. They are quintes-
quence, with the advent of Islam they had yet another option
sential servants and friends of God who serve as instruments
to become Muslim, but if they chose to remain as People of
in God’s plan as they strive for human perfection in their de-
the Book, that is, scriptuaries like Muslims but not fully
votion, self-control, and discipline. For example, Adam is a
Muslim in their outlook, they could remain protected mi-
microcosm of all the realities of the universe, physical and
norities (dhimm¯ıs) under Islamic rule.
spiritual. His fall was designed by God to ensure his becom-
ing an earthly delegate: the prohibitions against eating from
The s¯ırah of Ibn Ish:a¯q also established a paradigm for
the tree were revealed in a dream; the violation of the prohi-
the career of the messenger of God that many Muslim leaders
tried to emulate, even when they were not claiming nubu¯wah
bitions were brought about by satanic action. Noah is the
for themselves. It described a birth and infancy filled with
first messenger to lead a community forcibly to God’s will,
propitious occurrences and omens; a youth of involvement
bringing law in order to subordinate animal to spiritual im-
with conventional religious practices accompanied by spiri-
pulses. Abraham exemplifies utter devotion to God and the
tual searching and confusion; a sudden call at age forty, re-
unstinting pursuit of the true religion. Joseph triumphs over
sisted three times; acceptance by a few and rejection by most;
affliction by his constancy. For many S:u¯f¯ıs, Muh:ammad is
emigration (hijrah); and consolidation of power in an adopt-
insa¯n al-ka¯mil, the perfect or universal human being who
ed home and a triumphal return to the original home. Grad-
epitomizes union with God.
ually legists and theologians elaborated other dala¯ Dil al-
Muslim philosophers found it more difficult to appreci-
nubu¯wah (signs of prophethood), such as a mark between the
ate Muh:ammad’s mission as messenger. At the least, they
shoulders, innocence of youth, and paranormal experiences.
distinguished prophetic truth—which is communicated in
They went on to develop, by the thirteenth century, the doc-
easily comprehensible everyday language and expressed in
trine of Eis:mah (protection from sin and error), which was
stories and analogies that appeal to the common people in
applied broadly to Muh:ammad and selectively to previous
particular communities—from philosophical truth, which is
messengers. Thereafter, insulting Muh:ammad became a seri-
universal, esoteric, abstract, and rational. Some, such as
ous misdeed, and Mecca and Medina were closed to non-
al-Kind¯ı (d. after 870), saw prophetic and philosophical
Muslims. Eventually the scholars added an eschatological
truth as two sides of the same coin, the former a parable for
role: Muh:ammad would lead his community into Paradise,
the latter. Others, however, publicly stated that the two
and there intercede for those whom God had excluded.
truths should not contradict each other but privately thought
The comparability of Muh:ammad with all previous
of revelation as a vulgar form of higher truth. For example,
messengers, and vice versa, came to be demonstrated in an-
al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı (c. 870–950) implied that prophetic knowledge
other literary form, qis:as: al-anbiya¯D (“tales of the nab¯ıs”). By
was inferior to philosophical knowledge by demonstrating
the time al-Kisa¯D¯ı (fl. 1200) composed one of its most fa-
that the true knower—the philosopher-king—had to do
mous works, the genre had become comprehensive, dramat-
what the prophets had done, and more. According to Ibn
ic, and influential. Because its authors believed in prophetic
T:ufayl (d. 1185), ultimate truth could be gained without re-
continuity, they could rework non-Muslim tales about the
course to divine revelation. It was available to reflective, rea-
prophets into an Islamic vision of the religious history of the
soning human beings like the island-dwelling protagonist of
world. When the predictive, miracle-working facets of Jewish
his philosophical story H:ayy ibn Yaqz:a¯n (Living, son of the
and Christian prophecy resurfaced here, they did so in “is-
wakeful), its very title a play on one of the 99 divine names
lamized” fashion. The preempting of pre-Islamic messengers
(al-H:ayy) attributed to God. Despite such condescension,
and the exalting of Muh:ammad assumed architectural form
many philosophers did value Muh:ammad’s lawgiving role
in the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. A late seventh-
since it fostered the ordering of society that they too cher-
century monument constructed by the Umayyad Caliph
ished and pursued.
EAbd al-Malik, it hallows the memory of the Prophet’s night
LEADERSHIP AND LEGITIMACY. In the Islamic faith, as in
journey (isra D) and his subsequent ascent (MiDra¯j) to the
other religious traditions, the death of the final messenger
highest heaven, alluded to in the QurDa¯n (su¯rah 12) but more
and the cessation of new revelation tended to enhance the
fully elaborated in h:ad¯ıth.
importance of other forms of leadership based on divine
SUFISM AND PHILOSOPHY. Another kind of reinterpretation,
guidance and inspiration. Simultaneously, the maintenance
consolidation, and expansion of the concept of nubu¯wah oc-
of the stability grounded in revelation had to coexist, as in
curred when S:u¯f¯ı thinkers gave these stories an esoteric, in-
other traditions, with the pursuit of the spontaneity that had
teriorized meaning. Messengers became prototypes for indi-
characterized the faith in its origins. The growth of a multi-
vidual spiritual development, illustrating the ability of
valent conception of nubu¯wah provided numerous ways in
human beings to receive divine inspiration. In well-known
which its legitimacy could be emulated without being imitat-
early modern examples of the genre, Ta Dw¯ıl al-ah:a¯d¯ıth and
ed, in stability and spontaneity alike.
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When nubu¯wah was sealed, its authority had to flow
decisions by the Muslim majority postponed their actual ex-
into other leadership roles if the ummah was to survive.
ercise of temporal power until the return of their last mem-
However, because none of them could duplicate the legiti-
ber, the Mahd¯ı (messiah).
macy of nubu¯wah, each had to establish a particular identity
Despite the overlap of nubu¯wah and ima¯mah, all but the
that could never compete successfully with nubu¯wah. Out of
very extremist Sh¯ıEah refused to call the ima¯ms nab¯ı, insisting
this paradox was born one of the great problems of Islamic
on one fundamental distinction: the ima¯ms, unlike
civilization—the inimitability of the ideal leader.
Muh:ammad, did not bring a new revelation or a new law.
Among Sunn¯ı Muslims, the ending of nubu¯wah eventu-
However, since they possessed all the other qualities of the
ated in a relationship of mutual dependence between the
messenger as well as the distinct, inimitable, and infallible
khal¯ıfahs (caliphs), whose temporal authority protected and
characteristics of the ima¯m, it was easy for their devoted fol-
defended the unity of the ummah, and the Eulama¯D (religious
lowers to view them as preeminent. Indeed, the very absence
scholars), whose acquisition of authentic religious knowledge
of new revelation further enhanced the authority of ima¯ms:
enabled them to define the proper Muslim life. These men,
they and they alone knew the message of the QurDa¯n due to
like rabbis, acted as indirect intermediaries, teasing out the
their error-free (ma Es:u¯m) abilities in charismatic exegesis.
legal and moral implications of God’s direct revelations and
In ShiEi popular devotion nubu¯wah and ima¯mah were
shaping them into a system of rules: the shar¯ı Eah. Thus were
inextricably conflated. All the messengers of God came to be
preserved the spiritual guidance and earthly power of the
thought of as having participated in the suffering of the holy
prophetic experience, if not its immediacy. Although neither
E
family. The ahl al-bayt, or people of the household (of
ulama¯ D nor khal¯ıfahs could claim Muh:ammad’s full author-
Muh:ammad), included EAl¯ı, Muh:ammad’s cousin, Al¯ı’s
ity, both derived their legitimacy from him, and jointly they
wife, who was also Muh:ammad’s daughter, Fa¯t:imah, and
possessed the two powers he had combined.
their sons H:asan and H:usayn. They endured what earlier
The leadership model preferred by Sh¯ıE¯ı Muslims,
prophets had anticipated, themselves tasting a little of the
ima¯mah, overcame this bifurcation with paradoxical conse-
fate of Muh:ammad’s family through their own persecution.
quences: it both greatly extended and radically contained
ShiEi devotional poetry expanded the tales of the prophets in
charismatic authority; its successful combination of spiritual
new ways by likening them to the experiences of the holy
and temporal power was bought at the price of never exercis-
family and the ima¯ms; at the same time, their mournful
ing the latter; and by virtue of its having to remain distinct
verses elevated the ima¯ms above all antecedent figures except
from nubu¯wah, ima¯mah eventually became the superior of
Muh:ammad. Thus ima¯mah completed nubu¯wah in such a
the two. The ima¯ms of the major Sh¯ıEah group (the Ithna
perfect pattern of divine logic that the latter came to be, in
Eashar¯ıya or Twelvers) were twelve descendants of
the eyes of many of the ShiEah, merely a precursor to the
Muh:ammad believed to have inherited his blood and physi-
former.
cal traits and were inspired by god to interpret the meaning
Among both Sunn¯ıs and the Sh¯ıEah, other roles reflect-
of revealed truth without altering it, a belief also common
ed the impact of the sealing of nubu¯wah. The S:u¯f¯ı shaykh
to the Isma¯’¯ıl¯ıyyah, the other major group of Sh¯ıEah. They
identified with the spiritual, if not genealogical, legacy of the
were conceived in God’s mind as the principle of absolute
nab¯ı because he could receive individual divine inspiration
good, which was transmitted into the loins of the nab¯ıs and
and achieve intimacy with God. In so doing, such figures re-
the wombs of holy women as entities of light and made con-
claimed the immediacy of the nab¯ı’s experience; sometimes
crete after Muh:ammad’s death. Together with the messen-
they also emulated his political and social activism, as did
gers, the ima¯ms are the proofs of God, and while the earth
Sayyid Idr¯ıs (1890–1983), the Libyan nationalist leader of
has been without a messenger since the death of
the Sanusiyah.
Muh:ammad, it is never without an ima¯m. The ima¯ms be-
come the “speaking QurDa¯n,” guarding the true meaning of
Perhaps even more important are the myriad apocalyp-
the “silent QurDa¯n” and interpreting it as alive and fresh in
tic, millenarian, and reformist figures, Sunn¯ı and Sh¯ıE¯ı alike,
their time.
who have adopted labels such as mujaddid (centennial re-
newer), mahd¯ı (divinely guided one, the messiah), or
In one Sh¯ıE¯ı view, these special qualities and esoteric
muja¯hid/jiha¯d¯ı (leader of a jiha¯d). Often these figures have
knowledge are wila¯yat Alla¯h, the custodianship of God. The
emerged in circumstances perceived to be like those of
wilayat Alla¯h was entrusted to the angel Gabriel from the cre-
Muh:ammad, for example, in an area where Islam was imper-
ation of the world. Gabriel gave it to all the prophets and
fectly established or not established at all. Although a few,
finally to Muh:ammad, who passed it on to his cousin and
such as the Almohad mahd¯ı Ibn Tu¯mart (c. 1082–1130),
son-in-law EAl¯ı, who in turn passed it on to Muh:ammad’s
may have claimed to bring new revelation, most managed to
grandsons and through them to the rest of the ima¯ms. Thus
emulate Muh:ammad’s activist, reformist leadership without
the ima¯ms became the only individuals capable of bringing
making dangerously explicit claims to his most distinguish-
divine guidance to the world after Muh:ammad sealed
ing characteristic. By reintroducing Muh:ammad’s spiritual
nubu¯wah. Though they were the only rightful spiritual and
spontaneity and social renewal, and by emulating aspects of
temporal authorities after Muh:ammad, a series of erroneous
his sunnah and s¯ırah, they have evoked nubu¯wah without
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NUBU
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claiming it. Such was the case with the Indian S:u¯f¯ı reformer,
of Muh:ammad’s sunnah; because the h:ad¯ıth document the
Ahmad Sirhindi (d. 1624), who viewed his own time on the
sunnah, they have become more important than ever. In
cusp of a new millennium in the Islamic calendar (AH 1000=
modernist thought, the messenger’s mission is often likened
1592 CE) as a moment of degeneracy and decay not unlike
to that of the modern social reformer; his ability to serve as
that facing Muh:ammad in his day. The Day of Judgment
a moral exemplar and rehabilitator in a time of decay is
was imminent, the process of decay could only be reversed
stressed. According to such interpretations, Muh:ammad’s
by a renewer, in this case, a millennial renewer (mujaddid-i
teachings demonstrated the primacy of the social in human-
alf-i thani), on whom God entrusted prophetic perfections.
kind’s goals and encouraged the use of consultation and co-
Neither Sirhindi’s claim nor that of later renewers, such as
operation, indeed flexibility. His ability to relate eternal truth
the Yemeni jurist Muh:ammad al-Shawkani (d. 1834), has
to his own special circumstances was a model of and justifica-
gone unchallenged, but their claims do expand the notion
tion for applying Islamic principles according to circum-
of prophetic charisma even while upholding the finality of
stances.
Muh:ammad as a law-giving prophet.
Despite such updating, one aspect of nubu¯wah, its hav-
EXCHANGES WITH NON-MUSLIMS. The impact of the con-
ing come to an end with Muh:ammad, remains non-
cept of nubu¯wah extended beyond the Muslim community,
negotiable. In the last century, a group of former Sh¯ıE¯ı Mus-
too. While developing it, Muslims were beginning to interact
lims accepted the possibility of new revelation and new mes-
with their empire’s subject population of Jews, Christians,
sengers. The explicit claims of their messenger, Baha¯D Alla¯h
and Zoroastrians. In the course of the ensuing polemic, each
(1817–1892), led inevitably to the founding of a separate re-
group had to adjust its understanding of the history of
ligious tradition, just as it did within Christianity for the
messengership so as to remain distinct from the others. Post-
Mormon followers of his American near-contemporary Jo-
Islamic Zoroastrian biographies of Zarathushtra viewed him
seph Smith (1805–1844). Even more explosive within the
as an Islamic-type payghambar, a messenger sent with a book
arc of Islamic cultural politics has been the attempt of Ah-
to a particular community. Some went on to exalt him above
madis to redefine prophecy after Muh:ammad. The Ahmadis
all other messengers, just as Muslims exalted Muh:ammad.
ascribed to their eponym, the South Asian reformer Mirza
Arab Christian reactions were diametrically opposite: they
Ghulam Ahmad (d. 1908), the qualities of a renewer who
defined genuine prophets as everything they argued
is also the mahd¯ı and the mas¯ıh: (or messiah). They defined
Muh:ammad was not—devoid of earthly motives, noncom-
themselves in the tradition of S:u¯f¯ı reformers like Ahmad
mercial, nonmilitant, and miracle working. This familiar pic-
Sirhindi and Sha¯h Wal¯ı Alla¯h, and enjoyed enormous suc-
ture of prophethood, somewhat awkward from the point of
cess worldwide as a missionary movement within Islam. Yet
view of the Old Testament, eventually found its way into
their adversaries saw them as kuffar, those who denied the
Western Christian medieval polemic as well. Muslims ac-
finality of Muh:ammad’s claim to nubu¯wah and were there-
commodated themselves to Christian polemic by clarifying
fore outside the pale of Islam. The Ahmadi movement ig-
the doctrine of i Eja¯z al-QurDa¯n (the miracle of the QurDa¯n):
nited a fierce controversy in British South Asia and then after
the inimitability of the QurDa¯n, combined with
1948, in Pakistan. It did not subside even when the National
Muh:ammad’s illiteracy, constituted the greatest miracle. It
Assembly of Pakistan amended the 1973 constitution to de-
was God-given and it needed no lesser demonstrations of di-
clare the Ahmadis a non-Muslim minority. A subsequent
vine agency to confirm Muh:ammad’s unique status among
1984 presidential decree attempted to criminalize the entire
messengers.
Ahmadi community. In South Asia and elsewhere nubu¯wah
Miracle working also found other routes into Islamic
clearly remains as critical an issue today as it was at Islam’s
views of Muh:ammad. In popular literature, as well as in
inception.
genres like qis:as: al-anbiya¯,’ the mountain began to come to
SEE ALSO Imamate; Prophecy; Wala¯yah.
him as his life story filled with a plethora of extracanonical
prodigies. Such glorification appears, for example, in one of
BIBLIOGRAPHY
the most lastingly popular poems used to celebrate
There is no single comprehensive study of nubu¯wah, but the issue
Muh:ammad’s birthday, or mawlid. Though a companion of
has been addressed within a number of broader investiga-
the Prophet, KaDb ibn Zuhayr (d. c. 630), composed the ear-
tions. Tor Andrae’s classic work, Die person Muhammeds in
liest panegyric of Muh:ammad, the Burdah or Mantle Poem
lehre und glauben seiner gemeinde (Stockholm, 1918), offers
of al-Bu¯s:¯ır¯ı (d. 1298), which was composed in Egypt during
valuable insights into the process by which the figure of
the Crusades, has become the most famous. It warns against
Muh:ammad and his mission as messenger of God expanded
succumbing to temptations of the flesh and then develops
and deepened through centuries of devotion. A thorough
a depiction of Muh:ammad as above all a high-minded helper
survey and synthesis of previous views on the QurDanic dis-
tinction between nab¯ı and rasu¯l can be found in Willem A.
from heaven attentive to all who call his name. In popular
Bijlefeld’s “A Prophet and More Than a Prophet?” Muslim
practice, Muh:ammad’s tomb became a place to seek his
World 59 (January 1969): 1–28, which also suggests a new
earthly intercession.
and less dichotomous interpretation.
Modern Muslim thinkers have continued to enlarge the
William A. Graham’s Divine Word and Prophetic Word in Early
concept of nubu¯wah by emphasizing particular dimensions
Islam (The Hague, 1977), especially part 1, “Revelation in
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NUDITY
6739
Early Islam,” provides an imaginative description of how two
ed to critical review and speculative revaluation by a host of
separate sacred messages, scripture and prophetic example,
scholars drawn to the question of Islamic origins. For the
crystallized out of the unitary prophetic experience; the bibli-
most comprehensive overview of this debate, and also the
ography includes many major European works on
variant stances of its protagonists, see Herbert Berg, ed.
Muh:ammad. On the Sh¯ıE¯ı tradition in particular, Mahmoud
Method and Theory in the Study of Islamic Origins (Leiden,
M. Ayoub’s Redemptive Suffering in Islam: A Study of the De-
2003). A tenth-century example of a philosophical middle
votional Aspects of EAshura¯’ in Twelver Sh¯ı Eism (The Hague,
position on the relationship between philosophical and re-
1978) presents extensive materials on the history of the
vealed truth, and between the philosopher-king and the mes-
prophets as it was incorporated into the history of Sh¯ıE¯ı mar-
senger of God, can be found in Alfarabi’s Philosophy of Plato
tyrdom, while Abdulaziz Abdulhussein Sachedina’s Islamic
and Aristotle, translated by Muhsin Mahd¯ı (New York,
Messianism: The Idea of Mahd¯ı in Twelver Sh Eism (Albany,
1962), part 1, “The Attainment of Happiness,” while Ibn
1981) offers a clear and effective historical account that in-
T:ufayl’s Hayy Ibn Yaqz:a¯n can be enjoyed, along with a spirit-
cludes an examination of the relationship between ima¯m and
ed commentary, in Lenn Evan Goodman’s book of the same
nab¯ı in Sh¯ıE¯ı thought. One unusual effort to explain the ap-
title (Los Angeles, 1983). The Tales of the Prophets of
pearance and displacement of Muh:ammad’s competitors in
al-Kisa¯’¯ı, translated by Wheeler M. Thackston, Jr. (Boston,
the claim to divine messengership is Dale F. Eickelman’s
1978), reflects the important genre of qis:as: al-anbiya¯’ in
“Musaylima: An Approach to the Social Anthropology of
which extracanonical Jewish and Christian tales are adduced
Seventh Century Arabia,” Journal of the Social and Economic
in an Islamic context. “The Mantle Poem of al-Bus:¯ır¯ı” also
History of the Orient 10 (1967): 17–52. The impact of early
exists in translation, in A Reader on Islam, edited by Arthur
Muslim-Christian polemic on evolving notions of revelation
Jeffery (The Hague, 1962), pp. 605–620; it presents another
and prophetic mission in both communities, a topic that has
form of popular literature, the devotional poem that com-
not garnered much attention, receives enlightening treat-
memorates the Prophet’s birthday and stresses the miracu-
ment in two articles by Sidney H. Griffith, “Comparative
lous dimension of his life. A Mystical Interpretation of Pro-
Religion in the Apologetics of the First Christian Arabian
phetic Tales by an Indian Muslim, Sha¯h Wal¯ı Alla¯h’s Ta’w¯ıl
Theologians,” in Proceedings of the PMR Conference (annual
al-Ah:a¯d¯ıth, has been translated by J. M. S. Baljon (Leiden,
publication of the Patristic, Mediaeval and Renaissance Con-
1973), and despite some flaws, it offers an example of S:u¯f¯ı
ference) 4 (1979), pp. 63–87, and “The Prophet
esoteric interpretation by a major eighteenth-century Indian
Muh:ammad: His Scripture and His Message according to
mystic and theologian, whose own legacy and stature as a re-
the Christian Apologies in Arabic and Syriac from the First
newer have become better known through the translation of
Abbasid Century,” in La vie du prophète Mahomet: Colloque
his magnum opus, The Conclusive Argument from God: Sha¯h
de Strasbourg, 1980 (Paris, 1983), pp. 99–146.
Wal¯ı Alla¯h of Delhi’s Hujjat Alla¯h al-Baligha, translated by
Marcia K. Hermansen (Leiden, 1996).
Another perspective can be gleaned from Sven S. Hartman’s, “Se-
crets for Muslims in Parse Scriptures,” in Islam and Its Cul-
MARILYN ROBINSON WALDMAN (1987)
tural Divergence, edited by Girdhari L. Tikku (Urbana, Ill.,
BRUCE B. LAWRENCE (2005)
1971), pp. 67–75, which traces the impact of nubu¯wah on
post-Islamic Zoroastrian conceptualizations of Zarathushtra.
For a look at the impact of Muh:ammad’s biographical repre-
sentation on the careers of nineteenth-century West African
NUDITY. People are nude in the most innocent moments
Muslim reformers and the complementary effect of the re-
as children and later at times of profound vulnerability—
formers’ own lives on their representations of Muh:ammad’s
during sex and orgasm, while bathing, in sickness, and under
career, see Marilyn R. Waldman, “The Popular Appeal of the
the care of medical personnel. Much later, bodies may be ex-
Prophetic Paradigm in West Africa,” Contributions to Asian
posed to adult children and other caregivers. And finally, one
Studies 17 (1982): 110–114. In the twentieth-century con-
is exposed again in death, when one’s body is prepared by
text, an Egyptian study of the Prophet’s life is analyzed by
Antoine Wessels in A Modern Arabic Biography of
morticians and other specialists in the ritual care of the dead.
Muh:ammad: A Critical Study of Muh:ammad H:usayn Haykal’s
And yet it would be naive—too innocent of gender and sexu-
H:ayat Muh:ammad (Leiden, 1972). Study of the controver-
ality and their capacity to mark human interactions with the
sial Ahmadi movement has been enhanced by Yohanan
signs of dominance and submission—to equate nudity only
Friedmann’s Prophecy Continuous: Aspects of Ahmadi Religious
with innocent vulnerability. The man who wears a raincoat
Thought and Its Medieval Background (Berkeley, 1989), while
to the park and displays himself to hapless observers is not
the status of renewal among Sunn¯ı jurists has been highlight-
innocent in his vulnerability but is driven by the awareness
ed through Bernard Haykel’s Revival and Reform in Islam:
that exposing one’s sexual organs can strike fear in the be-
The Legacy of Muh:ammad al-Shawkani (Cambridge, 2003).
holder.
In addition to these critical studies, a number of primary sources,
From the female figures exposing their labia to protect
reflecting various genres and time periods, are available in
cathedrals built in the Christian West to the ithyphallic and
English translation. The Life of Muh:ammad: A Translation of
[Ibn] Ish
:a¯q’s S¯ırat Rasu¯l Alla¯h, translated by Alfred Guil-
sexually gymnastic figures decorating supporting struts and
laume (1955; reprint, Lahore, 1967), is the well-known
exterior walls of temples in South Asia (said to prevent dam-
eighth-century biography that sought to establish the Proph-
age caused by lightening strikes), examples of the naked body
et’s legitimacy in regard to Judeo-Christian messenger fig-
striking an aggressive, “keep your distance” pose abound in
ures. It, along with other early sources, has now been subject-
the history of religions. Apotropaic rituals often utilize nudi-
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6740
NUDITY
ty. Images of nude humans, animals, deities, demons, and
ful, as the work of Georges Bataille and Michel Foucault
monstrous hybrids can be found in (and on the borders of)
makes abundantly clear. To be on the wrong side of these
many configurations of sacred space.
polarities moves one into the realm of sinister forces, of mon-
NUDITY AND SEXUALITY. To display one’s naked body in an
strosity and excess. Nudity in this context acts with the force
inappropriate context can certainly engender powerful emo-
of the ganz anderer, a terrifying absence of familiar contexts,
tions in those who observe the spectacle. Why are social con-
an overwheling disruption of the familiar order.
ventions being flouted? Is this person crazy, or worse—a
With rare exceptions, public nudity is a category mis-
menace, a pervert, an evildoer? Religious discourses often
take. Aside from cases of social abjection (such as corporal
provide contexts for making such judgments. Sociobiological
punishment in which the criminal’s transgression against so-
theory pertaining to sex and the capacity of the human body
ciety is publically inscribed through the savaging of the crim-
to organize social life by means of sexuality provides a frame-
inal’s body), most of the contexts in which one undresses be-
work for exploring these religious discourses. Although femi-
fore another are private affairs, affairs in which one’s body
nists and queer theorists regard Desmond Morris’s work war-
is under the gaze of selected others, invited and authorized
ily, the patriarchal, hetero-normative assumptions behind
to observe one’s naked body. Even in climates where clothes
the story of human evolution that Morris imaginatively re-
can detract from comfort, primary (and often secondary) sex-
constructs in his magnum opus, The Naked Ape, help link
ual characteristics are rarely displayed for all to see. Unless
the patriarchal norms of many religious strictures around nu-
one has joined a colony of nudists, public nudity cannot help
dity to a sociobiological vision of how sexuality organizes
but engender powerful emotions. Hence the apotropaic
human social life. Despite his ostensibly secular, agnostic
function of public nudity: the naked flesh wards off harm by
stance, Morris tells a story of the human past that resonates
its manifest refusal to follow the rules, to know its place.
nicely with patriarchal religious codes and the myths of ori-
gin in which many such codes are grounded.
RITUALS OF PASSAGE. Indeed as a symbol of category viola-
tion and liminal moments in transition between categories,
Sociobiologists like Morris say that humans are naked
nudity figures prominently in any number of ritually con-
apes: highly evolved animals who have found it evolutionari-
ferred changes of state: in the initiation of children into
ly adaptive to maintain stable monogamous pair-bonds
adulthood, in mortuary rites that send off the dead, in
through the constant receptivity to sexual arousal that hu-
mourning practices that reconfigure the social world of the
mans, with relatively hairless bodies, enjoy. Humans are
living, and in fertility rites that annually renew nature’s in-
unique among mammals in the unprotected, furless condi-
fancy and potency after the senescence of winter. The works
tion. Humans have replaced shaggy coats of fur with cloth-
of Mircea Eliade and Victor Turner amply illustrate the utili-
ing, keeping only vestigial fur patches around the scent or-
ty of the symbol of the naked body in mediating such transi-
gans that send aromatic messages to mates. Human females
tions between states. Baptism (at least for Paul and Chris-
need not wait for their estrus cycles to connect them to the
tians influenced by him) entails an imitatio Christi whereby
rewards of sexual intimacy with their mates; the female of the
the neophyte suffers a symbolic death and rises again, trans-
species is bound to her mate largely by the constant possibili-
formed. Conversion to Judaism originally involved nudity
ty of sexual pleasure.
and played on a wide symbolic range of religious symbols of
According to Morris, the heterosexual pair-bond devel-
rebirth and purity. The Brit Milah or ceremony of circumci-
oped at the beginning of human evolution and provides the
sion that Jewish males undergo as a mark of the covenant en-
key to the survival and success of Homo sapiens. Humans
tails a change of state inscribed in the alteration of the ex-
are sapient because we form strong familial bonds that yield
posed sexual organ. In many Islamic countries, boys become
more brainpower in offspring. The sexual fidelity of the het-
men through the exposure of their genitals in rites of mass
erosexual couple allows human infants to develop slowly,
circumcision.
cared for by a stable set of parents, which allows for maximal
HOLY SHAMELESSNESS. For those ascetics whose social death
cognitive development and minimal instinctual “hardwir-
frees them (at least in theory) from all social labels, nudity
ing.” The young, swaddled in clothing, are still nursing when
can signify the refusal to occupy a fixed social status, as
the offspring of other species are already engaging in acts of
among the Digambara (“sky clad”) Jain mendicants of India.
sexual reproduction and parenting their own young. That is
Narratives about the conversion of high-status Christian
surely innocence but of a special sort. Human young remain
men such as Saint Anthony also suggest a divestiture of social
“in the nest” long after sexual awareness has dawned in them.
privilege and status symbolized by public disrobing. But for
Without constant restraint of sexual urges, the primal pair-
a woman, sartorial divestiture can be a double-edged sword.
bond between parents would be threatened by the intrusion
What for a man clearly signals the opting out of the social
of incestuous sexual activity in the family.
world can sometimes for a woman suggest a promiscuous
Obviously the disciplined observation of sexual im-
freedom within that world or at least within the demimonde
pulses and the policing of sexual expression are spheres where
where “loose” women circulate. Maha¯dev¯ı of Karn:a¯t:aka, a
religious discourse about purity and impurity, proper and
twelfth-century South Indian poet-saint, reportedly left her
improper, dignity and shame, right and wrong can be help-
Jain husband (who refused her the right to worship the
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NUDITY
6741
Hindu god S´iva) and wandered naked as a mendicant. Al-
and evil (told in the Hebrew Bible’s second creation ac-
though in medieval India the practice of nudity as a sign of
count), self-awareness leads the primordial human couple to
having renounced all possessions and all attachments to self-
cover their nakedness. Adam and Eve’s awareness of their
image was common in male monastic communities (as it still
transgression against God’s command is heralded by a sud-
is in the early twenty-first century in both Jain and Hindu
den desire to cover themselves. The fruit that the serpent had
ascetic circles), it was highly unusual for a woman to go un-
promised would make them wise also opened their eyes to
covered. The threat of rape, concerns about provoking sexual
their own nakedness, and they sewed together fig leaves to
desire, and aversion to the sight of menstrual blood are cited
cover their genitals. Here wisdom is not shameless. Indeed
in Jain texts translated by P. S. Jaini in Gender and Salvation:
to have shame, to be modest in covering one’s sexual organs,
Jaina Debates on the Spiritual Liberation of Women as reasons
is to show an understanding of one’s place in the divinely cre-
why women should not attempt the practice of nudity. But
ated order.
in the community of Lin˙ga¯yat S´aiva Hindu saints that
Maha¯dev¯ı joined after leaving her husband, she was not only
This order is reflected, if Elaine Scarry is correct, in the
supported in her practice of nudity but was encouraged to
emphatic embodiment of inferiors and the relative disem-
completely eradicate shame from her consciousness. It is said
bodiment of superiors (such as deities, kings, patriarchs, and
that when Maha¯dev¯ı sought admission into the community
other powerful persons) in the ancient Near East that Scarry
of saints, she was asked to explain why, having abandoned
describes in The Body in Pain. Thus while Morris might re-
her clothes, she arranged her hair so that it covered her
gard the shame surrounding the patriarch Noah’s nakedness
breasts. Only after explaining that she did this as a concession
(Gn. 9:20–27) as having to do with worries about incest,
to human weakness and not out of shame was she accepted
Scarry would suggest that it would demean a patriarch to be
as a member of the community.
exposed involuntarily to the gaze of his children. Noah’s sons
must walk backward into his tent to cover the old man’s
But Maha¯dev¯ı eventually left the community of saints
naked body when the drunken patriarch involuntarily ex-
and took up a life of solitary wandering. And her poems indi-
poses himself. The lineage of the son who looked at Noah’s
cate that she attracted a great deal of unsolicited attention
nakedness (the Canaanites) is cursed, whereas the lines of
in her wanderings and was often accosted. Justifying her na-
those who cover his nakedness (Shem and Japeth) are
kedness by reference to a monistic worldview that renders
blessed.
shame ludicrous, Maha¯dev¯ı’s recorded sayings suggest that
she responded with an attitude of holy shamelessness:
Social inferiors are not to see the genitals of their superi-
ors on pain of death in many cases. In his introduction to
People, male and female, blush when a covering comes
People of the Body: Jews and Judaism from an Embodied Per-
loose. When the lord of lives drowned without a face
spective, Howard Eilberg-Schwartz provides support for Scar-
in the world, how can you be modest? When all the
ry’s linkage between the relative disembodiment of deities
world is the eye of the lord, onlooking everywhere, what
and that of powerful humans in the ancient Near East when
can you cover and conceal? (Ramanujan, 1973, p. 131)
he notes that the same author (the J source) who tells the
When one recognizes S´iva as the unmanifest reality behind
story of Noah’s nakedness also recounts that, when Moses
every phenomenal appearance, there is nothing of which one
asked to see God, God allowed Moses only to see his back-
should be ashamed. It is all God, whether breasts or buttocks
side (Ex. 33:23). Eilberg-Schwartz suggests in his introduc-
or eyes which behold them. Such responses to interlocutors
tion that Israelite literary sources are “extremely reticent
suggest that this poet-saint challenged cultural expectations
about describing the divine body” and that even those
about proper female self-presentation without conceding
sources that insist that the body of God is visible to certain
any ideological ground to those who found her behavior
humans avoid describing that body above the feet (Eilberg-
shameful.
Schwartz, 1992, p. 31). When this God of the Hebrew Bible
HOLY SHAME. In these cases of ascetic nudity, as in the ritu-
manifests himself, he is as likely to take the form of fire or
alized passage from one social status to another, nudity can
light as to take the form of flesh. When God permits himself
instantiate the innocence and vulnerability of the infant as
to be materialized in the tabernacle (as described at the end
well as the knowing stance of the exhibitionist. When God
of Exodus), he provides instructions for multiple layers of
is omniscient, Maha¯dev¯ı suggests, there’s no point in cover-
curtains, skins, and bronze gratings. The result, Scarry asserts
ing one’s genitals. To cover them only shows one’s ignorance
in The Body in Pain, is that God materializes in veiled form,
of divine omnipresence and omniscience; exposing oneself
coming before people as “the veil, the materialization of the
shamelessly displays one’s understanding of the nature of re-
refusal to be materialized, the incarnation of absence. It is
ality. The naked neophyte also dispenses with shame in the
a realm of exclusion, entered only by the priests (whose bo-
knowledge that his or her ritualized state of nudity will lead
dies are, like the altar that is the symbolic representation of
to a properly exalted status in which propriety in dress will
the human body, themselves surrounded by layers and layers
be observed.
of woven garments)” (Scarry, 1985, p. 211).
In the narrative of the Garden of Eden and the first hu-
Seen in this light, the modesty shown by Adam and Eve
mans’ transition from innocence to the knowledge of good
after eating the fruit seems to exalt them above the condition
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6742
NUDITY
of animals and the lower orders of creation. The first humans
in the time of the Naxalite peasant uprisings in twentieth-
showed wisdom in their refusal to be seen in the nude. Of
century Bengal. Dopdi is a communist revolutionary who is
course as punishment for their disobedience the primal cou-
captured, stripped, and gang-raped. Although her captors be-
ple suffered the wages of embodiment: death, pain in child-
lieve that this form of torture will force her to name her com-
birth, and the sweat of labor. It took the profound embodi-
rades, Dopdi does not do so. In the morning the guards
ment of God enfleshing himself in Jesus and suffering the
bring her a pot of water so she can clean the blood off her
ultimate humiliation of corporal punishment to restore hu-
body and dress in preparation for a visit to the quarters of
mans to their rightful place, according to Christians.
Senanayak, the commanding officer. At this point Dopdi
causes a commotion that sends shock waves through the
In the Hebrew Bible, the covenant between Yahweh and
camp. She knocks the water pot to the ground, then tears
his people is marked on the exposed flesh of male Israelites.
the garment they have given her and walks out into the sun-
The incarnation of Jesus, Scarry suggests, changes that dy-
light naked with her head held high. Gaining advantage from
namic of a vocal but invisible God underscoring the embodi-
what might otherwise be a shameful situation, Dopdi uses
ment of his people through the cutting of flesh. Now God
her ravaged body to shame Senanayak. Spivak’s translation
not only shows himself but also turns the knife on himself,
of Mahasveta Devi’s text is terse and powerful at this climac-
as it were, incarnating as a low-status human who would be
tic point in the narrative:
exposed, humiliated, and tortured in a public execution. The
willingness of Jesus (and through him God) to be mocked
Draupadi stands before him, naked. Thigh and pubic
and exposed before the public is replicated again and again
hair matted with dried blood. Two breasts, two
in the actions of Christian martyrs prior to the conversion
wounds. “What is this?” He is about to bark. Draupadi
comes closer. Stands with her hand on her hip, laughs
of Constantine.
and says, “The object of your search, Dopdi Mejhen.
For women martyrs the stakes were especially high, as
You asked them to make me up; don’t you want to see
Margaret Miles, Virginia Burris, Elizabeth Castelli, and oth-
how they made me?” “Where are her clothes?” “Won’t
ers have shown. In Christian accounts of women’s martyr-
put them on, sir. Tearing them.” Draupadi’s black body
comes even closer. Draupadi shakes with an indomita-
dom, the unclothed female body often stands out as a power-
ble laughter that Senanayak simply cannot understand.
ful symbol. One can find in many accounts a discrepancy
Her ravaged lips bleed as she begins laughing. Draupadi
between the prurient interest of the audience and the un-
wipes the blood on her palm and says in a voice that
ashamed innocence of the martyr. Flying in the face of cul-
is terrifying, sky-splitting, “What’s the use of clothes?
tural expectations that their appearance is immodest and de-
You can strip me, but how can you clothe me again? Are
grading, many women martyrs do not regard themselves as
you a man?” She looks around and chooses the front of
debased. In their visions, Perpetua, a twenty-two-year-old
Senanayak’s white shirt to spit a bloody gob at and says,
Carthaginian, and Febronia, the twenty-year-old Syrian mar-
“There isn’t a man here that I should be ashamed. I will
tyr, regender themselves and see themselves as muscle-bound
not let you put my cloth on me. What more can you
gladiators, stripped naked for athletic struggle with Satan’s
do? Come on, counter me, counter me. . . .” Drau-
minions, as Margaret Miles recounts in Carnal Knowing: Fe-
padi pushes Senanayak with her two mangled breasts
and for the first time Senanayak is afraid to stand before
male Nakedness and Religious Meaning in the Christian West.
an unarmed target, terribly afraid. (Devi, 1990, p. 104)
What could be a moment of acute humiliation becomes an
opportunity for righteous aggression whereby opponents of
Refusing to cover herself, this heroine uses her ravaged body
Christianity are put to shame. The Syrian martyr Mahya tells
as a weapon by which to censure the man who has sanctioned
the ruler who had ordered her stripped naked, “It is to your
the use of gang rape as a weapon against her.
shame . . . that you have done this; I am not ashamed my-
For all her righteous shamelessness, however, Draupadi-
self” (Miles, 1989, p. 58). Being stripped of clothing can thus
Dopdi never challenges the presupposition that it is shameful
serve to highlight a devout woman’s subjectivity and agency
for a woman’s body to be exposed to the gaze of men as
in two ways. Nakedness can serve as a means of resistance
Maha¯dev¯ı does. The way that Dopdi shames Senanayak is
against culturally determined understandings of the body for
by saying, “There isn’t a man here that I should be ashamed.”
someone whose values are counter to those prevailing in the
This statement suggests that if he were a man by virtue of
culture, and nakedness can also serve as a means of shaming
his just conduct and unquestionable virtue as an officer, she
those who look, turning passivity into agency and victimiza-
would cover her naked body out of deference to his position.
tion into victory.
But since he is not a man, she need not acknowledge that
Nudity and the intended shame that it was meant to in-
she is a woman. Thus she is able to shame him by treating
cite ricochets back on the oppressor in a much-anthologized
him as a junior male, a male before whom a woman can ex-
modern retelling of the Hindu epic heroine Draupad¯ı’s story
pose more of her body than in the presence of other men
by the Bengali writer and activist Mahasveta Devi. In Devi’s
without violating the rules of deferential distance.
short story “Draupadi,” known to English readers through
Dopdi’s stance echoes the situation of the epic heroine
Gayatri Spivak’s 1990 translation, Draupad¯ı is called Dopdi,
Draupad¯ı, for the man who claims ownership over Draupad¯ı
a tribal version of the name Draupad¯ı. The narrative is set
and orders her stripped of her sari is a villain, a cheater who
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NUER AND DINKA RELIGION
6743
wins her in a crooked dice game. Draupad¯ı uses her consid-
Foucault, Michel. “Excess.” In Readings: Acts of Close Reading in
erable intelligence and quick tongue to try to prevent expo-
Literary Theory, edited by Julian Wolfreys. Edinburgh, 2000.
sure, telling the villain that she is menstruating. But in the
Jaini, Padmanabh S. Gender and Salvation: Jaina Debates on the
end she is forced before the assembly of men and her sari
Spiritual Liberation of Women. Berkeley, Calif., 1990.
rudely pulled away from her body. But the force of
Lévi-Strauss, Claude. The Naked Man. Translated by John and
Draupad¯ı’s virtue counters that of Dushasana’s wickedness.
Doreen Weightman. New York, 1981.
As the garment is pulled away, another one appears under-
Miles, Margaret. Carnal Knowing: Female Nakedness and Religious
neath it. And when that one is removed, another appears.
Meaning in the Christian West. Boston, 1989.
Dushasana pulls yards and yards of fabric until finally he is
Morris, Desmond. The Naked Ape: A Zoologist’s Study of the
overtaken by exhaustion. (According to some versions of the
Human Animal. London, 1967.
tale, it is the god Kr:s:n:a who causes Draupad¯ı’s garment to
Ramanujan, A. K. Speaking of Shiva. Baltimore, 1973.
miraculously lengthen—a surprising turn of events, given
Scarry, Elaine. The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of
that this same god is represented in other contexts as a
the World. New York, 1985.
practical joker who steals women’s clothing while they are
Smith, Jonathan Z. “The Garments of Shame.” History of Religions
bathing.)
5 (Winter 1966): 217–238.
The phenomenological situation of nudity includes not
Turner, Victor. The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure.
only a naked body observed by other people but also the state
Chicago, 1969.
of mind and self-concept of the subject who is exposed as the
L
object of vision. Thus to understand any one instance in
IZ WILSON (2005)
which public exposure of the naked body occurs in a reli-
gious context, the subjective as well as the objective dimen-
sions of the disrobing must be understood. Who objectively
NUER AND DINKA RELIGION. The Nuer and
dominates whom? What does nudity mean subjectively for
Dinka peoples belong to the Nilotic group of the Nilo-
the person exposed? What does it mean for the observers? Is
Saharan language family and inhabit the savanna and sudd
there a moral victory to be won, perhaps separate from the
region of the upper Nile in the southern part of the Republic
scorecard of social dominance and submission? Who, in the
of the Sudan. The Nuer number some 300,000 and the
end, is the victim and who the victor? If humans are indeed
Dinka about 1 million; the figures are approxiamte, partly
naked apes, the possibility of sexual interaction marks every
because some sections of each group have intermingled. It
human situation with the signs of sexual fidelity or infidelity,
has been argued that they should be considered a single peo-
familial protection or abandonment, submission or domi-
ple, but cultural and political differences are marked enough
nance, shame or shamelessness. The sentience of these vari-
to distinguish them, and each considers itself to be distinct
ous possibilities and their subversion generates a wide range
from the other. Their religious systems should also be differ-
of meanings whenever a body is publicly exposed.
entiated, although perhaps as variants of a common system.
Both Nuer and Dinka are cattle herders on the vast sa-
SEE ALSO Human Body, article on Human Bodies, Reli-
gion, and Art, and article on Myths and Symbolism.
vannas of the region. The Nuer are fully transhumant; the
Dinka less so as their environment is less harsh and better
B
watered, consisting of orchard savanna rather than the tree-
IBLIOGRAPHY
Bataille, Georges. The Tears of Eros. Translated by Peter Connor.
less plains of Nuerland. Relations between local groups based
San Francisco, 1989.
on patrilineal clans and lineages take place largely through
Burris, Virginia. “Reading Agnes: The Rhetoric of Gender in Am-
exchanges of cattle at marriages and, in times of hostility,
brose and Prudentius.” Journal of Early Christian Studies 3
through cattle raiding; cattle also have a central religious im-
(1995).
portance, with a strong sense of spiritual identification be-
Castelli, Elizabeth. “Visions and Voyeurism: Holy Women and
tween humans and cattle. The Nuer lack any form of tradi-
the Politics of Sight in Early Christianity.” In Colloquium
tional political authority other than the rudimentary (and
Proceedings. Berkeley, Calif., 1994.
essentially religious) authority of Leopard-skin priests and
Devi, Mahasveta. “Draupadi.” In The Inner Courtyard: Stories by
prophetic leaders. The Dinka leaders, the Masters of the
Indian Women, edited by Lakshmi Holmstrom. London,
Fishing Spear, exercise more consistent authority over more
1990.
clearly defined groupings. The traditional patterns changed
Eilberg-Schwartz, Howard. The Savage in Judaism: An Anthropolo-
considerably due to colonial rule and, later, to political inde-
gy of Israelite Religion and Ancient Judaism. Bloomington,
pendence. Both peoples are characterized by their fierce sense
Ind., 1990.
of independence, seeing themselves alone in a world that is
Eilberg-Schwartz, Howard. People of the Body: Jews and Judaism
hostile to them both environmentally and politically. Ob-
from an Embodied Perspective. Albany, N.Y., 1992.
servers have all stressed the importance of religion to them
Eliade, Mircea. Birth and Rebirth: The Religious Meanings of Initia-
in their everyday affairs.
tion in Human Culture. London, 1958.
DIVINITIES AND SPIRITS. In both religions the world is said
Foucault, Michel. Histoire de la sexualité. 2 vols. Paris, 1976.
to have been created by a high god. The Nuer refer to this
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6744
NUER AND DINKA RELIGION
God as Kwoth (a word that also means “spirit,” or “breath”),
cestors. The main distinction in everyday life is that a clan
or as Kwoth Nhial; among the Dinka the supreme being is
divinity, associated with an animal species or a class of ob-
known as Nhialic, which might be translated as “sky.” Even
jects, is the concern of all the members of a particular clan,
though the two concepts may not be identical it is conve-
whereas the sky divinities force themselves upon the living
nient to use the term Deity here for both. The source both
by possession and so create a permanent relationship with
of life and of its paradoxes, the Deity is omnipotent, ubiqui-
them individually and irrespective of clan affiliation. They
tous, everlasting, and beyond the comprehension and the
are more difficult to understand and predict and thus more
control of ordinary living people. Although now remote
powerful and more dangerous. A divinity that possesses an
from human beings (in both religions there are myths of the
individual is identified by divination so it can be separated
separation of people from the sky), the Deity remains ulti-
from the possessed person by sacrifice. Sky divinities are re-
mately concerned with the world and liable to interfere in
garded as external realities that represent inner psychological
its everyday affairs at any time. Prayers and offerings are
states and so are linked with situations of social and moral
made continually and informally to the Deity, never far from
ambiguity, confusion, and sin.
the thoughts of the living.
PRIESTS AND SACRIFICE. Each society has ritual experts who
In terms of everyday behavior the mystical or spiritual
are thought to cope with the spiritual powers and to protect
forces that are in most constant watch over people and in
ordinary people from them. Among the Nuer they are the
communication with them are the many kinds of spirits, or
Leopard-skin priests, members of particular lineages who
lesser deities, that are nearer to the mundane world. The na-
possess powers, the principal of which is to purify those who
tures, identities, and motives of these lesser deities are many.
have been placed, through their own or others’ deeds, in a
They represent, on a mystical plane, the countless and always
state of pollution and spiritual danger. Among the Dinka
changing aspects of the human experience of the world, of
they are known as Masters of the Fishing Spear, the heads
the acts of the Deity, and of themselves; any attempted classi-
of priestly lineages. They are said to be “the lamps of the
fication of them except in general terms can only be uncer-
Dinka” as they “carry life” and guide their people through
tain and ever shifting. In both religions a somewhat similar
the darkened ways of the everyday world. They have a life-
pattern is discernible, but similarities should not be pushed
giving power given to them by the divinity Ring (“flesh”).
too far.
Oral traditions state that the first Master of the Fishing Spear
was Aiwel Longar, whose prayers were powerful and truthful
The Nuer divide the lesser deities into spirits of the air
enough to maintain the fertility of people, livestock, and
(or of the above) and spirits of the below. The former are
land. Longar’s spears were accurate and deadly when used to
more powerful, more wide ranging, and more dangerous.
kill sacrificial oxen, and so are those of the present-day mas-
Most are thought of as alien, originating from the Dinka.
ters; the spiritual power resides in the spears, used for sacrifi-
They are distinct from the Deity, even though both they and
cial killing and thereby also to preserve life. The invocation
the Deity are known as kwoth. There is only one Deity, and
and the immolation of the victim is a repetition of Longar’s
it is original to the Nuer; the spirits of the above are many
original ritual action. The sacrificial animal is symbolically
and may come from other peoples (although the colwic, spir-
identified with the person on whose behalf the rite is per-
its of people killed by lightning, appear to be older and not
formed. Guilt and sickness are placed “on the back” of the
of alien origin). The Deity is seen as a benevolent father and
sacrificial victim and carried away at its death: its death ex-
friend, whereas the spirits are less benevolent and more im-
pels sin and sickness from the group and releases the individ-
mediately demanding. They possess people by sickness to
ual concerned from them.
signal that the latter have committed sins, and the relation-
ship thus established between spirit and person may be in-
Masters of the Fishing Spear bring and retain the “life”
herited. Sacrifice is made to remove the sin from the pos-
of their people. They may not die a normal death and so are
sessed person, who is thereby cured, and the spirit is sent
buried alive at their own request. Since the master’s life is not
back to its proper place in the outside world. And it is the
lost (it remains among the living to strengthen them), the
spirits of the above who possess certain people who thereby
people do not mourn him and feel only joy.
become prophets.
PROPHETS. The Nuer and Dinka have long had to face the
The spirits of the below are nearer to people. They in-
radical (and seemingly both destructive and irrational) effects
clude totemic spirits, attached to local groups; totemistic
of outside interference and to make some satisfying response
spirits, attached to individuals; and various nature and other
to them. Besides such natural disasters as famines and epi-
spirits. They are all of less importance than the spirits of the
demics, the most serious cases in recent centuries have been
above and not held in great esteem. But being more closely
Arab slavers, British colonial rule and “pacification,” and
attached to individuals they may partake of ordinary human
then overrule under the Republic of the Sudan.
spite and hatred and so be demanding and unpleasant.
Little is known about their earliest responses, but during
The Dinka distinguish what they call the sky divinities
the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries both the
or free divinities, the more important, from the clan divini-
Nuer and Dinka produced religious movements led by
ties that are attached to local groups, lesser divinities, and an-
prophets. Nuer prophets organized large groups of people to
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NUMBERS: AN OVERVIEW
6745
raid the Dinka, introduced new rites to stop new epidemics,
relatively remote from humans, both during life and after
and led the resistance against slavers. Toward the end of the
death (when humans descend to the underworld). Contact
last century there appeared a prophet called Ngundeng, a
with Num is established only exceptionally, through spirits
member of a Leopard-skin priest lineage and perhaps of for-
and through shamans and their assistant spirits. In the Ne-
eign (Dinka) origin. He acquired a reputation for healing,
nets religion Num is the father of Nga, the god of evil and
announced that his powers came from a Dinka sky divinity
of death, and is therefore his antipode. (Among the Selkup,
called Deng and went into ritual seclusion and fasting, which
Nom is the highest god but does not participate in a polar
marked his acquisition of a new and prophetic role. He had
opposition; in Selkup nga means simply “god.”) The sacri-
a wide following, and his supporters spent two years building
fices offered to Num on specified occasions are in the form
a pyramid of earth and ashes, a “house of spirit” in honor
of animals, food, clothing, and money. In the terminology
of his sky divinity. After his death in 1906 his powers passed
of syncretic Samoyed Christianity, “Num bread” refers to the
to his son Gwek. A deformed and ugly man known for his
eucharistic wafer, the Host.
healing powers, Gwek appeared regularly at the top of the
Literally, num means not only “the highest god who re-
pyramid in a state of extreme possession, uttering prophecies.
sides in the heavens” but also “sky, firmament.” The term
Like his father, he periodically fasted in solitude and wore
is found in all Samoyed languages and can be reconstructed
long and unkempt hair, signs of being imbued with divine
for proto-Samoyed religion with the meanings “heaven
power. He headed the resistance to the British administra-
above” and “highest god.” However, because the obviously
tion and was killed by government forces. Many other Nuer
cognate forms nu- and num with the meanings “up, above,
prophets have had generally similar attributes.
top” and “sky” are also found in Khanty and Mansi (two
Dinka prophets were also important and numerous.
Finno-Ugric languages related to Samoyed and spoken to the
The most famous was Arianhdit, who was at his height dur-
west and south of the Samoyed area), it is likely that num
ing World War I and lived until 1948. Dinka prophets were
is a cultic word that in the course of time has migrated over
Masters of the Fishing Spear who, by acquiring additional
western Siberia. Attempts to connect num with the root
powers directly from the Deity, also became Men of Divini-
jum(a) found in the Finnish word for “god,” jumala (-la is
ty. They were thus more directly involved with traditional
a local suffix), must be rejected on phonological grounds in
authority and social organization than were the Nuer proph-
favor of the assumption that jumala and related terms in
ets. They led many risings and movements of political signif-
some other Finno-Ugric languages are borrowed from Indic
icance in the early years of this century.
(cf. the Sanskrit dyuma¯n, “bright, shining,” which refers to
Christian missionaries have been active among both
an attribute of Indra).
peoples. They have had little success among the Nuer and
rather more among the Dinka, perhaps because the Dinka,
BIBLIOGRAPHY
as the largest group in the southern Sudan, give greater im-
There are no works specifically devoted to Num. The interested
portance to Western forms of education and to their political
reader may, however, profitably consult The Samoyed Peoples
ambitions in the modern world.
and Languages (Bloomington, Ind., 1963) by Péter Hajdú
and The Mythology of All Races, vol. 4, Finno-Ugric, Siberian
(Boston, 1927) by Uno Holmberg.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The principal sources for the religions of the Nuer and Dinka are
ROBERT AUSTERLITZ (1987)
E. E. Evans-Pritchard’s Nuer Religion (Oxford, 1956) and
Godfrey Lienhardt’s Divinity and Experience: The Religion of
the Dinka
(Oxford, 1961). Both are based on meticulous and
NUMBERS
rich ethnographic research and on intensive understanding
This entry consists of the following articles:
of the theoretical and comparative problems in studies of
AN OVERVIEW
alien religious beliefs and rites. Both are outstanding studies
BINARY SYMBOLISM
of highly complex matters. Evans-Pritchard also published
scores of articles on various aspects of Nuer religion, which
are listed in A Bibliography of the Writings of E. E. Evans-
NUMBERS: AN OVERVIEW
Pritchard, compiled by himself and edited by T. O. Beidel-
Numbers, in which the power and sanctity of both time and
man (London, 1974). Other works include J. Pasquale Craz-
space are experienced in visible form, have fascinated human-
zolara’s Zur Gesellschaft und Religion des Nueer (Mödling bei
kind since early days, although methods of counting and sys-
Wien, 1933), by a Catholic missionary with long experience
tems of expressing numerals have differed considerably from
of the Sudan, and F. M. Deng’s The Dinka of the Sudan
culture to culture. The highest achievements in this field are
(New York, 1972), by a distinguished Dinka scholar.
the Maya system and the “Arabic” (originally Indian) num-
JOHN MIDDLETON (1987)
bers that were introduced in the West in the twelfth century.
The presence of zero in them facilitated mathematical opera-
tions.
NUM is the highest god of the Nentsy, a Samoyed people
THE MATHEMATICAL SPIRIT. Augustine found numbers in
of western Siberia. He is the creator of the world but remains
the scriptures to be both sacred and mysterious, and people
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6746
NUMBERS: AN OVERVIEW
today still react positively or negatively to numbers such as
ing purposes. The widespread use of magic squares is only
seven and thirteen, for the mathematical spirit is innate in
one example of the faith in certain numbers.
humankind and manifests itself wherever human beings live,
INTERPRETATION OF NUMBERS. Although the numbers have
beginning with simple geometrical ornaments. Observation
been interpreted in various ways, it can be seen that these are
of the rhythm of days and nights and the phases of the moon
generally rather similar.
seem to have led to early human occupation with numbers,
and the Sumerian-Babylonian astral system lies behind much
1. One, according to the Pythagoreans, is both odd and
of the later development. Numbers have sometimes been
even. Not a number in the normal meaning of the word, it
given divine qualities: In India, the number is called “of the
points to the all-embracing unity that incorporates the possi-
kind of Brahma¯,” and the name of Sa¯m:khya philosophy al-
bility of multiplicity. “God is an odd number and loves odd
ludes to the system’s reliance on numbers, for it literally
numbers,” says a Muslim tradition derived from classical an-
means “count.”
tiquity (see Vergil’s Numero deus impare gaudet). Geometri-
cally, one is represented by the dot, out of which forms and
But the first religio-philosophical interest in numbers
figures are developed.
appeared in Greece with the Pythagoreans, who regarded
numbers as metaphysical potencies and the cosmos as iso-
2. Unity breaks up into duality. Two is the number of
morphic with pure mathematics (Bell, 1933, p. 140). They
duality, of contrast and tension: The German zwei (“two”)
defined geometrical theorems, tried to develop objective
in Zwietracht (“discord”) expresses this relation, as do com-
standards of beauty (the Golden Section), and found the re-
pounds formed with the prefix dis. Two signifies the tension
lations between numbers and music. (In the sixteenth centu-
between the positive and negative current, between systole
ry, Kepler’s work was still permeated by the idea of the har-
and diastole, inhaling and exhaling, between male and fe-
monia mundi.) Pythagorean thought remained basic for later
male; in short, it signifies the tension that generates the con-
numerology and arithmology, all of which lays particular
tinuous flow of life, for the world is composed of pairs of op-
stress on the first ten integers, in which, as it were, the full-
posites.
ness of the world is contained. The classification of odd
“Whatever comes from the tree of knowledge has duali-
numbers as masculine and lucky and even numbers as femi-
ty,” says a qabbalistic text. This principle is well expressed
nine and unlucky stems from the Pythagorean system.
in the Chinese figuration of yang and yin. Zoroastrian reli-
“Lucky” odd numbers have therefore been preferred for use
gion postulates the constant strife between the principle of
in magic spells, in religious repetitive formulas, and in rites
darkness and that of light, which in gnostic religions devel-
of healing.
ops into the strife between material evil and spiritual good.
Islam sees the manifestation in time and space of the peerless,
Speculations on the properties of numbers were contin-
numinous One in two aspects: jama¯l (“beauty”) and jala¯l
ued in the works of Iamblichus and Philo Judaeus, and arith-
(“majesty”). Two is further valorized in the creative word kun
mology as the philosophy of the powers and virtues of partic-
(“Be!”), which consists of the two letters k and n, and in the
ular integers was further elaborated by Nikomachos of
letter b (whose numerical value is two) of the Basmalah (“In
Gerasa, Capella, Boethius, and others. It played an impor-
the name of God . . .”) at the beginning of the QurDa¯n, sim-
tant role in Augustine’s hermeneutics, offering him and nu-
ilar to the b at the beginning of the Torah. In the biblical
merous medieval Christian authors (among them particular-
tradition, the two stone tablets of Old Testament law, like
ly Hugh of Saint-Victor) a clue to biblical allegories. In the
the two testaments themselves, the Old and the New, are
early seventeenth century, Peter Bongo (Bungus), in De
complementary, as are the two types of life, the active and
numerorum mysteria (1618), was still trying to prove that nu-
the contemplative, personified in Leah and Rachel and in
merology alone enables an understanding of the world.
Martha and Mary. Geometrically, two corresponds to the
Similar numerical allegory is found, in its most devel-
line. The presence of the dual in many languages shows how
oped form, in Jewish Qabbalah; it is also incorporated into
the I and Thou are juxtaposed against the multiplicity of
Islamic mystical thought, as in the philosophy of the Ikhwa¯n
beings.
al-S:afa¯D and the H:uru¯f¯ı tradition. In both Jewish and Islamic
3. Three “heals what two has split.” As the first number
works (as in ancient Greek) the interchangeability of letters
that has a beginning, a middle, and an end, it is the first real
and numerals was central for the mystico-magical interpreta-
number, “the eldest of odds, God’s number properly,” as
tion of texts (i.e., in gematriah and jafr). The qualities of
Joshua Sylvester (after du Bartas) calls it. It is the first and
numbers as they appear in the biblical tradition became sig-
basic synthesis, represented in the first geometrical figure, the
nificant for the Christian liturgy and visible in Christian ar-
triangle, and in the triadic rhythm of thesis, antithesis, and
chitecture; they permeate the structure and imagery of medi-
synthesis. As the first number beyond I and Thou, it is the
eval and Renaissance literature. Proverbial and folkloristic
first to mean “multitude” and therefore implies the super-
usage of certain numbers, such as three or seven, reveals the
lative.
general feeling toward these integers, and both religious and
popular literature use the device of ascending numbers, or
Numerous are the divine triads that can be named, from
descending numbers (as in the An˙guttara Nika¯ya), for count-
the Sumerian An, Enlil, and Enki and the Babylonian Sha-
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NUMBERS: AN OVERVIEW
6747
mash, Sin, and Ishtar to the Hindu triad of Vis:n:u, S´iva, and
Three is cumulative; whatever happens thrice is law. It
Brahma¯ and to the Christian Trinity. Concerning the last-
often simply denotes the plural, or “everything.” Therefore
named group, it has been pointed out that
it is used in folk tales and legends as a statistical number: Jo-
seph was three days in the well, Jonah three days in the belly
the paramount doctrinal weakness of Christianity, as
of the whale. The three Magi are as well known as groups
the Arian heresy testifies, was the duality of the God-
head (Father and Son). . . . That the Father and Son
of three brothers or sisters; three roses, three ravens, three
were one was questionable on numerical as well as
wishes, and three guesses are frequent in folk songs, fairy-
philosophical ground. But Father, Son and Holy Spirit
tales, and legends. One also finds the action triangle in prac-
were unquestionably One by very virtue of being Three.
tice (ménage à trois) and in drama, and the number of titles
(Hopper, 1938, p. 73)
of fiction and nonfiction works that group persons or events
Lesser divine or semidivine beings also appear in groups of
into three is legion.
three: The Greek Moira, the Nordic Norns, and the Roman
4. Four “brings order into the chaos.” It is a material
Maters, and tricephalic deities are found in many traditions,
and cosmic number. The four phases of the moon and the
from the Celtic to the Hindu. Even Islamic monotheism
four cardinal points of the earth (pre-formed in the name
knows groupings of three, such as, among the Sh¯ıEah, Alla¯h,
Adam) offer such ordering; so do the four elements and the
Muh:ammad, and EAl¯ı.
four humors, and on the mythical plane, in Islam, the four
“All good things come in threes,” it is said, and every-
rivers in Paradise and, in the Vedic tradition, the four milk
thing seems to fall in triparte units: heaven-earth-water, or,
streams that flow from the udder of the heavenly cow. The
as in China, heaven-earth-humanity, hence the concept of
Pythagoreans considered four the number of justice, and
three worlds. The R:gveda knows Vis:n:u’s three strides (con-
their geometry discovered the four perfect solids. The term
nected with the position of the sun during the day), and
square still points to right, orderly, and ordering structure.
three is the number of the twice-born social classes in Vedic
As a number of cosmic order, four often divides the time:
religious anthropology. Three is also an important liturgical
the four seasons, Hesiod’s four ages of humanity, the Hindu
number, as the tripartition of places of public worship shows.
concept of four world epochs (yugas), and the Zoroastrian
Threefold invocation of the deity is common to most tradi-
idea of four periods. Chinese religion and Islam know four
tions, be it the Trisagion of Christian liturgy, the threefold
sacred scriptures, as Christianity accepts only four gospels as
repetition of ´sa¯ntih: (“peace”) at the end of recitation of
authoritative. For the Christian, the cross, with its four right
Hindu Scriptures, or the threefold blowing of the shofar on
angles, is “the rightest figure of all,” extending over the four
Jewish holy days.
corners of the world, while the Jewish tradition emphasizes
the mystery of the tetragrammaton, YHVH. Quaternity as
Metaphysical concepts often occur in groups of three:
an ancient symbol of perfection was reevaluated by C. G.
sat-cit-a¯nanda (“being, knowledge, bliss”) is a common triad
Jung as an antidote to the unstructured, “Wotanic” spirit of
in Indian thought; wisdom, reason, and gnosis were mani-
his time.
fested, according to the Zohar, in Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Buddism conceives of triloka (“three worlds”) and trika¯ya
5. Five is the number of natural humanity, the first
(“three bodies” of the Buddha), and Islam disginguishes be-
number mixed of even and odd. It does not constitute an or-
tween isla¯m (“surrender”), ¯ıma¯n (“faith”), and ih:sa¯n (acting
dering number in crystals, but it occurs frequently in botani-
perfectly beautifully). The spiritual path is usually divided
cal forms, in petals and leaves (see Sir Thomas Browne’s Gar-
into three, as, for example, via purgativa, via illuminativa,
den of Cyrus, 1658), and it has therefore been considered by
and via unitiva or as shar¯ı Eah (“law”), t:ar¯ıqah (“the path”),
some as a “revolutionary” number. In antiquity, five was the
and h:aq¯ıdah (“truth”). Three plays a role in anthropological
number of Ishtar and Venus and is thus connected with sexu-
concepts, too: The spiritual powers can be divided into intel-
al life and marriage, as in the parable of the five foolish vir-
lect, will, and mind, or, in Islam, into nafs amma¯rah
gins and the five wise virgins in Matthew 25. The pentagram,
(“inciting to evil”), lawwa¯mah (“blaming”), and
which can be derived from the zodiacal stations of Venus,
mut:maDinnah (“at peace”). In indian thought, one finds the
is endowed with apotropaic and magic powers, while in al-
trigun:a, the “three strands” of matter: tamas (“heaviness,
chemy the quinta essentia contains the rejuvenating force of
dullness”), rajas (“acitvity, change”), and sattva (“brilliance,
life.
perfect equanimity”).
In China, five has traditionally been a lucky number;
Time is commonly periodicized in three, as past, pres-
in the Western tradition one usually thinks of the five senses.
ent, and future, and the Christian church knows the kind-
Manichaeism knows five archons and the five corresponding
gom of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The latter
aeons of darkness, while Islam, it is said, is “founded on five,”
concept is important in millenarian prophecies such as that
for there are no more than five unconnected letters at the be-
preached in the thirteenth century by Joachim of Fiore. In
ginning of any QurDanic surah, and there are five Pillars of
the more recent past, with the Third Reich (which was, his-
Faith, five daily prayers, and five lawgiving prophets. In Sh¯ıE¯ı
torically speaking, at least the fourth German state), myth
Islam the panjtan (Muh:ammad, Fa¯t:imah, EAl¯ı, H:asan, and
overcame history.
H:usayn) appears as a protective unit, popularly connected
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NUMBERS: AN OVERVIEW
with the “hand of Fa¯t:imah.” The human hand with its five
heptads.” The menorah with its seven candles points to some
fingers is a basis of some numeral systems, and its image has
of the secrets of seven. Numerous biblical stories use seven
been frequently used in magic. The number of philosophical
as a statistical number (Pharaoh’s dream of seven fat cows
pentads ranges from the five Platonic bodies to Islamic Neo-
and seven thin cows; Jacob’s seven years of service, and then
platonic formulations.
seven more). Blood should be avenged seven times, or seven-
ty-seven times (Gn. 4:24), but seventy times seven should be
6. Six is the macrocosmic number: The hexagon, con-
the times of forgiving (Mt. 18:22). The Book of Revelation
sisting of two triangles, expresses the combination of the spir-
is filled with heptads, too, leading John of Salisbury in the
itual and the material world, hence the idea that “what is
twelfth century to write his treatise De septem septenis. Both
there is here.” Six is a perfect number, formed from both the
the Lord’s Prayer and the QurDanic Fa¯tih:a consist of seven
sum and the product of one, two, and three (1 + 2 + 3 and
sentences. Catholic churches speak of seven major sins and
1 × 2 × 3). Therefore, according to both Philo and Augus-
seven virtues, seven sacraments, and seven gifts of the Holy
tine, the world had to be created in six days. In Islam, six
Spirit, and the Mass consists of seven parts.
is used to symbolize the phenomenal world, which appears
like a six-sided solid, that is, a cube.
The sevenfold repetition of religious acts is common in
7. Seven is a sacred number in many traditions. Because
Islam; thus the sevenfold run between S:afah and Marwah
it is, according to Hippocrates of Chios, related to the lunar
and the three times seven stones cast at the devil during the
phases, seven influences all sublunar things. It appears in the
pilgrimage. Sufism knows seven lat:a¯Dif, subtle centers of the
periodicity of chemical elements and of music, and it has
body, connected in meditation with the seven essential attri-
generally been connected with the phases of human develop-
butes of God and the seven great prophets. A h:ad¯ıth speaks
ment to a Grand Climacterium of sixty-three (7 × 9). Seven
of seven layers of QurDanic interpretation, which has been
is the first prime number of symbolic meaning; it is “virgin,”
practiced especially by the Isma¯E¯ıl¯ıyah, whose basis is the sev-
because it does not generate by multiplication any number
enth imam of the Sh¯ıEah. They know seven cyclical periods
under ten, and it is the only integer of the first decade that
with seven imams; the seven great prophets correspond to the
is not a divisor of 360. Consisting of the spiritual ternary and
seven spheres, the imams to the seven earths.
the practical quarternary (3 + 4), seven embraces everything
In folk tales and legends, seven is a round number: To
created.
do anything seven times is especially effective. Christian and
Whether the sanctitude of seven was derived by the Su-
Islamic legends know groups of seven feminine or masculine
merians from the seven planets (the five visible planets plus
saints, most prominently the Seven Sleepers. The continuing
sun and moon) or whether, conversely, they looked for seven
preference for the number seven is reflected today even in the
planets to match their idea of the perfect number is a matter
designation of airplanes as Boeing 707, 747, and so on.
of dispute. The number of planets in turn determined the
8. Eight, the double four, is associated with good for-
number of days in a week. (Niz:a¯m¯ı’s Persian epic Haft paikar
tune. In Judaism the eighth day is singled out for circumci-
expresses this belief poetically.) In Babylon every seventh day
sion. Christian tradition sees in the eighth day (the day after
was considered dangerous, and it was thought that nothing
Sabbath) the resurrection of Christ; hence eight points to
should be undertaken; the seventh day was then sanctified
eternity. The eight paradises in Islam and the eight pillars of
in Judaism as Sabbath, the day on which God rested after
heaven in Chinese religion belong to the same concept; the
creation.
eight blessings in the Sermon on the Mount as well as the
The demonic qualities of seven are preserved in heptads
Eightfold Path of the Buddha are equally connected with
of devils, witches, magic knots, and so on, but its sacred qual-
eternal bliss. Therefore, the traditional shape of a Christian
ities are perhaps more numerous. Some traditions speak of
baptistery is octagonal.
seven worlds, or, in accordance with the “planets,” seven
9. Nine, as three times three, is the number of comple-
spheres; therefore, the ascension of the soul usually leads
tion. Only rarely in Christian theology is it considered in-
through seven gates, steps, valleys, or veils (thus from the
complete, as ten minus one. Christianity speaks of the nine
Mithraic mysteries to EAt:t:a¯r, Ruusbroec, and Teresa of
orders of angels, and Dante thus saw Beatrice as the embodi-
Ávila). In extension, Islam knows seventy thousand veils be-
ment of nine. But the number is more widely connected with
tween the soul and God. Seven appears also in connection
Germanic, Celtic, and Inner Asian peoples. The traditions
with deities of other religions; it is Apollo’s number, and, in
about King Arthur as well as the songs of the Nordic Voluspá
India, it is especially prominent in connection with Agni. In
E
show an abundance of nines, from the nine days that Óðinn
Iran, the heptad of the Amesha Spentas consists of six plus
(Odin) was hanging on the tree to the number of Valkyries,
the all-embracing Ahura Mazda¯.
from ninefold sacrifices to rituals in which nine or a ninefold
But the number seven gained its greatest importance in
number of persons had to participate. This predilection for
the Judaic tradition, whence it extends into Christianity and
nine has been attributed to the nine months of winter in the
Islam. From the seven days of creation to the seven pillars
northern areas of Eurasia, although nine occurs frequently
of wisdom, the Hebrew scriptures contain “unnumbered
in the more southerly lore of the ancient Greeks as well.
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6749
Such expressions as “to the nines,” meaning “perfect,”
and “to be on cloud nine” show the old Germanic esteem
for nine. The number frequently appears in Germanic popu-
lar tales, although it has often been replaced by seven under
Christian influence. Its role in folklore among Germanic
peoples is important, and it often occurs in connection with
witchcraft (a cat, which has nine lives, can turn into a witch
at the age of nine). Among the Chinese and Turco-
F IGURE 1 .
Mongolian peoples, everything valuable has traditionally had
to be ninefold: A prince has owned nine yak-tail standards;
ninefold prostration has been required; and gifts have been
twelve. For medieval Christian exegetes, twelve meant faith
offered in groups of nine, so that the word to¯qu¯z (“nine”)
in the Trinity that had to be diffused to the four corners of
often means simply “present.” In China a nine-storied pago-
the earth. In popular traditions and sayings, it is, again, a
da represents the nine spheres, which are also known in the
round number, manifest in periods of twelve days or years,
eastern Islamic tradition. The eight roads that lead to the
in twelve endangered heroes, and so forth.
central palace in Beijing reflect the ninefold structure of the
13. Thirteen (12 + 1) disrupts the perfection of the duo-
universe.
decimal system and, being connected with the intercalary
10 . Ten, the number of human fingers, and thus a basis
month, was considered unlucky in Babylon, a superstition
of the decimal system, is connected with completion. In the
that continues to the present day. In fairytale, Death be-
decade, multiplicity returns again to unity, and the system
comes the godfather of a thirteenth child. But one can see
is closed. The Pythagoreans regarded ten as the perfect num-
thirteen also as a combination of one leader and twelve fol-
ber, because it is the sum of the first four integers (1 + 2 +
lowers, of twelve members of a jury and a judge, of twelve
3 + 4) and is represented in the perfect triangle seen in
open rooms and a closed one, of a father and twelve sons,
figure 1.
and so on. Thirteen therefore sometimes alternates with
Both the Hebrew and the Buddhist scriptures teach a
twelve. In ancient Israel, thirteen was sacred, for thirteen
decalogue, and sets of ten principles are known for the S:u¯f¯ı
items were necessary for the tabernacle. It also corresponds
novice. Likewise, Aristotle’s ten categories show “complete-
to the numerical value of ah:ad (“one”); thus, thirteen rivers
ness.” In early Christianity, the three persons of the Trinity
of balsam await the believer in paradise. The superstition that
and the seven elements of created beings were thought to be
thirteen people should not sit at one table (based on the Last
represented by ten; but already the Torah had provided the
Supper) is comparatively recent.
ten words of creation that became the basis of “practical”
14. Fourteen (2 × 7) is a lucky number, manifested in
(i.e., magical) Qabbalah, with its concept of sefirot
the fourteen helping saints (Nothelfer) of Christianity and the
(“numbers”). These ten sefirot, along with the twenty-two
fourteen innocent martyrs of Sh¯ıEah Islam. It is the number
letters of the Hebrew alphabet, point to the thirty-two ways
of the full moon and is, therefore, the ideal age of the moon-
of salvation. Ten were the best companions of Muh:ammad,
like beloved of which Persian poets sing. In Islam, it is fur-
and of several S:u¯f¯ı masters, while the Isma¯D¯ıl¯ı system knows
ther connected with the so-called sun- and moon-letters and
the ten higher orders of the h:udu¯d, consisting of groups of
with the unconnected letters at the beginning of certain su-
three and seven.
rahs, both of which sum up to fourteen, half of the twenty-
11. Eleven is normally explained as a number of trans-
eight letters of the Arabic alphabet. The H:uru¯f¯ıyah empha-
gression, being beyond the perfect ten, or as incomplete,
size that the Arabic words yad (“hand”) and wajh (“face”)
being beneath the equally perfect twelve; it is therefore an
both have the numerical value of fourteen, twice the sacred
unfortunate, “mute” number.
seven.
12. Twelve (3 × 4; 5 + 7) is the great cosmic number.
15. Fifteen is the key number in the Daoist liturgical
From Sumer and ancient China onward, it is the number of
dance known as the Pace of Yu; the nine stations, or “gates,”
the signs of the zodiac and the basis of the sexagesimal sys-
of the dance follow the sequence of a magic square whose
tem. In many cultures, day and night were divided into
rows, columns, and diagonals all add to fifteen.
twelve hours, the year into twelve months, and gnostic reli-
16. Sixteen (4 × 4), in the Indian tradition, expresses
gions speak of twelve aeons. The “great period” in Babylon
completeness, in ornaments, features, meters, and poetry.
was twelve times twelve thousand days, and multiples of
twelve appear frequently in later mythology. The meaning
17. Seventeen, nowadays barely popular, appears in an-
of completion is as evident in the twelve tribes of Israel as
tique music and poetry (9:8 = simple interval) and in the sev-
in the twelve disciples of Christ and the twelve gates of the
enteen consonants of the Greek alphabet. In Christianity it
heavenly Jerusalem, where twelve times twelve blessed will
signifies the Ten Commandments plus the seven gifts of the
adore the Lamb of God. The minor prophets of Israel, the
Holy Spirit, and it figures in calculations of the number of
Greek sibyls, and the imams of the Twelver Sh¯ıEah number
the fishes mentioned in John 21:11 (9 × 17 = 153; 1 + [Prod-
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6750
NUMBERS: AN OVERVIEW
uct][Product][Product] + 17 = 153). Seventeen appears in Is-
dervishes, forty saints, or forty Christian martyrs; and the
lamic alchemy (e.g., in the writings of Ja¯bir ibn H:ayya¯n), in
customary selection of forty h:ad¯ıth, representing the fullness
the Sh¯ıEah tradition, and in Turkish epics. There are seven-
of the tradition. In the Persian and Turkish tradition,
teen rak Eahs (sequences of prostration) in the ritual prayers
women miraculously give birth to forty children. As forty in
of one day, and God’s Greatest Name is thought to consist
the Old Testament means “one generation,” it is a temporal
of seventeen letters.
measure. In Turkey, where the number forty is extremely
popular, great events and feasts last forty days and forty
18. Eighteen (2 × 9; 3 (6) is sacred in Qabbalah, as it
nights; to see someone “once in forty years” means “rarely.”
is the numerical value of the Hebrew word h:ay (“living”). In
In many areas, weather predictions are made for forty days.
Islam, it is the number of the letters of the Basmalah, and
it is highly respected among the Mevlevi order of dervishes,
50. Fifty (7 × 7 + 1) is the number of the jobel year, a
inasmuch as the introductory verses of Ru¯m¯ı’s Mathnav¯ı
year of peace, the divine eternal rest. In connection with
number eighteen. By extension, the number of the worlds
Psalm 50, it can point to repentance and forgiveness. A pre-
is eighteen thousand. The perfection of eighteen can also be
dilection for 50 and 150 is apparent in Irish folk tales.
understood from the fact that the Buddha had eighteen prin-
cipal arhats.
60. Among the higher numbers, many are endowed
with qualities similar to those of the bases in the first decade.
19. Nineteen, with the numerical value of wa¯h:id
Sixty is especially important as the basis for the Babylonian
(“one”), is the sacred number of the Baha¯D¯ıs, who count a
sexagesimal system, in which it forms the higher unit after
year of nineteen months with nineteen days each.
ten; from these units, sixty and ten, result the multiples that
20–29. Among the lower twenties, twenty-two is the
are associated with cosmic time. According to Plato, the
number of letters of the Hebrew alphabet and the number
“cosmic day” and the “cosmic year” are reckoned by sixties.
of the great arcana of Tarot. Augustine divided De civitate
Because sixty can be easily divided, it still rules in the tempo-
Dei into twenty-two chapters, ten (2 × 5) devoted to refuta-
ral system. The Chinese, who reckon time in cycles of sixty
tion (ten negative commandments) and twelve (3 x 4) to pos-
years, have traditionally considered that number as the full
itive teachings. Twenty-four can be numerically interpreted
complement of a person’s life. The Talmud knows fragments
in several religiously significant ways (3 × 8; 4 × 6; 12 × 2),
of sixtieths: Dream is one-sixtieth of prophecy, fire one-
and medieval Christian interpreters used whichever combi-
sixtieth of hell, and so on.
nation fit with what they sought to prove. Among the higher
70–79. Seventy participates in the qualities of seven,
twenties, twenty-five is the Jubilee number, and twenty-eight
and the numbers seventy to seventy-three are often inter-
is the lunar number, central to the whole heptadic system.
changed in the Semitic tradition. Among them, seventy-two
30–39. Among the thirties, thirty-three means perfec-
is most important; it is one-fifth of the circumference of the
tion, as a multiple of three, and as the years of Christ’s earthly
circle as well as the product of eight and nine. It usually des-
life. For Muslims as for Christians, it is also the age of the
ignates great diversity: from the seventy-two disciples of
blessed in Paradise. Thirty-six, four times the perfect number
Christ who were sent into the world to the seventy-two mar-
nine, was in early China the number of the provinces and
tyrs of Karbala and the seventy-two sects of Islam. Abulafia
the foreign peoples beyond the borders.
speaks of the seventy-two letters of the name of the Lord.
40. The most important higher number is forty. As the
Higher numbers. Ninety-nine, the heightened angelic
number of days that the Pleiades disappeared (i.e., were not
perfection of nine, is the number of the Most Beautiful
visible), in Babylon forty came to signify a fateful period,
Names of God in Islam, while one hundred as the new basis
connected with expectation and patience. Human pregnancy
of the decimal system, is another complete number. Higher
lasts seven times forty days. Purifications and rites connected
than that is 108 (12 × 9), the number of beads in the Bud-
with death were measured according to forty in ancient Isra-
dhist rosary, the number of books of the Tibetan Kanjur, and
el, as they are in Islam. The times of affliction of Israel were
the number of beautiful gop¯ıs who danced with Lord Kr:s:n:a.
counted by forty: The Flood lasted forty days, the wandering
Higher still are 360 and 365, which are connected with the
in the desert forty years. Moses, Elijah, and Jesus each spent
annual cycle, and 666, the “number of the beast” (Rv. 13),
forty days in the wilderness, and Jesus remained forty hours
which has been interpreted ever since antiquity as the name
in the grave. Forty is the span of days between the resurrec-
of a man particularly detested at various times, be it Nero,
tion and ascension of Jesus, and it is the time of preparation
Pope Leo X, Luther, Napoleon, or some other. Symbolically,
for the dervish, who spends forty days in retirement (chilla),
one thousand and ten thousand are both endless; 1,001 thus
poetically interpreted in EAt:t:a¯r’s Mus:¯ıbatna¯ma. At forty years
transgresses the largest imaginable number, while ten thou-
one becomes wise; the Prophet of Islam was called to preach
sand means immortality in the Chinese tradition. The enor-
at this age. In the Pythagorean system, forty is the perfected
mous numbers of Hindu and Buddhist cosmology form a
tetractys (4 × 10).
theme in themselves.
Forty often appears in Islamic lore as a coterminus with
CONCLUDING REMARK. The interest in numbers and their
“very many,” such as Ali Baba’s forty thieves; groups of forty
specifications continues in spite of the modern scientific
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6751
worldview, especially among those who seek for a meaning-
ful structure of the world. As Le Corbusier once wrote: “Be-
hind the wall, the gods play; they play with numbers, of
which the universe is made up.”
SEE ALSO Dualism; Quaternity; Triads.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The literature on numbers cannot be numbered; many highly spe-
cialized works have been written, especially in German, and
a vast literature on modern numerology exists in German,
French, and English. As a basic source, the article “Numbers”
in the Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, vol. 9, edited by
James Hastings (Edinburgh, 1917), is still useful. On the de-
velopment of counting systems, see Karl Menninger’s Num-
ber Words and Number Symbols,
translated by Paul Broneer
(Cambridge, Mass., 1969). Numerology (Baltimore, 1933), a
study by Eric T. Bell and others, sharply criticizes numerolo-
gy from the vantage point of a mathematician. A good survey
by Franz C. Endres, Mystik und Magie der Zahlen, 3d ed.
(Zurich, 1951), has now been updated by my enlarged ver-
sion of his work, Das Mysterium der Zahl: Zahlensymbolik im
Kultur-Vergleich
(Cologne, 1984). Number Symbolism (Lon-
don, 1970) by Christopher Butler is a useful introduction.
F IGURE 1 . Leibniz’s Symbol.
Vincent Foster Hopper’s Medieval Number Symbolism
(1938; reprint, Ann Arbor, 1966), an excellent introductory
study, has in a certain way been continued by Heinz Meyer’s
NUMBERS: BINARY SYMBOLISM
Die Zahlenallegorese im Mittelalter (Munich, 1975). For a
Binary numbers are a system of counting and computing
Jungian approach, see Ludwig Paneth’s Zahlensymbolik im
Unbewussten
(Zurich, 1952).
using two digits, 1 and 0. This system is known today as the
principle of the digital computer that represents numbers
Numerous studies have been devoted to single numbers, primarily
three, seven, nine, and thirteen; among them, Desmond Var-
through the presence (1) and absence (0) of electrical cur-
ley’s Seven: The Number of Creation (London, 1976) stands
rent. The first electronic digital circuit was created in 1919.
out not only for its quantity of information but also for its
As early as 1932 binary numeration was used in electronic
daring hypotheses. Articles on Germanic lore by Karl Wein-
counting circuits. However, the first binary calculator was
hold and on classical antiquity by W. H. Roscher, both of
designed in 1679 by the great German mathematician and
whom wrote at the turn of the century, are still fundamental.
philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716), who
On the number forty in the Islamic-Turkic tradition, see
invented the binary number system. His plan called for using
Abdul Kadir Karahan’s “Aperçu général sur les EQuarante
moving balls to represent binary digits. The first completed
Hadiths’ dans la littérature islamique,” Studia Islamica 4
statement of the number system and its operations was made
(1955): 39–55.
eighteen years later in a New Year’s greeting Leibniz sent to
New Sources
Duke Rudolph Augustus of Brunswick on January 2, 1697.
Abas, Syed. Symmetries of Islamic Geometrical Patterns. Singapore,
The letter provided a detailed description of a design that
1995.
Leibniz hoped the duke would strike in the form of a silver
Abellio, Raymond, and Charles Hirsch. Introduction à une théorie
medallion. The image reproduced here (see figure 1) was cre-
des nombres bibliques. Paris, 1984.
ated in 1734 by Rudolph August Nolte following Leibniz’s
Begey, Roger. Géometrie sacrée, ou la magie des formes. Paris, 1995.
instructions.
Emmer, Michele. The Visual Mind: Art and Mathematics. Cam-
bridge, Mass., 1993.
The symbol contains three of the chief number systems:
Harvey, H. R., and B. J. Williams. “Aztec Arithmetic: Positional
the Roman, the decimal (base 10), and the binary (base 2).
Notation and Area Calculation.” Science 210 (1980): 499–
Roman numerals provide the date (1697) of the greeting to
505.
the duke, no doubt to “copyright” the system for Leibniz.
Lawlor, Robert. Sacred Geometry. New York, 1982.
In the table in the center are the binary numbers up to 10001
Mandelbrot, Benoit. The Fractal Geometry of Nature. San Francis-
and their decimal analogs up to 17. At the sides of the table
co, 1982.
are examples of binary addition and multiplication. The sys-
Nielsen, Bent. Companion to Yi jing Numerology and Cosmology:
tem was an imago creationis (“image of creation”), as Leibniz
Chinese Studies of Images and Numbers from Han (202 BCE–
explained to the duke, because it showed how God, the Al-
220 CE) to Song (960–1279 CE). London, 2003.
mighty One, created the world out of nothing, the zero.
ANNEMARIE SCHIMMEL (1987)
Thus the caption over the design reads: “2, 3, 4, 5, etc. / For
Revised Bibliography
everything to be drawn out of nothing, the one suffices.”
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NUMBERS: BINARY SYMBOLISM
Leibniz claimed that the binary system practically proved the
a historical process made possible by the nature of symbolism
Christian doctrine of creation ex nihilo, (the creation of the
itself. By making relations between different realms of mean-
universe out of nothing, through God’s omnipotence) by
ing and experience specific, transparent, and concrete, sym-
showing the origin of numbers through the use of one and
bols can remain of continuing relevance beyond their origi-
zero. He decorated the symbol with imagery from the cre-
nal cultural manifestations, as the rich histories of the one
ation myth that appears at the beginning of the Book of Gene-
and the zero demonstrate.
sis. The rays at the top of the design represent the breath of
Leibniz’s ease in combining the Pythagorean doctrine
God, the “almighty one,” hovering over the waters, the
and the Jewish and Christian teaching on creation was made
“nothingness and void,” in the moment before creation be-
possible by the sacrality of the one. The paradigmatic com-
gins. The system also demonstrated the goodness of creation
mand of the religion of Israel demanded: “Hear, O Israel: the
alluded to several times in Genesis. Binary numbers revealed
Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Dt. 6:4). In the Hebrew and
the innate order of numerical relations hidden by decimal
Arabic languages counting began with two, one being re-
numbers. For example, the relation between 2, 4, 8, 16, (2,
served for God alone. Likewise the Pythagoreans did not
22, 23, 24), is obviously the same as that between 10, 100,
consider one a number because it generated all numbers—a
1000, 10000; hence the asterisks.
consideration held by Aristotle and repeated up through the
Leibniz’s cosmogonic symbol documents the great
Middle Ages. Leibniz was certainly aware of some of these
themes of science and religion in the seventeenth century and
aspects of the symbolism of the one, but there is no evidence
their secularizing and syncretistic aspects. The conviction
he was aware of the religious associations in the history of
that the universe was a mathematical artifact was almost
the zero. However, Leibniz’s appropriation of the zero from
unanimous among seventeenth-century scientists and philos-
the decimal system in his binary number system was just one
ophers. But this notion did not have a traditional source;
development in a long process of religious and mathematical
scripture provides scant references to God creating with
creativity.
numbers. Instead, it represents the legacy of the Pythagore-
Place value notation is often hailed as one of humanity’s
ans (sixth century BCE), which haunted the Western philo-
great inventions. In numerical place value the position a
sophic tradition for millennia. According to Pythagoras,
number symbol occupies determines its value. As a result a
numbers were the origins of things, proceeding from the rela-
minimum of symbols can convey a maximum of numbers.
tion of the one (limit) and the void (unlimited). The mathe-
The success of this mode of numbering depends upon the
matical structure of physical phenomena had been so well re-
zero, the symbol of the empty place in a number that pre-
alized in the seventeenth century that Leibniz took the
serves the value of the position. As the uncounted counter
equation of numbers and the universe for granted. It was the
it makes rapid calculation possible. Though possibly invent-
religious doctrine of creation ex nihilo that needed justifica-
ed independently in several civilizations, the Babylonian and
tion. In the letter Leibniz states that the doctrine was one of
Indian inventions of place value notation were the ones that
the main points of Christianity“ that have met with the least
influenced Leibniz’s system.
acceptance on the part of the worldly wise and are not easily
imparted to the heathen,” taking a distinction Paul reserved
By 1600 BCE the Babylonian sexagesimal number sys-
for the doctrine of the son of God crucified (1 Cor. 1:24–25).
tem (base 60) employed a marker for the empty place. A
But in the seventeenth century the Incarnation was no longer
functional place value symbol was employed in astronomical
the primary manifestation of God. Instead people read of
observations recorded in sexagesimal numbers by 300 BCE.
God’s activities in the sacred book of nature. Science provid-
These observations became available to the Greeks, who then
ed the means to read nature, mathematics, and with it dem-
used an empty circle for the place value. The sexagesimal
onstrated the power and wisdom of God in his creation.
number system is still employed in astronomy and in calcula-
Leibniz was so convinced of his system’s success in making
tions involving circles (degrees, minutes, seconds). The earli-
God’s creative act transparent that he sent his invention to
est Indian translations of Greek astronomical texts (c. 150
the Jesuit mathematical tribunal in China. He wrote Duke
CE) use the Sanskrit words kha (“sky”) and bindu (“dot”) for
Rudolph that the emperor of China might now see for him-
the sexagesimal place value. At the same time, the Indian
self the mystery of creation and the excellency of the Chris-
decimal system was so well developed and widely known that
tian faith. It seems clear that mystery here means a logical
a Buddhist text used place value, the marker of the empty
conundrum and excellency, rationality. The secularizing of
position, to explain how dharmas (“elements”) exist in time.
the tradition is confirmed by Leibniz’s remark in the letter
This was at the time when Na¯ga¯rjuna, the founder of
that he added the imagery from Genesis, the breath of God
Ma¯dhyamika Buddhism, described the reality of dharmas by
over the waters, “so that something more pleasing than num-
´su¯nyata¯ (“emptiness”). S´u¯nya, from the Sanskrit root ´svi (to
ber be on the design.” The mythical imagery only ornament-
“swell” and hence “hollow out”), had been used since Vedic
ed the now reasonable doctrine of creation out of nothing.
times (c. 1000 BCE) as a synonym for words describing the
sky or celestial vault, for example, kha and a¯ka¯´sa (“ether”).
Leibniz’s symbol is more than a brilliant reflection of
But these words along with bindu, were used to name the
seventeenth-century science and religion. It also documents
place value symbol. The subsequent evidence suggests a grad-
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NUMEN
6753
ual process of syncretic symbolization. By the third century
two paragraphs where the references to Genesis are quite ex-
CE the bindu had been used as the decimal place value nota-
plicit. He also discusses the history of the Yi jing as a binary
tion in an Indian astronomical text. In the sixth century
system. The book includes a chapter on seventeenth-century
´su¯nyabindu was used to name the zero in a metaphor about
experimentation with number systems and an account of the
the stars being ciphers scattered in the sky. S´u¯nya is thereafter
application of binary numbers to electronic computation.
found with increasing frequency as the name for the zero.
The best introduction to the problems inherent in discussing
the origin of the zero is Carl B. Boyer’s “Zero: The Symbol,
The bindu (the dot) was incorporated into the typical Bud-
the Concept, the Number,” National Mathematics Magazine
dhist shrine, the stu¯pa. As the summit it symbolized the point
18 (May 1944): 323–330. For a summation of the contro-
where ´su¯nyata¯ and dharmadha¯tu (the realm of element), were
versy over the Indian origin of the zero with bibliographic
unified as a¯ka¯´sa, the all-pervading ether. Emptiness and
references, see Walter Eugene Clark’s “Hindu-Arabic Nu-
plenum were one. It was the realization of the idea of enlight-
merals,” in Indian Studies in Honor of Charles Rockwell Lan-
enment.
man (Cambridge, Mass., 1929), pp. 217–236. David S.
Reugg’s “Mathematical and Linguistic Models in Indian
It remains difficult to specify the exact relation between
Thought: The Case of the Zero and S´u¯nyata¯,Wiener
the religious symbolism of emptiness and the mathematical
Zeitschrift für die Kunde Südasiens und Archiv für Indische
zero. The mathematical symbol of an emptiness that bears
Philosophie 22 (1978): 171–181, examines new information
a value seemed an obvious representation of the Buddhist in-
concerning the history of place value in India and its connec-
sight into phenomenal and conceptual reality. Interestingly
tion to Buddhism, though he declines to specify any relation-
enough, Leibniz’s use of the zero in his binary number design
ship between the mathematical zero and Buddhist doctrines
gives to it a meaning not altogether different from the Bud-
of “emptiness.” The symbolism of bindu in Buddhist archi-
dhist value and thus helps to clarify what is centrally impor-
tecture is discussed in Lama Anagarika Govinda’s Psycho-
tant. The place value suggested how conditioned or created
Cosmic Symbolism of the Buddhist Stu¯pa (Emeryville, Calif.,
1976), esp. pp. 92–98.
being was absolutely distinguished from what is ultimately
real, yet inseparable from it.
New Sources
Blazek, Václav. Numerals: Comparative-Etymological Analyses of
Leibniz took the zero from the decimal system brought
Numeral Systems and Their Implications. Brno, 1999.
to the West from India by the Muslims in the twelfth centu-
Diller, Anthony. “Sriwijaya and the First Zeros.” Journal of the
ry. Zero and cipher both come from Latin transliterations of
Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 68, no. 1 (1995):
the Arabic s:ifr (“empty”), a straightforward translation of
53–66.
´su¯nya. Its symbols were the dot and the empty circle. Dots
Ifrah, Georges. From One to Zero: A Universal History of Numbers.
are still used today in the ellipsis, to indicate omission.
Translated by Lowell Blair. New York, 1985.
Knowingly or not, Leibniz drew upon ancient religious
Ifrah, Georges. The Universal History of Numbers. Tranlsated by
and mathematical expressions, the achievements of the cul-
David Bellos, E. F. Harding, Sophie Wood, and Ian Monk.
tures of Babylon, Greece, Israel, Arabia, and India, to fashion
New York, 1998.
a number system of unforeseen usefulness. The history of the
Van Nooten, B. “Binary Numbers in Indian Antiquity.” Journal
system manifests the processes of secularization, syncretism,
of Indian Philosophy 21 (1993): 31–50
and symbolization, as well as the processes of mathematical
MICHAEL A. KERZE (1987)
invention and discovery. It is a useful reminder of the global
Revised Bibliography
nature of the relations of the religions and the sciences. Few
today may see the image of creation in their video display
terminals, but the changes wrought by the technology em-
NUMEN. The word numen is a neuter form ending in
ploying the binary number system testify to the cosmogonic
-men and derived from *nuere (found in the composite verbs
effectiveness of Leibniz’s system.
adnuere, “agree with a nod of the head,” and abnuere, “refuse
with a nod of the head”). The formation is Latin, even
BIBLIOGRAPHY
though it is based on an Indo-European root, *neu-, which
The complete text of Leibniz’s letter describing his invention is
produced a parallel word of the same meaning in Greek,
found in his Deutsche Schriften, edited by G. E. Guhrauer,
neuma. Numen is semantically related to nutus (“nod of the
vol. 1 (Berlin, 1838), pp. 394–407. An English translation
head”), as correctly pointed out by Varro: “numen . . . dic-
of part of the letter is provided in Florian Cajori’s “Leibniz’s
tum ab nutu” (De lingua Latina 7.85). It signifies the mani-
‘Image of Creation,’” The Monist 26 (October 1916): 557–
festation, will, or power of a divinity. Because this is its char-
565. It is accompanied by a patronizing discussion of its reli-
acteristic meaning until the end of the republic (including
gious significance. He mentions how Leibniz’s system caused
Cicero), numen never appears unless accompanied by the
the Jesuits in China to interpret the figures of the Yi jing as
a binary number system and thus the invention of the zero
genitive form of the divinity’s name. The most ancient exam-
and binary numbers was attributed to the Chinese. A great
ple is in a text of Accius cited by Varro: “Alia hic sanctitudo
part of Leibniz’s letter is translated in Anton Glaser’s History
est aliud nomen et numen Iouis” (“Here, the holiness of Ju-
of Binary and Other Nondecimal Numeration rev. ed. (Los
piter is one thing, the name and power of Jupiter another”;
Angeles, 1981), pp. 31–35, but he refrains from including
De lingua Latina 7.85).
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6754
NUMINOUS, THE
This usage is also reflected in the balanced definition of
Fishwick, Duncan. “Sanctissimum numen: Emperor or God?”
Festus: “The numen is, as it were, the nod or power of a god”
Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 89 (1991):
(Festus, ed. Lindsay, 1913, p. 178 L.). Even when the poets
196–200.
of the Augustan period began to substitute at times numina
Fishwick, Duncan. “Numinibus Aug(ustorum).” Britannia 25
for dei, by way of simplication and, often, metric accommo-
(1994): 127–142.
dation, the ancient usage still made itself felt. Theodor Birt
Henig, Martin. “Ita intellexit numine inductus tuo: Some Person-
has shown that Vergil was able to maintain the original sense
al Interpretations of Deity in Roman Religion.” In Pagan
of the word in a phrase from the opening verses of the Aeneid
Gods and Shrines of the Roman Empire, edited by Martin
(1.8), “quo numine laeso,” which here refers to the queen of
Henig and Anthony King, pp. 159–169. Oxford, 1986.
the gods and can only mean “in consequence of the violation
Pötscher, Walter. “Numen und numen Augusti.” In Aufsteg und
of her [Juno’s] will.”
Niedergand der Römischen Welt 2.16.1, pp. 355–392. Berlin
and New York, 1982.
Certain scholars, in search of “primitive culture,” have
tried to give a completely different orientation to the Latin
ROBERT SCHILLING (1987)
term by identifying numen with a Melanesian word, mana.
Translated from French by Paul C. Duggan
Revised Bibliography
In his book The Melanesians, R. H. Codrington in 1891 ad-
vanced the latter term, as meaning an “autonomous, imper-
sonal force.” This assimilation of numen to “an impersonal
active power” led Hendrik Wagenvoort to pass over the
NUMINOUS, THE SEE HOLY, IDEA OF THE;
constant usage of the republican period and to postulate a
NUMEN; OTTO, RUDOLF; SACRED AND THE
pre-deist world that in Rome would have preceded the ad-
PROFANE, THE
vent of personal divinities. He reached the point of question-
ing the antiquity of the expression di novensiles. He preferred
to shorten it simply to novensiles. Interpreted in his own way,
NUM-TU
¯ REM. The Khanty (Ostiaks) and the Mansi
novensiles would mean, with reference to numen (*nou-men),
(Voguls) live in an area in northwestern Siberia bordered on
“filled with motive power.” This etymological lucubration
the west by the Ural Mountains. For the most part, they are
would be no more than a venial fault if at the same time it
settled on the banks of the rivers there, with the Ob River
did not betray a serious error of perspective. Indeed, the at-
flowing through the middle of their territory. As speakers of
tempt to abolish every individual and personal divinity at the
Ugric languages, they are thus known as the Ob-Ugrians.
origins of Rome results in misunderstanding the universality
Fishing and hunting are their most important means of sub-
of an Indo-European fact: the presence of the term *deiwos
sistence, although some of these peoples tend reindeer and
for the idea of divinity, represented at the eastern and west-
others, especially in the southern part of the area, farm and
ern extremes of the Indo-European domain. Numen, from
keep livestock. Their widely differing languages belong to the
the ancient times until Vergil, only expresses the manifesta-
Finno-Ugric family. Similar living conditions and a neigh-
tion of a *deiwos become deus in Latin.
borly relationship have produced similarities in both material
and spiritual culture, but the obvious variations that are
BIBLIOGRAPHY
nonetheless found lead scholars to distinguish between dif-
Dumézil, Georges. Archaic Roman Religion. 2 vols. Translated by
ferent cultural areas. The boundaries between these are fluid,
Philip Krapp. Chicago, 1970.
however, so that certain phenomena—in this case the god
Meillet, Antoine. “La religion indo-européenne.” In Linguistique
of the heavens—may be treated as common to all of them.
historique et linguistique générale. Paris, 1948. See pages 323–
334 and, above all, page 326 on *deiwos.
The Ob-Ugrians, like other peoples of northern Siberia,
Pfister, Friedrich. “Numen.” In Paulys Real-encyclopädie, vol. 17.
consider that the universe consists of several worlds: earth,
Stuttgart, 1937. See especially pages 1273–1274, a fact list
an upper world, and a netherworld. Popular tradition divides
of the republican epoch.
the upper world into a number of spheres—certain stories
Rose, H. J. Primitive Culture in Italy. 1926.
speak of three, others of seven—and each world is ruled by
its own deity.
Wagenvoort, Hendrick. Roman Dynamism. Oxford, 1947. See
pages 73–103 and, in particular, pages 75 and 83–85, which
Prayers and the stereotyped formulae that accompany
provide an exegesis of novensilis.
sacrificial rites address a god of the heavens as Num-Tu¯rem
New Sources
(Khanty) or Numi-Ta¯rem (Mansi). Tu¯rem or ta¯rem is inter-
Cels-Saint-Hilaire, Janine. “Numen Augusti et Diane de
preted as “up there” or “the high god.” Num or numi denotes
l’Aventin. Le témoignage de l’ara Narbonensis.” In Les
the visible sky, while tu¯rem or ta¯rem expresses “weather, air,
grandes figures religieuses. Fonctionnement pratique et sym-
sky, heavens, world,” “higher being, lord of the heavens,”
bolique dans l’Antiquité, Besançon 25–26 avril 1984,
and “lord of the universe”; it may therefore be a general ex-
pp. 455–502. Paris, 1986.
pression for “god.” According to K. F. Karjalainen, the word
Fishwick, Duncan. “Genius and numen.” Harvard Theological Re-
also means “time” or “period of time”—for instance, “life-
view 62 (1969): 76–91.
time”—as well as “situation” or “state”—“state of dream-
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NUM-TU
¯ REM
6755
ing,” for example. There are different theories as to its ety-
god of the heavens is ranked as the supreme being and father
mology. Attempts have been made to link it to the Saami
is ascribed to Muslim and Christian influence. In other areas,
(Lapp) Tiermes, the name of a god of the air and heavens,
among the other Ob-Ugric hunters and reindeer breeders,
or to the Turco-Tatar tengri, meaning “heavens.”
sacrifices are much less prominent in the worship of the god,
although he is the focus of an elaborate myth.
However, the sky god has many other names in which
the adjectival epithet indicates its nature; he is “great,” “radi-
According to K. F. Karjalainen and others, the Ob-
ant,” “bright,” “lustrous as gold,” and “white” as well as
Ugric god of the heavens was regarded originally as a person-
“Lord” and “Father.” These epithets are important; some of
al being “in the upper world nearest the earth,” that is, in
them have become detached from their head-words to serve
the visible sky. He was a deus otiosus, high above and far away
as proper names. Thus the name of the Khanty god of the
from everyday human life, mostly responsible for such atmo-
heavens is Sängke-Tu¯rem, “the radiant or bright Tu¯rem,” or
spheric phenomena as storms, the wind, thunder, rain, and
quite simply Sängke, (“light”), which indicates the god’s con-
so on. He was Num-Tu¯rem, the “god on high,” but Islamic
nection with the sun or the sky in daylight.
and Christian influences brought him nearer to humanity
Num-Tu¯rem is a powerful being in folk poetry; he takes
and the old sacrificial custom was invested with a new con-
part in the creation of both the world and humankind, and
ceptual framework.
as such he is also a god of fate worshiped in various ways by
Judging from the fragments at scholars’ disposal, the
the two peoples. He is never portrayed in pictures, however,
god of thunder known by the eastern Saami as Diermes or
although in mythical accounts he is personified. In the Khan-
Tiermes also has uranian features. The etymology of the
ty myths he is enthroned as an anthropomorphic (male)
word is unknown, but Tiermes and Tu¯rem probably have a
deity in one of the upper worlds, where he lives with his fam-
common origin. The name occurs very rarely in source mate-
ily and a large retinue (like that of a prince). From there he
rials, however. This and the fact that his function is only
supervises the entire creation: His ears “great as the Ob” hear
vaguely indicated make him a very elusive being.
everything, his eyes “large as lakes” see all, and he is all-
powerful. Because nothing is hidden from him, he is also re-
SEE ALSO Khanty and Mansi Religion; Sky, article on The
garded as the guard of morals and justice. Many scholars,
Heavens as Hierophany; Tengri.
however, hold that this omnipotence bears traces of foreign
influence from Islam, Orthodox Christianity, and Turco-
Tatar myths concerning their major deities. It is known from
BIBLIOGRAPHY
historical sources that the Mansi heard Christian sermons as
Russian chroniclers mention Ob-Ugric religion as early as the
early as the fifteenth century and that the Tatars acquired a
twelfth century. K. F. Karjalainen has compiled available in-
certain influence in the Khanty area, thus spreading both
formation in the first part of a detailed survey, Die Religion
their own popular beliefs and Muslim doctrine.
der Jugra-Völker, 3 vols., “Folklore Fellow Communica-
tions,” nos. 41, 44, and 63 (Helsinki, 1921, 1922, 1927).
Although Num-Tu¯rem is the Ob-Ugric god about
Much earlier, in Die Weltgottheiten der wogulischen Mytholo-
whom the most numerous and most detailed stories have
gie, vol. 3, “Keleti Szemle,” no. 9 (Budapest, 1908), Bern-
been told, he nevertheless does not seem to be worshiped by
hard Munkàcsi wrote about the Mansi supreme deity, giving
all the different groups with a special cult dedicated to him
him thoroughly Christian features. Munckàcsi’s very worth-
alone, nor does he have a specific field of activity. He is re-
while work contains both prayers and mythological narra-
vered and asked to bring good health, prosperity, and good
tives. An important treatment of mythology is Artturi Kan-
nisto’s Materialien zur Mythologie der Wogulen, edited by E.
hunting, the same favors that are requested of other divinities
A. Virtanen and Matti Liimola (Helsinki, 1958). Other valu-
such as the god of the forest, the Old Man of the Urals, the
able information can be found in A. F. Anisimov’s “Cosmo-
Great Goddess of Kazym, called Vut-imi, and Jalpus, the
logical Concepts of the Peoples of the North,” in Studies in
guardian spirit of the Khanty. Compared with other deities
Siberian Shamanism, edited by Henry N. Michael (Toronto,
Num-Tu¯rem is more of an abstraction.
1963), pp. 157–229; this work is number 4 in the series “An-
Although the narrative tradition centering on
thropology of the North: Translations from Russian
Sources,” issued by the Arctic Institute of North America.
Num-Tu¯rem is richer among the Mansi, it is the Khanty of
The Russian ethnographer Zoia Sokolova is an expert on the
the southeast who perform the most elaborate sacrifices to
Ob-Ugrians and has described the people and their traditions
him. These offerings, in which a white horse is the most im-
in Das Land Jugorien (Moscow and Leipzig, 1982), where she
portant sacrificial animal, are addressed directly to him. This
notes that their tenacious religious beliefs and superstitions
southeastern group of Khanty are small-scale farmers, and it
live on in their contemporary religious practices.
is believed that they may have acquired these horse sacrifices
from the nomadic Tatar horsemen and more generally from
New Sources
the large-scale stock breeders of Central Asia, because the
Hoppál, Mihály, and Juha Pentikäinen. Northern Religions and
Shamanism. Budapest, 1992.
horse does not belong to the biotope of this northern area.
Extensive sacrifices to different deities were still being per-
LOUISE BÄCKMAN (1987)
formed as recently as the 1930s. Similarly, the fact that the
Revised Bibliography
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

6756
NUNS: AN OVERVIEW
NUNS
asceticism and monasticism. The significant contribution of
This entry consists of the following articles:
nuns to different religious communities, stretching over
AN OVERVIEW
many centuries, has been minimally recovered so far. Sisters
BUDDHIST NUNS
in Arms: Catholic Nuns through Two Millennia, by Jo Ann
CHRISTIAN NUNS AND SISTERS
Kay McNamara (1996), is a comprehensive study of Chris-
tian nuns, but no comparable overview exists for Buddhist,
NUNS: AN OVERVIEW
Jaina, Hindu or Daoist nuns.
Although the word nun carries a specific, historically circum-
MOTIVATION, GOAL, AND SHARED CHARACTERISTICS OF
scribed meaning, especially in Catholic Christianity, it is also
NUNS. What is the attraction to the religious life of a nun
widely used to refer more generally to women ascetics and
or ascetic? In each religious tradition there exist maximalist
monastics in different religious traditions. In this overview,
and minimalist approaches to conform human life to a spiri-
nuns are mainly considered phenomenologically as a specific
tual ideal and to put it into practice, both by the individual
group of religious persons who share certain characteristics
and by the community. Those who are attracted to ascetic
across different religious traditions, cultures, and historical
ideals—whether women or men—follow a strict understand-
periods.
ing of their religious teachings, rites, and observances.
MEANING OF THE WORD NUN. In its original Christian con-
Through voluntary choice, they pursue the embodiment of
text, the term nun refers to a member of a religious order or
this spiritual ideal with great seriousness, sometimes with
a congregation of women living under the vows of poverty,
such rigor that it can lead to extremes and incite tensions,
chastity, and obedience. In Roman Catholic Canon Law,
criticism and resistance. Thus all followers of a religious tra-
only those women living under so-called solemn vows are
dition fall into different categories, from the merely lax to
truly “nuns” (moniales) in a full sense, whereas those under
the utterly committed, from laypeople to institutionalized
“simple vows” are called “sisters” (sorores). However, this
office bearers to inspiring charismatics, who in turn may be-
strict legal and linguistic distinction is little observed; the
come critics and reformers.
popular usage of the term nun has been widened to include
both Christian women living in enclosed convents, as well
Through the centuries women, like men, have experi-
as countless sisters devoted to charitable services, such as
enced a strong calling to follow single-mindedly a more dedi-
tending the sick, dying, poor, and imprisoned, in addition
cated religious path in search of liberation (or moksha), holi-
to providing education and helping others in many ways.
ness, and perfection. They have also chosen selfless service
From its more inclusive use in an originally Christian con-
to others through renunciation, meditation, prayer, fasting,
text, the meaning of nun has been further extended to reli-
and other ascetic practices. The purpose of following an as-
gious traditions other than Christianity. The word is now
cetic life and becoming a nun is ultimately an other-worldly,
loosely applied comparatively and cross-culturally to describe
transcendent goal, reachable only through profound personal
a wide range of diverse phenomena relating to women’s pur-
transformation. The pursuit of such an arduous goal is diffi-
suit of the religious life, indicating a path of renunciation and
cult for all people, but it is doubly difficult for women be-
asceticism. The word nun can thus refer to different groups
cause of their traditional family roles, the reproductive duties
of religious women living under vows—either together in
expected of them, and their subjection to male authority in
community—or as individual women ascetics and renunci-
patriarchal society. Because of the widely accepted division
ates (sa¯dhv¯ıs), as for example in Hinduism and Jainism.
of gender roles and the assumed equation of mind and spirit
with the male sphere—and that of body and sexuality with
MONASTICISM AND GENDER. The story of women’s asceti-
the female sphere—women often had a great struggle to free
cism and monasticism represents an important part of the
themselves from traditional gender assumptions in order to
global history of religions, and of the larger story of women
pursue a religious path. The history of nuns in Hinduism,
in religion, replete with numerous examples of heroic female
Buddhism, and Christianity provides plenty of evidence for
choices and spiritual attainments. Until the recent arrival of
this.
women’s and gender history, this story has been largely ne-
glected or silently subsumed under the general history of mo-
The motivations for pursuing such an unconventional
nasticism, and for the most part described without specific
path—one that requires a struggle against much social resis-
attention to gender differences. It has also been tied up with
tance—might be mixed. One motivation could be a genuine
male concepts of female spirituality, often defined in relation
attraction to a spiritual ideal; another could be the alternative
to the traditionally dominant gender roles that women,
of trying to escape from the burden of marriage and sexuali-
through becoming nuns, chose to resist or considerably mod-
ty, child-bearing, and family bonds for a young woman. For
ify. A growing number of detailed historical, textual, and tra-
an older woman—a widow, for example—it could be the
dition-specific studies of particular religious women or whole
choice of joining a like-minded religious community in order
female religious communities is slowly building up a cumula-
to complete her life in dedication to a religious ideal. Such
tive record of women ascetics and nuns. More research is
mixed motivations are clearly evident from the study of
needed, however, to complete the rich and diverse picture
women renunciates (Khandelwal, 2004), and nowhere are
of women’s active involvement in—and experience of—
the mixed motives in the struggle for liberation more clearly
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NUNS: AN OVERVIEW
6757
expressed than in the famous songs of the Buddhist
In the Western tradition, the figure of the “virgin-
Ther¯ıga¯tha (Blackstone, 1998).
ascetic” goes back to at least Roman antiquity (Brown, 1988;
Cooper, 1996), whereas the Greek tradition is without a par-
WOMEN AND ASCETICISM. A woman ascetic or nun—the
allel notion of asceticism. The early Christian ascetics soon
terms are often used interchangeably—can be characterized
developed the monastic ideal. Originally intended as a soli-
as an ideal type of religious figure that exists in numerous
tary life pursued by the individual (monos = alone), this ideal
variations and a wide variety of historical configurations. In
soon took on a corporate character. Teachings, rules, leaders,
terms of the shared characteristics of nuns, one can examine
the similarity or dissimilarity of their vows across time and
and women’s asceticism and monasticism developed along
traditions, as well as whether such vows are the same in num-
with, or even before, that of men. When the great monastic
ber and kind as those of men in the same religious tradition,
orders were later founded by men, a number of women’s or-
or, on the contrary, whether they are considerably more nu-
ders grew as well, maintaining a close connection with—and
merous and different, as is the case in Buddhism. A person
dependence upon—the male orders. This occurred because
can look at the patterns and rhythms of the nuns’ religious
the nuns were affiliated to the same rules and monastic con-
practices, their clothing, and and their food habits—
stitutions, without separate developments of their own.
especially in terms of the use and renunciation of food—all
Strictly speaking, nuns are the cloistered women monas-
of which imply different degrees of self-denial and widely va-
tics of these ancient orders. But in post-Reformation Europe,
rying attitudes towards the human body.
from the sixteenth century onwards, a great number of en-
In the first volume of the Encyclopedia of Religion, Wal-
tirely new, unenclosed female religious congregations and
ter Kaelber defined asceticism as “a voluntary, sustained, and
sisterhoods developed that were entirely independent from
at least partially systematic program of self-discipline and
any existing order of men. These congregations and sister-
self-denial in which immediate, sensual, or profane gratifica-
hoods owed their foundation to original ideas and unusual,
tions are renounced in order to attain a higher spiritual state
strong women dedicated to new spiritual, social, and educa-
or a more thorough absorption in the sacred” (1987,
tional ideals. Today these Christian sisters, whose many con-
p. 1:441). However, this definition does not articulate the
gregations were largely founded during the nineteenth centu-
multi-dimensional aspects of asceticism nor its gender varia-
ry, are also referred to as nuns.
tions. Many women ascetics, like men, practice what has
been called a “heroic asceticism,” a term which groups to-
NUNS IN DIFFERENT RELIGIONS. In terms of origin, the ear-
gether several practices of physical deprivation, such as bodi-
liest groups of nuns are perhaps found in Jainism, which
ly injuries and laceration of the flesh, sleep deprivation, fast-
knows of women renouncers since about the time of
ing, and starvation. These practices can lead, in certain cases,
Maha¯v¯ıra (c. 490–410 BCE) around the fifth century BCE,
to altered states of consciousness, ecstatic, mystical, and pos-
followed closely afterwards by Buddhist nuns. Although
session experiences. In the discussion of asceticism, however,
there seems to have been less reluctance among Jainas than
most attention has been given to sexual renunciation, chasti-
on the Buddha’s part to admit women on an equal basis from
ty, and virginity, especially in studies of Christian asceticism
the start, Jaina nuns share with Buddhist nuns the require-
(Brown, 1988; Castelli, 1986). A “virginal asceticism” devel-
ment that they must follow additional and stricter rules than
oped in the early Christian church before the organization
monks. The two major Jaina groups, the S´veta¯mbaras and
of a more specialized monasticism, but it was often tied to
Digambaras, as well as several subsects, all possess distinct
a marked misogynism (Ruether, 1974).
groups of nuns; in fact, among the S´veta¯mbaras, nuns far
outnumber the monks. In spite of more detailed recent case
Because women’s bodies are considered impure in many
studies (Vallely, 2002; Shanta, 1985), much further research
religions, the ascetic ideal of controlling sexual and other
is needed to make the nuns’ contribution to Jainism better
physical needs was particularly attractive to women who
known and understood.
sought sainthood and perfection. In withdrawing from the
world by renouncing property, marriage, family bonds, and
More information, though far from sufficient, is avail-
household responsibilities, women could assert their autono-
able on Buddhist nuns, where there exist a great variety of
my by removing themselves—to some extent—from the pa-
monastic groups across the Buddhist world. Usually, but not
triarchal control of men (although most religious traditions
always, the number of nuns is less than that of Buddhist
rank monks above nuns who in status, attainment, and au-
monks, although this varies from country to country. In Tai-
thority, usually remain subordinate to male renouncers).
wan, for example, there are two-thirds more nuns than
Through the renunciation of sexual activity, women also ob-
monks. Korea also knows a large number of nuns whose
tained control over their bodies and transcended traditional
work, like that of other nuns, has been little recorded in Bud-
femaleness, becoming, so to speak, “honorary males.” Be-
dhist texts, nor has it been much investigated by scholars.
cause they were no longer valued for their reproductive sexu-
This is changing, however, because Buddhist women have
ality and social function, these women gained a new, spiritual
organized themselves into a global network in order to pro-
authority and power that was widely recognized among as-
mote closer collaboration and study of their own history and
cetics and mystics of different religious traditions.
activities.
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6758
NUNS: AN OVERVIEW
In Hinduism, the ancient Vedas know of some solitary
monasteries where communities of nuns and monks lived to-
women seekers and ascetics, and the Sanskrit language pos-
gether—though in separate groups—and where the overall
sesses a female equivalent to the male renouncer: there is the
authority for the entire monastery was sometimes given to
sa¯dhv¯ı as well as the sa¯dhu, the sam:nya¯sin as well as the
a woman abbess.
sam:nya¯s¯ıs. But due to the prohibition on women and non-
CONCLUSION. The comparative phenomenological study of
Brahmans to study Vedic texts or perform Vedic rites,
nuns remains relatively undeveloped. Yet it offers a large field
women were effectively barred from taking vows to pursue
for scholarly investigation that can yield exceptionally rich
renunciation (sam:nya¯sa), except as members of unorthodox
historical and empirical data for more nuanced theoretical re-
sects. Thus there are no female Hindu monastic orders until
flections on questions of spiritual authority, autonomy,
the modern foundation of the S´r¯ı S´a¯rada¯ Mat:ha in 1954 as
power, monastic lineage, hierarchy, equality, and communi-
a parallel to the Ramakrishna Order (Sinclair-Brull, 1997).
ty in the growing area of gender studies in religion. It is up
In the past, individual male sam:nya¯sins may occasionally have
to younger scholars to perceive this great research potential
accepted female monastic disciples, and individual women
and seize the opportunity to obtain a more detailed picture
ascetics may sometimes have become gurus, but these re-
about the global history of women ascetics and nuns.
mained exceptions, whereas women gurus have grown much
more prominent during the twentieth century. Past female
SEE ALSO Asceticism; Gender and Religion, articles on Gen-
der and Hinduism, Gender and Jainism; Guru; Human
ascetics usually did not take monastic vows but lived away
Body, article on Human Bodies, Religion, and Gender;
from home, in holy cities such as Va¯ra¯n:as¯ı, either alone or
Menstruation; Monasticism, articles on Buddhist Monasti-
in groups, retaining lay status so that no organized order of
cism, Christian Monasticism; Mysticism; Prayer; Sa¯dhus
Hindu women nuns existed in earlier times (Ohja, 1981,
and Sa¯dhv¯ıs; Spirit Possession, article on Women and Pos-
1984). However, in spite of the growing interest in the com-
session; Virginity.
parative study of female ascetics and nuns, the phenomenon
of women renouncers in the Hindu tradition remains too lit-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
tle researched; only a few studies of the varieties of contem-
Blackstone, Kathryn R. Women in the Footsteps of the Buddha.
porary Hindu female ascetics exist (Khandelwal, 2004; Den-
Struggle for Liberation in the Ther¯ıga¯tha. Richmond, U.K.,
ton, 1991).
1998. A detailed study of the songs of the early Buddhist
nuns that vividly express their motivation in seeking renunci-
Less information is available on Daoist nuns, whose
ation, and the obstacles in obtaining it.
study is also in its initial stages. Although women have had
Brown, Peter. The Body and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Re-
a notable presence in Daoism, it was originally not a monas-
nunciation in Early Christianity. New York and Chichester,
tic religion, and nuns only appeared during the seventh to
U.K., 1988. A classic study by now, this magisterial survey
ninth centuries CE, when some women from the Chinese
closely examines the understanding of sexuality and sexual
court chose the path of renunciation. Women’s religious es-
renunciation in early Christianity among both men and
tablishments flourished during medieval times, whereas few
women.
women’s monasteries exist in China today. In some cases,
Cahill, Suzanne E. Transcendence and Divine Passion: The Queen
however, nuns are known to hold positions of authority (Le-
Mother of the West in Medieval China. Stanford, Calif., 1993.
vering, 1990; Cahill, 1993).
Provides information on the development of Daoist nuns in
medieval China.
More is known about Christian nuns than nuns of any
Castelli, Elizabeth. “Virginity and Its Meaning for Women in
other religion. In the contemporary world, Christian nuns
Early Christianity.” Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 2,
far outnumber monks and priests (some years ago the ratio
no. 1 (1986): 61–88. An informative and extensively refer-
was three to one). Although long neglected in historiographi-
enced article on the roots of asceticism and the idea of virgin-
cal accounts and studies of Christian monasticism, in the late
ity in the early Christian church.
twentieth century many sources about women ascetics, indi-
Cooper, Kate. The Virgin and the Bride: Idealized Womanhood in
vidual nuns, and whole communities of sisterhoods—
Late Antiquity. Cambridge, Mass. and London, 1996. In dis-
whether in early Christianity, the medieval church, or the
cussing the options available to women in late antiquity, this
book investigates the tensions that existed between the Chris-
post-Reformation church—were discovered and closely
tian ideals of virginity and marriage during the rise of
studied. From what is known so far, earlier groups of Chris-
asceticism.
tian nuns possessed several characteristics not found else-
Denton, Lynn Teskey. “Varieties of Hindu Female Asceticism.”
where, and with few equivalents in contemporary Christiani-
In Roles and Rituals for Hindu Women, edited by Julia Leslie.
ty. There existed the cultivation of a close spiritual
London, 1991. Compares the values of the woman-as-
companionship between male and female ascetics (known as
householder with those of the ascetic, and discusses different
syneisactism), which was not based on sexual or family ties.
forms of Hindu asceticism open to women.
It was based, rather, on the common pursuit of a spiritual
Kaelber, Walter O. “Asceticism.” In Encyclopedia of Religion, vol.
goal, the use of family language and familial metaphors for
1, edited by Mircea Eliade, pp. 441–445. New York, 1987.
the monastic community of women and men (Krawiec,
Khandlewal, Meena. Women in Ochre Robes: Gendering Hindu Re-
2002), and, for many centuries, the presence of double
nunciation. Albany, N.Y., 2004. A fascinating account of the
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

NUNS: BUDDHIST NUNS
6759
lives of contemporary sam:nya¯s¯ıs describing their daily lives
es the nature of Hindu asceticism with reference to the mod-
in ashrams, their dress, food, conversation, service, ritual,
ern foundation of a monastic order for women, the S´r¯ı
and devotion. Contrary to the assumption that renunciation
S´a¯rada¯ Mat:ha, parallel to the Ramakrishna Order. Based on
transcends gender, arguments are provided that renunciation
fieldwork at a branch of the S´r¯ı S´a¯rada¯ Mat:ha in Kerala, the
can underscore the importance of gender.
author focuses especially on the dynamics of purity and hier-
Krawiec, Rebecca. Shenoute and the Women of the White Monas-
archy operating among the sam:nya¯sinis, and between them
tery: Egyptian Monasticism in Late Antiquity. Oxford, 2002.
and the surrounding village communities.
Using Coptic sources, this fascinating study of one of the
Vallely, Anne. Guardians of the Transcendent: An Ethnography of
most important Egyptian monasteries of the fourth and fifth
a Jain Ascetic Community. Toronto, Canada, 2002. Based on
century with several thousand monks and nuns shows how
fieldwork in Rajasthan, this study provides many insights
a community of vibrant ascetic women was chafing under
into the lives of the women ascetics of a particular Jaina sect,
the leadership of a stern and irascible man, the abbot Shen-
the Tera¯panth¯ı.
oute. Negotiations over food, clothing, and other everyday
URSULA KING (2005)
matters within a large, mixed community reveal important
issues of monastic authority, of the intersection of power and
gender, and of women’s role in the monastic family.
NUNS: BUDDHIST NUNS
Levering, Miriam. “Women, Religion and the State in the Peo-
Buddhism has evolved during more than 2,000 years in
ple’s Republic of China.” In Today’s Woman in World Reli-
many different Asian countries (including India, Sri Lanka,
gions, edited by Arvind Sharma. Albany, N.Y., 1994. Con-
Thailand, Myanmar, China, Korea, Japan, and Tibet). At
tains information on Daoist women practitioners in
times Buddhist nuns had a prominent and respected role and
contemporary China.
at other times they vanished into obscurity. This article will
McNamara, Jo Ann Kay. Sisters in Arms: Catholic Nuns through
endeavor to explain why there exist such diverse types of
Two Millennia. Cambridge, Mass., and London, 1996.
Buddhist nuns with different status, robes, and cultures.
Hailed as a groundbreaking work, this history of Christian
nuns shows the great variety of women religious, including
Two thousand five hundred years ago in India, Bud-
scholars, mystics, artists, political activists, teachers, and heal-
dhist women shaved their heads, donned saffron robes, and
ers. Although women had to struggle against the male church
became celibate nuns. They aspired to awakening, meditat-
hierarchy and larger forces of social and cultural change, the
ed, and taught lay followers. Their precepts forbade them to
book provides rich evidence that monastic communities gave
touch money, and thus they depended on alms for their sup-
women a space that allowed them to evolve spiritually, intel-
port. The nuns’ accomplishments and awakening experi-
lectually, and emotionally.
ences are recounted in the Ther¯ıga¯tha¯ (Psalms of the Sisters),
Ojha, Catherine. “Female Asceticism in Hinduism: Its Tradition
seventy-three poems expressing the spiritual search and
and Present Condition.” Man in India 61, no. 3 (1981):
struggles of the first Buddhist nuns, which had been orally
254–285. An early study of Hindu female ascetics, with
transmitted until they were written down six hundred years
some discussion of their past history and present situation,
later, and the Apada¯na (collection of moral biographies)
in contrast to the life and duties of most Hindu women.
composed in the second and first century BCE, which con-
Ojha, Catherine. “Condition féminine et renoncement au monde
tains forty biographies of eminent early nuns.
dans l’Hindouisme. Les communautés monastiques de fem-
The order of Buddhist nuns (bhiks:un:¯ı) began later than
mes à Benares.” Bulletin de l’École Française d’Extrême-Orient
the monks’ order (bhiks:u). As tradition has it, the Buddha
73 (1984): 197–221. A further development of Ojha’s 1981
at first seemed reluctant to give ordination to his female fol-
essay on female renunciation cited above, this article men-
tions about one hundred women ascetics (as compared to
lowers. His attendant, Ananda, pointed out that because the
1,200 men) in Benares, living either alone or in a monastic
Buddha agreed that men and women were equal in their ca-
community, of which three are closely examined here.
pacities for spiritual attainment, it seemed only equitable to
let women enter his order of mendicants. Ananda was moved
Ruether, Rosemary Radford. “Misogynism and Virginal Femi-
nism in the Fathers of the Church.” In Religion and Sexism:
by the distress and spiritual aspiration of the Buddha’s foster
Images of Woman in the Jewish and Christian Tradition, ed-
mother and aunt, Maha¯paja¯pat¯ı, and of the many women
ited by Rosemary Radford Ruether. New York, 1974. Dis-
in her entourage. They became the first Buddhist nuns.
cusses early Christian attitudes towards virginity and
Nonetheless, according to tradition, the Buddha gave
women’s asceticism.
eight extra rules to the nuns for entering the homeless life:
Shanta, N. La voie Jaina: Histoire, spiritualité, vie des ascètes pèler-
A nun who has been ordained for a century must bow
ines de l’Inde. Paris, 1985. Translated by Mary Rogers as The
to a monk who has been ordained for a day.
Unknown Pilgrims: The Voice of the Sadhvis: The History,
Spirituality and Life of the Jaina Women Ascetics
. Delhi,
A nun must not spend the meditation season (vassa, i.e.,
India, 1997. A wide-ranging, pioneering study of women as-
the monsoon period) in a place where there are no
cetics in Jainism based on classical texts and contemporary
monks.
fieldwork.
Every fifteen days, the nuns must ask the monks for the
Sinclair-Brull, Wendy. Female Ascetics. Hierarchy and Purity in an
date of the observance day, and must ask them to give
Indian Religious Movement. Richmond, U.K., 1997. Discuss-
the nuns a teaching.
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6760
NUNS: BUDDHIST NUNS
After the meditation season a nun must tell her faults
was great opposition from the conservative elements in the
to both the order of monks and the order of nuns.
male hierarchy. Finally, thirty Sri Lankan nuns were fully or-
dained in February 1998 in Bodh Gaya¯, India, at an interna-
If a nun commits a grave error she must submit herself
tional ordination for both men and women, organized by
to the scrutiny of both orders for fifteen days.
Chinese monks and nuns from Taiwan. Several higher ordi-
A nun can obtain full ordination from both orders only
nations followed in Sri Lanka in the Dambullah Temple,
after she has observed the six precepts during two years
whose monks are supportive of the nuns’ movement. In
as a postulant.
2004, there were about 400 fully ordained nuns (bhiks:un:¯ı)
and 2,100 dasasil ma¯ta¯s in Sri Lanka.
A nun must never scold a monk.
There were about 30,000 nuns in Myanmar in 2004.
The nuns cannot teach the monks, but the monks can
They take eight or ten precepts but are not considered nov-
teach the nuns.
ices (´sra¯man:erika¯), but tila shin (possessors of morality). The
As with the monks’ order, a vinaya (rule of discipline) was
nuns wear pink robes, and the monks wear the original saf-
developed for the Buddhist nuns’ order in which their pre-
fron. Many are great meditators and do in-depth study of
cepts were collected. After the death of the Buddha, different
Buddhism. They are less well-supported financially than the
schools developed their own vinayas. Today, the Therava¯da
monks.
Vinaya, which contains 227 precepts for monks and 311 for
The lowest position for Buddhist nuns must be in Thai-
nuns, is followed by the monastics in Southeast Asia (Thai-
land, where it is forbidden by a Buddhist law promulgated
land, Sri Lanka, and Burma [now Myanmar]); the Dharmag-
by a supreme patriarch in 1928 that a Thai bhiks:u give any
upta Vinaya, which contains 250 precepts for monks and
ordination to women. So women with a religious vocation
348 for nuns, by those in Northeast Asia (China, Korea, and
take five or eight precepts and are called maeji (mother ascet-
Vietnam); and the Mu¯la-Sarva¯stiva¯da Vinaya, with 253 pre-
ic) and wear white. There were 10,000 maejis and 850 nun-
cepts for monks and 364 for nuns, by those following the
neries in 2004. Since creating the Thai Nuns’ Institute in
Tibetan tradition. Some scholars account for the greater
1969, nuns have started to organize themselves and to devel-
number of precepts for nuns by the fact that the relevant
op opportunities for studies and meditation, which have
monks’ precepts were the starting point for the nuns’ list.
led to greater respect and support from the Buddhist lay
Specific rules relating to the nuns’ situation were then added.
followers.
THERAVA¯DA NUNS. At the time of the Buddha, women were
required to observe six precepts for two years before receiving
In 1956 Voramai Kabilsingh received her first ordina-
higher ordination. Over time this situation changed for Bud-
tion from Pra Prommuni, the deputy abbot of Wat Bavorn
dhist nuns as they encountered different historical and cul-
in Bangkok, and in 1971 she received full ordination in Tai-
tural conditions. As Buddhism spread in the Indian subcon-
wan. She started to wear light yellow robes and was criticized
tinent after the death of the Buddha, the nuns’ order reached
by the monastic hierarchy for doing so. Her daughter, Chat-
Sri Lanka in the third century BCE, and many nunneries were
sumarn Kabilsingh, followed in her footsteps by receiving the
established. But the female order died out in Sri Lanka in
lower ordination in Sri Lanka in 2001 and higher ordination
the tenth century CE and was never reconstituted. It did not
in 2003 from the newly formed bhiks:un:¯ı order there. She
seem to reach Thailand or survive in Myanmar, and died out
wears brown robes. Her actions have stirred great debate at
totally in India.
all levels of Thai society (government, Buddhist hierarchy,
media). However, not all five-, eight-, or ten-precept nuns
At the end of the nineteenth century some Sri Lankan
want to become bhiks:un:¯ıi. Some foresee difficulties in trying
laywomen were attracted to the religious life and decided to
to maintain 348 precepts, some of which are outmoded and
take ten precepts. They shaved their heads and started to
hard to follow. They are very aware that they would be scru-
wear white and saffron clothes—white being the color for the
tinized even more closely than the monks. Many nuns actu-
Buddhist lay followers, and saffron the color of the monks’
ally enjoy their freer status and also the fact that they are not
robes in most Therava¯da countries. Eventually most of them
controlled by the male hierarchy. In England, Western
started to wear saffron only. They were called dasasil ma¯ta¯s
monks trained in the Thai tradition asked for a derogation
(ten-precept women). They created an in-between status role
and in 1994 were able to ordain Western nuns, who wear
for Buddhist women. Some lived by themselves; others gath-
brown habits and follow ten precepts, in Amaravati Temple
ered in nunneries. Today most of them serve their communi-
near London.
ties by counseling, teaching, and performing religious cere-
CHINESE, TAIWANESE, KOREAN, AND JAPANESE NUNS. In
monies for laypeople; some devote themselves to meditation.
the fifth century CE, Sri Lankan nuns traveled to China by
Until recently it was thought to be impossible to revive
sea and founded an order of bhiks:un:¯ı that has been preserved
the higher ordination for nuns. Because the order had died
to this day and that also spread to Korea and Vietnam. The
out, the necessary quorum of ten nuns (bhiks:un:¯ı) to ordain
lives of these early Chinese nuns are recorded in the Biqiuni
others did not exist. In the mid-1980s, various attempts were
zhuan, a collection of biographies of sixty-five eminent Chi-
made to restore the higher ordination in Sri Lanka, but there
nese Buddhist nuns from the fourth to the sixth centuries.
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NUNS: BUDDHIST NUNS
6761
These nuns were great scholars, teachers, meditators, and as-
will meditate for at least ten hours a day with ten to fifty
cetics. On the basis of statistical research, some Western
other nuns. Upon reaching middle age, they might take a po-
scholars have claimed that at the beginning of the twentieth
sition such as a manager or abbess in their home nunnery,
century there were three million monks and nuns in China.
or a professor at a seminary or a university. Some have be-
Monks and nuns suffered greatly, but some survived the Cul-
come artists. Others serve laypeople in towns or villages or
tural Revolution (1966–1976), and at the beginning of the
create charitable organizations; Bhiks:un:¯ı Myohi, for exam-
twenty-first century one could find a few Buddhist nunneries
ple, built a retirement home for old nuns and women with-
in mainland China. The nuns perform religious services,
out support.
study, and meditate, but many of them are quite old, though
a few younger ones are starting to enter the homeless life. Of
In Japan, the full ordination for monks and nuns lasted
the thousands of nuns living in Vietnam, Cambodia, and
only briefly after the introduction of Buddhism in the sixth
Laos before 1962, many died or had to disrobe because of
century CE. Over time, different sets of precepts were adopt-
wars and the Communist takeover. Since then, however,
ed, such as the fifty-eight or the sixteen bodhisattva precepts.
women in these countries have regained an interest in the or-
At the end of the nineteenth century the Meiji government
dained life.
put an end to celibacy for all Buddhist monks and it became
a matter of choice whether to be celibate or not. (It has been
After 1949, mainland Chinese Buddhist nuns went to
suggested that Japanese married monks should be called
Taiwan and Hong Kong and strengthened Buddhism there.
priests.) Most Japanese monks are married, and most Japa-
In Taiwan in 2004, Buddhist nuns number about 7,000—
nese nuns are celibate, though Western female priests from
two-thirds more than the number of monks—and half of
Japanese Buddhist traditions who teach in the United States
them are young women, newly ordained. They receive a
and Europe are often married.
good Buddhist education and are very active and involved
with society. Bhiks:un:¯ı Zhengyan (b. 1937, ordained in
There were relatively few nuns in Japan in 2004: the
1963, she has been called China’s Mother Theresa) was able
number 2,000 nuns in 1,500 temples has been reported.
to develop the Ciji Foundation, which builds hospitals and
There are three training centers for nuns in the Soto tradition
medical schools in Taiwan and provides disaster relief all over
and one in the Pure Land tradition. The biggest such center
the world by encouraging her followers to create financial
is Aichi Semmon Nisodo (So¯to¯ Zen) in Nagoya, founded in
surplus to help others. Bhiks:un:¯ı Hiu-wan created Hua Fan
1903, whose abbess, Aoyama Sensei (a celibate nun), is re-
University near Taipei, founded a nun seminary, and is also
markable in her practice and her scholarship. Most Japanese
a renowned scholar and painter.
nuns live on their own in small temples where they perform
religious services for laypeople and support themselves by
Buddhism came to Korea in the fourth century CE and
teaching arts such as tea ceremony and flower arrangement.
developed until the thirteenth century; thereafter, it was re-
pressed until the turn of the twentieth century by the Confu-
TIBETAN NUNS. When Buddhism came to Tibet in the sev-
cian state. But the nuns’ order managed to survive intact, and
enth century CE the higher ordination for nuns was not
at the turn of the twenty-first century Korea was a vibrant
transmitted: women were only able to receive ten precepts
place for nuns, who number about 8,000. Their status is fair-
from fully ordained monks and become novices. Tibetan
ly equal to that of the monks and they live separately from
nuns still take ten precepts, which are subdivided into thirty-
them. Over time in China and Korea, the eight extra rules
six. In 1959 there were 618 nunneries with 12,398 nuns in
given by the Buddha to his aunt diminished in importance.
Tibet, but they suffered greatly during the Chinese Commu-
In modern Korea, there are many nunneries set far away
nist takeover and Cultural Revolution. A few nunneries can
from monasteries, the monks and the nuns bow equally to
still be found in Tibet, and some nuns still practice as her-
each other, and the nuns have total control of their own af-
mits in caves, but their circumstances are very difficult.
fairs. Following the devastation of the Korean War in the
There are nunneries in the border regions of Tibet (Ladakh,
1950s, nuns even rebuilt some monasteries and transformed
Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan), but the social position of nuns is
them into nunneries. One such is Unmun Temple, a leading
often quite low and sometimes they have to serve menially
seminary with 300 young nuns under the direction of scholar
the monks or even their own families. To remedy this situa-
and abbess, Bhiks:un:¯ı Myo˘ngso˘ng.
tion, training nunneries have been built in Dharamsala, the
residence-in-exile of the Dalai Lama, and other places in
Korean women can become nuns after high school grad-
northern India. For example, the English nun Tenzin Palmo,
uation. They begin by being postulants for a year to learn
who was a hermit in the Himalayas for ten years, has started
about the celibate life and to decide if it is their vocation.
a nunnery for women from the Indian border regions to
After a year they become novices (´sra¯man:erika¯) with ten pre-
train, study, and practice like the monks. In the West there
cepts. After another three to five years they can then receive
are an increasing number of Western nuns (more than 300)
the full ordination of a bhiks:un:¯ıi, first given by a panel of
in the Tibetan tradition, but there are very few places where
ten nuns and secondly by a panel of ten monks. The novices
they can train together. One exception is Dhagpo Kundrel
study Buddhist texts for three years, then join a meditation
Ling, a Tibetan Buddhist training center in France, dedicat-
hall for the biannual three-month meditation retreats. They
ed to three years’ retreats and monastic life. In November
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6762
NUNS: BUDDHIST NUNS
2004 ten of the fifty women who became nuns for the dura-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
tion of the traditional three years’ retreat joined thirty other
Aoyama Shundo. Zen Seeds: Reflections of a Female Priest. Tokyo,
nuns living in a hermitage for nuns with a life-long commit-
1990. In this collection of essays, Shundo Aoyama, a promi-
ment. These nuns follow a rigorous training but also partici-
nent Japanese Buddhist nun, presents her understanding of
pate in the life of the center and teach worldwide.
Buddhist practice and philosophy.
I
Barnes, Nancy J. “Buddhist Women and the Nuns’ Order in
NTERNATIONAL OUTREACH. The first International Confer-
Asia.” In Engaged Buddhism, edited by Christopher S. Queen
ence on Buddhist Nuns took place in 1987 in Bodh Gaya¯,
and Sallie B. King, pp. 259–293. Albany, N.Y., 1996. Pre-
India. At the end of this conference, the international Bud-
sentation of Buddhist nuns in modern times and exploration
dhist women’s association Sakyadhita (Daughters of the
of the controversial issue of the reestablishment of the
Buddha) was created. Its objectives were to create a network
bhiks:un:¯ı sam:gha.
for Buddhist women around the world, to educate women
Batchelor, Martine. Women on the Buddhist Path. London, 2002.
as teachers of Buddhism, to conduct research on women and
The diversity of expression of female spirituality in Bud-
Buddhism, and to work for the establishment of the bhiks:un:¯ı
dhism is shown through the lives and practices of eighteen
sam:gha where it does not currently exist. Sakyadhita has been
Buddhist women and nuns in the East and West.
instrumental in the reestablishment of the higher ordination
Blackstone, Kathryn R. Women in the Footsteps of the Buddha:
in Sri Lanka. Since 1991, Sakyadhita has organized interna-
Struggle for Liberation in the Ther¯ıga¯tha¯. Richmond, U.K.,
tional conferences on Buddhist women every two years in
1998. Detailed textual study of the theme of liberation
various Asian countries (Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, Cambo-
among early bhiks:un:¯ıs, which reveals rich symbolism, but
dia, Nepal). There has also been one North American confer-
also the inherent attitudes, assumptions, and images relating
ence. Most of the conferences are situated in Asia to enable
to women renouncers in this important early text.
Asian women and nuns to participate in greater numbers and
Findly, Ellison Banks, ed. Women’s Buddhism, Buddhism’s Women:
to support Buddhist nuns by bringing highly educated and
Tradition, Revision, Renewal. Somerville, Mass., 2000. Ex-
respected bhiks:un:¯ı to countries where the position of nuns
ploration of how Buddhist women and nuns have sustained
is low. Often these conferences have stimulated improve-
a vital place for themselves within the tradition, and are
ments for the nuns in the places visited. They have also
bringing changes in the forms, practices, and institutions of
Buddhism.
helped nuns in isolated situations to make contact and gain
support from nuns and women from all over the world. At
Kabilsingh, Chatsumarn. A Comparative Study of Bhikkhuni Pati-
the conference in Ladakh in 1995, 108 delegates came to this
mokkha. Varanasi, India, 1984. Comprehensive study of the
monastic rules for Buddhist nuns based on Pali, Thai, En-
remote part of northern India and met with many Buddhist
glish, and Chinese sources.
women from the Himalayan border regions for a conference
titled “Women and the Power of Compassion: Survival in
Murcott, Susan. The First Buddhist Women: Translation and Com-
mentary on the Ther¯ıga¯tha¯. Berkeley, Calif., 1991. Transla-
the Twenty-First Century.”
tion and commentary on the spiritual verses of the first fe-
There is no doubt that the topic of Buddhist nuns has
male disciples of the Buddha.
been an underresearched area, but this is slowly changing as
Pra Maha Narin. “Problems of Bhikhuni Ordination and Solu-
contemporary scholars begin to delve into historical and ar-
tions.” Yasodhara—Newsletter on International Buddhist
chival materials in Sanskrit, Chinese, and Korean to seek the
Women’s Activities 17/39, no. 67 (April–June 2001): 3–4.
traces left by Buddhist nuns. It is a search rendered difficult
Article about the bhiks:un:¯ı sam:gha in Thailand.
by a patriarchal cultural and religious bias, which have result-
Tsai, Kathryn Ann, trans. Lives of the Nuns: Biographies of Chinese
ed in Buddhist nuns having nearly no place in the lineage,
Buddhist Nuns from the Fourth to Sixth Centuries. Honolulu,
little authority, and no part in the formal hierarchy. Thus
1994. Sixty-five biographies of Buddhist nuns showing
they have tended to be omitted in official records. Most of
women’s participation in Buddhist monastic practice in pre-
the inscriptions with reference to nuns show them as donors
modern China.
or sponsors of religious festivals.
Tsomo, Karma Lekshe, ed. Sakyadhita: Daughters of the Buddha.
Ithaca, N.Y., 1988. Collection of essays from the first inter-
Because Buddhism is a decentralized religion which has
national conference of Buddhist nuns, looking at their prob-
found diverse expressions throughout Asia, Buddhist nuns
lems and their future in the modern world.
have been unable to speak in a single voice and with a formal-
Tsomo, Karma Lekshe, ed. Buddhist Women across Cultures: Real-
ized authority. With the founding of Sakyadhita, Buddhist
izations. Albany, N.Y., 1999. Cross-cultural analysis of the
nuns and women have been able for the first time to meet
Buddhist women’s movement and exploration of the “femi-
and support each other and to develop the basis for a non-
nization of Buddhism.”
dogmatic authority where diversity is encouraged and Bud-
Tsomo, Karma Lekshe, ed. Innovative Buddhist Women: Swim-
dhist women and nuns are able to establish their own author-
ming against the Stream. Richmond, U.K., 2000. A unique
ity both as individuals and as part of a larger tradition.
set of essays analyzing Buddhist women’s historical and con-
temporary experience in different Buddhist cultures, includ-
SEE ALSO Gender and Religion, article on Gender and Bud-
ing the widely varying experience of Buddhist nuns. Discus-
dhism, Jainism; Monasticism, article on Buddhist Monasti-
sions include issues of ordination, authority, gender,
cism.
ethnicity, and debates about social action.
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NUNS: CHRISTIAN NUNS AND SISTERS
6763
Ven. Dhammananda. “Three Waves of Bhikkhuni Sangha in
were exceptionally erudite and powerful, exercising quasi-
Thailand.” Yasodhara—Newsletter on International Buddhist
episcopal authority and settling political and religious dis-
Women’s Activities 19/4, no. 76 (July–September 2003): 5–7.
putes. Some ruled over women and men in linked female and
Article on the problems of bhiks:un:¯ı ordination.
male “double monasteries.” Influential early medieval ab-
Walters, Jonathan S. “Gotam¯ı’s Story.” In Buddhism in Practice,
besses include Brigid of Kildare (c. 524/25) in Ireland; Hilda
edited by Donald S. Lopez, Jr., pp. 113–138. Princeton,
of Whitby, who hosted the English church’s Synod of Whit-
N.J., 1995. Translation from the Apada¯na of the story of
by (663); and the Anglo-Saxon Lioba (d. 754), who, with
Buddha’s maternal aunt and foster mother, the first Buddhist
Boniface, was a missionary to German lands, where she
nun.
founded monasteries. By the ninth or tenth centuries, most
MARTINE BATCHELOR (2005)
monasteries followed some version of the Rule of Benedict.
Religious life responded to the increasing social com-
plexity of the central Middle Ages through diversification.
NUNS: CHRISTIAN NUNS AND SISTERS
Often from the lower classes, female hermits, in contrast to
The earliest Christian women’s communities date to the
nuns, existed throughout the medieval period and multiplied
third and fourth centuries and emerged out of a movement
in the tenth century. New male monastic foundations, such
of thousands of individuals who had fled to the desert regions
as the eleventh-century Cistercians, who adopted a simpler
of Egypt, Palestine, and Syria to lead lives of strict prayer and
liturgy, more manual labor, and greater corporate poverty,
ascetic discipline. Surviving sources, all composed by men,
inspired similar female foundations. The twelfth-century
suggest there were far fewer female than male desert dwellers.
Gilbertines of England, who began with female hermits orga-
Many ascetics lived as solitaries, but others spontaneously
nized by Gilbert of Sempringham, altered monastic life by
adopted a communal lifestyle, a shift possibly spearheaded
admitting lay sisters from humble social strata who worked
by women since community life offered them important pro-
for the nuns, yet also took vows and participated in the litur-
tections.
gy. The monastery of Fontevrault in the Loire Valley, orga-
nized by Robert of Arbrissel (d. 1116), accepted social out-
Women associated with this movement include the de-
casts, although some, such as repentant prostitutes, were
sert mother Syncletica, who appears to be addressing a com-
housed separately. Male religious, admitted to serve the nuns
munity of women in sayings attributed to her; Paula, who
as priests or laborers, were entirely obedient to the abbess.
cofounded a monastery in 386 in Bethlehem with Jerome
By the twelfth century, women’s monasteries existed in
(c. 342–420); and the Roman patrician Melania the Elder,
places such as Hungary, Bohemia, Norway, and Iceland.
who led some fifty women in a monastery she established on
the Mount of Olives. A pivotal figure outside the desert
Enclosure was often legislated vigorously for women,
movement is the spiritual teacher Macrina the Younger (c.
variously for reasons of safety, sexual decorum, and social
327–380), known as the Mother of Eastern Monasticism,
control, but it was not always observed. Nuns served their
who cofounded a monastery with her mother on the family
societies not only through prayer, but also by copying and
estate.
illuminating manuscripts, providing hospitality to travelers,
making vestments, and educating children, especially girls.
By the fifth century, monasteries in the West emerged
Some also cared for the poor and sick, as did the few women
as independent houses, following a variety of religious rules.
who joined military orders such as the Templars and Hospi-
The first known rule intended specifically for nuns was writ-
tallers, founded in the Holy Land during the Crusades.
ten by Caesarius of Arles (d. 542), who incorporated changes
In the eleventh century, people from many classes began
based on the nuns’ own experience. The nuns daily recited
to emulate the “life of the apostles” by living materially poor
the Divine Office, did manual labor such as weaving, and
lives of active service, among people, especially in the new
practiced a variety of austerities. They lived within a defined
urban milieus. Men could join the new mendicant orders
precinct of the monastery building or buildings known as an
such as the Franciscans or Dominicans, but similar groups
enclosure or cloister, and were allowed to leave it only under
for women were never sanctioned. Thus an array of lay
exceptional circumstances. In various times and places, en-
women’s movements flourished, including the Sisters (and
closure was more or less rigorously enforced. The monastic
Brothers) of Penance, the Beguines, and female (and male)
lands surrounding the enclosure were in essence a feudal es-
single and married tertiaries who were loosely associated with
tate, worked by peasants for the support of the mostly upper-
the mendicant orders.
class nuns. Aristocratic families considered monastic life a so-
cially acceptable state of life for unmarried women, widows,
Women in general lost authority in the later Middle
and wives released from their marital responsibilities, and
Ages. Unregulated lay religious women, especially as their
were often the donors of monastic properties. Nuns’ dowries
numbers grew, attracted suspicion and were gradually forced
and family connections could be quite influential in deter-
to accept clerical supervision. Many Beguines were pro-
mining a monastery’s success. Monastic life often allowed
nounced heretical or pressured to live in communal beguin-
women access to education, power, and other opportunities
ages, likening them more to nuns. Many tertiaries were simi-
unavailable even to other privileged women. Some abbesses
larly regulated. The church attempted to enforce strict
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6764
NUNS: CHRISTIAN NUNS AND SISTERS
enclosure on nuns, and men’s orders limited or severed ties
ties, but spared some lay sisters in apostolic communities
with them.
since they served society.
The sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation led to
The restoration of the Bourbon Dynasty in 1815
the suppression of monastic life in many countries. While
launched the “golden age” of women’s religious life, centered
the Catholic Church was rapidly sanctioning a host of new
in France. Between 1800 and 1880, almost four hundred
male “apostolic religious orders” dedicated to specific services
new women’s orders were founded, attracting some 200,000
in the world, such as the Jesuits, it was attempting to curtail
women, mostly to apostolic congregations. Only one-fifth as
the same impulse among women. It imposed strict cloister
numerous as monastic women on the eve of the French Rev-
on nuns after the Council of Trent (1545–1563) and wel-
olution, they made up over four-fifths of women dedicated
comed observant and cloistered reform orders such as the
to religion some ninety years later in 1880. Women for the
Discalced Carmelites, founded by Teresa of Ávila (d. 1582).
first time outnumbered male clergy and religious combined,
a trend that has continued into the twenty-first century. Par-
Women struggled throughout the sixteenth to eigh-
alleling changes in social and political life, religious life
teenth centuries to establish apostolic communities dedicat-
throughout Europe was becoming more democratized, with
ed to specific works. Angela Merici’s Company of St. Ursula
women from middle and lower classes now outnumber-
(1535), committed to educating girls, escaped cloister by
ing those from upper classes and assuming positions of
wearing secular clothes and living in their own homes. After
leadership.
Merici’s death in 1540, however, the women were urged to
The papacy belatedly recognized a woman’s apostolic
accept episcopal control, common life, and distinctive garb.
congregation for the first time in 1841 when it approved the
By the seventeenth century, virtually all Ursulines had be-
Sisters of Mercy, who eventually spread beyond Ireland to
come fully enclosed and educated girls only within the clois-
become the largest women’s order in the English-speaking
ter walls. In England, Mary Ward modeled her Institute of
world. Apostolic congregations were finally recognized as
the Blessed Virgin Mary after the Jesuits, with the goal of ed-
“true religious life” in the 1917 Code of Canon Law, which
ucating young women. Derided as “Jesuitesses” and “gallop-
also, however, sapped spontaneity and zeal from these orders
ing gals,” the group was suppressed in 1631 after Ward had
by requiring them to accept many uniform requirements.
spent a year in prison as a “heretic.” The women were reclas-
sified as ecclesiastical persons and forced to modify their
The dramatic rise in numbers of religious women al-
work. The Catholic Church sharply distinguished nuns, the
lowed many congregations to become centralized, mobile,
“true religious,” from pious secular people who remained in
international organizations. The French Society of the Sa-
the world and took simple vows.
cred Heart, founded in 1800 by Madeleine Sophie Barat and
renowned for the education it offered upper-class girls in par-
Others, including some bishops who valued women’s
ticular, spread quickly to other European countries, the
ministries, devised strategies to satisfy church laws. Commu-
Americas, and elsewhere by following invitations from bish-
nities were cleverly termed congregations, societies, or insti-
ops and lay people. Outside Europe, religious women
tutes instead of religious orders. Some women gave up pro-
worked among European immigrants and among native
nouncing the vows they lived by. Vincent de Paul and Louise
populations. By 1750, the Ursulines of New Orleans, who
de Marillac, founders of the Daughters of Charity (1633) in
educated French, Amerindian, and enslaved African girls and
Paris, chose the lesser designation secular daughters over reli-
women, had helped raise women’s literacy rate to above sev-
gious so the women could run soup kitchens and care for the
enty percent, which was higher than men’s rate, and far bet-
poor and socially marginalized. De Paul famously remarked,
ter than that of women elsewhere in the colonies. Women
“Your convent will be the house of the sick, your cell a hired
missionaries, who had been few prior to the nineteenth cen-
room, your chapel the parish church, your cloister the city
tury, established numerous schools, dispensaries, and other
streets or the hospital wards, your enclosure obedience, your
social services among native populations in the Americas,
grille the fear of God, your veil modesty.” Most people ad-
Asia, Africa, and Oceania, settling especially in places colo-
mired such women and increasingly viewed them as genuine
nized by Europeans. Some orders were founded specifically
religious. In France, they were called congréganistes instead
as missionary orders.
of religieuses, the term for monastic women. Today, the
words sisters and nuns are used to make the same distinction.
Many women religious were kind to indigenous people
and defended their rights, but they frequently evinced colo-
The French church, which had been the spiritual center
nial and racist attitudes. For example, nuns and sisters who
of Europe in the seventeenth century, dramatically declined
educated Amerindians, mestizos, black Africans, and mulat-
in the eighteenth century. Enlightenment ideas undermined
toes on the American frontier typically segregated them from
belief, and the vast economic wealth and privileges of
children of European descent and taught them manual skills
monasteries and the male hierarchy fueled disaffection. Be-
instead of more academic or refined subjects. Civilizing “sav-
tween the 1740s and 1780s, recruitment into women’s or-
ages” and other people of color often involved suppressing
ders fell by about forty-five percent. Leaders of the French
their own customs. White European orders and orders of Eu-
Revolution then ended monastic life and confiscated proper-
ropean descent, whether male or female, were slow to accept
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NUNS: CHRISTIAN NUNS AND SISTERS
6765
vocations from people of color. The Oblate Sisters of Provi-
many orders. In the same period, however, religious women
dence (1831) were exceptional in being founded specifically
increased in Latin America (ninety-four percent), Asia (551
for African American and mulatto women who ministered
percent), and Africa (1503 percent). Religious women in the
to people of color. Only in the latter half of the twentieth
richer northern industrialized lands still comprise the majori-
century did most orders in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and
ty of women religious, but they are generally elderly in con-
Oceania cede significant authority to indigenous women and
trast to the youthful and burgeoning group of religious
thereby cease to be “missionary” orders.
women in the poorer developing and mostly Southern Hem-
isphere lands. Most of these women belong to apostolic con-
There were few Protestant religious women prior to the
gregations that staff schools, medical facilities, and provide
nineteenth-century. The Oxford movement, which attempt-
other social services. Their greater numbers reflect the shift
ed to renew the Church of England by reincorporating Cath-
in the Catholic Church’s center of gravity away from Europe
olic rituals and teachings, led to the foundation in Great
and the industrialized world and toward the Southern Hemi-
Britain and Ireland after 1848 of over one hundred commu-
sphere, where Catholics are increasing even more rapidly
nities of women, most committed to teaching or works of
than nuns and sisters. For example, Catholics in Africa, who
charity. By the beginning of the twenty-first century, these
grew by almost four thousand percent between 1950 and
orders had declined in Great Britain and Ireland, but grown
2000, far outpaced the growth of religious women (1503
elsewhere, with over 1550 women in communities around
percent).
the world. Protestant women belong to a range of other
foundations, including the Evangelical Marian Sisterhood of
In 2000, when women religious around the world were
Germany, the ecumenical communities of Grandchamp,
counted with male Catholic Church personnel consisting of
Switzerland, and the St. Brigid of Kildare Methodist Monas-
religious, diocesan priests, and deacons, they constituted al-
tery of Minnesota founded in 2001.
most two-thirds of the total. In the early years of the twenty-
first century, nuns and sisters around the world continue to
The Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), which
make major contributions to the Catholic Church and to the
aimed to renew the Catholic Church in light of the exigen-
societies where they live and work.
cies of the modern world, was the great twentieth-century
turning point for Christian nuns and sisters. The Council ad-
SEE ALSO Benedict of Nursia; Feminist Theology, article on
vocated greater collegiality and shared decision-making and
Christian Feminist Theology; Gender and Religion, article
directed all religious orders to revise their mission in light of
on Gender and Christianity; Monasticism, article on Chris-
the world’s pressing needs. Women religious, who had made
tian Monasticism; Teresa of Ávila; Ward, Mary.
significant advances theologically and educationally just
B
prior to the Council in places such as the United States and
IBLIOGRAPHY
Burke, Joan F. These Catholic Sisters Are All “Mamas”! Towards the
Europe, were generally well-prepared to embrace the radical
Inculturation of the Sisterhood in Africa, an Ethnographic
changes inspired by the Council. Influenced also by the
Study. Leiden, 2001.
women’s movement, nuns and sisters revamped outmoded
Coburn, Carol K., and Martha Smith. Spirited Lives: How Nuns
authority structures within their own orders, and vigorously
Shaped Catholic Culture and American Life, 1836–1920.
challenged them within the overwhelmingly male-
Chapel Hill, N.C., and London, 1999.
dominated Catholic Church. Many religious, “to be in the
Gilchrist, Roberta. Gender and Material Culture: The Archaeology
world for the world,” rejected cloister and semi-cloister, dis-
of Religious Women. London and New York, 1994.
tinctive dress, institutional living, and the spiritual elitism
these fostered, and adopted instead secular clothing and sim-
Langlois, Claude. Le catholicisme au féminin: Les congrégations
ple community life in small homes inserted among lay soci-
françaises à supérieure générale au XIXe siècle. Paris, 1984.
ety. They refocused many of their charitable works—or in
Magray, Mary Peckham. The Transforming Power of the Nuns:
the case of monastic nuns, their prayer—toward dismantling
Women, Religion, and Cultural Change in Ireland, 1750–
the unjust structures that make charitable work necessary in
1900. New York, 1998.
the first place. A visible minority of sisters became involved
McNamara, Jo Ann Kay. Sisters in Arms: Catholic Nuns through
in political activism. Sisters contributed importantly to many
Two Millennia. Cambridge, Mass., 1996. A broad survey.
twentieth-century liberation movements in places such as
Ranft, Patricia. Women and the Religious Life in Premodern Europe.
Latin America.
New York, 1996. A brief, but very solid introduction.
Rapley, Elizabeth. The Dévotes: Women and Church in Seven-
These changes were accompanied by others just as dra-
teenth-Century France. Montreal, Canada, and Buffalo, N.Y.,
matic, whose meaning is still debated. Between 1950 and
1990.
2000, numbers of religious women declined in Europe (31
percent) and North America (51 percent). After the Second
Simons, Walter. Cities of Ladies: Beguine Communities in the Medi-
eval Low Countries, 1200–1565. Philadelphia, 2001.
Vatican Council, many women in the richer industrialized
nations left religious life because they were disillusioned by
Talbot, Alice-Mary. Women and Religious Life in Byzantium. Al-
the changes or dissatisfied with their pace. New membership
dershot, U.K., and Burlington, Vt., 2001.
slowed dramatically and by 2000 had virtually ceased in
CATHERINE M. MOONEY (2005)
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NU
¯ R MUH:AMMAD
NU
¯ R MUH:AMMAD (“light of Muh:ammad”) or Nu¯r
in my blood, light in my hair and light in my skin. Give
Muh:ammadi (“Muh:ammadan light”) is a term central to
me light, increase my light, make me light.
later S:u¯f¯ı and Sh¯ıE¯ı speculation. Although the QurDa¯n re-
Theories about Muh:ammad’s luminous nature began to de-
peatedly states that Muh:ammad is only human, a messenger
velop, on the basis of Muqa¯til’s exegesis, in the second half
entrusted with the guidance of the people (see surahs 6:50,
of the ninth century. The Iraqi S:u¯f¯ı Sahl al-Tustar¯ı (d. 896)
25:8, 25:22), later currents in Islam transformed him in-
was the first to express the whole Heilsgeschichte in the termi-
creasingly into a spiritual, luminous being. The historical
nology of the light of Muh:ammad as suggested in the light
Muh:ammad was thus metamorphosed into a transcendent
verse. The inaccessible divine mystery of light articulates it-
light, like the sun, around which everything created revolves.
self in the pre-eternal manifestation of “the likeness of his
This idea has colored later mystical Islam on both the elite
light.” The origin of the nu¯r Muh:ammad in pre-eternity is
and folk levels.
depicted as “a luminous mass of primordial adoration in the
The basis for such speculations, however, was found in
presence of God, which takes the shape of a transparent col-
the QurDa¯n, where Muh:ammad is called “a shining lamp”
umn of divine light and constitutes Muh:ammad as the pri-
(sira¯j mun¯ır, 33:45) and where it is said, “There came to you
mal creation of God” (Böwering, 1980). When this light
from God a light and a clear book” (5:15). H:a¯ssan ibn
reached “the veil of majesty,” it prostrated itself before God,
Tha¯bit, the Medinese poet who eulogized Muh:ammad, re-
and from its prostration God formed a mighty column, one
flects these ideas in his verse; he is the first in a long series
both outwardly and inwardly translucent. Sahl even inter-
of writers to compare the face of the Prophet to the full moon
preted surah 53:13, “And he saw [God] still another time,”
at night, a comparison that plays on the words badr (“full
as pertaining to the beginning of time, when this luminous
moon”) and Badr, the name of the site of the Muslims’ first
column was standing before God in worship “with the dispo-
victorious battle in 624.
sition of faith, and [to him] was unveiled the mystery of the
mystery itself ‘at the Lote-tree of the Boundary.’” Then,
Such poetical expressions, however, still lacked a theo-
when the actual creation began, God created Adam, and fi-
logical basis. It was left to the theologian Muqa¯til (d. 767?)
nally all else that exists, from the light of Muh:ammad. The
to interpret the famous “light verse” of the QurDa¯n (24:35)
light is thus seen as the primordial material out of which ev-
as a reference to the Prophet:
erything is formed; it becomes the ultimate source of exis-
God is the light of the heavens and the earth; the like-
tence, and through Muh:ammad, the historical form of this
ness of his light is as a niche wherein there is a lamp,
light, beings become illuminated, thus participating in the
the lamp in a glass, the glass as it were a glittering star,
divine light as embodied in the actual Prophet.
kindled from a blessed tree, an olive tree neither of the
Sahl’s high-soaring speculations were elaborated more
East nor of the West, whose oil wellnigh would shine,
even if no fire touched it. Light upon light. God guides
poetically by his disciple al-H:alla¯j (d. 922), who devoted the
to his light whom he will. And God strikes similitudes
first chapter of his Kita¯b al-t:awa¯s¯ın to Muh:ammad, calling
for man, and God has knowledge of everything.
it T:a¯s¯ın al-sira¯j (The T:a¯s¯ın of the Lamp, alluding to the Ara-
bic letters t: and s¯ın found at the head of surah 27):
It is the lamp, mis:ba¯h, that Muqatil sees as a fitting symbol
for Muh:ammad; through him the divine light shines upon
He was a lamp from the light of the invisible . . . a
the world, and through him humanity is guided to the origin
moon radiating among the moons, whose mansion is
of this light. The formula “neither of the East nor of the
in the sphere of mysteries. . . . The lights of prophet-
West” could then be taken as a reference to Muh:ammad’s
hood—from his light did they spring forth, and their
lights appeared from his light, and there is no light
comprehensive nature, which is not restricted to one specific
among the lights more luminous and more visible and
people or race and which transcends the boundaries of time
previous to preexistence than the light of this noble one.
and space.
As preceding preexistence, Muh:ammad is seen as absolutely
Up to the present day one of the most common epithets
eternal, mentioned “before the Before and after the After.”
used for the Prophet is nu¯r al-huda¯ (“the light of right guid-
ance”), and allusions to his luminous nature are found even
Al-H:alla¯j’s rhyming prose was written less than three
in the titles of h:ad¯ıth collections, such as Masha¯riq al-anwa¯r
centuries after Muh:ammad’s death. During those years there
(The Rising Points of Lights), Ma-s:a¯b¯ıh: al-sunnah (The
appeared several h:ad¯ıth pointing to the mystery of the nu¯r
Lamps of the Sunnah), or Mishka¯t al-mas:a¯b¯ıh: (The Niche
Muh:ammad: “The first thing God created was my light,”
for Lamps). Likewise, through the centuries one of the most
says the Prophet, and his remark, “My companions are like
famous prayers attributed to Muh:ammad is the prayer for
stars,” fits well with his role as the central sun or the full
light:
moon of the world.
O God, place light in my heart, light in my soul, light
The S:u¯f¯ıs lovingly interpreted this idea. Al-ThaElab¯ı
upon my tongue, light in my eyes, and light in my ears;
(d. 1038), in his EAraDis al-bayan, written shortly after the
place light at my right, light at my left, light behind me,
year 1000, cites a colorful myth in which the light appears
and light before me, light above me, and light beneath
as a radiant pearl. Najm Da¯ya¯ Ra¯z¯ı, in the early thirteenth
me. Place light in my nerves, and light in my flesh, light
century, offers an elaborate story of creation using similar
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NU
¯ R MUH:AMMAD
6767
imagery; the pearling drops of sweat that emerge from the
al-Ghaza¯l¯ı. For him, this primordial “light of lights” illumi-
primordial Nu¯r Muh:ammad are the substance out of which
nates the darkness, and, even more, it brings all things into
the 124,000 prophets sent before Muh:ammad were created.
manifestation out of “not-being.”
EAbd al-Kar¯ım al-J¯ıl¯ı (d. 1408?) elaborates on this idea by
These theories on the nu¯r Muh:ammad were, like so
comparing the nu¯r Muh:ammad—also interpreted as the
many early trends in Sufism, elaborated and systematized by
h:aq¯ıqah muh:ammad¯ıyah, the archetypal “Muh:ammadan re-
Ibn al-EArab¯ı, who states in his probably spurious profession
ality”—to a luminous pearl, or a white chrysolith, which
of faith that “the first light appears out of the veil of the Un-
grows embarrassed when God looks at it lovingly and thus
seen and from knowledge to concrete existence and is the
begins to perspire, finally dissolving into waves and other wa-
light of our prophet Muh:ammad.” He then goes on to com-
tery substances out of which the created world emerges.
pare Muh:ammad, the sira¯j mun¯ır, to the sun and infers that
This image has inspired hundreds of poets in the Islamic
the heavenly intelligences, the spirits, the intuitions, and the
world. In the sixteenth century, for example, a Turkish poet,
essences are nourished by the luminous essence of
Khaqani, speaks in his h:ilyah (the poetical description of the
(Muh:ammad) Mus:t:afa¯ the Elect, “who is the sun of exis-
Prophet’s noble features and qualities) of this event: “God
tence.” In philosophical terms, with Muh:ammad, the first
loved this light and said ‘My beloved friend!’ and became en-
self-determination of the Absolute, the Divine begins to
amored of this light.” Overwhelmed by this divine love, the
manifest itself gradually to the world, and the primordial
primordial Muh:ammadan light produced drops of perspira-
light, which has permeated all prophets from the beginning,
tion from bashfulness, and from them the world emerged in
reaches its full development in the Perfect Man, the historical
descending degrees. The same idea is found in Bengali mysti-
prophet Muh:ammad.
cal folk poetry of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, espe-
As such, Muh:ammad is praised in ever new images. It
cially in the work of Shaykh Cha¯nd.
is no accident that the literature dealing with his miraculous
Sahl’s ideas of the column of light seem to have been
birth always points to the light that shone from his father’s
quite well known in mystical circles even before their system-
forehead and was carried in Am¯ınah’s womb; following the
atization by Ibn al-EArab¯ı (d. 1240) in the first half of the
Prophet’s birth, this light illuminated the world to the castles
thirteenth century. Few passages in medieval Persian poetry
of Bostra in Syria. Muh:ammad is the sham E-i mah:fil, the
prior to Ibn al-EArab¯ı reflect this idea more eloquently than
“candle of the assembly,” which illuminates the night of this
those of Farid al-D¯ın EAt:t:a¯r (d. 1220). In the introduction
world as medieval Persian poets wrote; and it is “the light of
of his epic Mant:iq al-t:ayr (The Conversation of the Birds),
his name” by which the Muslims should bring light into the
EAt:t:a¯r speaks of how, from this Muh:ammadan light, the di-
darkness of this time, as Muhammad Iqbal (d. 1938), the
vine Throne, Footstool, Pen, and Tablet appeared, and how
Indo-Pakistani modernist poet, says in his Urdu poem An-
the great light then prostrated itself before the Lord and re-
swer to [Man’s] Complaint (1912). The mystics and poets
mained for ages in prostration, genuflection, and standing,
were happy to interpret the beginning of surah 93 (“By the
thus prefiguring the movements of Muslim ritual prayer.
morning light!”) as pertaining to Muh:ammad’s radiant face,
The Turkish mystical poet Yunus Emre (d. 1321) puts in
which represents at the same time the radiance of faith—an
God’s mouth the words
image probably coined by Sana¯D¯ı of Ghaznah (d. 1131?) and
lovingly repeated through the centuries by poets in all parts
I created him from my own light
of the Muslim world.
And I love him yesterday and today.
What would I do with the world without him?
One can say without exaggeration that, in eulogies com-
My Muh:ammad, my Ahmad of light!
posed for Muh:ammad, his luminous character is among
those features most frequently noted. One finds, for exam-
In the same period, a S:u¯f¯ı in India claimed that the light of
ple, mention of the Prophet as “the light of all lights” and
Muh:ammad became embodied in the Prophet’s person “just
the beliefs that he did not cast a shadow and that his light
as the light of the moon is taken from the sun.” For the faith-
was visible in the dark night. Following these ideas, calligra-
ful, the participation in the light of Muh:ammad is the goal
phers writing in Arabic found it logical that none of the
of life, for whosoever is surrounded by this uncreated light
Prophet’s original names—Muh:ammad, Ah:mad, Ha¯m¯ıd,
will not be touched by the created fire of Hell.
and Mah:mu¯d—nor his epithet—rasu¯l Alla¯h (“messenger of
God”)—was written with diacritical marks. One even finds
That the idea of the Muhammadan light was popular
attempts to write eulogies for him in which all diacritical
even before Ibn al-EArab¯ı is clear from the very title of
marks are left out as a way of stressing his luminous purity.
al-Ghaza¯l¯ı’s (d. 1111) booklet Mishka¯t al-anwa¯r (The Niche
for Lights), which contains his prophetology, in which
The origin and early development of the theory of the
Muh:ammad appears as the mut:a¯ E (“one who is obeyed”).
light of Muh:ammad are difficult to trace. One source of this
This attribution also occurs quite frequently in poetry at later
mysticism of light might have been Hellenistic gnostic specu-
periods; there, however, it does not assume the mysterious
lations. Sh¯ıE¯ı theories about the light of the imams also may
role as a kind of demiurge, a being between the undifferenti-
have strongly contributed to the development of these ideas.
ated One and the phenomenal world, as described by
Ibn al-EArab¯ı associated this concept with the tradition
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6768
NUS:AYR¯IYAH
(h:ad¯ıth quds¯ı) in which God says, “I was a hidden treasure
NUWAUBIANS. The term Nuwaubian refers to an Af-
and wanted to be known; therefore I created the world.” Fol-
rican American religious communal group that has existed
lowing Ibn al-EArabi’s lead, Jami (d. 1492) addressed the
and continues to exist under a variety of names. Founded as
Prophet in this manner:
the Ansaar Pure Sufi in 1967, it was subsequently known as
the Nubian Islaamic Hebrew Mission, the Ansaaru Allah
From “I was a treasure” your true nature has become
Community and more recently as the Ancient Mystic Order
clear: Your person is the mirror of the unqualified light.
of Melchizedek, the Holy Tabernacle Ministries, the Yamas-
According to Ibn al-EArab¯ı and his followers, the nu¯r
see Native American Tribe, and the Nuwaubian Nation of
Muh:ammad appears in all prophets, each of them bearing a
Moors. Founder Michael York (b. June 26, 1945) has also
certain particle of this light, as well as those mystics who tried
assumed different names over the years beginning in 1969,
to reach union with the h:aq¯ıqah muh:ammad¯ıyah. These in-
including Amunnubi Rooakhptah, and later, at various
dividuals sometimes claimed that they were in the heights
times, As Siddid Al Imaan Isa Al Haahi Al Madhi, Chief
with the light of Muh:ammad long before Adam was created.
Black Eagle, Nayya Malachizodoq-El, and Malachi Z. York.
The historical Muh:ammad is thus endowed with the “total-
The changing image of the group and the shifting persona
izing nature” comprising all the divine names and forming
of its leader has often been a source of confusion and an addi-
the principle in which the divine light can reflect its glory
tional rationale for disparaging remarks by critics.
in order to be known and loved. His relation to the inaccessi-
York emerged in the African American community in
ble essence of light is like that of the sunlight in relation to
Brooklyn, New York at the late 1960s, a time during which
the sun.
Black Nationalism represented by the Moorish Science Tem-
ple of America and the Nation of Islam and its various splin-
On the basis of these ideas later writers compared
ter groups was enjoying a revival. As had many of his con-
Muh:ammad to the dawn that appears at the border between
temporaries, during the 1960s York had served time for a
night and day, between human contingent existence and di-
variety of minor offenses from assault to possession of a dead-
vine reality. The nu¯r Muh:ammad thus becomes a central
ly weapon. However, in 1967, he decided that his career was
concept that appears in varied expressions in the Islamic
as a teacher, and he assumed the religious name Amunnubi
world, and although the emphasis in prophetology has tend-
Roakhptah and established the Ansaar Pure Sufi organization
ed to shift from the mythical Muh:ammad to the historical
out of his apartment. Those attracted to his teachings
man Muh:ammad, the “light of guidance” is still admired and
donned black tunics as a sign of their membership. The
praised in the verses of mystically minded poets.
group changed several times over the next few years, each
change accompanied by the members’ assuming a new dress
BIBLIOGRAPHY
and York taking a new name.
For more on the Nu¯r Muh:ammad, see William H. T. Gairdner’s
An important step was taken in 1970 when York re-
translation, Al-Ghazza¯l¯ı’s Mishka¯t al-anwa¯r (The Niche for
named his following the Nubian Islaamic Mission. At that
Lights) (1924; reprint, Lahore, 1952). A better translation of
time, the members agreed to live communally. They moved
the Mishka¯t is Roger Deladrière’s Le tabernacle des Lumières
into a house in Brooklyn and opened a bookstore and meet-
(Paris, 1981). Indispensable for the study of the nu¯r
ing hall. Growth of the group, along with larger crowds
Muh:ammad is Tor Andrae’s important work Die person
Muhammeds in lehre und glauben seiner gemeinde
(Stock-
being attracted to its meetings, necessitated several moves
holm, 1918). Andrae deals especially with the transformation
over the next two years.
of the image of Muh:ammad as reflected in Islamic mysticism
In 1972 York traveled to Sudan where he developed an
and theology. My own And Muhammad Is His Messenger
identification with the legendary Sudanese military and reli-
(Chapel Hill, 1985) is a survey of the veneration of
gious leader Muh:ammad Ahmed Ibn Abdulla¯h (1845–
Muh:ammad in mystical and popular traditions. See also
1885), best remembered for organizing a revolt against Brit-
Louis Massignon’s classic study The Passion of al-Hallaj: Mys-
tic and Martyr of Islam,
4 vols., translated by Herbert Mason
ish rule and defeating them at Khartoum in 1885. Following
(Princeton, 1982), and Gerhard Böwering’s The Mystical Vi-
his return, York called himself As Siddid Al Imaan Isa Al
sion of Existence in Classical Islam: The Qur Danic Hermeneutics
Haahi Al Madhi, and claimed descent from Muh:ammad
of the S:u¯f¯ı Sahl al-Tustar¯ı (d. 283/896) (Berlin and New
Abdulla¯h. Abdulla¯h is commonly referred to as al-Madhi and
York, 1980). Robert C. Zaehner’s Hindu and Muslim Mysti-
York identified him as the True Madhi, the predicted succes-
cism (New York, 1969) is an original work that compares Su-
sor to the Prophet Muh:ammad.
fism and Hindu mysticism and contains some interesting ob-
servations on the nu¯r Muh:ammad.
Following his return from Sudan, York made a second
important change in the group. He separated the more dedi-
ANNEMARIE SCHIMMEL (1987)
cated believers who wanted to build a new nation from the
more nominal members who loosely identified with the Is-
lamic and African themes York preached. He now centered
his attention only on those committed to the program he was
NUS:AYR¯IYAH SEE EALAW¯IYU¯N
developing.
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NUWAUBIANS
6769
Through the 1980s, the group was primarily known as
and Abrahamic past. As the Yamassee Native American
the Ansaaru Allah Community and became a visible presence
Tribe, the group claims a relationship to a Native-American
in the many American cities along the East Coast. They also
people, the Yamassee, who resided in Georgia. The Nuwau-
began centers in the Caribbean—Jamaica, Trinidad and To-
bians have asserted their belief that the Yamassee were the
bago, Puerto Rico, and Guyana. The young adult members
original residents of Georgia who came to North America
of the group, dressed in white, moved about the streets in
from the Nile Valley prior to the separation of the continents
the black community selling York’s books and otherwise
via continental drift.
spreading his message. York has been a prolific writer, au-
Through their identification with the Yamassee, who
thoring over 400 books and booklets (many transcripts of his
signed over their lands to the United States in 1829, the Nu-
talks) covering a wide range of topics from UFOs to personal
waubians have attempted to establish their claim to be a sepa-
hygiene.
rate nation. They have asserted their claim as an indigenous
TEACHINGS. The teachings of the Nuwaubians were built
people who should be seen as an indigenous nation (follow-
around the development of a new understanding of African
ing United Nations definitions) in pursuit of autonomy. As
American people (a project not unlike that undertaken of the
such, they do not recognize the jurisdiction of the United
Moorish Science Temple and the Nation of Islam previous-
States and its laws over them, and have created their own
ly). York drew upon the Christian Bible and the Holy
constitution and legal code. The Ancient Mystical Order of
Qur’a¯n for an initial affirmation of Allah as Alone in His
Melchizedek is a lodge in the Masonic tradition. People who
Power, the All, the Oneness. Jesus is seen as the Messiah.
are considered Nubians but who are not presently members
York taught that Muh:ammad, the last of the prophets in the
of the United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors may join the
lineage of Adam, passed his lineage to his daughter Fatima
lodge. The lodge dues are received as income by the Nuwau-
(610–633 CE) and son-in-law Ali (599–661 CE).
bians.
Adam and Eve (or Hawwah) were Nubian (black peo-
The Holy Tabernacle Ministries is an umbrella organi-
ple). Problems developed for Adam’s descendents in Noah’s
zation that holds the other three groups together, and
(or Nuwh) time. One of Noah’s sons, Ham, desired to com-
through which the group interacts with the outside world.
mit sodomy after having come upon his father in an un-
It also distributes the group’s books and literature. The min-
clothed condition. For his sin, his fourth son, Canaan, was
istries manage a group of bookstores located in various cities
stricken with leprosy, thus acquiring a pale skin. The light-
which have been an additional source of income for the
skinned races are descendants of Canaan. An additional im-
group.
portant step in human development came with Noah’s des-
cendent Abraham. From his son, Isaac and grandson Jacob,
Prior to its movement to Georgia in the early 1990s, the
came the Israelites. They were enslaved for 420 years in
Ansaaru Allah Community was somewhat lost in the larger
Egypt. From his son Ismael came the Ismaelites, or Nubians.
Islamic world and overshadowed by the better-known Na-
The Nubians include the black people of the United States,
tion of Islam. Occasionally a reporter learned of its existence
the West Indies, and other parts of the globe. York asserted
and a few scholars began to monitor it.
that it was predicted that they would be in slavery for about
However, once they moved to Georgia in the early
400 years at some point. Because of their descent from Abra-
1990s, controversy placed the Nuwaubians on the front
ham, they are rightfully also called Hebrews, just as the mod-
page. The initial issues raised by the group were relatively
ern Jews.
local and minor. Neighbors were disturbed by the influx of
Defining the belief structure of the Nuwaubians in de-
so many people to their Georgia center and their slowness
tail has been made all the more difficult by its fluid nature,
to bring buildings up to legal codes. The controversy was
the constant changes to which it has been subjected, and the
heightened by the group’s separatism. These problems likely
seeming esoteric elements not available to outside scrutiny.
would have been overcome in time had not the revelations
of secret illicit behavior on the part of York and several close
CONTINUED EVOLUTION. In 1993 the group began still an-
associates come to light.
other transition. York officially changed his name to Malachi
York. The next year, approximately 400 members of the
The situation locally became focused on the group’s
group, most from Brooklyn, purchased some 476 acres near
erection of a set of highly decorated buildings and statues
Eatonton, Georgia. At this time they became known by their
modeled on ancient Egypt. To the group, these buildings
four current designations: The United Nuwaubian Nation
made their identification with the ancient Egyptians visible
of Moors, the Yamassee Native American Tribe, the Ancient
and immediately drew the attention of both African Ameri-
Mystic Order of Melchizedek, and the Holy Tabernacle
cans and Native Americans. Local white residents found the
Ministries. It is as the leader of these four entities that York
buildings out of place, and legal authorities called attention
assumes his varied names: Chief Black Eagle, Nayya
to building-code violations in the construction and mainte-
Malachizodoq-El, and Malachi Z. York.
nance of them.
As conceived by the group, the United Nuwaubian Na-
The various controversies surrounding the Nuwaubians
tion of Moors identifies with its Middle Eastern Sudanese
were put aside, however, when in 2002 York was arrested on
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6770
NYAKYUSA RELIGION
numerous charges of child molestation and a variety of addi-
Ngonde (who speak a dialect of the same language) was
tional associated charges stemming from his use of children
closely observed from 1934 to 1938 and again in 1955. The
for sexual purposes. The investigation by federal authorities
Nyakyusa occupied the fertile Rungwe Valley of what is now
had been going on for four years. Other members of the
Tanzania, 9º south longitude, 34º east latitude; the Ngonde
group were arrested for their roles in facilitating York’s pred-
occupied the adjoining plain in what is now Malawi. Togeth-
atory activity. York was convicted in federal court in January
er they numbered perhaps half a million. They were settled
2004 on charges involving racketeering and transporting
cultivators and herdsmen, rotating crops and sustaining ba-
children across state lines for sexual purposes. He had previ-
nana groves with manure from the byres. Groups of thirty
ously confessed to a number of the child molestation charges.
to fifty age mates, with their wives and young children, lived
As of 2004, the appeals process in York’s case continues.
together in villages. The religion of this distinctive people
There is every reason to believe that the Nuwaubians may
was expressed in two cycles of rituals, one concerning fami-
face a series of civil cases once the criminal issues are resolved.
lies, the other chiefdoms and groups of chiefdoms. Celebra-
The Nuwaubian Nation of Moors is one of a spectrum
tion of these rituals involved acting out dramas that ex-
of religious groups that became involved in major illegal ac-
pressed the proper relationships among humans and between
tivity and faced the incarcerations of their founders. Amid
humanity and divinity; in essence, they were intended to
public outrage over York’s behavior, some members of the
both regulate human behavior and to mediate between
group have remained loyal to his teachings and the organiza-
human and divine realms.
tions he created. They have viewed York as a target of reli-
There was little elaboration of dogma, though the fami-
gious persecution, and in the years prior to his arrest, a vari-
ly rituals were shaped by a conviction that kinsmen, living
ety of African American leaders came to the group’s defense.
and dead, were inextricably bound together, by the defini-
In light of York’s conviction and the revelation of the many
tion of kinship and by marriage law. Communal rituals were
charges against him, the continuance of the group has been
shaped by a mythological charter concerning the coming of
called into question. However, other groups have survived
certain chiefly lineages which had brought fire, iron, and cat-
during and after the incarcerations of their founders (e.g., Is-
tle to a people who had no chiefs, no iron, and no cattle, and
raelite House of David, Alamo Christian Foundation, Unifi-
cation Movement). Given various scenarios that may or may
who ate their food raw. Theological speculation was ex-
not occur, the future of the Nuwaubians remains unpredict-
pressed through a general awareness of symbolism—a “com-
able.
mon symbolic language” of which poets speak. Fire was rec-
ognized as representing “lordship” and authority; “eating
SEE ALSO Nation of Islam.
food raw” was the mark both of a witch and of a person with-
out culture. A detailed interpretation of symbolism was pro-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
vided by specialists—priests and doctors (both men and
The several scholarly accounts of the Nuwaubians were written
women) and by elderly people in general. The associations
prior to the revelations about York’s sexual life, and the cur-
given here are not the product of guesswork, but rest on the
rent account of the group must be created from the many
statements given by participants in the rituals. In a rapidly
items of newspaper coverage scattered on the internet.
changing and diverse society much of ancient symbolism
Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck, and Jane Idleman Smith. Mission to
may become a forgotten language.
America: Five Islamic Sectarian Communities in North Ameri-
ca
. Gainesville, Fla., 1993. Includes a brief chapter on the
The occasions for celebration of family rituals were
Nuwaubians focusing on their Islamic phase.
death and birth, especially abnormal birth; maturity and
Ahmad, Muhammad [pseudo. Michael York]. The Only True
marriage; and misfortune. The essence of each ritual was a
Madhi!. Brooklyn, N.Y., 1984. An early account of York’s
purification, the participants washing and shaving with med-
assertion of his unique leadership role.
icines; a “speaking out,” for any individuals who came to the
Palmer, Susan J. and Steve Luxton. “The Ansaaru Allah Commu-
ritual with “anger in the heart” must admit that anger openly
nity: Postmodernist Narration and the Black Jeremiad.” In
and cease to nurse any grudge against those with whom they
New Trends and Developments in the World of Islam, edited
celebrated; and a communion feast in which living and dead
by Peter B. Clarke, pp. 353–370. London, 1998. Possibly
kin shared beer, the staple foods (which varied with altitude),
the most complete secondary source on the Nuwabians writ-
and, at a funeral, beef. Each ritual implied a change in status
ten prior to York’s arrest.
for the chief participants: spouse, parent, sibling, and child,
Philips, Abu Ameenah Bilal. The Ansaar Cult in America. Riyadh,
at a funeral; parents if twins were born, or the mother alone
Saudi Arabia, 1998. A polemic attack on Nuwabian teach-
at an ordinary birth; a girl at first menstruation; and her
ings from an Orthodox Islamic perspective.
groom as she moved from the confinement at puberty to
J. GORDON MELTON (2005)
marriage. But kinsmen also celebrated and were obliged to
do so, the range being further in the father’s than in the
mother’s line and varying with the type of ritual. The explicit
NYAKYUSA RELIGION. The traditional religion of
reason given for celebrating was that the chief mourners, par-
the Nyakyusa-speaking people and of the neighboring
ents of twins, or nubile girl would go mad should the ritual
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NYAKYUSA RELIGION
6771
be neglected, and indeed the “actions of a madman” were
missionaries (in 1891) to translate the Christian conception
mimed in the death ritual—mimed and rejected—for the rit-
of God. As traditional Nyakyusa religion interacted with
ual was directed at ensuring acceptance of a new life, a new
Christianity, the idea of a god wholly distinct from the he-
place in society for a distraught widow, a girl who had grown
roes became more and more clear: In 1934 old men still
up, a young mother, or a man bereaved, married, or fearful
spoke of Kyala “beneath” with the shades, but to most young
as the father of twins. In every ritual the chief participants
men—traditional as well as Christian—he was “above”
symbolically died and were reborn, and while in the world
(kumwanya), and “above” implied then “in the sky” rather
of the dead they were “brooded over” by the shades. This was
than “on earth” (as opposed to beneath the earth).
something terrible, for the shades, though kinsmen, were nu-
The celebrations for Lwembe crossed language as well
minous, and the awfulness of divinity oppressed humans,
as political boundaries. Priests brought iron hoes and salt,
who sought to separate themselves from it.
commodities from the mountains to the east, as gifts to the
Celebrations for a chiefdom were of various sorts. The
shrine. People in the rich Rungwe Valley traded grain,
first was the coronation ritual during which two heirs (for
pulses, and bananas for these commodities. Kyungu was sent
a chiefdom should split each generation) were secluded with
iron hoes and ivory from the mountains surrounding the
the commoners chosen by the older generation to be their
Ngonde Plain, and unlike Lwembe, he gradually developed
village headmen, instructed in their future duties, and treated
secular power and became a chief with subordinate chiefs
with medicines to make them respected—men of authority.
under him.
At a given signal the young men burst out of the seclusion
Besides celebrations for the shades of a family, chief-
hut and rushed out to the pasturage, where each chief and
dom, or region, Nyakyusa speakers had a lively belief in
his senior headman made fire by friction. All fires through-
witchcraft, a mystical power thought to be exercised by cer-
out the country had been extinguished, and each new fire
tain persons (for selfish purposes) to injure others. Witches
had to be lit from that of the chief. Each of the heirs estab-
were spoken of as greedy, envious, and as consumed with
lished authority in one half of the country and planted two
jealousy and anger against their neighbors. They killed men
trees and a stone commemorating his coronation and royal
and cattle and caused grain to diminish and cows to dry up
marriage. Land in the chiefdom was reallocated, with the
by reason of a “python in the belly” that worked evil. So real
older generation moving aside to make way for the younger.
was this python in imagination that it was sought in autop-
The old chief was expected to “die soon,” for fertility in peo-
sies, which were performed both to discover the mystical
ple, land, and cattle was believed to be dependent upon the
cause of death and to prove whether the dead person had
vitality of the chief, and an old, ailing chief was unacceptable.
been a witch.
He was smothered and buried beside the trees planted at his
coronation.
Witchcraft was wholly evil, but a power akin to it was
thought to be properly exercised by village headmen and oth-
The second sort of celebration for a chiefdom involved
ers to protect a village against the attacks of witches. People
the slaughter of a cow and prayers offered to a former ruler
known as abamanga (“the strong ones”) were said to fight
in the sacred grove that had sprung up around his burial
witches in dreams. Commoners—the ordinary people—
place. There no one might chop wood or cultivate, and, as
were thought to punish an inhospitable chief or one who had
a result, the vegetation in such a sacred place would eventual-
given an unjust judgment in court, or any member of their
ly grow into a forest.
village who was mean, inhospitable, too conspicuously suc-
Third, a general purification was held at the break of the
cessful, or who committed some breach of customary obliga-
rains after the dry season or in national emergency. All the
tion such as neglecting a ward or insulting a father. The
old ashes from homestead fires were thrown out, and grudges
“breath of men”—murmurs of outraged public opinion—
between people were openly admitted.
was believed to fall on the miscreant and cause him or her
to fall ill of a fever, pine away, or become paralyzed.
Regional celebrations concerning a group of chiefdoms
were directed to a founding hero in his grove. Prayers for
There were also “medicines” (imiti), chiefly vegetable
rain, fertility, and health for the whole region were then of-
substances thought to be used for both good and evil ends:
fered. The two greatest of the heroes, Lwembe and Kyungu,
to kill or cure, to destroy or promote crops, to murder or to
had living representatives who were thought to exercise
maintain constituted authority.
power over rain and fertility, and they too were honored.
The moral aspect of religion was constantly stressed: A
Lwembe’s grove contained a great python (a creature held
man who was good was protected by his shades, and his fami-
to represent the hero) that was believed to lick Lwembe’s
ly, stock, and crops increased; a chief who loved and cher-
priest, who spent a night alone in the grove, protected by a
ished his subjects and ancestors attracted followers; if the
wicker cage.
founding hero and his living representative were duly hon-
The name of one founding hero, Kyala, to whom offer-
ored, the region would be blessed with gentle rain. The good
ings were made in a cave, was used not only for the hero but
person gave no cause for offense and hoped never to arouse
also in the sense of “the lord,” and it was used by the first
the anger of a neighbor who was a witch or sorcerer. Evil was
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6772
NYA¯YA
personified in witchcraft, but any sort of power might be
vinity. All were aware of the destructive power of evil within
misused. A father who cursed his son or daughter so that the
humans and sought to purge themselves and others of it.
child became sterile should forgive and bless the child when
he or she begged pardon with an appropriate gift, even if the
BIBLIOGRAPHY
anger was justified. The angered father might say, “I forgive
Park, George K. “Kinga Priests: The Politics of Pestilence.” In Po-
you now” and spit on the ground, and all the anger that was
litical Anthropology, edited by Marc J. Swartz, Victor Turner,
in him would come out like spit. Rituals had to be celebrat-
and Arthur Tuden, pp. 229–237. Chicago, 1966. Compares
ed, correct in every detail, but if participants nursed anger
Kinga with Nyakyusa priesthood.
in the heart no ritual could be efficacious. Anger was the root
Wilson, Monica. Good Company: A Study of Nyakyusa Age-
of misfortune.
Villages. London, 1951. An account of Nyakyusa and
Ngonde people, particularly of age-villages and accusations
Like other societies, Nyakyusa society has never been
of witchcraft.
static. The coronation rituals and offerings on behalf of
chiefs and regions explicitly celebrated a change that had
Wilson, Monica. Rituals of Kinship among the Nyakyusa. London,
once occurred: the coming of heroes who brought fire, iron,
1957.
cattle, and the institution of chieftainship. This was pictured
Wilson, Monica. Communal Rituals of the Nyakyusa. London,
as a single event that had occurred ten generations back. Ar-
1959. Descriptions of rituals and interpretations of their
chaeologists are now tracing the spread of iron and of cattle
symbolism based on associations made by participants.
in Africa, and the first hearths are being sought. Chieftain-
Wilson, Monica. For Men and Elders. London, 1977. Change
ship, including the secular power of the Kyungu, is known
among the Nyakyusa and Ngonde from 1875 to 1971, with
to have spread within historical times. The myths therefore
particular reference to marriage and relationships between
recall real events, but they telescope time. Events such as the
generations.
domestication of fire and first forging of iron, separated per-
MONICA WILSON (1987)
haps by a million years, are fused with the coming of cattle
and the institution of chieftainship as symbols of the begin-
ning of civilized life.
NYA¯YA. Nya¯ya is an orthodox, classical Indian school of
From 1891 onward, with the coming of Christian mis-
logic and epistemology established in the second century CE
sions, trade, and colonial rule, the pace of change accelerated
with the writing of the Nya¯yasu¯tras by Gautama (Aks:apa¯da
greatly. By 1938, 16 percent of the population in the Rung-
Gautama). It is described as concerned with the science of
we Valley and more on the Ngonde Plain were professing
argumentation (a¯nv¯ık´siki) and as the measure of all other sci-
Christians and had largely abandoned traditional rituals; by
ences (prama¯n:a´sa¯stra). Unlike modern Western logic, which
1955 even those who did not profess Christianity had cur-
is mainly formal and is complemented by an epistemology
tailed or abandoned some of the rituals, notably that on the
that presupposes the separateness of the study of epistemolo-
birth of twins; and after the independence of Tanganyika in
gy, ethics, and metaphysics and religion, Nya¯ya defines its
1961 the institution of chieftainship was abolished in Rung-
method as one of considering the science of argumentation
we Valley and coronation rituals lapsed.
as an instrument for the knowledge of reality that must lead
Two trends are clear: first, a growing importance to
to the attainment of the Highest Good—namely freedom
most people of the idea of God (Kyala) distinct from shades
from suffering. The very first aphorism of the Nya¯yasu¯tras
and heroes, and of prayer and worship directed to him; sec-
thus defines its purpose and content in the following man-
ond, a lessening of fear of contamination in death and birth.
ner:
A sense of the awfulness of divinity and of biological process-
It is the knowledge of the real essence of the following
es in which divinity was manifest have decreased.
sixteen categories that leads to the attainment of the
Celebration of rituals may be observed and accounts of
Highest Good: 1. the means of right cognition, 2. the
dogma and myth recorded, but evidence of religious experi-
objects of right cognition, 3. doubt, 4. motive, 5. exam-
ence is difficult to document. Many people spoke of a sense
ple, 6. theory, 7. factors of inference, 8. cogitation/ de-
cision, 9. demonstrated truth, 10. discussion 11. dispu-
of presence of the shades in dreams and waking moments,
tation, 12. wrangling, 13. fallacious reasons, 14.
and if a wife or child were ill a man might go to his banana
casuistry, 15. futile rejoinders and 16. clinchers. (Gau-
grove with his calabash cup at dusk and blow out water, ex-
tama, Nya¯yasu¯tras, tr. Ganganatha Jha, 1939, p. 3)
pressing himself in love and charity with all, living and dead,
and calling upon his shades for blessing; but repeated dreams
Nya¯ya is traditionally paired with the Vai´ses:ika school, be-
of the dead were feared as an omen of death, and the period
cause the two focus respectively on the subject and object of
of seclusion during a ritual, when the participant dwelt with
knowledge, with the former therefore being more dominant-
the shades, was felt to be deeply distasteful. Christian con-
ly epistemological and the latter ontological in nature.
verts, familiar with the traditional patterns, asserted that they
Modern scholarship on Nya¯ya can largely be divided
valued a sense of presence and communion with God in a
into two camps. The first provides an apologetic for its meta-
different manner from any traditional communion with di-
physical orientation and prefers to emphasize the technical
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NYA¯YA
6773
detail of logic in an attempt to relocate Nya¯ya within a posi-
Nya¯ya argues that proof of the truth of unseen things
tivist framework. The historian of Indian philosophy S. N.
spoken of in the Upanis:ads is established by the truth and
Dasgupta and more recently Bimal Krishna Matilal belong
efficacy of scientific treatises on things seen. The example
to this category. The second approach is represented by those
then is of great importance in Nya¯ya. It is defined as that
like Dharmendra Nath Shastri, Jitendranath Mohanty, and
which can be directly perceived by both ordinary people and
Karl Potter, who argue that the relation to metaphysics is not
expert or trained investigators and is an essential factor both
“added on” but intrinsic to the discourse of Nya¯ya. This dif-
in establishing the truth of one’s position and in disproving
ference in approach has not, however, affected the selection
that of the opponent. Neither inference nor testimony can
of topics or emphases among authors from either group, as
stand without the proof of such an example.
the focus in both cases remains mainly on exegesis with occa-
Nya¯ya’s main disagreement over the nature of reality is
sional critical analysis. A sustained, conscious, and systematic
with Buddhist idealism. The period from the fifth to elev-
consideration of Nya¯ya’s method, which consists in the non-
enth centuries CE was one of great creative engagement be-
dualism of fact and value and theory and practice, pre-
tween the two schools. The assumption of the reality of the
supposing a belief in the unity of epistemology (science), eth-
external world comprising indivisible atomic reals is central
ics, and metaphysics (or religion), has yet to be made. This
to Nya¯ya. Knowledge of the true nature of an object enables
is one of the major difficulties that hinders understanding of
one to attain detachment from it and overcome suffering in
the exact nature of the orientation and development of
this world. Buddhists, on the other hand, characterize reality
thought within Nya¯ya, both internally and in relation to
itself as suffering. Suffering arises from believing the external
Buddhism and the M¯ıma¯m:sa¯ school and, more significantly,
world to be real and permanent. In fact the reality and per-
modern Western analytic thought.
manence of the external world is merely an illusion created
Though empiricist and realist in orientation, Nya¯ya’s
when the mind projects unity and continuity onto the causal
definition and theory of perception and the object thereof
chain of momentary conceptions (vikalpa) that arise and are
reveals a consistent and systematic attempt to establish the
destroyed in succession, with each moment being the cause
conditions for the possibility of a nondualist science. Nya¯ya
of the proceeding one. A realization of the momentariness
lists four instruments of cognition—perception, inference,
of existence dissolves the object of desire, as it were, and suf-
analogy, and testimony. Perception is basic and necessary for
fering is overcome. Thus everything that the Naiya¯yika
the other three, and execution, that is, successful effort or ac-
(practitioner of Nya¯ya) depends on—the object, knowledge
tion in acquiring or rejecting the object of cognition, is either
of the object, and proof through example and tradition—is
the consequence of true cognition or its very nature. The ob-
untenable in Buddhism, which presupposes knowledge of
ject of cognition cannot be known merely through the per-
the external world’s impermanence, the path shown by the
ception of qualities such as shape, size, color, and weight;
buddha or guru¯, and membership of the congregation to
rather, it is truly known only when it is also possible to classi-
overcome this impermanence, rather than the authority of
fy it as soul or not-soul, as that which is to be acquired or
Scripture.
rejected in light of its being a source of pleasure or pain, in
Though an orthodox school, Nya¯ya presupposes a criti-
the quest for freedom. To this a caveat is of course added,
cal attitude even with respect to the Vedas. This becomes evi-
pointing out that ultimately all pleasure and sources of plea-
dent in its disagreement with M¯ıma¯m:sa¯ on the issue of
sure are sources of pain from which one must attain detach-
pra¯ma¯n:ya (the criterion of truth). Nya¯ya holds that the crite-
ment. Perception is defined as that cognition that arises from
rion of the truth of a statement rests in factors external to
the contact of sense organ and object, which is not designat-
the statement itself, whereas for M¯ıma¯m:sa¯ the criterion of
ed or expressed in speech, without error, and determinate.
truth is intrinsic to the statement, which can only be falsified
This definition includes within its range both sensation and
by external factors. The real issue here is the possibility of
direct experience of the “nameless” One (yogic perception).
having a single theory of truth that will cover both Vedic and
Va¯tsa¯yana’s early-fifth-century commentary on the
ordinary statements without on the one hand laying the
Nya¯yasu¯tras points out that “contact” with the mind and
truth of Scripture open to faithless doubt and on the other
soul are not mentioned in perception’s definition only be-
hand making Scripture so rigid that it becomes unavailable
cause they are not unique to this instrument of cognition and
to usage and custom. Thus Nya¯ya advocates the use of
are necessary to the other instruments as well. In fact it is the
paratahapra¯ma¯n:ya (extrinsic criterion of truth) but articu-
soul that makes it possible to see the object as pain or plea-
lates clear criteria to identify and establish one who is witness
sure or as a source of the same. Finally, the scientific treatise
to the truth (a¯pta). M¯ıma¯m:sa¯ advocates svatahapra¯ma¯n:ya
is described as that which deals with the means of destroying
(intrinsic criterion of truth) but broadens the limits of inter-
pain. The cognizer is one who is stimulated to act in and
pretation through a theory of meaning that holds that the
through his or her calling, personal and professional, by the
word does not refer to the individual/particular but to the
desire to reject pain and acquire pleasure, with the ultimate
universal (ja¯ti). Contemporary analyses have, however, con-
aim of renouncing all activity. Thus the co-ordinates of theo-
fined themselves to a narrow interpretation of pra¯ma¯n:ya, and
ry and practice, and of fact and value, establish true knowl-
some, like Mohanty, go further and argue that the problem
edge.
relates to empirical (vyavaha¯rika) statements only.
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6774
NYBERG, H. S.
Among the orthodox schools, the Nya¯ya tradition has
NYBERG, H. S. (1889–1974), was a Swedish Oriental-
perhaps been most alive with original commentaries written
ist and historian of religions. Born in Söderbärke in Dalecar-
by Udyoktara (635 CE) and Va¯caspati Mi´sra (840 CE) and
lia, Henrik Samuel Nyberg received his early education at
treatises by Jayanta Bhatta (880 CE) and Udayana (984 CE).
home and at the senior high school in Västeras. In 1908 he
Around 1200 CE, the Navya-Nya¯ya, or new school of Nya¯ya,
entered the university at Uppsala, and there he stayed, work-
began with the Tattvacinta¯man:i of Gange´sa (Gange´sa Upad-
ing in various positions, for the rest of his life. He earned his
hyaya). This new school is considered by most to represent
Ph.D. in 1919 and was professor of Semitic languages from
a move away from metaphysics. There are difficulties with
1931 to 1956. Concentrating from the beginning on com-
such a characterization, however, because despite a shift in
parative Semitic philology, Arabic, Hebrew, Aramaic, and
emphasis toward epistemological issues, there is no philo-
Ethiopic, Nyberg became an inspiring teacher and one of the
sophical attempt to reject metaphysics. Conversely, one
most brilliant representatives of the humanities Sweden has
could argue that Navya Nya¯ya responded to arguments that
ever had, exerting a great influence on the cultural life of his
tended to dichotomize metaphysics and epistemology. For
country. His doctoral thesis, “Kleinere Schriften des Ibn
instance, Gadha¯dhara (fl. c. 1650) defines objecthood as a
al-EArab¯ı,” already showed the admirable scope that was to
relation constituted by the very nature of its terms—the self
characterize his later studies. It is an edition of three minor
/subject of cognition and the object. Thus, he argues against
writings of the great mystic, with an introduction that inves-
the view that objecthood is an independent entity and also
tigates the origin of Islamic mysticism and attempts to un-
against the view that it is determined by the nature of the
derstand the system of Ibn al-EArab¯ı as a phenomenon of
object alone and the view that it is determined by the nature
syncretism.
of the cognition/cognizing self. In doing so Gadha¯dhara is
arguing for a definition of objecthood that establishes it as
In 1924–1925 Nyberg sojourned in Egypt for practical
a sign of the relation between the object and the self and not
studies of Arabic. The most remarkable result of the trip was
as determined by one or the other. Knowledge of this sign
his discovery of the manuscript of Kita¯b al-Intis:a¯r by the
can reveal as much about the self as about the object to which
MuEtazil¯ı al-Khayya¯t: (ninth century). Nyberg published the
it refers.
text in Cairo in 1925 with an important commentary in Ara-
Nya¯ya’s presuppositions about the necessary relation be-
bic: Le livre du triomphe et de la réfutation d’Ibn er-Rawendi/
tween the knowledge of objects and the attainment of free-
Ibn Mohammed/l’hérétique par Abou l-Hosein Abderrahim/Ibn
dom, about the unity of ideal and ordinary languages, and
Mohammed ibn Osman el-Khayyat. His deep penetration into
about the importance of the example present a structure and
the earlier polemic literature of Islam later enabled him to
method of analytic philosophy at odds with the modern posi-
write his famous article, “MuEtazila,” for The Encyclopaedia
tivist tradition. With Gadha¯dara’s formulation of the issue
of Islam (1934).
of objecthood one is further compelled toward the position
Nyberg’s interest in the dialectology of Aramaic led him
that Nya¯ya lays the foundation for a science of semiotics that
to the investigation of some documents from Avroman in
includes within the purview of a single theory of logic, lan-
Kurdistan. The Aramaic script of the documents appeared
guage, and epistemology, the study of sign, symptom, and
to contain a Middle Iranian dialect, and in 1923 he pub-
symbol.
lished his pioneering study “The Pahlavi Documents from
S
Avroman” (Monde oriental 17). Thenceforth he was to de-
EE ALSO Indian Philosophies; Vai´ses:ika.
vote much of his time to the study of Pahlavi; he eventually
created the first scientific handbook of this language and was
BIBLIOGRAPHY
responsible for introducing Iranian studies as an academic
Gadha¯dhara. Theory of Objectivity [Vi´sayata¯va¯da]. Translated and
annotated by Sibajiban Bhattacharya. Delhi, 1990. A techni-
discipline in Uppsala.
cally competent translation, with detailed exegesis and dis-
Influenced by Nathan Söderblom (1866–1931) and by
cussion by the translator.
his friend Tor Andrae (1885–1946), Nyberg now began his
Gange´sa. Theory of Truth [Pra¯ma¯n:ya (jña¯pti) va¯da]. Translated
investigations of the Avesta, especially the Ga¯tha¯s. In this
and annotated by Jitendranath Mohanty. Santiniketan,
field he made his most important contribution to the study
India, 1966. Contains a long and lucid introduction to issues
of Iranian religious history, collected in the monumental
concerning the Nya¯ya-M¯ıma¯m:sa¯ debates.
book Irans forntida religioner (1937). One of the most re-
Gautama. Nya¯yasu¯tras. Translated by Ganganatha Jha. Pune,
markable traits of this work is the revaluation of the historical
India, 1939.
impact of Zarathushtra (Zoroaster), considered by Nyberg
Matilal, Bimal Krishna. Perception: An Essay on Classical Indian
as a conservative champion of the religion of his own tribe.
Theories of Knowledge. Oxford, 1986.
The consciousness of Zarathushtra’s vocation was, according
Shastri, Dharmendra Nath. The Philosophy of Nya¯ya-Vai´ses:ika
to Nyberg, conditioned by a type of Central Asian shaman-
and Its Conflict with the Buddhist Digna¯ga School: Critique of
ism. Highly contested on many points, Nyberg’s view in this
Indian Realism. Delhi, 1964.
work has nevertheless exerted a strong influence on scientific
ANURADHA VEERAVALLI (2005)
discussion in this field.
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

NYBERG, H. S.
6775
Familiar with the world of the Bible, Nyberg also
Iran (Leipzig, 1938) by H. H. Schaeder. It was reprinted in
worked from time to time in Hebrew. In his much debated
1966 with a Begleitwort by Nyberg. Obituary notices and a
Studien zum Hoseabuche (1935), he strongly emphasizes the
complete bibliography of Nyberg’s works can be found in the
importance of the oral tradition for the historical under-
Monumentum H. S. Nyberg, 4 vols., “Acta Iranica,” vols. 1–4
standing of the textual form of the Hebrew scriptures, delib-
(Leiden, 1975).
erately practicing a conservative textual criticism and eschew-
New Sources
ing the predilection for emendations common among many
Kahle, Sigrid. H. S. Nyberg: En vetenskapsmans biografi. Stock-
Old Testament scholars.
holm, 1991.
Utas, Bo., ed. Frahang ¯ı Pahlav¯ık. Wiesbaden, 1988.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Nyberg’s monumental study Irans forntida religioner (Stockholm,
FRITHIOF RUNDGREN (1987)
1937) was translated into German as Die Religionen des alten
Revised Bibliography
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N



O
OATHS SEE VOWS AND OATHS
OBEDIENCE consists in the act of voluntary submission to an authority. Religious
obedience, the subject of this article, is therefore the voluntary submission to a specifically
religious authority, and its different forms correspond to differences in the types and levels
of such authority. In many world religions, authority rests with a single principle, being,
or god, and religious obedience is accordingly due to an all-embracing law or to the divine
will. But even in these cases, where there is clearly a single and absolute source of authori-
ty, the obligation of obedience may be expressed on a variety of levels. Thus in Hinduism,
for instance, obedience to the Laws of Manu is enjoined upon all, but at the individual
level a disciple’s obedience to his guru, or, at a corporate level, to the rules of his sect,
religious establishment, or mat:ha may be equally or even more important.
Obedience in Christianity can similarly be seen as extending from the general princi-
ples of the Decalogue, through the observance of the rules of the church or monastery,
to the individual’s obedience of his own immediate ecclesiastical superior. In Islam, obedi-
ence may extend from the observance of the shar¯ı’ah, to the rules of one’s t:ar¯ıqah, and
finally to obeying one’s spiritual mentor or p¯ır. Likewise in Buddhism, apart from the
moral precepts, the corporate rules of the sam:gha are to be observed by the monks and
nuns, and even though Buddhism generally places less emphasis on the unique master-
disciple relationship common in Hinduism, even here each novitiate is assigned initially
to an individual elder.
Differences in the forms of religious association will also result in different forms of
obedience. In religions that continue to be organized along the lines of natural kinship
C LOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT CORNER. Osiris, the Egyptian god of death and resurrection, in a painting
from the tomb of Sennutem in the cemetery of Deir el-Medina, Egypt. [©Erich Lessing/Art
Resource, N.Y.]
; Orpheus playing the lyre among the Thracians on a red-figure krater from
ancient Greece, 480–330 BCE. Antikensammlung, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. [©Bildarchiv
Preussischer Kulturbesitz/Art Resource, N.Y.]
; Eighteenth-century wood sculpture of a Maori
couple in an embrace that can be broken only by the intervention of Tane, god of the forests.
Otago Museum, Dunedin. [©Werner Forman/Art Resource, N.Y.] ; Pre-Columbian Olmec stone
head. Anthropology Museum, Veracruz, Mexico. [©Werner Forman/Art Resource, N.Y.]; Detail
from a marble relief of Dionysus discovering Ariadne, from the Greek island of Naxos. Musée
du Louvre, Paris. [The Art Archive/Musée du Louvre Paris/Dagli Orti] .
6777

6778
OBEDIENCE
groups, religious obedience will often be a simple extension
tradition, which sought to deal with it by relegating such
of one’s normal obligations to one’s family. Thus in Confu-
conflicting norms to different historical epochs. The dharma
cianism the filial relationship becomes paradigmatic for obe-
appropriate to one age, it was held, may not be appropriate
dience of all kinds. But even when natural forms of associa-
to another. But even without introducing this historical di-
tion are left behind, obedience may continue to be
mension, such conflict may be recognized as part of the es-
understood metaphorically in terms of spiritual parentage. In
sential tension present within a tradition at any given time,
the mystical traditions of several religions, including Chris-
the tension, once again, between the “spirit” and the “letter.”
tianity, the spiritual mentor is often compared to a father.
The recognition of this tension is exemplified by Confucius’s
Each individual, or even the religious community as a whole,
remark to the duke, who had praised the rectitude of a son
may be visualized as undergoing a period of religious tutelage
in testifying against his father in a case of theft: “The honest
that requires the unquestioning obedience of a child. In
men of my country are different from this. The father covers
many cases, the rite of religious initiation closely parallels
up for his son, the son covers up for his father—and there
that of birth and is often considered a kind of rebirth. Just
is honesty in that too.” The case is similar with Islam, which
as children are not supposed to disobey, so the neophytes un-
requires unquestioning obedience to the QurDa¯n, but at the
dergoing initiation or puberty rites must behave humbly,
same time provides for ittih:a¯d.
obeying their instructors and accepting arbitrary punishment
without complaint. Here one thinks of the obedience that
A closely related issue is that of law and freedom; how
Zen monks owe to their ro¯shi.
much freedom is to be allowed in the interpretation of the
law? Is obedience to the law compatible with a relative free-
With the spiritual coming-of-age of an individual or a
dom in its interpretation? Or does true obedience require a
community, as in the biological parallel of growth during ad-
“rigorist” reading of the letter of the law, with the interpreter
olescence, obedience becomes more problematic, and at
being allowed only the absolute minimum of freedom? This
times even self-defeating. One encounters both the problem
issue has been particularly important in the Christian tradi-
of disobedience and the more subtle problem of the conflict
tion, where a broad range of positions has been defined.
between the “spirit” and the “letter.” The latter problem is
illustrated by the Christian attitude toward Jewish law and
The importance of obedience in religious life is un-
by the Buddhist rejection of the cumbersome Hindu codes
doubtedly due in part to its importance for the successful op-
of conduct. More enlightened approaches emerge at the indi-
eration of family, society, and polity in general. However,
vidual level in which disobedience becomes a higher form of
obedience also functions as a specifically religious virtue. The
obedience. Thus the Hindu religious leader Ra¯ma¯nuja (elev-
triple vows of poverty, chastity, and cenobitic obedience in
enth century CE) disobeyed his master by making public for-
the context of Christian monasticism offer a possible exam-
merly esoteric doctrines of salvation in order that all might
ple of such specifically religious obedience. However, all
be saved. Such “disobedient” transcendence of the conven-
forms of cenobitic monasticism, as distinguished from the er-
tional letter of the law is will illustrated by a Zen master’s
emitic, involve rules necessary to the maintenance of a com-
response to his disciple, who one evening questioned the pro-
munity and may therefore merely reflect the need for the
priety of his master’s carrying a lady across a flooded rivulet
maintenance of order. No such reductionistic explanation is
that morning because it infringed the Vinaya rule against
possible, however, in the practice of spiritual and ascetic dis-
touching women: “I left her on the bank in the morning,”
ciplines. Here obedience has an exclusively religious goal, as
he replied, “and you are still carrying her!” Similarly the Chi-
an essential precondition of spiritual knowledge. Thus when
nese sage Mengzi (Mencius) held that a man who would not
a Greek king wished to learn the wisdom of India from the
pull his drowning sister-in-law out of a river, for fear of dis-
gymnosophists, the first thing required of him was obedi-
obeying the rule that she not be touched, is no better than
ence: “No one coming in the drapery of European clothes—
a wolf.
cavalry cloak and broad-brimmed hat and top-boots, such
as Macedonians wore—could learn their wisdom. To do that
The appropriateness of obedience, or indeed the very
he must strip naked and learn to sit on the hot stones beside
question of what constitutes obedience in a given situation,
them.” Obedience may however play a role at the end of the
cannot always be mechanically ascertained. Nevertheless, the
path as well, if it is understood spiritually as surrender. In
consequences of disobedience cannot simply be dismissed.
this sense it constitutes the annihilation of the individual ego
According to the Tibetan tradition, Mi la ras pa (Milarepa)
which constitutes the last obstacle to the plenary experience.
had to suffer the consequences of disobeying his master’s or-
According to the modern Hindu mystic, Raman:a Maharshi
ders to the full, which were designed to wear out his karman.
(1879–1950): “The disciple surrenders himself to the master.
Thus although theoretically and retrospectively one may
That means there is no vestige of individuality retained by
speak of enlightened disobedience, it presents difficulties in
the discipline. If the surrender is complete all sense of indi-
practical terms.
viduality is lost and there is thus no cause for misery. The
Another important issue in relation to obedience per-
eternal being is only happiness, that is revealed” (Talks with
tains to the conflict of different laws or values within a single
Sri Raman:a Maharshi, 1984, p. 318). Thus while obedience
tradition. This conflict was clearly recognized by the Hindu
is the necessary prerequisite for entry upon the spiritual path,
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OCCASIONALISM
6779
it is also in a sense the goal. This is particularly clear in the
(surah 42:11) and whose decrees are irreversible and inscru-
case of Islam, which literally means “surrender.” Here man
table. Accordingly, they attempted to formulate a cosmologi-
is viewed as having his final end outside himself, in the tran-
cal view that would justify the referral of all activity or devel-
scendence of the divine. True peace is accordingly to be
opment in the world to this God, whom they called the
found only in surrender, in true and total obedience to the
“Lord of the worlds” and the “Lord of the heavens and the
divine will.
earth.”
SEE ALSO Authority; Casuistry; Monasticism; Spiritual
By the eighth century the Muslim theologians
Guide.
(mutakallimu¯n) realized that Aristotelian physics, which pre-
supposes a necessary connection between natural events or
BIBLIOGRAPHY
entities, is incompatible with the concept of God’s lordship
Majumdar, R. C., ed., The Age of Imperial Unity. Bombay, 1951.
or sovereignty in the world. In its place they proposed a more
Schuon, Frithjof. Islam and the Perennial Philosophy. Translated
theologically acceptable metaphysics of atoms and accidents
by J. Peter Hobson. London, 1976.
in which every entity or event comes into being and passes
away at the behest of God. According to this metaphysics,
Smith, Huston. The Religions of Man. New York, 1958.
probably derived from Greek (Democritean) sources with
Talks with Sri Raman:a Maharshi. 7th ed. Tiruvannamalai, India,
certain Indian modifications, everything in the world is made
1984.
up of substance and accident. The majority of the
Turner, Victor. The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure.
mutakallimu¯n define substance (jawhar) as that which bears
Chicago, 1969.
the accidents, although some argue that this is the specific
Zaehner, R.C., ed. The Concise Encyclopedia of Living Faiths. 2d
characteristic of body. Substance and accident, however, al-
ed. New York, 1971.
ways exist in conjunction. Some accidents are more primary
ARVIND SHARMA (1987 AND 2005)
than others and include the “modes” or original properties
of unity, motion, rest, composition, and location. A body
can never be divested of these accidents, although it can be
OB-UGRIANS
divested of the other “secondary” accidents, such as weight
SEE FINNO-UGRIC RELIGIONS;
and shape. Most of the later mutakallimu¯n appear to have
KHANTY AND MANSI RELIGION
held that no substance can be divested of the accident of
color, so that they define substance as “anything endowed
with color.”
OCCAM, WILLIAM OF SEE WILLIAM OF
OCKHAM
The most characteristic feature of substance is its indi-
visibility; hence the majority of the mutakallimun identify
substance with the atom (juz D) and dwell on its relation to
the primary and secondary accidents. Thirty positive acci-
OCCASIONALISM. [This entry deals specifically with
dents, or their opposites, are said to inhere in each substance.
Islamic occasionalism.]
When God wishes to create an entity, by “commanding” it
The adjective occasional, as applied to causes or events,
to be (as the QurDa¯n has put it), he first creates the atoms,
is used by medieval European theologians such as Thomas
then the accidents making up its physical or biological nature
Aquinas to mean an “indirect cause which determines any
or character. But since accidents cannot endure for two mo-
disposition to any effect” (Summa theologiae 1.114.3,
ments of time, as a leading AshEar¯ı theologian of the tenth
2.1.88.3, 2.1.98.1–2, 2.1.113.7, et passim). In modern phi-
century, al-Ba¯qilla¯n¯ı, put it, this entity will not continue to
losophy, the term occasional and its derivatives are used by
exist unless God constantly recreates the atoms and accidents
Cartesians such as Malebranche (d. 1715), Guelincks
it is made of. This theory of “continuous recreation” (Mac-
(d. 1669), and Cordemoy (d. 1685) to refer to the relations
donald, 1927) constitutes the basis of Islamic cosmology and
between the modifications of mind and those of body, as well
moral theology, especially in its AshEar¯ı form. It presupposes,
as to natural occurrences in general. Malebranche in particu-
in addition to the duality of atom and accident, the atomic
lar denies any necessary connection between those two class-
composition of time and that of the soul. Should God decide
es of modifications and refers all natural occurrences, human
to put an end to the existence of a particular entity, the theo-
actions, and other events to God’s direct intervention, of
ry requires that he either cease to recreate the “accident of
which the manifest or natural causes are nothing but the “oc-
duration” in it (the MuEtazil¯ı view) or simply stop recreating
casions” (Entretien sur la métaphysique 7.11, 7.13).
the stream of atoms and accidents making it up (the AshEar¯ı
view), whereupon the particular entity would cease to exist
In the history of Islamic theology (kala¯m), an “occasion-
at all.
alist” tendency is clearly discernible from the eighth century
on. The earliest writers on theological questions, such as
This theory had its critics in subsequent centuries, the
al-AshEar¯ıand his followers, were overwhelmed with the
most important and vocal of whom was probably the great
QurDanic concept of God “who is unlike anything else”
Aristotelian commentator, Ibn Rushd (Averroës) of Cordova
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6780
OCCULTISM
(d. 1198). In general it might be said that the theologians
“Fohat,” by which she meant a vital fluid permeating the
were sympathetic to the occasionalist view of the universe or
universe. Alongside such notions, that of occult philosophy
some aspects of it, whereas the philosophers as a rule were
(later called occult science[s]) came into use in the Renais-
either hostile or critical.
sance, meaning a synthesizing religious project of a philo-
sophical and cosmological nature, on which occult practices
SEE ALSO Descartes, René; Scholasticism.
proper were supposed to be founded. As for the substantive
occultism (l’occultisme), it seems to have appeared for the first
BIBLIOGRAPHY
time in Jean-Baptiste Richard de Randonvilliers’ Enrichisse-
One of the earlier studies of Islamic occasionalism and its theolog-
ment de la langue française-Dictionnaire des mots nouveaux.
ical implications is D. B. Macdonald’s “Continuous Recre-
Shortly after, Éliphas Lévi (1810–1875; pen name of Al-
ation and Atomic Time in Muslim Scholastic Theology,” Isis
phonse Louis Constant) used it in the “Discours pré-
9 (1927): 326–344. The standard work on Islamic atomism
liminaire” of his Dogme et rituel de la haute magie (1856), and
continues to be Salomon Pines’s Beiträge zur Islamischen Ato-
henceforth it was widely circulated. In English, it appeared
menlehre (Berlin, 1936). My Islamic Occasionalism and Its
probably for the first time in 1875, in Blavatsky’s article “A
Critique by Averroës and Aquinas (London, 1958) deals in a
Few Questions to ‘Hiraf,’” published in Spiritual Scientist.
preliminary way with the implications of occasionalism for
the struggle between the theologians and the philosophers.
THE VARIOUS DEFINITIONS OF OCCULTISM. In some of his
Max Horten’s Die philosophischen Systeme der spekulativen
ground-breaking writings devoted to methodological issues,
Theologen im Islam (Bonn, 1912) includes a discussion of Is-
Marco Pasi has cogently submitted that, historically, the rela-
lamic occasionalism and atomic theory. Moses Maimonides’
tionship between esotericism and occultism has been the ob-
summary in the Guide of the Perplexed, translated by Salo-
ject of five distinct approaches:
mon Pines (Chicago, 1963), should also be consulted for the
major propositions of kala¯m and their occasionalist signifi-
1. Occultism is a synonym of esotericism. This was the po-
cance.
sition of many occultists (i.e., of those who stood within
MAJID FAKHRY (1987)
the so-called occultist current). They considered occult-
ism as a very ancient tradition (be it Western or univer-
sal) to which they took themselves to be the heirs. Some
scholars also, like Pierre Riffard, occasionally use both
OCCULTISM. Occult and occultism have taken on sev-
terms indifferently and in a universal sense. Wouter J.
eral meanings. Occultism has been the object of a variety of
Hanegraaff, who does not stand for this definition, has
definitions, which for the most part are related to the notion
discussed the term the occult, used as a substantivized ad-
of esotericism. In academic usage, occultism tends to refer
jective. He mentioned in this respect Colin Wilson’s
to one modern Western esoteric current, that which flour-
1971 bestseller The Occult as having exerted a major in-
ished from the second half of the nineteenth to the first half
fluence on the popular currency of this term which, in
of the twentieth centuries.
this context, is more or less used as the equivalent of es-
THE TERMS OCCULT AND OCCULTISM. A distinction must
otericism, in particular among journalists and some so-
be made between the original adjective occult and the sub-
ciologists. Indeed, occultism still serves as a catch-all
stantive occultism which first appeared in the nineteenth cen-
word to designate a variety of currents (e.g., Oriental
tury. Occult has a long history. For example, in the Renais-
mysticism), practices (e.g., channeling, parapsychologi-
sance it was often used in the expression occult properties,
cal experiments), and beliefs (e.g., fairies, spirits, UFO-
as in Marsilio Ficino’s De Vita coelitus comparanda (1486,
abductions, vampire legends) which do not easily fall
III, ch. 12), when he described how certain stones can attract
under the heading science and religion. Be that as it
celestial influences. Likewise, Cornelius Agrippa, in De Oc-
may, neither in that considerably extended meaning,
culta Philosophia (1533, I, 10), explains that they “are called
which often tends to indiscriminately designate an over-
occult properties because their causes lie hidden, so that
all form of rejected knowledge, nor in the aforemen-
man’s intellect cannot in any way reach and find them out;
tioned one generally adopted by the occultists should it
wherefore philosophers have attained to the greatest part of
be confused, as noted by Hanegraaff, with what the
them by long experience rather than by the search of reason.”
now-classical modern academic usage intends under
Western esotericism. As remarked by Jean-Pierre Lau-
Such a belief remained widespread at the time that saw
rant, although born at approximately the same time, the
the rise of experimental science (in the period following the
terms esotericism and occultism are not identical twins,
Renaissance). The notion of occult forces, and ultimately of
but rather fraternal ones.
one occult force, was used at the time of the Enlightenment,
particularly in mesmerism and animal magnetism, against
2. Occultism is a drift from esotericism and/or a degenera-
the mechanistic and materialist positions of the new main-
tion of it. This is, for example, the so-called traditional-
stream science. In the nineteenth century and beyond, no-
ist position as represented by René Guénon. He and his
tions such as ether and/or Od force (of Karl von Reichen-
followers have opposed occultism (understood pejora-
bach) came to a head in Helena Petrovna Blavatsky’s
tively) against their own concept of esoteric metaphys-
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OCCULTISM
6781
ics. This distinction was adopted by Serge Hutin in his
of occultism has been introduced and defended by
famous article “Esotérisme.”
Hanegraaff and should not be confused with the fourth
definition. Indeed, Hanegraaff prefers not to intend oc-
3. Occultism is the practical dimension of esotericism.
cultism as a historical current but rather as a category,
This definition often overlaps the second one. It may
among others, in the study of Western religions. Here
be due to the existence of the expression occult sciences,
it refers, in an analytic and typological sense, to the type
usually comprised mainly of magic, astrology, alchemy,
of esotericism which characterizes various forms of es-
and magia naturalis (natural magic), which are often in-
otericism from the second half of the nineteenth up to
terrelated. It can be traced already in Le Christianisme
the first half of the twentieth centuries. Hanegraaff sub-
césarien of the Abbot Alta (pen name of Calixte Mél-
mits that it is comprised by “all attempts by esotericists
inge): “Occultism came later [than esotericism] in order
to come to terms with a disenchanted world or, alterna-
to represent . . . material but dangerous things that
tively, by people in general to make sense of esotericism
wisdom forbade to display to everyone. Occultism was
from the perspective of a disenchanted secular
concerned with material things: natural forces, like elec-
world” (Hanegraaff, 1996, p. 422; see also 1995,
tricity, magnetism [, whereas] the object of esotericism
pp. 119–121). In other words, occultism is the form
is the supernatural forces—those of higher Nature, that
that traditional esotericism has taken on under the im-
is, the invisible, spiritual, divine things” (as quoted by
pact of secularization, in particular since the end of the
Laurant, 1992, p. 174). Much later, in the 1970s, a sim-
eighteenth century. Hanegraaff speaks of a “transforma-
ilar distinction can be traced in the so-called sociology
tion of esotericism into occultism” (Hanegraaff, 1996,
of the occult, under the pen of scholars like Edward A.
p. 409), and uses this latter term to designate a range
Tiryakian and Marcello Truzzi—the first to use the
of various theories and practices: not only occultism as
term. The former wrote: “By ‘occult’ I understand in-
defined above in point four, but also such others as ani-
tentional practices, techniques, or procedures which (a)
mal magnetism, spiritualism, up to some aspects of the
draw upon hidden or concealed forces . . . , and (b)
New Age movement. Such an approach is congenial to
which have as their desired or intended consequences
the theoretical thesis which underlies his book New Age
empirical results . . . . By ‘esoteric’; I refer to those re-
Religion and Western Culture (1996), according to which
ligio-philosophic belief systems which underlie occult
the process of secularization of Western esotericism has
techniques and practices. . . . By way of analogy, eso-
brought about considerable changes within the physiog-
teric knowledge is to occult practices as the corpus of
nomy of the Western esoteric landscape. By way of con-
theoretical physics is to engineering applications”
sequence, and in terms of vocabulary, he has found it
(Tiryakian, 1972, pp. 498–499). Tiryakian’s distinction
appropriate to replace esotericism by occultism when
was endorsed in the 1980s by a number of scholars, in-
dealing with the various forms of esotericism of the
cluding Mircea Eliade (1907–1986) and Antoine
nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Faivre. It has been more or less discarded since, al-
though Bettina Gruber took it over again in 1980. Be
While Hanegraaff was certainly right in stressing the im-
that as it may, Pasi considers it—and rightly, so it
portance of secularization (he was the first to do so in
seems—to be superfluous, and notes that it has been co-
such a cogent and convincing manner), the problem is
gently criticized by other scholars like Robert Galbreath,
that endorsing his thesis does not necessarily entail ac-
whose position he endorses—“the notion of a purely ab-
cepting his terminological choice. As a matter of fact,
stract knowledge divorced from personal development
the latter has been called into question not only by Pasi
and personal participation is alien to [‘occultists’ and
but also by a number of scholars, such as Olaf Hammer
‘esotericists’ alike]. It is a nonexistent distinction” (Gal-
who prefers to speak of “post-Enlightenment esoteri-
breath, 1983, p. 18).
cism.” Indeed, the occultist current considered as one
among other esoteric ones is endowed with a sufficiently
4. Occultism is only one specific historical current among
precise specificity that it does not seem to be necessary
those of which modern Western esotericism is com-
to assimilate it with a range of other contemporary phe-
prised. Indeed, since the 1970s, in academic parlance
nomena, like spiritualism.
occultism has tended to be used mostly as referring spe-
cifically, and in a descriptive sense, to the esoteric cur-
CHARACTERISTICS AND HISTORICAL SURVEY OF THE OC-
rent which began to flourish from the time of Lévi in
CULTIST CURRENT. The so-called occultist current which
the middle of the nineteenth century and well into the
flourished from the second half of the nineteenth to the first
first half of the twentieth. This position has been the
half of the twentieth centuries seems to display five character-
current one adopted by scholars since the beginning of
istics which mark its originality within the context of the
the 1990s, including by Jean-Pierre Laurant, Antoine
other Western esoteric currents:
Faivre, and Joscelyn Godwin.
1. A new attempt at synthesizing the so-called esoteric tra-
5. Occultism is a modification of esotericism under the
dition as the occultists of that time from the middle of
impact of secularization. This fifth sense (in Pasi’s list)
the nineteenth up to the first half of the twentieth cen-
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OCCULTISM
turies saw it. It was a matter of integrating—more than
middle of the nineteenth century, along with smoking facto-
had been hitherto the case—a variety of new elements,
ry chimneys, both the fantastic as a new literary genre and
like the tarot and Eastern (mostly Indian) forms of reli-
the phenomenon of spiritualism (since the 1840s) came into
gious wisdom.
existence. These two possess a common characteristic: each
takes the real world in its most concrete form as its point of
2. A strong emphasis on the importance and the practice
departure and then postulates the existence of another, su-
of the so-called occult sciences, namely alchemy, astrol-
pernatural world, separated from the first by a more or less
ogy, Qabbalah, and in particular “magic” (understood
impermeable partition. Fantastic literature then plays upon
mostly within the context of Western magical tradi-
the effect of surprise that is provided by the irruption of the
tions).
supernatural into the daily life, which it describes in a realis-
3. An attempt at legitimizing its positions in establishing
tic fashion. Spiritualism, considered as both a quasi-religion
a dialectical relationship of acceptance and refusal with
and a practice, follows the inverse procedure, teaching how
mainstream science and/or the positivistic culture of the
to pass from this world of the living to the world of the dead,
time. Indeed, this current presented itself as an alterna-
through séances of spirit rappings and table tippings, the
tive to the triumph of scientism. Generally, occultists
table playing a role analogous to that of the traditional magic
did not condemn scientific progress or modernity.
circle. It is telling that the occultist current appeared at the
Rather, they tried to integrate them within a global vi-
same time as fantastic literature and spiritualism. Not unlike
sion likely to make the vacuousness of materialism more
them, it displayed a marked interest in supernatural phe-
apparent. In this an echo of the program of the Natur-
nomena, that is to say, in the diverse modes of passage from
philosophie of the end of the eighteenth and of the first
one world to the other.
half of the nineteenth centuries can be recognized but
Almost at the same time as Lévi’s first important publi-
the new orientation differed, in particular because of its
cation, Jean-Marie Ragon’s Orthodoxie Maçonnique and Ma-
marked penchant for uncommon phenomena and sci-
çonnerie occulte (1853), and Henri Delaage’s Le monde occ-
entific or pseudo-scientific experimentations.
culte (1851) appeared. Though both men paved the way for
4. An increasing emancipation from Christianity (contrary
the beginnings of the occultist current proper, Lévi may be
to the esoteric currents of the earlier periods, which for
considered the first main exponent of the latter, with his
the most part were still very Christian in character).
Dogme et rituel de la haute magie (1854–1856), Histoire de
la magie
(1860), and La clef des grands mystères (1861).
5. A tendency to demarcate itself from a number of con-
temporary trends, like animal magnetism, spiritualism,
Some other strong personalities dominated a rather het-
and parapsychology, although this tendency became less
eroclite crowd. Again in France, Papus (1865–1915; pen
and less marked in the latest decades of the period. In-
name of Dr. Gérard Encausse), nicknamed the “Balzac of oc-
deed, occultism forged its identity in confronting itself
cultism” because of his numerous and voluminous works,
with them. (Similarly, Guenonian traditionalism has
authored among other books a Traité de science occulte, which
forged its own identity by way of a polemical confronta-
came out the same year (1888) as the first issue of his journal
tion with occultism.) Whereas spiritualism dealt with
L’Initiation. Papus, with his friend from Lyons, L. N. A. Phi-
the spirits of the deceased, occultism was more interest-
lippe, otherwise called Maître Philippe (1849–1905), went
ed in elementals (in the Paracelsian tradition), angels,
several times to St. Petersburg at the request of Nicholas II
and in particular in the so-called disincarnated Masters.
whom they initiated into the Martinist Order (created by
These latter were supposed to dwell in exotic, far-off
Papus). Among these French occultists, other prominent in-
places (generally in Tibet), and to be able to communi-
dividuals include Stanislas de Guaïta (1861–1898; Au seuil
cate with their Western disciples. Furthermore, many
du mystère, 1886; Le serpent de la Genèse, 1891–1897),
occultists considered that the practices of spiritualism
Joséphin Péladan (1858–1918), Albert de Rochas (1837–
were not only passive in character, failing to stress the
1914), François-Charles Barlet (pen name of Albert Fau-
powers of the human will, but dangerous also, in view
cheux, 1838–1921), and Albert Jounet (pen name of Dr.
of the dubious nature of the entities conjured up in sé-
Emmanuel Lalande, 1868–1929). In Germany, Franz Hart-
ances. They ascribed these shortcomings to the absence
mann (1838–1912) was a noted occultist, while at that time
of an overall metaphysical worldview.
in Russia, P. D. Ouspensky (1878–1947) had already writ-
However useful these five characteristics may be, it still re-
ten almost all his work, including Tertium Organon (1911).
mains (as Pasi himself admits) that they are a mere academic
Especially in Anglo-Saxon countries, occultist/esoteric erudi-
construct. In reality, their borders are often blurred.
tion characterizes many noteworthy occultists. Among these,
at least three names stand out prominently: G. R. S. Mead
THE OCCULTIST CURRENT IN CONTEXT, AND SOME OF ITS
(1853–1933), William W. Westcott (1848–1925), and Ar-
MAIN REPRESENTATIVES. The industrial revolution had
thur Edward Waite (1857–1942).
given rise to an increasingly marked interest in the “miracles”
of science. It had promoted the invasion of daily life by utili-
Not unlike the last decades of the eighteenth century,
tarian and socioeconomic preoccupations of all kinds. In the
those of the nineteenth saw a proliferation of new initiatory
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

OCCULTISM
6783
societies which were instrumental in the development and
Godwin, Joscelyn. The Theosophical Enlightenment. Albany, N.Y.,
dissemination of the occultist current, although they also
1994.
contained elements pertaining to other, more generally eso-
Gruber, Bettina. “Mystik, Esoterik, Okkultismus: Überlegungen
teric ones. Many such societies belonged to the so-called
zu einer Begriffs-diskussion.” In Mystique, mysticisme et
fringe-Masonry, which for its most part is comprised of rites
modernité en Allemagne autour de 1900, edited by Moritz
with higher degrees (i.e., above the three traditional degrees
Bassler and Hildegard Châtellier, pp. 27–39. Strasbourg,
of freemasonry proper). Here are a few examples of those ini-
France, 1998.
tiatory societies with a markedly occultist orientation: The
Hanegraaff, Wouter J. “Empirical Method in the Study of Esoteri-
Fraternitas Rosae Crucis was founded in 1868 by Paschal
cism.” Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 7, no. 2
Beverly Randolph (1825–1875). Twenty years later in
(1995): 99–129.
France, Guaïta and Péladan founded the Order of the Rose-
Hanegraaff, Wouter J. New Age Religion and Western Culture: Es-
Croix Kabbalistique, which was to go through many an ex-
otericism in the Mirror of Secular Thought. Leiden, 1996.
plosion and fragmentation. In 1891, Papus established an
Hanegraaff, Wouter J. “The Study of Western Esotericism: New
Ordre Martiniste. In 1888, in England, Westcott established
Approaches to Christian and Secular Culture.” In New Ap-
the Order of the Golden Dawn (OGD), whose founders
proaches to the Study of Religion (Religion and Reason), edited
were important members of the Societas Rosicruciana in An-
by Peter Antes, Armin W. Geertz, and Randi Warne. Berlin
glia (SRIA), created in London in 1867. The SRIA also was
and New York, 2004.
an occultist group, Christian in character and less oriented
Hutin, Serge. “Esotérisme.” In Encyclopedia Universalis. Paris,
towards magical practices than the OGD. Between 1906 and
1972.
1912, Theodor Reuss (1855–1923) established a secret sci-
Laurant, Jean-Pierre. L’ésotérisme chrétien en France au XIXe siècle.
ence research lodge, the Ordo Templi Orientis, whose pro-
Lausanne, Switzerland, 1992.
gram was similar to that of the OGD and in which the fa-
Laurant, Jean-Pierre. L’Esotérisme. Paris, 1993.
mous magician Aleister Crowley (1875–1947) held one of
Pasi, Marco. “La notion de magie.” In Annuaire, Résumé des con-
the leadership roles. Outside the pale of these fringe-Masonic
férences et travaux de l’Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Sci-
orders, the Theosophical Society, which Blavatsky cofound-
ences Religieuses, vol. 110 (2001–2002), pp. 420–422. Paris,
ed in New York in 1875, was to become the most influential
2003.
and disseminated esoteric organization until the present
Pasi, Marco. La notion de magie dans le courant occultiste en An-
time. It has some linkage to the occultist current, insofar as
gleterre (1875–1947). Ph.D. diss., Ecole Pratique des Hautes
one of its official goals is to study the law of nature as well
Etudes, Sciences Religieuses, Paris, 2004.
as the psychic and spiritual powers of the human being.
Riffard, Pierre. L’Occultisme. Paris, 1981.
SEE ALSO Esotericism.
Riffard, Pierre. L’Esotérisme. Paris, 1990.
Secret, François. “Du De Occulta Philosophia à l’occultisme du
BIBLIOGRAPHY
XIXème siècle.” Charis: Archives de l’Unicorne 1 (1988):
Blavatsky, Helena Petrovna. “A Few Questions to ‘Hiraf.’” In
5–30 (originally published in 1973).
Spiritual Scientist (July 15, 1875): 217.
Tiryakian, Edward A. “Toward the Sociology of Esoteric Cul-
Blum, P. R. “Qualitas Occulta.” In Historisches Wörterbuch der
ture.” In On the Margin of the Visible: Sociology, the Esoteric,
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and the Occult, edited by Edward A. Tiryakian,
vol. 7. Darmstadt, Germany, 1989.
pp. 257–280. New York, 1974 (first published in American
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edited by Ed-
Eliade, Mircea. Occultism, Witchcraft, and Cultural Fashions. Chi-
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ANTOINE FAIVRE (1987 AND 2005)
vain, 1998.
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Résumé des conférences et travaux de l’Ecole Pratique des Hautes
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OCEANIC RELIGIONS
pp. 405–409. Paris, 2003.
This entry consists of the following articles:
Galbreath, Robert. “Explaining Modern Occultism.” In The Oc-
AN OVERVIEW
MISSIONARY MOVEMENTS
cult in America: New Historical Perspectives, edited by How-
NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS
ard Kerr and Charles L. Crow, pp. 11–37. Urbana, Ill.,
HISTORY OF STUDY [FIRST EDITION]
1983.
HISTORY OF STUDY [FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS]
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OCEANIC RELIGIONS: AN OVERVIEW
OCEANIC RELIGIONS: AN OVERVIEW
tion process. When this is accomplished, the villagers remove
The Pacific Islands are dispersed over the widest expanse of
the head and place it in an ant’s nest for thorough cleaning,
sea in the world. They consist of semi-continents (such as
after which the face is rebuilt with vegetable paste before
New Guinea), strings of large mountainous islands (along
being fixed to the top of a life-size puppet, the rambaramb,
the curve of the Melanesian chain), and groups of larger and
which bears marks indicating the dead man’s rank. This pup-
smaller islands further east, which are arranged as isolated
pet is present, six months after a man’s death, at the de-
atolls, or, more rarely, organized into whole archipelagoes,
ceased’s last funerary ceremony and dance. After this the
such as the Tuamotus and the Carolines. The classic view is
widow is allowed to remarry, usually with the dead man’s
that one should distinguish between three large cultural
younger brother, to whom she was in many cases forbidden
areas: Micronesia in the northwest, Melanesia in the south,
to speak during her husband’s lifetime. The skull is then put
and Polynesia in the east. The reality is that whereas Micro-
in a special place—in a rocky area, for example, or on the
nesia is somewhat distinct in that its cultures display the in-
edge of a sacred grove, or on the flat stones at the back of
fluences of constant Asian contacts, Melanesia and Polynesia
the men’s house—where it remains, and where it may be of-
are artificial concepts created by Western powers. The Euro-
fered prayers. Mortuary techniques vary from place to place,
peans overran and Christianized Tahiti and eastern Polyne-
and change according to fashion. For instance, the custom
sia, using the peoples of these islands to contact and control
of rubbing newborn children with the dead person’s fat and
islands further west—as soldiers, Christian teachers, and
of eating parts of the dead body, particularly the brain—a
petty civil servants who were accorded a status slightly higher
practice that was the origin of the famed kuru sickness—was
than that of the supposedly “cruel” Melanesian “savages.” In
introduced into the Fore area of the New Guinea Highlands
Polynesia the islanders resisted European settlement by force,
only six generations ago. Corpses kept whole can be burnt
and land transfers to the newcomers were often obtained
(North Solomon Islands and inland New Guinea); laid on
through marriages with local women of high rank: these
the ground, with stones all round (South New Caledonia);
practices provided support for the inaccurate conception that
left inside the deceased’s house; put inside clefts of a raised
the islanders of the east were closer to their colonizers in
cliff and laid on an old carving (central New Caledonia) or
terms of civilization, whereas those of the west were uncouth
a piece of a broken canoe (Loyalty Islands); or thrown into
and dangerous.
the sea where a guardian shark will deal with it (Tanna and
Efate in Vanuatu). The bones can be made into parcels and
The islands are in fact very similar, showing the same
kept in a sacred grove or cave.
range of variations along their coasts. All the atolls are alike,
with their peaceful lagoons ringed by white beaches crowned
Throughout much of Oceania, a special rite often oc-
by endless rows of coconut trees and ironwood trees, their
curs ten days after death, during which the deceased person
dazzling sun, their fragility in time of hurricane, their lack
is reverentially asked to depart his lifelong place of residence
of fresh water, and the many hardships of life and the precari-
and join the other dead in their abode, where he now be-
ous food supply if no rain comes. Power and authority are
longs. One day each year, in Vanuatu and elsewhere, food
exercised with a streak of what is called “bigmanship”—that
is displayed for the benefit of the dead, who are invited, often
is, the use of cajolery and intrigue, as well as good husbandry
through calls on conch shells, to come and partake of it. The
and economic sense, to further one’s ambitions. Hereditary
next day, toward dusk, the dead are sent home by the same
chieftainships exist, throughout Melanesia as well as in Poly-
means. This practice does not prohibit the dead from being
nesia, and chiefs are often surrounded by such formal behav-
called for at any time in the year, as when the sickness of a
ior and etiquette that Westerners gave the title of “king” to
close kinsman or one’s own child warrants their help.
all such titular heads of extended descent groups without
The dead who are prayed to are always those related to
checking to see if these “kings” in fact had kingdoms. The
and from the locality of the descent group. Foreign ghosts
view that chieftainships are found only in Polynesia and that
are feared, the most so when the unwelcome visit is thought
Melanesia only knows “big men” is not supported by facts.
to be from the ghost of an unburied man, or temes bal (North
Complex systems of chieftainship exist in both cultural areas,
Vanuatu), murdered on some path and craving revenge on
as well as in the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia,
anybody around. Such ghosts can enter the food produced
the Loyalty Islands, and Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa.
ceremonially and make people sick—so doors may be shut
The foundations of Oceanic religions are locality and
to prevent this from happening. Any object pertaining to the
the cult of the dead. (This article will avoid the commonly
white man may be put out of the house at this particular time
used word “spirits,” as it is quite imprecise.)
for this very reason, its presence being thought of as intro-
ducing the temes bal. Food cooked inside the stone oven will
THE CULT OF THE DEAD. Corpses in Oceania receive all
be cut and shared with a bamboo knife, metal tools being
sorts of ritual treatment. They may be laid in a grave or bur-
left on the side for the same reason.
ied fetus-like in the ground, with the head sticking out; the
head might later be removed for use in special mortuary rites.
In some places, the dead are thought to have their own
In southern Malekula the corpse is put on a platform and
island (Bulotu in central Polynesia, Buloma at the eastern tip
a small fire is kindled underneath to accelerate the putrefac-
of New Guinea), which can fade into the skyline the more
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6785
a canoeist strives to get there. Elsewhere, the land of the dead
In many parts of Oceania one finds a belief in a sky
is aerial (Banks Islands), submarine, or under the face of the
world, which can be reached from the world of the living in
earth (New Caledonia). It can be inside a cave (North
various ways: via a path made of arrows, through the swing-
Malekula, Vanuatu) or inside the crater of a live volcano
ing of a club that, with the help of the South Wind, can
(East Malekula, Ambrym, and Tanna, Vanuatu).
break open the sky, or by means of a rope that the people
The deceased traveling to the land of the dead follow
in the sky let down.
a route—beginning along an open road, then continuing
Another link to the sky world is provided by winged
down subterranean paths—that links together neighboring
maidens (the tuarere of central and northern Vanuatu) who
districts (northern Viti Levu, Fiji) or neighboring islands
meet at night on reefs to bathe and fish. Men can sneak up
(Lifou and Ouvea in the Loyalty Islands, East Malekula and
on them and hide one of their pairs of wings, then claim as
Ambrym in Vanuatu). Members of specific lineages who live
a wife the young woman who is bereft of her wings, and thus
along the aboveground part of these routes hold the power
powerless to go back to her people. It is said that one of these
to send back those among the deceased who are not yet ready
maidens taught the men how to make love in the right fash-
to travel to the land of the dead. As they travel, the dead are
ion, cutting a too-long penis with a shell knife until it was
armed with objects that have been placed in their graves,
the right length. Another tuarere, having born two children
such as a rope—usually tied to a pig’s foot, symbolizing the
to her human husband, was so incensed that he had talked
tusker pig that must be offered to the godly warden on the
badly of her to her children that, having found her well-
road to gain his permission to proceed further—or a model
hidden wings, she flew away, coming back ten days later with
canoe, which allows the incorporeal dead to cross the sea.
her sisters, who killed and ate the man bit by bit, only leaving
Live humans have been known to follow these routes
the hairs and bones for the children to bury.
and survive, if they manage to keep looking only in front of
Another story tells of a man who, either in a canoe or
them and resist the enticements of the fair-haired maidens
carried by the tuarere over the seas, landed on an island
(called konghoc in Ouvea, where they are believed to be the
(Merig of the Banks Islands) that was inhabited only by
daughters of the godly pair Walewe and Hida) who appear
women, whose spouses were flying foxes that came to visit
on the side of he road. Eventually, they are confronted by
them at night, landing on the protruding bamboo roofs of
a stem god or goddess, with arms ending in crab pincers, who
each house. He laughed at the women and taught them
will either ask a question; draw a design on the sand, then
about true love—and how to cook and eat their former hus-
rub out half of it (the person is then expected to complete
bands. This island is still peopled by women who are in effect
it); or closely examine the lobe of the person’s ear and pierce
the owners of the land, their brothers and sisters having all
it if it is lacking a hole.
married elsewhere, and they themselves having married older
Some men and women are said to be in the habit of
men who had agreed to come and live on this small island,
going to the land of the dead to carry on an affair with a man
which is beautiful but very remote.
or woman there; when they return, they bring back presents
There are also stories that involve just-married men or
for their family: new knowledge, new songs, and new dance
women who have lost their spouse, either through an acci-
music. They might even bring back an invisible spouse, pow-
dent or because the spouse has been killed by a jealous local
erful in ritual matters pertaining to agriculture, thus bringing
chief. The living spouse follows the road going to the land
to the living part of the couple great crops of yams, or the
of the dead and negotiates with the warden at the entrance
techniques of making “sweet” dishes. But the goddesses who
the way by which they can bring back to life their loved one.
come back to live with a human male are made jealous and
In some sadder versions of this story the return is deemed
go back with the human’s child if the husband starts an affair
impossible and the couple must part; each tells the other how
on the side with a living woman.
to know if they are close by, inside a rainbow or in the mist
At the start of the twenty-first century, the cult of the
climbing down a mountain in the morning (Northwest New
dead is still flourishing in Oceania, though some elements
Caledonia).
have disappeared and beliefs tend to be intellectualized in
towns, where the traditional spatial references are lacking.
Specific godly beings are the masters of a particular part
The cult’s existence, however, is strongly hidden from West-
of the universe: the sun, the moon (the woman in the moon
ern onlookers.
is called Siva, or Hiva in Polynesia), the rain, each of the
winds, the hurricane, fish in the high seas, forests and their
GODS. The land of the dead is governed by gods and god-
inhabitants, the tilled land and its food crops. All these be-
desses, who have always been in existence and, in the words
ings are said to be powerful, which means they each can
of Robert H. Codrington, have never been either dead or
bring to life what they control, or what they are said to be
alive as humans. Thus there is always a chief of this land, as
themselves, to work either for the benefit of man or against
well as a guardian of the entrance, a master of the dance of
him.
the dead, and a messenger—often a bird—who serves as a
go-between, and is often seen fluttering near chiefly houses
POWER. Any power, mythical or magical, works both ways,
as well as flying away to join the other gods.
for the good or for the bad. Prayers and offerings are used
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6786
OCEANIC RELIGIONS: AN OVERVIEW
to summon both kinds of powers. Prayers can be spoken or
forebears protecting them. Mana can grow or diminish ac-
silent and may be public or private depending on who the
cording to the way each person deals with the power they
supplicant is: an ordinary individual, who may choose to
have inherited at birth. Losing a war and being taken prison-
speak out in the open if the matter is of interest to others,
er diminishes one’s mana, the more so if one is sent to the
or a priest, who always acts alone in a secluded spot. Offer-
kitchen as a servant working with the women. Only blood
ings are of all sorts: flowers, grasses, and leaves fastened to
spilt through a massacre can restore the former level of mana
an ironwood pole; a yam tuber (or a white rooster with legs
in such extreme cases. Utu, the necessity for revenge, or “pay-
fastened) deposited on a stone in a sacred spot; great quanti-
back,” as they say in New Guinea, is justified by the need
ties of food that are shown to the dead and the gods, and
to reclaim lost mana. When this is not feasible, a suicide will
then eaten by the men in their special club house (in the sec-
do. In New Zealand, wives of high rank have been known
ond half of November, after the rise of the palolo in Vanuatu,
to leave their lesser-ranked husband to stop their personal
Fiji, West Polynesia, or after the flowering of the erythrina
mana from being overcome by the renown earned in battle
tree in New Caledonia); or shell money, which is either in-
by their warrior spouse.
serted inside holes in underwater rocks, in rivers or out at sea,
or opened up on a sacred stone at a distance from any house,
Mana is linked to tapu (kap, kep, etc.), which, from the
while an ancient chant in an archaic language is sung, asking
perspective of a particular possessor of mana, is a power held
for rain to come (New Caledonia) or for the crop to be abun-
by others that threatens mana. The back and back of the
dant. Prayers are not complex poetical texts, being usually
head are the most tapu parts of the body and are not to be
made up of a list of the gods and dead ancestors who are
touched. The gravity of this tapu depends on the rank of the
being called upon, to which is added only a very few sen-
person. Thus one will go a long way round so as not to pass
tences, some explaining the supplicant’s wish in a precise and
close to the back not only of a chief, but also of his, or his
straightforward way, others offering a symbolic expression of
wife’s, relatives. A person’s tapu grows or diminishes with the
the same wish.
amount of their mana. The greatest tapu was that of several
Hawaiian princesses who married their own brother; being
Complex cosmogonies in Oceania are found only in
older, they outranked their brother/husband and could only
East Polynesian cultures, and are the product of a caste of
go out at night. Any person who saw their faces had to be
priests. Pacific Islands societies have tended to resist the for-
killed on the spot. So the women stayed secluded in the day,
mation of colleges of priests, which traditionally were only
and at night had special servants walking in front of them,
found in Tahiti and Hawai’i. Chiefs did not usually cherish
warning people to look the other way.
the idea of sharing what power they had—it was never abso-
lute—with a community of priests living by their own rules.
Similar procedures involving tapu were played out on
Whereas in New Zealand a youth could be trained to become
the battlefield. No real or classificatory kin of a warrior’s wife
both ariki and tohunga, chief and priest, in Melanesia, Fiji,
could be hurt in any way—which explains why, as a rule, war
and West Polynesia power was shared through a system of
in the islands led to few deaths. (It should be understood that
linked social actors. One principal chief dealt with earthly
marriage is regularly practiced between antagonistic descent
matters, while another served as the orator, or talking chief
lines, notwithstanding the fact that they are in a competition
(matapule), who was responsible for knowledge of the oral
for prestige with one another.) The very strong tapu associat-
tradition and for protecting the principal chief from dangers
ed with eating, drinking, or smoking inside a communal
originating in the outer world beyond the village. There are
Maori house still under construction can only be broken by
examples of this special dignitary being killed and buried
a Maori first-born girl of high rank cooking and then eating
with the principal chief, along with the latter’s wives. His
a roast kumara (sweet potato) inside the house. Then only
corpse was then placed just under the chief’s head, the wives
can other women and children enter the house, and can ev-
being laid out on the three other sides (South Central
erybody eat inside. This tapu is still respected today, and hor-
Vanuatu).
ror stories are told of newly Christianized carvers and carpen-
ters falling sick and dying after eating inside a house under
One specialized function of the matapule was to stand
construction.
between two chiefs as they drank kava, so that the mana of
one chief did not interfere with the mana of the other and
Another system of multiple authorities, encompassing
so cause sickness. This precaution was general in Polynesia,
both opposition and complementary functions, involves the
but could be found also in Melanesia among kava-drinking
chief and the master of the land (mata ni vanua in Fiji). This
peoples (North Malekula, Vanuatu).
situation displays a great number of variations. The masters
of the land can have been chased away, in order that their
This brings us to the concept of mana (or men), which
former territories be taken over, and thus not be present at
is not strictly Polynesian, as thought by many modern schol-
all. They can live next door to the chief, under new names
ars, but was first found by Codrington in the Banks Islands,
forced upon them so as to cut their former privileged link
among Melanesian language–speaking people. Mana is the
to the land. They can be just there and occasionally honored
power held by an individual through their particular relation
ceremonially without being recognized for any specific func-
with the world of the dead, that is, through the rank of the
tion (the üay in Ouvéa). They can have retained a strong link
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OCEANIC RELIGIONS: AN OVERVIEW
6787
to the non-human world, by being the only priests (ten adro:
discussed in Melanesia, except in towns, where it is a subject
“who is on the land,” or alalu: “who goes two by two”) able
that fascinates many in white and half-caste communities.
to communicate with the different godly beings, and thus ap-
Aboriginal islanders expound upon it for the sake of white
pear too dangerous to be accepted inside the chiefly court,
people, because they know Westerners love horror stories.
where they are represented by special secondary chiefs (or
Missionary as well as lay European authors tend to be-
atresi, for atre sine haze, “on the side of gods,” in Lifou).
lieve that witchcraft is a fundamental aspect of Oceanic cul-
These secondary chiefs are treated in ceremonial contexts as
ture. This is nothing more than a case of attributing to the
if they control the gods (haze) the ten adro serve. In fact the
islanders what was part of our own culture. What can be
atresi have no power as such, but must go through the specif-
found everywhere in the area are healers and seers, and an
ic ten adro priest who can refuse to act as wished.
involved system of blessings and curses—but it would be a
The island societies of Oceania revolve around inter-
mistake to equate this with Western sorcery and witchcraft,
locking systems of social status, which function as part of
as the belief systems underlying Oceanic practices are quite
fragile balancing acts, by which individual heads of families,
different.
or lineages, strive constantly to protect as much as is feasible
of their autonomy of action. They are not constantly consen-
MYTHOLOGY. Authentic textual records of Oceanic oral tra-
sus-seeking, as is so often said, but, to the contrary, use what
ditions are today, happily, replacing the older adaptations of
consensus they can build, or help bring about, to further
European authors. The latter collections often shortened sto-
their real aim, which is to gain a modicum of prestige at the
ries, or even mixed different versions together; their authors
expense of others. In most cases, every man of some rank is
deleted parts of stories that were not of interest to them, and
embroiled in a prestige competition with another man of
sometimes emphasized story elements artificially on the basis
equivalent rank, as happened with both their fathers before
of a quite unscientific rule of thumb: the more a theme is
them. Competition between chiefs is so extensive that the
manifested, the more authentic it is. This kind of majoritari-
real institution appears to be the competition itself, rather
an system overlooked the fact that each lineage insists on its
than the competing chiefdoms. Each side appeals to its part
own version of any particular story, and that each version is
of the outer world, which means that the invisible land of
as authentic as the next. Authenticity is a concept introduced
gods and ancestors is divided into the same competing camps
by Christian churches. It has no value within a tradition
found in the world of humans.
based on multiple perspectives.
When soccer was introduced in the islands, young peo-
Oceanic oral tradition consists of broad themes ex-
ple consulted with the local traditional priests in order to win
pressed in a poetical or literary way, with each variant con-
matches, feeling that the Christian god, being for everybody,
veying a wealth of information about particular traditions
could not be expected to help them in particular. Political
through the use of specific names: names of living creatures,
decisions rested on the words of seers, or diviners, who could
or of the different heroes or godly beings, ancestors’ names,
be either men or women. Would-be rebels against colonial
and place names indicating the limits and details of the social
authority had to have their plans approved through divina-
group’s territory.
tion. As a result, colonial police had trouble predicting when
No synthesis is sought of all these versions. Each one is
and where problems would arise.
made to order so as to add to the prestige of the myth-
During the nineteenth century, a new belief developed
owning descent group. Contradictions between differing ver-
about a kind of power—always deemed negative—associated
sions have no other meaning than as markers of difference
with so-called witchcraft parcels. Carried from man to man
and serve to establish each lineage’s relative autonomy and
and not inherited, these parcels had the power to kill the per-
prestige.
son who was in the direction they were pointed. Known as
For the scholar, the methodological problem is to map
doki, doghi, or narëk, they appear to have first arrived in Oce-
every bit of information found in the textual record. One
ania during the seventeenth century, aboard ships bringing
must first obtain a complete version of a story, in the vernac-
missionaries and their families to Melanesia. They were in
ular. Through comparisons of different versions (dealing
the possession of lascar sailors who brought them all the way
with the same geographical area), one may begin to see what
from the Portuguese Congo, which they had fled following
part of the story is explicit, and what part is implicit—that
a campaign against witches initiated by Portuguese Jesuits.
is, accessible to any knowledgeable aboriginal listener, but
The god hidden inside the parcels is said to have a sex
not easy for a Westerner to grasp. These texts can thus be
organ made of fire, and to “eat” his successive owners if he
read on at least two different levels. Taking them at their face
is not given enough victims. This belief grew strongly as the
value is a currently common mistake. The problem is to learn
Melanesian population began to dramatically decrease, due
the meaning of each word, the significance of a sequence of
to the prevalence of gonorrhea. Belief in the power of witch-
words, and the social symbolism of each name. Names can
craft parcels faded, however, following two World Health
indicate to the knowledgeable listener that a particular loca-
Organization campaigns (in 1960 and 1962) that largely
tion is a sacred place, an important or insignificant stretch
eradicated gonorrhea in Vanuatu. Today witchcraft is rarely
of territory, a place where offerings should be brought (a
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6788
OCEANIC RELIGIONS: AN OVERVIEW
piece of a brightly colored shrub or a stone put on a heap),
One case in point is the continued existence, more or
a plot of land that is under a curse and cannot be tilled, a
less everywhere, of a traditional belief in ogres or ogresses.
spot where a child or a woman with child should not go, and
This should not be understood as a reference to the former
so on.
practice of cannibalism, as some authors have thought. Ex-
amining the range of types referred to by the same names,
Paths are individually owned when they only lead to one
one finds ogres that are completely benevolent, and never eat
person’s field, but are controlled by a lineage if they penetrate
anybody, and others that behave as ogres are generally ex-
inside its territory, and by the entire social group if they link
pected to behave. Each is associated with a sacred place,
villages together. The pairing of two names within a story
where offerings are made at the time of the first-fruit ceremo-
delimits and defines a path or road, and in this way implies
ny. Ogres are distinguished between by referring to their sa-
the descent group or individual associated with that path or
cred spot, and a mention of the name of a particular spot is
road.
by itself enough to indicate a specific ogre to a knowledgeable
Principal gods are often unnamed except through
listener.
oblique references, or a very general descriptive name (i.e.,
The same is valid for any godly being. Local gods or
“the great god”), or, as in Polynesia, their names can be al-
goddesses who send the rain, thunderstorms, and floods are
tered through additions, so that each social group employs
recognized as benevolent or malevolent according to the
a variant of the god’s name, allowing them to put him at the
place with which they are associated—in their case thought
start of their descent line without hurting the feelings of the
to be their home. Knowledgeable islanders thus learn to re-
neighboring descent group. There is in theory a single god
member thousands of specific names, which, put together,
of the sky and of the forest in Polynesia, known as Tane—
crisscross the island, thus placing on the map all the descent
but there may in fact be as many Tanes as there are descent
groups with which such names are associated.
groups on a given island, each different Tane being the first
name cited in a particular group’s genealogy.
In Oceania, people’s ambitions are realized through
control of some power over the world around them. Every
The existence of all things present on earth (social, bio-
descent group has its own way of playing a role inside a sym-
logical, or material) is attributed either to the actions of the
bolic representation of the universe. Edible plants, fish, octo-
dead (who are believed to hold, collectively or individually,
puses, sharks, whales, birds, mammals, dangerous beasts,
enormous power), or to the actions of the so-called culture
clouds, thunder, rain, hurricanes, volcanoes, the sun—each
heroes of the cosmogonic or semi-cosmogonic myths. The
is owned by a “master” who, in the name of his descent
origin of culture is often attributed to one of these heroes or
group, assumes responsibility for the necessary ritual that
to two brothers. In the Madang district of northern New
causes the plants to grow, the sun to shine, and the rain to
Guinea, these brothers are Kilibob, the inventor of all useful
come when needed, or that prevent catastrophes (hurricanes,
arts, and Manup, the brother responsible for love, magic, sor-
tidal waves, volcanic eruptions). Each “master” thus plays a
cery, and warfare. It is believed that both brothers will re-
role in a universal concert, and does their part for the survival
turn: Kilibob’s return will be announced by the arrival on
of all. Those who master the sun and the rain are considered
the sea of a wooden plate carved in the Siasi Islands, and
powerful people. This system was called totemism by early
Manup’s by the arrival of a canoe from the north. The so-
researchers, who linked it with systems found elsewhere, as
called cargo cults have integrated this myth into their own
they believed in the existence of a universal institution. The
system. Often, white explorers were initially taken for the
facts do not fit this hypothesis. Systems by which people con-
dead coming back to give their riches to their descendants.
trol the universe around them are very varied, and should not
The extraordinary mobilizing power of such myths has been
artificially be made to fit one pattern. Closer study of the
demonstrated by the messianic cults that have sprouted all
Oceanic system reveals that animals, plants, and meteorolog-
over the Pacific, from the early Mamaia cult in Tahiti to the
ical phenomena are considered to be one of the forms the
more recent cargo cults in New Guinea and Melanesia. It ap-
dead of a descent group can take. They assume these forms
pears that such prophetic or messianic cults have existed in
in order to appear before their descendants when these de-
the area since ancient times: one case (the Roy Mata story,
scendants are attempting to control the particular aspect of
from central Vanuatu) has been archaeologically dated to
the world with which they are associated.
around 1300 BCE. However, religious concepts are usually a
means of justifying the way in which a society and culture
COSMOLOGIES. Pacific Islanders see the world they live in
function, and thus generally support institutionalization and
as a dynamic space, in which various forces (of mana,
not change. Autochthonous Oceanic beliefs are responsible,
amongst other things) unfold along a path that is conceived
even now, for stability in the societies of this area. Experience
of as a spiral—according to the politician and poet John Ka-
over recent decades has shown that aboriginal religious be-
saipwalova, from Kiriwina (in the Trobriand Islands), the
liefs and concepts are far from dead in the Pacific Islands,
spiral path is the route any power must take in order to grow
although the whole area is nominally Christian. Prayers are
endlessly. This explains why dances on the islands making
still offered to ancestors and to symbolic beings whose invisi-
up the Melanesian arch go round, apparently in circles—
ble presence is still felt.
they are in fact representing the launching of a spiral from
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OCEANIC RELIGIONS: AN OVERVIEW
6789
a central point, which can be a pole, or only be implicit.
Outside of Eastern Polynesia most gods lived close by
Dancers usually move from right to left, but reverse direc-
humans, looking after their crops, their fishing, or their
tions if the dance is meant to mark a recent death. This ex-
hunting. All over Melanesia, certain gods were enshrined
plains also the ubiquitous presence of spirals and concentric
yearly inside stone figures placed in the ground. These gods
circles engraved on rocks.
did not live in the skies, and were not dealt with during the
Another dancing tradition (seen in Tanna, among other
great ceremonial gatherings—which in any case had more to
places) involves hundreds of male dancers who go from one
do with competition between chiefs than with strongly held
end to the other of the dancing ground, seemingly showing
beliefs.
a preference for a longitudinal axis. But if one observes the
Throughout Oceania a carved figure can be the reposi-
dance all night long, one notices that the mass of dancers
tory of a godly presence, but the god has no obligation what-
slightly change the angle of their dancing each time they trav-
soever to choose this particular abode. Gods can be incarnat-
erse the dancing ground. Over time, they are slowly and
ed at will in stones, trees, stone outcrops, whales, sharks,
powerfully swirling, and in this way they express the spiraling
mats, and in carefully wrapped sennit bundles (which in Ta-
model.
hiti bear indications of facial features) or more deliberately
The spiral is the means by which the land of the dead
constructed figures (which have an abundance of shell pen-
and the world of humans can be linked. When the living
dants). Or gods may take up residence in carved wooden
dance, the dead and ghosts are dancing the same dance at
human faces, called “heads of the shell money,” which are
the same time, to the same tunes. Parallel worlds thus act in
linked in New Caledonia with Urupwe, one of the names of
harmony during the nights when hundreds of people come
the god who reigns supreme over the land of the dead. Mon-
and dance at the same time. These worlds become separate
umental carvings are rarely thought of as possible repositories
again in the daytime, when the dead and the gods retreat to
for godly presences, with the exception of the Hawaiian
look on from afar—though they are always present close by
wickerwork figures covered with parrot feathers that were
if needed.
carried into battle as representations of Ku-ka’ili-moku, the
god of war—but which really represent a particular set of de-
Families can be brought together not only through in-
scent groups linked together by their allegiance to the same
termarriage, but also by visitations from the dead. If a person
chieftainship. In the same part of Hawai’i, if the presence of
sees a white ghostly figure coming towards them on the road,
a god was called for inside a dwelling, a large empty space
they know there has been a death on the other side of the
would be shrouded all round with a tapa curtain.
island and set out through mountain passes to be present at
the mourning ceremonies.
SEE ALSO Cargo Cults; Mana; Melanesian Religions, over-
One must go to Eastern Polynesia—except Easter Is-
view article; Micronesian Religions, overview article; Polyne-
sian Religions, overview article; Power; Taboo.
land, where things are not exactly clear on this point—to
find a view of the universe in which the dead and the gods
B
are separate. Here, the general and, in a way, official gods—
IBLIOGRAPHY
Baal, Jan van, with Jan Verschueren. Dema: Description and Analy-
responsible for great swathes of the human world (the sea,
sis of Marind-Anim Culture. The Hague, 1966.
the air, the forests, tilled land)—are in the skies, leading their
Bateson, Gregory. Naven: A Survey of the Problems Suggested by a
own lives there after having started out on Earth, where they
Composite Picture of a New Guinea Tribe. Cambridge, U.K.,
established the basis of human society as it was before the
1936.
coming of the white man. The dead are thought to live inside
Bernart, Luelen. The Book of Luelen. Edited and translated by
an underground kingdom of their own. The gods and heroes
John L. Fischer, Saul H. Riesenberg, and Marjorie G. Whit-
of Eastern Polynesia were worshipped inside roofless tem-
ing. Pacific History series, no. 8. Canberra, 1977.
ples. This cosmology has had great appeal for Western schol-
Best, Elsdon. Maori Religion and Mythology: Being an Account of
ars, who have focused on what seemed familiar to them.
the Cosmogony, Anthropogeny, Religious Beliefs, and Rites,
Many early Western observers were convinced that
Magic, and Folk Lore of the Maori Folk of New Zealand. Do-
human sacrifices were a part of the religion of Eastern Poly-
minion Museum Bulletin no. 10. Wellington, New Zealand,
nesia. We know for sure that two levels of sanctions for reli-
1924–1982.
gious and social transgressions were found on all the Pacific
Codrington, Robert H. The Melanesians: Studies in Their Anthro-
Islands. One obliged the culprit to go into exile, usually
pology and Folk-Lore. Oxford, 1891.
where they could find kin of their own; the other required
Deacon, Arthur Bernard. Malekula: A Vanishing People in the New
that they be dispatched by an executioner under the orders
Hebrides. Edited by Camilla Wedgwood. London, 1934.
of a chief. The condemned was killed by a surprise blow on
Dubois, Marie-Joseph. Les Eletok de Maré: Géographie mythique et
the nape of the neck with a short, often curved, stone club.
traditionnelle de l’île de Maré. Publications de la Société des
Parts of the body—the eyes or the heart—could then be of-
Océanistes no. 35. Paris, 1970.
fered to a god. But there is no proof of human sacrifices of
Ellis, William. Polynesian Researches, during a Residence of Nearly
the sort imagined by missionaries and the first European wit-
Eight Years in the Society and Sandwich Islands. 4 vols. Lon-
nesses.
don, 1832–1836.
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OCEANIC RELIGIONS: MISSIONARY MOVEMENTS
Firth, Raymond. The Work of the Gods in Tikopia. London, 1940.
OCEANIC RELIGIONS: MISSIONARY
Fortune, Reo. Manus Religion: An Ethnological Study of the Manus
MOVEMENTS
Natives of the Admiralty Islands. Memoirs of the American
Although nearly all Pacific Islanders are Christians—with
Philosophical Society, vol. 3. Philadelphia, 1935.
the exception of the inhabitants of inland New Guinea,
Fox, Charles Elliot. The Threshold of the Pacific: An Account of the
where Christianity has made only some inroads—a few vil-
Social Organization, Magic, and Religion of the People of San
lages, families, and individuals maintain a “heathen” reli-
Cristoval in the Solomon Islands. London, 1924.
gious status. Although Christianity is deeply entrenched in
Gagnère, R. P. M. Étude éthnologique sur la religion des Néo-
the Pacific, it is only one of the several cosmological planes
Calédoniens. Saint-Louis, France, 1905.
on which the islanders simultaneously exist without feeling
Guiart, Jean. Un siècle et demi de contacts culturels à Tanna, Nou-
a sense of contradiction. Families still decide which son will
velles-Hébrides. Paris, 1956.
be trained to be a chief; which will receive a European educa-
Guiart, Jean. Mythologie du masque en Nouvelle-Calédonie. Paris,
tion in order to become a civil servant, Protestant pastor, or
1966. Completely rewritten as Et le masque sortit de la mer:
Catholic priest or cathechist; and which will stay in the vil-
Les pays canaques anciens de Hienghène à Témala, Gomèn, et
lage to learn the traditional religious lore to keep open the
Koumac (Le Rocher-à-la-Voile, New Caledonia, 2002).
old paths to the invisible world.
Guidieri, Remo. La route des morts. Paris, 1980.
The Christianity of Pacific Islanders has a predominant-
Haddon, Alfred C., et al, eds. Reports of the Cambridge Anthropo-
ly mythical quality. Maurice Leenhardt (1922) captured the
logical Expedition to Torres Straits. Volume 6: Sociology,
essence of Pacific Islanders’ understanding of Christianity in
Magic, and Religion of the Eastern Islanders, edited by Alfred
his account of Melanesian soldiers passing through the Suez
C. Haddon. Cambridge, U.K., 1908.
Canal in 1915. These soldiers were astonished to learn that
Kamakau, Samuel Manaiakalani. Ka Po’e Kahiko: The People of
they were near the lands of the Bible. They wrote home to
Old. Honolulu, 1964.
express their surprise: they had never thought that the places
Kaniku, John Wills Teloti. The Epic of Tauhau. Port Moresby,
mentioned in the Bible actually existed. Even today many is-
Papua New Guinea, 1975.
landers do not recognize the historical and even geographical
Keesing, Roger M., and Peter Corris. Lightning Meets the West
value of the biblical narrative; for them it is merely a story,
Wind: The Malaita Massacre. Oxford, Wellington, and New
and Jerusalem and other holy places have only a symbolic ex-
York, 1980.
istence. However, they rarely say this to a white person. The
King, Michael, ed. Tihe Mauri Ora: Aspects of Maoritanga. Wel-
testimony of the few islanders who have been to Israel carries
lington, New Zealand, 1978. Collected essays by Maori au-
little weight with the rest.
thors.
H
Lawrence, Peter, and M. J. Meggitt, eds. Gods, Ghosts, and Men
ISTORY OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN THE PACIFIC. There
in Melanesia: Some Religions of Australian New Guinea and
are both Protestant and Catholic communities on most of
the New Hebrides. Melbourne, Australia, 1964.
the Pacific Islands, with adherents of Protestantism usually
being in the majority. The most recent missions have been
Leenhardt, Maurice. Do Kamo: Person and Myth in the Melanesian
World. Translated by Basia Miller Gulati. Chicago, 1979.
those of the Seventh-day Adventists, Assemblies of God, Je-
hovah’s Witnesses, Latter-day Saints (Mormons), and
Malinowski, Bronislaw. Magic, Science, and Religion. Garden City,
Baha’i. Among these groups only the Seventh-day Adventists
New York, 1954.
and the Mormons have had substantial success. In Hawai’i,
Malnic, Jutta, with John Kasaipwalova. Kula: Myth and Magic in
Tahiti, and the Tuamotus, and more recently in Fiji, Mor-
the Trobriand Islands. Wahroonga, Australia, 1998.
mon missionary activity has given rise to a breakaway
Métraux, Alfred. Ethnology of Easter Island. Bernice Pauahi Bishop
church, the Kanito (or Sanito) movement.
Museum Bulletin, no. 160. Honolulu, Hawai’i, 1940.
Monberg, Torben. Bellona Island Beliefs and Rituals. Honolulu,
In earlier times, Protestant churches carefully divided
1991.
the Pacific area into regions in which the different missionary
groups would carry out their activities. In 1795 the newly
Ngata, Apirana Turupa. The Songs: Scattered Pieces from Many
Canoe Areas. Revised and edited by Pei Te Hurinui Jones.
formed London Missionary Society chose Tahiti as its first
3 vols. Wellington, New Zealand, 1961.
field for missionary work. After many difficulties it expanded
its operations to the Austral Islands, the Cook Islands,
Sterling, Eruera. The Teachings of a Maori Elder, as Told to Anne
Salmond. Wellington, New Zealand, 1980.
Samoa, the Loyalty Islands, western and eastern Papua
(southeastern New Guinea), and the Torres Islands. The
Telban, Borut. Dancing through Time: A Sepik Cosmology. Oxford,
Wesleyan Missionary Society, which was founded in London
1998.
in 1814, did its first work on Tonga, Fiji, the Solomon Is-
Trompf, G. W. Melanesian Religion. New York, Melbourne, and
lands, and New Zealand. The Anglican Church, represented
Sydney, 1991.
by the Melanesian Mission based in Auckland, New Zea-
Young, Michael. Magicians of Manumanua: Living Myth in
land, was active in northern Vanuatu (formerly the New
Kalauna. Los Angeles, Berkeley, Calif., and London, 1983.
Hebrides Islands and Banks Islands) and the eastern Solo-
JEAN GUIART (2005)
mon Islands. The South Seas Evangelical Mission, based in
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OCEANIC RELIGIONS: MISSIONARY MOVEMENTS
6791
Queensland, Australia, and theoretically nondenominational
adopted different faiths, and there were religious wars in
though predominantly Baptist, worked in the central Solo-
Samoa, Tonga, the Wallis Island, Fiji, and Ouvéa and Maré
mons. The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign
in the Loyalty Islands between Catholic and Protestant con-
Missions, founded in Boston in 1820, was active in Hawai’i
verts. The Seventh-day Adventists, to the discomfort of the
and the parts of Micronesia that had not been converted to
well-established churches, thrived by converting groups
Catholicism after the time of the explorer Ferdinand Magel-
whose politics did not agree with those of the majority
lan (the Gilbert Islands, now known as Kiribati). The Scot-
church. The Assemblies of God, the Jehovah’s Witnesses,
tish Presbyterians converted the inhabitants of southern and
and to a lesser extent the Mormons have made gains in a sim-
central Vanuatu. New Zealand was shared among the
ilar fashion.
Church Missionary Society (founded in London in 1799),
Christian missions in the Pacific have frequently be-
the Wesleyan Mission, and the Anglican Church. In New
come involved in local disputes over land and social status.
Guinea the authorities tried to organize mission work by al-
Missionaries were often used by one party to thwart the am-
locating specific areas to different groups, but before 1914
bitions of another. There were examples of this in western
the northern part of the country had been under the control
Tanna in Vanuatu, where the Presbyterian mission was in-
of Germany, which allowed the Lutheran Church and the
volved in the city of Lenakel, and in Wagap in New Caledo-
Catholic orders to conduct missionary activities in that area.
nia, where the Marist Fathers were used by a party in a land
After about half a century the Methodist and Presbyterian
squabble. The Marists panicked when they were caught in
churches of New Zealand and Australia took over responsi-
a row with dancing armed Kanaks and called for military re-
bility in those islands from the churches in the mother coun-
inforcements. The officer in charge decided to shoot a group
tries; the Presbyterians would assign the west coast to Austra-
of chiefs who had been called in to negotitate. The Wagap
lian missions and the east coast to New Zealand missions.
mission had to be closed because of the bloodshed. Scottish
missionary John G. Paton left Port Resolution in the night
Roman Catholic missions were rarely the first to arrive
to save himself from would-be murderers, who actually had
in any part of Oceania, and this explains why Catholics are
resorted to theatricals to end his interference in their daily
in the minority on most of the islands. The Marist Fathers
lives. Paton came back with a British man-of-war and had
(Société de Marie) founded in Lyons in 1818, missionized
the village shelled, with the loss of only a few pigs and coco-
the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, New
nut trees. That overreaction blocked the Christianization of
Zealand, Bougainville, the Wallis and Futuna Islands, and
the area for half a century. There have been a number of sim-
New Caledonia; in the last three places Catholics today con-
ilar cases, the best documented having occurred on Samoa.
stitute a majority of the population. The Fathers of the Sa-
cred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, based in Paris, have been ac-
To consolidate the effects of sometimes hurried conver-
tive in Hawai’i, Tahiti, and the Marquesas Islands. The
sions, missionaries established programs to educate native
Fathers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, originally of Issoudun,
youths as future leaders in the movement to spread the
France, worked first among the natives of Papua and later
Christian faith. All the missions set up boarding schools, to
in New Britain, the Admiralty Islands, the Gilbert Islands,
which children were brought at an early age; these children
and Nauru. Other Catholic orders have been successful else-
were separated from their parents for many years and were
where in the area. Catholic Marists who became martyrs in-
taught by often untrained and sometimes self-appointed
clude Monseigneur Epalle in the Solomons in 1845 and Fa-
teachers. When the children grew up, the missionaries would
ther (Saint) Pierre Chanel in Futuna in 1841. The murder
arrange Christian marriages for them.
of Brother Blaise Mamoiton in Balade, New Caledonia, in
This system of conversion and indoctrination was em-
1845 is explained by the people there as resulting from his
ployed first by the London Missionary Society, after initial
assignment to look after the mission’s food supplies with the
difficulties in Tahiti, with a view toward using Christian cou-
assistance of a large dog he had trained to run after and bite
ples from one island to establish the mission’s influence on
the Kanak. There was a famine, and the Marist Fathers re-
other islands. After this period Europeans were introduced
fused to share their provisions with the local people. The
as missionaries only in areas where their safety was assured.
Kanak killed both the dog and the brother to take food in
Thus, except for the Reverend John Williams, who was killed
a time of need.
on Eromanga in Vanuatu in 1839, and the Reverend G. N.
The history of Christianization shows some regularities,
Gordon, who was killed in the same place in 1861, most of
inasmuch as all the Protestant and Catholic missionary bo-
the Christian martyrs in New Caledonia and Vanuatu were
dies used the same technique. Mass conversions were precipi-
Polynesians or, later, Melanesian teachers from the Loyalty
tated through the conversion of members of the local aristoc-
Islands in New Caledonia proper; those teachers later
racy. Before direct colonial administration was instituted,
worked in Papua and the Torrès Islands.
native leaders often became Christians to obtain official rec-
There were few martyrs. It was Polynesian evangelists
ognition from European powers. Thereafter, they asked for
who began the public burning of wooden “idols,” and in
and were sold firearms, which they used to overcome local
general these native missionaries used highly militant and
enemies and establish dominant dynasties. Rival chiefs
sometimes violent tactics to gain converts. The best-
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OCEANIC RELIGIONS: MISSIONARY MOVEMENTS
documented cases of violent conversion occurred in Tahiti,
as agricultural barons. The resulting bad relations between
the Cook Islands, Fiji, and southern Vanuatu. However,
the missions and the local Europeans continued until the
these incidents occurred only because the missionaries who
time of independence.
perpetrated them had wide popular support; rapid mass con-
Nuns and missionaries’ wives trained women and girls
version was seen either as a means of obtaining recognition
in new ways of dressing, sewing, and cooking, as well as new
from European powers or as a way of discouraging European
methods of child care and general hygiene. This explains the
encroachments, which could be shown to be breaches of
early popularity of portable sewing machines among women
Christian ethics.
over all the islands. They also taught the women to read and
IMPACT OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. Protestant missions tend-
write in their own languages, while their husbands taught the
ed to build village parishes around nuclei of adult communi-
same skills to the native men. The acquisition of literacy was
cant members, deacons, and native teachers or, much later,
welcomed by the islanders and helped them deal with the
pastors. These teachers and their wives had been trained in
pressures introduced by the whites.
centralized institutions, and they often replaced the Europe-
There were as many Catholic nuns involved in mission
an missionaries who had performed the initial conversions.
work as Catholic priests and brothers. The nuns attended to
The desire to have a resident white man who could provide
the daily needs of the priests, ran mission schools, and some-
protection against all others, and the prestige derived from
times did medical work. Local orders, which recruited native
that man’s presence, resulted in a type of long-lasting collec-
women, were often founded on the islands.
tive sorrow when a white missionary left and was replaced
It was in the area of intellectual life that missionaries had
by a native teacher, as occurred on the island of Futuna in
their greatest impact on Pacific Island societies. The London
South Vanuatu when Dr. Gunn departed, and on the island
Missionary Society commissioned the German philologist F.
of Mota in the Banks Islands when the Anglican Theological
Max Müller to design a system of writing for the Oceanic
College’s staff and students were sent to the Solomon Is-
languages, and Protestant clergymen devoted much of their
lands. The London Missionary Society and the Anglican
time to learning native languages and translating the Bible
Church added strong Bible study groups and women’s asso-
into them. Newly literate islanders were proud to acquire Bi-
ciations to this structure. Catholic missionaries usually were
bles and other religious publications, such as John Bunyan’s
content with installing a catechist in each village to promote
Pilgrim’s Progress. Since the content of the Bible was familiar
further conversions. The first Kanak priest, Robert Sarawia,
to nineteenth-century Europeans, it could serve as common
was consecrated by the Melanesian Mission in 1874; other
conceptual ground and a medium of communication be-
missions waited the better part of a century before following
tween native inhabitants and Europeans.
suit.
The islanders adopted biblical patterns of speech and
Missions eventually became involved in promoting
behavior to make themselves acceptable to Europeans. They
trade between Europe and the islands. The impetus for that
also put forth the biblical kings David and Solomon as mod-
trade came in part from the newly converted natives, who
els of Christian statesmanship in an attempt to deter Europe-
from the outset wanted access to European money and
ans from establishing colonial control over the islands. How-
goods. The London Missionary Society, the Anglicans, and
ever, the Kingdom of Tonga (which managed to evade any
the Church Missionary Society bought or leased ships to sup-
sort of colonial system) and Western Samoa have managed
ply food to their widely dispersed converts and established
to maintain a rather carefully drawn line between European
chains of local trading stations. Those well-organized local
ideas and traditional patterns of political behavior.
mission stations prospered and also acted as a means of
The curricula of the missionary schools in the mid-
bringing native produce to European markets. Eventually,
nineteenth century were strikingly modern. In the lower
the missions also acquired plantations.
grades, classes were taught exclusively in the vernacular. In
At first the missionaries claimed that this was done to
the upper grades instruction in the native language was sup-
prevent Europeans from staking claims to large tracts of land.
plemented by education in English or French for the most
Eventually, however, missions began to obtain lands for their
promising students. Eventually parents demanded a thor-
commercial potential and to support their work, and the na-
oughly European education for their children. In the 1930s,
tive inhabitants suffered economically. In some cases, dis-
the Seventh-day Adventists were the first to open schools
putes over land acquired by the missions still have not been
with curricula modeled on the European system and taught
resolved. Those missions became a source of controversy for
completely in European languages; other Christian groups
the churches, and sometimes the land was taken back by the
quickly followed suit. However, these schools have been re-
local inhabitants at the time of independence. Mission gener-
turning (in some cases) to the original system of classes
al stores were intended to provide native converts with access
taught in the native tongues with English or French as a sec-
to European goods at a reasonable price. On islands that
ond language, particularly as islanders have begun to work
came under colonial rule, these stores were denounced by
for the preservation of their languages and cultures.
European settlers, most of whom wanted to garner quick
The medical work of the missions was difficult in the
profits from trade with the natives and establish themselves
early years. Western medicine had few remedies for tropical
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6793
diseases and was not much more successful at curing illnesses
however, was much more tolerant of the presence of Mor-
such as smallpox, measles, influenza, tuberculosis, and vene-
mons than the French colonial government had been.
real diseases, all of which had been brought to the islands by
Both Catholic and Protestant churches centered their
Europeans. The natives died in large numbers while the mis-
theological studies in central schools established in Fiji that
sionaries preached. Gonorrhea was an enduring scourge that
worked cooperatively with the University of the South Pacif-
rendered women unable to bear children and kept the is-
ic in Suva. These schools produced many independence-
lands’ populations low for two centuries. Syphilis was rare,
minded native scholars. The criteria of academic success in
however, because of its cross-immunity with yaws. Eventual-
these schools eventually reached international standards.
ly missionary organizations added trained doctors to their
Dropouts became more numerous, although with a higher
staffs and set up the first modern hospitals in the islands.
intellectual level, and sometimes caused trouble when they
Much has been written about the connections between
returned to their churches of birth. Two of them, one Catho-
the French and British governments and their national mis-
lic and one Protestant, were implicated in the events in
sionary bodies, and missionaries often called upon their na-
Ouvéa and the murder of Jean-Marie Tjibaou.
tions’ naval vessels to provide them with protection. Howev-
In Tahiti the activities of the Catholic charismatic
er, those warships also proved to be an effective means of
movement, using the methods of the American evangelical
controlling the activities of unscrupulous traders, land hunt-
churches, had an unforeseen consequence through an uncon-
ers, and labor recruiters for Queensland plantations. Thus,
trolled offshoot of the movement on the island of Fa’aite in
conditions might have been worse for the natives without the
the Tuamotu Islands, where fathers and mothers were
French and British naval presence.
burned at the stake by their own children, who believed that
the Devil had gotten inside them.
One aspect of nineteenth-century mission activity in
this area that has received comparatively little attention is the
The islanders’ attachment to Christianity has remained
churches’ resistance to colonial annexation of the islands by
strong. Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, the prime minister of Fiji,
European powers. Missionary organizations wanted their
remarked in the 1970s that Pacific Islanders were the only
governments’ sanction and protection against the encroach-
ones to still take the Sermon on the Mount seriously. The
ment of rival missions, but they only slowly became recon-
islanders feel that Christianity, having been abandoned by
ciled to the establishment of direct colonial rule. In this way
the white men who brought it, now belongs to them.
missionaries protected the cultures of the island peoples.
METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS. In regard to the method-
Overall, except in Hawai’i and Tahiti, the early arrival of
ological problem of studying the growth of Christian church-
missionaries helped preserve indigenous ways of life from de-
es in Oceania, much of what has been published deals with
struction at the hands of the settlers who arrived later. Con-
the history of missions and missionaries, missionary meth-
temporary independent island nations owe much to the iso-
ods, and missionary influence. There have been few studies
lated and stubborn missionaries who refused to recognize any
of indigenous evangelists. Usually, the foreign missionaries
authority other than that of their god, and in some cases
did not really know the people they converted. Even if they
most of the islander politicians who control these newly in-
worked with islanders for years, the details of their status
dependent countries were trained by the Christian missions.
within their own society remained unknown to the missiona-
Much of what has been preserved of the native cultures was
ries. The missionaries’ correspondence and memoirs list the
kept underground, without the missionaries knowing, and
Christian names of their helpers and little else. Most histori-
even the native staff maintained silence on the subject.
ans have not had the time or the means to find out who really
was behind these Westernized designations.
By the 1980s, missions in the Pacific had become a
thing of the past, albeit of the very recent past. Most mission-
The missionaries were taking charge of a society about
ary stations disappeared as such, although schools and hospi-
which they knew very little. The islanders who were Chris-
tals remained. European staff remained in technical positions
tianized ended up knowing more about the missionaries than
under the authority of the local church. The more important
the missionaries knew about them. Documented cases in
missions gave birth to independent Presbyterian (French and
which the white clerical staff was manipulated by the con-
Scottish), Methodist, and Anglican churches. Evangelical
verts, often for generation after generation, are appearing
churches, mostly American, maintained their former mis-
more often. The Pacific Islanders were never passive and
sionary structure in New Guinea, centering on smallish
often played tricks on their self-appointed white masters.
mountain airports where their planes provided the only link
The story of how Christianity gained ground on the islands
with the outside world. Mostly in the towns they took over,
has not been written from the viewpoint of the islanders, and
they continued the fight against alcohol and tobacco that the
the psychological and sociological complexities of conversion
majority churches had essentially abandoned. People want-
have seldom been examined. Maurice Leenhardt was one of
ing to relinquish drink flocked to these churches with their
the only missionaries to show an interest in this line of re-
families. Local governments viewed this development with
search.
some anxiety in the case of millenarian churches such as Je-
Another issue is the rise of prophetic movements after
hovah’s Witnesses. The autonomous government of Tahiti,
World War II. The question here is not what type of mis-
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6794
OCEANIC RELIGIONS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS
sionary behavior led to these movements but why some
Leenhardt, Maurice, and Jean Guiart. “Notes de sociologie reli-
groups, such as the Anglican Melanesian Mission, never had
gieuse sur la région de Canala (Nouvelle-Calédonie).” Ca-
to deal with them. This points to the infrequently applied
hiers Internationaux de Sociologie 34 (1958): 18–33.
methodological technique of studying within a society not
Leenhardt, Raymond. Au vent de la Grande Terre: Histoire des Îles
only the areas where a specific institution exists, but also the
Loyalty de 1840 à 1895. Paris, 1957.
areas where it is absent.
Miller, R. S. Misi Gete: John Geddie, Pioneer Missionary to the New
Hebrides. Launceston, Australia, 1975.
SEE ALSO Christianity, article on Christianity in the Pacific
Islands.
Murray, Archibald Wright. Wonders of the Western Isles, Being a
Narrative of the Commencement and Progress of Mission Work
in Western Polynesia.
London, 1874.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Armstrong, E. S. The History of the Melanesian Mission. London,
Newbury, Colin. Tahiti Nui: Change and Survival in French Poly-
1900.
nesia, 1767–1930. Canberra, Australia, 1976.
Clifford, James. Person and Myth: Maurice Leenhardt in the Mela-
Nicole, Jacques. Au pied de 1’écriture: Histoire de la traduction de
nesian World. Berkeley, Calif., 1982.
la Bible en Tahitien. Papeete, Tahiti, 1988.
Conférence sur la loi naturelle. Comptes-rendus des conferences ecclé-
O’Reilly, Patrick, and Jean-Marie Sedes. Jaunes, Noirs et Blancs:
siastiques du Vicariat Apostolique de la Nouvelle-Calédonie,
Trois années de guerre aux Îles Salomon. Paris, 1949.
vol. 5. Saint-Louis, New Caledonia, 1900.
Ramsden, Eric. Marsden and the Missions: Prelude to Waitangi.
Crocombe, Marjorie Tuainekoro, ed. Cannibals and Converts:
Sydney, Australia, 1936.
Radical Change in the Cook Islands. Suva, Fiji, 1983.
Salinis, R. P. de, SJ. Marins et Missionnaires: Conquête de la Nou-
Crocombe, Ron G., and Marjorie Crocombe. The Works of
velle-Calédonie, 1843–1853. Paris, 1927.
Ta’unga: Records of a Polynesian Traveller in the South Seas
Saura, Bruno. Les bûchers de Fa’aite: Paganisme ancestral ou dérap-
1833–1896. Canberra, Australia, 1968.
age chrétien en Polynésie. Papeete, Tahiti, 1990.
Crocombe, Ron G., and Marjorie Crocombe. Polynesian Missions
Trompf, G. W. Melanesian Religion. New York, Melbourne, and
in Melanesia, from Samoa, Cook Islands and Tonga to Papua
Sydney, 1991.
New Guinea and New Caledonia. Suva, Fiji, 1982.
Williams, John. A Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the South
Don, Alexander. Peter Milne, 1834–1924: Missionary to Nguna,
Sea Islands. London, 1838.
New Hebrides, 1870 to 1924. Dunedin, New Zealand, 1927.
Williams, Thomas, and James Calvert. Fiji and the Fijians: The Is-
Douceré, Monseigneur Victor. La mission catholique aux Nouvel-
lands and Their Inhabitants: Mission History. 2 vols. London,
les-Hébrides. Lyons, France, 1934.
1858.
Ernst, Manfred. Winds of Change: Rapidly Growing Religious
Groups in the Pacific Islands. Suva, Fiji, 1994.
JEAN GUIART (1987 AND 2005)
Forman, Charles W. The Island Churches of the South Pacific:
Emergence in the Twentieth Century. Maryknoll, N.Y., 1982.
Garrett, John. To Live among the Stars: Christian Origins in Ocea-
OCEANIC RELIGIONS: NEW RELIGIOUS
nia. Geneva and Suva, Fiji, 1982.
MOVEMENTS
Garrett, John. Footsteps in the Sea: Christianity in Oceania to World
Oceania comprises a “sea of islands” within 181 million
War II. Suva, Fiji, 1992.
square kilometers of the Pacific Ocean (approximately one
Guiart, Jean. “The Millenarian Aspect of Conversion to Chris-
third of the earth’s surface). At the beginning of the third
tianity in the South Pacific.” In Millennial Dreams in Action:
millennium, the Pacific Islands, New Zealand, and Australia
Comparative Studies in Society and History, edited by Sylvia
had a total population of thirty million people, which is only
Thrupp, suppl. 2, pp. 122–138. New York, 1962. (Reissued
half of one percent of the world population. Yet there are al-
in Cultures of the Pacific: Selected Readings, edited by Thomas
G. Harding and Ben J. Wallace, pp. 397–411. New York
most one thousand distinct languages spoken in Oceania, or
and London, 1970.)
about a quarter of the world’s languages. Language diversity
is indicative of the cultural, social, and historical diversity of
Gunson, Niel. Messengers of Grace: Evangelical Missionaries in the
South Seas, 1797–1860. Oxford, Wellington, and New York,
the region. Oceania is commonly divided into three main
1978.
cultural groupings: Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia.
Hodée, Paul. Tahiti 1834–1984, 150 ans de vie Chrétienne en
New Zealand is included in Polynesia. While the Australian
Eglise. Paris and Fribourg, Switzerland, 1983.
subcontinent geographically lies outside Oceania, indigenous
Australians (1.5% of the Australian population), have cultur-
Howe, K. R. Where the Waves Fall: A New South Sea Islands Histo-
ry from First Settlement to Colonial Rule. Sydney and London,
al ties with Oceania. Formerly, traditional religions predomi-
1984.
nated; today, however, over 90 percent of the people of Oce-
ania profess to be Christian.
Izoulet, Jacques. Meketepoun: Histoire de la mission catholique dans
l’île de Lifou au XIXe siècle. Paris, 1996.
The first inhabitants of Melanesia and Australia are
Leenhardt, Maurice. La grande terre: Mission de Nouvelle-
thought to have arrived about 50,000 BCE during the Ice Age
Calédonie. Paris, 1922.
of the Pleistocene era. Some five thousand years ago Austro-
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6795
nesian-speaking people began voyages to the islands of Ocea-
the bewildering variety of these movements both fascinates
nia, finally reaching Aotearoa–New Zealand about one thou-
and frustrates scholarly attempts to grasp their causes and to
sand years ago. Ferdinand Magellan from Portugal was the
understand the phenomenon as a whole.
first European to sail into the Pacific by way of South Ameri-
CONNECTION TO INDIGENOUS FORMS. Indigenous cultural
ca’s southern tip, reaching Guam in Micronesia in 1521. Eu-
forms, ranging from traditional religious elements to the in-
ropean influence continued into the colonial period, accom-
fluence of political and social structure, exert a strong influ-
panied by Christian missionary efforts. Many Pacific states
ence on religious movements in Oceania. The Siovili move-
achieved independence only in the later half of the twentieth
ment appeared in Samoa in the 1830s. Siovili’s prophetic
century. New religious movements have emerged within this
activity was a mixture of the traditional taula aitu activity
sociohistorical context.
(spirit possession) and preaching influenced by Christianity.
R
Religious experiences such as taula aitu were familiar to Sa-
ELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS NEW AND OLD. Despite the term
new applied to Oceanic religious movements, scholars claim
moans. Thus, many phenomena associated with the move-
that there were religious movements in the traditional cul-
ment, such as being under the power of a spirit and speaking
ture prior to Western contact. Ronald Berndt (1952–1953)
in tongues, were ritual activities familiar to the people.
and Richard Salisbury (1958) have documented religious
Political and social influences on the Siovili movement
movements in New Guinea prior to European colonization
become apparent if one compares it with the Mamaia move-
or missionary evangelization. Garry Trompf (Swain and
ment that arose in Tahiti in 1826. In Samoa, traditional reli-
Trompf, 1995, p. 168) points out how the giant statues on
gious forms were closely associated with tutelary deities wor-
Rapanui (Easter Island) reflect an extraordinary burst of cul-
shiped at the family level. By contrast, in Tahiti, religion was
tic energy—this being followed by the “Birdman Cult,”
the basis for overall political authority. Thus, in Tahiti, when
which was still active into the mid-1860s. Other scholars
the Mamaia movement began, it spread quickly by means of
refer to traditions of ritual innovation in precontact culture.
traditional political alliances. As with Samoa, prophetic fig-
Chris Ballard (2003, p. 24) points out how in the Papua
ures possessed by spirits were nothing new in the Society Is-
New Guinea highlands, the foreign was anticipated in a tra-
lands. Thus it was not novel when Teau, the leader of the
dition of ritual innovation, so that when Westerners did ap-
Mamaia movement, prophesied that he was inspired by the
pear, they were seen as having been prefigured in Melanesian
spirit of God to proclaim that the millennium had com-
cosmologies. What are often referred to as “cults” may well
menced and that he and his followers could communicate
be examples of innovative indigenous tradition, rather than
with God without the Tahitian Bible provided by the mis-
a response to contact with the West.
sionaries. However, the movement was also strongly influ-
enced by local political forces. Mamaia found its greatest
Whether new or old, religious movements have been
support in Taiarapu, where there had traditionally been an
documented throughout Oceania right from the time of
atmosphere of revolt against both the Pomare dynasty and
early Western contact. These movements combine social,
the Europeans. According to Jukka Siikala (1982,
political, and religious elements. In New Zealand, for exam-
pp. 248–249), the Mamaia movement can be interpreted as
ple, religious movements appeared among the Maori at a
the attempt of the Taiarapu chiefs to manifest mana (respect
time when the population was in decline and the indigenous
deriving from authority and control) superior to that of Po-
people were being alienated from the land. In 1863 most of
mare and the chief judges supported by the missionaries.
the Taranaki region was proclaimed a confiscated area. In re-
sponse, Maori prophet Te Whiti-o-Rongomai began teach-
Even in the 1990s, Christian Pentecostal and revival
ing about the day of takahanga, or freedom from Pakeha
movements, though outwardly against traditional culture,
(European) authority. He and the people of the Parihaka
often showed evidence of indigenous forms in healing, glos-
community tried to assert ownership over the land while at
solalia, prophetic dreaming, possession, and the like. Franco
the same time avoiding armed warfare. He sent out men to
Zocca (1995, p.181) points out how the millennial and mag-
plough and to build fences across the roads built by the colo-
ical components in many new religious movements and in
nial government. The ploughmen were arrested but consid-
Pentecostal churches fit into the pattern of traditional Mela-
ered martyrs by Te Whiti and his followers. They were em-
nesian religious experience.
powered by a millennial vision of aranga, or day of
INFLUENCE OF JUDEO-CHRISTIANITY ON NEW RELIGIOUS
reckoning, when the results of their struggle would be har-
MOVEMENTS. Mission influence spread swiftly throughout
vested in communal prosperity.
Oceania, and today the majority of people in the region pro-
fess to be Christian. Some religious movements arose in op-
Cultural factors and the colonial and postcolonial expe-
position to Christianity. The so-called nativistic movements
rience of people in Oceania have continued to influence reli-
offered an alternative to the Christian denominations and
gious movements. Some movements are strongly influenced
even to the traditional religion. Later movements have tend-
by indigenous cultural forms. Others manifest clear links
ed to develop as offshoots of Christian churches.
with Judeo-Christianity. They have been labeled variously as
movements, cults, and independent churches. While many
Leaders in many movements see parallels between their
individual movements have been studied and documented,
situation and that of the Israelites in the Old Testament. Te
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OCEANIC RELIGIONS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS
Ua, the leader of the Pai Marire movement in New Zealand
French Polynesia, Wallis and Futuna, and New Caledonia
in the 1850s, referred to New Zealand as Kenana, the “land
regarded as French overseas territories. In Micronesia the
of Canaan.” Aotearoa-New Zealand was seen as an island in
peoples of the Mariana Islands, the Carolines, the Marshalls,
two halves that needed to be restored (as a new Israel). Just
and Palau ratified constitutions in 1980 and chose either
as God had promised the land of Canaan to Abraham, God
commonwealth status, free association, or republicanism, all
would restore Aotearoa to the Maori. Thus, Te Ua created
of which guarantee a continued aid package from the United
a myth-history that linked Maori followers to the Israelites,
States. The Marianas became a commonwealth in political
as well as to their Polynesian ancestors. Dancing around spe-
union with the United States in 1986 (with the exception
cial poles and repeating Pai Marire prayers, people entered
of Guam, which is an unincorporated territory of the United
into a trance, uttered prophecies, and spoke in tongues.
States). The Caroline Islands divided into two separate enti-
ties: Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia. Palau be-
More than a century later, in Guadalcanal in the Solo-
came an independent nation with free association with the
mon Islands, the Moro movement promotes traditional val-
United States in 1994. With the termination of the Trust
ues and the chieftainship system against the incursion of the
Territory of the Pacific in 1986, the Federated States of Mi-
West. Members of the movement say that the Bible is for
cronesia and Marshall Islands gained independence and free-
whites and that tradition contains the same truths for island-
association status with the United States.
ers. Moses and Jesus, for example, have parallel figures in
Guadalcanal legend. During the violent political crisis in the
During the colonial experience, Pacific Islanders were
Solomon Islands in 2001, many of the Guadalcanal fighters
adept at making their own adjustments, and religious move-
wore emblems from the Moro movement, which they be-
ments were sometimes part of this. When competing for
lieved would protect them against the superior firepower of
local resources the Europeans were resisted, but as a new re-
the Malaita Eagle Force, a militant group that undertook
source they were utilized. Exploitation of European’s fight-
armed action on Guadalcanal. Together with disaffected po-
ing skills and equipment was a common phenomenon
lice officers the Malaita Eagle Force seized control of key in-
throughout Polynesia. Missionaries too often found them-
stallations in Honiara and took Prime Minister Ulufa’alu
selves pawns in local power politics.
hostage and forced him to resign.
While most islanders (with the exception of Tonga) lost
The Christian Fellowship Church, also in the Solomon
their political independence at some stage, there were other
Islands, broke away from the Methodist Church in 1960.
important issues, such as language, cultural integrity, the pri-
The founder, Silas Eto (sometimes known as “Holy Mama”)
ority of local custom, and the persistence of practices of kin-
believed that the Holy Spirit had visited his people as mani-
ship and exchange. New religious movements offered alter-
fested in the taturu phenomenon of mass enthusiasm involv-
native values to help the local people deal with such issues.
ing drumming, crying out, and involuntary movements dur-
The Tuka movement appeared in the late nineteenth
ing church services. Their theology is basically Methodist,
century in Fiji (tuka meaning life or immortality). It has been
though Eto would read scripture in the light of the taturu
seen variously as an anticolonial resistance movement and a
phenomenon. Eto has since died, but he continues to influ-
millenarian movement; however Martha Kaplan has sought
ence the church by appearing to members in visions. The
to reinterpret it as a movement of “people of the land”
1999 census in the Solomon Islands recorded almost ten
(itaukei) trying to assert their ownership of the land through
thousand people claiming to be members of this charismatic
ritual and political means. Navosavakaua, the leader of the
independent church.
movement, and his people were opposing the encroachment
Scholars debate the degree to which Christian revival
of coastal chiefs and of Westerners with their Christian God
movements, common throughout the region in the latter
and their colonial powers. He challenged the coastal chiefs
years of the twentieth century, are indeed movements build-
and colonial authority, proclaiming that the world would
ing on indigenous forms or the rejection of those forms. In
shortly be turned upside down and that the existing state of
the revival movements, people seek to purify their Christian
affairs would be reversed so that whites would serve the Fiji-
lives by setting aside inherited traditions and earlier religious
ans and chiefs would become commoners. Kaplan rereads
practices. Yet, at a deeper level, traditional understandings
the Tuka movement as an elaborated version of an important
often continue to provide the structure by which a new syn-
Fijian invulnerability ritual known as kalou rere (Kaplan,
cretism of Christian beliefs is organized.
1990, p. 10).
INFLUENCE OF THE COLONIAL EXPERIENCE ON THE DEVEL-
Vailala Madness is the name given to an early millenari-
OPMENT OF RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS. Having had to deal
an movement beginning at Orokolo station in 1917 and
with a number of colonial powers—Spanish, American,
spreading throughout the Toaripi region of the Papuan Gulf.
Dutch, British, German, Australian, and New Zealand—
During collective trance states people destroyed traditional
many countries in the Pacific are now independent states.
ceremonial items. The leader, Evara, claimed to be contact-
However, even today Niue and the Cook Islands are not fully
ing the dead through an artificial wireless antenna, with
independent, having free association with New Zealand.
hopes that a ship crewed by the ancestors would come over
France continues to maintain territories in the Pacific with
the horizon. The body movement and curious sounds con-
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vinced government anthropologist Francis Williams that the
Recent writings on cults and movements in the Pacific
situation was pathological. Later studies of the movement are
have focused on the role these movements play in the inter-
less condemnatory, though many agree that the movement
pretation of changing colonial and postcolonial relations. An
arose in response to the collision between traditional cultures
intriguing example is that of Matias Yaliwan and the Peli As-
and the colonial order (Trompf, 1991, p. 191). Movements
sociation in the Sepik region of Papua New Guinea.
of this type have been called cargo cults because of the peo-
Through traditional religious means, such as dreams, Yali-
ple’s expectation of the arrival of large quantities of European
wan came to perceive the survey marker on Mount Hurun
items, from food to firearms to refrigerators. The term cargo
as symbolic of European trespass and invasion of traditional
cult is unfortunate in that it tends to reduce a complex matter
lands and life. At Christmas 1969, he and his followers re-
to just one exotic dimension.
moved the survey marker from the top of the mountain. In
the 1970s, as Papua New Guinea prepared for independence,
There are many occurrences of anticolonial movements
the movement developed into a prosperity cult known as the
throughout the region, including the Modekngei movement,
Peli Association. After national independence in the late
which appeared on Palau in 1906 in protest at German colo-
1970s the movement combined with the New Apostolic
nial government reforms. The movement continued into the
Church, a millennial Christian group offering 144,000
1960s and 1970s as a religio-political movement, affirming
“firstlings” an opportunity to become citizens of a “new
Palauan identity and independence.
heaven and new earth” (Rosco, 1993, p. 292). Paul Roscoe
In Malaita in the Solomon Islands following World
points out how people were following Yaliwan not just as a
War II, a movement known as the Maasina (Marching Rule)
traditional leader or “bigman” who could manipulate tangi-
developed as an expression of both self-determination and
ble commodities such as pigs and shell wealth, but one who
spiritual independence. In the postwar period in nearby
could produce and manipulate knowledge and ideas. The ex-
Vanuatu, on the island of Tanna, many people believed that
planatory schemes with which the Peli Association leaders at-
a mythical figure named John Frum would come from the
tracted followers were a series of eschatologically colorful sce-
United States bringing gifts for his devotees. Also in Vanua-
narios involving military-style marching, the actual election
tu, the Nagriamel Federation Independent United Royal
of Yaliwan to the Provincial Assembly, and his rumored cru-
Church appeared as an offshoot from a land reform associa-
cifixion and resurrection as the Black Jesus. Canadian mis-
tion movement on the island of Espiritu Santu. The move-
sionaries of the New Apostolic Church helped provide legiti-
ment sought to reclaim indigenous land in the 1960s, sought
macy to this scenario.
national sovereignty in the 1970s, and proclaimed succes-
Since the 1990s on the island of Bougainville in the
sionist independence in 1980. Nagriamel is decidedly politi-
North Solomons province of Papua New Guinea, succes-
cal, but its cultural and religious dimensions are also impor-
sionist leader Francis Ona has been promoting his idea of
tant. One of the leaders of the movement, Jimmy Stephens,
Mekamui (sacred land)—a state independent of Papua New
claimed to be Moses leading his people to the promised land.
Guinea. Mekamui also has strong links with the Tomo cult,
The movement has been in decline since Stephens was arrest-
which is a mixture of Christianity and traditional forms. The
ed by Papua New Guinean forces in 1980.
term tomo refers to ashes, which have particular significance
in a culture that practiced cremation of the dead.
DEVELOPMENTS WITH POLITICAL INDEPENDENCE OF PA-
CIFIC NATIONS.
Church leaders have made a considerable
In the post-independence period, politicians in the Pa-
contribution to political leadership in the region. In Vanua-
cific invoke the political support of churches. Responses
tu, Walter Lini, an Anglican priest, was the first and longest-
vary, with leaders of established churches wary of political
serving prime minister, while the first leader of the opposi-
control, often taking a critical stance, and leaders of newer
tion was a Catholic priest, Gerard Laymang. In Papua New
church groups, particularly those with a conservative funda-
Guinea, priests, former priests, seminarians, and Protestant
mentalist theology, willing to cooperate in exchange for legit-
ministers have held prominent political roles. Other church
imacy and material benefits.
leaders, like Bishop Patelesio Finau of Tonga, have been po-
litically active without taking a formal political post.
INDEPENDENT CHURCHES. Aside from the examples given
above of established churches becoming independent, there
Associated with political independence, some estab-
are also “independent churches” that take a separatist stance
lished churches have become independent. For example, the
towards the churches introduced by the missions. For exam-
Presbyterian Church in Vanuatu has been declared an inde-
ple, in New Zealand there are several independent Maori
pendent New Hebridean church. In 1968 in Papua New
churches, the best known being that started by Tahupotiki
Guinea and the Solomon Islands, the Methodist, Wesleyan,
Wiremu Ratana in 1928. Ratana’s healing ministry and his
and Papua Ecclesia churches joined to form the indigenous
warnings about some aspects of Maori ancestral beliefs were
independent United Church. In 1975 the Anglican Diocese
welcomed at first. However, when the Anglican Church con-
of Melanesia (encompassing Vanuatu and the Solomon Is-
demned him as a false prophet, his followers convinced him
lands) was officially localized, separating from the New Zea-
to start his own church, which exists today. The independent
land church to become a province of its own.
Ratana Church has been influential in both ecclesial and sec-
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OCEANIC RELIGIONS: NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS
ular politics, motivating the formation of a Maori bishopric
Some scholars see the movements as examples of irratio-
in the Anglican Church of Aotearoa-New Zealand and pro-
nal human behavior (Williams, 1976). Others see them as
moting four Maori seats in the New Zealand parliament.
the product of tensions arising from collisions between tradi-
tional culture and the colonial order (Worsley, 1968). Alter-
Since the 1970s, revival movements have flourished
natively, they have been viewed as specific Melanesian ex-
throughout Oceania. These movements tend to be Pentecos-
pressions of indigenous spirituality and value systems
tal in character and generally opposed to traditional religious
(Burridge, 1960; Lawrence, 1964). The weakness of many
systems (Tuzin, 1997; Robbins, 2001). Influenced by reviv-
such interpretations is their tendency to reduce these phe-
al, people tend to condemn their traditional religion, de-
nomena to just a few of their respective aspects, or to lump
stroying their former sacred places and the paraphernalia
together ideas and practices that may have little in common.
used in traditional rituals. They seek to purify their Christian
Attempted classifications may reveal more about Western ra-
lives by setting aside inherited traditions and what they per-
tionalism than about the Melanesian ideas and practices to
ceive as forms of syncretism. Paradoxically, although the
which the classification systems are meant to refer in the first
focus of these revival movements is the rejection of tradition,
place.
the parallels with tradition—legalism, fear, and a dualistic
worldview labeling everything as belonging either to God or
For example, the frequently used term cult denotes reli-
Satan—make it easier for people to accept their teaching. Re-
gious activity but carries with it negative overtones. More-
vival often begins within an established church, but in many
over, it does not reflect the fact that the sacred and secular
cases their beliefs and practices go beyond what is considered
are generally distinguished but not separated in Oceanic cul-
acceptable by the church leadership and the movement de-
tures. Kaplan argues that cults are often created and analyzed
velops into an independent “local” church, as has happened
in Western terms, serving the purpose of colonizers respond-
in a number of cases in Papua New Guinea with groups
ing to obstacles to their attempts at “development.” Many
breaking away from the Lutheran, United, and established
movements are only truly irrational in the context of West-
Pentecostal churches to form indigenized local variants of
ern discourse.
Christianity.
Mircea Eliade (1954) detects a pervasive form of millen-
In the 1990s and in the lead-up to 2000, many revival
nialism belonging to an ancient complex spread throughout
movements that had been characterized by such Pentecostal
the Pacific region during the migrations of Austronesian-
elements as shaking, possession, and glossolalia took a more
speaking people. He identifies a theme involving the renewal
apocalyptic turn, with frequent reference to the number 666
of the cosmos through the destruction of all existing forms,
from the Book of Revelation (e.g., those possessing the 666
a regression to chaos, followed by a new creation. Thus, mil-
will have access to wealth), the sinister meaning of bar codes,
lennial movements are not only a postcontact, post-Christian
spiritual warfare, and the antichrist. Besides addressing the
phenomenon. There were traditions that entailed expecta-
question of what might happen at the end of the millennium,
tion of a new era and the beginning of a time of well-being.
these apocalyptic-oriented movements provide an outlet for
However, for many people of the Pacific, confronted by the
people struggling to deal with escalating violence and socio-
encroaching Western powers, their world was ending. Not
economic insecurity. Established churches are condemned
only were people becoming alienated from their ancient tra-
along with traditional culture as being retrograde and idola-
ditions, but their leaders appeared impotent, and in some
trous. There is often a global dimension to these local
places their land was being divided and sold. The power of
churches, for as Ernest Olson (2001, p. 24) notes, people in
chiefs and ritual experts to mediate between the people and
an all-night Pentecostal prayer vigil in Tonga would share
the gods declined. In this context Christian millennialism
more in common with Pentecostals in Mount Hagen, Papua
may have a special appeal for Pacific Islanders, because it has
New Guinea, than the Tongan all-night kava drinking ses-
features in common with traditional myths of return.
sions just down the street.
CONCLUSION. Religious movements have been a constant
part of the experience of people in Oceania. However, since
TYPOLOGY OF THE MOVEMENTS. Attempts to develop a ty-
the arrival of Europeans and colonial rule, new elements en-
pology of religious movements in Oceania tend to fall short
tered into that experience. These movements are a way indig-
in oversimplification, or to founder in the complexity of the
enous people try to deal with change within a world that does
phenomena under study. Anthony Wallace used the term re-
not separate religion from the rest of life. In general, the new
vitalisation movements, by which he meant the “deliberate,
religious movements arise in the context of social and cultur-
organized, conscious effort by members of a society to con-
al conditions characterized by disharmonies of opportunity,
struct a more satisfying culture” (Wallace, 1956, p. 265). He
status, and political and socioeconomic stress generated
differentiated between “nativist,” “millenarian,” and “messi-
when a traditional culture is faced with modernization.
anic” movements. Subsequently, many alternative interpre-
Which factors are relatively more important is a mater of
tations have been offered. Harold Turner’s spectrum from
debate.
“primal revival,” through “syncretist,” to “church revival”
(1978, pp. 7ff.) is one of the more promising attempts at
From a rational, secular viewpoint the movements ap-
classification.
pear to be examples of delusion and aberrant behavior. How-
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OCEANIC RELIGIONS: HISTORY OF STUDY [FIRST EDITION]
6799
ever, from the perspective of indigenous hermeneutics, they
Turner, Harold. “Old and New Religions in Melanesia.” Point 2
may be perceived as the work of visionaries trying to make
(1978): 5–29.
sense of a changing world in religious terms.
Turner, Harold. Bibliography of New Religious Movements in Pri-
Some new religious movements continue into the twen-
mal Societies, vol. 3, Oceania. Boston, 1990.
ty-first century, often transformed into local churches and
Tuzin, Donald. The Cassowary’s Revenge: The Life and Death of
even political parties. In addition, millenarian beliefs contin-
Masculinity in a New Guinea Society. Chicago, 1997.
ue to animate religious movements in the form of Holy Spirit
Wallace, Anthony, F. C. “Revitalization Movements.” American
and Christian revival and apocalyptic movements. Some
Anthropologist 58 (1956): 264–281.
even become tourist attractions, with cargo cult websites—
Williams, Francis E. “The Vailala Madness” and Other Essays. Ed-
including a John Frum homepage.
ited by Erik Schwimmer. Brisbane, Australia, 1976.
B
Worsley, Peter. The Trumpet Shall Sound: A Study of “Cargo” Cults
IBLIOGRAPHY
in Melanesia. London, 1957; 2d ed., 1968.
Ballard, Chris. “Provisional Cosmologies: ‘Cargo Cults’ and the
History of Ritual in the New Guinea Highlands.” Unpub-
Zocca, Franco. “‘Winds of Change’ also in PNG?” Catalyst 25
lished paper presented at the Volkswagen-Stiftung Work-
(1995): 174–187.
shop on Cargo and Culture Critique. A˚arhus, Denmark, No-
P
vember 25–28, 1991.
HILIP GIBBS (2005)
Berndt, Ronald M. “A Cargo Movement in the East-Central
Highlands of New Guinea.” Oceania 23 (1952–1953): 40–
65, 137–158, 202–234.
OCEANIC RELIGIONS: HISTORY OF STUDY
Burridge, Kennelm. Mambu: A Melanesian Millennium. London,
[FIRST EDITION]
1960; reprint, Princeton, N.J., 1995.
Oceania is conventionally defined in terms of the three major
Eliade, Mircea. The Myth of the Eternal Return: Or, Cosmos and
cultural divisions of the Pacific islanders: Polynesia, Micro-
History. Translated by Willard Trask. Princeton, N.J., 1954.
nesia, and Melanesia. The earliest European knowledge of
Ernst, Manfred. Winds of Change: Rapidly Growing Religious
Oceanic peoples is contained in the journals of Magellan’s
Groups in the Pacific Islands. Suva, Fiji, 1994.
chronicler, Antonio Pigafetta, who in 1521 provides an ac-
Flannery, Wendy, ed. Religious Movements in Melanesian Today.
count of the initial encounter with the inhabitants of an is-
Goroka, Papua New Guinea, 1983–1984.
land that he called Los Ladrones, now identified as Guam.
Kaplan, Martha, “Meaning, Agency, and Colonial History: Navo-
As with most contact narratives, the tale dwells upon visible
savakadua and the Tuka Movement in Fiji.” American Eth-
details and practical difficulties, but it offers little insight into
nologist 17 (1990): 3–22.
local life. And, as Andrew Sharp writes in his The Discovery
Lawrence, Peter. Road Belong Cargo: A Study of the Cargo Move-
of the Pacific Islands (2d ed., Oxford, 1962), much the same
ment in the Southern Madang District, New Guinea. Man-
may be said of the journals of subsequent explorers such as
chester, U.K., 1964.
Alvaro de Mendaña de Neira, Francis Drake, William Dam-
Loeliger, Carl, and Garry Trompf, eds. New Religious Movements
pier, and Louis-Antoine de Bougainville. It is only toward
in Melanesia. Suva, Fiji, 1985.
the end of the eighteenth century that fuller accounts of Oce-
anic cultures become available with James Cook’s journals
Olson, Ernest. “Signs of Conversion, Spirit of Commitment: The
Pentecostal Church in the Kingdom of Tonga.” Ritual
on Tahiti and Hawaii, published as The Journals of Captain
Studies 15 (2001): 13–26.
James Cook on His Voyages of Discovery (3 vols., Cambridge,
1957–1967) and with the narratives of castaways and beach-
Robbins, Joel. “Whatever Became of Revival? From Charismatic
Movement to Charismatic Church in a Papua New Guinea
combers in, for example, George Keate’s An Account of the
Society.” Ritual Studies 15 (2001): 79–90.
Pelew Islands (London, 1788), The Marquesan Journal of Ed-
ward Robarts
, 1797–1824, edited by Greg Dening (Honolu-
Roscoe, Paul. “The Brokers of the Lord: The Ministration of a
lu, 1974), and The Journal of William Lockerby, edited by
Christian Faith in the Sepik Basin of Papua New Guinea.”
In Contemporary Pacific Societies: Studies in Development and
Everard Im Thurn and Leonard C. Wharton (London,
Change, edited by Victoria S. Lockwood, Thomas G. Har-
1925). The best nineteenth-century sources are largely the
ding, and Ben J. Wallace, pp. 289–303. Englewood Cliffs,
works of administrators and other longterm residents, such
N.J., 1993.
as Abraham Fornander’s An Account of the Polynesian Race
Salisbury, Richard F. “An ‘Indigenous’ New Guinea Cult.” Kroe-
(1878–1885; reprint, Rutland, Vt., 1969) and George
ber Anthropological Society Papers 18 (1958): 67–78.
Grey’s Polynesian Mythology and Ancient Traditional History
Siikala, Jukka. Cult and Conflict in Tropical Polynesia: A Study of
of the Maori as Told by Their Priests and Chiefs (1855; reprint,
Traditional Religion, Christianity and Nativistic Movements.
New York, 1970).
Helsinki, 1982.
Despite this growing wealth of information about Oce-
Swain, Tony, and Garry Trompf. The Religions of Oceania. Lon-
anic cultures, the systematic study of Oceanic religions re-
don, 1995.
mained largely undeveloped before the advent of anthropol-
Trompf, Garry. Melanesian Religion. Cambridge, U.K., 1991.
ogy in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Unlike the
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OCEANIC RELIGIONS: HISTORY OF STUDY [FIRST EDITION]
“high” religions such as Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and
Research 40, 1984, pp. 137–156). Nevertheless, the concept
so forth, the traditional religions of Oceania were not prose-
gained wide currency in comparative studies as a key analytic
lytizing creeds embodied in written texts but were instead
category. In a similar vein, the concept of taboo became part
embedded in the specifics of the societies in which they were
of the vocabulary of the anthropology of religion through
found. Although priesthoods were characteristic of a number
early analyses of the Polynesian notion of tapu (see, for exam-
of Polynesian societies (e.g., Maori, Hawaiian, Samoan, etc.),
ple, E. S. Craighill Handy’s Polynesian Religion, Honolulu,
these soon collapsed under European pressure. For the re-
1927).
mainder of the region religious institutions tended to be dif-
Early treatments of Oceanic religions were attempts
fused throughout the social structure, so that an understand-
simply to record religious practices and beliefs in such a way
ing of them hinged upon an understanding of their social
that they became intelligible to European audiences, and to
setting. Precisely because of relative hospitality to outsiders,
the extent that larger issues came into play the concern was
European impact on traditional society was strongest in Pol-
to isolate particular features that meshed with current theo-
ynesia and Micronesia, whereas Melanesia was largely left
ries of social evolution and culture history. One consequence
alone. For these reasons Melanesia has predominated in re-
of this essentially typological orientation was that apparent
search on traditional religions in Oceania.
commonalities tended to be stressed at the expense of the dis-
A major goal of early anthropology was the creation of
tinctive features of particular religious systems, fostering a
typological schemes to lay the basis for the reconstruction of
spurious sense of uniformity. A second consequence was a
evolutionary stages from savagery to civilization. Given the
tendency to view Oceanic religions in atomistic terms, as
nineteenth century’s intoxication with progress, human his-
a series of intellectual categories divorced from the contexts
tory was viewed as the intellectual movement from magic
of social life. A decisive shift awaited the emergence of new
and religion to the scientific rationalism held to epitomize
canons of ethnography associated with Bronislaw Malinow-
civilization. For this reason religion played a central role in
ski’s fieldwork among the Trobriand Islanders off the east
the theoretical frameworks of writers such as E. B. Tylor and
coast of New Guinea.
James G. Frazer, whose perspective took exotic religions as
Prior to World War I, fieldwork in Oceania was largely
indicative of modes of thought. In the process, they identi-
of two kinds. Often information was obtained by men whose
fied cultural forms with cognitive capacities in the invidious
familiarity with an area was grounded in missionary or ad-
comparison of savagery with civilization.
ministrative work. One advantage such workers had was a
Such schemes required generalized concepts to identify
longterm involvement with local people, but their ethno-
characteristic features of “savage” thought, and this was the
graphic work was secondary to their other duties, which were
context in which some of the earliest accounts of Oceanic re-
often at cross-purposes with research interests. Professional
ligions entered into scholarly discussions. Two concepts of
anthropologists, on the other hand, tended to pursue their
particular importance to early theories of religion are those
researches by conducting surveys from government verandas
of mana and of taboo, both of which arose from ethnograph-
or the decks of itinerant vessels calling in at various islands.
ic studies in the Pacific. The notion of mana stems from the
Here systematic coverage was possible, but it came at the ex-
work of R. H. Codrington, a missionary anthropologist
pense of detailed knowledge of life in any particular locale.
working in eastern Melanesia in the late nineteenth century.
Malinowski’s contribution was the development of longterm
fieldwork whose aim was to construct a comprehensive por-
In The Melanesians (1891; reprint, New Haven, 1957) Co-
trait of social life in immediate and concrete terms. Not sur-
drington identified belief in mana as a central tenet of Mela-
prisingly, this work produced very different results from that
nesian religions and defined it as a supernatural power imma-
done by his predecessors.
nent in the cosmos and capable of influencing events for
good or ill. Mana characterized outstanding success in all en-
Inspired by the theories of Émile Durkheim and steeped
terprises as both sign and source of efficacy, was intimately
in the details of Trobriand life, Malinowski in his Magic, Sci-
tied to personal prestige, and served to mark off the singular
ence and Religion (New York, 1948), insisted that it was only
in experience. Codrington saw all Melanesian religion as an
possible to understand Trobriand religion as an aspect of
attempt to acquire mana for one’s own uses. Understood on
Trobriand culture in general. Taking issue with those who
analogy with electricity, mana gave a name to what had long
saw religion as a thing in itself, his style of interpretation
been postulated as a premise of magical thought, that is, the
(“functionalism”) stressed the social dimensions of religious
idea that unseen and impersonal powers in the world could
beliefs and the uses to which they could be put: myths of an-
be tapped, accumulated, and directed toward human ends.
cestral emergence were charters for territorial claims; beliefs
Subsequent work in Oceania found closely analogous con-
in ancestral spirits and reincarnation reinforced the ties of
cepts, and the notion of mana was soon generalized to cover
clanship fundamental to the structure of the society; garden
a wide range of cases. More recent ethnographers have shown
magic coordinated the productive efforts of entire communi-
Codrington’s original formulation to be based on a funda-
ties, while fishing magic lent the confidence necessary to per-
mental semantic misunderstanding (see, for example, Roger
ilous undertakings. For Malinowski, the interpretation of re-
M. Keesing’s “Rethinking Mana,” Journal of Anthropological
ligion was less a matter of locating general categories or
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apprehending a particular mode of thought than discovering
A missionary anthropologist working in New Caledo-
a pragmatic rationality in what people said and did in the
nia, Maurice Leenhardt, in his Do Kamo: Person and Myth
context of a specific social system.
in the Melanesian World (Chicago, 1979), developed a novel
approach that grew out of his practical and intellectual con-
Malinowski’s influence upon anthropology was enor-
cern with the relation between traditional religion and Chris-
mous: his style of fieldwork became the hallmark of serious
tianity (see James Clifford’s Person and Myth: Maurice Leen-
anthropology, while his version of functional analysis be-
hardt in the Melanesian World, Berkeley, 1982). Seizing upon
came basic to the anthropological tool kit. The period be-
religious ideas (especially as embodied in myth and in lin-
tween the wars was marked by a number of fine-grained field
guistic categories) as a frame for experience, he analyzed New
studies, in which the works of Gregory Bateson, Reo F. For-
Caledonian concepts of identity in terms of time, space, and
tune, Maurice Leenhardt, and F. E. Williams stand out.
personal relationships. This phenomenological undertaking
Fortune is best known for his Sorcerers of Dobu (1932;
served to clarify the differences between New Caledonian
rev. ed., New York, 1963), but a far more significant work
and Western notions of the individual, and this analysis in
is his Manus Religion (Philadelphia, 1935) Enmeshed in a
turn helped to situate his understanding of the process of
dense network of obligations, Manus Islanders depended on
conversion to Christianity in terms of the transformation of
the ghosts of their fathers to punish moral breaches through
the self.
illness, and when illness struck divination sought out the suf-
Prior to World War II, most anthropological work fol-
ferer’s lapses in confession and expiation. Fortune showed
lowed Malinowski’s program with general ethnographic cov-
how such beliefs occasioned assessment and reparation of
erage as the goal. The war itself brought about a total halt
personal relationships while seeking to regain the sufferer’s
in fieldwork and it was not until the 1950s that Pacific an-
health. In the process ghost beliefs were rescued from the
thropology once again became active. When it did so there
dead category of “ancestor worship” by examining their role
were several noteworthy differences. Most significant of these
in the dynamics of village life.
was a reorientation influenced by A. R. Radcliffe-Brown and
his students. Within this perspective most aspects of culture
Bateson’s Naven (1938; 2d ed., Stanford, Calif., 1958)
were seen as epiphenomena to be accounted for in terms of
was an ambitious attempt to interpret a central ritual of the
their contribution to the maintenance of the social order as
Iatmul people of the Sepik River of New Guinea. In the
defined by systems of groups such as clans, lineages, and so
Naven ritual, significant events in an individual’s life were
on. Religious beliefs and practices were accorded a decidedly
marked by a ceremonial inversion of sex roles, and Bateson
secondary role and entered into analysis only insofar as they
took the problems posed by this rite as the foundation for
could be shown to reinforce a system of social relations.
a sophisticated development of the concept of structure in
cultural analysis. In this way ritual became a lens for under-
One result of these developments was that the study of
standing the formal underpinnings of psychological atti-
traditional religions remained to all intents and purposes
tudes, cosmological principles, intergroup relations, and so-
moribund as analyses of social structure dominated the field
cial roles in Iatmul culture.
until the latter part of the 1960s. The major exception to this
trend was afforded by the study of cargo cults. Though wide-
F. E. Williams, the Government Anthropologist for
spread throughout the Pacific, cargo cults were neglected be-
Papua until his death in World War II, conducted a number
fore the publication of Kenelm Burridge’s Mambu, a Melane-
of field studies touching upon traditional religions, but his
sian Millennium (London, 1960), despite the availability of
most significant contribution was his account of the so-called
Williams’s prewar work. Popularly associated with bizarre
Vailala Madness among the peoples of the Papuan Gulf,
rites aimed at the acquisition of Western manufactured
published in his The Vailala Madness and Other Essays (Lon-
goods, cargo cults burgeoned in the wake of the massive mili-
don, 1976). An early instance of what were later to become
tary operations of World War II.
familiar as cargo cults, the Vailala Madness was a dramatic
cultural transformation in which traditional rites were aban-
Burridge’s work in the Madang region of New Guinea
doned wholesale as local people strove to embark on a new
showed that the notion of “cargo” comprised not only Euro-
mode of life in the face of European contact. The movement
pean goods but the ensemble of moral dilemmas embodied
was directed through tranced prophets, and key themes were
in local relations with Europeans and the cash economy.
the establishment of contact with ancestors (identified with
Radically different from traditional forms of exchange, cash
Europeans), a transcendence of traditional divisions between
transactions entailed no reciprocal obligation and conferred
the sexes, and access to European goods through ritual. Wil-
no moral standing and thus called into question traditional
liams’s reaction to the movement was ambivalent, but he
measures of man. Through a dialectic of myth, dream, aspi-
drew attention to the creative dynamism latent in the inter-
ration, and moral critique, cargo movements constituted at-
play of skepticism and openness that marked religious belief
tempts to formulate an image of a new life and a new morali-
for Papuan peoples. This observation was pregnant with im-
ty, made concrete in the figure of the charismatic cargo
plications for prevailing views postulating a relatively static
prophet. An overall concern was to reestablish the moral
integration of religion and culture.
equivalence basic to Melanesian societies in a Europeanized
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environment by transcending the limitations symbolized in
Wagner’s theory is that these processes be understood as nor-
the notion of cargo. Burridge’s study was soon augmented
mal properties of all cultural systems. Both of these works
by Peter Lawrence’s historical account of Madang cargo
locate sources of cultural dynamism in the realm of religious
movements, Road Belong Cargo (Manchester, England,
phenomena and emphasize the reflective interplay of image
1964). Lawrence analyzed the career of Yali, a cargo prophet,
and experience. They thus offer essentially open-ended ac-
in the context of native relations with Europeans. An impor-
counts in which symbols are apprehended less as static struc-
tant point made in both of these studies was the extent to
tures than as participants in a dialectic that Williams might
which traditional epistemologies based upon mythology and
well have termed “culture on the move” (1976, p. 395).
revelatory experiences served to enable historical transforma-
Anthropology from the mid-1970s forward witnessed a
tions in Madang societies. These analyses were complement-
growing interest in processes of symbolization, and this de-
ed by Peter Worsley’s comparative study, The Trumpet Shall
velopment, coupled with the impact of previous work,
Sound (London, 1957), which argued that cargo movements
prompted a number of detailed studies placing religion once
were nascent anticolonial political movements. Each of these
again at the heart of anthropology in the Pacific. Several pro-
works implied a critique of contemporary views of religion
vocative analyses of ritual emerged, addressing a wide range
as the static appendage of social structure by underscoring
of theoretical problems.
the dynamic role of religion in cultural change.
Wagner extended the logic of his previous analysis in Le-
In the mid-1960s, Lawrence and M. J. Meggitt edited
thal Speech (Ithaca, N. Y., 1978), a study of different genres
Gods, Ghosts, and Men in Melanesia (Melbourne, 1965),
of Daribi myth. Developing a line congenial to Wagner’s
which is a compilation of a number of detailed accounts of
work, Edward L. Schieffelin, in his The Sorrow of the Lonely
Melanesian religions. Yet with the noteworthy exception of
and the Burning of the Dancers (New York, 1976), recounts
Jan van Baal’s Dema (The Hague, 1966), most other anthro-
the metaphorically rich gisaro ceremony and makes use of the
pological treatments of traditional religions remained fixated
concepts of opposition and reciprocity to situate an overall
on social structure as the guiding interpretive frame. One in-
understanding of the Kaluli worldview. In his Karavar:
novative departure was Roy A. Rappaport’s Pigs for the Ances-
Masks and Power in Melanesian Ritual (Ithaca, N. Y., 1974),
tors (New Haven, 1968), which viewed the ritual cycle of pig
Frederick K. Errington showed how rites involving masked
sacrifices among the Maring as a homeostatic mechanism for
dancers articulated a collective image of order against the
maintaining ecological relationships between local popula-
backdrop of cultural assumptions postulating a chaotic
tions and their environment. Even here, however, the em-
human nature.
phasis remained upon the role of religious institutions in un-
Male initiation rites became a focus of attention in, for
derwriting some form of status quo, whether sociological or
example, Gilbert H. Herdt’s Guardians of the Flutes (New
ecological, portraying them as essentially parasitic upon
York, 1981), a study of the psychological dimensions of sex-
other features of the social system.
ual identity; Fredrik Barth’s Ritual and Knowledge among the
A dramatic shift in the analysis of religious phenomena
Baktaman of New Guinea (New Haven, 1975), an examina-
took place with the publication of Burridge’s Tangu Tradi-
tion of the relation between ritual and knowledge; and Gil-
tions (Oxford, 1969) and Roy Wagner’s Habu: The Innova-
bert Lewis’s Day of Shining Red (Cambridge, 1980), a study
tion of Meaning in Daribi Religion (Chicago, 1972). In a
of hermeneutic problems. One of the most impressive con-
painstaking analysis of Tangu narrative, Burridge extended
tributions was Alfred Gell’s Metamorphosis of the Cassowaries
the thesis adumbrated in his previous work by teasing out
(London, 1975), in which a complex and refractory dialectic
the ways in which, through recourse to myth, the Tangu ap-
of succession and renewal became intelligible through a sym-
prehended the singular and numinous in experience. Finding
bolic analysis utilizing structuralist techniques of interpreta-
more in myth than a Malinowskian charter for particular so-
tion. Structuralist principles also contributed strongly to F.
cial arrangements, Burridge argued that it provided a tool for
Allan Hanson and Louise Hanson’s Counterpoint in Maori
the exploration of unrealized possibilities, and he demon-
Culture (London, 1983), a sophisticated analysis of comple-
strated how mythic content in turn became reformulated in
mentarity and symmetry in Maori religion and culture, while
the light of novel experience. In Habu Wagner pursued a dif-
Marshall D. Sahlin’s account of transformations in Hawaiian
ferent line of thought with similar implications. Focusing
culture in his Historical Metaphors and Mythical Realities
upon traditional Daribi religion, he developed a theory of in-
(Ann Arbor, 1981) and Islands of History (Chicago, 1985)
novation upon cultural ideologies that took the process of
deployed similar techniques to show how metaphorical ex-
metaphorization as its key concept. Covering a range of ma-
tensions of religious premises influenced the direction of his-
terial incuding naming, dream interpretation, the form of
torical change.
magical spells and the patterning of ritual, he argued for a
Two of the most significant recent trends in the study
view of cultural meaning stressing a dialectical tension be-
of Oceanic religions are the incorporation of a view that ac-
tween different realms of experience that afforded scope for
cords to symbols an active role in transforming experience
creativity in the innovative extension of metaphors across
and a concern to come to grips with the dynamism of reli-
conventional categories of signification. An essential part of
gious life. These orientations grow out of general anthropo-
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OCEANIC RELIGIONS: HISTORY OF STUDY [FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS]
6803
logical preoccupations and at the same time reflect the neces-
en’s Brow: Pre-Christian Religious Tradition in Chuuk (2002,
sity of coming to terms with history. Pacific pagans are now
on a Micronesian case). These shifts in approach have en-
few and far between, and the last century has seen the emer-
couraged scholars to take one major topic and explore it
gence of Christianity as the dominant religious form in Oce-
across a regional board, whether in symposia or monographs,
ania. For examples of these trends at work, see Mission,
as in The Religious Imagination in New Guinea, edited by
Church, and Sect in Oceania, edited by James A. Boutilier et
Herdt and Stephen (1989) on the imaginal, Payback: The
al. (Ann Arbor, 1978); Raymond Firth’s Rank and Religion
Logic of Retribution in Melanesian Cultures by Garry Trompf
in Tikopia (London, 1970); and John Garrett’s To Live
(1994) on retributive logic in Melanesian religions, and
among the Stars (Suva, Fiji Islands, 1982). If the study of
Handbook of Polynesian Mythology by Robert Craig (2004)
Oceanic religions is to retain contemporary relevance it must
on recurring mythic themes. In a collection inspired by
take as its task an understanding of religious life harking back
Henri Dumont’s Homo Hierarchicus (1966) the French duo
to Leenhardt’s central problem: the retention of authenticity
Daniel de Coppet and André Iteanu (1995) garnished an im-
in the face of the christianization of the Pacific.
pressive range of contributions on the relation between cos-
mological ideas and social structure across the South Pacific.
SEE ALSO Codrington, R. H.; Leenhardt, Maurice; Mali-
Continental anthropology, indeed, showed increasing sensi-
nowski, Bronislaw.
tivity to the details of traditional religious insights and their
DAN W. JORGENSEN (1987)
relation to ritual organization. The region along and around
the Sepik River has received much recent attention (thus
Brigitta Hauser-Schäublin on the societal function and sym-
bolism of cult houses; Jürg Wassmann on outer and esoteric
OCEANIC RELIGIONS: HISTORY OF STUDY
[FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS]

knowledge among the Iatmul; and Bernard Juillerat—in a
neo-Freudian vein—showing how Yafar myths express tradi-
During the 1980s, general ethnologies of Pacific cultures had
tional views of sexual difference). The most intense feminist
become a decidedly less popular enterprise, and fin-de-siècle
reappraisal of anthropological findings was Continental, the
crisis of identity among anthropologists (who were affected
Melanesia-wide study of magic and sorcery by Susanne Sch-
especially by critical theory and post-modernist trends) al-
röter (1994) being noteworthy, with her worries about prior
tered the profile of writings on Oceania’s religious life.
researchers’ non-committal over violence against women in
Doubts that the whole fabric of any society could ever be
summarized reached an extreme, and it became almost a
traditional cultures.
given methodologically that one ought to approach a culture
Whereas the huge number of traditional religions in
through one or two “windows.” For example, an unusual fea-
Oceania continued to beckon investigation, religious change
ture of Oceanian social life might call for an explanation, and
has come to be placed higher on the research agenda. Adjust-
meeting the challenge to explain this feature could thereby
ment movements in the wake of the early mission impact in
open a vista onto the cultural whole through a justifiable spe-
Polynesia were skillfully reconstructed by Jukka Siikala in his
cial point of entry. One of these entry points might be reli-
Cult and Conflict in Central Polynesia (1982), which ex-
gion—or specific aspects thereof. An intriguing traditional
plained, for instance, how the sacral kingship of present-day
cult could beckon an account—one involving homosexual
Tonga arose. Melanesian cargo cults also remain objects of
rites, for example; or perhaps a cyclopean devouring spirit
concern, with the most detailed accounts of single cults being
being occupying a dominant haus tambaran (spirit house) as
undertaken by Patrick Gesch (on the Peli Association in and
exhibited by Donald Tuzin on the Ilhaita Arapesh in hinter-
around the Negrie-Yangoru culture complex, hinterland
land New Guinea; or cults in which mysterious disclosures
New Guinea), Elfriede Hermann on the aftermath of the
of fauna marked various grades of initiation (see Fredrik
Yali movement of the Madang area famously documented
Barth on the Baktaman, highland New Guinea, and Harvey
in Peter Lawrence’s Road Belong Cargo, Andrew Lattas (on
Whitehouse on Melanesia more generally). Thus, specific
the “bush” Kaliai), and Dorothy Billings (on the pro-
features of traditional religion have been scrutinzed in depth,
American Johnson movement, New Hanover). Both of these
as in the following four key examples: sorcery, by Michele
cases are from the New Guinea Islands.
Stephen and Bruce Knauft on the Papuan Mekeo and Gebu-
si respectively; medical lore, by Stephen Frankel on the
Building on his research on Tanna Island, Vanuatu, La-
Southern Papua New Guinea Highlands Huli; the poetics
mont Lindstrom produced the only general monograph on
of space, by Gillian Gillison and James Weiner on other
the subject in the last quarter of the twentieth century with
highland cases; and sacrifice, by Valerio Valeri on Hawai’an
Cargo Cult: Strange Stories of Desire from Melanesia and Be-
kingship and sacrifice. Discrete traditional religions have also
yond (1993). Trompf, while editing a collection on cargo
been described in separate studies, as with Roger Keesing’s
cults and millenarian movements that included Pacific mate-
Kwaio Religion (1982, about a Malaitan people in the Solo-
rials, also opened up the study of independent churches in
mon Islands), or Mary MacDonald’s Mararoko: A Study in
Oceania by taking his cue from Bengt Sundkler’s pioneering
Melanesian Religion (1991, on the Southern Highland Kewa,
research in Africa. The presence of “spiritistic tendencies” in
Papua New Guinea), and Ward Goodenough’s Under Heav-
Melanesian responses to Christianity—altered states such as
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OCEANIC RELIGIONS: HISTORY OF STUDY [FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS]
glossolalia, group experience of a spirit wind, ecstatic prayer,
highpoints in Freek Kamma’s two-volume “Dit wonderlijke
and prophesying—was spotted by John Barr and interpreted
werk” (1977 on northern areas) and Jan Boelaar’s three-
as culturally appropriate rites de passage into a new religious
volume Met Papoea’s samen op Weg (ch 1992-7, on the
order. Manfred Ernst, in his Winds of Change (1994), went
south). Eminent missiologists applied themselves especially
on to explain that the appeal of Christian Pentecostalism still
to Melanesia, Theodor Ahrens following up various publica-
burgeoning across the Pacific partly reflected cultural predis-
tions in German, such as Unterwegs nach der verlorenen Hei-
positions.
mat (1986), with his important Grace and Reciprocity (2002)
Religious change in itself increasingly dictated the an-
(on Christian reinforcement of the positive side of “payback”
thropological agenda. Symptomatic was Ton Otto and Ad
in Melanesian religions), and likewise John D’Arcy May ad-
Borsboom’s edited Cultural Dynamics of Religious Change in
ding to his Christus Initiator (1990, in German) a study of
Melanesia (1997); but one also notes a spate of publications
Transcendence and Violence (2003) (an attempt to sort out
on women’s movements and changing gender roles (by Lor-
ambigious relationships between Christian monotheism and
raine Sexton, Deborah Gewertz, and Elizabeth Jolly) which
negative “payback,” with the Melanesian situation to the
introduced religious values being invoked by women to
fore). Catalyst and Point, issuing from the Melanesian Insti-
counter male maladjustments to modernity (alcoholism,
tute of Pastoral and Socio-Economic Service, have consoli-
promiscuity, domestic violence, and so on).
dated as the most prestigious serials in missiologically-
oriented anthropology in the region, but Irian on Indonesia’s
With over ninety percent of Pacific Islanders adopting
side of the great New Guinea Island is hardly far behind. The
Christianity it was inevitable that studies of mission would
Micronesian Counselor, founded by Hezel, favors applied re-
have to be complemented by assessments of indigenous
search to solve socio-religious problems in the most isolated
Christianities. Friedegard Tomasetti was first to argue that
places on earth.
the time had arrived when anthropologists would often have
to begin research within Christian congregations and then
The tertiary study of religion and theology within Ocea-
work back to tradition. In her Traditionen und Christentum
nia itself provided better opportunities for broader overviews
(1976), Tomasetti grasped how Melanesians carried with
of regional religious life by expatriate scholars who were able
them two basic readings of the world—one applying to the
to operate at length from institutions relatively close to their
Old Time and the other to the New—with highly varied at-
research areas, as well as for projects to be taken up by emer-
tempts to integrate the dichotomy. At a later stage, John
gent indigenous intellectuals trained in those institutions.
Barker championed the need for a special research area con-
Among work with this wide compass was that of researchers
cerning Pacific Christianity, editing Christianity in Oceania
with missiological interests, such as Ennio Mantovani (of the
(1990). Bronwyn Douglas later advised fieldworkers that
Melanesian Institute) and Theo Aerts (Bomana Regional
they should no longer treat Christians as “invisible,” let alone
Catholic Seminary; and Religious Studies, University of
as some kind of “Gothic theater.” Joel Robbins, already in-
Papua New Guinea). Beginning as a foundation Lecturer in
terested in grassroots eschatological expectations at the turn
Religious Studies at the University of Papua New Guinea,
of the twenty-first century, was one anthropologist who had
Garry Trompf went on to treat Pacific religion in all its as-
no trouble adjusting to the pressure, and in his work Becom-
pects (traditional, transitional, ecclesial, and theological) in
ing Sinners (2004) analyzed the moral torment among the
Melanesian Religion (1991) and, with Tony Swain, on Ab-
New Guinea highland Urapmin and this people’s difficulties
original Australia in The Religions of Oceania (1995).
in transferring from one moral system to another.
As for islander researchers, whereas a few of them stud-
Meanwhile, the concern of the documentation and eval-
ied traditional religions well away from their home islands—
uation of the role of missions did not abate. Charles Forman
Tongan Epeli Hau’ofa, investigator of the Papuan Mekeo
studied the making of islander churches, as can be seen in
(1981) preeminent among them—most were diffident about
The Island Churches of the South Pacific (1982). A trilogy of
“spying out” the habits and beliefs of other nearby peoples,
books by John Garrett on Pacific mission history from 1668
even if some were willing to comment on their traditions.
to the present (1982–1997) was published, and Francis
Some penetrating islander analyses of new religious move-
Hezel’s contact history of the Caroline and Marshall Islands,
ments have been made, with West Papuan/Irianese Benny
The First Taint of Civilization (1983) considered the difficul-
Giay on Wissel Lakes prophet Zakheus Pakage (1995) and
ties for early mission work posed by misbehaving seafarers
Solomonese Esau Tuza on the Christian Fellowship Church
at favorite ports of call as well as the scattered nature of atoll
of New Georgia being the best known. In the mainstream
existence.
scholarship, high indigenous achievements have been in the
In his recently republished part of the Oxford History of
domain of contextual theology, relating the claims of the
the Christian Church, Ian Breward’s History of the Churches
Christian Gospel to autochthonous values. An example of
in Australasia (2004) deals ably with New Zealand and the
this is the recent impressive work by Sevati Tuwere, Vanua:
Pacific Islands, not just the Australian scene. Missionary an-
Towards a Fijian Theology of Place (2002), on land, worship,
thropology was always strong in Irian Jaya (West Papua) and
and ruling authority in biblical and Fijian understandings.
explorations of acculturation and Christianization attained
Most islander religious writing is in the Pacific region’s theo-
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

OCEANS
6805
logical journals, or in theological collections, or in the form
OCEANS. It is natural to begin a survey of the mythology
of creative literature.
of oceans with their eponymous deity, the Greek god
Okeanos (etymology unknown). All evidence testifies that
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Okeanos was originally conceived as a river god, rather than
Barker, John, ed. Christianity in Oceania: Ethnographic Perspec-
a god of the salt sea. This illustrates a characteristic difficulty:
tives. Lanham, Md., 1990.
To treat rivers, springs, and fountains, or the symbolic and
Billings, Dorothy. Cargo Cult as Theater: Political Performance in
religious associations of water in general, exceeds the com-
the Pacific. Lanham, Md., 2002.
pass of this article, but such distinctions are not always rigor-
Ernst, Manfred. Winds of Change: Rapidly Growing Religious
ous in the mythological traditions.
Groups in the Pacific Islands. Suva, Fiji Islands, 1984.
Forman, Charles H. The Island Churches of the South Pacific.
In the pantheon defined by Hesiod’s Theogony,
Maryknoll, N.Y., 1982.
Okeanos is the offspring of Ouranos (Sky) and Gaia (Earth),
Garrett, John. Footsteps in the Sea: Christianity in Oceania to World
and thus of the race of Titans that included Kronos, the fa-
War II, and Where Nets Were Cast: Christianity in Oceania
ther of Zeus. With his sister Tethys as consort, Okeanos pro-
since World War II. Geneva, 1992–1997.
duced the vast brood of Okeanids, spirits of rivers and
Giay, Benny. Zakheus Pakage and his Communities: Indigenous Re-
streams. Parallel to Okeanos is Pontos (Sea): Born of Gaia
ligious Discourse, Socio-Political Resistance, and Ethnohistory of
alone, he unites with her to engender Nereus, whence the
the Me of Irian Jaya. Amsterdam, 1995.
Nereids, a species of sea nymphs corresponding to the
Goodenough, Ward H. Under Heaven’s Brow: Pre-Christian Reli-
Okeanids. While Pontos remains a bare abstraction,
gious Tradition in Chuuk. Philadelphia, 2002.
Okeanos is imagined as dwelling with Tethys at the edge of
Hau’ofa, Epeli. Mekeo: Inequality and Ambivalence in a Village So-
the world, which he encircles. In descriptions of the shields
ciety. Canberra, 1981.
of Achilles (Homer) and Herakles (attributed to Hesiod),
Herdt, Gilbert H., ed. Ritual Homosexuality in Melanesia. Berke-
Okeanos occupies the rim.
ley, Calif., 1982.
Herdt, Gilbert H., and Michele Stephen, eds. The Religious Imagi-
References in Homer (Iliad 14.200f., 244ff., 301f.), as
nation in New Guinea. Piscataway, N.J., 1989.
well as in Plato, Vergil, Orphic texts, and elsewhere, identify
Hezel, Francis. The First Taint of Civilization: A History of the Car-
Okeanos and Tethys as the source (genesis) of gods or of the
oline and Marshall Islands in Pre-Colonial Days, 1521–1885.
universe. Details of this cosmogony are obscure; according
Pacific Islands Monograph Series. Honolulu, 1983.
to one version, the primordial waters brought forth an egg
Keesing, Roger M. Kwaio Religion. New York, 1982.
that initiated the process of creation (Orphic fragments 54,
Lattas, Andrew. Cultures of Secrecy: Reinventing Race in Bush Kaliai
57). Okeanos was related to underworld rivers such as the
Cargo Cults. New Directions in Anthropological Writing.
Styx, which was his daughter, according to Hesiod (Theogony
Madison, Wisc., 1998.
361; cf. Plato, Phaedo 112e). The Isle of the Blessed, where
Lindstrom, Lamont. Cargo Cult: Strange Stories of Desire from Mel-
souls of heroes dwelled, was in Okeanos’s waters (Odyssey
anesia and Beyond. Honolulu, 1993.
4.562–568). The relationship between the cosmogonic role
MacDonald, Mary N. Mararoko: A Study in Melanesian Religion.
of Okeanos and water as the fundamental element in Tha-
American University Studies, Ser. XI, 45. New York, 1991.
les’s philosophy is moot.
Mageo, Jeanette M., and Alan Howard, eds. Spirits in Culture,
History, and Mind. New York, 1996.
Okeanos was occasionally represented in sculptures and
sarcophagus reliefs, but does not appear to have had a specific
Meigs, Anna. Food, Sex, and Pollution: A New Guinea Religion.
New Brunswick, N.J., 1984.
cult. The sea was worshiped and appeased in the name of Po-
seidon, later identified with the Roman Neptune. The primi-
Robbins, Joel. Becoming Sinners: Christianity and Moral Torment
in Papua New Guinea Society. Berkeley, Calif., 2004.
tive evolution of Poseidon is obscure (he is conspicuously as-
sociated with the horse). In the Olympian scheme, Poseidon
Swain, Tony, and Garry Trompf. The Religions of Oceania. New
York, 1995.
received the waters as his province from Zeus. He was re-
sponsible for maritime calm and turbulence, and for earth-
Trompf, Garry. Melanesian Religion. Cambridge, U.K., 1991.
quakes. As consort of the Okeanid (or Nereid) Amphitrite,
Trompf, Garry. Payback: The Logic of Retribution in Melanesian
he was father of the gigantic Triton, whose torso terminated
Cultures. Cambridge, U.K., 1994.
in a serpent’s tail. Various pre-Olympian deities abided in
Trompf, Garry and Friedegard Tomasetti. Religions of Melanesia:
the sea, notably Proteus, who shared with Nereus and with
A Bibliographic Survey. Greenport, Conn., 2005.
the Nereid Thetis (mother of Achilles) the power to meta-
Tuwere, Sevati. Vanua: Towards a Fijian Theology of Place. Auck-
morphose and to foretell the future.
land, New Zealand, 2002.
Tuzin, Donald. The Voice of the Tambaran: Truth and Illusion in
The idea of encompassing waters survived into medieval
Ilahita Arapesh Religion. Berkeley, Calif., 1980.
geography, as in the map attached to Ibn Khaldu¯n’s Muqad-
Whitehouse, Harvey. Arguments and Icons: Divergent Modes of Re-
dimah (the name U
¯ qya¯nu¯s in one manuscript renders
ligiosity. Oxford, 2000.
“Okeanos”). The earth is said by Islamic writers to float on
GARRY W. TROMPF (2005)
the sea like a grape or an egg.
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6806
OCEANS
In the cultures of the ancient Near East, oceanic waters
which was dammed, channeled, and drained by the god Yu
figured largely in cosmogonic myths. According to Sumerian
with the help of a dragon, Yu then became the founder of
tradition, in the beginning was Nammu (Sea), whence arose
China’s first dynasty.
a mountain representing heaven and earth, later separated by
The Ainu (the aborigines of Japan) tell of a small bird
the air god Enlil. In the Babylonian creation story, recited
that dispersed the primal waters by the motion of its wings.
at the New Year, the primordial gods are two: the masculine
In the Kojiki, the main compendium of ancient Japanese
Apsu, representing sweet waters, and the feminine Tiamat,
myth, the original chaos is compared to oily water, but the
the salt-water ocean, from whose union come the gods. Apsu
sea’s major role appears in the tale of the sons of Ninigi, the
is vanquished by younger gods, but Tiamat continues the
divine ancestor of Japan’s emperors. The younger son, Po-
battle with the help of Kingu and other monstrous offspring;
wori, a hunter, borrows and loses the fishhook of his brother
she is defeated by the storm god Marduk and divided in two,
Po-deri. A sea deity constructs a boat and advises Po-wori to
one part of her being raised to contain the upper waters.
sail to the palace of Watatsumi, god of the sea, and his
From the Epic of Gilgamesh, it appears that the land of the
daughter To¯yo¯tama. Po-wori marries To¯yo¯tama but later de-
dead was reached by crossing a body of water. The same nar-
sires to return home. Watatsumi recovers the lost hook and
rative incorporates the Sumerian tradition of a great flood,
gives his son-in-law two jewels to control the tides. Coming
perhaps representing a return to the primordial state.
home on a crocodile, Po-wori subdues his elder brother.
In Canaanite myth, the senior deity El favors Yam (Sea)
To¯yo¯tama, assuming the form of a crocodile, bears her hus-
against his own son, Baal (associated with fertility and rain).
band a child and then returns to the sea, ashamed that he
Yam surrenders to Baal and is spared; also vanquished is the
has observed her thus. Her younger sister tends and marries
serpent Lotan, related to the Hebrew Leviathan (cf. also the
the son, and from this union is born the first Japanese
defeats of Rahab and Tannin: Ps. 74:13, 89:11; Is. 51:9;
emperor. Shrines are devoted to Watatsumi and other sea
etc.). The biblical sea waters seem to retain a threatening as-
divinities.
pect, as though not entirely submissive to creation; certain
Meander patterns on Paleolithic vessels of Europe, often
passages indicate the sea as the site of God’s throne (e.g., Ps.
in association with maternal figures, eggs, snakes, and water-
104:3; Ez. 28:2).
fowl, suggest water as a fertility symbol. In the Finnish epic
In Egyptian sources, the waters of Nun, on which the
Kalevala (old version), which preserves Finno-Ugric tradi-
earth rests, are sometimes identified as the origin of life. At
tions, the world is created out of eggs laid by an eagle on the
the parting of the waters appears the primal hill. Nun was
knee that the hero Väinämöinen lifts from the sea (Väinä
also conceived as surrounding the earth (like Okeanos), so
means “still water”). Väinämöinen subsequently sails to
that the sun emerged each day from his waters in the east.
death’s domain and escapes meshes laid to trap him by meta-
The route to the afterworld is the river Nile, host also to
morphosing into various forms. The Saami (Lapp) god
aquatic deities such as the crocodile, but because the Nile was
Cacce Olmai (Water Man), a deity of fishing, is said to as-
believed to have its source in the netherworld (Pyramid Texts
sume various shapes; also reported is a mermaidlike creature
1551a, 1557b), the distinction between river and primal wa-
called Akkruva, similar to the Inuit (Eskimo) Inue, a kind
ters is not absolute.
of merman.
The R:gveda (10.121) alludes to a cosmic egg (Praja¯pati)
In Celtic myths, there is a paradisiacal island called Brit-
that emerged from water, an idea elaborated in later com-
tia located in the ocean. This ancient account is transmitted
mentaries (S´atapatha Bra¯hman:a 11.1.6) that also record a
by the Byzantine historian Procopius (cf. the Arthurian Ava-
flood. The identification of Varun:a as god of the sea is post-
lon, the Irish Tir-na-nogue). Islands are the object of voyages
Vedic. The ocean is the source of amr:ta, the liquor of im-
by various heroes or demigods. Bran, a sea giant, encounters
mortality (analogously, the Greek ambrosia is sometimes
an isle of women, an isle of laughter and joy, and other fan-
connected with the ocean). In Hindu mythology, the cobra-
tastical places on his journey. Similarly, Brendan, in search
like sea demons called na¯gas (feminine dragons are called
of the Land of Promise, encounters enchanted islands and
na¯ginis) have their kingdom in the west or alternatively are
monsters; one island proves to be the back of a gigantic sea
imagined as dwelling in the underworld. In Cambodia, the
creature (cf. Sindbad’s first voyage). The Roman general Ser-
first Khmer dynasty is said to have sprung from the union
torius is said by Plutarch to have attempted such a journey
of the daughter of a na¯ga king with a Hindu prince.
from Spain, which suggests a possible syncretism of Greek
and Iberian traditions. The inspiration of Brendan’s legend
In Chinese myth, where nature deities play a relatively
is evident in Dante’s version of Odysseus’s last voyage.
unimportant part, the four seas that surround the earth are
associated each with a dragon king. In one legend the king
The province of the sea fell on the Celtic god or hero
of all the dragons arose from the sea and prevented the first
Ler, and more especially to his son, Manannán mac Lir, pa-
emperor of Qin from voyaging to the islands of the immor-
tron of sailors and merchants and the eponymous deity of
tals. The antiquity of such stories is in doubt, as they appear
the Isle of Man. Manannán rode the steed Enbarr, which
to have been influenced by Hindu myth. Undeniably ancient
could traverse water as easily as land (cf. the kelpie or sea
(dating from the Zhou dynasty) is the story of the flood,
horse in Scottish folklore).
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OCEANS
6807
In the Eddas, the god of the sea is Ægir (cognate with
dugouts may reflect a custom of setting bodies adrift to reach
aqua), a member of the race of giants who is friendly to the
the ancestral home or land of the dead. It was believed that
gods. His wife is Ran, and a kenning (metaphorical phrase)
souls were carried to Bulotu, the Tongan land of the dead,
speaks of the waves of Ægir’s daughters. Ægir is the gods’ ale-
in an invisible canoe presided over by Hikuleo, the Tongan
brewer and a giver of banquets. Norse myth tells of various
god of the dead and half-brother of Tangaroa. Near his
sea monsters such as the huge fishlike creature called the kra-
house, in one account, were the waters of life that could con-
ken, as well as mermen and mermaids (see the thirteenth-
fer immortality. The land of the dead, usually located to the
century King’s Mirror), the belief in which has persisted into
west, was the special destination of chiefs and other notables.
modern times among fishermen of New England and else-
Legends tell of parties sailing, usually by mistake, to Bulotu.
where.
Marine myths are not widespread in Africa, but men-
In the Americas, the creation myths of the Chorti, Maya
tion may be made of a Yao (Mozambique) story in which
Indians of Guatemala, mention four seas that are distin-
human beings are fished out of the sea by a chameleon.
guished by color surrounding and beneath the world, with
From the foregoing survey, certain broad themes may
monstrous creatures (angels in Christianized versions) be-
be identified. The ocean is often conceived as the primordial
yond the waters. Among the people of Santa Elena, there is
element, from which land and sometimes living creatures
a story of a race of giants who came from across the sea.
emerge. It surrounds the earth and lies under it, and beyond
There is a hint of a primal sea in the Popol Vuh, the sacred
its waters reside the departed or the blessed, who are some-
book of the Quiché Maya of Guatemala.
times visited by the intrepid voyager. Now and then flood
A widespread North American variant involves the cre-
waters challenge creation. The ocean is inhabited by various
ation of land upon the primordial ocean by means of a diver,
monsters, often serpentine and capable of metamorphosis.
whether divine, human, or animal, who brings mud or earth
Marine deities are sometimes the ancestors of imperial dynas-
up from the sea bottom. In the Salinan version (California),
ties. Finally, in some accounts the waters of the deep are life-
a dove fetches the substance after a flood produced by the
giving, or the source of life-giving brews.
Old Woman of the Sea; a turtle is the agent in Maidu (Cali-
fornia) and Blackfeet myth. In a Huron creation account, a
SEE ALSO Water.
toad is successful; in a Mandan (North Dakota) version, it
is a duck, while other stories feature the muskrat (Assini-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
boine, Great Plains), the water beetle (Cherokee), and the
On the Greek Okeanos, the best study is Jean Rudhardt’s Le thème
crawfish (Yuchi). There are also versions in which the waters
de l’eau primordiale dans la mythologie grecque (Bern, 1971).
simply recede. The Navajo emergence myth, which like the
For the Old Testament, there is a useful survey of oceanic
Hopi myth describes four worlds associated with four direc-
themes in Phillipe Reymond’s L’eau, sa vie, et sa signification
tions and four colors, has four seas as well. The Winnebago
dans l’ancien testament (Leiden, 1958). The ancient Near
Indians (Great Plains) distinguish two classes of water pow-
Eastern materials may be consulted in the collection edited
ers; streams are masculine, while the subterranean waters that
by J. B. Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts relating to the
Old Testament,
3d ed. (Princeton, N.J., 1969). A good sam-
uphold the earth are feminine.
pling of creation myths, in which primordial waters play a
Altaic myth (Siberia) also exhibits versions of the diver
prominent role, is Barbara C. Sproul’s Primal Myths: Creat-
tale, with the diver as swallow, loon, goose, or other water-
ing the World (San Francisco, 1979). The encyclopedic My-
fowl. Elsewhere the diver is a man or devil, often in the guise
thology of All Races, 13 vols., edited by Louis H. Gray and
of a bird; a Christian Romanian version casts Satan as the
George Foot Moore (Boston, 1916–1932), is uneven and
often out of date in method and content, but it contains
diver. In a Samoyed flood story, a bird discovers land in a
much firsthand material and is the most extensive compendi-
manner reminiscent of the bird in the narrative of Noah’s
um. Robert W. Williamson’s Religious and Cosmic Beliefs of
ark. The theme of the ark occurs also in Buriat myth. Men-
Central Polynesia, 2 vols. (1933; New York, 1977), presents
tion may also be made of a Khanty (Yenisei River) creation
the numerous variant versions. The volume Asiatic Mytholo-
story, according to which the earth rests on three great fish,
gy, edited by Joseph Hackin et al. (New York, 1932), is espe-
the sinking of which generates floods.
cially good on modern myths, as in the contribution on
China by Henri Maspero.
In a Polynesian account, Ma¯ui or another deity brings
land up from the sea bottom. A Maori tale tells of a conflict
The Japanese Kojiki is available in a new translation by Donald
between Ta-whiri-ma-tea, the god of storms or winds, and
L. Philippi (Tokyo and Princeton, N.J., 1969). Sources of
his brother Tangaroa, here the father creator of the world.
Celtic mythology are widely scattered, but there is a readable
summary by Charles Squire, The Mythology of the British Is-
Ta-whiri-ma-tea attacks Tangaroa, who takes refuge in the
lands: Celtic Myth and Legend, Poetry and Romance (1909;
ocean. One of Tangaroa’s two children, representing fish, re-
Fulcroft, Pa., 1975), though it is inconsistent in citing
treats to the water. The other child, representing reptiles,
sources and not always reliable in interpretation; see also
hides in the forest, whence the antagonism between the sea
Marie-Louise Sjoestedt’s Gods and Heroes of the Celts (Lon-
and humans, who are descended from the forest deity. The
don, 1949). There is some information relevant to oceans in
Polynesian practice of burying the dead in canoe-shaped
Martin Ninck’s Die Bedeutung des Wassers im Kult und Leben
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

6808
OCKHAM, WILLIAM
der Alten: Eine symbolgeschichtliche Untersuchung (Leipzig,
gest that various peoples who originally had some other chief
1921), along with rich if speculative interpretative sugges-
god had come to identify that god with Óðinn. For example,
tions. For works cited in the text, see The King’s Mirror,
Óðinn’s name Gautr originally may have been the name of
translated by Laurence Marcellus Larson (New York, 1917);
the eponymous father of the people of Gautland. His name
The Old Kalevala of Elias Lönnrot, translated by Francis Pea-
Skilfingr may have been the name of the founding ancestor
body Magoun, Jr. (Cambridge, Mass., 1969); and Pyramid
of the Ynglings of Sweden, whom the Old English poem Be-
Texts, edited by Samuel A. B. Mercer (New York, 1952), in
owulf instead calls the Scylfingas.
which excursuses 14 and 15 are particularly relevant. For Ibn
Khaldun, see Franz Rosenthal’s translation of the Muquddi-
From his high seat in the citadel Ásgarðr, Óðinn can
mah, 3 vols., 2d ed. (Princeton, N.J., 1967); the map is the
look over the nine worlds of the Norse cosmos. His ravens,
frontispiece to volume 1. A readable book on modern folk-
Huginn (Thought) and Muninn (Memory), bring him news
lore is Horace Beck’s Folklore and the Sea (Middletown,
Conn., 1973). For Maya traditions, see John G. Foughts
every morning. Óðinn lacks an eye, and he often wears a hat
Chorti (Mayan) Texts (Philadelphia, 1972).
and a cloak. His weapon is the dwarf-made spear Gungnir,
and his gold arm-ring Draupnir drips eight equally heavy
New Sources
arm-rings every nine days. His horse is the eight-legged
Cabartous, Alain. Le ciel dans la Mer: christianisme et civilisation
Sleipnir. Despite his power, Óðinn cannot prevent the death
maritime. Paris, 1990.
of his son Baldr, which leads to the destruction of the Æsir
Costa, Giancarlo. Misteri e leggende del mare. Milan, 1994.
at Ragnaro˛k by giants and other monsters (who are also de-
Fuson, Robert. Legendary Islands of the Ocean Seas. Sarasota, Fla.,
stroyed in this final battle between these forces). Each god
1998.
has his own opponent in this final conflict, and Óðinn is
Merrien, Jean. La légendaire de la mer. Rennes, France, 2003.
killed by the wolf Fenrir.
Oliver, J. G., ed. The Sea in Antiquity. Oxford, 2000.
Óðinn is called Alfaðir (All-father), perhaps under
DAVID KONSTAN (1987)
Christian influence, as he is not the father of all the gods.
Revised Bibliography
Þórr is the illegitimate child of Óðinn’s giant mistress, Jörð,
and Baldr is the legitimate son of Óðinn and his wife (the
goddess Frigg), but the Vanir deities (the second group of
gods) are unrelated. Óðinn embarks upon short-term sexual
OCKHAM, WILLIAM SEE WILLIAM OF
liaisons, usually as a means to some other end, and in a few
OCKHAM
cases children result. The eddic poem Hárbarðsljóð portrays
Óðinn boasting about his affairs. In one Norse tradition, he
is the creator of human beings: the eddic poem Voluspá says
E
ÓÐINN
that Óðinn and two companions shaped the first man and
(Odin, Wo¯den, Wuotan) is the chief god of Ger-
woman from two logs.
manic mythology. His name, meaning “inspired or intoxi-
cated one,” developed from the Proto-Germanic. *Wo¯þanaz,
WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE. Most of Óðinn’s activities in-
which is related to IE *wa¯tós, the source of the Old Norse
volve his search for wisdom. He asks tidings of the dead and
noun óðr (inspired mental activity, intelligence). Non-
embarks upon journeys during which he gains knowledge
Germanic cognates are Latin va¯t¯es and Old Irish fàith, both
through confrontation with supernatural beings. Óðinn’s
meaning “seer.” Described as the best and the oldest of all
knowledge and the supernatural sharpness of his one eye are
the gods by Snorri Sturluson (1179–1241), Óðinn is a com-
his reward for exchanging the other eye for a drink from wise
plex figure whose many names point to the diversity of his
Mímir’s well. He also converses with Mímir’s head, cut off
functions (Lorenz, 1984, pp. 91–95, 290–304). He is the fa-
by the Vanir but magically preserved by the Æsir. Several
ther of the Æsir (the dominant group of gods), a great magi-
myths portray Óðinn proving his immense knowledge, as in
cian and seeker of wisdom, the master of runes, the patron
the eddic poem Grímnismál. King Geirro˛ðr mistakes Óðinn
of poets, the lord of battles, the god of the dead, and a betray-
(traveling under the name Grímnir) for a malicious magician
er of his human devotees.The brothers Óðinn, Vili, and Vé
and chains him between two fires. After eight nights,
are the first Æsir, the sons of Borr and the giantess Bestla.
Geirro˛ðr’s son brings the stranger a drink and is rewarded
They initiate the Æsir hostility against giants, killing their
with a recitation of mythological lore, ending with fifty
oldest maternal ancestor Ymir to create the world from his
names for Óðinn that reveal Grímnir’s true identity. Óðinn’s
body and later repudiating three giantesses who seem to be
torture and recitation have been interpreted as a shamanistic
hoping for husbands. Óðinn often appears in triads of gods
performance or the ritual education of a royal heir, but it is
and is even called Þriði (Third), leading some to compare
more likely an abstract reflection of Scandinavian concepts
Óðinn, Vili, and Vé with the Christian Trinity (Lorenz,
of sovereignty, for it is Óðinn’s mastery of sacred knowledge
p. 146). Like genealogies of Anglo-Saxon kings tracing their
that justifies his lordship. In the eddic poem Vafþrúðnismál,
ancestry to Wo¯den, euhemeristic tales describing the legend-
Óðinn challenges the giant Vafþrúðnir to a riddle contest to
ary history of Scandinavia claim Óðinn as the father of the
see who knows the most mythological lore. Defeat means
medieval royal dynasties. In addition, some of his names sug-
death for the vanquished, and Óðinn is the victor. Paradoxi-
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ÓÐINN
6809
cally, Óðinn can demonstrate his superiority in lore over the
a member of the dominant class, he can ignore such attri-
giants, but some myths show that he needs knowledge about
butes as the unmanliness associated with Freyja’s magic. In
the fate of the world and the gods that they possess but he
the eddic poem Lokasenna (st. 22), he is accused of unfairness
does not.
in granting victory, but if he acknowledges that he let the less
deserving win, he justifies himself elsewhere by claiming he
Snorri describes Óðinn as a great worker of magic, and
needed heroes to help him face Fenrir at Ragnaro˛k. Howev-
Georges Dumézil considers Óðinn to be the Germanic repre-
er, he clearly relishes inciting conflicts, preventing peace, and
sentative of the Indo-European divine king-magician. He
deceiving those who serve him. For example, when Starkaðr
knows magic charms and songs, and in unmanly fashion he
pronounces the ominous formula “Now I give thee to
employs the women’s sorcery he learned from Freyja. Al-
Óðinn!” after tying a noose of calf gut around his lord’s neck
though others are experts in the use of runes, Óðinn possess-
as he hits him with a reed, Óðinn changes the weak entrail
es the most extensive knowledge of their magic. The eddic
into a sturdy rope and the reed into a spear, transforming the
poems Hávamál (sts. 138–139) and Sigrdrífumál (st. 3) call
sham sacrifice into a regicide (Gautreks saga, ch. 7; see Tur-
Óðinn the inventor of the runes, and the inscription on the
ville-Petre, 1964, p. 45). Óðinn betrays his worshiper Harald
Noleby Stone in Sweden (c. 600 CE) says that the runes come
Wartooth, battering him to death personally (Gesta Dan-
from the gods. Hávamál describes how Óðinn gained the se-
orum, 8.220), and he does not hesitate to perjure himself
crets of runes by hanging from the World Tree for nine
(Hávamál, st. 108–109). No wonder that the human Dagr
nights, wounded with a spear, a sacrifice of himself to him-
in the eddic poem Helgakviða Hundingsbana (II, st. 34), after
self. All the elements of this myth have parallels in Norse tra-
observing that the god has stirred up strife between siblings,
dition, and it was probably not influenced by the Christian
passionately declares that Óðinn is responsible for all evil.
crucifixion. Hávamál also enumerates many of the spells
Óðinn can cast, such as curing illness, stopping missiles in
THE ÓÐINN CULT. Óðinn is also called the God of the
midair, dispelling witches, and inspiring irresistible love.
Hanged, and his cult apparently did involve human sacrifice,
INSPIRER, INCITER, AND DECEIVER. Óðinn’s patronage of
as suggested by the story of Starkaðr’s unintended killing of
poetry is implicit in his name. The meaning “inspired mental
Víkarr. Human sacrifice to Óðinn seems to be depicted on
activity” for the Old Norse word óðr is confirmed by its use
the Gotland picture stone of Stora Hammars, and Tacitus
in court verse in the sense of the word poetry, the poet being
(Germania, ch. 9) says that Mercury (i.e., Óðinn) was the
“a smith of inspired thought” (óðar smiðr). Óðinn spoke in
only god to whom the tribes sacrificed men. A number of
verse, and he granted his protégé Starkaðr the ability to com-
shamanistic elements (intoxicants, self-sacrifice, torture,
pose poetry as fast as he could talk. Óðinn’s most concrete
raven messengers, shape changing, passive receptivity to the
link with poetry is his acquisition of the mead of poetry.
spirit world of sorcery) are associated with Óðinn, but most
Brewed by the dwarfs, who had to relinquish it to the giants,
though not all scholars see among the Germanic peoples no
Óðinn obtains it by seducing its giantess guardian, swallow-
evidence of shamanistic practices such as drumming and
ing it all, changing into an eagle, flying to Ásgarðr, and spew-
dancing to induce a trance state.
ing it out into three crocks the Æsir had ready.
Place-names commemorating Óðinn make up less than
As the god of battle, Óðinn opened the hostilities be-
ten percent of theophorous place-names (those bearing the
tween the Æsir and Vanir by hurling his spear into the enemy
name of a deity) in mainland Scandinavia. They are most fre-
camp. This gesture became a ritual beginning for other bat-
quent in southern Sweden and Denmark, are infrequent in
tles; it consecrates the dead and captured foes to Óðinn, who
southern Norway, and are not found in Iceland at all. How-
houses the ever-growing host of dead warriors in Valhalla for
ever, the place-names based on -vin (pasture-land) and -akr
eventual use as his army at Ragnaro˛k. Indeed, in order to ob-
(acre, field) are ancient, and their existence contradicts the
tain enough fighters, Óðinn time and again instigates the ar-
theory that his cult was a new one that displaced the older
gument that leads to war. As a protector of warriors, Óðinn
worship of Ty´r. Ty´r is the Germanic development of an
teaches his chosen heroes tactics that ensure their victory in
Indo-European god, so he probably predates Óðinn in abso-
combat; for example, he instructs Harald Wartooth to de-
lute terms, but evidently his religious importance diminished
ploy his forces in the field in the shape of a wedge to break
over time, whereas that of Óðinn did not.
the opponents’ line (Turville-Petre, pp. 212, 215). Óðinn is
Other evidence for the age of the cult of Óðinn comes
also the patron of the turbulent and powerful berserkir (bear
from the weekday names in Germanic. The standard transla-
shirts) and ulfheðnar (wolf skins), fighters who attack with
tion of the Latin dies Mercurii was “Wo¯dan’s day” (e.g., Dan.
frenzied fury. Writing around 1070, Adam of Bremen com-
Onsdag, Eng. Wednesday), and as the translation of the names
ments: “Óðinn, that is, ‘frenzy,’ wages war and provides man
of the days of the week took place in the fourth century CE,
with courage against foes” (Gesta Hammaburgensis, 4: 26:
veneration of Óðinn must have been widespread in all of the
“woðan, id est furor, bella gerit hominique ministrat vir-
western and, probably, northern Germanic regions at this
tutem contra inimicos”).
time. Depictions of Óðinn may date back to the Bronze Age,
Óðinn has qualities that would be valued negatively if
if the large spear-bearing god figures on some southern
they belonged to a member of a subordinate group, but as
Swedish rock carvings represent him. Fifth-century gold
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

6810
OFFERINGS
bracteates showing a god accompanied by birds may also rep-
Vries, Jan de. Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte, vol. 2. 2d rev. ed.
resent Óðinn. (Bracteates are Germanic medallions, proba-
Berlin, 1967.
bly inspired by Roman coins, that depict figures and scenes
ELIZABETH ASHMAN ROWE (2005)
that are still not fully understood.) The earliest definite rep-
resentations of Óðinn are sixth- and seventh-century Swed-
ish helmet decorations with Odinic cult scenes. Óðinn is re-
peatedly depicted on ninth-century picture stones, at times
OFFERINGS SEE ALMSGIVING; SACRIFICE;
accompanied by birds, more commonly riding his eight-
TITHES
legged horse. In the next century, pagan Norwegian court
poets honored their patrons by depicting them as warriors
whom Óðinn welcomes to Valhalla, as in the eulogies for
Eiríkr Blood-axe (d. 954) and Hákon the Good (d. c. 960).
OGYU
¯ SORAI (1666–1728), Japanese Confucian of the
Adam of Bremen, who used eyewitness accounts, says that
Ancient Learning school (Kogaku). Sorai was born in Edo
Óðinn was worshiped in the temple at Uppsala, which was
(modern-day Tokyo), the son of Ogyu¯ Ho¯an (1626–1705),
still pagan then.
personal physician to Tokugawa Tsunayoshi (1646–1709),
Theologically, Óðinn is related to the Indian god
lord of the Tatebayashi domain and later the fifth Tokugawa
Varun:a. Both have the knowledge of sorcery, the gift of
shogun. As a child Sorai began studying classical Chinese and
changing shape, and control of the fortunes of battle. Both
at the age of seven entered the academy headed by Hayashi
are the gods of rulers and poets, and both receive human sac-
Gaho¯ (1618–1680), the son of the academy’s founder,
rifice. Óðinn also has parallels with the Indian god Indra,
Hayashi Razan (1583–1657). He progressed quickly in his
who has an encounter with the monster Mada (Drunken-
studies and by the age of nine was able to write simple com-
ness) and who is also the recipient of soma, the intoxicating
positions; he even kept a diary in classical Chinese.
sacrificial liquor that gives poetic ability, immortality, and
Sorai’s otherwise conventional education and upbring-
knowledge of the divine. As with the mead of poetic inspira-
ing were disturbed in 1679, when he was thirteen. For rea-
tion, soma was brought to the gods by an eagle, or possibly
sons that are not clear, in that year Tsunayoshi banished
Indra in the form of an eagle.
Sorai’s father to the village of Honno¯ in Kazusa, sixty miles
from Edo. The exile was understandably difficult, as the fam-
SEE ALSO Berserkers; Eddas; Germanic Religion; Jötnar;
ily was denied the amenities of urban life and the company
Njorðr; Snorri Sturluson.
D
of its social equals. While these unfavorable conditions
forced the adolescent Sorai to study on his own, it also gave
BIBLIOGRAPHY
him firsthand knowledge of rural life. In 1690 his father was
Clunies Ross, Margaret. Prolonged Echoes: Old Norse Myths in Me-
dieval Northern Society, vol. 1, The Myths. Odense, Denmark,
pardoned and the family returned to Edo, where Ho¯an once
1994.
again served as Tsunayoshi’s physician. Sorai established an
Dillmann, François-Xavier. “Georges Dumézil et la religion ger-
academy in Shiba, near the Zo¯jo¯ji, the imposing Pure Land
manique: L’interprétation du dieu Odhinn.” In Georges
temple. Here he attracted the attention of the temple’s abbot,
Dumézil à la découverte des Indo-Européens, edited by Jean-
Ryo¯ya, who helped him secure a position in the house of
Claude Rivière, pp. 157–186. Paris, 1979.
Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu (1658–1714), the shogun’s chamber-
Dumézil, Georges. Gods of the Ancient Northmen. Berkeley, Calif.,
lain and confidante. Sorai served Yoshiyasu for fourteen years
1973.
and performed a variety of tasks: he lectured on the Confu-
Falk, Hjalmar. Odensheite. Oslo, 1924.
cian classics, wrote formal Chinese-style histories, punctuat-
ed and annotated Chinese texts, and taught Yoshiyasu’s re-
Helm, Karl. Woðan: Ausbreitung und Wanderung seines Kultes.
Giessen, Germany, 1946.
tainers. In 1709 he resigned his position and in 1710 opened
a school called the Ken’enjuku (Miscanthus Patch Academy)
Lindow, John. Scandinavian Mythology: An Annotated Bibliogra-
phy. New York, 1988.
in Kayabacho¯, not far from Nihonbashi.
Lindow, John. Handbook of Norse Mythology. Santa Barbara,
Sorai’s personal life was rather tragic. In 1696 he mar-
Calif., 2001.
ried a woman named Kyu¯shi who bore him five children. She
Lorenz, Gottfried. Gylfaginning/Snorri Sturluson. Darmstadt, Ger-
died in 1705, and in time all of their offspring died as well.
many, 1984.
In 1715 Sorai married the daughter of the Mito Confucian,
Polomé, Edgar C. “The Indo-European Heritage in Germanic Re-
Sasa Rikkei (1639–1698?), but she too died, sometime be-
ligion: The Sovereign Gods.” In Athlon: Satura Grammatica
tween 1717 and 1718, without bearing any children. The
in honorem Francisci R. Adrados, edited by A. Bernabé et al.,
deaths of his wives and children, together with his own re-
vol. 1, pp. 401–411. Madrid, 1984.
peated bouts with tuberculosis, among other personal trage-
Starkey, Kathryn. “Imagining an Early Odin: Gold Bracteates as
dies, made Sorai deeply religious. He came to believe that his
Visual Evidence?” Scandinavian Studies 71 (1999): 373–391.
survival was the work of an omniscient and omnipotent
Turville-Petre, Gabriel. Myth and Religion of the North: The Reli-
Heaven. He also attributed his scholarly successes to Heaven
gion of Ancient Scandinavia. New York, 1964.
and believed that Heaven had chosen him to reveal to the
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

OKINAWAN RELIGION
6811
world the long-obscured meaning of the Chinese classics. Al-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
though modern scholars have seen Sorai’s belief in a sentient
de Bary, Wm. Theodore. “Sagehood as a Secular and Spiritual
Heaven as a reaction to the neo-Confucians’ more rationalis-
Ideal in Tokugawa Neo-Confucianism.” In Principle and
tic view of Heaven, there seems little doubt that his beliefs
Practicality: Essays in Neo-Confucianism and Practical Learn-
had much to do with the unhappy circumstances of his per-
ing, edited by Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom,
sonal life.
pp. 127–188. New York, 1979. An important revision of
Maruyama Masao’s interpretation that considers Ogyu¯
Sorai is best known for his dictum, “return to the past.”
Sorai’s thought in the larger context of neo-Confucianism.
The first manifestations of this neoclassicism in his work
Lindin, Olof G. The Life of Ogyu¯ Sorai, a Tokugawa Confucian
were literary. Inspired by the work of the Ming dynasty
Philosopher. Lund, 1973. The only biography of Sorai in En-
(1368–1644) literary critics Li P’an-lung (1514–1570) and
glish.
Wang Shih-chen (1526–1590), he distinguished “ancient”
Maruyama Masao. Studies in the Intellectual History of Tokugawa
and “modern” Chinese literary styles and urged his contem-
Japan. Translated by Mikiso Hane. Princeton, 1974. A clas-
poraries to model their poetic and prose compositions on the
sic study of Tokugawa intellectual history that focuses on
former.
Sorai.
Yamashita, Samuel Hideo. “Nature and Artifice in the Writings
After his retirement and the opening of his school in
of Ogyu¯ Sorai, 1666–1728.” In Confucianism and Tokugawa
1710, Sorai turned from literary matters to the more conven-
Culture, edited by Peter Nosco, pp. 65–138. Princeton,
tional Confucian issues of self-cultivation and statecraft. He
1984. This essay represents current thinking on Sorai’s
became a staunch critic of neo-Confucianism: in Bendo¯ (Dis-
thought.
tinguishing the way) and Benmei (Distinguishing names)
Yoshikawa Ko¯jiro¯. Jinsai, Sorai, Norinaga. Tokyo, 1975. An im-
Sorai recommended that his contemporaries abandon the
portant and highly regarded study of Sorai and two other
commentaries written by Zhu Xi (1130–1200) and his fol-
seminal Tokugawa thinkers by a leading Japanese Sinologist.
lowers and instead study classical literary styles, etiquette,
Translated into English by Kikuchi Yuji as Jinsai, Sorai,
ceremonial practices, and forms of dress.
Norinaga: Three Classical Philosophers of Mid-Tokugawa
Japan
(Tokyo, 1983).
In 1721, Sorai was asked to advise the shogun, Toku-
SAMUEL HIDEO YAMASHITA (1987)
gawa Yoshimune (1684–1751), and in this capacity he pro-
posed countless institutional reforms, most of which survive
in his Seidan (A discourse on government) and Taiheisaku
(A proposal for a great peace). His most ambitious recom-
O
¯ HRMAZD SEE AHURA MAZDA¯ AND ANGRA
mendation was his plan for the rustication of the warrior
MAINYU
population of the cities and castle towns, which was designed
to liberate warriors from the urban commercial economy and
thus from the cycle of consumption, indebtedness, and pov-
OJIBWE (OJIBWA, OJIBWAY)
erty. His aim here was not to return the country to a natural
RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
economy, as is often thought, but to make warriors self-
SEE ANISHINAABE
sufficient. He believed that classical Chinese institutions
RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
could solve the problems of his day, and so he recommended
the adoption of the well-field, rank-in-merit, Six Office, and
Six Ministry systems. He also suggested the introduction of
OKINAWAN RELIGION. Okinawa, one of the pre-
supplementary salaries to allow talented individuals of low
fectures in Japan, was once an independent kingdom called
rank to serve in high positions, and the use of copper cash
Ryukyu. When it comes to Okinawan religion, it is usually
as a standard for determining the value of gold and silver.
assumed the whole religious tradition of the Ryukyu archi-
Although Sorai’s ideas and proposals seem to be the
pelago was governed by the Ryukyu dynasty. This archipela-
product of his profound sinophilia, they had more complex
go is geographically a part of the subtropical islands extend-
and diverse sources: first, his deep, personal belief in Heaven
ing from Kyushu to Taiwan. This area can be divided into
and its agents, the sages and early kings; second, his confi-
four regions: Amami, Okinawa, Miyako, and Yaeyama.
dence that the culture and institutions created by the sages
While there are some regional differences, they share a com-
and early kings of Chinese antiquity were sufficiently univer-
mon religious tradition formed during the age of the Ryukyu
sal to occasion their adoption in his time; third, his belief
kingdom (1429–1879). Therefore, the description of Okina-
that social and cultural conditioning would eventually coun-
wan religion here will combine the greater Ryukyuan cultur-
teract the strangeness of Chinese culture and institutions;
al area with Amami, notwithstanding Amami has belonged
and finally, his belief in the value, even superiority, of classi-
to the Kyushu prefecture since the Meiji era and sometimes
cal Chinese civilization.
is not included in Okinawa.
Okinawan history after the fifteenth century is rather
SEE ALSO Confucianism in Japan.
well known from the information gleaned from historical
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

6812
OKINAWAN RELIGION
documents of China and Japan as well as the chronicle com-
The utaki is a place for kami (divine beings) to descend from
piled by the Ryukyuan dynasty; its pre-fourteenth-century
the sky or the channel to communicate with diverse kami,
history, however, is still wrapped in relative obscurity. Arche-
including the ancestral god of their community and the god
ological researches, with their continuing new discoveries, re-
of nirai-kanai (the paradise over the ocean). The utaki also
port that a foraging culture in Okinawa continued until the
has a historically important role. It functioned as a ceremoni-
eleventh century. Agrarian communities started to emerge in
al center of the polities in the gusuku era. Furthermore, locat-
about the twelfth century, and based upon increased produc-
ed in Shuri gusuku (castle), it had become the ceremonial
tivity with iron a local clan arose in each region. Clan chief-
center of the city-state of the Ryukyu dynasty. The utaki has
tains came to establish polities centered around the fortress
been functioning as the center of the space that continuously
called the gusuku. By the early fourteenth century, three
expands in its historical process.
kingdoms—the Northern (Hokuzan), Central (Chu¯zan),
Another prominent feature of Okinawan religion is the
and Southern (Nanzan)—were consolidated. In 1429
religious primacy of females. The family of the village found-
Chu¯zan unified the others and founded the Ryukyu king-
er lives nearest to the utaki, and this household plays an im-
dom with Shuri gusuku, which is now a World Heritage Site.
portant role in a clan’s religious activity. A female of that
Being a tributary state, Ryukyu conducted a flourishing trade
household attends the utaki and become a priestess to per-
with China, and many Chinese cultural and religious tradi-
form ceremonies and rites. This priestess is called n¯ı-gan (lit-
tions were introduced: the annual cycle of festivals, the lunar
erally, root kami). A male of that household called n¯ı-chu
calendar, ancestral ceremonies and rites, feng-shui (geoman-
(“root person”), who is the brother of the priestess and deals
cy), and Confucian thought. While trading with China,
with the community’s political affairs. Along with other
Ryukyu came to be a tributary state of Japan as well. In 1609
priestesses, constituted by females of the village, the n¯ı-gan
the Satsuma clan of Kyushu conquered Okinawa and
priestess performs rituals for fertility in crops, rice, and fish
brought a great deal of Japanese culture to Okinawa. In 1879
as well as for their thanksgiving. Generally in Okinawa the
Ryukyu was annexed to Japan as the Okinawa prefecture.
religious activities of the village community are led by fe-
After experiencing the war and being occupied by the United
males; males, on the other hand, help females, handle mainly
States from 1945 to 1972, Okinawa came to belong to
secular things, and do not engage in the main activity of
Japan.
communicating with the divine. Males were once forbidden
There is no doubt that Okinawan religious culture is
to enter the utaki.
deeply linked to Japanese culture in light of the archeological
As just described, the female has a primacy in Okinawa’s
data and the fact that Ryukyuan and Japanese have the same
religious context. This primacy is also represented in the
linguistic origin and share similar folk beliefs and practices.
onari-gami (sister-kami) belief that sisters as kami protect and
And since many have assumed that Okinawan culture has ar-
help their brothers with spiritual power. Onari-gami belief
chaic cultural patterns of Japan, some scholars tended to see
is found in the relationship between brothers and sisters; in
Okinawan religion and culture as an archive or museum of
other words, a female is not a kami for everyone. This belief
the archaic age of Japan. Religion and culture in Okinawa,
in the spiritual power of sisters was adapted by the Ryukyu
however, should be understood in their own right, for Oki-
kingdom for its unique hierarchical system in the sixteenth
nawan people have created their own unique tradition under
century. In this system the king governed in the political
given geographical and historical circumstances, arranging
realm while the king’s sister (sometimes a female relative of
outside cultural influences such as those from China and
king) called chif¯ıjin (kikoeo¯kimi) administered the kingdom
Japan. Today many Japanese recognize the uniqueness of
religiously as she dispatched the state priestesses called nuru
Okinawan culture, and the Okinawan people maintain a
(noro) to each region. Under chif¯ıjin, the nuru led the local
strong sense of identity derived from this uniqueness.
priestesses such as n¯ı-gan and performed rites to glorify and
protect the king and prayed for the prosperity of the
One of the most salient features of Okinawan religion
kingdom.
can be seen in the modality of the village space. It is com-
monly accepted that a prototype of Okinawa’s traditional vil-
Rituals at utaki, the sacred space of the villages, are
lage form is found in villages settled around agricultural soci-
mainly conducted with sacred songs, which are known as
ety in around the twelfth century. A village modeled after
kami-uta, and also with praying verses. The contents of these
such a typical traditional form usually has a sacred place
songs and verses are diverse, ranging from a cosmogonic
called utaki (the name differs regionally: uganju, mui, wan).
myth and legends regarding the founding of villages to pro-
The utaki is typically located in the sacred grove in a moun-
spective ritual songs, that is, songs to illustrate various pro-
tain that is behind or near the village, and the core of this
duction processes including farming, weaving, and house
sanctuary is the natural stones, rocks, or trees that constitute
building. The ritual songs for the various productions in the
a primordial altar. It is an important place where a large
community tend to sacralize them, many of which are related
number of ceremonies and rites are performed. This utaki
to mythic events. Priestesses in this prayer are mediators be-
as a ceremonial center provides an orientation for village
tween the divine and human beings, conveying the divine
space, in some cases with the help of the feng-shui technique.
revelation as perfomative through the sacred songs and
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

OKINAWAN RELIGION
6813
verses. The priestesses in the Ryukyu dynasty conducted the
as nuru, n¯ıgan, and other lower priestesses are in charge of
rituals with sacred songs that were compiled in Omoro-so¯shi.
meeting the religious needs of their community. Yutas, on
Ritual songs of Omoro-so¯shi were collected songs of regions
the other hand, are concerned with individual problems, tell-
around the Okinawa and Amami islands (not including the
ing a client’s fortune and praying to cure an individual or his
Miyako and Yaeyama regions) from about the seventeenth
or her family’s chronic disease through divine revelation or
to twentieth century. The Miyako and Yaeyama regions have
auguring. A person who is able to become a yuta tends to
many of their own kami-uta that have been passed down to
have a strong, innate spiritual power (siji or seji). Physical and
priestesses by oral tradition.
mental anguish as well as auditory hallucination is a part of
the initiation (called kamida¯ri) to become a yuta. From the
The veneration of ancestral spirits is also a notable fea-
Ryukyu dynasty era to the Meiji era, yutas were vigorously
ture of religious tradition of Okinawan. It is said that this
suppressed; nonetheless, they did not fade away, and even
belief plays an important role in constructing the self-
now many yutas are meeting individuals’ religious needs.
identity of the people in a kinship and lineage. Almost all the
There have been cases in which a yuta with believers forms
households have altars to revere their ancestors. Traditionally
a religious group or founds a new religion.
there is a belief in Okinawa that ancestral spirits are the be-
ings that protect the descendant but at the same time bring
Non-native religions in Okinawa, outside of Confu-
misfortune if the people fail to revere them. This belief can
cianism, feng-shui, and Buddhism from China and Japan, in
be seen in ceremonies at the altar of the ancestor. The altar
the Ryukyu dynasty era include Christianity and Japanese
generally consists of three shelves. The upper shelf holds the
new religions. Christianity was introduced in the Meiji era
memorial tablet (to¯to¯m¯e) with the name of ancestors, the
and was promulgated by missionaries who entered Okinawa
middle shelf holds a censer, and the lower shelf is for the of-
after World War II. It is noted that the number of Christians
ferings. The tablet is treated as the place in which ancestral
in Okinawa is twice that of mainland Japan. New religions
spirits reside. The oldest female attends this altar and prays
of mainland Japan have also been introduced to Okinawa
to the ancestor for her family’s fortune. The succession of the
and are firmly in place.
tablet between generations in the family should be carefully
There is no doubt that so-called traditional ceremonies
conducted with some strict rules and taboos. For example,
of the village communities in Okinawa have increasingly de-
the successor has to be the eldest son; a daughter may not
clined because of the decrease of successors resulting from
be the successor.
changes in ways of life and the modernization of society.
The ceremonial formation of Okinawan ancestral belief
Rites and ceremonies have been simplified and in some cases
was to some extent influenced by Buddhism, which was in-
have vanished. This does not mean, however, that Okinawan
troduced from Japan and was further affected by Confucian
religion will disappear in the future, for it is clear that there
thought from China. It is said that from the late seventeenth
remains a strong tendency and intention for Okinawan peo-
century to the mid-eighteenth century, Confucian ethics had
ple to identify themselves in their culture derived from
a great impact on Okinawa, establishing the class system, the
religious traditions and to revitalize the festival of each com-
accession system, the ancestor tablet, the clan tomb, and vari-
munity.
ous ceremonies, all of which are based on the patrilineal prin-
ciple. And soon these cultural influences permeated the
SEE ALSO Japanese Religions, overview article; Kami.
lower class of society. Despite these influences, some scholars
argue that ancestral belief is based on an indigenous pattern
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Hosei University. Okinawa bunnka no kosou wo kangaeru (The
in which people revere ancestral spirits as divine beings.
Substratum of Okinawan Culture). Tokyo, 1986.
There is yet another altar in the household in Okinawa.
Iha Fuyu¯. Onarigami no shima (The Island of Onarigami). Tokyo,
Usually this altar consists of three stones and a censor and
1926.
sits next to the hearth in the kitchen. This is called hinukan
Ikegami Yoshimasa. “Okinawan Shamanism and Charismatic
(or finukan, literally, hearth deity) and is also handled by the
Christianity.” The Japan Christian Review 59 (1993): 69–78.
female. It is said that the hinukan altar was originally the
Lebra, William P. Okinawan Religion: Belief, Ritual, and Social
hearth itself. The woman in a house prays to the hinukan
Structure. Honolulu, Hawaii, 1966.
deity for fortune and protection of all its inhabitants. To pro-
tect them, the deity needs to know important changes in the
Pearson, Richard. “The Place of Okinawa in Japanese Historical
Identity.” In Multicultural Japan, edited by Donald Denoon,
household, including birth, marriage, and death. Therefore,
Mark Hudson, Gavan McCormack, and Tessa Morris-
such changes in the family are recited every time and on a
Suzuki, pp. 95–116. New York, 1996.
regular basis. Scholars also point out that the hinukan is also
a duplicated ceremonial center or a channel to communicate
Reichl, Christopher A. “The Okinawan New Religion Ijun: Inno-
vation and Diversity in the Gender of the Ritual Specialist.”
with other deities.
Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 20, no. 4 (1994):
In Okinawa, there are shamanic individuals called yuta
311–330.
(or kankarya¯ in Miyako, nig¯eb¯ı in Yaeyama). Most shamans
Sakurai Tokutaro. Okinawa no shamanism (Okinawan Shaman-
are female and male shamans are very few. Priestesses such
ism). Tokyo, 1973.
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

6814
O
¯ KUNINUSHI NO MIKOTO
Sered, Susan. Women of the Sacred Groves: Divine Priestesses of Oki-
O
¯ kuni renounced his political power and retired to Kizuki
nawa. New York, 1999.
Shrine (later known as Izumo Shrine). He did, however, re-
Tanigawa Kenichi, ed. Okinawa gaku no kadai (The Challenges of
tain spiritual power over Izumo.
Okinawan Studies). Tokyo, 1972.
Ever since these legends were incorporated into the Ko-
Torigoe Kenzaburo. Ryukyu shukyoshi no kenkyu (Study of the His-
jiki, the high priest (kuni no miyatsuko) of Izumo Shrine has
tory of Ryukyuan Religion). Tokyo, 1965.
enjoyed the privilege of presenting congratulatory prayers
Wacker, Monika. “Onarigami: Holy Women in the Twentieth
upon the accession of each sovereign. Legend has it that
Century.” Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 30, nos. 3–4
O
¯ kuni meets with other deities from all over Japan once per
(2003): 339–359.
year in Izumo during the tenth lunar month, usually the sea-
CHARLES H. HAMBRICK (1987)
son of the first crop-tasting festivals. He is revered as the
SUNAO TAIRA (2005)
guardian of good marriages and god of agricultural fertility,
and is the principal deity of Izumo Taishakyo, a Shinto¯ sect
whose headquarters are located in the town of Kizuki, Shi-
mane Prefecture.
O
¯ KUNINUSHI NO MIKOTO, also known as
O
¯ kuni or O¯namuchi, is one of the major deities, or kami,
SEE ALSO Japanese Religions, article on The Study of
in Japanese mythology. The earliest chronicle of Japan, the
Myths.
Kojiki (712 CE), refers to him as “the kami of the Great
Land.” According to legend, O
¯ kuni came to the land of
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Inaba with his brothers to court a Yakami beauty. Because
Aoki, Michiko Yamaguchi. Ancient Myths and Early History of
his brothers made him carry their heavy bundle, he reached
Japan. New York, 1974. A comprehensive cultural and an-
the shore of Inaba long after they did. On the beach O
¯ kuni
thropological study from the dawn of Japanese civilization
found a white hare crying, and he asked the reason for the
(c. 300 BCE) to the rise of the civil government (700 CE).
animal’s distress. The hare replied that he had been bitten
O
¯ kuninushi is identified here as Ashihara no Shikowo (“ugly
by a shark and that O
¯ kuni’s brothers had advised him to
man of the reed field”).
bathe his wounds in salt water, but the treatment had only
Izumo fukoki. Translated and with an introduction by Michiko
aggravated his pain. O
¯ kuni told him to use fresh water and
Yamaguchi Aoki. Tokyo, 1971. O
¯ kuninushi’s role in the
apply sedge pollen to the wound. The hare was cured and
Izumo mythic cycle is related here.
in gratitude promised that the beautiful maiden of Yakami
MICHIKO YAMAGUCHI AOKI (1987)
would marry none but O
¯ kuni.
Rebuffed by the Yakami maiden, O
¯ kuni’s brothers
learned of the hare’s promise, and tried to kill O
¯ kuni. Twice
OLAF THE HOLY (r. 1015–1030), ruler of Norway
he was crushed to death, first by a rolling boulder and later
and Scandinavia’s first saint. A missionary king who strove
by a falling tree, but on both occasions his mother, Kami-
to impose religious unity on Norway, Olaf had great influ-
musubi, came to his rescue and restored him to life.
ence on the practice of traditional religion in Norway and
O
¯ kuni then decided to leave Inaba and go to Izumo,
Iceland. Olaf (also called Olaf the Stout and Saint Olaf) was
where he met Suseri, daughter of the Sun Goddess’s brother
a descendant of Harald I (known as Fairhair). He became a
Susano-o. Suseri fell in love with O
¯ kuni, but to gain her
Viking at a young age, harrying ships in the Baltic and then
hand he had to submit to many tests. After successfully pass-
off the coast of England. Later he fought for the duke of Nor-
ing all the ordeals, he was admitted to Susano-o’s house and
mandy. Spurred by a prophetic dream, Olaf began his return
waited there for a chance to steal away with Susano-o’s pos-
to Norway to become king, stopping on the way to spend
sessions. An opportunity came when Susano-o was lulled to
the winter of 1013–1014 in Rouen, where he was baptized.
sleep as O
¯ kuni picked lice from his hair. O¯kuni stole Susano-
In 1028 Olaf was forced to flee Norway because of con-
o’s weapons and his koto (a zitherlike musical instrument
flicts with powerful Norwegian chieftains who were allied
that was sometimes used for sorcery) and carried Suseri away
with the Danish king, Knut. While in exile he had another
on his back.
dream: that it was God’s will that he reconquer Norway. Ac-
O
¯ kuni married Suseri, but he had a roving eye and
cordingly, he returned—with Swedish help—only to meet
courted beautiful maidens from lands as far away as Koshi
defeat and lose his life at the Battle of Stiklastaðir in 1030.
and Yamato. Although Suseri was jealous, she could do noth-
Soon after his death Olaf was sanctified. His former enemies
ing about his liaison with other women, many of whom
in Norway rapidly became disenchanted with the new Dan-
helped him to attain power and wealth.
ish rulers, ousting them and declaring Olaf’s son Magnus
O
¯ kuni allied himself with Sukunahikona, a dwarf god
king.
who had crossed the sea to Izumo in a bean-pod boat. Short-
The question of why Olaf expended so much effort to
ly thereafter the forces of Amaterasu reached Izumo’s fron-
bring Christianity to Norway is an interesting one, especially
tiers, and a power struggle ensued. After long negotiations
since his mission eventually destroyed him. Monarchy was
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

OLCOTT, HENRY STEEL
6815
vital for Christian ideology at that time. The throne repre-
Gunnes’s Riks-samling og Kristning 800–1177 (Oslo, 1976),
sented justice and peace. In becoming a Christian, Olaf be-
volume 2 of the series “Norges Historie,” edited by Knut
came joined to a more enlightened world—materially richer
Mykland.
and with higher ideals—than Scandinavia then was. He
JOHN WEINSTOCK (1987)
sought to create peace, and for this he needed the support
of the great leaders. Approaching his goal with missionary
zeal, Olaf converted his countrymen ruthlessly and confiscat-
OLCOTT, HENRY STEEL. Colonel Henry Steel
ed the property of those who refused to convert.
Olcott (1832–1907) was the first American to formally con-
The key to Olaf’s success lay in his effectiveness at de-
vert to Buddhism and a major contributor to the Sinhalese
stroying the old religion, which he accomplished in part by
Buddhist revival in nineteenth-century Ceylon (now Sri
exposing it to ridicule. On one occasion, reports reached the
Lanka). He was also a founder and president of the Theo-
king that during the winter the farmers of Hálogaland were
sophical Society, the first American organization devoted to
holding great feasts to appease the Æsir, who had become
promoting Asian religions in the West.
angry because the farmers had let themselves be baptized by
Born into a Presbyterian household in Orange, New
Olaf. In this feast of propitiation cattle and horses were
Jersey, in 1832, Olcott first made a name for himself in agri-
slaughtered and their blood spread on pedestals for the pur-
culture, establishing a farm school and delivering a series of
pose of improving harvests. When Olaf summoned the farm-
agricultural lectures at Yale University. He then moved on
ers to account for their acts, however, they would admit only
to careers in journalism and law. During the American Civil
to communal drinking.
War he investigated fraud in the military, then served on the
In a similar incident, the farmers of Mærin denied hav-
three-person team investigating Abraham Lincoln’s assassi-
ing included sacrifices to the Germanic gods in their Yule
nation.
feasts. Olaf continued forcing the inland Norwegians to con-
The life of this self-described “radical anti-Tammany
vert until Dala-Gudbrand called up a large force of farmers
Republican” took a fateful turn when the New York Sun dis-
to oppose the king and proposed this plan of action: “If we
patched him to write about spirit communications that me-
bear Thor [Þórr] out from our temple, where he stands here
diums were receiving in a farmhouse in Chittenden, Ver-
in this farm and has always helped us, and if he sees Olaf and
mont. There he met the Russian-born occultist Helena
his men, they will melt away, and he and his men become
Petrovna Blavatsky, who impressed him with her Bohemian
as nothing” (Snorri Sturluson, Heimskringla 8–11). This
bearing, boundless charisma, and alleged connections with
plan was accepted. And when Olaf arrived he learned that
occult “Masters,” members of an esoteric brotherhood in the
the farmers had a god who was visibly present, everyday,
East.
made up in the image of Þórr: “He has a hammer in his hand
Now devoted to spiritual matters, Olcott joined forces
and is of great size and hollow inside, and he stands on a ped-
with Blavatsky in New York City in 1875 to establish the
estal. . . . He receives four loaves of bread every day and
Theosophical Society. He was the organization’s president
also fresh meat” (Heimskringla 13–16). The following morn-
and she its corresponding secretary, but more importantly
ing the farmers carried out the huge statue of Þórr, and Dala-
Blavatsky was the charismatic force propelling the society
Gudbrand challenged Olaf, asking him where his god was.
forward, while Olcott’s job was to prevent it from spinning
Olaf instructed a follower to strike the idol with a club if the
out of control. Initially, the “Theosophical Twins,” as they
farmers were to look away. Then he instructed the farmers
were known, focused on reforming Spiritualism. But guided
to look to the east if they wanted to see the Christian god—
by Blavatsky’s “Masters,” they quickly reset their sights,
just as the sun came over the horizon. At this moment Olaf’s
transforming their society into the first American organiza-
follower struck the idol, and as it fell to pieces, out sprang
tion devoted to spreading the ancient wisdom of the East.
adders and other snakes and mice as big as cats. When the
frightened farmers tried to flee, Olaf offered two alternatives,
Unfortunately for Olcott and Blavatsky, there was not
do battle or accept Christianity, whereupon they all accepted
much of an American audience for their eclectic theology.
the new faith.
So in the winter of 1878 to 1879, they took their society to
India, first to Bombay (now Mumbai) and later to Adyar,
a suburb of Madras (Chennai), where the society is still locat-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ed. There Olcott edited the Theosophist, which offered its
Fully one-third of Snorri Sturluson’s Heimskringla is taken up by
readers a heady mix of comparative religion, anti-missionary
the saga of Olaf the Holy. It has been ably translated by Lee
agitation, free thought, and esotericism. He and Blavatsky
M. Hollander in Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway
also promulgated for the first time the “three objects” of their
by Snorri Sturluson, with introduction and notes (Austin,
1964). Marlene Ciklamini has one chapter on Olaf in her
organization: (1) to form the nucleus of the Universal Broth-
Snorri Sturluson (Boston, 1978), and Jan de Vries’s Altnordis-
erhood of Humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex,
che Literaturgeschichte, 2 vols., 2d ed. (Berlin, 1964–1967)
caste or color; (2) to encourage the study of comparative reli-
contains useful information on the literary traditions on
gion, philosophy, and science; (3) and to investigate the un-
Olaf. For historical details of Olaf’s life and reign, see Erik
explained laws of nature and the powers latent in man.
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6816
OLDENBERG, HERMANN
In 1880 Olcott sailed with Blavatsky to Ceylon, and in
York Times once denounced him as “a man bereft of rea-
Galle they formally converted to Buddhism. The Buddhism
son”), Olcott is something of a folk hero in Sri Lanka, im-
they embraced, however, was confessedly idiosyncratic. “If
mortalized on a postage stamp and remembered each year on
Buddhism contained a single dogma that we were compelled
Olcott Day. Olcott is also admired in the Theosophical Soci-
to accept, we would not have. . .remained Buddhists ten
ety, which now maintains hundreds of branches on five
minutes,” Olcott explained in his six-volume Old Diary
continents and continues to preach the essential unity of all
Leaves (1895–1935). “Our Buddhism was that of the Mas-
religions.
ter-Adept Gautama Buddha, which was identically the Wis-
dom Religion of the Aryan Upanishads, and the soul of all
SEE ALSO Blavatsky, H. P.; Theosophical Society.
the ancient world-faiths.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Given his status as a new convert, Olcott might have
Campbell, Bruce F. Ancient Wisdom Revived: A History of the
spent time sitting at the feet of Buddhist monks, correcting
Theosophical Movement. Berkeley, Calif., 1980.
his misapprehensions. Instead he got about the business of
Olcott, Henry Steel. A Buddhist Catechism. Colombo, Ceylon,
converting the island’s inhabitants to his understanding of
1881.
what he called “pure, primitive Buddhism.” Soon he was
Olcott, Henry Steel. Old Diary Leaves: The History of the Theo-
founding Buddhist schools, establishing Young Men’s Bud-
sophical Society. 6 vols. Adyar, India, 1974–1975.
dhist Associations, and writing a popular Buddhist Catechism
Prothero, Stephen R. The White Buddhist: The Asian Odyssey of
(1881), which was published in more than forty editions and
Henry Steel Olcott. Bloomington, Ind., 1996.
at least twenty languages. In the process, he helped to spread,
especially among the English-speaking middle-class, a form
STEPHEN PROTHERO (2005)
of Buddhism that borrowed heavily from the liberal Protes-
tantism of his youth. Activistic, optimistic, didactic, progres-
sive, and adaptive, this creole tradition is now widely de-
OLDENBERG, HERMANN (1854–1920), German
scribed as “Protestant Buddhism.”
Sanskritist, Buddhologist, and historian of religions. Born in
While Olcott upset some monks, he was lionized by the
Hamburg on October 31, 1854, the son of a Protestant cler-
populace, who thronged to hear “the White Buddhist” lec-
gyman, Hermann Oldenberg completed doctoral studies in
ture on the vices of Christian missions and the virtues of
classical and Indic philology in 1875 at the University of Ber-
Buddhist thought. In his lectures Olcott rejected stereotypes
lin with a dissertation on the Arval Brothers, an ancient
of Buddhism as “a grossly materialistic, nihilistic, a negative,
Roman cult fraternity. He submitted his habilitation thesis
a vile-breeding religion,” describing the tradition instead as
at Berlin in Sanskrit philology in 1878, going on to become
a philosophy (not a religion) rooted in the ancient teachings
professor at the University of Kiel in 1889, and then at Göt-
of the Buddha and confirmed by experience (rather than
tingen from 1908 until his death on March 18, 1920.
faith).
Publishing an edition and translation of the S´a¯n˙khayana
Olcott devoted his last years to intra-Buddhist ecume-
Gr:hyasu¯tra in 1878, the young Oldenberg then turned his
nism. In the late 1880s and early 1890s, he traveled to
attention to the Pali Buddhist texts; and it is due to him as
Burma and Japan in an effort to enlist all the world’s Bud-
much as to any single scholar that serious inquiry into these
dhists into one International Buddhist League. He also
materials was begun. Previous decades of nineteenth-century
helped to design a six-colored Buddhist flag, which was
European Buddhist research had focused on Maha¯ya¯na San-
adopted in 1950 as an international Buddhist symbol by the
skrit (and Tibetan) texts, through which the historical Bud-
World Fellowship of Buddhists and now hangs in Buddhist
dha and the early history of Buddhism were only dimly ap-
centers worldwide.
parent. Oldenberg edited and translated into English the
important Pali chronicle, the D¯ıpavam
˙ sa, in 1879; he also
Back in India, Olcott also made important contribu-
edited the Vinaya Pit:aka (“discipline basket”) of the Pali
tions to the Indian Renaissance, founding schools for Dalits
Tipit:aka (1879–1883), then published English translations
(formerly known as “untouchables”), promoting a Sanskrit
of these texts (1881–1885) with T. W. Rhys Davids, founder
revival, and establishing Hindu boys’ associations. Olcott’s
of the Pali Text Society. The signal publication of this period
work reverberated most powerfully, however, outside of his
of intense research on Buddhism is his Buddha: Sein Leben,
adopted homeland, especially in the United States, where his
seine Lehre, seine Gemeinde (1881), written when he was only
Theosophical activities helped to popularize Asian religions
twenty-six, and “perhaps the most famous book ever written
and New Age thought, and in Sri Lanka, where upon his
on Buddhism” (J. W. de Jong, Indo-Iranian Journal 12,
death in 1907 over twenty thousand students were attending
1970, p. 224).
183 grant-in-aid Buddhist schools.
While Oldenberg’s active interest in Buddhist studies
Olcott died in India in 1907, and his cremated remains
never flagged, Buddhism was for him one dimension of what
were scattered in the Ganges and the Indian Ocean. Though
was to be his Lebenswerk: nothing less than the systematic
largely forgotten in the country of his birth (where the New
examination of India’s earliest religious history. Indeed, his
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OLMEC RELIGION
6817
achievements in Vedic studies are—if this is possible—even
OLMEC RELIGION. The Olmec occupied southern
more consequential than his contributions to Buddhist
Mexico’s tropical lowlands in southeastern Veracruz and
studies. Taken together, his Die Hymnen des Rigveda (1888),
western Tabasco between 1200 and 600 BCE. Like other Me-
Die Religion des Veda (1894), and R:gveda: Textkritische and
soamerican peoples of the period, they lived in villages, prac-
exegetische Noten (1909–1912) constitute a triptych of enor-
ticed agriculture based on maize cultivation, and produced
mous and continuing importance for research on the form,
pottery. However, they differed from their contemporaries
meters, and textual history of the R:gveda Samhita¯. Further,
in their more complex social and political institutions, in the
his translations of several Vedic Gr:hyasu¯tras (sutras on do-
construction of large centers with temples and other special-
mestic religious ceremonies), his book-length studies on the
ized buildings, and in their development of a distinctive style
Bra¯hman:as and the Upanis:ads, and his numerous articles on
of art expressed in monumental stone sculptures and exqui-
Vedic topics complete an imposing legacy of meticulous
site small portable objects. If they had a writing system, none
scholarship.
of their texts has survived; everything known about the
Through Hermann Oldenberg’s efforts, the sustained
Olmec is based upon archaeological excavations at San Lo-
historical and literary inquiry into Vedic and Buddhist reli-
renzo, La Venta, Laguna de los Cerros, Tres Zapotes, and
gions attained maturity. His concern to penetrate to the his-
other major centers. Although religion is a most difficult as-
torical foundations of Buddhism and Vedism, which was
pect of prehistoric life for archaeologists to reconstruct,
representative of contemporary trends of German historical
Olmec architecture, sculpture, and artifacts provide many
scholarship in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centu-
useful insights into their religious beliefs and practices.
ries, may seem somewhat naive to scholars today. Oldenberg
STUDY OF OLMEC RELIGION. Archaeological, historical, and
died little more than a year before the first productive season
ethnographic information provides the basic data for recon-
of archaeological investigations in the Indus Valley, work
structing ancient Mesoamerican religions. Archaeological
destined to alter decisively many then-prevailing conceptions
data on prehistoric cultures must be interpreted in light of
of the earliest stages of Indian civilization and religion. One
information about later, better documented cultures or
can only conjecture how he would have responded to these
studies of modern groups on approximately similar levels of
discoveries. It seems altogether certain, however, that he
development. For the Olmec, the archaeological data consist
would have dealt with them in that same clear-sighted, un-
of sculptures, architecture, and artifacts. Researchers inter-
sentimental, and critical fashion that characterized all his
pret these in terms of Spanish accounts of Aztec and Maya
scholarly work. His persisting efforts to unveil the earliest
religions dating from the sixteenth century CE and of con-
stages of India’s religious thought and history, his rigorous
temporary ethnographic studies of religious practices among
philological method, and the degree to which he integrated
modern Mesoamerican Indians and tropical forest groups
insights from other disciplines, stand as important monu-
living elsewhere in Latin America. The basic assumption un-
ments that will continue to inform and guide research.
derlying this approach is summarized in the assertion that
“. . . there is a basic religious system common to all Me-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
soamerican peoples. This system took shape long before it
Unhappily, the direct impact of Oldenberg’s scholarship on inves-
was given monumental expression in Olmec art and survived
tigations in the English-speaking world has been limited by
long after the Spanish conquered the New World’s major po-
the paucity of translations. English editions of Oldenberg’s
litical and religious centers” (Joralemon, 1976, pp. 58–59).
works include William Hoey’s translation of Buddha: Sein
Leben, seine Lehre, seine Gemeinde as The Buddha: His Life,

Studies of Olmec religion rely heavily on iconographic
His Doctrine, His Order (London, 1882), which should be
analyses of the Olmec art style as expressed in over two hun-
consulted alongside the thirteenth German edition, annotat-
dred known stone monuments and hundreds of small porta-
ed by Helmuth von Glasenapp, as well as the following
ble objects. These studies have particularly emphasized the
books, each of which is accompanied by a valuable introduc-
identification of deities while neglecting ritual and many
tion: The D¯ıpavam:sa (London, 1879); Vinaya Texts (Oxford,
other topics. Scholars tend to accept Joralemon’s premise of
1881–1885); The Gr:hyasu¯tras: Rules of Vedic Domestic Cere-
continuity despite legitimate criticisms. And while this his-
monies, 2 vols. (Oxford, 1886–1892); and part 2 (“Hymns
torical-ethnographic approach has been quite productive, it
to Agni”) of Vedic Hymns (Oxford, 1897). Also, three of his
does have some serious weaknesses. For example, it cannot
general essays have been published together as Ancient India
automatically be assumed that symbols and motifs retained
(Chicago, 1898). Of inestimable value is Klaus Janert’s care-
ful two-volume edition of Oldenberg’s Kleine Schriften (Wies-
the same basic meanings over several millennia and over long
baden, 1967), which includes not only full texts of more than
geographical distances. Furthermore, the much later Aztec
one hundred articles but also an exhaustive bibliography.
religion, which is the primary model for comparison, may
be an inappropriate model for the Olmec. The Aztec num-
G. R. WELBON (1987 AND 2005)
bered in the millions whereas Olmec polities contained only
a few thousand people at most. The tremendous disparity in
social complexity implied by these differences may also indi-
OLD TESTAMENT SEE BIBLICAL LITERATURE,
cate fundamental differences in their religious institutions
ARTICLE ON HEBREW SCRIPTURES
and beliefs. Nevertheless, until archaeologists find ways to re-
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6818
OLMEC RELIGION
place historical and ethnographic analogy as their primary in-
its head, and may be an ancestor of later Aztec maize deities
terpretive tool, researchers will be forced to depend on such
such as Centeotl. God IV is an infant or dwarf, probably as-
comparisons, and must try to employ them as judiciously as
sociated with rain, whom Joralemon sees as an early form of
possible.
later rain deities, such as the central Mexican tlalocs and
Maya chacs.
CHARACTERISTICS OF OLMEC RELIGION. The fundamental
pattern of Olmec belief seems to have centered on the wor-
The final Olmec dyad consists of Gods VI and VIII.
ship of numerous high gods or supernatural forces that con-
God VI is a deity of springtime and renewal who symbolizes
trolled the universe and sanctioned the human sociopolitical
reborn vegetation, and is thought to be an analog to Xipe
structure. Human interaction with them required complex
Totec, the Aztec god whose priests wore human skin, flayed
rituals in temples and other sanctified places, and could be
from sacrificial victims, as a sign of rebirth. God VIII is the
achieved only by religious specialists whose personal qualifi-
death god, called Mictlantecuhtli by the Aztec, and symbol-
cations or social position qualified them for the task. The be-
ized by a fleshless human jaw.
lief system they served included a pantheon, a cosmology
Although much remains to be learned about the Olmec
that explained and structured the universe, and a set of ritual
pantheon, the importance of agricultural and fertility deities
activities that expressed the cosmology.
is evident. This is not surprising in view of the fact that farm-
The pantheon. The nature of the Olmec pantheon is
ing was the most important subsistence activity among the
a topic of some controversy. Some scholars argue that Olmec
Olmec, but it does mark the earliest clear formulation of
supernaturals were not gods in the Western sense of recog-
such deity concepts in Mesoamerica and represents a major
nizably distinct personalities, while others accept the exis-
Olmec contribution to Mesoamerican culture.
tence of deities but disagree on their identifications. For ex-
Religious specialists. There is no evidence in Olmec
ample, what in this article is called the Olmec Dragon has
society of an elaborate religious bureaucracy comparable to
been variously identified as a were-jaguar combining human
that reported for the Aztec. The small size of Olmec groups
and feline traits, a caiman, a toad, or a manatee! The reason
probably precluded this development. Some scholars have
for the confusion is that researchers have difficulty compre-
called Olmec society a theocracy, but there is no evidence to
hending the subject matter of Olmec art. The beings por-
warrant such a conclusion, although priests were undoubted-
trayed are frequently “creatures that are biologically impossi-
ly members of the elite. Peter T. Furst has persuasively ar-
ble,” things that “exist in the mind of man, not in the world
gued that certain Olmec art objects portray the theme of a
of nature” (Joralemon, 1976, p. 33).
“jaguar-shaman transformation complex” in which human
The most thorough research on the Olmec pantheon
shamans assumed the guise of their jaguar alter egos (see
has been done by Peter D. Joralemon, who originally defined
Furst’s article “The Olmec Were-Jaguar Motif in the Light
ten Olmec deities (Gods I–X) but later reduced these to six,
of Ethnographic Reality,” in Dumbarton Oaks Conference on
conforming to three basic dyads (Joralemon, 1971, 1976).
the Olmec, edited by Elizabeth P. Benson, Washington,
Olmec art portrays the deities as creatures combining an end-
D.C., 1968, pp. 79–110). It is not clear whether Olmec sha-
less and bewildering array of human, reptilian, avian, and fe-
mans were also elite priests, but it does seem likely.
line attributes. The most commonly depicted pair are the
Cosmology. Although the lack of written accounts
Olmec Dragon (God I) and the Olmec Bird Monster (God
makes it difficult to reconstruct Olmec cosmology, the ar-
III). The Olmec Dragon, believed to be a crocodilian with
chaeological record contains some interesting clues. Two
eagle, jaguar, human, and serpent attributes, appears to signi-
sculptured monuments from the San Lorenzo area form the
fy earth, water, fire, and agricultural fertility, and may have
basis of the so-called Stirling hypothesis, named after its for-
served as the patron deity of the elite. The Olmec Bird Mon-
mulator, Matthew W. Stirling. Stirling maintained that each
ster is a raptorial bird, tentatively identified as a harpy eagle,
monument shows a jaguar having sexual intercourse with a
with mammalian and reptilian features. Joralemon associates
woman and that they portray the mythic origin of the were-
it with maize, agricultural fertility, the heavens, and mind-
jaguars so common in Olmec art. Unfortunately, both mon-
altering psychotrophic substances.
uments were badly mutilated in antiquity, and their subject
Joralemon suggests that the Olmec Dragon was a pre-
matter is not at all clear.
decessor of numerous later deities, specifically the Aztec gods
Another important insight into Olmec cosmology may
Cipactli, Xiuhtecuhtli, Huehueteotl, Tonacatecuhtli, and
be contained in depictions of caves. Sculptured scenes of
Quetzalcoatl and the Maya god Itzamná. Some authorities
people seated in caves or emerging from cavelike niches sug-
dispute these proposed linkages with later deities, but unfor-
gest an early occurrence of the pan-Mesoamerican belief that
tunately there is a lack of a coherent methodology for resolv-
ethnic groups and deities emerged on to the surface world
ing the issues of continuity and change in deity concepts
through caves, which served as doorways to and from the su-
through time.
pernatural realm inside the earth. In some cases the Olmec
Gods II and IV form an agricultural-fertility complex.
depictions clearly represent the mouth of the Olmec Dragon.
God II has maize cobs sprouting from a cleft in the top of
Well-preserved Olmec-style paintings deep within caves in
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OLMEC RELIGION
6819
the states of Guerrero and Morelos far from the Olmec Gulf
Evidence of a common yet perplexing aspect of Olmec
Coast homeland reinforce this interpretation.
ritual centered around the burial of precious objects in caches
and offerings has been found at La Venta. Some caches con-
Ritual. One of the least understood aspects of Olmec
tain only one or a few objects while others include enormous
religion is ritual. Research has yielded some knowledge about
amounts of material. The small offerings include stone figu-
the architectural settings in which rituals were held and
rines and celts, pottery vessels, and a variety of personal orna-
about the nonperishable objects that are assumed to have
ments, even though these are generally not associated with
been used in ritual contexts, but Olmec dances, prayers,
burials. Some offerings display ideologically significant pat-
chants, feasts, and other behaviors are lost forever.
terns in the placement of objects, such as celts arranged in
Pole-and-thatch temples on the summits of earth
geometric patterns or stylized deity faces. One particularly
mounds are widely regarded as having been a focal point for
interesting cache from La Venta contains jadeite human figu-
elite rituals. These small structures most likely housed the
rines placed to show a procession scene with four individuals
most important cult images and served as sanctuaries where
filing past what appears to be an Olmec ruler and his retinue.
the priests and leaders gathered in seclusion to conduct the
The most unusual buried features are the so-called Mas-
esoteric rites to which only they were privy. The open court-
sive Offerings at La Venta. Huge steep-sided pits were dug
yards and plazas surrounding the mounds were well suited
into the subsoil and immediately filled with thousands of ser-
for more public celebrations attended by the general
pentine blocks laid in clay and topped with a mosaic of finely
populace.
worked blocks forming a gigantic mask of the Olmec Drag-
on. Four Massive Offerings have been discovered at La
Archaeological excavations have revealed numerous un-
Venta, and like many architectural features at the site they
usual architectural features that were either used in ritual or
occur in bilaterally symmetrical positions vis-à-vis the site’s
had some specific sacred meaning. For example, the gigantic
centerline. It is possible that all the subsurface offerings at
artificial ridges built onto the sides of the San Lorenzo pla-
La Venta form a colossal pattern of unknown ritual signifi-
teau may represent an attempt to transform the entire com-
cance, but enough pieces of the puzzle to be able to identify
munity into a bird effigy similar to the much smaller effigy
the pattern have not yet been found.
mounds constructed by later Indian cultures in what is now
the midwestern United States. The twenty or so deep depres-
Just as Olmec constructions provide insights into the
sions in the surface of San Lorenzo probably originated as
settings for ritual, their art objects and other artifacts alert
sources of soil for mound construction but were later con-
scholars to the nature of some of the rituals. Museums and
verted into sacred water reservoirs by lining them with spe-
private collections contain hundreds of exotic objects to
cial materials. Flooding was prevented by elaborate drain sys-
which can be reasonably assigned a ritual function even
tems constructed of hundreds of U-shaped stone troughs.
though their specific uses are not known. Anthropomorphic
These reservoirs may have provided water for domestic use,
and zoomorphic figurines, masks, celts, “spoons,” “stilettos,”
but the year-round availability of fresh water from nearby
and a host of miscellaneous objects, frequently decorated
springs, the substantial labor invested in constructing the
with religious designs and symbols, indicate a well-developed
drain systems, and the water-deity symbolism on several as-
set of ritual paraphernalia. The objects are often made from
sociated monuments all suggest a ritual function. Two po-
jadeite, serpentine, and other blue-green stones whose color
tential uses have been suggested: One is that they served as
obviously had some special significance. In most cases the
ritual bathing stations for priests, the other that they
functions of these objects are not known, but the stilettos
were holding tanks for sacred animals such as caimans or
may have served as bloodletters used in ritual autosacrifice
manatees.
and the “spoons” may have been used for the administration
of hallucinogenic substances. Evidence for the use of mind-
The Olmec probably played a ritual ball game similar
altering substances by the Olmecs is weak, but most scholars
to those popular in later times, as evidenced by clay figurines
assume such practices were part of Olmec ritual.
depicting males dressed in ballplayer garb and who at times
Other ritual accoutrements include iron-ore mirrors,
hold what appears to be a ball. A rectangular group of four
which are masterpieces of pre-Columbian lapidary work.
mounds at San Lorenzo has been interpreted as a formal ball
Made from large rectangular pieces of magnetite, ilmenite,
court; and although it lacks the rings and benches of later
and hematite, the polished concave surfaces of these mirrors
courts, residue of a rubber-like substance found at this site
have such fine optical qualities that they can be used to ignite
may be the remnants of a ball. Some authorities have suggest-
fires and project camera-lucida images on flat surfaces. An
ed that the numerous colossal heads found at several Olmec
enigmatic grooved rectangular bar of magnetic hematite
sites depict ballplayers wearing helmets, but the most recent
found at San Lorenzo has been shown to be a compass nee-
consensus is that these remarkable basalt human portraits
dle, probably used in geomantic ritual rather than as a utili-
represent individual Olmec rulers. The ball game played by
tarian device.
later Mesoamericans did have secular aspects, but it is gener-
ally regarded as a primarily religious observance in which
SEE ALSO Caves; Iconography, article on Mesoamerican Ico-
players represented supernaturals.
nography.
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6820
OM
:
BIBLIOGRAPHY
(“heard”) texts and in which oral tradition has preserved the
Anthony F. C. Wallace’s Religion: An Anthropological View (New
religious language unchanged over millennia, om: is the artic-
York, 1966) provides the framework in which this article has
ulated syllable par excellence, the eternally creative divine
been written. The most recent and thorough synthesis of
word. Indeed, the Sanskrit word denoting “syllable” (aks:ara,
Olmec culture is Jacques Soustelle’s The Olmecs: The Oldest
literally “the imperishable”) commonly serves as an epithet
Civilization in Mexico, translated by Helen R. Lane (Garden
for om:. Its other epithets include ekaks:ara (“the one syllable”
City, N.Y., 1984). Older but still useful books include Mi-
but also “the sole imperishable thing”) and pranava (from
chael D. Coe’s America’s First Civilization: Discovering the
pran:u, “to utter a droning”); the latter term refers to the prac-
Olmec (New York, 1968), and Ignacio Bernal’s The Olmec
World,
translated by Doris Heyden and Fernando Horcasitas
tice of initiating any sacred recitation with a nasalized sylla-
(Berkeley, 1969). Michael D. Coe and my In the Land of the
ble. The syllable om: itself has been associated with the San-
Olmec, 2 vols. (Austin, Tex., 1980) is the basic source of in-
skrit root av (“to drive, impel, animate”; Un:adi Su¯tra 1.141).
formation on San Lorenzo. The basic data on La Venta are
It is represented graphically by a familiar mystical symbol
scattered through many works; the two most important are
combining the syllable’s three components.
Philip Drucker’s La Venta, Tabasco: A Study of Olmec Ceram-
Articulated at the beginning and end of recitations and
ics and Art (Washington, D.C., 1952), and Philip Drucker,
prayers, om: is a particle of auspicious salutation, expressing
Robert F. Heizer, and Robert J. Squier’s Excavations at La
Venta, Tabasco, 1955
(Washington, D.C., 1959). Karl W.
acknowledgment of the divine or solemn affirmation, in
Luckert’s Olmec Religion: A Key to Middle America and Be-
which latter sense it is compared with amen (“verily, this syl-
yond (Norman, Okla., 1976) is the only book devoted exclu-
lable is assent”; Cha¯ndogya Upanis:ad 1.1.8). Evidence of its
sively to this topic, but its unorthodox methodology and as-
use as an invocation occurs in the R:gveda; though it appears
sumptions lead to conclusions not supported by the data.
in a relatively late section (1.164.39), this note dates the
Peter D. Joralemon’s A Study of Olmec Iconography (Wash-
practice to at least 1200 BCE.
ington, D.C., 1971) contains his initial attempt to delineate
From the sixth century
the Olmec pantheon. Origins of Religious Art and Iconography
BCE, the Upanis:ads make direct
in Preclassic Mesoamerica, edited by H. B. Nicholson (Los
mention of om:. One of the oldest Upanis:ads, the Cha¯ndogya,
Angeles, 1976) contains Joralemon’s definitive study of the
discusses the syllable at length in setting forth rules for the
Olmec Dragon and the Olmec Bird Monster in addition to
chanters of the Sa¯maveda and states that “one has to know
many other useful articles. Elizabeth P. Benson’s The Olmecs
that om: is the imperishable” (1.3.4). By sounding om:, one
and Their Neighbors: Essays in Memory of Matthew W. Stirling
intones the Udg¯ıta¯, the essential canto of the Vedic sacrifice
(Washington, D.C., 1981) contains articles dealing with
(1.1.5).
many aspects of Olmec culture, and a useful bibliography.
In the Kat:ha Upanis:ad, the figure Death defines om: as
New Sources
the goal propounded by the Vedas, and proclaims that any-
Coe, Michael D., and Richard A. Diehl, eds. The Olmec World:
one who meditates on the syllable om: can attain brahman
Ritual and Rulership. Princeton, N.J., 1995.
(1.2.15–16). A later Upanis:ad, the Taittir¯ıya, indicates that
Grove, David C. “Olmec Archaeology: A Half Century of Re-
om: is both brahman and the cosmos (1.8.1–2): The sound
search and Its Accomplishments.” Journal of World Prehistory
symbol is identical to what it represents.
11, no. 1 (1997): 151–201.
The first chapter of the Ma¯nd:u:kya, one of the latest of
Miller, Mary Ellen. The Art of Mesoamerica: From Olmec to Aztec.
the Vedic Upanis:ads, is devoted to the elucidation of om:.
3d ed. London, 2001.
The sacred syllable is divided into its four phonetic compo-
Sharer, Robert J., and David C. Grove, eds. Regional Perspectives
nents, representing the four states of mind, or consciousness:
on the Olmec. Cambridge, U.K., 1989.
/a/ is related to the awakened state, /u/ to the dream state,
Soustelle, Jacques. The Olmecs: The Oldest Civilization in Mexico.
/m/ to dreamless sleep, and the syllable as a whole to the
Norman, Okla., 1985.
fourth state, tur¯ıya, which is beyond words and is itself the
One, the Ultimate, the brahman. “One should know om: to
Stocker, Terry, Sarah Meltzoff, and Steve Armsey. “Crocodilians
be God seated in the hearts of all” (1.28).
and Olmecs.” American Antiquity 45 (1980): 740–758.
The sixth chapter of the Maitra¯yan:¯ıya, possibly the lat-
Stone, Andrea, ed. Heart of Creation: The Mesoamerican World
and the Legacy of Linda Schele. Tuscaloosa, Ala., 2002.
est of the Vedic Upanis:ads, is devoted entirely to the discus-
sion of the sacred syllable, referred to as the “primary sound”
RICHARD A. DIEHL (1987)
(6.22). The devotee is enjoined to meditate on the Self as om:
Revised Bibliography
(6.3). When om: is articulated, the sound “rises upward.” The
chapter closes with the invocation “Hail om:! Hail brahman!”
When the Bhagavadg¯ıta¯—a fragment of the
OM:, a contraction of the sounds /a/, /u/, and /m/, is con-
Maha¯bha¯rata, perhaps contemporary with the latest of the
sidered in the Hindu tradition to be the most sacred of San-
Vedic Upanis:ads—proclaims that “the imperishable is brah-
skrit syllables. In a religious setting that reveres the intrinsic
man,” it plays on the term aks:ara, which may be read either
power of sound as a direct manifestation of the divine, a set-
as an adjective (“brahman is imperishable”) or as a substan-
ting in which the hierarchy of scripture is headed by the ´sruti
tive (“brahman is the Imperishable [i.e., om:]”).
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

OMOPHAGIA
6821
Manu (Manusmr:ti 2.74) echoes the assertion made in
THE RAW AND THE COOKED. All human groups, including
the Cha¯ndogya regarding the articulation of om: preceding
the so-called primitives, are aware of their cultural identity
any sacred recitation, and prescribes that it be repeated not
by contrast to other, “uncivilized” forms of life. That the op-
only at the beginning but also at the end of the daily recita-
position of civilization to nature, of human to animal, is
tion of the Veda, under penalty of losing the merit attached
most drastically experienced in the dietary code, in the use
to such an exercise. He adds that Prakja¯pati, the creator, ex-
of cooked food as against “raw-eating” animals, has become
tracted the milk of three cows (i.e., the three primary Vedas)
popular knowledge in the wake of The Raw and the Cooked
in order to draw the three phonetic components that make
(1969), the seminal first volume of Claude Lévi-Strauss’s
up the syllable.
Mythologiques. This presupposes the conquest of fire, which
Through imagery borrowed from archery, the Mun:d:aka
has been decisive in the evolution of humankind and which
Upanis:ad indicates how the articulation of om: was integrated
still looms large in mythology; knowledge of fire goes togeth-
into the practice of meditation according to Indian thought:
er with the special importance of the hunt in early and primi-
The syllable om: is the bow, the a¯tman (the self) is the arrow,
tive societies. A constant point of reference in human and
and brahman is the target (2.2.3–4). One must bend toward
even prehuman experience are the big carnivores, especially
the target without diverting the mind; one must make one-
the leopard and the wolf, that are abhorred as well as imitat-
self identical to the arrow. (The same image is found in the
ed. Model hunters, at the same time dreadfully dangerous
Bha¯gavata Pura¯n:a.) The Yoga Su¯tra of Patañjali mentions
and admirably powerful, the carnivores are the paradigmatic
that the various yoga systems all insist on the importance of
“raw-eaters.” They are human-eaters, too: When the
om: as a symbol of the devotee’s attempt to unite with the
problems of civilization and dietary codes are articulated in
Absolute, a goal that is itself the prerequisite to any practice
ritual or myth, the motif of cannibalism usually makes its ap-
of meditation.
pearance.
In later times om: stands for the union of the three gods
The category of “raw-eating” most generally finds two
of the Hindu triad, Brahma¯ (the creative force, or /a/), Vis:n:u
applications. In mythology, it designates various demons
(the sustaining force, or /u/), and S´iva (the dissolving force,
who naturally take the traits of predators—enemies of the
or /m/).
gods or even certain uncanny and dangerous gods. On a
more realistic level, ethnocentrism and xenophobia combine
As the primary sound symbol for an Indian tradition
to mark certain foreign tribes as “raw-eaters,” be they neigh-
maintained continuously from the age of the Vedas into
bors or faraway people known from hearsay. In Western tra-
modern times, the syllable om: stands charged with an un-
dition, this cliché has remained attached to Huns and Tatars.
questionable religious energy. Its use as a mantra for pro-
As a variant or for reinforcement, the motif of cannibalism
found meditation reflects the Vedic teaching that the devotee
easily comes in. It is notable that the concept of “raw-eaters”
is one with the sacred sound and all it represents. Through
goes back to Indo-European strata, that is, to the early third
its constant repetition in recitations, prayers, and even re-
millennium BCE, as shown by the correspondence of the San-
cently composed sacred texts it acts as a pitch that tunes the
skrit a¯ma¯d with the Greek o¯m¯es-t¯es; in the same vein, a Scyth-
worshiper to the heart of the prayer.
ian tribe was known as A¯ma¯dokoi. Tribalism also admits of
SEE ALSO Music, article on Music and Religion in India.
mythical transformations: For the Greeks, the centaurs, hy-
brids of man and horse, living in the woods but sometimes
BIBLIOGRAPHY
visiting humans to wreak havoc, were not only hunters but
In the absence of monographical studies on the subject the reader
“raw-eaters.”
would do well to consult André Padoux’s Recherches sur la
symbolique et l’énergie de la parole dans certains textes tan-

In a more complex way the opposition of “raw-eating”
triques, “Publications de l’Institut de civilization indiennes,”
to civilized may appear within one ethnic unity: One special
no. 21 (Paris, 1963).
group is set apart by this very characterization. The imitation
of carnivores is most evident in secret societies of leopard
New Sources
Beck, Guy L. Sonic Theology: Hinduism and Sacred Sound. Colum-
men as attested in Africa, or the folklore of werewolves in Eu-
bia, S.C., 1993.
rope, including ancient Greece. They are expected to kill and
eat in a beastlike fashion and especially to practice cannibal-
A. M. ESNOUL (1987)
ism. The oldest evidence for leopard men comes from wall
Revised Bibliography
paintings of Çatal Hüyük in Neolithic Anatolia about 6000
BCE; details about their function or practice cannot be
OMENS
known, except for their imitating predators through mas-
SEE PORTENTS AND PRODIGIES
querade in the context of hunting.
In more modern times two groups, “raw-eaters” versus
OMOPHAGIA is an ancient Greek term (o¯mophagia,
eaters of cooked meat, are attested among the Mansi, an
“eating raw [flesh]”) for a ritual in the ecstatic worship of
Ugric tribe of Siberia, and Andreas Alföldi (1974) has used
Dionysos.
this attestation to illustrate a similar opposition between two
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

6822
OMOPHAGIA
groups of Luperci who performed the ancient festival of Lu-
this context, except as a horrible prospect (l. 1184); but in
percalia at Rome; in both cases it is the group of “raw-eaters”
the introductory song of the play the god himself, leader of
who enjoy the higher reputation as being the swifter, the
the dances, is presented as “hunting for blood by killing a
more vigilant, the more powerful. It seems that in ancient
he-goat, the lust of raw-eating” (ll. 137–139), and the Bac-
civilizations the opposition of raw versus cooked has some-
chantes are ready to identify with their leader.
times been replaced by that of roasted versus boiled meat,
where roasting is more primitive, more hunterlike, more he-
In the Dionysian circle, the imagery of carnivores is
roic. Thus in a non-Yahvistic ritual mentioned in the First
ready at hand. Preference is given to the leopard, partly
Book of Samuel (2:11–17) the priests require raw flesh for
through an overlap with the symbolism of the Anatolian
roasting while the sacrificial community feasts on boiled
mother goddess, whose distant avatar seems to be the god-
meat.
dess of Çatal Hüyük. Bassarai (Foxes) was the title of a lost
play by Aeschylus; it was a name for the Maenads who de-
A similar opposition may be enacted not through the
stroyed Lykurgos, another enemy of the god. Classical vase
institution of permanent groups but in the dimension of
paintings (fifth to fourth century BCE) show dancing Mae-
time: “raw-eating” as a transitional stage leading back to nor-
nads holding parts of a torn animal—a fawn, a goat—in their
mal food, that is, to civilization reconfirmed through its op-
hands; eating, though, is hardly depicted.
posite in the dietary code. Thus in initiations that involve
a marginal status and make the initiates outcasts for a while,
Such restraint is absent from the picture drawn by
disuse of fire and raw-eating has a place. In Greek myth this
Christian writers of pagan cult. “You leave behind your
is reflected in the figure of Achilles, who as a boy is taken
breast’s sanity, you crown yourselves with vipers, and in
from his parents to the “raw-eating” centaurs and gets his
order to prove that you are filled with the power of god, with
unique heroic strength by feeding on the entrails of the most
bloody mouths you tear asunder the entrails of goats crying
savage beasts (Apollodorus, Biblioth¯ek¯e 3.13.6).
out in protest”—thus said Arnobius in Against the Pagans
(5.19), following in part Clement of Alexandria’s Protrepticus
There are communal festivals too that bring about a
(chap. 12). In this view omophagia is the extreme of the pa-
temporary reversal, an atavistic return to ancient ways of life
gans’ folly.
that sometimes includes the interdiction of fire and thus en-
forces a diet of uncooked food. In ancient Greece this is at-
A most serious problem is to decide how much of the
tested for a festival on the island of Lemnos and also for some
picture evoked by Hellenic poetry on the one side and Chris-
forms of the Thesmophoria, the festival of Demeter. Accom-
tian polemics on the other is to be regarded as cultic reality
panying myths tell stories about an insurrection of women
in the context of Greek civilization of the historical period.
against men that, however, had to give way to normality
There are many convergent testimonies, but few to convince
again. Of course, initiations, secret societies, and public festi-
a skeptic. A very ancient epithet of the god is Dionysos
vals may be functionally interrelated in various ways; by
O
¯ me¯ste¯s (“eating raw”), attested by the poet Alcaeus about
themselves or in combination they keep alive the conscious-
600 BCE. Dionysos O
¯ madios, mentioned a few times in con-
ness of alternatives to what is considered normal and thus in
nection with human sacrifice, is often considered equivalent;
fact help to ensure continuity.
linguistically, though, this epithet should rather belong to
o¯madon (“by the shoulder”), which still refers to “tearing
DIONYSIAN OMOPHAGIA. Dionysos, the ancient Greek god
apart” in sparagmos. Firmicus Maternus, writing Christian
of wine and ecstasy, is experienced by his followers most
polemics but drawing on some Hellenistic source, asserts that
deeply and directly in a state known simply as “madness”
in a Dionysian festival “the Cretans tear apart a living bull
(mania). Hence his female adherents are called Maenads
with their teeth” (On the Error of Pagan Religions, chap. 6;
(mainades); Bacchants (bakchoi) and Bacchantes (bakchai),
about 350 CE)—which doubtless includes elements of fanta-
masculine and feminine, respectively, are about equivalent.
sy. In a poem titled Bassarika, a certain Dionysios has a
High points of bacchantic activity are tearing apart a victim
human victim, clad in a deer’s skin, torn to pieces and de-
and eating it raw. From a pragmatic perspective, the two ac-
voured by Indians on the command of Dionysos; the re-
tivities of tearing apart (sparagmos) and eating raw
mains are to be assembled in baskets before sunrise. The
(o¯mophagia) need not entail each other, but in the Dionysian
mystic baskets are well known from ritual, but the story with
tradition both combine to form an image of what is both
its barbarian setting is a ghastly exaggeration. A more reliable
subhuman and superhuman, both beastlike and godlike, at
witness is Plutarch, who combines the epithet o¯m¯est¯es with
the same time.
another, agrio¯nios, and thus refers to a well-attested festival,
The most influential literary text to describe Dionysian
Agrio¯nia. This in turn is connected with a group of myths
phenomena is Euripides’ tragedy The Bacchae (405 BCE).
that tell about the women of a city growing mad, leaving the
When the Maenads, who are celebrating their dances in the
town, kidnapping their own children in order to kill and
wilderness, are disturbed by herdsmen, they jump at the
even eat them; the Pentheus myth of Euripides’ Bacchae is
herds and tear calves and even bulls asunder “swifter than
in fact one exemplar of the pattern. But to bring imagination
you could shut your eyes” (ll. 735–747); later on they mur-
back to facts of ritual, scholars have nothing but the too short
der Pentheus in a similar way. Eating is not dwelt upon in
statement of Plutarch that there are indeed in Greek cults
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OMOPHAGIA
6823
“unlucky and dreary days in which omophagia and tearing-
the favor of Dionysos on behalf of the city and that takes pre-
apart have their place” (On the Decline of Oracles, 417c).
cedence in the procession. There were points of reference in
cult even to the more exuberant Dionysian mythology.
Modern scholarship has often connected Dionysian
omophagia with the apocryphal Orphic myth that tells how
COMPARATIVE EVIDENCE. A vivid description of pre-Islamic
Dionysos himself when still a child was slain, cut to pieces,
bedouin is contained in a Christian novel from the fifth cen-
and tasted by the Titans—in consequence of which, the Ti-
tury CE, The Story of Nilus, now finally available in a critical
tans were burned by the lightning of Zeus, and from their
edition: Nilus of Ancyra, Narratio, edited by Fabricius
smoke humankind arose. This seemed to place the ritual in
Conca (Leipzig, 1983). These barbarians, the text says, de-
the context of a marginal Orphic sect. But it has long been
light in sacrificing boys to the morning star; sometimes “they
seen that this myth explicitly contradicts a strict understand-
take a camel of white color and otherwise faultless, they bend
ing of the meaning of o¯mophagia: The Titans use a knife, and
it down upon its knees, and go circling round it three times”;
they both cook and roast the remains of their victim. This
the leader,
seems to mirror more complex divisions of marginal groups,
after the third circuit, before the crowd has finished the
Dionysian or Orphic, with differing dietary codes and ideol-
song, while the last words of the refrain are still on their
ogy, as shown especially by Marcel Detienne (1977).
lips, draws his sword and forcefully smites the neck of
A most interesting text comes from a lost tragedy of Eu-
the camel, and he is the first to taste eagerly of its blood.
And thus the rest of them run up and with their knives
ripides, The Cretans (frag. 472 in August Nauck, Tragicorum
some cut off a small bit of the hide with its hair upon
Graecorum Fragmenta, Leipzig, 1889), preserved by Porphy-
it, others hack at any chance bit of flesh and snatch it
ry (On Abstinence 4.19): The chorus of Cretans introduce
away, others go on to the entrails and inwards, and they
themselves as “initiates of Idaean Zeus”; they have achieved
leave no scrap of the victim unwrought that might be
this status “by performing the thunder of night-swarming
seen by the sun at its rising. (3.3, pp. 12f.)
Zagreus and the raw-eating dinners, and by holding up the
torches for the Mother of the mountains.” This is a literary
The importance of the text as a description of a very primi-
elaboration; one might surmise that the poet was not too well
tive form of sacrifice was seen by W. Robertson Smith
informed about the details of Idaean mysteries and liberally
(1889), and explicit comparison with Dionysian phenomena
added colors from the Dionysian sphere. But he succeeds in
was made by Jane E. Harrison (1903); there is no mention
giving a meaningful setting to the rite of raw-eating, as a
of divine possession, but the narrator seems to consider the
transient phase in initiation to be followed by strict vegetari-
bedouin madmen anyhow. It is not to be forgotten, however,
anism, as the initiates emerge in white clothes from a temple
that this is a novel, and that horror stories belong to the
smeared with bull’s blood; this is a grim and revolting anti-
genre; this fact seriously impairs the authenticity of the
dote through which a status of purity is achieved. Zagreus is
report.
an epithet of Dionysos, especially in the context of sparagmos.
A more striking parallel has been adduced from eyewit-
ness reports of modern Morocco, collected especially by
There remains one nonliterary, realistic testimony for
Raoul Brunel (1926). The Aissaoua form a kind of secret so-
cult practice, a sacred law from Miletus, dated 276/275 BCE,
ciety consisting of several clans, each of which is named after
regulating the privileges of a priestess with regard to the city
an animal, and the members, in their initiation rites, are
as well as to private Dionysian mysteries: “It shall not be al-
made to imitate their emblem. Clans of jackals, cats, dogs,
lowed to anyone to throw in an o¯mophagion before the priest-
leopards, and lions specialize in tearing apart animals and de-
ess throws in one on behalf of the city, nor to bring together
vouring them raw on the spot; in the words of an informant
the group of revelers (thiasoi) before the public one.” This
quoted by E. R. Dodds (1951), “after the usual beating of
clearly is to ensure some prerogative of the city as against pri-
tom-toms, screaming of the pipes and monotonous dancing,
vate organizations. Unfortunately o¯mophagion, “something
a sheep is thrown into the middle of the square, upon which
related to raw-eating,” is a term that occurs only here, and
all the devotees come to life and tear the animal limb from
no agreement has been reached among interpreters as to
limb and eat it raw.” It is said that the flocks of those who
what exactly it should mean in this context. Is a victim (e.g.,
voluntarily offer an animal to the sect will not suffer damage
a goat) being thrown down at a crowd of ecstatic Bacchants
from real predators. Thus a marginal existence is provided
assembled in expectation? (This is the most vivid picture,
with a charismatic status. This seems to be the closest analogy
drawn by, among others, E. R. Dodds, 1951.) Or is a victim
to Dionysian omophagia, though the social setting evidently
being thrown down into a chasm, as attested in the Demeter
is fundamentally different.
festival Thesmophoria? Or is some kind of symbolic substi-
tute (perhaps only a mere contribution in money) being
INTERPRETATIONS. The most common interpretation of rit-
“thrown into” some box? In the absence of further evidence
ual “raw-eating” has been based on what James G. Frazer
there will be no final decision. One may still claim that in
called “the homeopathic effects of a flesh diet”: taking in life
such a context ideology is more important than reality. One
and strength from a living being in the most direct way. In
finds, in a major Greek city close to the classical age, the des-
Hebrew, raw flesh is called “living” flesh. The hypothesis has
ignation of “raw-eating” in a ritual that is meant to ensure
been added that originally the victim was identical with the
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O
¯ MOTOKYO¯
6824
god, who is thus appropriated by the worshipers in sacra-
Evans, Arthur. The God of Ecstasy. New York, 1988.
mental communion. A central support of this construct is
Godwin, Joscelyn. Mystery Religions in the Ancient World. San
seen to collapse if omophagia is not directly related to the
Francisco, 1981.
myth of Dionysos slain. Nor does the hypothesis explain the
Hamerton-Kelly, Robert G., ed. Violent Origins: Walter Burkert,
characteristics of the abnormal usually attached to
René Girard and Jonathan Z. Smith on Ritual Killing and Cul-
omophagia, be it a state of madness or a realm of strangers
tural Formation. Stanford, Calif., 1987.
and monsters. Thus it seems preferable to see the rituals in
the more general context of precarious civilization struggling
WALTER BURKERT (1987)
with the antinomies of nature, while accepting those antino-
Revised Bibliography
mies and trying to interpret them within the pertinent cul-
tural systems as a breakthrough to otherness that remains
bound to its opposite.
O
¯ MOTOKYO¯. Founded at Ayabe, Kyoto prefecture, in
S
1892, O
¯ motokyo¯ constitutes a typical Japanese new religion
EE ALSO Cannibalism; Dionysos; Frenzy.
under the modern emperor system. O
¯ motokyo¯, absorbing
B
folk religious traditions, Kokugaku (National Studies) teach-
IBLIOGRAPHY
Alföldi, Andreas. Die Struktur des voretruskischen Römerstaates.
ings, and ideas from various modern thoughts, created a dis-
Heidelberg, 1974. An attempt to trace Eurasian pastoral tra-
tinctive syncretic Shinto¯ doctrine.
ditions behind Roman institutions. See pages 141–150 for
The founder of O
¯ motokyo¯, Deguchi Nao (1837–
a discussion of “the raw and the cooked.”
1918), was the widow of a poor carpenter. On the lunar New
Brunel, Raoul. Essai sur la confrérie religieuse des Aissâoûa au
Year, 1892, at the age of fifty-six, she was by her own account
Maroc. Paris, 1926. An account that has played some role in
possessed by the kami (deity) Konjin. In this early religious
interpreting Dionysian omophagia.
experience, Nao, influenced by the teachings of Konko¯kyo¯
Burkert, Walter. Homo Necans: The Anthropology of Ancient Greek
(an earlier new religion), conceived a powerful faith in the
Sacrificial Ritual and Myth. Berkeley, Calif., 1983. An essay
benevolent nature of the kami Konjin, a belief that contrast-
on patterns of myth and ritual, including the Dionysian, as
ed with established notions of that deity’s malevolence. The
formed by prehistoric hunters’ traditions.
following year, however, Nao was confined to a room as in-
Detienne, Marcel. Dionysus Slain. Baltimore, 1979. A structural
sane. There, under the command of the kami, she began
study on dietary codes of protest groups.
writing her Ofudesaki (The tip of the divine writing brush),
Dodds, E. R. The Greeks and the Irrational. Berkeley, Calif., 1951.
which became a scripture of O
¯ motokyo¯. Thereafter, Nao’s
A readable and well-documented classic. For a discussion of
healing powers began to win converts to Konjin, and she
the Maenads, see pages 270–282.
eventually left Konko¯kyo¯ to promulgate her own teachings.
Frazer, James G. The Golden Bough (1890). 12 vols. 3d ed. Lon-
don, 1911–1915. An indispensable collection of materials,
Nao criticized the new materialistic society that caused
though criticized today for lack of theory and method.
suffering for poorer people, calling for a utopian age of peace
Harrison, Jane E. Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion
and compassion. In Ofudesaki she proclaimed an eschatologi-
(1903). Atlantic Highlands, N.J., 1981. A seminal study on
cal viewpoint of world renewal (yonaoshi), urging the realiza-
the primitive foundations of Greek religion. Pages 478–500
tion of the ideal world of Miroku’s (Bodhisattva Maitreya’s)
offer a discussion of omophagia.
age and the salvation of the people.
Henrichs, Albert. “Greek Maenadism from Olympias to Messali-
Later, Nao’s small following welcomed Ueda Kisaburo¯
na.” Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 82 (1978):
(later, Deguchi Onisaburo¯, 1871–1948), a religious practi-
121–160.
tioner, and together they created the Kimmei Reigakkai (As-
Lévi-Strauss, Claude. The Raw and the Cooked. New York, 1969.
sociation of Konjin Believers and Spiritual Researchers).
A basic book of French structuralism, treating Amerindian
myths as a system of nature-culture antithesis.
Onisaburo¯ was the son of a poor farmer in the suburbs
Nilsson, Martin P. The Dionysiac Mysteries of the Hellenistic and
of Kameoka in Kyoto prefecture. As a result of his many reli-
Roman Age (1957). New York, 1975. A reliable account of
gious experiences, he was able to heal the sick and had mas-
the evidence.
tered syncretistic Shinto¯ teachings and shamanistic practices.
Smith, W. Robertson. Lectures on the Religion of the Semites
Together, Nao and Onisaburo¯ worked to systematize their
(1889). New York, 1969. A fundamental study on animal
religious insights.
sacrifice from a functional perspective.
O
¯ motokyo¯ proposed a myth of the withdrawal of the
New Sources
nation’s founders. This myth emphasized faith in the two
Astour, Michael C. “Sparagmos, Omophagia, and Ecstatic Proph-
kami Kunitokodachi no Mikoto and Susano-o no Mikoto,
ecy at Mari.” Ugarit-Forschungen 24 (1993): 1–2.
holding that these founding kami, who were the original rul-
Burkert, Walter. Ancient Mystery Cults. Cambridge, Mass., 1987.
ers of Japan, had been expelled by evil kami, causing chaos
Burkert, Walter. Creation of the Sacred: Tracks of Biology in Early
in the world. According to O
¯ motokyo¯ belief, however, the
Religions. Cambridge, Mass., 1996.
time will arrive when a legitimate government of the kami
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

O
¯ MOTOKYO¯
6825
will be realized. This notion could be perceived as a challenge
religions have the same origin and that all men are brothers.
to the national myth that regards Amaterasu O
¯ mikami as the
It cooperated in the Chinese charitable religious organization
divine ancestor of the imperial line, thus denying the divine
Dao-yüan (Doin), developing the Federated Association of
status of the emperor and the legitimacy of his reign.
World Religions at Beijing. Within Japan it formed the Jin-
rui Aizenkai (Association of Benevolence for Mankind).
In its early years, however, O
¯ motokyo¯ was beset by diffi-
culties and dissention. The proselytizing activities of
In 1934 O
¯ motokyo¯ formed the Sho¯wa Shinseikai
O
¯ motokyo¯’s leaders increasingly suffered from police inter-
(Sho¯wa Sanctity Society), and under the leader Onisaburo¯
ference and suppression, and by the beginning of the twenti-
it proceeded to the practical implementation of political re-
eth century the number of believers had dwindled. Internal
form. Taking right-wing politicians as advisers, they called
strife broke out, and as a result of opposition to Nao and the
for an end to parliamentary government and urged recon-
old leaders, Onisaburo¯ left Ayabe for Kyoto, where he be-
struction of the state under the supremacy of the emperor.
came a Shinto¯ priest.
These political views were understandably alarming to the
In 1908, having broadened his viewpoint, Onisaburo¯
government, which was simultaneously confronted by a se-
returned to Ayabe with plans for the expansion of
ries of plots by rightists and young army officers. On Decem-
O
¯ motokyo¯. Despite police oppression, the Kimmei Reigak-
ber 8, 1935, armed special police made surprise attacks on
kai grew into the Dainihon Shu¯saikai (the Japanese Purifica-
O
¯ motokyo¯’s headquarters at Kameoka and Ayabe, arresting
tion Society) and then the Ko¯do¯ O
¯ moto (Great Foundation
210 administrators. A nationwide search also was conducted
of the Imperial Way). With the beginning of World War I,
by the commander of the Police Bureau of the Home Affairs
O
¯ motokyo¯ leadership found the time ripe for a reorganiza-
Ministry. In the following year sixty-two officials of
tion of the world and began intensive campaigns in the
O
¯ motokyo¯ were indicted for the crime of lèse majesté and for
streets of Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka. The economic and so-
violation of the Peace Preservation Law; the Ministry of
cial instability of the age made O
¯ motokyo¯, with its opposi-
Home Affairs immediately proscribed O
¯ motokyo¯. In the af-
tion to capitalists, landlords, and the war, an attractive ideol-
termath of this action the government ordered the destruc-
ogy to intellectuals, but prominent military and business
tion of O
¯ motokyo¯ facilities.
figures also became followers.
In 1942, after a long court battle and more than six
Ko¯do¯ O
¯ moto, in accordance with government policy,
years in jail, the officials were released on bail. Bitterly resent-
followed a Shinto¯-based doctrine that emphasized patrio-
ful of the violent oppression by the authorities and convinced
tism. Its members held strong eschatological views and
of the inevitability of Japan’s defeat, Onisaburo¯ criticized the
preached rites of possession called Chinkon Kishin. The
war and preached a faith to the believers who secretly visited
movement advocated a restoration of proper government by
him, revealing that his failure to participate in the war effort
the kami during the Taisho¯ era. This “Taisho¯ restoration”
was a manifestation of divine will. Following the war,
would take place, the leaders prophesied, when Ayabe be-
O
¯ motokyo¯ was reconstructed as Aizen’en and took as its his-
came the capital of the government they had envisioned.
torical mission the establishment of world peace. It was for
Onisaburo¯ was ambiguous about whether he should be
the foundation of this new world, Onisaburo¯ claimed, that
the supreme leader, who is the Buddhist savior Miroku or
the kami had allowed O
¯ motokyo¯ to survive the war.
the Japanese emperor (Ten’no) would be the savior. But he
Onisaburo¯ died in 1948, and the group returned to its for-
clearly advocated a wholesale restructuring of society and
mer name O
¯ moto in 1952.
Japan’s supreme leadership in the coming world. In 1921 the
In 1949 O
¯ moto joined the World Federation move-
Kyoto prefectural police raided the O
¯ motokyo¯ headquarters
ment, and the peace campaign became an important part of
in Ayabe, and the leaders of the movement were arrested on
its activities. O
¯ moto played a major role in the protest move-
charges of lèse majesté. The central sanctuary, a Miroku hall
ment against the nuclear weapons experiments in the 1950s
built the previous year, was destroyed, and Nao’s tomb was
and the early 1960s. O
¯ moto continues to be active in the
ordered reconstructed because it resembled that of an emper-
World Federation movement, but its emphasis on peace has
or. The charges against the religion were later dismissed in
weakened. In the 1990s O
¯ moto announced its official view
the amnesty at the time of the funeral of the Taisho¯ emperor.
on bioethics. It is critical of the notion of brain death and
After surviving its first persecution, O
¯ motokyo¯ entered
of research using human embryos. O
¯ moto’s importance in
a new stage of development, expanding its activities both
the religious history of modern Japan is emphasized by the
within and outside the country. Onisaburo¯ dictated the large
fact that many new religions, including Seicho¯ no Ie and
scripture Reikai Monogatari (Tale of the spirit world; 1922)
World Messianity, were heavily influenced by O
¯ moto. In
and while out on bail secretly traveled to Mongolia, where
2002 O
¯ moto’s official membership within Japan was
he unsuccessfully attempted to create a separate state by call-
172,000 persons.
ing himself a living buddha. O
¯ motokyo¯, in consonance with
post–World War I international humanist thought, urged
SEE ALSO New Religious Movements, article on New Reli-
the adoption of Esperanto and advanced the notions that all
gious Movements in Japan.
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

6826
OMPHALOS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
and relationships that tie humans to nature for sources of the
Deguchi Nao. Ofudesaki, the Holy Scriptures of Oomoto. Translat-
former’s subsistence on the latter. Everything that happens
ed by Hino Iwao. Tokyo, 1979.
in one domain inevitably has consequences in the other. Like
Iwao, Hino. The Outline of Oomoto. Kameoka, Japan, 1968.
humans, the animals are conceived as being organized in
Murakami Shigeyoshi. Japanese Religion in the Modern Century.
clans. Furthermore, relationships between humans and ani-
Translated by H. Byron Earhart. Tokyo, 1980. Originally
mals are modeled on intrahuman relationships. These rela-
published as Kindai hyakunen no shukyo.
tionships are both interclan (involving alliance and ven-
Oomoto and Universal Love and Brotherhood Association. Oo-
geance) and intraclan (involving filiation or descent). For
moto. (1956–). An English-language periodical, issued bi-
humans and animals alike, being excluded from a clan creates
monthly.
frustration and therefore the desire to seek revenge, a cause
Ooms, Emily Groszos. Women and Millenarian Protest in Meiji
of trouble for the whole community. Hence, in addition to
Japan. Ithaca, N.Y., 1993.
clan ongons, there are also ongons representing isolated or un-
Yasumaru Yoshio. Deguchi Nao. Tokyo, 1977.
affiliated spirits, which may receive the cult either from one
family or from several clans.
MURAKAMI SHIGEYOSHI (1987)
SHIMAZONO SUSUMU (2005)
The various modes of access to natural resources are
what determine the most significant differences between on-
gon
s. Situated within the confines of the forest and the
OMPHALOS SEE CENTER OF THE WORLD
steppe, the Mongolian peoples have all made their living by
hunting. Only subsequently did they adopt pastoralism to
a certain extent. When it is hunting that provides sustenance,
ONA RELIGION
the relationship between humans and nature is conceived of
SEE SELKDNAM RELIGION
as based on the model of a marriage exchange, wherein the
hunter is to the spirit dispenser of game, Bayan Khangay
(“rich forest”), as a son-in-law is to his father-in-law. The
ONGON. In all Mongolian languages, the term ongon is
hunter takes game from Bayan Khangay just as a man takes
applied to the dwelling-place of a spirit or sacred being. In
his wife from his father-in-law: He is a taker, proud of his
the traditional shamanistic context it refers to any spirit, to-
catch, yet guilty for not having given anything in exchange.
gether with the object in which that spirit resides. There is
First, the ritual of the hunt aims to reduce the capture of
a great variety of such dwellings. Some are natural (e.g.,
game to a capture of food. The skeleton and the respiratory
lakes, trees, living animals, skinned animals), and hence cer-
organs containing the vital breath of life are disposed of in
tain scholars refer to the notion of ongon as totemism. Others
such a way that the animal is allowed to be reborn. Next, the
are artificial (e.g., drawings on rock, wooden or felt figurines,
real compensation for the food (i.e., game taken from nature)
drawings on cloth); for these the collective form ongot is re-
is made by feeding ongons either small tamed animals (eagles,
served. Some are suspended and clearly visible either in or
cygnets, etc.) or figurines or drawings representing animals,
outside the yurt; others are locked away in sacks or caskets.
skins of animals, or the like. Thus this system of food ex-
A ritual act, usually carried out by a shaman, is required
change is similar to the exchange of women in the marriage
for each of these natural or artificial mediums to become an
alliance system: a man accepts his wife from one family, and
ongon. For natural ongons, this consists of establishing a rela-
in return offers his sister or daughter in marriage to another.
tionship with the spirit that animates and is indistinguishable
This feeding of ongons is primarily intended to ensure that
from the natural being; and for artificial ones, the rite is one
the hunt will not be hindered by the vengeance of decimated
that introduces the desired spirit into the created receptacle.
animal clans or the revenge of deceased unlucky hunters. In
A spirit must be fastened down so that humans can have con-
the event of an unsuccessful hunt, the ongon that is consid-
tact with him and control him, for on the one hand a wan-
ered to have failed to carry out its part of the contract, al-
dering spirit may be dangerous, and on the other an empty
though correctly fed, is reviled, beaten, destroyed, thrown
receptacle is in danger of being filled by an undesirable spirit.
out, and replaced by a new one.
The ritual treatment of all categories of ongons is essen-
Pastoralism, on the other hand, switches the nature of
tially the act of feeding them. Food is given to living animals;
human-spirit relationships from one of alliance to one of fili-
meat, butter, or cream is either set down beside the figurines,
ation. The attitude of an exacting contracting party that pre-
placed in their mouths, or rubbed on them. Tobacco offer-
vails under the alliance model gives way to an attitude of ven-
ings accompany the food, and the practitioner smokes a ritu-
eration on the part of the filial descendent. This is because
al pipe. The sanction for failure to feed the ongon is sickness
there is a patrimony (herds and grazing rights) to protect and
or death, which has led certain writers to attribute a primarily
hand down. In addition, sacrifices are made to one’s ances-
medical function to the ongons.
tors in order to guarantee pastoral legitimacy. The compen-
The ongon cult is based on the conception of a structural
sation for the resources taken from the herd is the food given
similarity between intrahuman relationships on the one hand
to the ongon: living consecrated animals (mature males that
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

ONMYO
¯ DO¯
6827
are raised within the herd, then slaughtered before growing
ONMYO
¯ DO¯ is the collective Japanese name for various
old and replaced by younger males), zoomorphic representa-
methods of divination, originally based on the Chinese theo-
tions (accompanied by a human silhouette fashioned in tin,
ries of yin and yang (Jpn., onmyo¯, on’yo¯, or in’yo¯, the comple-
representing a soul) or anthropomorphs (primarily repre-
mentary forces seen in all phenomena), the “five elements”
senting women who died without experiencing childbirth,
(Chin., wuxing; Jpn. gogyo¯; i.e., fire, wood, earth, metal, and
a check to filiation that results in the herd being stricken with
water), their cyclical interactions, and the influence thereof
epizootic diseases). As early as the thirteenth century Giovan-
in the natural and human spheres. The art of advising indi-
ni da Pian del Carpini noted felt dolls suspended from two
viduals and governments in the planning of all manner of ac-
sides of the yurt, made and honored by the women to protect
tivities and projects according to the movements of the sun
the herds. In addition, the body of the shaman itself is a me-
and moon (representing yang and yin, respectively) and the
dium for spirits during the Buriat shamanic séance called
stars, and the predicting of auspicious and inauspicious con-
ongo oruulkha, “introducing the spirits.”
ditions as determined by the shifting relationships of the five
As a result of their primary function of linking the so-
elements and the sexagenary cycle (Chin. shigan shier zhi;
cial, economic and religious worlds, the ongons and the sha-
Jpn., jikkan ju¯nishi) were highly developed and extensively
mans themselves have been subjected to severe persecution
documented in China by the beginning of the Han dynasty
from Lamaism. This persecution dates from the time when
(206 BCE–220 CE). Some of the major texts, such as the Yi
Lamaism penetrated into central Mongolia (seventeenth cen-
jing (Jpn., Ekikyo¯) date from much earlier.
tury) and the Buriat Republic (nineteenth century).
From the time of the introduction of these texts and
practices to Japan in the sixth century
S
CE, onmyo¯do¯ encom-
EE ALSO Buriat Religion; Mongol Religions; Shamanism.
passed not only yinyang and five-element divination per se
but also the related fields of astronomy and astrology, geo-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
mancy, meteorology, calendar making (on Chinese models),
Harva, Uno. Les representations religieuses des peuples altaïques
and chrononomy (chiefly with Chinese water clocks). The
(1938). Paris, 1959. A rich and well-documented presenta-
tion that suffers from an awkward separation of fact from
word onmyo¯do¯, meaning the “way (practice, art) of yinyang,”
context.
labels these various arts and sciences and the beliefs and prac-
tices based on them in a manner similar to the way in which
Heissig, Walther. “Die Religionen der Mongolei.” In Giuseppe
the term Butsudo may refer to the whole range of Buddhist
Tucci and Walther Heissig, Die Religionen Tibets und der
Mongolei.
Stuttgart, 1970. Translated as The Religions of
ideas and practices; likewise, the term Shinto¯ refers broadly
Mongolia by Geoffrey Samuel (Berkeley, Calif., 1980). A fine
to the many organized forms of indigenous Japanese reli-
historical presentation that illustrates the struggle of the
gious tradition (as well as its imported accretions, including
lamas to suppress shamanism and explains the emergence of
some rites and festivals originally associated with onmyo¯do¯).
a syncretic religious form.
Similar nomenclature was also used for specific fields within
Zelenin, D. K. Kul’t ongonov v Sibiri. Moscow and Leningrad,
onmyo¯do¯, such as tenmondo¯ for astronomy and rekido¯ for cal-
1936. Translated as Le culte des idoles en Siberie by G. Welter
endar studies. The word uranai (“augury”) is another term
(Paris, 1952). The only comprehensive work on ongons, still
used widely for the many forms of divination practiced by
valuable because of its abundant documentation and recog-
onmyo¯do¯ masters as well as by other types of seers and prog-
nition of contractual relationships with the ongons. In its evo-
nosticators. In early chronicles and works of literature,
lutionist perspective and insistence on the term totemism as
onmyo¯do¯ specifically identifies the divining arts as taught and
a classificatory rubric, however, the work is now outdated.
performed in the official Bureau of Divination (Onmyo¯ryo¯),
New Sources
which was established in the seventh century and which was
Bawden, C. R. Confronting the Supernatural: Mongolian Tradi-
responsible for providing the court with astronomical obser-
tional Ways and Means: Collected Papers. Wiesbaden, 1994.
vations, astrological forecasts, calendars, accurate timekeep-
Birtalan, Á. Die Mythologie der Mongolischen Volksreligion. Stutt-
ing, and the training of practitioners of these arts. However,
gart, 2000.
onmyo¯do¯ skills were known and used by many persons out-
Heissig, Walther. “New Material on East Mongolian Shaman-
side the bureau, including scholars, physicians, and Buddhist
ism.” Asian Folklore Studies 49, no. 2 (1990): 223–233.
priests, as well as by unschooled fortune-tellers and entertain-
ers. Like many aspects of Japanese religion, onmyo¯do¯ has both
Hesse, Klaus. “On the History of Mongolian Shamanism in An-
an organized, institutional aspect and a popular, unsystemat-
thropological Perspective.” Anthropos 82, nos. 4–6 (1987):
403–413.
ic aspect as well. Both are present in the history of onmyo¯do¯
from its beginnings, as is the tendency toward undifferentiat-
Zhugder, C., and G. Luvsantseren. Mongold feodalizm togtokh
ed linkage with other religious traditions.
ueiin niigem-uls tur, gun ukhaany setgelgee: ertnees XIV zuun
khurtel
. Ulaanbaatar, 2002.
It is likely that some forms of onmyo¯do¯ thought and
R
practice were known in Japan prior to what is recorded as
OBERTE HAMAYON (1987)
Translated from French by Sherri L. Granka
their formal introduction. It has been observed, for instance,
Revised Bibliography
that the emphasis on duality in Japanese cosmogony (as nar-
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

ONMYO
¯ DO¯
6828
rated in the Kojiki, 712 CE) may reflect the influence of the
to the topography and the deserted capitals of his predeces-
yinyang concept. It would appear that yinyang and related el-
sors. Generally, the north was regarded as a seat of power,
ements of Chinese philosophy were fairly compatible with
while the northeast was viewed as the source of malevolence;
indigenous ideas of creation and causation, as well as with
the North Star, Polaris (Daigoku) was closely watched. As
other beliefs. Although its origins were just as “alien,”
in China, Japanese capitals, including the permanent capitals
onmyo¯do¯ certainly did not meet with the kind of organized
Heijo¯ (Nara) and Heian (Kyoto), were all constructed on
opposition that confronted the contemporaneous introduc-
carefully surveyed north-south axes, and official buildings
tion of Buddhism.
and residences were placed where they might best receive fa-
vorable influences or be protected from evil ones, according
According to the Nihonshoki (720), it was in 513 that
to onmyo¯do¯ geomancy.
Korean scholars introduced the “five texts”—a group of clas-
sic Chinese works, including the Yi jing—to the court of the
The Onmyo¯ryo¯ was organized soon after Temmu took
(semihistorical) Emperor Keitai. In 554, Korean Yi jing pro-
the throne, and its structure remained unchanged for centu-
fessors (Eki hakase) and calendar masters who had been serv-
ries. The chief of the bureau (onmyo¯ no kami) was a senior
ing at the court of Emperor Kinmei were replaced by new
master responsible for reporting the observations of his sub-
ones. In 602, the Korean Buddhist monk Kanroku presented
ordinates to the emperor. The bureau employed six divina-
himself to the court of Empress Suiko, along with up-to-date
tion masters (onmyo¯ji), who performed the real work of ob-
almanacs and books of astrology, geography and magic.
serving and forecasting, and one professor of divination
Prince Sho¯toku (574–622), Suiko’s nephew and regent, is
(onmyo hakase), who supervised ten students (onmyo¯sho¯).
said to have chosen the colors of the caps used in his civil
There was also one professor in each of the fields of calendar-
rank system on the basis of onmyo¯do¯ symbolism. The “Seven-
making and astrology, each with ten students, as well as two
teen Article Constitution” attributed to him (although per-
professors of chrononomy. Onmyo¯ji were also assigned to
haps a later work) has also been said to reflect onmyo¯do¯ con-
various provincial administrative centers. Famous masters of
cepts of social order. When the scholars Minabuchi Sho¯gen
the eighth century include Kibi Makibi (693–775) and Abe
and Takamuko Genri returned in 640 from a long period
Nakamaro (698–770), both of whom studied at length in
of study in China they introduced the latest in Chinese di-
China. Because divination could easily be used either in the
vining texts and practices. But even at this early stage, Japa-
interest of or against the government, efforts were made to
nese onmyo¯do¯ was distinguished from its Chinese models by
limit divination activities to officially trained practitioners.
the extent to which it incorporated other arts of divination,
The laws governing the activities of Buddhist monks and
natural science, and what were probably native forms of
nuns (So¯niryo¯), enacted in 757 as part of the Yo¯ro¯ Code, in-
magic. Nor was onmyo¯do¯ thought of as a discipline entirely
cluded specific punishments for those who falsely reported
separate from Buddhism or the other religions, philosophies,
omens of disaster that might cause the people to lose confi-
and forms of learning imported at the same time; the
dence in the authority of the state.
onmyo¯do¯ teacher Kanroku, for example, was also a high-
ranking Buddhist monk.
The chronicles, diaries, and literary works of the Heian
period (794–1185) are rich with information on the role of
Among the Taika reforms instituted in 645 was the
onmyo¯do¯ at court and in society. It is clear that it was at this
adoption of a system of era names (Chin., nianhao; Jpn.,
time that onmyo¯do¯ reached the height of its importance.
nengo¯) consisting of two (or occasionally four) auspicious
About fifty different onmyo¯do¯ rites are mentioned as having
Chinese ideographs with symbolic significance based on
been observed at court. Among them were the Taizenfukun-
onmyo¯do¯ teachings. The first era name chosen was Taika, lit-
sai, honoring a Chinese deity who oversees the spirits of the
erally “great change (or reform).” Eras were renamed at irreg-
dead; the Doko¯sai, for Dokujin, or Tsuchi no Kami, the mis-
ular intervals, usually when some especially good omen was
chievous earth deity whose seasonal movements were closely
reported, such as the discovery of rare metals, albino animals
watched; the Tensochifusai, performed once in each reign to
(particularly turtles, the color white and the creature both
honor war dead and to ward off disease; and the Shika-
being deemed auspicious), or the sighting of a very favorable
kushikyo¯sai, wherein the spirits that cause sickness were pla-
cloud formation. Several of the nengo¯ of the late seventh and
cated with offerings in each of the four corners of the cere-
most of the eighth centuries include ideographs for metals,
monial space and at each of the four borders of the state. The
colors (white and red), “turtle,” “cloud,” and other auspi-
increase in the emphasis on these rites closely paralleled, and
cious signs. In the Heian period, nengo¯ were changed more
was sometimes linked to, the increase in the importance of
frequently, often in response to such inauspicious phenome-
Esoteric (Vajraya¯na) ritual in Heian Buddhism. The monk
na as solar eclipses, typhoons, droughts, and earthquakes.
Ennin (794–864), the third abbot of the Japanese Tendai
school and the figure who introduced many Esoteric ele-
Emperor Temmu (r. 672–686) is said to have been
ments to it after his period of study in China, is also said to
adept at the onmyo¯do¯ arts. An astronomical observatory was
have introduced the worship of Taizenfukun.
built early in his reign, and he probably used its findings in
the surveying and construction of his capital at Kiyomihara,
Several works of the Heian period indicate that the
in what was believed to be a favorable location in relation
onmyo¯do¯ masters stressed astronomical portents over other
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

ONMYO
¯ DO¯
6829
types of signs in their reports and forecasts. This may reflect
kami, is said to have relied on three texts—Konkikyo¯, Suikyo¯,
the interest of two influential onmyo¯ no kami, Shigeoka
and Jinsu¯ryo¯kyo¯—which he referred to as “the three onmyo¯do¯
Kawahito (d. 874) and Yuge Koreo (bureau chief in the
classics.” A Sui dynasty manual, Wuxing taiyi (Jpn., Gogyo¯
Kanpyo¯ era, 889–898). Concern with overt astrological in-
taigi), attributed to Xiao Ji was also used by many masters.
fluences became obsessive, and plans for every type of public
In 1210, the onmyo¯ hakase Abe Takashige was asked by Re-
or private activity were first submitted to onmyo¯ji for read-
tired Emperor Go-Toba to prepare a new manual based on
ings of the governing signs. Directional taboos (kataimi),
classical texts. The result, a work known as Onmyo¯do¯ hakase
dictated by the rising and falling of one’s birth sign (i.e., the
Abe Takashige kanjinki, prescribes divination for the under-
two signs of the sexagenary cycle that were in convergence
taking of construction projects and official excursions, with
at the time of one’s birth) and their relationship to others’
many examples from Heian practice.
signs, or by the association of those signs or of certain deities
After the twelfth century, as political power passed from
with certain directions, were strictly observed. In 865, Em-
the Heian court to a series of military dictators, the heyday
peror Seiwa was advised that traveling from the crown
of official onmyo¯do¯ came to an end. Calendar studies fell into
prince’s residence to the palace by a northwest-to-southeast
decline, while interest shifted to numerology, sukuyo¯do¯, a
route could have fatal consequences, and he duly altered his
form of astrology strongly influenced by Esoteric Buddhism,
course. Such directional changes (katatagae) were also made
and folk astrologies. When the Kamo line of rekido¯ masters
to avoid sectors favored at particular seasons by untrustwor-
died out in about 1400, the Abe clan reclaimed the calendar
thy deities, especially Ten’ichijin, (usually called Nakagami),
legacy and, as a reward for helpful predictions, were granted
Dokujin, and Konjin, the “metal god.” Nakagami’s influ-
the surname Tsuchimikado and the hereditary onmyo¯do¯ mo-
ences were particularly feared. He was believed to be active
nopoly by Emperor Gokomatsu. The Tsuchimikado name
first in the northeast for six days, then for five days in the
remains closely linked with the remainder of onmyo¯do¯ histo-
east, six in the southeast, five in the south and so on around
ry. Tsuchimikado Shinto¯, also known as Abe Shinto¯, is a sect
the compass. The whole forty-four day period was termed
that combines onmyo¯do¯ elements with Shinto¯. It traces its or-
a futagari (“obstacle”), because activity was blocked at almost
igins to Tsuchimikado Yasutomi (1655–1717). When the
every turn.
shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune (1652–1751) wanted to
Travel to and from the dangerous northeast, called
adopt a Western calendar he was defied by Tsuchimikado
kimon (“demon’s gateway”) was also scrupulously avoided.
Yasukuni, who asserted the right of his family—and of the
This direction was believed to be favored by a deity called
Kyo¯to establishment over the Edo shogunate—to exercise
Daishogun, an active manifestation of the deity Taihakujin,
control of the calendar. He prepared a new one, the Ho¯reki
calendar, which was promulgated in 1754.
identified in turn with the planet Venus. According to
Venus’s position, specific days in each sexagenary cycle, and
Meanwhile, a class of professional conjurers, the
certain hours on certain days, were judged especially un-
sho¯monji, had appropriated many onmyo¯do¯ functions, which
lucky. If an appointment required people to travel in a pro-
they combined with su¯tra chanting, dancing and theatricals.
hibited direction on a given day they might veer off in a safe
Although licensed to perform such entertainments, the
direction on the day prior to it; after passing the night, they
sho¯monji were a despised class. The word onmyo¯ji, which pre-
could proceed toward their destination without fear of ad-
viously had denoted a learned master, came to refer to itiner-
verse effect. Sei Shonagon, the author of Makura no so¯shi
ant magicians who roamed the country selling charms, alma-
(The pillow book), a journal and miscellany of court life, is
nacs and advice. Eventually, in the Edo period (1603–1867),
among the Heian writers who describe this technique. Hi-
both sho¯monji and onmyo¯ji were labeled outcasts and were
karu Genji, the hero of the great romance Genji monogatari,
forced to reside in ghettos. In some of these, their descen-
frequently cites directional taboos as a reason for absence
dants still practice the ancient arts of their ancestors. Many
from or neglect of one or another of his many lovers.
modern fortune-tellers and astrologers continue to rely on
basic onmyo¯do¯ methods, while many Japanese still refuse to
Within the Heian bureaucracy, the Onmyo¯ryo¯ became
live in a house with northeastern exposure or to position
the virtually exclusive domain of the Abe and Kamo clans.
their beds in a way that might invite the malignant effects
For generations beginning in the mid-tenth century,
that come from that quarter.
onmyo¯do¯ practices were divided between the two clans, the
Kamo being the masters of the art of the calendar and the
SEE ALSO Japanese Religions, article on Popular Religion;
Abe controlling astronomical studies. The twenty-fourth vol-
Yinyang Wuxing.
ume of Konjaku monogatari shu¯ contains a series of stories
about the exploits of illustrious members of these clans as
BIBLIOGRAPHY
well as those of their predecessors and of some anonymous
The first major work of modern scholarship on onmyo¯do¯ was Saito¯
practitioners, including Buddhist monks. The emphasis in
Tsutomu’s O
¯ cho¯ jidai no onmyo¯do¯ (Tokyo, 1915). More re-
these stories is on the use of special insights to perceive life-
cently, Murayama Shu¯ichi has devoted much of his career to
threatening dangers and the secret techniques used to outwit
the study of onmyo¯do¯’s history, treating it most comprehen-
them. Abe Yasuchika, a particularly accomplished onmyo¯ no
sively in his Nihon onmyo¯do¯shi so¯setsu (Tokyo, 1981). His
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6830
ONTOLOGY
work is complemented by that of Yoshino Hiroko, whose
more general terms) actuality and potentiality. The former
Nihon kodai jujutsu: onmyo¯ gogyo¯ to Nihon genshi shinko¯
of these is the active principle of the thing’s growth and de-
(Tokyo, 1974) and Onmyo¯ gogyo¯ shiso¯ kara mita Nihon no
velopment (phusis, “nature”), the intelligible identity of it
matsuri (Tokyo, 1978) document the role of onmyo¯do¯ in vari-
which the mind grasps in knowledge and expresses in judg-
ous early cults and rites, with many diagrams and illustra-
ment, while the latter is the substratum of possibility that al-
tions. See also Classical Learning and Daoist Practices in Early
lows for change.
Japan: Engishiki, translated by Felicia G. Bock (Tempe,
Ariz., 1985). A helpful table, explaining the various applica-
This analysis of what “being” means was substantively
tions of the sexagenary cycle, forms part of the article by Fu-
taken over in the metaphysics of Thomas Aquinas (1225–
jita Tomio, “Jikkan ju¯nishi” (in English), in the Encyclopedia
of Japan
(Tokyo, 1983), vol. 4, pp. 55–57. The most com-
1274). Thomas, however, broadened the application of Aris-
prehensive history of calendar study in Japan is Sato¯ Masat-
totle’s distinction between actuality and potentiality. It in-
sugu’s Nihon rekigaku shi (Tokyo, 1968). On era names, see
cluded not merely the distinction between the form and the
Takigawa Masajiro¯’s Nengo¯ ko¯sho¯ (Tokyo, 1974). A highly
matter that determines the “what” (id quod, “essence”) of a
regarded study of directional taboos is Bernard Frank’s
thing, but also, and more fundamentally, that between what
Kataimi et katatagae: Étude sur les interdits de direction à
a thing is and the fact that it is (id quo, “existence”). Essence
l’époque Heian (Tokyo, 1958). Nakamura Sho¯hachi has tran-
for Thomas is a potentiality that is brought into “act” only
scribed and edited Gogyo¯ taigi (Tokyo, 1973) and has also
through existing; hence the study of being, in considering the
produced a study, Gogyo¯ taigi no kisoteki kenkyu¯ (Tokyo,
question what it means to be this or that (thing), must focus
1976). A translation of the early legal codes, giving the struc-
ture of the Onmyo¯ryo¯ as well as a translation of the So¯niryo¯,
not merely on what gives a thing (“substance”) its identity
may be found in Sir George Sansom’s “Early Japanese Law
but also on what accounts for its “being there,” its actual
and Administration,” Transactions of the Asiatic Society of
existence.
Japan, 2d ser., 9 (1932): 67–109 and 11 (1935): 117–149.
There is extensive material on sho¯monji and the later onmyo¯ji
In his treatise First Philosophy or Ontology (1729), how-
in Hori Ichiro¯’s Wagakuni minkan shinko¯shi no kenkyu¯, 2
ever, Christian Wolff (1679–1754), whose work established
vols. (Tokyo, 1953–1955), some of which is incorporated in
the normal modern use of the term, understood ontology as
his Folk Religion in Japan, edited and translated by Joseph M.
a subdivision of metaphysics: the study of being as a genus
Kitagawa and Alan L. Miller (Chicago, 1968).
(“general metaphysics”), to be distinguished from the sub-
jects of “special metaphysics,” that is, theology, psychology,
EDWARD KAMENS (1987)
and cosmology. Being, then, was for Wolff a univocal term
denoting “what is” in its most universal characteristics. Aris-
totle’s (and Thomas’s) insistence on the “many senses” in
ONTOLOGY. The word ontology, meaning “discourse
which “to be” is said recedes into the background: For Wolff,
about, or study of, being,” was introduced into the philo-
the fundamental principles of being are the laws of noncon-
sophical vocabulary in the early seventeenth century. The
tradiction and of sufficient reason. Reality is composed of
term was originally used as an equivalent for “metaphysics,”
imperceptible simple substances each of whose essences is ex-
which Aristotle, in Metaphysics 4.1, had defined precisely as
hausted by a single clear and distinct idea, and whose exis-
the science that treats “being insofar as it is being.” Thus the
tence is accounted for by appeal to the principle of sufficient
enterprise of ontology had a long prehistory.
reason.
Plato had considered the question of “being” (to on,
This science of generic being, abstract and deductive in
ousia), which for him meant the “what” of things as a stable
form, was rejected by Immanuel Kant (1724–1804), for
object of certain knowledge. Hence he thought that the term
whom ontology—a term he used very infrequently—came in
being was properly employed only of the self-identical,
effect to be identified with his own transcendental philoso-
changeless, and hence eternal, realm of Forms—that reality,
phy. This enterprise was concerned not with “things in
grasped by intellect alone, which is imaged in, but at the
themselves” but with the subjective preconditions of human
same time contrasted with, the mutable realm of “becom-
knowledge—the forms of sense-perception and the catego-
ing.” It was Aristotle, critical of this outright identification
ries of the understanding—through which the “objects” of
of being with the immutable and transcendent Forms, who
the empirical world are constituted as such. The propaedeu-
insisted that the verb “to be” is universally applicable and
tic study of being thus became, for Kant, an investigation of
then proceeded to ask what it means to be (anything). Be-
the ways in which the subject of knowing “objectifies” the
cause, as he frequently observes, “‘being’ is said in many
content of experience and so constitutes the “beings” of the
senses,” he denies in effect that the term is used univocally
phenomenal world. Like Kant, G. W. F. Hegel (1770–1831)
or that it defines an all-inclusive genus. He nevertheless
rejected Wolff’s “dogmatic” ontology. For him, the study of
thinks that its primary or focal use is to denote the subject,
being took the form of a logic, which explicated the move-
whether of discourse or of change and action: To be is to be
ment—from simplicity to organic complexity, from “being”
some concrete “thing” (ousia)—a changing, individual com-
to “concept”—by which Mind (Geist) appropriates itself
posite of two correlative principles, form and matter or (in
through self-objectification.
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6831
In more recent philosophy, the project of ontology, long
“oracular response”), has been more closely associated with
neglected save in theological circles where traditional scholas-
traditions of divine revelation through human mediums in
tic philosophy prevailed, reappeared in the work of Edmund
ancient Israel and early Christianity. One major cause of this
Husserl (1859–1938). Husserl’s search for a sure basis of
state of affairs is that in the Septuagint (the Greek translation
human knowledge led him to elaborate a phenomenological
of the Hebrew scriptures made during the third and second
method that sought to identify and describe “what is” as the
centuries BCE) Greek words from the proph¯et- family were
world of the “transcendental ego” or “pure consciousness”
used to translate words derived from the biblical Hebrew
(as distinct from the empirical self, which is a member of the
root nv D (“prophet, to prophesy”). Because most oracles in
object-world of scientific inquiry). It was Husserl’s student
the Greek world were given in response to inquiries, oracles
and critic Martin Heidegger (1889–1976), however, who
are often regarded as verbal responses by a supernatural
through his Being and Time most explicitly and influentially
being, in contrast to prophecy, which is thought of as unso-
revived the project of ontology. For Heidegger, “being” (“to
licited verbal revelations given through human mediums and
be”) is radically distinguished from “beings” (“what there
often directed toward instigating social change. In actuality,
is”). The former is the subject of ontological, the latter of
question-and-answer revelatory “séances” were common in
merely “ontic,” discourse. The clue to the question of being
ancient Israel, and it was only with the appearance in the
is, for him, the existent human subject (Dasein), which is pre-
eighth century BCE of free prophets such as Amos, Isaiah, and
cisely in the act of asking what it means “to be.” To grasp
Hosea that unsolicited prophecy became common. Further,
what it is “to be” is thus to grasp what is presupposed in the
the preservation of the prophetic speeches of the classical Is-
human existent’s asking about its being. Ontology is thus
raelite prophets in the Hebrew scriptures has served to ensure
again, as for Kant, a transcendental analysis—but not, in this
the dominance of this particular image of Israelite prophets
case, of the preconditions of human knowing so much as of
and prophecy. Therefore, modern distinctions between “ora-
the preconditions of human “being-in-the-world.”
cles” and “prophecy” are largely based on the discrete con-
ventions of classical and biblical tradition rather than upon
SEE ALSO Metaphysics.
a cross-cultural study of the subject, though the terms them-
selves are often used and interchanged indiscriminately in
BIBLIOGRAPHY
modern anthropological studies.
Gilson, Étienne. Being and Some Philosophers. Toronto, 1949.
ORACLES AND DIVINATION. Oracles are but one of several
Kung, Guido.Ontology and the Logistic Analysis of Language. New
types of divination, which is the art or science of interpreting
York, 1967.
symbols understood as messages from the gods. Such sym-
Martin, Gottfried. Kant’s Metaphysics and Theory of Science. Man-
bols often require the interpretive expertise of a trained spe-
chester, U.K., 1961.
cialist and are frequently based on phenomena of an unpre-
New Sources
dictable or even trivial nature. The more common types of
Collier, Andrew. Critical Realism: An Introduction to Roy Bashkar’s
divination in the Greco-Roman world included the casting
Philosophy. 1985; reprint, London, 1994.
of lots (sortilege), the flight and behavior of birds (ornitho-
Snyder, Daniel Howard, and Paul Moser. Divine Hiddenness: New
mancy), the behavior of sacrificial animals and the condition
Essays. Cambridge, U.K., 2002.
of their vital organs (e.g., hepatoscopy, or liver divination),
Weissman, David. A Social Ontology. New Haven, Conn., 2000.
various omens or sounds (cledonomancy), and dreams (onei-
romancy). Chinese civilization made elaborate use of divina-
RICHARD A. NORRIS (1987)
tion, partly as an expression of the Confucian belief in fate.
Revised Bibliography
Some of the more popular methods included the use of di-
vining sticks and blocks (the latter called yin-yang gua), used
together or separately; body divination to predict the charac-
ORACLES. The word oracle is derived from the Latin
ter and future behavior of select individuals (palmistry, phys-
word oraculum, which referred both to a divine pronounce-
iognomy); astrology; the determination of the proper loca-
ment or response concerning the future or the unknown as
tion of buildings and graves in accordance with yin and yang
well as to the place where such pronouncements were given.
factors and the five elements (geomancy); coin divination;
(The Latin verb orare means “to speak” or “to request.”) In
planchette divination or spirit writing; and the use of the Yi
English, oracle is also used to designate the human medium
jing (Book of changes) for divination based on the symbol
through whom such prophetic declarations or oracular say-
bagua, that is, the eight trigrams constituting the sixty-four
ings are given.
hexagrams that provide the basis for the book.
ORACLES AND PROPHECY. In Western civilization the con-
Oracles (or prophecies) themselves are messages from
notations of the word oracle (variously rendered in European
the gods in human language concerning the future or the un-
languages) have been largely determined by traditional per-
known and are usually received in response to specific inqui-
ceptions of ancient Greek oracles, particularly the oracle of
ries, often through the agency of inspired mediums. Oracles
Apollo at Delphi. The term prophecy, on the other hand
have, in other words, a basic linguistic character not found
(from the Greek word propheteia, meaning “prophecy” or
in other forms of divination. This linguistic character is evi-
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6832
ORACLES
dent in the sometimes elaborately articulated inquiries made
Oracular places. In the ancient Mediterranean world
of the deities in either spoken or written form. In addition,
certain places were thought to enjoy a special sanctity, partic-
oracles themselves exhibit a linguistic character ranging from
ularly caves, springs, elevations, and places struck by light-
the symbolized “yes” or “no” response, or “auspicious” or
ning (especially oak trees). The emphasis on the oracular
“inauspicious” response, of many lot oracles, to the elabor-
powers inherent in particular sites is due to the ancient Greek
ately crafted replies spoken and/or written by mediums while
belief that the primal goddess Gaia (“earth”) was the source
experiencing possession trance or vision trance, or shortly
of oracular inspiration. While oracle shrines were rare among
thereafter. This linguistic character of oracles presupposes an
the Romans (the lot oracle of Fortuna Primigenia, goddess
anthropomorphic conception of the supernatural beings
of fertility, at Praeneste was the most popular), they were
concerned.
very common in the Greek world. Apollo, the primary orac-
ular divinity among the Greeks, had oracles at Delphi, Cla-
In actuality, oracles are usually so closely associated with
ros, and Didyma. Zeus had oracles at Dodona, Olympia, and
other forms of divination that it is difficult to insist on rigid
the Oasis of Siwa in Libya (as the Egyptian god Amun); the
distinctions. Some commentators have vainly attempted to
healing god Asklepios had them at Epidaurus and Rome; and
distinguish between oracles and divination by claiming that
the heroes Amphiaraos and Trophonios had oracular grot-
oracle is used only in connection with a specific deity, one
toes in Lebadea and Oropus respectively. Each of these oracle
often connected with a particular place. Other forms of divi-
shrines required supplicants to fulfill a distinctive set of tradi-
nation were in fact used in all the ancient Greek oracle sanc-
tional procedures, and each site had a natural feature con-
tuaries, often as an alternate form of consultation. At the ora-
nected with its oracular potencies. Springs or pools were
cle of Delphi, for example, where Apollo was believed to be
closely associated with the oracles of Apollo at Delphi, Cla-
present only nine months each year, oracular consultations
ros, and Didyma and in Lycia, with the healing oracle of De-
were held in ancient times on only one day each year, the
meter at Patrae, with the oracle of Glykon-Asklepios at Abo-
seventh day of the seventh month (seven was Apollo’s sacred
nuteichos, and with the oracle of Amphilochos in Cilicia.
number), though they became more frequent with the pass-
Further, the Pythia prepared for oracular consultations by
ing centuries. On other auspicious days it has been supposed
drinking water from the Kassotis spring, and the priest-
that the god could be consulted by means of a lot oracle, the
prophets of Apollo at Colophon and Claros did the same
exact nature of which is disputed. Questions were formulated
(Iamblichus, De mysteriis 3.11; Tacitus, Annals 2.54). Cav-
to receive a yes or no answer, and oracular personnel may
erns or grottoes were associated with the lot oracle of Hera-
have used some type of lot oracle to answer such inquiries.
kles Buraikos in Achaea, with the oracles of Apollo at Delphi
In China divination was employed in all except Confucian
(where the presence of a cave—a widespread ancient opin-
temples; even in temples specializing in spirit mediumship,
ion—has been disproved by modern archaeology) and at
divinatory techniques such as divining sticks and divining
Claros, and with the oracle of Trophonios in Lebadea. An
blocks were regularly used.
oak tree was a central feature of the cult of Zeus and Dione
at Dodona.
A distinction between oracles and divination was made
by the Roman orator Cicero (106–43 BCE), following Plato
In the ancient Mediterranean world three distinctive
(c. 429–347 BCE) and the philosopher Posidonius (c. 135–50
techniques were used at oracular shrines to secure three kinds
BCE). This distinction was between (1) “technical” or “induc-
of oracles: the lot oracle, the incubation (or dream) oracle,
tive” divination (Lat., artificiosa divinatio; Gr., technik¯e
and the inspired oracle.
mantik¯e), based on special training in the interpretation of
signs, sacrifices, dreams, prodigies, and the like, and (2) “nat-
Lot oracles. The process of random selection that is the
ural” or “intuitive” divination (Lat., naturalis divinatio; Gr.,
basis of all lot oracles is based on the supposition that the
atechnos or adi-daktos mantik¯e), based on the direct inspira-
result either expresses the will of the gods or occasions insight
tion of the practitioner through trance or vision (Cicero, De
into the course of events by providing a clue to an aspect of
divinatio 1.6.12; cf. Plato, Ion 534c). The Greek term for all
that interrelated chain of events that constitutes the cosmic
forms of divination is mantik¯e, which, on account of its ety-
harmony. Lot oracles used a variety of random techniques
mological relation to the term mania (“madness, inspired
to indicate either a positive or a negative response to prepared
frenzy”), might appear a more appropriate designation for
queries, or to select one of a more elaborate set of prepared
intuitive divination, yet even in the most archaic Greek texts
responses. Both types of response had a basic linguistic char-
it was not so used. A third category can be added, “interpre-
acter and for that reason must be regarded as oracular. Ques-
tive” divination, in which a combination of inspired insight
tions to the ancient Greek oracles were typically put in such
and technical skill is required.
forms as “Shall I, or shall I not, do such and such?” and “Is
it better and more beneficial that we do such and such?” The
TYPES OF ORACLES. Oracles are usually associated either
oracle of Zeus at Dodona was primarily a lot oracle in which
with a sacred place where they are available in the setting of
questions framed by supplicants were inscribed on lead strips
a public religious institution or with a specially endowed per-
and rolled up. Though the exact procedure is not known,
son who acts as a paid functionary or a freelance practitioner.
cultic personnel probably deposited the inscribed questions
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ORACLES
6833
in a container and simultaneously drew out a question and
One famous ancient oracle, that of Trophonios at Le-
an object from another container signifying a positive or neg-
badea in Boeotia (central Greece), was described in some de-
ative answer from Zeus. The lot oracle of Herakles Buraikos
tail in the early second century CE by the traveler Pausanias
used a form of divination called astragalomancy, or knuckle-
(9.39.5–14). While this was not technically an incubation
bone divination. Knucklebones with numbers on their four
oracle, worshipers sought and received there a visionary expe-
flat sides were cast; the resultant numbers indicated a pre-
rience of an oracular character. Both the protocol and the
pared oracle engraved on the walls of the sanctuary. One
mythological features of the consultations strongly suggest
such oracular inscription, with the number of each of five
that the worshiper was to visit the dead in the underworld
knucklebones on the left and their total in the center, is the
so as to receive a revelatory experience. Isolated for several
following (from G. Kaibel, Epigrammata Graeca, Berlin,
days, consultants abstained from hot baths, bathed only in
1878, p. 455, no. 1038; translated by the author of this
the river Hercyna, made numerous sacrifices, and on the
article):
night before the consultation sacrificed a ram over a pit, fol-
66633
24
From Pythian Apollo
lowing the sacrificial protocol appropriate for earth or
Wait and do nothing, but obey the oracles of Phoebus.
chthonic divinities. Next, two young boys called Hermais
Watch for another opportunity; for the present, leave
(after Hermes Psychopompos, conductor of souls to the af-
quietly.
terlife) led each supplicant to the river, washed him, and
Shortly all your concerns will find fulfillment.
anointed him with oil, as in the preparation of a corpse.
For centuries the Chinese have used divining sticks and di-
Priests then had the worshiper drink from the waters of for-
vining blocks as a lot oracle similar in basic structure to the
getfulness and memory (in accordance with Greek under-
system of astragalomancy just described. Temples commonly
world mythology), and finally they led him to the opening
have bamboo tubes containing a number of sticks, each
of a chasm, where he had to descend to meet Trophonios.
marked with a number corresponding to a slip of paper con-
Consultants emerged badly shaken and unable to laugh—a
taining written advice (i.e., an oracle) in verse. The kneeling
state associated by the Greeks with death.
worshiper shakes a stick out the of container, and the priest
Inspired oracles. In the Greco-Roman world many of
then reads and explains the response in relation to the inquir-
the local oracles of Apollo employed a cult functionary who
er’s specific problem. Divining blocks may be thrown to de-
acted as an intermediary of the god and responded to ques-
termine whether the correct stick has been shaken out. Like
tions with oracular responses pronounced in the god’s name.
the astragalomancy inscriptions, the advice is suitably vague,
Such mediums experience the cross-cultural phenomenon of
but usually it suffices. A typical example is the following:
an altered state of consciousness. Bourguignon (1973) has
Food and clothing are present wherever there is life, and
suggested that the two primary patterns of altered conscious
I advise you not to worry excessively; if you will only
states be designated “possession trance” (possession by spir-
practice filial piety, brotherliness, loyalty and fidelity,
its) and “vision trance” (visions, hallucinations, and out-of-
then, when wealth and happiness come to you, no more
evil will harm you.
body experiences). Of the more than six hundred Delphic
oracles collected by Parke and Wormell (1956), only sixteen
Such oracular responses frequently express Confucian values
are not presented as the direct pronouncements of Apollo
that are received as expressions of the will of the spirit (shen)
himself. Similarly, the dangji (“divining youth”) of the Chi-
whose advice is being sought.
nese spirit medium cults of Singapore and mainland China
Incubation oracles. Incubation oracles in the ancient
south of Fukien (the mainland origin of immigrants to Sin-
Mediterranean world were revelatory dreams sought in tem-
gapore) speaks in the first person of the shen who possesses
ples after completion of preliminary ritual requirements.
him. Though the evidence is ambiguous, it appears that
Most incubation oracles were sought in connection with
forms of divination other than oracular pronouncements
healing. The most popular healing god in antiquity was Ask-
through mediums were preferred at oracles of gods other
lepios, who had more than two hundred sanctuaries by the
than Apollo.
beginning of the Christian era. Typically, preparation for a
revelatory dream or vision from Asklepios included a ritual
The oracle of Apollo at Delphi was in many ways a
bath and a sacrificial offering; fees were paid only if the heal-
unique religious institution that exerted a strong influence
ing was successful. After the lights in the temple or, in some
on other ancient Greek oracles. At Delphi, Apollo’s interme-
cases, the incubation building (abaton) were extinguished,
diary was always a woman called the Pythia, a priestess but
Asklepios was expected to appear in either a dream or a vision
also a promantis (“diviner”) and proph¯etis (“spokeswoman”),
and to perform a medical procedure or surgical operation,
who occupied a permanent position. There is no evidence
to prescribe a particular regimen, or to make some kind of
to suggest that she was selected for her clairvoyant powers.
oracular pronouncement, usually of a predictive nature. An-
The attendants at Delphi also included five male hosioi
other type of incubation oracle in the ancient Greco-Roman
(“holy ones”) and two male priests called proph¯etai
world was the oracle of the dead (psuchomanteion), a shrine
(“spokesmen”). Prior to the sixth century BCE, Apollo could
that facilitated consultations with the dead through dream
be consulted at Delphi only on the seventh day of the seventh
or vision oracles.
month; thereafter consultations were held more frequently,
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6834
ORACLES
on the seventh day of each of the nine months when Apollo
possession (swaying, rolling of the head, staggering, uttering
was believed to be present at Delphi. (According to Delphic
strange sounds) and often at the same time commits acts of
legend, he spent the three winter months far to the north
self-injury without experiencing pain (cutting the tongue, ex-
among the Hyperboreans.)
tinguishing incense sticks with the tongue, piercing the
cheeks with sticks). Consultations follow in which the dangji
On a day of consultation, a goat received a ritual bath
gives advice to worshipers, cures their illnesses, and either
in a spring; it was then sacrificed if, by trembling appropri-
speaks incomprehensibly with divine wisdom (requiring the
ately, it signaled the god’s presence. Next, the Pythia took
interpretation of colleagues) or addresses his colleagues in a
her seat within the aduton (inmost sanctuary) of the temple
shrill, unnatural voice representing ancient Chinese. Cloth-
upon a tripod that represented the throne of Apollo. Though
ing and household items are brought to be stamped with the
ancients believed that the tripod was situated over a fissure
dangji’s blood for good luck. When no more business re-
or chasm that emitted vapors causing divine inspiration,
mains, the dangji signals that the shen is about to return; he
modern archaeology has disproved this notion. But the Pyth-
then leaps into the air and is caught by assistants who lower
ia did drink water from the Kassotis spring, and later evi-
him onto the dragon chair. Afterward, he does not remember
dence reports that she chewed laurel leaves. Inquirers were
what took place during the consultation.
assembled in an outer room and apparently spoke directly
to the Pythia, who answered them. (No evidence suggests
Oracular persons. Professional diviners and intermedi-
that their questions were submitted in written form.) The
aries often have no permanent relationship to temples or
priest-prophets (proph¯etai) probably wrote out responses for
shrines. They may practice their divinatory and oracular arts
inquirers who were represented by envoys.
in their homes, in the marketplace, or in various places of
employment such as army posts or governmental offices.
The traditional view, now discredited, held that the
These specialists often practice either possession trance or vi-
Pythia spoke incomprehensibly and that her utterances were
sion trance, but there are other possibilities as well.
interpreted and reduced to written form (often in verse) by
one of the priest-prophets. Ancient and modern beliefs that
Oracle diviners. During the late Shang dynasty in
the Pythia was in a state of hysterical ecstasy manifested in
China (under the eight or nine kings from Wu Ding to Di
bizarre behavior are belied both by ancient literary evidence
Xin, c. 1200–1050 BCE), the wu (shamans) in the service of
and by her calm demeanor in ancient vase paintings. The
kings and nobles employed a type of oracle divination called
possession trance experienced by the Pythia appears to have
pyroscapulimancy. More than 107,000 “oracle bones” have
been, in the categories of I. M. Lewis (1971), a state of “con-
been excavated (47,000 inscriptions have now been pub-
trolled possession,” in distinction to the uncontrolled posses-
lished); about 80,000 were found during excavations from
sion experienced by those not yet fully adept in managing
1899 to 1928, and the remainder from 1928 to 1937 during
the onset of possession.
excavations by the Academia Sinica. Besides being of great
value for understanding Shang religion, they are of incalcula-
A similar phenomenon is found in Chinese spirit posses-
ble importance for Chinese linguistics. The bones themselves
sion cults. The intermediaries (dangjhi or jitong) are not he-
consist of bovid scapulae and turtle plastrons. At the moment
reditary professionals; as a rule, they are young men or
of consultation heat was applied to a drilled hollow on the
women, usually under twenty, who have an aptitude for ex-
inside or back of the shell or bone, causing a crack shaped
periencing altered states of consciousness, either involuntari-
like the Chinese character bu (meaning “to divine, to fore-
ly or through conscious cultivation. They are almost exclu-
tell”) to appear on the other side. Both question and answer
sively associated with temple worship where the shen who
were recorded on the bone or shell itself, which then became
possesses the dangji is one that is customarily worshiped, and
part of the royal archives. The inscriptions usually consist of
where the dangjii are subordinate to the owners of the temple
several parts: (1) preface (cyclical day, name of diviner, and
(the promoters of its religious ceremonies), and usually to the
sometimes the place of divination), (2) injunction (usually
saigong (Daoist priests). A consultation is usually planned at
put into a positive or negative mode), (3) crack number,
a temple for a particular time when the shen is called down
(4) crack notation, (5) prognostication (e.g., “The king,
by invocation. The dangji must fast beforehand and avoid
reading the cracks, said: ‘Auspicious’”), and rarely (6) verifi-
sexual intercourse, and no pregnant or menstruating woman
cation. Though most of the oracle inscriptions focus on the
can be present at the oracular séance. The worshipers usually
nature and timing of sacrifices (a preoccupation of most ora-
number about one dozen, though larger groups are possible.
cle questions and responses at ancient Greek oracles), others
Outside the temple, a flag with the eight-trigram (bagua) de-
include announcements made to spirits or concern arrivals
sign indicates the presence of a dangji. The dangji both be-
and departures, hunting and fishing, wars and expeditions,
gins and ends the possession trance on a ceremonial dragon
crops, weather, and sickness and health. The oracle questions
throne, which probably represents the imperial dragon
used in pyroscapulimancy were directed to the great ancestral
throne where generations of Chinese emperors sat, represent-
spirit and the spirits of the deceased kings, who were expect-
ing divine ancestors.
ed to send down their advice and commands.
The session begins with drums, gongs, and chants.
Oracular possession-trance. Two legendary figures of
Gradually, the dangji starts to exhibit the characteristics of
ancient Greece and Rome, the sibulla (sibyl) and the less
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ORACLES
6835
popular bakchis, were paradigms of possession-trance. The
Another type of possession trance found in Chinese tra-
number of sibyls multiplied in antiquity, and lists of them
dition is fu ji, or spirit writing, in which the medium receives
distinguished by epithets formed of place names are not un-
the pronouncements or responses of the possessing shen in
common (see Varro as quoted in Lactantius, Divine Institutes
writing. Consultations may be held in temples, but they
1.6); by the end of antiquity more than forty sibyls had been
occur more often in private homes. The writing stick, or
distinguished. The sibyls (always female) and the bakchides
planchette (ji), is in the shape of a Y, with the lower writing
(always male) were believed to belong to the remote past;
end often carved in the shape of a dragon’s head. The top
though connected with specific regions, they were often
two handles of the stick are grasped by two bearers, one with
thought of as having traveled extensively. Their oracles,
mediumistic powers and the other a passive participant. A
which were preserved in widely circulated collections, were
tray of sand is placed before the altar of the invoked shen,
believed to have been uttered in hexameter without solicita-
and the writing stick begins to move, often with initially vio-
tion while in a state of divine inspiration or possession. The
lent motions, as if of its own accord. According to de Groot
inspiring deity was invariably Apollo, with whose oracle
(1892–1910), the shen often identifies himself by saying “I
shrines the various sibyls tended to be associated. However,
am Kwan so-and-so of the Great Han dynasty; I have some-
the oracular utterances of the sibyls and bakchides were never
thing to announce to you, people that are now seeking for
formulated as the first-person speech of Apollo but always
medicines” (de Groot, vol. 6, 1910, p. 1303). An interpreter
referred to him in the third person. The popularity of the
with pencil and paper stands ready to interpret the incom-
sibyl among Jews resulted in the composition and circulation
prehensible marks in the sand. Requests may be addressed
of oracles in Greek hexameter uttered in the person of Yah-
to the inspiring shen silently, written on paper that is then
veh, the God of Israel.
burned, or read aloud. The answers or pronouncements are
The oracles that circulated in collections under the
discussed by those present. When the session is to be con-
names of various sibyls and bakchides were regarded as enig-
cluded, the shen announces his decision to return. Often au-
matic and in need of interpretation. One collection of sibyl-
tomatic writing is used, not to answer specific queries but to
line oracles was kept in Rome under the supervision of the
compile sacred writings consisting of poems, myths, and
quindecimviri sacris faciundis, a college of fifteen priests, and
histories.
was consulted only in time of national emergency, so as to
Oracular vision-trance. This altered state of conscious-
obtain instructions for avoiding the peril. When this collec-
ness presupposes Ernst Arbman’s widely accepted dualistic
tion was accidentally destroyed by fire in 83 BCE, a new col-
distinction between the “free soul,” which is passive during
lection was made. The last consultation occurred in the
consciousness but active during unconsciousness (i.e., during
fourth century CE. The fourteen books of sibylline oracles
a trance), and the “body soul,” which endows the body with
now preserved are a mixture of pagan and Jewish materials.
life and consciousness. This shamanistic experience, howev-
The content of the sibylline oracles was originally dominated
by matters relating to portents, prodigies, and ritual proce-
er, is only very rarely connected with oracles or prophecy.
dures, but they also came to express political and religious
The ancient Greeks had legends about those whose souls
protest, particularly against Hellenistic Greek and then
wandered away during trances—for example, Aristeas of Pro-
Roman hegemony in the eastern Mediterranean area.
connesus, a devotee of Apollo (Herodotos, 4.13–15), and
Hermotimos of Clazomenae in western Asia Minor (Apollo-
In the Chinese tradition, female wu specifically called
nius, Mirabilia 3; Pliny, Natural History 7.174). Two other
wangyi (“women who raise the spirits of the dead”) dominate
Greek shamanistic figures shrouded in legend were Empedo-
the practice of necromancy. They are frequently widows and
cles (c. 493–433 BCE) and his teacher Parmenides of Elea
over thirty years of age. In contrast to the tongjii, the wangyi
(late sixth to mid-fifth century BCE). A great deal of the reve-
operate almost exclusively in private company and may
latory literature from the Greco-Roman world and the an-
charge fees for consultations. When consulted, a wangyi re-
cient Near East uses the literary motif of the vision-trance
quires the name of the deceased and the date of death. Using
to secure divine revelation in a literary genre known as the
incense sticks and “good luck papers,” the medium invokes
apocalypse.
a particular shen to lead her to the kingdom of the dead. The
shen takes possession of the medium and describes a tour of
The magical diviner, a common figure in the ancient
the underworld. When the correct soul is located (and it has
Greco-Roman world, used vision-trance to secure oracular
confirmed the identification by describing, for instance, the
revelation for himself and his clients. Though the oracles
circumstances of death), its needs are determined for later of-
themselves have not survived, many magical recipe books
ferings and sacrifices. Often the soul (who assumes its former
have been preserved on Egyptian papyri dating from the
kinship status for the duration) speaks to family members
third through the fifth century CE. Along with love magic,
present through the medium, in order of seniority. Rarely are
revelatory magic constitutes one of the dominant concerns
more than two or three souls consulted during a séance.
of the magical papyri. In addition to the many methods of
When the consultations are concluded, the shen emerges
divination attested in the papyri (e.g., lamp divination, sau-
chanting from the gates of the underworld; the medium then
cer divination, dream divination), several types of oracular
stands up and falls back on the chair.
magic are also in evidence. These include procedures for ob-
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6836
ORACLES
taining such things as visions (autopsia), foreknowledge
cipient of an oracle), while others concern the mediums or
(progno¯sis), a supernatural assistant (paredros daimo¯n), and
specialists who obtain oracles, as well as the institutions with
oracular responses through a boy medium; there are also
which these persons may be associated. In some instances di-
forms of bowl divination in which the summoned being
vinatory techniques are consciously monopolized by the state
would appear in a liquid. Several of these procedures seek to
as a means of both maintaining and legitimating political
invoke the presence of a supernatural being (usually one of
power, as for instance by the Shang dynasty of China. In
minor status) who will answer questions posed by the diviner
other instances respected oracles beyond the control of the
regarding the future or the unknown, often on behalf of pay-
state are consulted in an attempt to provide religious legiti-
ing clients. In one example of a personal vision recipe, the
mation for particular decisions or plans inherently fraught
diviner says “I am a prophet” and then continues with “Open
with peril or uncertainty (e.g., the utilization of Delphi by
my ears that you may grant oracles to me concerning the
the Greek city-states). Rulers and nobles of states are neces-
things about which I expect a response. Now, now! Quick,
sarily concerned above all with matters of corporate interest
quick! Hurry, hurry! Tell me about those matters about
such as war and peace, colonization, expiation and sacrifice,
which I asked you” (Karl Preisendanz and Albert Henrichs,
plagues and drought, crops and weather, coronations and
Papyri Graecae Magicae, Stuttgart, 1974, vol. 2, papyrus 6,
succession, and ratification of laws and constitutions. Private
lines 323–331; translated by the author of this article).
individuals, on the other hand, tend to focus on such matters
as sickness and health, travel, business ventures, marriage and
CHARACTERISTICS OF ORACLES. The linguistic character of
childbirth, happiness and wealth, good fortune, and recovery
oracles does not necessarily render their meaning unambigu-
of lost or stolen property. Seeking oracular advice on these
ous. While lot oracles in a positive or negative mode and ora-
and other vital matters helps reduce the risks inherent in
cles dealing with sacrifice and expiation are usually clearly ex-
human experience.
pressed, those dealing with other matters often require the
skill of an interpreter. Outside the temple of Apollo at Del-
SEE ALSO Asklepios; Delphi; Descent into the Underworld;
phi, freelance ex¯eg¯etai (“expounders”) would interpret the
Divination; Inspiration; Necromancy; Portents and Prodi-
meaning of oracles for a fee. Similarly, interpreters are essen-
gies; Prophecy; Sibylline Oracles.
tial in the consultations of the dangji and in sessions involv-
ing automatic writing. In ancient Greek and Roman litera-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ture, the ambiguity of oracles that often find unexpected
The only comparative study of oracles and prophecy in the ancient
fulfillment became a common motif. Ambiguity also charac-
Mediterranean world (including Greco-Roman, Israelite,
terizes the prepared oracular responses in certain lot oracles,
early Jewish, and early Christian oracular and prophetic tra-
which must be phrased so as to apply to many situations. A
ditions) is my Prophecy in Early Christianity and the Ancient
similar ambiguity is found in the verses and commentaries
Mediterranean World (Grand Rapids, Mich., 1983), which
accompanying each of the sixty-four hexagrams in the Yi jing
has a lengthy, up-to-date bibliography. Two important gen-
(Book of changes).
eral cross-cultural studies of possession are Erika Bour-
guignon’s Religion, Altered States of Consciousness, and Social
The inherent ambiguity of oracles was an important fac-
Change (Columbus, Ohio, 1973) and I. M. Lewis’s Ecstatic
tor leading to the formation of oracle collections. Because
Religion: An Anthropological Study of Spirit Possession and Sha-
their original fulfillment remained in doubt, they could be
manism (Harmondsworth, 1971). Still valuable is the older
subject to new interpretations. In the Greco-Roman world,
study by Traugott K. Oesterreich, Possession, Demoniacal and
professional oracle collectors and interpreters (chr¯esmologoi)
Other (New York, 1930).
sold their skills in the marketplace. They possessed oracle
The best book on the oracle of Delphi is Joseph Fontenrose’s The
collections attributed to various sibyls and bakchides as well
Delphic Oracle: Its Responses and Operations (Berkeley, Calif.,
as to other legendary figures such as Orpheus and Musaeus.
1978), with a catalog of all known Delphic oracles in English
translation classified according to grades of authenticity; it
The archives of oracle temples often contained such collec-
includes an extensive bibliography. The earlier standard
tions, and in the Hellenistic period certain individuals trav-
work on Delphi, with a complete catalog of oracles in Greek,
eled to the more famous oracles and made their own collec-
is H. W. Parke and D. E. W. Wormell’s The Delphic Oracle,
tions, which they published with commentary. Though the
2 vols. (Oxford, 1956); the more recent book by Fontenrose,
origin of the Confucian classic Yi jing is shrouded in legend,
however, is far superior.
it too functions as an oracle book.
An important introduction to some non-Apollonian oracles, in-
F
cluding a collection in English translation of written oracle
UNCTION OF ORACLES. Oracles, like other forms of divina-
tion, are means of acquiring critical information regarding
questions excavated at Dodona, is H. W. Parke’s The Oracles
of Zeus: Dodona, Olympia, Ammon
(Oxford, 1967). Two very
the future or the unknown that is unavailable through more
readable introductions to Greek oracles are H. W. Parke’s
conventional or rational channels. The very act of consulta-
Greek Oracles (London, 1967) and Robert Flacelière’s Greek
tion requires that what may have been a vague and amor-
Oracles (London, 1965). An important discussion of the
phous concern or anxiety be articulated in a specific, defined,
function of oracles in ancient Greek city-states is Martin P.
and delimiting manner. Oracles function in a variety of ways,
Nilsson’s Cults, Myths, Oracles, and Politics in Ancient Greece
some of which concern the audience (i.e., the inquirer or re-
(1951; New York, 1972). An older but still useful compara-
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

ORACLES
6837
tive study of ancient Mediterranean views of revelation is
15–17 juin 1995, edited by Jean-Georges Heintz (Paris,
Edwyn Robert Bevan’s Sibyls and Seers: A Survey of Some An-
1997); Sibille e linguaggi oracolari. Mito storia tradizione. Atti
cient Theories of Revelation and Inspiration (London, 1928).
del convegno Macerata-Norcia, settembre 1994, edited by Il-
Though now out of date, the most detailed study of Greek
eana Chirassi Colombo and Tullio Seppilli (Pisa, 1998).
divination, useful for putting oracular divination in proper
As far as Classical Greece is concerned, the following contribu-
context, is W. R. Halliday’s Greek Divination: A Study of Its
tions are particularly valuable: Philipp Vandenberg, Das Ge-
Methods and Principles (1913; reprint, Chicago, 1967). An
heimnis der Orakel. Archäologen entschlüsseln das Mysterium
English translation of the Greek Magical Papyri, including
antiker Voraussagen (Munich, 1982); Michael Maass, Das an-
many procedures for securing oracles, is now available in The
tike Delphi (Darmstadt, 1993); Marion Giebel, Das Orakel
Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, edited by Hans Dieter
von Delphi (Stuttgart, 2001); Veit Rosenberger, Griechische
Betz (Chicago, 1985).
Orakel (Stuttgart, 2001); Pierre Bonnechere, Trophonios de
The most important recent study of the sibylline oracles is John
Lébadée: cultes et mythes d’une cité béotienne au miroir de la
J. Collins’s The Sibylline Oracles of Egyptian Judaism (Mis-
mentalité antique (Leiden, 2003); Jules Labarbe, “Du bon
soula, Mont., 1974). A recent translation of the extant four-
usage de l’oracle de Delphes.” Kernos 7 (1994): 219–230; Al-
teen books of sibylline oracles is available in The Old Testa-
exandre Avram and François Lefèvre, “Les cultes de Callatis
ment Pseudepigrapha, vol. 1, Apocalyptic Literature and
et l’oracle de Delphes.” Revue des Etudes Grecques 108
Testaments, edited by James H. Charlesworth (Garden City,
(1995): 7–23; Walter Burkert, “Olbia and Apollo of Didy-
N.Y., 1983), pp. 317–472.
ma,” in Apollo: Origins and Influences, edited by Jon Solo-
mon, pp. 49–60 (Tucson, 1994).
An older work that is still valuable for its consideration of Israelite
and Arab traditions with a wide spectrum of prophetic phe-
Various oracular inscriptions have been published from different
nomena including “divinatory prophecy,” dreams and vi-
places in Greece and Asia Minor. See the most relevant con-
sions, ecstasy, and magic is Alfred Guillaume’s Prophecy and
tributions offered in this ambit by Rheinold Merkelbach and
Divination among the Hebrews and Other Semites (London,
Werner Peek in many issues of Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und
1938). A book that includes many texts in English transla-
Epigraphik.
tion but that lacks critical discussion is Violet MacDermot’s
Anastasios-Phoebus Christidis, Soterios Dakaris, and Ioulia Voko-
The Cult of the Seer in the Ancient Middle East (London,
topoulou, “Magic in the Oracular Tablets from Dodona.” In
1971). More recent is a book that considers Old Testament
The World of Ancient Magic: Papers from the First Internation-
prophecy in the context of comparative studies of possession
al Samson Eitrem Seminar at the Norwegian Institute at Ath-
phenomena: Robert R. Wilson’s Prophecy and Society in An-
ens, 4–8 May 1997, edited by David R. Jordan, Hugo Mont-
cient Israel (Philadelphia, 1980), which includes an extensive
gomery and Einar Thomassen, pp. 67–72 (Athens-Bergen
bibliography.
1999). Emilio Suárez de la Torre, “Sibylles, mantique in-
The most important work in English on Chinese religion contin-
spirée et collections oraculaires,” Kernos 7 (1994): 179–205.
ues to be the magisterial work by J. J. M. de Groot, The Reli-
Hellenistic and late antique prophecies, together with their sycre-
gious System of China, 6 vols. (1892–1910; Taipei, 1967);
tistic features, are investigated by: Giulia Sfameni Gasparro,
particularly relevant is part 5 in volume 6, “The Priesthood
Oracoli, Profeti, Sibille. Rivelazione e salvezza nel mondo anti-
of Animism,” pp. 1187ff. A more up-to-date study is Qing-
co (Rome, 2002); Arie Van der Kooij, The Oracle of Tyre: the
kun Yang’s Religion in Chinese Society: A Study of Contempo-
Septuagint of Isaiah XXIII as Version and Vision (Leiden-New
rary Social Functions of Religion and Some of Their Historical
York, 1998); Roelof van den Broek, Apollo in Asia. De orakels
Factors (Berkeley, Calif., 1961), where aspects of both an-
van Clarus en Didyma in de tweede en derde eeuw na Chr.
cient and modern divination and oracles are considered. Also
(Leiden, 1981); Santiago Montero, Trajano y la divinación
useful is David Crockett Graham’s Folk Religion in Southwest
(Madrid, 2000); David Potter, Prophets and Emperors Cam-
China (Washington, D.C., 1961). An excellent anthropolog-
bridge, U.K., 1994.
ical study of modern trance-possession cults among the Chi-
The relationship between Jewish apocalypticism and oracular pat-
nese of Singapore is Alan J. A. Elliot’s Chinese Spirit-Medium
terns are deeply investigated. See for example: Valentin Niki-
Cults in Singapore (London, 1955). The most important
prowetzky, La Troisième Sibylle (Paris, 1970); David S. Pot-
study of the oracle bones and shells of the Shang period, with
ter, Prophecy and History in the Crisis of the Roman Empire.
an extensive bibliography, is David N. Keightley’s Sources of
A Historical Commentary on the Thirteenth Sibylline Oracle
Shang History: The Oracle-Bone Inscriptions of Bronze Age
(Oxford, 1990); Herbert W. Parke (edited by B. C. Mc
China (Berkeley, Calif., 1978). Also useful is a book written
Ging), Sibyls and Prophecy in Classical Antiquity (London-
by one of the excavators, Dong Zuobin’s Xu jia gu nian biao
New York, 1992); John J. Collins, Seers, Sibyls and Sages in
(Tokyo, 1967).
Hellenistic-Roman Judaism (Leiden, 1997). Bernard Teyssè-
New Sources
dre, “Les représentations de la fin des temps dans le chant V
Among the numerous recent studies on the subject here the most
des ‘Oracles Sibyllins.’” Apocrypha 1 (1990): 147–165.
important ones will be recalled. Interesting contributions are
Particular attention is also devoted to philosophical features,
offered both by monographs or miscellaneous works. See in
which are well outlined by Paolo Desideri, “Il De defectu
particular: Oracles et mantique en Grèce ancienne (= Kernos
oraculorum e la crisi della religione antica in Plutarco,” in
3 [1990], with contributions by Pierre Bonnechere, Domi-
Italia sul Baetis: studi di storia romana in memoria di Fernando
nique Briquel, Luc Brisson, Gérard Capdeville, Jacqueline
Gascó, edited by Emilio Gabba, Paolo Desideri, Sergio Roda,
Champeaux, Emilio Suárez de la Torre and others); Oracles
pp. 91–102 (Torino, 1996); Polymnia Athanassiadi, “Philos-
et prophéties dans l’antiquité: actes du colloque de Strasbourg,
ophers and Oracles,” Byzantion 62 (1992): 45–62; Pier Fran-
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

6838
ORAL TORAH
co Beatrice, “Towards a New Edition of Porphyry’s Frag-
is transmitted not in edited documents but rather as oral
ments against the Christians,” in Sophies Maietores.
teachings. Indeed the word mishnah and its Aramaic cognate
Chercheurs de sagesse: hommage à Jean Pépin, edited by Marie-
matnyta can refer either to general texts of memorized rab-
Odile Goulet-Cazé, Goulven Madec and Denis O’Brien,
binic tradition or to the early-third-century CE compilation
pp. 347–355 (Paris, 1992); Enrico Livrea, “Sull’iscrizione
of rabbinic law known as the Mishnah. Whereas some rab-
teosofica di Enoanda,” Zeitschrift für Papirologie und Epi-
binic passages do link the aspects of oral revelation specifical-
graphik 122 (1998): 90–96; Salvatore Pricoco, “Un oracolo
ly to the Mishnah (e.g., P.T., Pe Dah 2:6, B.T., Ber. 5a, Tan.-
di Apollo su Dio,” Rivista di Storia e Letteratura Religiosa 23
(1987): 3–36; Salvatore Pricoco, “Per una storia dell’oracolo
Bub., to Ex. 34:27), it is not entirely certain whether the ref-
nella tarda antichità. Apollo Clario e Didimeo in Lattanzio,”
erence is to the document or to the more amorphous oral
Augustinianum 29 (1989): 351–374; Michael Stausberg,
tradition of which the Mishnah represents merely one early
“Von den Chaldäischen Orakeln zu den Hundert Pforten
form.
und darüber hinaus,” Archiv für Religionsgeschichte 3 (2001):
257–272; Teresa Sardella, “Oracolo pagano e rivelazione
Since the Middle Ages it has become common to an-
cristiana nella Theosophia di Tubinga,” in Le trasformazioni
thologize rabbinic tradition in written compilations. Thus
della cultura nella tarda antichità. Atti del Convegno tenuto a
the oral Torah has for at least a millennium been studied
Catania 27 settembre–2 ottobre 1982, pp. 545–573 (Rome,
from written works such as the Mishnah, the Tosefta, various
1985).
Midrashic compilations, and paradigmatically the Palestin-
This late antique oracular collection is now edited by Pier Franco
ian and Babylonian Talmuds. Commentaries to these works
Beatrice, Anonymi monophysitae Theosophia. An Attempt at
are likewise regarded as part of the oral Torah. In this sense
Reconstruction (Leiden, 2001).
the oral Torah remains an unclosed canon to which new
As far as the so-called Chaldean Oracles are concerned, see the re-
works can in principle be added. Its “orality” lies more in the
cent commented edition by Ruth Majercik, The Chaldean
confidence in its oral origins rather than in the methods of
Oracles. Text, Translation, and Commentary (Leiden, 1989).
its current preservation and elaboration.
A popular collection of oracles dating to the imperial age is now
ANCIENT JEWISH ORAL TRADITION AND RABBINIC ORAL
edited by Stewart Randall, Sortes Astrampsychi (Munich,
TORAH. Oral Torah appears to be a term of exclusive rabbin-
2001).
ic coinage. Ancient Judaism of course preserved a rich oral
D
tradition of law, historical memory, biblical interpretation,
AVID E. AUNE (1987)
Revised Bibliography
and theology beyond its scriptural heritage. Yet there is no
clear evidence that Jews of the Second Temple period (from
roughly 520 BCE to 70 CE) commonly recognized this oral
tradition as part of revelation or equivalent to the Torah in
ORAL TORAH is the most common rendering of the
religious authority. Indeed whereas Second Temple Jews
Hebrew term torah shebe Dal peh. Rabbinic teachings originat-
produced much literature claiming to be the written rem-
ing in Galilee between the third and fifth centuries CE, par-
nants of revelations given to biblical prophets, there is no re-
ticularly works of scriptural exegesis (e.g., Sifr Da to Lv. 26:46
cord of Jews claiming the status of revelation for orally trans-
and Sifre to Dn. 33:10) and the Palestinian Talmud (e.g.,
mitted traditions.
Pe Dah 2:6), refer occasionally to religious teachings (devarim,
“words”) transmitted “orally” or “by memory” (al peh) and
Perhaps the most likely Second Temple source of the
others transmitted “in writing” (bikhtav). The former refer-
rabbinic concept of oral Torah emerges from a variety of
ences denote oral traditions preserved among ancient sages,
ideas about religious tradition that have been ascribed in var-
whereas the latter denotes texts of scriptural revelation. The
ious ancient sources to the Pharisees. They were a prominent
full expression oral Torah is rare in rabbinic tradition of late
political-religious party from Hasmonaean and Roman
antiquity and only appears in rabbinic texts completed be-
times. Important first-century CE writings, such as the Gos-
tween the fifth and sixth centuries CE (e.g., Avot Nat. A:15/
pels (e.g., Mk. 7:3: paradosin ton presbuteron) and the works
B:26 and the B.T., Shab. 31a, Yom Da 28b, and Qid. 66a). In
of the Jewish historian Josephus (Ant. 12:290: paradoseos ton
these sources oral Torah refers to a body of unwritten oral
pateron), describe the Pharisees as great legal scholars and cul-
tradition revealed to Moses on Sinai and transmitted in rab-
tivators of “ancestral traditions” that are taken with great rev-
binic communities as orally performed texts. This oral tradi-
erence in the conduct of life. But such discussions do not
tion originates simultaneously with the written revelations
mention the key traits of rabbinic oral Torah—that the tradi-
gathered in the Five Books of Moses and the remaining scrip-
tions are part of the revelation to Moses and that they are
tural canon. This canon is referred to as the written Torah
transmitted in essentially oral form as an authoritative appli-
(torah shebikhtav). Together the written Torah and oral
cation of the written Torah.
Torah constitute the entirety of the covenantal contract be-
Only new evidence, not yet on the horizon, can deter-
tween Israel and the creator of the universe.
mine the Second Temple genealogy of oral Torah. In the
The rabbinic literature compiled prior to the eighth cen-
meantime it is important to point out that the rabbinic liter-
tury CE does not systematically define a canon of literary
ature itself shows signs that the idea of oral Torah developed
works containing the oral Torah. It assumes that oral Torah
within the emerging rabbinic communities that consolidated
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ORAL TORAH
6839
themselves in the century or so after the destruction of the
would be entirely controlled by sages who alone could medi-
Jerusalem Temple in 70 CE. The earliest extant compilations
ate covenantal knowledge.
of the emerging rabbinic literary tradition in fact are incon-
This idea of the sage as the exclusive mediator of tradi-
sistent in their appeal to and use of concepts equivalent to
tions that could not be learned entirely from books is ex-
oral Torah. The most famous rabbinic source usually cited
pressed both through historical narratives and in the devel-
as an example of the rabbinic use of the term oral Torah is
opment of technical terms for tradition of various sorts.
from the first chapter of Mishnah Avot. But this text claims
Representations of the idea of oral Torah in narrative include
only that “Moses received Torah from Sinai and transmitted
the famous passage of the Babylonian Talmud (Eruv. 54b)
it to Joshua” (M. Avot 1:1). It goes on to describe at length
that describes Moses teaching the oral tradition to Aaron and
the chain of traditional authorities who “received Torah”
other disciples by careful repetition and memorization. An-
from their masters and transmitted it to their disciples until
other (B.T., Tem. 15b–16a) describes the use of the oral
it was received by such famous early rabbinic founders as
Torah’s hermeneutical rules to reconstruct oral traditions
Rabban Yoh:anan ben ZakkDai (M. Avot 2:8). Moreover in
forgotten by Israel in the despair following the death of
a mid-third-century collection of biblical interpretation
Moses. Several rabbinic stories about events in Second Tem-
known as Sifr Da the great rabbinic scholar of the second cen-
ple times, such as one about a Hasmonaean king who comes
tury CE, Rabbi EAqivaD, is represented as dismissing the idea
to persecute the Pharisees (B.T., Qid. 66a), assume that the
that a reference in Leviticus 26:46 to “teachings” (torot) given
oral Torah must have been known to sages at that early date.
by Moses implies that the prophet received two Torahs from
Others, most famously ascribed to the Second Temple figure
Sinai. By contrast, the later expansion of Mishnah Avot,
Hillel, show Hillel teaching oral Torah to converts (Avot
called Avot d’Rabbi Nathan, quite explicitly ascribes the use
Nat. A:15/B:26, B.T., Shab. 31a).
of the term oral Torah to Herodian figures such as Hillel the
Elder. This suggests that the later text has imported its own
The emerging technical language of rabbinic jurispru-
concept of oral Torah into the Mishnah’s conception of
dence also testifies to the increasing significance of the con-
Torah from Sinai.
ception that the tradition taught by rabbinic sages is both
oral and part of the Sinaitic moment. The distinction be-
The development of the idea of oral Torah is intimately
tween commandments “found in the Torah” (mide DorDaitDa)
bound up with the consolidation of nascent rabbinic institu-
and those “enacted by the Rabbis” (miderabbanan) originates
tions of instruction and discipleship. As teachers of wisdom
in the earliest layers of rabbinic tradition (e.g., M. Hag.
in the Greco-Roman world of late antiquity, the rabbinic
1:8/T. Hag. 1:9 and M. Orl. 3:9) and is developed broadly
sages had to reflect on a problem that was of great interest
in the Talmuds. Moreover a host of synonyms for rabbinic
to other moral educators throughout the Mediterranean
tradition, such as “traditional custom” (halakhah), “words of
world, namely what is the relationship of written books to
the scribes” (divrei sofrim), “tradition from Moses on Sinai”
knowledge and what role does the living teacher play in ap-
(halakhah lemosheh misinai), and “repeated tradition” (mish-
plying the wisdom of books to the moral formation of disci-
nah and matnyta), are increasingly interpreted in rabbinic
ples? This issue was of deep concern to various religious and
compilations of the fourth and later centuries CE as references
philosophical communities—from Neoplatonic philoso-
to elements of the oral Torah. Thus by the close of late antiq-
phers to the rhetoricians of the Second Sophistic and from
uity the consolidating rabbinic communities of the Byzan-
Gnostic spiritual guides to proponents of Stoicism. Each of
tine and Sassanian Empires had developed not only a rich
these communities came to some conventional agreements
oral tradition of jurisprudence, history, and theology but also
within their own institutions regarding the degree to which
a rich notion of this entire tradition as part of an oral heritage
ultimate wisdom resided in the writing of a great sage or in
stemming from Sinai and preserved in the present by the
the person of the teacher who expounded the writing. Simi-
emerging rabbinic elites.
larly each community had to determine the role that memo-
ORAL TORAH IN THE HISTORY OF JEWISH THOUGHT. At
rization of great texts played in the moral formation of stu-
least some sages—such as the third-century CE Galilean lead-
dents. The development of the idea of oral Torah is the
er Rabbi Yoh:anan bar Nappah:aD—held that written copies
rabbinic refraction of this larger cultural concern. The essen-
of texts of oral Torah should not be used in the training of
tial idea is that rabbinic teaching derives its authority not
disciples, just as the written Torah should not be cited from
from the person of the sage himself but rather from his assid-
memory during the official synagogue liturgy (B.T., Git.
uous cultivation of a chain of tradition that goes back to
60b/Tem. 14b). But in the classical rabbinic literature the
Moses. The oral character of this tradition—the fact that it
distinction between written and oral sources of Torah is
was found not in books but in the living teaching of sages
more often assumed than explicitly discussed. The concept
alone—ensured that the tradition could only be accessed
of oral Torah did not become a defining element of rabbinic
through personal discipleship to a rabbinic sage. One could
ideology until the ninth century CE, when it began to play
not, that is, become a sage by reading the written Torah in
a key role in a polemic within Judaism known as the Karaite
concert with texts of oral Torah. The concept of oral Torah,
controversy. The Karaites (scripturalists) were a loosely affili-
in this sense, insured that access to Jewish religious tradition
ated collection of Jewish communities, from Iraq to North
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6840
ORAL TORAH
Africa, who rejected rabbinic dominance over Jewish life in
in the sources of the oral Torah. This method enabled Rashi
the expanding Abbasid Empire. Central to Karaite criticism
to engage Christian readings of Scripture on two fronts.
of rabbinic authority was the claim that the oral Torah was
Where Christian tradition might see certain biblical verses
a purely human construction, invented by rabbis to legiti-
as parabolic references to Christ, Rashi could point out that
mate their political authority. According to the Karaite po-
the “simple” sense (the peshat) was contained in the oral
lemicists, the only source of textual authority for Jews was
Torah. Similarly where Scripture referred repeatedly to vari-
the Mosaic Scripture, what the rabbis called the written
ous synonyms for law that had been given to Moses, Rashi
Torah.
could cite rabbinic materials that linked such verses to the
written and oral Torah. Rashi’s methods were employed,
The most articulate responses to the Karaite critiques
with variations and expansions, in the exegetical tradition
were mounted by a series of rabbinic scholars who had been
founded by his students, known as the Tosafists
appointed by the Abbasid caliphate to the office of the Gaon-
(“supplements to Rashi”). They were influential as well in
ate. The Gaonate was charged with promulgating and ad-
the thirteenth-century biblical commentaries of Rabbi
ministering Jewish law among the Jewish communities of the
Mosheh ben Nah:man (“Nahmanides,” 1194–1270), who
Abbasid Empire. The Geonim traced their own intellectual
frequently cites Rashi only to disagree with him about
and religious authority back to the Talmudic sages and from
details.
them back to Moses. Mining the classic rabbinic literature
for references to the antiquity of oral Torah and buttressing
While rabbinic scholars of Latin Christendom were
these sources with arguments drawn from scriptural interpre-
weaving the idea of oral Torah into their tapestry of exegesis,
tation and philosophy, Geonic leaders from Rabbi SaDadyah
a work appeared in the Islamic world that would become
ben Yosef al-Fayyum¯ı (882–942 CE) to Rabbi Sherira ben
crucial to Jews in both Islamic and Christian societies. The
Hanina (906–1006) composed fierce responses to the Kar-
twelfth-century Spanish-born sage, Rabbi Mosheh ben Mai-
aites. In these responses the entire corpus of rabbinic compi-
mon (“Maimonides,” 1135–1204), writing in Egypt, intro-
lations from antiquity was defined as part of the canon of oral
duced his prestigious codification of Jewish law with a histor-
Torah and their authority in the construction of Jewish law
ical discussion of the origins and transmission history of the
and belief clearly explained. As the Karaite threat to rabbinic
oral Torah. Elsewhere in his brilliant code Maimonides held
authority receded, these polemical writings, defending the
that belief in the origins of the oral Torah in revelation was
centrality of oral Torah to rabbinic authority and linking its
a fundamental article of Jewish belief, no less crucial than be-
antiquity to Sinai, became foundational for Jewish historical
lief in the existence of God (Hil. Mam. 3:1). His views,
thinking about rabbinic tradition.
shaped largely by the Geonic interpretations of Talmudic
sources, influenced all Jewish thought—legal, historical, and
Whereas the classic Geonic development of the idea of
theological—from the thirteenth century until the dawn of
oral Torah originated in Islamic lands in polemics primarily
the nineteenth.
with the anti-rabbinic Karaites, rabbinic Jews living in scat-
tered communities in Latin Christendom were also inspired
The mystical movement of Qabbalah, which spread
by contextual factors to develop an ideological self-
with equal success in the Islamic and Christian areas of Jew-
consciousness about oral Torah. Most important among
ish settlement, commonly linked its own conceptual innova-
these, from the eleventh century and onward, were the po-
tions to the idea of oral Torah. Indeed the most important
lemical encounters of Jews with Christian theologians. In
qabbalistic work, the thirteenth-century Zohar, was com-
staged disputes sponsored by church authorities, held for the
posed in imitation of the language and form of ancient rab-
edification of Christians and a hoped-for conversion of Jews,
binic works of oral Torah. As late as the eighteenth century
rabbinic leaders were required to defend the truth of Judaism
and early nineteenth century, innovative movements of Jew-
against the claims of Christianity. The primary focus of these
ish religious renewal, such as Hasidism, offered creative in-
disputes was the tradition of Christian interpretation of the
terpretations of the idea of oral Torah as part of their larger
Old Testament, which viewed the latter as a veiled set of par-
efforts to link themselves to authentic rabbinic lineage. With
ables foretelling the advent of Christ.
equal ingenuity, some rabbinic opponents of Jewish modern-
ization demonstrated how the interpretive principles of the
Some of the later rabbinic sources of the Byzantine era
oral Torah proved that “the modern is prohibited by the
had proposed long ago that the Mishnah should be regarded
Torah.”
as a “mystery” given by God to Israel to ensure Israel’s
knowledge of the meaning of Scripture against the claims of
Since the beginning of the nineteenth century, however,
the emerging church (e.g., Pes. Rab. 14b). These and many
increasing sectors of world Jewry have come under the influ-
other sources were retrieved by the pioneering eleventh-
ence of the modernizing Western culture in which they have
century French commentator Rabbi Shelomoh ben Yitsh:aq
been immersed. Grounded in empiricist and historicist as-
(“Rashi,” 1040–1105) in his commentaries to both the Tal-
sumptions basic to the cultural revolution of the European
mud and the Bible. He carefully glossed biblical verses with
Enlightenment, many modern Jewish thinkers have found
rabbinic passages from the oral Torah, arguing that the “sim-
the concept of “revelation” to be especially vulnerable to crit-
ple” or “contextual” sense of the written Torah was found
icism on historical grounds. Classically understood as a mi-
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ORAL TORAH
6841
raculous event in which a personal God speaks in human lan-
Tosefta, a companion document to the Mishnah, breaks
guage to a prophet, revelation has been commonly recast as
fresh ground in studying the mutual influence of writing and
a psychological, cultural, or moral event. Revelation, in other
oral transmission in the shaping of early rabbinic traditions.
words, has left the realm of “objective historical fact” and
Elman, Yaakov, and Israel Gershoni, eds. Transmitting Jewish Tra-
been confined to the domain of “subjective, interpretive ex-
ditions: Orality, Textuality, and Cultural Diffusion. New
perience.” Accordingly among most contemporary adherents
Haven, Conn., and London, 2000. This collection of essays
of modern Judaism, the idea of oral Torah as a revelation co-
contains valuable studies by an international group of schol-
ars of Jewish oral tradition from rabbinic to modern times.
equal with that of the written Torah is hardly a compelling
idea, for the very notion of an objective historical revelation
Fraade, Steven. From Tradition to Commentary: Torah and Its In-
terpretation in the Midrash Sifre to Deuteronomy. Albany,
is itself under question.
N.Y., 1991. This is a groundbreaking study of rabbinic ideas
Not all sectors of contemporary Judaism, however, have
of oral Torah and their relationship to the stylistic traits of
been willing to give up the concept of oral Torah. Among
rabbinic scriptural interpretation.
Orthodox Jews, who are deeply skeptical of the authority of
Gerhardsson, Birger. Memory and Manuscript: Oral Tradition and
modern culture, there is also a tendency to insist upon the
Written Transmission in Rabbinic Judaism and Early Chris-
continued authority of oral Torah as part of the divine reve-
tianity, with Tradition and Transmission in Early Christianity.
lation that governs the concrete behavior of Jews. Paradoxi-
Grand Rapids, Mich., 1998. This work, written in 1961,
cally, in the last decades of the twentieth century certain Jew-
sums up a century of scholarship on rabbinic oral tradition
and links it to the study of early Christian oral tradition.
ish thinkers of a postmodern style began to find new
complexity in the concept of oral Torah. These thinkers are
Gruber, Meyer. “The Mishnah as Oral Torah: A Reconsidera-
tion.” Journal for the Study of Judaism 15 (1984): 112–122.
critical of modernity’s often-facile distinction between “sub-
This essay focuses upon ways in which early rabbinic litera-
jectivity” and “objectivity.” Whereas they may not accept the
ture links the Mishnah to the idea of oral Torah.
absolute authority of the rabbis, they are intensely interested
Harris, Jay. How Do We Know This? Midrash and the Fragmenta-
in retrieving the idea of oral Torah as a fundamental element
tion of Modern Judaism. Albany, N.Y., 1995. This book
of the overall Judaic response to texts and tradition. Thus
studies the historical conceptions of rabbinic oral-
even among Jewish thinkers who do not explicitly support
interpretive tradition from ancient to modern times.
exclusive rabbinic authority to define Judaism, the idea of
Jaffee, Martin S. Torah in the Mouth: Writing and Oral Tradition
oral Torah as the historical embodiment of Jewish forms of
in Palestinian Judaism, 200 BCE–400 CE. New York, 2001.
“textual reasoning”—living with, challenging, and trans-
This book offers a broad theory of rabbinic oral tradition in
forming the meaning of powerful texts—continues to attract
relation to written sources and a study of the conceptual
great interest.
development of the idea of oral Torah until the fifth cen-
tury CE.
SEE ALSO Mishnah and Tosefta; Torah.
Kepnes, Steven, ed. Interpreting Judaism in a Postmodern Age. New
York and London, 1996. This pioneering collection of essays
BIBLIOGRAPHY
includes many that reflect upon postmodern conceptions of
Baumgarten, Albert. “The Pharisaic Paradosis.” Harvard Theologi-
rabbinic tradition and its authority.
cal Review 80 (1987): 63–77. This essay offers an excellent
Lieberman, Saul. “The Publication of the Mishnah.” In Hellenism
discussion of various Second Temple testimonies about the
in Jewish Palestine, pp. 83–90. New York, 1950. This is a
nature of Pharisaic tradition.
classic essay describing the oral manner in which the Mish-
Berger, Michael S. Rabbinic Authority. Oxford, U.K., and New
nah was compiled and disseminated for study.
York, 1998. This is a comprehensive study of the rhetoric for
Meskin, Jacob. “Textual Reasoning, Modernity, and the Limits of
establishing rabbinic authority from classical times into mo-
History.” Cross Currents (Winter 1999). Available from
dernity.
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m2096/4_49/58621580/
p1/article.jhtml. This is a programmatic essay on Jewish
Blidstein, Yaakov. “On the Foundations of the Concept of Oral
“textual reasoning” in a postmodern spirit that pays close at-
Torah” (in Hebrew). Tarbiz 42 (1973): 496–498. This essay
tention to modern scholarship on Jewish oral tradition and
studies early lexical items in rabbinic literature that refer to
rabbinic oral Torah.
memorized or oral tradition.
Neusner, Jacob. “Oral Torah and Oral Tradition: Defining the
Brody, Robert. The Geonim of Babylonia and the Shaping of Medi-
Problematic.” In Method and Meaning in Ancient Judaism,
eval Jewish Culture. New Haven, Conn., and London, 1998.
pp. 59–75. Missoula, Mont., 1979. This essay highlights the
A most up-to-date and comprehensive study of the insti-
important implications of distinguishing between ancient
tution of the Gaonate and its religious and cultural
Jewish oral tradition and rabbinic ideologies of oral Torah
achievements.
stemming from revelation.
Dane, Perry. “The Oral Law and the Jurisprudence of a Textless
Neusner, Jacob. What, Exactly, Did the Rabbinic Sages Mean by
Text.” S Dvara: A Journal of Philosophy, Law, and Judaism 2
“the Oral Torah?” An Inductive Answer to the Question of Rab-
(1991): 11–24. This essay mounts a postmodernist inquiry
binic Judaism. Atlanta, 1999. This is a convenient summary
into the nature of rabbinic thought on oral Torah.
of a major scholar’s thought on oral Torah.
Elman, Yaakov. Authority and Tradition: Toseftan Baraitot in Tal-
Safrai, Shmuel. “Oral Tora.” In The Literature of the Sages, pt. 1:
mudic Babylonia. Hoboken, N.J., 1994. This study of the
Oral Tora, Halakha, Mishna, Tosefta, Talmud, External Trac-
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

6842
ORAL TRADITION
tates, edited by Shmuel Safrai, pp. 35–119. Philadelphia and
However, recent research on the institutionalization of
Assen, Netherlands, 1987. This essay offers a convenient sur-
oral and written communication in different societies tends
vey of rabbinic sources on oral Torah and a historical inter-
to undermine the dichotomy between “oral” and “literate”
pretation of their significance.
societies. It becomes increasingly clear that in both religious
Schäfer, Peter. “Das ‘Dogma’ von der mündlichen Torah im rab-
and secular contexts literary and oral methods of learning
binischen Judentum.” In Studien zur Geschichte und Theolo-
and teaching coexist and interact. The relative stability of
gie des rabbinischen Judentums, pp. 153–197. Leiden, Neth-
knowledge in a given society depends in large part upon how
erlands, 1978. This essay offers critical and close readings of
these different methods are institutionalized as well as upon
the various rabbinic references to oral tradition and high-
the educational goals and concepts of knowledge that accom-
lights the crucial role of the third-century CE Galilean school
of Rabbi Yoh:anan in developing the ideology of oral Torah.
pany them.
Schlütter, Margarete. Auf welche Weise wurde die Mishna geschrie-
In general, it seems that knowledge based on memory
ben? Tübingen, Germany, 1993. This comprehensive study
is not as ephemeral as previously had been thought, nor is
of Rabbi Sherira’s famous letter on the history of the oral
written knowledge immutable in the actual conditions of so-
Torah includes German translations of both extant manu-
cial practice. Thus comparative research into the ways in
script versions and an extensive commentary.
which written and spoken words are organized and used in
Scholem, Gershom. “The Meaning of the Torah in Jewish Mysti-
different societies at present tends to complicate the picture
cism.” In On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism, translated by
of what oral tradition is, and of how it is related to the pre-
Ralph Manheim, pp. 32–86. New York, 1969. This essay
sumed stability of written traditions. Overly simplistic mod-
surveys the various symbolic roles played by the term Torah
in the qabbalistic tradition.
els are giving way to less elegant, but perhaps richer, compar-
Scholem, Gershom. “Revelation and Tradition as Religious Cate-
ative views, which also offer a more accurate picture of the
gories in Judaism.” In The Messianic Idea in Judaism and
varieties of religious experience that are embodied in written
Other Essays on Jewish Spirituality, pp. 282–303. New York,
and spoken words.
1971. This essay explores crucial ideological dimensions of
The two great questions underlying most of the scholar-
Jewish concepts of revelation and interpretation in rabbinic
ship on oral tradition in religion are those of historical conti-
and mystical contexts.
nuity and communicative effectiveness. Up to the present,
Silber, Michael K. “The Emergence of Ultra-Orthodoxy: The In-
these two issues have tended to be addressed by different
vention of a Tradition.” In The Uses of Tradition: Jewish Con-
scholars using different methods. The issue of historical con-
tinuity in the Modern Era, edited by Jack Wertheimer,
pp. 23–84. New York and Jerusalem, 1992. This essay traces
tinuity has been prominent in the Western comparative
ways in which the conceptual system of rabbinic oral Torah
study of religion since the late eighteenth century, when the
was marshaled in opposition to modern European culture.
survival of preliterate belief systems in modern European set-
Snyder, H. Gregory. Teachers and Texts in the Ancient World: Phi-
tings was first recognized.
losophers, Jews, and Christians. London and New York, 2000.
In the twentieth century, one of the most provocative
This book surveys the various roles that classic texts and liv-
historical comparativists has been Georges Dumézil. Duméz-
ing teachers played in moral education in the Greco-Roman
il has gone back to the early literary sources of Indo-
world.
European mythology, history, and legend to reconstruct an
Valantasis, Richard. Spiritual Guides of the Third Century: A Semi-
ideological complex that, he contends, predates the disper-
otic Study of the Guide-Disciple Relationship in Christianity,
Neoplatonism, Hermetism, and Gnosticism
. Minneapolis,
sion of the ancestors of the present Indo-European linguistic
Minn., 1991. This fine study describes the role of texts and
groups from an original home in Central Asia into the Indian
teachers in the spiritual formation of diverse intellectual-
subcontinent, Asia Minor, and Europe. Dumézil argues that
religious communities in late antiquity.
his ideological complex was represented in both the social or-
Zlotnick, Dov. The Iron Pillar, Mishnah: Redaction, Form, and In-
ganization and the cosmology of the preliterate Proto-Indo-
tent. Jerusalem, 1988. This book studies various oral-
Europeans, positing a tripartite division of both human and
formulaic aspects of the editing of the Mishnah.
divine spheres of activity into priest-kings, warriors, and agri-
M
culturalist-herdsmen. For Dumézil, it is not tripartism in
ARTIN S. JAFFEE (2005)
general (a worldwide phenomenon), but these three particu-
lar categories that characterize cultural configurations de-
ORAL TRADITION,
rived from a Proto-Indo-European antecedent.
which operates in all religious
institutions, tends to be viewed by literate Western scholars
Followers of Dumézil have examined more recent folk
as a defective mechanism for perpetuating tradition. Theolo-
traditions in Europe, such as folk tales, legends, and sagas.
gians, secular historians, and sociologists of religion, sharing
In these orally derived traditions they have found evidence
a dichotomous view of oral and literate intellectual systems,
of the pre-Christian Indo-European tripartism, which in
have contrasted the fixity of belief in an immutable truth
some cases underlies such overtly Christian subjects as the
found in literate religious traditions with the variety and mu-
lives of the saints. Of course, the awareness of pre-Christian
tability of knowledge typical of oral traditions relying exclu-
content in European oral tradition and its possible impact
sively on memory.
on Christian orthodoxy was noticed by the earliest Christian
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ORAL TRADITION
6843
missionaries. Several of the nineteenth-century folklorists
systems can be traced into the literate era, in both the literate
were clergymen who identified pre-Christian beliefs and
and the oral domains of different communities.
practices among their parishioners. Dumézil and his follow-
A comparative approach to the diverse manifestations
ers, however, unlike many of their predecessors, have detect-
of such inherited patterns leads to the question of how these
ed not mere isolated remnants of tradition, but a conceptual
patterns are transmitted and institutionalized. A second
system that, Dumézil argues, informed Indo-European ideas
major approach to the problem of oral tradition has focused
of social and cosmic organization at diverse levels, with vary-
directly on the forms and processes of oral transmission. This
ing degrees of explicitness, from the explicit varna theory of
approach was initiated by the Amerian classicist Milman
the Vedic caste system in India to the cryptic reflections that
Parry, whose examination of the style and structure of Ho-
Dumézil has traced in the legendary history of the Roman
meric verse led him and his student Albert B. Lord to the
republic.
study of a European oral epic tradition that still survives in
Dumézil’s historical-reconstructive approach to the oral
the sectarian poems of border warfare sung in the Balkans.
heritage in written traditions shares some of the weaknesses
Through this study, Parry and Lord sought to identify mech-
of its predecessors. A major problem is the variety of relation-
anisms of oral composition and remembrance that could
ships between cosmology and social organization. Dumézil
generate and perpetuate poems of the scale of the Homeric
and his followers found the Indo-European triad in some
epics.
cultures at the cosmological level, in others in the configura-
Francis P. Magoun and other medievalists then applied
tions of secular history, in yet others in sacred biography. In
the Parry-Lord theory of oral stylistics and compositional
some cultures (in India, for instance), Indo-European tripar-
techniques to Anglo-Saxon poetry. Soon a debate developed
tism can be traced in many contexts on a sacred-secular con-
among medievalists and biblical scholars concerning the in-
tinuum. But as becomes apparent in the study of living reli-
fluence on early literary style of an oral rhetoric that was be-
gious rituals and scriptures in their social context (and as is
lieved to reflect in various ways the oral composition and
painfully obvious to believers who take their sacred models
transmission processes that had been described by Parry and
seriously), the sacred order is often not realized in everyday
Lord. Arguments ensued about such questions as the relative
social interaction, and indeed may even be systematically in-
debt of the Christian poet Cædmon to either the pre-
verted. Anthropologists of religion such as Victor Turner and
Christian oral poetics of Anglo-Saxon or to the literary tradi-
Claude Lévi-Strauss have based approaches to the study of
tion of Latin devotional poetry. The organization of the Book
ritual and myth on the assumption that inversions between
of Psalms and the Gospels, among other Old and New Testa-
sacred and secular discourse are systematic, and even neces-
ment writings, was examined for evidence of oral composi-
sary. Dumézil’s style of comparison is exciting more for the
tion in both style and structure. The simultaneous existence
possibilities it reveals for discovering the manifestations of a
of variants, along with the presence of formulaic language,
belief system in both sacred and secular contexts than for the
was taken as a hallmark of oral tradition. Stylistic studies that
particular comparative conclusions it can yield.
saw in the synoptic Gospels (Mark, Matthew, and Luke), for
Although Dumézil and his followers only implicitly ad-
instance, a series of variants of an original oral tradition of
dress the problem of oral tradition, the identification of
the life of Christ, raised once again the questions concerning
traces of an originally oral ideology in societies where that
the historical reliability of these texts.
ideology is no longer overt raises the question of the relative
In the case of Islam, by contrast, the oral substrate of
importance of self-consciousness in oral and literate intellec-
the tradition was directly taken into account by the earliest
tual traditions. Literacy is widely regarded by the literate as
Muslim theologians. The word qur Da¯n literally means “read-
a facilitator of analytic reasoning and self-conscious intellec-
ing,” and the sacred book of the QurDa¯n was originally re-
tion. It is believed to enable one to manipulate series of prop-
ceived through reading, despite the self-avowed illiteracy of
ositions, to reorder them, compare their implications, and
the prophet Muh:ammad. The first revelation came to the
identify inconsistencies that would be obscured if one could
Prophet in the form of an angelic injunction, “Read!”, to
only consider them in the serial order and social contexts of
which the Prophet replied, “I cannot read.” This altercation
their immediate presentations.
ended with the celestial voice dictating, “Read: And it is thy
Lord the Most Bountiful / Who teacheth by pen, / Teacheth
In the religious context, the writing down of tenets of
man that which he knew not.” The Prophet, waking from
belief is held to facilitate the development of orthodoxy and
a trance, remembered the words “as if inscribed upon his
of internally consistent bodies of belief, which in turn may
heart.” Thus the authoritativeness of written scripture was
contribute to the centralization of religious institutions and
established by explicit revelation.
religious power. There are paradoxical aspects to this set of
assumptions, however, as will be seen below. In any case,
The Prophet’s oral recitations of subsequent revelations
Dumézil’s comparative studies imply among other things
were transcribed by various followers. The great body of
that the development of complex categorical systems of sa-
Muslim oral tradition supplementary to the QurDa¯n itself,
cred and secular order is possible even in preliterate societies.
embodied in the sunnah (“practice, custom”) and h:ad¯ıth
The continued unselfconscious operation of such conceptual
(“traditions, narration”) of the Prophet, was codified by liter-
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ORAL TRADITION
ate theologians in the century following the Prophet’s death.
derived from holy scripture, from books of prayers compiled
A primary criterion for authenticity was the soundness of the
for the purpose of ta Ea¯w¯ıdh writing, or from a series of num-
chain of oral transmission by which each bit of information
bers or words arranged in geometric patterns that are consid-
was preserved prior to being committed to writing. It was
ered to be powerful.
important to establish that the chain of oral transmitters
This use of written words in charms forms part of a larg-
(isna¯d, or “attribution”) specified in each case was comprised
er continuum of protective magical practices that includes
of a series of individuals who were in fact contemporaries in
the manipulation of other physical objects (such as strings,
direct communication with each other. Thus Islam, in its
bits of cloth, beads, foodstuffs, and fragrant herbs). Thus
earliest period, confronted the issue of the reliability of oral
those who use literacy for protective magical purposes are
transmission very directly. Spiritual authenticity in Islam has
using but one of several strategies for physically embodying
continued to be measured in part by the directness of verbal
sacred power and directing it to human ends. The sacred
communication between living exponents of the faith, as for
power of language is no less likely to be embodied in spoken
instance in the emphasis that the S:u¯f¯ı orders place on the
words, even in highly literate traditions such as Islam and
necessity of a sound spiritual genealogy and on direct com-
Christianity. The invocations, prayers, and injunctions spo-
munication with spiritual guides.
ken over a written ta Ea¯w¯ıdh at its creation are no less impor-
A serious limitation is imposed on researchers’ ability to
tant to its efficacy than is its written text.
understand the workings of oral transmission in biblical and
Much recent research by folklorists and ethnolinguists
other traditions by the fact that the compositional history of
favors the view that the meaning and power of sacred lan-
existing texts is often undocumented, and information about
guage emerges from the actual enactment of words by the
the traditions upon which they were based is scarce. Argu-
living, whether the “texts” that serve as the basis for such en-
ments for the oral origin of parts of the Bible, like similar
actment are written or oral. The dynamism of such oral en-
arguments concerning devotional and secular medieval liter-
actment can often triumph over the professed fixity of a
ature, proceed mainly on stylistic grounds, whereas the re-
scriptural tradition and become a source of diversity within
construction of the actual process of oral composition re-
the tradition. This can be seen in several examples taken
mains inferential. In societies where literacy is the skill of a
from New World Christian traditions.
minority, verbal compositions intended for a general audi-
ence must be organized to facilitate aural comprehension,
Some Pentecostal churches in the United States, for ex-
whether or not they are composed orally. Furthermore, in
ample, while preaching the literal truth of the Christian
societies where literacy is new, the indigenous verbal aesthet-
scriptures, seek personal experiences of possession by the
ic is by definition oral, and early literature might be expected
Holy Spirit. One group of such churches puts particular em-
to emulate it to some degree.
phasis upon the verses of Mark 16:17–18: “And these signs
will accompany those that believe: in my name they will cast
The ethnographic evidence available from contempo-
out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick
rary societies, together with the scanty indications of the
up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not
compositional process gleaned from early literary docu-
hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will
ments, tends to enforce the idea that different societies dis-
recover.” To this end, and as part of their devotional services,
tribute oral and literary processes in different ways, that there
they handle venomous snakes and drink strychnine in trance
are a variety of techniques of oral composition and transmis-
states induced by very intense rhythmic vocalization, clap-
sion just as there are a variety of techniques of literary com-
ping and dancing during sermons, personal testimony, group
position and dissemination, and that these communicative
prayer, and song. Other Pentecostal groups take no interest
mechanisms interact in complex ways.
in snake handling, but preserve the importance of glossolalia
and other forms of vocalization in worship. Glossolalia, or
Looking at religious traditions in oral and literate socie-
speaking in “new tongues” (Mk. 16:17), is accepted as an
ties today, it becomes clear that virtually all societies develop
outward sign of the conversion experience and is considered
special languages or communicative styles for religious con-
to be the Holy Spirit speaking through the body of the be-
texts, and that these are distinguished from everyday written
liever. Such “baptism in the Spirit,” with its outward vocal
or spoken language. It is perhaps best to regard writing not
forms, is believed to be necessary for salvation.
as more authoritative or powerful per se, but as one of several
possible strategies for marking off religious language as par-
A debate arises within some fundamentalist congrega-
ticularly powerful. Societies with prophetic traditions em-
tions concerning the types of vocalization proper to men and
bodied in written scriptures may develop popular ideologies
women. The apostle Paul’s injunctions (1 Tm. 2:11, 2:12;
that venerate all writing, by extension from the veneration
1 Cor. 14:34–35) that women should be silent in church are
of sacred writ. In folk Islam, for instance, ta Ea¯w¯ıdh are writ-
interpreted by some to mean that women should not preach
ten formulas believed to have protective power that are worn
but only give personal testimony, sing, and speak in tongues
as charms on the body. Other written charms may be con-
as the spirit moves them. Women who feel called to preach
sumed in dissolved form or inhaled as smoke. Their texts,
may frame their sermons more in the style of a personal testi-
which are specific to the protective function desired, may be
mony (or their testimonies more in the style of sermons), or
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ORAL TRADITION
6845
they may defend their right to preach by alluding to points
Indian language, the ritual language of religion and recita-
in scripture (e.g., Acts and Joel) where it is said that women
tions of mythic history achieve many of the same effects of
will prophesy in the “last days,” which are presumed to be
depersonalization and grammatical integration that Chafe
at hand. Thus silence for women receives widely divergent
identified as markers of literary as opposed to colloquial dis-
interpretations in different communities. The literalist inter-
course in English. In Seneca oral tradition, the ideal of ritual
pretation of scripture typical of such communities in no way
recitation is a fixed text, and a highly standardized vocal style
inhibits the development of diversity, especially in the di-
and physical mannerisms accompany the recited words. Ac-
mension of oral practice.
cording to Chafe, distinctions between oral and written style
in English are thus analogous to distinctions between ritual
Diversity is no less apparent in Roman Catholic com-
and colloquial style in exclusively oral Seneca.
munities, which were until the 1960s restricted to a uniform
Latin liturgy and scripture. Among the Tarascan Indians of
By contrast with Seneca religious language, some Chris-
Tzintzuntzan, Mexico, an elaborate, nine-day communal rit-
tian Pentecostal groups in the American Midwest locate spir-
ual of religious processions, feasts, and dances has developed
itual authenticity in religious utterances that entail posses-
around the single verse of Luke 2:7: “And she brought forth
sion by the Holy Spirit. A preacher in this tradition would
her firstborn son, and laid him in a manger, because there
never use any sort of written notes or outline to organize his
was no room in the inn.” The theme of no room in the inn
discourse in advance. And yet this ideal of oral spontaneity
has formed the basis for communal processions, called posa-
in devotional practice in no way alters the conviction that
das (“lodgings”), developed with varying degrees of complex-
the written scriptures are the verbatim word of God. Further-
ity in many Spanish-American communities. Images of the
more, stylistic analysis reveals a highly consistent structure
Virgin are carried through the streets during the last days of
and high level of formulaic language in such inspired sponta-
Advent, begging for lodging. Although the basis is scriptural,
neous utterances, both in sermons and in personal testimo-
the design and execution of these ceremonies are a matter of
nies. Other fundamentalist groups may tolerate or even en-
emergent oral tradition. In Tzintzuntzan, the ritual has de-
courage the use of written outlines by the prayer leader, as
veloped into a pancommunal ceremony that entails elaborate
well as the use of hymnals, but the spiritual authenticity of
cooperation within neighborhoods, performances of songs
the prayer or hymn is measured by the degree to which it is
and recitations, and a complicated cast of male and female
“raised up” by the group from the skeletal, written prototype
actors who carry out the roles of holy pilgrims and inhospita-
into an embellished improvisational oral performance.
ble innkeepers. Stanley Brandes suggests that there are extra-
religious reasons for this community’s elaboration of this
Similar paradoxical relations between oral and written
particular detail of sacred biography at this time. In Brandes’s
standards of authenticity can be found in other traditions.
view, the ritual reflects changes in relations between mem-
William F. Hanks describes a shamanic prayer among Yuca-
bers of the community.
tec-Maya of southern Mexico, where the local religion is a
complex syncretism of Christianity and pre-Columbian be-
A distinction introduced by Gregory Bateson can help
liefs, largely reliant on oral tradition. In this community, the
to clarify the value of orality in many religious traditions.
proper form of prayers is so completely dependent upon the
Bateson distinguished between communicative and “meta-
context of oral performance that a shaman is unable to recall
communicative” functions of language. While the communi-
or reproduce the text of a prayer outside the setting of the
cative dimensions convey information and content, the
ritual. Hanks persuasively argues that the oral text does not
metacommunicative level conveys a relation between speaker
exist in any coherent form outside of the immediate curing
and listener. Bateson further observed that, while the literary
rituals, for, as the shaman explains, “[It’s] a thing [that] pass-
mode is conceived as primarily communicative, it is the oral
es by you in your thought.” In such an oral tradition, the role
mode that is the dimension of metacommunication. Because
of rote learning is minimized (shamans learn how to address
a primary goal of religious devotion is precisely to establish
spirits primarily through personal dreams and visions), to say
or reassert a personal relation between the worshiper and the
nothing of fixed texts in the form of written scripts. Never-
worshiped, Bateson’s distinction helps provide an under-
theless, in this same cosmology, there is a guardian spirit
standing of why the oral dimension is often critically impor-
whose function it is to record in writing, for divine reference,
tant in both the embodiment and the propagation of reli-
the individual rituals performed by shamans.
gious belief and experience.
These examples illustrate the diversity of relations be-
Even within a strictly oral tradition, however, the reli-
tween oral and literary traditions in different religious set-
gious value of orality may be differently assessed, and values
tings, and also the continuing, central importance of the spo-
normally associated with literacy affirmed. In different tradi-
ken word as religious act. Writing has no doubt provided a
tions, the authenticity of religious utterance may be mea-
mechanism to measure the mutability of ostensibly eternal
sured by reference to either an ideal of immutability (wheth-
oral traditions, but when scriptural traditions are examined
er written or oral), or to an ideal of spontaneity. Wallace L.
in particular social contexts, their own mutability is equally
Chafe, distinguishing stylistically between oral and written
apparent, at the level of interpretative enactment. It is in the
English, pointed out that in Seneca, a nonwritten American
consciousness and acts (verbal and physical) of living believ-
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6846
ORDEAL
ers that religions manifest their meaning, and in that sense,
Other studies focusing on particular traditions include Wal-
living tradition is always oral tradition.
lace L. Chafe’s “Integration and Involvement in Speaking,
Writing, and Oral Literature,” and Shirley Brice Heath’s
SEE ALSO Folk Religion; Memorization; Tradition.
“Protean Shapes in Literacy Events: Ever-Shifting Oral and
Literate Traditions,” both in Tannen’s Spoken and Written
Language,
cited above. References to Gregory Bateson’s ideas
BIBLIOGRAPHY
are further developed in Tannen’s introduction to that
The departure point for a great deal of work on continuity and
volume.
analytic functions in oral and literary traditions is the work
of the British anthropologist Jack Goody, particularly his Lit-
New Sources
eracy in Traditional Societies (Cambridge, U.K., 1968) and
Dewey, Joanna, ed. “Orality and Textuality in Early Christian Lit-
The Domestication of the Savage Mind (Cambridge, U.K.,
erature.” Semeia 65 (1994): 1–216.
1977). The best review and critique of the literature on liter-
Flake, Kathleen. “‘Not to Be Riten’: The Mormon Temple Rite
acy and its effect on knowledge systems is Brian V. Street’s
as Oral Canon.” Journal of Ritual Studies 9 (Summer 1995):
Literacy in Theory and Practice (Cambridge, 1984). An intro-
1–21.
duction to the work of Georges Dumézil is C. Scott Little-
ton’s The New Comparative Mythology, 3d ed. (Berkeley,
Hauser, Beatrix. “From Oral Tradition to ‘Folk Art’: Reevaluating
Calif., 1980), which includes references to Dumézil’s writ-
Bengali Scroll Paintings.” Asian Folklore Studies 61, no. 1
ings, including recent translations. Victor Turner’s ideas on
(2002): 105–122.
ritual are developed in The Forest of Symbols (Ithaca, N.Y.,
Jaffee, Martin S. “Oral Culture in Scriptural Religion: Some Ex-
1967) and many other later articles and books. The best
ploratory Studies.” Religious Studies Review 24 (July 1998):
starting place for an understanding of Claude Lévi-Strauss’s
223–230.
anthropological theories is his Structural Anthropology, 2 vols.
Jones, Gayl. Liberating Voices: Oral Tradition in African American
(New York, 1963–1976). The key general formulation of the
Literature. Cambridge, Mass., 1991.
Parry-Lord oral-formulaic theory is Albert B. Lord’s The
Singer of Tales
(Cambridge, Mass., 1960). John Miles Foley’s
Lord, Albert Bates. Epic Singers and Oral Tradition. Ithaca, N.Y.,
Oral-Formulaic Theory and Research (New York, 1984),
1991.
which offers a superb annotated bibliography, provides an
McMahan, David. “Orality, Writing, and Authority in South
encyclopedic review of the scholarship pertinent to the theo-
Asian Buddhism: Visionary Literature and the Struggle for
ry in both religious and secular traditions. Two excellent col-
Legitimacy in the Mahayana.” History of Religions 37 (1998):
lections of essays on, respectively, the relations between oral
249–274.
and written traditions and the relations between oral and
written religious language are Spoken and Written Language,
Niditch, Susan. Oral World and Written Word. Louisville, Ky.,
edited by Deborah Tannen (Norwood, N.J., 1982), and
1996.
Language in Religious Practice, edited by William J. Samarin
Okpewho, Isidore. African Oral Literature: Backgrounds, Charac-
(Rowley, Mass., 1976).
ter, and Continuity. Bloomington, Ind., 1992.
M. M. Pickthall’s The Meaning of the Glorious Qur Da¯n (1930; New
Silberman, Lou H., ed. “Orality, Aurality and Biblical Narrative.”
York, 1980) provides a reliable translation of the QurDa¯n, to-
Semeia, no. 39 (1987): 1–145.
gether with a historical introduction, from which the quoted
traditions about the Prophet’s first revelation are taken. An-
MARGARET A. MILLS (1987)
Revised Bibliography
nemarie Schimmel’s Mystical Dimensions of Islam (Chapel
Hill, N.C., 1975) and As through a Veil: Mystical Poetry in
Islam
(New York, 1982) contain much information on folk
and orthodox Islam and vocal aspects of S:u¯f¯ı mystical prac-
ORDEAL is a divinatory practice that has a judiciary
tice. Information on ta Ea¯w¯ıdh is from my own ethnographic
function. The word reached the English language from the
experience in Afghanistan. There is a burgeoning literature
in folklore, linguistics, and anthropology journals on lan-
medieval ordalium, the latinized form of the German word
guage in religion, from which the short ethnographic exam-
Urteil (“sentence, judgment”). Two kinds of judiciary or-
ples at the end of this essay are a sampling. Much relevant
deals may be distinguished: those prescribed by a judge or
work has appeared in the Journal of American Folklore: Steven
judicial body as a form of trial and those that also involve
M. Kane’s “Ritual Possession in a Southern Appalachian
the sentencing and punishment of the accused. Ordeals of
Religious Sect,” vol. 87 (October–December 1974),
the first type are based mostly upon the drawing of lots and
pp. 293–302; Stanley Brandes’s “The Posadas in Tzintzun-
the identification of the guilty party among a group of sus-
tzan: Structure and Sentiment in a Mexican Christmas Festi-
pects. Except for those that involve the simple drawing of
val,” vol. 96 (July–September 1983), pp. 259–280; Elaine J.
lots, it could be said that every ordeal is designed to prove
Lawless’s “Shouting for the Lord: The Power of Women’s
definitively the guilt or innocence of the accused. For exam-
Speech in Pentecostal Religious Service,” vol. 96 (October–
December 1983), pp. 434–459; Terry E. Miller’s “Voices
ple, a Shoshoni medicine man would take two hairs from the
from the Past: The Singing at Otter Creek Church,” vol. 88
accused and place them in his own tent. If they had disap-
(July–September 1975), pp. 266–282; and William F.
peared the day after, it was seen as a proof of innocence; if
Hanks’s “Sanctification, Structure and Experience in a Yuca-
the hairs still remained, it indicated guilt. Ordeals of the sec-
tec Ritual Event,” vol. 97 (April–June 1984), pp. 131–166.
ond type are those that place the accused in mortal risk. If
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ORDEAL
6847
the accused escapes death, he or she is judged innocent; if
by pain involved boiling water, but a law of 803 CE speaks
he or she dies, the death is considered the due punishment
of trial by sword. In the form of dueling, trial by sword ap-
of proven guilt. The most common ordeals of this sort are
pears to be the most ancient and most easily verified trial of
ordeal by poison, in which the accused is forced to ingest poi-
the Germanic tradition. Recourse to a duel between accuser
sonous substances (if innocent, the substances will be vomit-
and accused took place when the accused could not find
ed up); ordeal by water, in which the accused risks drowning;
enough witnesses willing to swear to his innocence (the grav-
and ordeal by fire, in which the accused risks burning to
er the crime, the more witnesses he had to produce). A refusal
death.
to duel by the accuser in itself constituted proof of the inno-
cence of the accused, but a refusal by the accused proved his
TYPES AND SOURCES OF JUDICIARY ORDEAL. The most an-
guilt. According to the Edictus Rotharii (643), the accused
cient body of laws that includes judiciary ordeals is the Code
could be represented by a substitute. He could also refuse to
of Hammurabi (Babylonia, 1792–1750 BCE), which pre-
duel, if he submitted to a different kind of trial. One trial
scribes the so-called ordeal of the river, in evidence during
by sword that substituted for the duel, called ad novem vo-
the Mesopotamian era as early as the twenty-fourth century
meres, was practiced by the Thuringians. In an ordeal that
BCE. In the ordeal of the river (which belongs to the second
could be called trial both by sword and by pain, the accused
category of ordeal because it includes sentencing and punish-
was made to walk barefoot over nine flaming plowshares.
ment), a woman accused of witchcraft or adultery was
The symbolism of the plowshares in contrast to the sword
thrown into the river. If she drowned, she was considered to
is evident: This was more appropriate for farmers than was
have been guilty, and if she survived, she was absolved. It is
the duel, the typical ordeal for gentlemen. As an ordeal for
interesting to note that those two crimes statistically out-
gentlemen, the duel endured as a standard feature of chivalric
number all others in the comparative documentation of or-
codes and has survived even in modern times as a private so-
deal and that, in the case of witchcraft, the Code of Hammu-
lution to disputes, sometimes tolerated and at other times ex-
rabi (stele 5, lines 33–56) seems to have imposed the ordeal
pressly forbidden by law.
(or what today would be called “the burden of proof”) on
the accuser and not, as one would expect, on the accused.
BIBLICAL PRECEDENTS. The medieval concept of ordeal as
Another application of ordeal as a judiciary instrument dates
“the judgment of God” probably found precedent in the
back to the high Middle Ages. Unlike the Code of Hammu-
Germanic tradition, but another of its precedents was most
rabi, which records the laws of the Mesopotamian civiliza-
certainly found in the Bible. One reads there that judgment
tion, ordeal in medieval times represents an aberrant episode
came from God through lots (Prv. 16:33) and that the draw-
in European legal history that has its foundations in Roman
ing of lots resolved conflicts (Prv. 18:18). In Joshua 7:14–22,
jurisprudence. The appearance of ordeal in European culture
the judiciary drawing of lots to discover the violator of a di-
can be directly attributed to Roman and Christian adapta-
vine interdiction was elaborated: First, the tribe of the guilty
tion of a Germanic custom. Ordeal was adopted because it
party was identified, then his family, then his house, and fi-
had been included in the tribal laws of the various Germanic
nally the individual himself. It should be noted, however,
populations (Lex Visigothorum, Lex Burgundiorum, Lex Sali-
that the same procedure, from tribe to individual, was also
ca, etc.) and because it had also come to be regarded as a
used for the designation of Saul as the first king (1 Sm.
manifestation of divine justice, even to the point of being
10:17–24), and that Saul himself used it as a judiciary meth-
called “the judgment of God.” For an example of the interac-
od to discover the violator of a civic and not a divine law (1
tion of these two frames of reference, the one civic and the
Sm. 14:40–45). In view of his royal position, which detached
other religious, one can refer to the Lex Frisonorum, which
him from tribal regulations, Saul put to one side all the tribes
prescribed the drawing of lots in the case of a crime for which
of Israel and to the other himself and his son Jonathan. The
more than one person was suspected. Three elements en-
lots designated him and his son, and as the choice was be-
joined for this ordeal gave it a consecrated character: the
tween them alone, the son was named guilty by the lots. In
prayer to God that he might reveal the guilty party; the re-
this phase of the history of Israel, the same ordeal was thus
quest for a priest to officiate at the rite; and the obligation
used in identifying a guilty man, whether he had broken civic
to execute the rite in a church or, at least, in the presence
or divine laws, and in the selection of the first king. This
of a reliquary. The religious frame of reference was eliminat-
would seem to signify not only that a royal prescription is
ed because of the negative attitude of the church, which on
equal to a divine one but also that the acquisition of royalty
more than one occasion forbade the clergy to lend itself to
is itself tantamount to a violation of divine law. In effect, the
the execution of ordeal; gradually, this led to the exclusion
Bible describes the arrival of monarchy in Israel as a sinful
of ordeal by judicial institutes as well. Hence its presence in
usurpation of divine authority (1 Sm. 8), so God himself is
Western culture should be considered episodic and anything
entrusted to designate the usurper as one who has violated
but characteristic. The Lex Salica called for ordeals in which
divine law. In substance, it was a method that freed the com-
the accused was tested for resistance to pain and for ordeals
munity from the responsibility of decision.
that involved the drawing of lots. This judiciary ordeal corre-
ORDEAL AND POWER. It could be said that recourse to ordeal
sponds to the practice of inflicting torture on the accused to
is always liberating, considering the risk of uncertainty that
extort confessions. The most common use of torture in trial
lies in decision making, though this understanding of ordeal
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6848
ORDEAL
depends on a typically Western concept of responsibility.
fact, the Code of Hammurabi allows two alternative courses
Ordeal, in the biblical case, reflects a system of interdepen-
of action—ordeal or divine intervention. For one charge,
dence among the divine, the royal, and the judiciary. In ab-
adultery, the woman accused can demonstrate her innocence
stract terms, this interdependence is seen in the formula of
either by swearing “to the god” (stele 21, lines 68–76) or by
a king who, through divine grace, administers justice in the
submitting herself to the river ordeal (stele 21, lines 77–82;
name of a god, or as if he were a god. But in concrete terms,
stele 22, lines 1–6). The judiciary function of swearing “by
the royal institution is supported by the heredity of the of-
God,” which persists even in the judicial halls of the present
fice, whereby a king becomes king by virtue of being the son
time, results from the adaptation of the concept of ordeal to
of the preceding king. Nor can he substitute for a god as su-
the logic of a polytheistic or monotheistic religion, in which
preme judge, because he is not endowed with divine omni-
a god who punishes perjurers takes the place of the punish-
science and also because he himself could become involved
ment implicit in the trial by ordeal. The god by whom one
in a judgment as accuser or accused. As in the case of Saul,
swears is, in substance, evoked as the judge; historically, these
these contradictions can be resolved.
are usually sun gods or gods of enlightenment and, as such,
omniscient. Raffaele Pettazzoni (1955) has called this judi-
Ordeal and royalty. As one who has not inherited the
ciary role the principal function of an omniscient god. The
throne, the first king is designated by the drawing of lots, or
Mesopotamian sun god Shamash, by whom one swore as
it is believed that he has been so designated. A well-known
proof of one’s innocence, was called “lord of judgment” (bel
example of this recourse to ordeal as legendary justification
dini) and was regarded as the father of Kettu (Justice) and
of the title to the throne is that of Romulus, who became the
Mesharu (Rectitude). The Bible does not provide evidence
first king of Rome because he saw twice the number of vul-
of judiciary oaths, but biblical oaths have the quality of a
tures as did his brother Remus. Thothmose III (1504–1450
pact, a vow, or a curse. The most severe Hebrew sects forbade
BCE), one of the greatest of Egyptian pharaohs, prided him-
even the taking or oaths, as did Christ, according to Matthew
self on having been designated for the throne by the oracle
(5:33–37). Nevertheless, an ordeal was called for in cases of
of Amun. If a king is involved in a judiciary procedure, he
suspected adultery and was carried out as if it were an offer-
is most likely to figure as the injured party or as the object
ing to God (Nm. 5:11–31). This is the so-called oblation of
of betrayal. This crime, treason, required a “judgment from
jealousy. The oblation to God served to evoke his presence;
God” in the Middle Ages. It should also be noted that the
in front of God, the suspected woman swore to her inno-
only ordeal known to have existed in the Inca Empire con-
cence. The possibility of a lie did not require divine interven-
cerned betrayal: The party accused of treason was held for
tion: The punishment could be delegated to humans who ad-
one day in a cell with dangerous beasts or serpents; if he came
ministered a potion called “bitter water” that the woman had
out alive, he was absolved. However, most instances of ordeal
to ingest; if she was guilty, it would make her dropsical.
that involved interdependence between the judicial, the di-
vine, and the royal occurred in Egypt, where this institution
Oaths were common, however, in Roman law, which never
had its origin. In the classical model that Egypt presents, the
prescribed true ordeal as a judiciary process. The several cases
pharaoh takes the place of a god or is a god on earth and,
in which the accused himself, outside of legal procedure, re-
as the beneficiary of divine omniscience, exercises judicial
quested divine intervention to prove his innocence are con-
power in concurrence with the divine oracles from whom
sidered exceptional. The most famous of such cases is that
sentences were often asked. There were moments in Egyp-
of Quinta Claudia, a Vestal Virgin accused or suspected of
tian history—for instance, in the twenty-first dynasty (1085–
immorality, who submitted herself to the judgment of the
950
Magna Mater (204 BCE). While oaths in a judiciary action
BCE)—when the justice exacted by a divine oracle seems
to have prevailed over that administered by the king or his
may separate divine intervention from ordeal, there are cases
courts; but there are also instances of oracular sentences
in which the opposite is true. Sometimes the ordeal itself is
being challenged, with consequent recourse to the royal tri-
divinized. Among the Sudanese of the interior (Azaude and
bunal.
neighboring peoples), for example, the poison used in an or-
deal is personified and assigned divine attributes. Because ev-
Ordeal and divinity. The biblical precedent of the me-
idence is scanty, it is not possible to ascertain how much this
dieval “judgment of God” must be considered not only to
description of an indigenous custom depends on European
explain the adaptation of Roman Christian ethos to German-
interpretation (which tends to give priority to divine figures);
ic custom but also for the phenomenological problem pres-
but it is a fact that such a process has been found even among
ented by the relationship between ordeal and divinity. Or-
the descendants of Africans brought to the Americas as
deal is an autonomous and not a cultural ritual. Thus, in
slaves. Ordeal by poison is still common among the so-called
some historical contexts, that relationship is considered an
Maroons (or “Bush Negroes”) of French Guiana and Suri-
accessory, almost a reinforcement of the effectiveness of or-
nam, the descendants of slaves who rebelled and took refuge
deal as a judicial method. At any rate, numerous cases of or-
in the forest in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
deals imposed for their own sake, without invocations or
This ordeal is, however, associated with an invocation to
evocations of divinity, have been documented. The Mesopo-
Odun, the god of justice. The name of this god goes back
tamian river ordeal provides for no divine intervention; in
to the denomination (odu) used by the Sudanese of the west-
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ORDEAL
6849
ern African coast (e.g., the Yorulas) to designate the signs of
turned into a war between Greeks and Trojans; it even con-
their geomantic prophetic system. This demonstrates the
tains evidence of recourse to a duel (Achilles against Hector).
prophetic and autonomous character of ordeal more than it
To examine this from the point of view of ordeal, one could
does its substitution for “God’s judgment.”
speak of a dilatory process (from duel to war) and a reductive
O
process (from war to duel). This pattern of dilation and re-
RDEAL AS PROPHETIC BATTLE. This article has considered
ordeal as a prophetic form with a judiciary purpose. In this
duction can be applied theoretically as if the subject of dis-
sense it has defined the characteristics of dueling, starting
agreement allowed the two modes indifferently. A purely
with its Germanic, medieval formulation as trial by sword.
quantitative distinction between war and duel is possible and
In the Germanic tradition also, Tacitus (Germania 10) de-
in fact fully justified by ethnological documentation of cul-
scribes a functional inversion of the duel from, not as a pro-
tures that do not have wars of conquest in the Western sense,
phetic form with a judiciary function, but as a battle with
but in which every conflict seems to assume the aspect of or-
a prophetic function. Before battle, the Germans captured
deal. Some of these cultures documented by ethnological re-
an enemy soldier and forced him to fight against one of their
search know no type of war but resolve every type of conflict
own warriors. The outcome of the fight was taken as an
by dueling, even between two groups or tribes. Among the
omen regarding the outcome of the upcoming battle. This
Inuit (Eskimo), an ordeal-duel (by blows) between two
context seems to broaden the definition of ordeal, but in real-
champions of opposing sides took the place of war. Similarly,
ity it extends the concept to the point of rendering it mean-
the Colombians resolved all hostilities between individuals,
ingless, precisely because of its functional reversal of the judi-
villages, and tribes with an ordeal-duel. This is also true of
ciary practice. On the other hand, this sort of weakening due
the natives of North America (e.g., the Tlingit), South Amer-
to reversals of perspective conveniently brings ordeal into the
ica (the Botocudo), Africa (the Ashanti), and Australia. Even
field of prophecy. Ordeal becomes a judicial process, in
when one can speak of war, or an extended ordeal, reduction
whatever form an oracular response is sought. The constant
is always noticeable: It can influence the number of comba-
recourse to oath—interpretable as ordeal, as has been
tants, the arms used, the length of battle, and so forth.
noted—seems to provide evidence for such a process. Nor
Among Northwest Coast Indians war between two villages
is it necessarily true that, in the Germanic practice of the duel
ceased with the death in battle of one of the chiefs. The
as an ordeal before battle, the prophetic function of the or-
equivalence of war and dueling is obvious in these cases, and
deal is predominant at the expense of the judiciary function.
it is not at all exceptional that the death of the chief signals
In fact, on the level of phenomenology, the battle itself can
defeat almost everywhere. Although battle requires a great
be regarded as judgment, as the solution to a dispute between
number of participants, only two people count as far as the
two human groups (nations, tribes, clans, etc.). Battle, too,
ordeal is concerned. The outcome of the ordeal is always bi-
can be seen as an ordeal. The difference between reality and
nary, because there is a choice between two eventual out-
appearance lies not so much in facts as in interpretation. An
comes that are equally probable before the confrontation
example is the case of the battle between the Horatii and the
takes place, just as in the biblical ordeal, cited above, con-
Curiatii: It is not worthwhile to ask if it really took place or
ducted by successive alternates. This duality is well expressed
by the Latin term for war, bellum, which derives from
if it is only legend, because what matters for this article’s pur-
duellum.
poses is the interpretive model it offers. This discussion will
begin with the disputes involved in this battle: A routine case
Fighting as ordeal, whether war or duel, reveals its ritual
of Roman farmers trespassing on Alba Longa territory during
nature through the rules that govern it. On the other hand,
the reign of Tullus Hostilius and of Alban farmers encroach-
ritual fighting is found in religious contexts of various kinds,
ing upon Roman territory. The conflict was to be decided
but perhaps the reduction of fighting to ordeal, even though
by a war. Tullus Hostilius called the gods to witness before
problematic, can be deduced through recourse to documen-
the war, meticulously following ritual. The Roman king took
tary material, as is the case with ritual fighting that precedes
great care to characterize this war as “holy” (pium bellum is
tribal initiation ceremonies. Initiation fighting is found in
the Latin expression used by Livy), what would today be
various forms and with various functions: between initiates,
called a “judgment of God.” The war, which one might call
between initiates and initiators, between the newly initiated
a figurative ordeal, was then replaced by a genuine ordeal:
and the women, and so on. But to reach an interpretation
The Romans and Albans agreed to make three Roman cham-
that illuminates ordeal, each case should be viewed as prov-
pions (the Horatii) and three Alban champions (the Curiatii)
ing the ability of the young to be admitted into the adult
battle each other, designating the outcome of this battle as
community. Naturally, there are other ways of testing the
the solution to the conflict. The model provided by this
battle skills of the young; generally, one would speak of ath-
event can be used to interpret other situations in which war
letics rather than of ritual battle. All athletics, which for the
figures, whether in the search for a common structure in leg-
most part have been connected with tribal initiations but
endary wars such as the Trojan War, or for the purpose of
which in ancient Greece assumed an independent develop-
classifying ethnological material pertinent to war. The Tro-
ment, can be looked at for their meaning as ordeal. (The cus-
jan War, for instance, was a conflict of which it could be said
tom of wagering on the winner still attests to the ordeal char-
had a judiciary nature (Menelaus against Paris) and that
acter of athletics.) A “judgment of God” was derived from
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6850
ORDEAL
the Greek athletic arenas, as from medieval ordeal. Athletic
demonstration of exceptional powers, acquired in the circle
trials pertained to the divine; the verdict, or outcome of the
of a given religious form. The best known of these powers
competitions, lent a “divine” prestige to the victorious city.
is the one that allows a person to walk unharmed over burn-
As for the connection with battle, it should be remembered
ing brands or red-hot stones. This may be called an ordeal
that every competition derives from a form of fighting; it
by fire, very similar to the ordeal of the nine plowshares of
could be said that the athletic arena figuratively substitutes
the Thuringians. The diffusion of this trial by fire is remark-
for the duel, just as dueling figuratively takes the place of
able. In ancient Latium Vetus the so-called Hirpi Sorani, cult
war. According to the logic of these figurative substitutions,
followers of Apollo Soranus on Mount Soracte, practiced it.
athletic contests and wars were incompatible, in the sense
Walkers on burning brands or red-hot stones have been ob-
that if the former could figuratively substitute for the latter,
served in ancient Cappadocia, India, China, Japan, the Fiji
it became illogical to hold both athletic events and wars at
Islands, Tahiti, Yucatán, and elsewhere. But for edification
the same time. Every war between Greek cities was suspend-
on the religious level, Mazdaism is highly representative as
ed during the celebration of the Olympics, as if the decision
a religion that simultaneously confers on ordeal, called varah
that had up to that point been delegated to the armies could
in the Avestan tongue, the double value of the judiciary and
be deferred to the games. This “as if” implies a theory that,
the initiatory. In the Denkard (7.5.4–6), a ninth-century
although belied by the fact that real wars were only delayed
Pahlavi text, can be seen the work of Zarathushtra. The text
and not entirely replaced by the games, permits a glimpse a
indicates at least thirty-three ordeals to “determine who will
quality in Greek athletics that is not compatible with today’s
be absolved, and who condemned.” In the Avesta, there are
concept of sports: It could be said that they were more “war”
constant allusions to the methods and functions of ordeal.
than “sport.” Angelo Brelich (1961) has brought to light the
From several passages (Yashts 12.3; Afrinaqan 3.9), it would
initiation-athletic elements of certain traditional Greek wars
seem necessary to extract a ritual acknowledgment (by or-
(between Cretan cities, between Eretria and Chalcis, between
deal) from the initiate whom the priest, acting as judge, sub-
the Athenians and the Boeotians, between Argos and Sparta,
mits to a trial by fire—perhaps immersion of the hand in
etc.). More “ordeal” than “game,” one may say, remember-
boiling oil (more precisely, animal and vegetable fat). Else-
ing that, according to one tradition, the first Olympic com-
where (Vendidad 4.46), trials of an ethical nature are found.
petition, a race, was instituted in order to establish the suc-
However, for the purpose of religious edification, they are
cession to the throne of Elis. For its game-war-ordeal-
figuratively absorbed in trial by boiling liquid. There are also
prophecy connection, a Mexican tradition is emblematic.
true judiciary ordeals: The accused “must drink water con-
Moctezuma, the Aztec emperor, lost a Mexican ball game
taining sulphur, water containing gold, which produce the
against the king of Texcoco, who had wagered his kingdom
proof of guilt, prove the lie with which he opposes the judge
against three turkeys. The outcome of the game was to verify,
and deceives Mithra” (Vendidad 4.54). (This potion used for
with the defeat of Moctezuma, the truth of the prophecy of
ordeal is spoken of in Vendidad 4.55 as well.) Finally, the ju-
the arrival of the Spanish, who would conquer Mexico. On
diciary function and initiatory function fuse in an eschato-
the other hand, every game, when the results are binding (as,
logical perspective in which a supreme ordeal is the essential
for instance, in a game of chance), loses the quality of enter-
proof and brings about the ensuing sentence of reward or
tainment and assumes the dramatic aspect of ordeal. For
condemnation. In this regard, one reads in one of the five
such as interpretive orientation, consider the conclusion of
Gathas attributed to Zarathushtra that initiates will have to
Lucien Lévy-Bruhl, who notes how certain trials by ordeal—
distinguish themselves from sinners (noninitiates) in order
understood by him to be among the cleromantic practices—
to have “the compensation that will be attributed to them
are not too far removed from the spirit of today’s “games of
by the ordeal of molten metal.” In conclusion, ordeal is not
chance” (La mentalité primitive, Paris, 1925, p. 256).
an accessory element of Mazdaism; rather it produces, within
the boundaries of a rite or ritual, the two main characteristics
ORDEAL AS INITIATION RITUAL. To return to the probatory,
of this religion: dualism and attention to asha, a term that
and therefore ordeal-like, function of the ritual battle in trib-
can be translated as both “youth” and “justice” (the “just
al initiation contexts, it can be said that, in the abstract, not
order”). Mazdean dualism responds to the binary code with
only these but all the trials to which initiates are subjected
which ordeal is expressed. Attention to the asha corresponds
are more or less comparable to the various known forms of
to the judiciary function that, although not always in equal
ordeal. It is not difficult to compare initiation trials of resis-
measure, is found in every ordeal in every context.
tance to pain with certain trials by ordeal in which such resis-
tance serves to demonstrate the innocence of the accused.
SEE ALSO Games.
Ordeal is represented also by torture in a judiciary function;
among the initiation trials inventoried by ethnologists, genu-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ine torture does indeed appear. Along the same line of inter-
In regard to divination by means of ordeal, one text is indispens-
pretation, it is not difficult to move from tribal initiation to
able: La divination: Études recueillies, 2 vols., edited by André
initiations into certain cults where trial by ordeal becomes
Caquot and Marcel Leibovici (Paris, 1968). On the medieval
the evidence of a superhuman reality in which the initiate
“judgment of God,” see Hermann Nottarp’s Gottesurteilstu-
takes part. From another point of view, one can speak of the
dien (Munich, 1956). Also for the Middle Ages and ordeal
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

ORDINATION
6851
as war, see Kurt-Georg Cram’s Iudicium belli: Zum Rechts-
Klaus Schreiner, pp. 235–247 (Sigmaringen, 1994); Gerhard
charakter des Krieges im deutschen Mittelalter (Münster,
Köbler, “Welchen Gottes Urteil ist das Gottesurteil des Mit-
1955). About war as ordeal, see M. R. Davie’s, La guerre dans
telalters?” in Vom mittelalterlichen Recht zur neuzeitlichen Re-
les sociétés primitives (Paris, 1931). On the relationship be-
chtswissenschaft. Bedingungen, Wege und Probleme der euro-
tween initiations and wars in Greece, see Angelo Brelich’s
päischen Rechtsgeschichte (Festschrift Winifried Trusen), ed. by
Guerre, agoni, e culti nella Grecia arcaica (Bonn, 1961). For
Norbert Brieskorn, Paul Mikat, Daniela Müller, Dietmar
ordeal-oath in connection with divine omniscience, see Raff-
Willoweit, pp. 89–108 (Paderborn, 1994); Stephen D.
aele Pettazzoni’s L’onni-scienza di Dio (Turin, 1955). For the
White, “Proposing the Ordeal and Avoiding It: Strategy and
formal connection between games of chance and ordeal, be-
Power in Western French Litigation, 1050 to 1110,” in
sides the Lévy-Bruhl work cited in the text, see also Johan
Power and Society in the Twelfth Century, ed. by Thomas N.
Huizinga’s Homo Ludens, translated by R. F. C. Hull (Lon-
Bisson, pp. 89–123 (Philadelphia, 1995); Stephen D. White,
don, 1949).
“Imaginary Justice: The End of the Ordeal and the Survival
of the Duel,” Medieval Perspectives 13 (1998): 32–55.
New Sources
As far as ordeal in classical antiquity is concerned see: Henk S.
Magical features in ordeal are well outlined by Keith Thomas, Re-
Versnel, “Pepremenos: The Cnidian Curse Tablets and the
ligion and the Decline of Magic (London, 1971); Peter Brown,
Ordeal by Fire.” In Ancient Greek Cult Practice from the Epi-
“Society and the Supernatural. A Medieval Change,” Daeda-
graphical Evidence: Proceedings of the Second International
lus 104 (1975): 133–151 (reprinted in his Society and the
Seminar on Ancient Greek Cult, Organized by the Swedish In-
Holy in Late Antiquity [Berkeley, 1982], pp. 302–332);
stitute at Athens, 22–24 Nov. 1991, pp. 145–154 (Stock-
Charles Radding, “Evolution of Medieval Mentalities: A
holm, 1994); Andrea Piras, “Le tre lance del giusto Wiraz e
Cognitive-Structural Approach,” American Historical Review
la freccia di Abaris: ordalia e volo estatico tra iranismo ed
83 (1978): 577–597; Charles Radding, “Superstition to Sci-
ellenismo,” Studi Orientali e Linguistici 7 (2000):
ence: Nature, Fortune and the Passing of the Medieval Or-
95–109; Peter T. Struck, “The Ordeal of the Divine Sign:
deal,” American Historical Review 84 (1979): 945–969.
Divination and Manliness in Archaic and Classical Greece,”
DARIO SABBATUCCI (1987)
in Andreia. Studies in Manliness and Courage in Classical An-
Translated from Italian by Miriam Friedman
tiquity, ed. by Ralph M. Rosen and Ineke Sluiter,
Revised Bibliography
pp. 167–186 (Leiden-Boston, 2003); Karel van der Toorn,
“Ordeal Procedures in the Psalms and the Passover Meal.”
Vetus Testamentum 38 (1988): 427–445; and Frank Charles
ORDEMA
Fensham, “Ordeal by Battle in the Ancient Near East and the
SEE POWER
Old Testament,” in Studi in onore di Edoardo Volterra, vol.
6, pp. 127–135 (Milan, 1971).
Robert Bartlett, Trial by Fire and Water: The Medieval Judicial Or-
ORDER OF THE PREACHERS SEE
deal (Oxford, 1986) represents the most important mono-
DOMINICANS
graph on the subject. The evolution from medieval judicial
praxis to modern times is also investigated from a juridical
perspective. Among the most important studies, see: Peter
ORDERS, RELIGIOUS S
Browe, ed., De ordaliis, 2 vols. (Rome, 1932–1933); La preu-
EE RELIGIOUS
ve, 2 vols. (Recueils de ls Société Jean Bodin pour l’histoire
COMMUNITIES
comparative des institutions, 17; Brussels, 1965); Wolfgang
Schield, Alte Gerichtsbarkeit. Vom Gottesurteil bis zu Beginn
der modernen Rechtssprechung
(Munich, 1980); John Bal-
ORDINATION here refers to the practice in many reli-
dwin, “The Intellectual Preparation for the Canon of 1215
gions of publicly designating and setting apart certain per-
against Ordeals,” Speculum 36 (1961): 613–636; Rebecca
sons for special religious service and leadership, granting
Colman, “Reason and Unreason in Early Medieval Law,”
Journal of Interdisciplinary History 4 (1974): 571–591; Colin
them religious authority and power to be exercised for the
Morris, “Judicium Dei: The Social and Political Significance
welfare of the community. The way each religious communi-
of the Ordeal in the Eleventh Century,” Studies in Church
ty practices ordination depends on that community’s world-
History 12 (1975), pp. 95–111; Oliver Guillot, “La participa-
view and religious beliefs. For example, in traditions that em-
tion au duel judiciaire de témoins de condition serve dans
phasize a direct relationship with the divine being or beings,
l’Ile-de-France au XIe siècle,” in Droit privé et institutions re-
the ordained person may be thought of primarily as a media-
gionales. Etudes historiques offerts à Jean Yver, pp. 345–360
tor or priest. Communities that consider human beings to
(Paris, 1976); Paul Hyams, “Trial by Ordeal: The Key to
be especially troubled by evil spirits or witchcraft look to sha-
Proof in the Early Common Law,” in On the Laws and Cus-
mans or exorcists to counteract the evil influences. In reli-
toms of England. Essays in Honor of Samuel E. Thorne, ed. by
gions that present a goal of inner enlightenment and purified
Morris Arnold et al., pp. 90–126 (Chapel Hill, 1981); Win-
fried Trusen, “Das Verbot der Gottesurteile und der Inquisi-
life, the ordained person will be a monk, nun, or spiritual
tionsprozeß. Zum Wandel des Strafverfahrens unter dem
master leading the way toward this goal of enlightenment.
Einfluß des gelehrten Rechts im Spätmittelalter,” in Sozialer
And religious communities that place much emphasis on liv-
Wandel im Mittelalter. Wahrnehmungsformen, Erklärungs-
ing in accordance with the divinely given law set certain per-
muster, Regelungsmechanismen, ed. by Jürgen Miethke and
sons apart as religious scholars and judges.
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6852
ORDINATION
Each religious tradition sets up qualifications that candi-
and he ends the ordination ritual in the morning by sacrific-
dates must meet before they can be ordained. Sometimes or-
ing a sheep to his god.
dination is based on heredity. In many religions the candi-
date must be male, although some roles are specified for
Ancient Israelite society had a designated priesthood
women; other traditions allow both male and female candi-
that served Israel’s god by prayer and sacrifice, acting as inter-
dates to be ordained. Since the late twentieth century, a
mediaries for the people. The description of the investing of
major shift has taken place in some traditions that formerly
Aaron and his sons (Lv. 8) may be an idealized account, but
had restricted ordination to men, such as Judaism, Christian-
it presents many important symbols of ordination. All the
ity, and Shinto¯: A number of groups within these traditions
congregation assembled for the ceremony, and Moses an-
have begun to accept women for ordination. While aptness
nounced to the assembly that God had commanded this or-
for the religious role is always a requirement, in some tradi-
dination. Aaron and his sons were presented, washed with
tions the person must already have demonstrated his or her
water, vested with special priestly garments, and anointed
suitability for that role before being chosen, while in others
with oil. Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the “ram of
it is assumed that the office will be learned through a period
ordination”; after it was sacrificed, its blood was placed on
of training. Every religion presupposes some kind of divine
the tips of their right ears, on the thumbs of their right
call or inner motivation on the part of the candidate.
hands, and on the great toes of their right feet. They ate the
sacrificial offerings, and then they stayed in the tent for the
An authority and power not possessed by the ordinary
seven “days of ordination,” after which they were authorized
people of the community are conferred on the candidate
to act as priests on behalf of the people. In ancient Egypt,
through ordination. The source of that authority and power
the king (and thus, the god) appointed the priests to act as
may be the divine powers, the consent of the community,
ritual specialists for the king. After preparation by fasting and
or those who have already been ordained. Upon ordination,
abstinence, shaving their hair, and circumcision, the induc-
the person receives a new religious title. The English term
tion ritual for new priests included purification by washing,
priest can be used in many religious traditions to designate
anointing of their hands, donning of special linen garments,
those who have been ordained or set apart, but a variety of
presentation before the gods in the temple, and reception of
other terms is sometimes preferred, such as shaman, medicine
special divine knowledge.
man, monk or nun, rabbi, bishop, deacon, minister, or imam.
While priests are holy persons who have power by virtue
ORDINATION IN ANCIENT AND TRADITIONAL SOCIETIES.
of their office, other religious roles in traditional societies are
Numerous ancient and traditional societies have beliefs and
set apart for those who demonstrate the appropriate charis-
practices according to which they set apart certain persons
ma, for example, shamans and medicine men and women,
as religious leaders, endowing them with special authority
who are able to maintain communication with the spiritual
and power for the performance of essential religious services,
powers and influence those powers for the benefit of hu-
such as serving the gods and spirits, sacrificing, communicat-
mans.
ing with spiritual powers, warding off evil powers, healing,
and the like. Among the great diversity of roles dealing with
Shamans (male and female) are commonly thought to
spiritual power, some basic types are priests, shamans, and
be elected directly by tutelary spirits, who in a visionary expe-
medicine men or women.
rience initiate the future shaman. Among Siberian shamans,
this initiatory experience involves being sick, being carried
The term priest generally designates a person ordained
to the realm of the spirits, having the body dismembered and
with authority to practice the cult of certain divinities or spir-
reconstituted, and receiving instruction in shamanizing from
its. Since these spiritual powers are believed to direct and in-
the god. After this visionary experience of death and resurrec-
fluence human existence, they must be worshiped, prayed to,
tion, the future shaman is instructed by an elder shaman, and
consulted, influenced by sacrifices, and the like, for the con-
often there is a ceremony that confirms the initiation by the
tinuing welfare of the human community. The priesthood
spirits. For example, the Buriat neophyte, after many years
may be hereditary, or priests may be called or chosen by the
of training following his first ecstatic experiences with the
divinity. After selection or calling, the aspiring priest under-
spirits, is consecrated in a public ceremony. First a purifica-
goes a period of purification and training. Among the Ashan-
tion ritual is performed, in which his back is touched with
ti of Africa, the novice trains in private with an older priest
a broom dipped in a goat’s blood. In the ordination ceremo-
for three years, during which time the novice’s hair is left
ny, the shamans consecrate the shamanic instruments that
uncut. He is taught rituals, rules of priestly life and conduct,
the novice will use, and the candidate is anointed with blood
how to communicate with the various spirits, and so forth.
from a sacrificial animal on the head, eyes, and ears. The “fa-
The final act of ordination takes place at a nighttime festival,
ther shaman” leads the neophyte and other shamans in the
with the new priest dressed in a palm-fiber kilt and decorated
ritual of climbing birch trees that have been cut from the
with all his charms. He kneels before his instructor-priest,
burial forest and set up on the sacred ground, after which all
who shaves off his hair; any “bad matter” that is found is put
fall into ecstasy and shamanize. Finally, meat from the sacri-
in a pot, which is then taken off to the bush. The new priest
ficed animals is prepared, and everyone joins in a banquet
dances all night to the drums and the singing of the people,
celebrating the new shaman.
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6853
Although the Burmese are Buddhists, they still have be-
Zoroastrianism, the aspirant to the priesthood must be a son
liefs in a variety of spirits, ghosts, and witches; in particular,
of a priestly family who has gone through the childhood reli-
the spirits called nats are thought to be powerful and capable
gious initiation (Naojot), consisting of investiture with the
of affecting humans for good and evil, and these nats are pro-
sacred shirt and girdle or thread. A lengthy period of training
pitiated by shamans (most are women, though a small per-
in chanting the scriptures and performing the rituals qualifies
centage are men) who play the important role of “nat wives.”
him for ordination.
Typically, through a trance or dream, a young woman is pos-
sessed or “loved” by one of the nats, and any resistance is
According to traditional practice, there are two levels of
punished by the nat until a “marriage” is arranged. The wed-
ordination, of which the first (na¯var) qualifies the aspirant
ding is a costly affair, performed in a nat “palace” where there
as a priest who can perform benedictions, investiture of chil-
is a ceremonial chamber. As the nat’s dance is performed, the
dren, marriages, and the like. During the first level of ordina-
bride changes into the proper costume, pays the marriage fee,
tion, the candidate must perform two bareshnu¯ms, the high-
and enters the bridal chamber. Two shamans perform a cere-
est form of purification ritual, lasting nine days each. Under
mony of putting the bride’s soul to sleep, and she does a
the open sky a sacred liquid is applied to his whole body
dance to the music associated with the nat husband. The
many times, and then the candidate makes a nine-day retreat
marriage has now been consummated, and she remains se-
in the fire temple. After the two rituals, the candidate bathes
cluded for seven days with her nat husband, after which she
and puts on a new set of white clothes and a white turban.
is known as a nat wife and practices as a shaman.
In the sacrifice chamber of the fire temple, he removes his
upper garments, makes an ablution, and puts on a mouth
Among Australian Aborigines, shamans play an impor-
veil. One of the priests brings him before the assembled
tant role in diagnosing and curing illnesses, holding séances
priests and asks permission to initiate him. The silence of the
with the spirit world and spirits of the dead. The profession
assembly indicates their consent, and the candidate is taken
can be inherited, the person may experience a call or election,
back to the sacrificial chamber to perform the ceremony of
or he may seek out the role—but in any case he must be
chanting the Avestan scriptures and other liturgical rituals.
“made” through an ecstatic experience involving a ritual of
These are repeated for four days, after which the candidate
initiation. Typically the initiate is taken to the bush, and the
is declared to be qualified as a priest of the h¯erbad level.
ordaining medicine man places against his breast large quartz
crystals, which are thought to vanish into his body. In other
In order to perform also the higher liturgical services,
symbolic rituals, he is led into a hole in the ground to a grave,
the priest must qualify himself by going through the second
and snakes are also rubbed against him to give him wisdom.
grade of ordination (martab). In this ceremony, the priest
The initiation is completed with a symbolic ascent to heaven
again goes through a period of purification, then he conducts
to communicate with the high god. Among the Azande of
the Yasna liturgy for ten days. Now finally the priest is or-
Africa, the ceremony of initiation for a medicine man (or
dained as a mo¯bad priest, and he can fully officiate as the di-
woman) includes a ritual burial following a period of purifi-
recting priest at all religious ceremonies.
cation. The elders bury the upper part of the novice’s body
In Hinduism, brahman priests have always played an
in a hole under a mat with dirt heaped on it, on which the
important role. In ancient Vedic times they were thought to
other medicine men dance. After about a half hour he is
uphold the whole social order through their mediation, by
taken out, and medicine is put in his eyes and nostrils. After
virtue of their mastery of the sacred rituals, sacrifices, and
swallowing powerful phlegm expectorated by a master doc-
formulas. In the early twenty-first century, especially for peo-
tor, the aspiring novice is taken to a stream source and shown
ple of the high castes, it is important to have a brahman
the various herbs and shrubs from which the medicine is de-
household priest (purohita) perform the traditional rituals
rived. After this he takes a new name and is authorized to
and chant the Vedic texts properly so that the cosmic order
practice as a medicine man.
will continue with its health and goodness for each according
ZOROASTRIAN AND HINDU ORDINATION. Among Indo-
to his or her place in the total order. Some brahmans prepare
Europeans the priesthood was an important class, as evi-
to be priests of temple worship, where rituals center on the
denced in the priesthoods of the ancient Romans, Greeks,
ceremonial treatment of the images of the gods—although
Celts, Persians, Aryans, and others. The Zoroastrians and the
many functions of temple worship can be performed by the
Hindus have continued this emphasis on a class of priests or-
people without priestly help. And there is a variety of reli-
dained to perform the important purifications, sacrifices, and
gious specialists from non-brahman castes that serve village
other ceremonies for the maintenance of a healthy relation-
gods and perform ritual functions in Hindu communities.
ship between humans and the eternal divine order of the uni-
verse.
The traditional view in Hinduism is that a priest must
be a male from the brahman caste who has gone through the
The religion of the ancient Persians, as transformed by
initiation ceremony (upanayana) and received the sacred
the prophet Zarathushtra (Zoroaster) into Zoroastrianism,
thread as a twice-born brahman. The brahman boy who as-
is practiced in the early twenty-first century by small com-
pires to become a household or temple priest studies for
munities in Iran and India (where they are called Parsis). In
many years with a teacher at a Vedic training center and
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6854
ORDINATION
learns the correct way of reciting the Sanskrit Vedic scrip-
of reaching the highest state of liberation of the soul from
tures.
all traces of karman. For the laypeople who perform their
own religious ceremonies, the mendicants function mainly
After reaching technical proficiency in recitation of the
as models and as teachers.
Vedas and in performing the simpler ceremonies, the novice
priest must spend a period of time as assistant to a senior
Prior to ordination, the candidate will have gone
priest. For those priests who are training to be domestic
through a period of training under a qualified master, involv-
priests, this means accompanying the senior priest on his
ing the formal declaration of intention, fasting, study of basic
rounds and assisting him. The senior will formally introduce
scriptures, and taking a new name. Ordination occurs
the junior priest to the assembly of professional priests, while
through the formal assumption of the five Great Vows
the trainee formally announces his apprenticeship under the
(maha¯vrata) in a public ceremony called d¯ıks:a¯. The five
senior priest. In conducting the ceremonies, the junior first
Great Vows are the vows of nonviolence, abstaining from
sits behind the senior priest, helping to recite some mantras;
untruthfulness, abstaining from stealing, chastity, and re-
as he gains confidence, he is allowed to sit next to the teacher.
nouncing all love for any thing or any person. The novice
Gradually the novice priest takes charge of rituals while the
casts off all lay possessions and becomes a new person. Partic-
senior priest withdraws. In this way, eventually the new
ulars of the ceremony differ somewhat among the different
priest becomes established and recognized as a full-fledged
sects. A Digambara monk, fulfilling that order’s ideal of nu-
member of the profession of domestic priesthood. For brah-
dity, will stand before his teacher and renounce every posses-
mans entering the public temple priesthood of one of the
sion, even his loincloth; he is given a small whisk broom,
great gods, such as Vis:n:u or S´iva, the ritual consecration is
with which he is to remove insects from his sitting or sleeping
performed in the temple by priests to admit the new priest
place. Among S´veta¯mbaras, the aspirant is given three large
to their ranks. In a S´iva temple, for example, the consecration
pieces of cloth for a new wardrobe, and also a whisk broom,
ritual is attended by many priests as well as a large crowd of
a begging bowl, a blanket, a staff, and some volumes of scrip-
devotees. The officiating priest performs worship for the can-
ture. Monks and nuns of the Stha¯nakava¯si sect are also given
didate in the same way as worshiping a S´iva image, bathing
a small strip of cloth to keep tied over the mouth at all times
him in a variety of substances, dressing him in new clothes,
save mealtime, to protect organisms that might be injured
offering food and waving lamps in front of him, demonstrat-
by an unimpeded rush of warm air. One significant part of
ing that the new priest is a form of S´iva and thus has authori-
the ritual of ordination is the act of slowly and painfully pull-
ty to perform the temple rituals. One additional requirement
ing the hair from one’s head in five handfuls, signifying the
must also be met for the ordination of domestic and temple
aspirant’s determination to meet the severe demands of the
priests: Because tradition prohibits an unmarried priest from
ascetic life.
performing public worship or participating in the rituals of
the sam:ska¯ras, or life passages, the novice priest must take a
It is significant that nuns have always been more numer-
wife.
ous than monks in Jainism, from the time of the founder
Maha¯v¯ıra. Because Digambara nuns cannot enter a state of
In recent years some groups both in India and in Hindu
ascetic nudity (as required of monks), they are sometimes
communities in places such as South Africa and Trinidad
considered of lower rank. However, S´veta¯mbara and
have begun ordaining women as priests after training them
Stha¯nakava¯si female mendicants take the same vows as do the
in reciting the Vedas and performing the various rituals.
male mendicants, and so they are considered to have equal
They argue that the Vedic scriptures support a priestly role
ordination status.
for women, and that women priests can fill an important
need especially as more men are drawn away from the priest-
The people of the community participate in the ordina-
hood to other careers in society.
tion ceremony. The d¯ıks:ceremony is accompanied by great
ORDINATION AMONG JAINS AND BUDDHISTS. Two religions
pomp and by the performance of various religious acts by the
that grew up in India along with Hinduism are Jainism and
laypeople. On the next day, when the new mendicant goes
Buddhism, and in these religious traditions spiritual power
out with the begging bowl to receive food for the first time,
is understood to reside especially in the monastic communi-
the householder who provides the food is considered to earn
ties, that is, among those monks and nuns who have left ordi-
great merit.
nary secular life to pursue spiritual perfection through ascetic
Among Buddhists also, men and women ordained as
practices. The monks and nuns are primarily devoted to their
monks and nuns (bhikkhus and bhikkhun¯ıs) are set apart
own spiritual perfection; yet because they possess great power
from the lay population by virtue of having embarked on the
they can perform religious service for the laypeople, such as
path toward extinguishing the sense of self and reaching nir-
chanting scripture, performing funeral rites, and teaching.
vana. The monks and nuns contribute to the welfare of the
Among the Jains of India, the monks and nuns are set
general community, not as intermediaries between the peo-
apart from the lay population by virtue of having embarked
ple and the gods but as reservoirs of merit and models of spir-
on the path of total renunciation. As sa¯dhus and sa¯dhv¯ıs
itual perfection. Typically they perform a variety of services
(male and female mendicants), they pursue their own goal
for the laity in chanting scripture for various occasions, per-
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ORDINATION
6855
forming merit-making rituals, praying for the dead, and
The ordination ceremony takes place in an assembly of
teaching.
bhikkhus (and an assembly of bhikkhun¯ıs, for women candi-
dates) in the special ordination chamber of the monastery,
The Buddha established ordination for both the men’s
surrounded by boundary stones beyond which laypeople are
order and the women’s order of mendicants, teaching that
not to enter. The candidate, dressed in yellow robes and with
men and women equally can reach enlightenment. Accord-
head and eyebrows shaven, kneels in front of the assembled
ing to the scriptural texts, he prescribed several additional re-
monks and affirms in response to questions that he or she
quirements for women’s ordination, seemingly making nuns
is a human being of sound body and mind, of legitimate
dependent on the order of monks and requiring that a nun
birth, free of debts, a freeman, at least twenty years old, in
be ordained both by an assembly of monks and by an assem-
possession of robes and a begging bowl, and having parental
bly of nuns. Eventually the full ordination of nuns disap-
consent. The candidate formally requests admission to the
peared in Theravada Buddhist societies, and attempts to re-
san˙gha, and the presiding monk asks three times if any of his
vive it in modern times have been unsuccessful, since there
colleagues has any objection to the candidate. Silence is taken
are no fully ordained Theravada nuns to perform the ordina-
as consent, the candidate is pronounced a bhikkhu or
tion. Dedicated women continue to become mendicants in
bhikkhun¯ı, and his or her new Buddhist name is conferred.
Theravada societies such as Thailand, Burma, and Sri Lanka,
The monastic rule from the Vinaya is read aloud, and the
but they receive only a novice ordination and thus are not
new monk or nun promises to comply with all its rules.
considered to have the same spiritual status as monks. The
Maha¯ya¯na Buddhist communities have the same basic
full bhikkhun¯ı ordination for women has been maintained
ordination ceremony, with some special differences. In tradi-
in Maha¯ya¯na societies, such as in China and Korea.
tional China, for example, it was customary for the aspiring
In Theravada cultures such as those of Burma and Thai-
monk to “leave home” by taking a senior monk as his master
land, it is traditional for boys to be ordained on a temporary
and receiving tonsure from him, entering into a period of
basis and spend some time in the monastery as novice
training as a novice within the tonsure family headed by the
monks, as a kind of passage to adulthood. This initiation into
“father-master.”
monkhood (pabbajja¯) is technically a monastic ordination;
Ordination in Chinese Buddhism traditionally involves
the young men have their heads shaved by the monks and
long and complicated rites with a large number of ordinands.
recite the Ten Precepts of monastic life, after which they are
Monks and nuns come to the large ordaining monastery and
given new Buddhist names. The Ten Precepts are the follow-
live there for a time of strict training. After a night of repen-
ing: not to destroy life; not to steal; not to engage in sexual
tance and purification, the ordinands kneel before the mas-
misconduct; not to lie; not to take alcoholic beverages; not
ters and witnesses, reciting the Three Refuges and accepting
to eat after noon; not to participate in dancing, music, and
the Ten Vows, receiving their robes and begging bowls.
theater; not to wear garlands, perfumes, and ointments; not
Training resumes for a period of time, and at a second ordi-
to use high or wide beds; and not to accept gold or silver.
nation ceremony the ordinands accept the monastic rules
and go up to the ordination platform in groups of three to
Although most of the young men return to secular life
be examined by the ordination masters and accepted as full-
after a period of time in the monastery, other men and some
fledged monks and nuns. An important ceremony in
women take on the monastic ordination as a more perma-
Maha¯ya¯na ordination rituals is the scarring of the scalp with
nent role and become members of the san˙gha (Skt., sam:gha),
burns; cones of moxa are placed on the shaven scalp and set
the monastic order. The ordination ritual that marks this
afire, burning down into the skin and leaving permanent
separation from lay life is called upasampada¯, or higher ordi-
scars identifying the person as a monk or nun. The ordinands
nation, and presupposes some twelve years’ experience as a
finally receive ordination certificates, and they join their
novice after the lower ordination.
family and friends for a celebration in honor of their new vo-
The monk or nun is to be essentially a homeless, celi-
cation.
bate, ascetic mendicant. Being ordained means dying a civil
ORDINATION OF PRIESTS IN DAOISM AND SHINTO¯. Priests
death, so before the ceremony the candidate divests himself
in Chinese Daoism function as ritual and liturgical special-
or herself of all possessions and gives up title to inheritable
ists, but they also act as exorcists and healers, expelling and
property. He or she brings to the ordination, as gifts from
pacifying demons. There are two main traditions of Daoist
lay sponsors, the only property that a bhikkhu or bhikkhun¯ı
priests (daoshi) in the early twenty-first century, stemming
is to possess: the yellow robe, a begging bowl, a girdle, a small
from movements in the long history of Daoism. The
razor, a needle and some thread, a water strainer to strain in-
Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity, also called Tianshi, Celestial
sects from drinking water, and a palm-leaf fan. The laypeo-
Masters) sect is a diverse movement made up of male priests
ple—parents and friends—play an essential role in the ordi-
who are married and perform a whole range of rituals and
nation, in terms of financial support for the ritual and the
liturgies for communities and families. The Quanzhen
postceremonial festivities, sponsorship of the novice’s appli-
(Complete Perfection) sect is made up of both male and fe-
cation, and the like. Gifts and support of the ordination
male priests who are celibate and practice monastic Daoist
bring merit to the donor.
disciplines primarily for self-cultivation.
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6856
ORDINATION
The ordination ritual in Daoism is basically the liturgi-
dence in a Daoist monastery (daoguan) of the Quanzhen sect.
cal act of transmitting a canon of scriptures from a recog-
In this case, first the aspirant has to be accepted by a master
nized master to a disciple. Daoist candidates for the priest-
at a hereditary temple as a novice. After a period of study and
hood are often designated on the basis of heredity. Since the
practice, the master performs the “rites of crown and cloth,”
ritual of Daoism is esoteric, that is, not directly to be under-
binding the hair into a topknot and crowning the novice.
stood and witnessed by the laypeople, usually the aspiring
Then the novice enrolls in a public, ordaining monastery for
priest will join the entourage of a recognized master who
several months to prepare for ordination vows. Monastic
knows the important formulas and hidden aspects of ritual
training particularly involves meditation in practice of “inner
Daoism.
alchemy,” breath control, and other exercises aimed at culti-
vating the vital force. At the beginning of the twenty-first
The aspirant’s expertise is judged by several criteria.
century, monasteries such as the White Cloud Monastery
First, it is important to have mastered the external perfor-
(Baiyun guan) in Beijing provide scholarly training and ordi-
mance of Daoist ritual: writing an artistic talisman to cure
nation for both men and women seeking to become Quanz-
illness, exorcising evil spirits with sword and oxhorn trum-
hen Daoist priests.
pet, performing the ritual dance steps and acrobatic tum-
bling, climbing a blade-side-up sword ladder, and the like.
The main function of Japanese Shinto¯ priests (shin-
But beyond the ability to perform the external rituals, what
shoku) of all ranks is to worship and serve the kami, the spiri-
really determines the ordination rank given to the new priest
tual beings associated with the powerful forces of nature and
is reception of particular scriptures and mastery of the esoter-
the ancestors. The priests, generally referred to as kannushi,
ic secrets of the religion, including the meditations and
maintain good relations with the kami for the divine protec-
breath-control techniques of internal alchemy. Most impor-
tion and welfare of the human community.
tant is the ability to recite the registers (lu) of spirits who will
obey the priest’s commands and enable communication with
Priests often come from families with long and strong
the different spheres of the universe. The master also teaches
traditions of Shinto¯ worship. In ancient times a few priestly
the aspirant the oral explanation of the register, with the ap-
families supplied most of the priests, although in modern
propriate gestures, formulas, and meditation techniques used
times the priesthood is open to candidates from nonpriestly
in summoning and controlling the spirits.
families also. Very often the right to be a priest at a particular
shrine is passed from father to son or daughter. Though in
Traditional rituals of ordination include a time of isola-
the past priests were nearly all male, there are now significant
tion and purification together with a formal visit to the mas-
numbers of women in the Shinto¯ priesthood. The princess
ter to pay homage and request transmission of the scriptures.
who is high priestess (saishu) at the shrine at Ise is the highest
The ritual of ordination includes transcription of the scrip-
rank of all the priests, and in certain other shrines there have
tural texts. The master presides over a festival in honor of the
traditionally been women priests. Some women became
many gods who reside in the temple and the whole Daoist
priests as a result of war; when a priest was absent or killed
pantheon, who are summoned to participate. The master
in war, the parishioners would sometimes ask his wife to
commends the ordinand to the gods and administers oaths
serve as priest. Priests customarily marry and raise families.
in which the ordinand pledges never to misuse the scriptures
or reveal them to outsiders. Rituals of empowerment include
Aspiring priests study for a period of time either in the
the giving of official titles, authority to use the scriptures and
Kokugakuin University in Tokyo, Kogakkan University in
perform the appropriate rituals, and the right to use the regis-
Mie Prefecture, or a regional seminary; occasionally taking
ters, talismans, and other sacred implements. Support from
an examination can substitute for such study. They are ex-
the local community is necessary for the ordination, partly
pected to get an academic degree and certificate as chokkai
to pay for the considerable expenses of the festival.
(the beginning priestly ordination level), issued by the Asso-
ciation of Shinto¯ Shrines (Jinja Honcho¯) according to the
Daoist priests of the Zhengyi sect who serve in temples
training and merit of the individual. Continuing training
and perform rituals for the people are called “fire-dwellers,”
and examinations provide opportunity for priests to advance
that is, they have a hearth and home, marry, and have fami-
to higher ranks as structured by the Association of Shinto¯
lies. Among Zhengyi priests in Taiwan, often a distinction
Shrines. The aspiring priest is appointed by the president of
is made between “Black-head” priests and “Red-head”
the Association of Shinto¯ Shrines to a shrine responsibility
priests, depending on the ranking of their ordination. Red-
appropriate to his rank. Within the priesthood of a particular
head priests tend to be more shamanistic and perform popu-
shrine, the usual designations of rank, depending on the de-
lar rituals, such as protection for homes, pregnancies, chil-
gree and experience, are those of chief priest (gu¯ji) of a shrine,
dren, and exorcisms of various kinds. Black-head priests are
associate chief priest (gongu¯ji), priest (negi), and junior priest
authorized to work more with written liturgies, using formal
(gonnegi). When presiding over rituals, the priests wear color-
vestments, performing funerals and requiem services, and
ful and elaborate vestments, depending on the age and rank
conducting high rituals such as the Jiao festival of renewal.
of the priests as well as the season of the year.
Some Daoists in traditional China pursued the path of
ORDINATION IN JUDAISM. The religion of Judaism after the
individual realization more exclusively by taking up resi-
Babylonian exile and especially after the destruction of the
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

ORDINATION
6857
Temple in the Roman period moved away from a sacrificial
of judge and scholar, not that of spiritual leader of a local
temple cult and priesthood and, consequently, the most im-
congregation. In the United States, as in Europe, ordination
portant religious leaders became those ordained as rabbis.
of rabbis differs somewhat among the main Jewish groups.
They functioned as judges, scholars, teachers, and expound-
For example, the Orthodox seminary of Yeshiva University
ers of the Torah and Talmud; in modern times, rabbis also
ordains graduates in the traditional fashion after a course of
function as worship leaders, officiants at marriage and burial
study in the Talmud and codes, and women are excluded
ceremonies, and spiritual heads of local communities of Jews.
from such ordination. Jewish Theological Seminary of
America (the center for the Conservative movement) gradu-
According to the Hebrew scriptures, Moses ordained his
ates its candidates as rabbis and has begun to ordain women
successor Joshua by “placing his hands” (samakh) on him,
candidates for the Conservative rabbinate. Reform Judaism’s
transferring to him a part of his authority (Nm. 27:18–23;
Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion ordains
Dt. 34:9); and he also ordained seventy elders to assist him
its graduates as rabbis, and for some time women have been
in governing the people (Nm. 11:16–25). Jewish tradition
ordained into the Reform rabbinate. Women are also or-
holds that there was an unbroken chain of ordination down
dained as rabbis in Reconstructionist Judaism. In general,
to the time of the Second Temple. Traditionally the most
rabbis of all American Jewish groups function as spiritual
important role of the rabbi was in giving judgments in both
leaders of local congregations of Jews, although their func-
religious and secular matters, as covered by Jewish law. Ordi-
tions differ according to the needs of the community.
nation (semikhah) was required for membership in the San-
hedrin and the regular colleges of judges empowered to de-
ORDINATION IN CHRISTIANITY. Christians hold that Jesus
cide legal cases. The practice of laying on of hands was
Christ is the great high priest, the real mediator between God
dropped in later times, and ordination took place simply by
and humans, and that all Christians as members of his body
proclamation or with a written document. The special ordi-
participate in his priesthood. While some Christians con-
nation formula included the words “Yoreh yoreh. Yadin
clude that there is no need for specially ordained leaders,
yadin. Yattir yattir” (“May he give direction? He may give
most Christian groups have recognized the need for ordained
direction. May he judge? He may judge. May he permit? He
priests or ministers to lead the Christian community.
may permit”). The ordinand wore a special garment, and
Although traditionally any male Christian could aspire
after the ordination the new rabbi delivered a public dis-
to become a priest or minister, many Christian denomina-
course as a demonstration of his new role.
tions have begun to ordain women clergy also, while some
denominations, such as the Roman Catholic church and the
Changing times, especially the loss of religious autono-
Eastern Orthodox church, continue to ordain male candi-
my in the Palestinian and Babylonian Jewish communities
dates only while providing other non-priestly roles of reli-
by the fourth century CE, led to the discontinuation of the
gious service for women. Candidates are given a course of
original semikhah ordination with the early rabbinic idea of
study and training in a theological seminary before being cer-
passing down divine authority for judicial powers. Eventual-
tified and presented to the church denominational authori-
ly ordination as a rabbi became a matter of setting a person
ties for ordination.
apart to function in a professional role as a rabbi, qualified
by virtue of training in the Torah and the Talmud and sanc-
Those set apart for special service are given many differ-
tioned institutionally to render decisions for the community
ent titles: priest, minister, pastor, deacon, and bishop are the
that engaged him. In more recent times, pressure developed
most common among those designating the clergy. In addi-
in Europe for rabbis to be versed in the vernacular and in
tion, many nonclerical roles are entered into by ceremonies
secular studies, so new rabbinical seminaries were organized
of initiation or consecration: the minor orders, orders of
that put less emphasis on the Talmud and Jewish law and
monks and nuns, deaconesses and deacons, special church
more emphasis on studying Jewish history and philosophy,
workers, and the like. The traditional clerical ministry of the
preaching, and pastoral work as spiritual leader of a syna-
church, as it developed in the first centuries, consisted pri-
gogue. Consequently, in contemporary Judaism there is
marily of bishops, presbyters, and deacons. The bishop was
some difference in the conception of ordination to the rab-
the “overseer” of a specific community of Christians, with
binate. Some groups have traditional schools (yeshivot) that
the full responsibility for the ministry of preaching the word
give the traditional semikhah ordination with its emphasis on
and administering the sacraments of the church. Deacons
training in the Talmud and Jewish codes. Other groups have
were ordained to help the bishop by serving in an administra-
seminaries that see preparation for the rabbinate as including
tive capacity and by working for the welfare of the people.
not only knowledge of the Talmud and codes but also profes-
The presbyter (elder or priest) was ordained to help the bish-
sional training to function as a synagogue rabbi within mod-
op as a fellow minister in performing the rites and sacraments
ern society.
of the church.
In the state of Israel in the early twenty-first century, tra-
Ordination in the ancient Christian church was a simple
ditional yeshivot predominate, although there are branches of
affair, consisting of prayer and the laying on of hands by
American Reform and Conservative seminaries. The yeshivot
those authorized to ordain (Acts 6:6, 1 Tm. 4:14, 2 Tm. 1:6).
ordain males only, and the role of the rabbi is generally that
Texts of ordination manuals from the fourth and fifth centu-
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6858
ORDINATION
ries CE give sets of ordination prayers and emphasize the lay-
saints, provide leadership for their people in a variety of ways.
ing on of hands as a central ritual. The people, especially in
S:u¯f¯ı aspirants are trained under a master until they them-
the Greek communities, cried “Axios!” (“He is worthy!”),
selves have become recognized as masters.
and the ordinand was given the kiss of peace, after which he
Thus, despite its lack of an ordained institutional priest-
preached and conducted the service, presiding over the Eu-
hood or clergy in the usual senses, Islam has produced a reli-
charist. In the medieval period other rituals were added to
gious leadership that is recognizable and set apart from the
the ordination, such as vesting the candidate in the vestments
ordinary people by a certain amount of religious authority.
of his order, holding a Bible over him, and giving him the
implements and symbols of his new office: paten and chalice,
SYMBOLISM OF ORDINATION RITUALS. From the cross-
Bible, and, in the case of a bishop, pectoral cross and pastoral
cultural survey above, it is possible to see a general structure
staff. Bishops were anointed on the head with oil; both bish-
of meaning in the typical ordination rituals. A recurrent
ops and priests were anointed on the hands.
theme is that of death with respect to one’s former status and
rebirth in the new office or status of religious leader or medi-
While ordination ceremonies differ in the various Chris-
ator. This general structure can be analyzed in more specific
tian communities, in more recent years the liturgical renewal
detail by noting five broad types or levels of rituals associated
movement has induced many communions to restore the
with ordination, denoting separation, training and testing,
simple, ancient tradition of ordination. Typically this in-
empowerment, display of power, and support by the laity.
cludes most of the following elements for the ordination of
a priest or minister by a bishop. Ordination is done in the
The rituals first of all enact various dimensions of the
presence of the congregation, in the company of other priests
separation from ordinary life. Very commonly ordination in-
or ministers, in the context of a divine service. A priest or
volves rituals of purification. There may be a period of time
layperson presents the candidate to the bishop, with the peo-
during which the candidate purifies himself or herself by ab-
ple declaring that he or she is worthy for the ministry. Les-
staining from sexuality, by fasting, and by performing acts
sons from the Bible are read, followed by a homily and the
of penance; rituals of washing and confessing may be part
saying of the creed. The bishop examines the ordinand, who
of the ordination ceremony. The fact that the candidate has
vows to be faithful to his or her calling. The bishop says the
been called by the divine power to leave the ordinary life will
prayer of ordination, laying both hands on the head of the
be established. The physical appearance of the candidate will
candidate, while the other priests or ministers lay on their
demonstrate separation from ordinary lay life through special
right hands. The new priest is vested and given a Bible, being
clothing, shaved head, long hair bound up in a special way,
greeted by the bishop and the other clergy. The newly or-
or the scalp branded with indelible scars. Symbols of death
dained person then proceeds to function by leading the litur-
abound: initiatory sickness, symbolic death and burial, muti-
gy for the congregation. Afterward the people and the clergy
lation of the body, or the identification of the candidate with
join in a celebration.
the blood of a priest’s sacrifice. The vows taken by the candi-
date often emphasize separation from the former way of life,
APPOINTING SPIRITUAL LEADERS IN ISLAM. In Islam, every
such as the vows of celibacy, homelessness, chastity, casting
Muslim can perform the religious rites, so there is no class
off all lay possessions, and nudity.
or profession of ordained clergy. Yet there are religious lead-
ers who are recognized for their learning and their ability to
Second, the rituals of ordination certify the qualifica-
lead communities of Muslims in prayer, study, and living ac-
tions of the candidate by emphasizing the training he or she
cording to the teaching of the Qur’a¯n and Muslim law.
has received and by testing and examining the candidate.
These religious leaders belong to the learned group of ortho-
The long period of training or apprenticeship itself is often
dox Muslim scholars and jurists known as the Eulama¯D (Ealim
set apart by rituals as a sacred period. Rituals of ordination
in the singular). They have studied at recognized schools of
may include imparting secret knowledge and understanding.
Islamic learning and have secured appointments as mosque
The candidate may be tested by questions, and the persons
functionaries, teachers, jurisconsults, or judges.
already ordained have to give their approval to the novice.
There may be ordeals to demonstrate the candidate’s mastery
The religious leader who is contracted by a local com-
of sacred power, such as climbing a sword ladder, pulling
munity of Muslims to lead the community in public wor-
hair from one’s own head, or enduring the branding of the
ship, preach at the Friday mosque prayer, teach, and give ad-
scalp.
vice on religious matters on the local level is called the imam,
belonging to the broad group of Eulama¯D. It should be noted
Third, the investing of the ordinand with new authority
that the concept of the ShE¯ı Muslims that an inspired reli-
and power is the subject of important rituals of ordination.
gious leader is necessary for the correct guidance of the com-
These rituals include laying on of hands on the candidate by
munity has placed the recognized religious scholars (mu-
those already possessing the spiritual power and authority,
jtahid in Iran and Iraq) in a position of important power and
handshakes or kisses, vesting with special garments, and
authority, necessary for the welfare of the whole community.
handing over symbols and implements of the special office.
In certain Islamic communities, popular religious leaders
Anointing the candidate, ritually inserting quartz into the
possessing special divine power (barakah), known as S:u¯f¯ıs or
candidate’s body, or symbolically replacing his or her organs
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ORDINATION
6859
with new organs shows the rebirth or investing that takes
female shamans who become “nat wives” in Burmese popular
place. Prayers call down divine power on the candidate; ritu-
religion. In East Asian societies, Laurel Kendall in Shamans,
als such as climbing toward the sky or being married to a di-
Housewives, and Other Restless Spirits: Women in Korean Ritu-
vine being fill the ordinand with new power. The masters of
al Life (Honolulu, 1985) gives examples of the training and
the office may impart final, decisive knowledge to the ordi-
initiation of female shamans (manshin) in Korea, and Susan
nand, such as the source of the medicinal material. The pub-
Sered in Women of the Sacred Groves: Divine Priestesses of Oki-
nawa
(Oxford, 1999) describes the process by which Okina-
lic pronouncement of ordination and the ordination certifi-
wan women become divine priestesses (kaminchu).
cate or diploma being handed over, together with the
granting of new titles and names, may be considered rituals
Rustom Masani’s Zoroastrianism: The Religion of the Good Life
(1938; New York, 1968) and Peter Clark’s Zoroastrianism:
of empowerment. There may also be a period of seclusion
An Introduction to an Ancient Faith (Brighton, U.K., 1998)
after ordination during which time the new ordinand grows
include information about initiation of Zoroastrian priests.
in spiritual power.
The training and social role of household brahman priests in
Fourth, the ordination rituals often include the initial
India today is the subject of K. Subramaniam’s Brahmin
display of the new power and authority of the ordinand. He
Priest of Tamil Nadu (New York, 1974); and C. J. Fuller, Ser-
or she may officiate in leading worship or celebrating sacri-
vants of the Goddess: The Priests of a South Indian Temple
(Cambridge, 1984), describes the training, initiation, and
fices or sacraments for the people at the completion of the
consecration of temple priests. Along with descriptions of the
ordination ritual. He or she may inaugurate the new sacred
Jain religion, Padmanabh S. Jaini’s The Jaina Path of Purifi-
life by giving a spiritual lecture, going on a first begging tour,
cation (Berkeley, Calif., 1979) and Paul Dundas’s The Jains
making a round of visits to the parishioners, and the like.
(second edition; London, 2002) provide a close look at the
Often there will be continued training or apprenticeship to
ordination and path of Jain male and female mendicants.
provide further growth and empowerment.
Important studies of the training and ordination of Theravada
Fifth, the ordination typically involves some expression
Buddhist monks and nuns are found in Melford E. Spiro’s
of support and celebration of the new ordinand on the part
Buddhism and Society: A Great Tradition and Its Burmese Vi-
of the laypeople. One of them may present the candidate,
cissitudes, 2d ed. (Berkeley, Calif., 1982), and Jane Bunnag’s
and financial support for the occasion will come from them.
Buddhist Monk, Buddhist Layman: A Study of Urban Monastic
Organization in Central Thailand
(Cambridge, 1973). The
There may be points in the ritual of ordination when they
Initiation of Novicehood and the Ordination of Monkhood in
show their support and acceptance of the ordinand. Typical-
the Burmese Buddhist Culture (Rangoon, 1986) provides a de-
ly the ordination will be followed by a celebration in which
tailed look at traditional Buddhist ordination rituals. Chat-
the people congratulate the new ordinand, give gifts, and
sumarn Kabilsingh, Thai Women in Buddhism (Berkeley,
join in a festive meal. These rituals symbolize the basic fact
Calif., 1991), describes how, despite the lack of full ordina-
that, ultimately, the ordination is for the benefit of the
tion for nuns in Theravadin societies, many women still are
people.
ordained and practice the religious path as novice nuns. An
informative study of Maha¯ya¯na Buddhism in pre-Maoist
SEE ALSO Ministry; Monasticism, article on Buddhist Mo-
China, including information and photographs of monastic
nasticism; Priesthood; Sam:gha.
ordinations, is Holmes Welch’s The Practice of Chinese Bud-
dhism, 1900–1950
(Cambridge, Mass., 1967). Robert E.
B
Bushnell, The Zen Monastic Experience: Buddhist Practice in
IBLIOGRAPHY
A classic cross-cultural study of the role of priests in many reli-
Contemporary Korea (Princeton, 1992), describes from per-
gions is E. O. James’s The Nature and Function of Priesthood:
sonal experience the whole process of training and ordination
A Comparative and Anthropological Study (London, 1955), al-
of So˘n Buddhist monks and nuns.
though he does not single out ordination as a special topic.
Much information about Daoist ordination practices in medieval
An example of the selection and ordination of priests in an-
China is provided by Charles Benn, “Daoist Ordination and
cient societies is found in Serge Sauneron, The Priests of An-
Zhai Rituals,” in Daoism Handbook, edited by Livia Kohn
cient Egypt (translated by David Lorton; Ithaca, 2000). For
(Leiden, 2000), pp. 309–339. The role of Zhengyi priests
practices of setting apart religious leaders in contemporary
and their ordination rankings in present-day Taiwan is dis-
traditional societies, Adolphus P. Elkin’s Aboriginal Men of
cussed by Michael Saso in his Taoist Master Chuang (Eldora-
High Degree, 2d ed. (New York, 1977), is a thorough study
do Springs, Colo., 2d ed., 2000). Yoshitoyo Yoshioka, “Tao-
of medicine men among the Aborigines of Australia; and
ist Monastic Life,” in Facets of Taoism: Essays in Chinese
Mircea Eliade’s Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy,
Religion, edited by Holmes Welch and Anna Seidel (New
rev. & enl. ed. (New York, 1964), surveys the initiation of
Haven, 1979), pp. 229–252, describes the ordination and
shamans in various cultures. The training and initiation of
life of Daoist priests (which include women and well as men)
African priests and medicine men and women is discussed in
in the monastic Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) sect.
Geoffrey Parrinder’s West African Religion: A Study of the Be-
Much important information on the structure of the Shinto¯
liefs and Practices of Akan, Ewe, Yoruba, Ibo, and Kindred Peo-
priesthood as well as the training and ritual activities of the
ples, 2d ed. (London, 1961), and in E. E. Evans-Pritchard’s
priests and priestesses is contained in John K. Nelson, Endur-
Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic among the Azande, 2d ed. (Ox-
ing Identities: The Guise of Shinto in Contemporary Japan
ford, 1950). Melford E. Spiro’s Burmese Supernaturalism,
(Honolulu, 2000), and in Michael Ashkenazi, Matsuri: Festi-
exp. ed. (Philadelphia, 1978), presents a thorough study of
vals of a Japanese Town (Honolulu, 1993).
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6860
ORGY: AN OVERVIEW
A thorough study of the history of Jewish ordination is Julius
energeticism have become questionable. They will doubtless
Newman’s Semikhah: A Study of Its Origin, History, and
reemerge—their birth and death occurs many times
Function in Rabbinic Literature (Manchester, 1950); and dis-
throughout human history—but for the present, as a result
cussion of training and roles of modern rabbis is found in
of saturation, there is a new dawn and other constants are
The Rabbinate As Calling and Vocation: Models of Rabbinic
now being proposed; their outlines remain unclear, but the
Leadership, edited by Basil Herring (Northvale, N.J., 1991),
observer of society cannot remain indifferent to them. Thus
and The Rabbinate in America: Reshaping an Ancient Calling,
edited by Jacob Neusner (New York, 1993). And Pamela
the return of what has been repressed: unproductive exertion,
Susan Nadell, Women Who Would be Rabbis: A History of
in other words orgy, is set to replace energetic progres-
Women’s Ordination, 1889–1985 (Boston, 1998), provides
sionism.
a focus on the ordination of women as rabbis. Of many
It is in this sense that one may say that the body as a
studies of the Christian ordained ministry, The Ministry in
means of production or reproduction is giving way to the
Historical Perspectives, edited by H. Richard Niebuhr and
Daniel D. Williams (New York, 1956), provides a good his-
erotic body. Is this a rebellion in the classical sense of a release
torical overview. A wealth of information and interpretation
mechanism? Not necessarily. Instead, we are faced here with
concerning the rites of ordination in many of the Christian
a positive power that is found beneath the surface of all social
traditions is provided in the multi-volumed set, The Process
structures and sometimes asserts itself irresistibly, like an un-
of Admission to Ordained Ministry: A Comparative Study, ed-
stoppable groundswell. What was once the privilege of the
ited by James F. Puglisi, translated by Michael Driscoll and
avant-garde—of artists; of proud, solitary geniuses—flows
Mary Misrahi (Collegeville, Minn., 1996 [vol. 1], 1998 [vol.
through the entire body of society. Enjoyment of the present
2], 2001 [vol. 3]). On the current discussion and practice
and the idea of carpe diem become colossal, unassailable val-
concerning ordination of women to the Christian ministry,
ues. Thus we can understand what Octavio Paz calls “the
among many books are Women’s Ordination: Official State-
rapturous joy of orgiastic values,” in which the feelings, pas-
ments from Religious Bodies and Ecumenical Organizations,
edited by J. Gordon Melton (Detroit, 1992), and Religious
sions, images and situations of the moment express them-
Institutions and Women’s Leadership: New Roles Inside the
selves.
Mainstream, edited by Catherine Wessinger (Columbia,
To emphasize the effectiveness of orgy, it is helpful to
S.C., 1996), which explores Jewish as well as Christian tradi-
refer to the concept of ludism, which modern rationalism has
tions. Scholars, Saints, and Sufis: Muslim Religious Institutions
demoted to the status of a secondary activity. A detailed anal-
in the Middle East since 1500, edited by Nikki R. Keddie
(Berkeley, Calif., 1972), contains many studies of the reli-
ysis of the importance of play is unnecessary, since classical
gious scholars and saints who form the recognized religious
studies, including those of Johan Huizinga and Roger Cal-
leadership of Islam. Muhammad Qasim Zaman, The
lois, have already done so competently and comprehensively.
EUlama¯D in Contemporary Islam: Custodians of Change
Play is the irreducible kernel around which so many institu-
(Princeton, N.J., 2002), provides a thorough study of the
tions are arranged. Economic struggle, financial competi-
changing roles and training of the Eulama¯ D, the scholarly
tion, and political theater exist to remind us that nothing in
leaders of Islamic communities. And the special dimensions
the world is unaffected by games, that societies are molded
of religious authority and clerical leadership among ShiEite
by them, and that to take this into account is not aesthetic
Muslims is discussed in The Most Learned of the Sh¯ı Ea: The
bias but rather the recognition of a constant that cuts across
Institution of the Marja ETajlid, edited by Linda S. Walbridge
the whole of human reality.
(Oxford, 2001).
T
The antithesis of utilitarianism, the orgy is the clearest
HEODORE M. LUDWIG (1987 AND 2005)
possible sign of the will to live and of the persistence of soci-
ality. Mystics, whose message is heeded or disregarded de-
pending on the period, have seen this clearly. For Jacob Boe-
ORGY
hme, for example, there is a “joy of the eternal act of
This entry consists of the following articles:
creation” which allows what exists to continue to do so. Fol-
AN OVERVIEW
lowing this route is not irrationalism but rather hyperration-
ORGY IN THE ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN WORLD
alism as described by Charles Fourier (1772–1837), who in-
ORGY IN MEDIEVAL AND MODERN EUROPE
ORGY IN ASIA
cludes previously excluded criteria in his social analysis. The
imagination, the oneiric, and collective play are these ne-
glected criteria.
ORGY: AN OVERVIEW
LOSS AND LETTING GO. It is such clarity of vision that has
Work, progress, and convention are no longer essential re-
returned orgy to its position and perceives in the various fes-
quirements. Economists, philosophers, and sociologists all
tive forms, whatever they may be, an expression of the erotic
agree that, even within a linear view of history, these struc-
body, which knows how to escape from the imposition of
tures have had their day. Prometheus is under suspicion.
productivity. Manifestations of this Dionysiac ludism cannot
UNPRODUCTIVE PLAY. There is no point in going back to
be classified under the rubrics past or future. With amazing
Prometheus except to find support for a description of what
consistency, they express the desire for loss in a world that
will replace the defunct god. The themes of liberation and
has a constant tendency to be positive about everything. It
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ORGY: AN OVERVIEW
6861
is in this context that the unproductive and nonfunctional
of the very element that it denies and is unable to control.
nature of orgy must be understood.
The fantasy of productivity, the absolute positivism of ratio-
nalism, and unidimensionality all are suits of armor that will
The rites whose religious—or more precisely, orgias-
cause explosions because they are so rigid.
tic—basis is understood consist of fantasy incarnate. The
word incarnate here carries its full semantic force: it indeed
This is, then, the problem. Faced with the hard-working
refers to aggressive, caressing, colliding, loving bodies. And
Prometheus, one must demonstrate that the boisterous Dio-
before they were sanitized in the familiar political and reli-
nysus is also an essential character in human society. The
gious rituals, these rites were truly and intimately a violent
question is no longer how to control life but how to spend
or tender confrontation, involving fantasy, exertion, loss—in
and enjoy it. As Max Stirner wrote, “It is no longer a matter
a word, the unproductive. There are many perfect examples
of making my true self flourish within me, but of harvesting
of this process in contemporary society, including rave par-
the vintage and consuming my life”. This is an excellent way
ties. Each involves losing oneself within the group, pushing
of looking at things, which provides a good summary of ev-
to its ultimate conclusion the logic of unproductive exertion.
erything that contrasts mere productivity and exertion.
The group expression, used repeatedly by young people, is
FERTILIZATION AND PRODUCTION. It could be said that
illuminating in this respect: it is about letting go, getting out
postmodern values push the logic of consumption to its lim-
of oneself, even if this involves using various ad hoc sub-
its. Perhaps it would be better to use the term consuming. It
stances, harking back to a kind of religious ecstasy. It is nec-
becomes the point of living. Things are good; they provide
essary to connect to the other, to the greater whole that is
the good life. This is not harmful to working life, but com-
the group. It is not without significance that one of the prod-
plements it, but its complementary nature is only of use if
ucts used is called ecstasy, a metaphor if ever there was one
adults do not, for the sake of outdated moral principles, re-
for the loss of self in the infinite of collective desire.
strain the natural expression of youthful excess. This unpro-
ductive aspect of youth recalls the “creative joy” spoken of
THE RATIONALIZATION OF EXISTENCE. What Max Weber
by the mystic Jacob Boehme.
called the “generalized rationalization of existence” has come
to encompass every aspect of existence—consumption, sex,
It might be worthwhile to contrast production and fer-
speech, leisure: everything is liable to be measured. In the
tilization to reach an understanding of the will to live and
name of ever greater security, areas of life that had hitherto
the persistence of sociality. If a principle of reality were to
avoided restriction have been dealt with by particularly effi-
deny any pleasure principle, would it not be denying itself?
cient specialized institutions. Such a sterile arrangement of
Orgy exists to demonstrate to us that erotic opportuni-
life has a tendency to place everything in an accountable and
ties are not confined to (re)production. It is an endless inter-
productive system. To play, to love, to enjoy the sun, to
play of contradictory elements, which as a result of their
make the most of passing time—the entire existential experi-
combination and construction allow us to understand how
ence, all this is recorded by a specific structure in a system
the fertilization of the world is carried on in a clandestine
of moderation, of economy. Yet can one be economical with
manner.
the irrepressible social desire to live?
MYTHIC ROOTS. The play of the world and the world as
Counting and limiting results in denial. To allow no
play: There is the very heart of the return of mythical figures
place for the forces of pleasure is to expose oneself to the
in the festive contemporary—a celebration of roots, a frantic
fierce retort of what is repressed. Letting go is like violence:
search for symbols, the desire to join with otherness through
restraining it results in encouraging its exaggerated expres-
prototypes that are not representative but are lived here and
sion. The wisdom of the ancient world is of real worth in
now.
this regard; it allowed for a certain shadowy part, which it
There is a particular energy there, energy that is not
ritualized and thus mastered. The sole objective of the Greek
being spread in the body politic, energy that seeps through
Dionysia was to give free rein to wild passions. Plato, in the
the intense banality of everyday life. The collective imagina-
Laws, expresses this ancient realism clearly. Dealing with the
tion—one might call it the collective unconscious—draws its
Spartiate, a moralist and boring theoretician, the ancient
power from this orgiastic treasury. Objective reality ensures
equivalent of the contemporary technocrat, who is giving a
that, without knowing it, the publicity photo, the choreo-
management lecture on how to ensure a sober city, Plato re-
graphed pose, even the obscenity of reality TV, show that
calls that such a policy is like playing with fire: “Spartan
which unites with that which cannot be portrayed. Hence
stranger, this is all laudable as long as one retains the strength
the need for analogy, a non-causal link, a description like
to resist, but once this is relinquished, then this is disastrous.”
that of a painting, a mosaic construction, in the search for
Repression is laudable in a heavenly city, but in our earthly
a way to understand this. These are all things that, linked to-
city we should not forget everything that links us to the dark
gether, cause a nonprojective, essentially present sense, or
earth. In the last analysis, calculated moderation always en-
meaning, to reemerge.
tails an even greater immoderation. And like a sorcerer’s ap-
prentice, a society that does not know how to use the coinci-
One can interpret a television series as a production in-
dentia oppositorum leaves itself open to a disastrous eruption
volving mythological figures from the Greek pantheon. Sim-
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6862
ORGY: AN OVERVIEW
ilarly, in techno gatherings or love parades, just as in fashion
By reconsidering the term Einfühlung as it is used in art
shows, ancient prototypes may be paroxystically rediscov-
history, one can demonstrate that the defining characteristic
ered. Yet it is a repetition that makes them immanent. In
of our times is empathy. It is useful to observe and under-
Western transcendence, this is far from theological or politi-
stand, as a phenomenon, the tendency to lose oneself in the
cal. With the figures under discussion, being is Being-in-the-
other, to exist only commensurate with the other. Subjectivi-
world. Yet the energy exerted to do this, which is close to
ty becomes objective through its relationship with a counter-
the Will of Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), is most con-
part, whether that counterpart is an object, an animal, a
centrated and crystallized.
human being, or an element of nature. These are all charac-
Being-in-the-world would therefore be, if not an expla-
teristic of the pre- and postmodern orgy.
nation, at least an avenue of approach, in a strict sense, to
EMPATHY. Religious and political fanaticism, the huge num-
the modern orgy. There is no backdrop; everything is set at
ber of fan groups, and in all these spheres the varied social
the front of the stage. Yet, that being the case, everything is
hysteria—even in the possession of everyday objects that
factual and to the point. This being is immediate. It forces
people think they own—is made clearer by means of empa-
us to go beyond the concept of being, which we tend to use
thy. We need only look at the relationship with the mobile
with a nominal sense: being a man, a woman, leftwing, right-
phone or even with the laptop computer to understand that
wing, in short being something with an identity. Whereas
here we have a return to the magical object of premodern civ-
the post- and premodern theatrical being is an infinitive
ilizations.
much more encompassing, more part of a matrix, a form of
This recognition of self via the other is instructive in
being in which one shares in an almost magical way. This
that it emphasizes a vital emission, a philosophy of life that
allows one to understand the feeling of belonging: belonging
is symptomatic of cultures at the moment of their birth, be-
to a group, to a person, to a place, with particular sporting,
fore rigid intellectual restrictions develop.
religious, musical, or sexual tastes.
Encompassing being: that is, no longer being given le-
Empathy possesses, then, a certain resourcefulness and
gitimacy or rationalized by a supreme being, be that God,
open-mindedness, which can be seen in the various forms of
the State, the Institution, the Individual—a supreme being
generosity, the acts of mutual assistance, the development of
which offers meaning, but an encompassing being, which es-
charity and benevolence, that run throughout the body social
tablishes that one is something or someone only to the extent
alongside economic dominance. The individual is engrossed
that one shares with others an eponymous figure—a star, a
in these alternative forms of behavior, arranged more or less
guru, an animal, a place. Strictly speaking, this figure pro-
wildly, which take shape around symbolic figures, whether
vides a name and thus leads to existence. This is the orgiastic
political, religious, musical, sporting, or intellectual.
revolution: existence is only in relation with, in communion
Thus in the orgy, the subject is above all transcendental,
with, others, and the renewed contribution of mythological
that is, collective, but subsequently focuses on individual
figures, of archetypes, of fantastic forms (sorcerers, fairies,
changes. It is complementary, and not alternative to, tran-
mythical heroes), makes this relationship apparent.
scendental reason, distinguishing the scientific advance that
Such a dependence, at times shocking to modern think-
has characterized Western thinking. It is a transcendental
ing which is so used to individuality, is all in all simply an-
fantasy, which is in action in the archetypal figures that are
other means of approach, which the East has used, stressing
expressed in social life. Such eros energumene have their roots
the similarities, the common features of all the elements, all
in the ancestral power of poetry. Not abstract, disconnected
the aspects of an undivided life.
poetry, lived in isolation, but connected directly with the
power of the orgiastic life.
TRANSFORMATION. In play involving orgiastic theatrical
masks, a process of transformation, even transfiguration, oc-
MASKS. Without necessarily being aware of it, the figures
curs, in which the humble individual self is raised to a generic
that typify the daily carnivalesque—the masks the persona
Self. There is a discursive search here, real rather than verbal-
assumes in his or her professional or love life, the caricatures
ized, which forms the basis for developing the large number
of various social fluctuations—demonstrate, in a somewhat
of groups or tribes that make up the social body.
exaggerated manner, the illusion of individualism that char-
acterizes historical ideology. On the other hand, these phe-
This should raise questions for the social observer, who
nomena remind us that what predominates is a virtual shared
all too often is satisfied with results drawn from modern
destiny. Postmodern masks are influenced by figures, by an-
philosophical systems that have epistemological individual-
cestral problems. They serve to translate that impersonal, un-
ism as their sole common denominator. In empirical terms,
derground force that comes from far away and sometimes
the individual and individuality are inclined to be lost within
emerges in broad daylight.
the longing for tribalism that becomes more and more deliri-
ous. Tribes come into being, they reinforce themselves, they
In various spheres of life, one pays more and more atten-
express themselves through aggregative figures. Symbolic fig-
tion to what lies beneath—to cultural substrata, to the ghosts
ures, which, as Emile Durkheim has shown, have a role in
that stir collective dreams, to the persistence of legendary fig-
establishing “logical conformism.”
ures. All this has a long-term effect, but it is nothing if not
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ORGY: ORGY IN THE ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN WORLD
6863
personal. And this is the thing that is undergoing a revival,
dedication by a dancers’ brotherhood (Sylloge inscriptionum
expressed in the totems around which the many postmodern
Graecarum 57.4). Classical writers, including Plato and the
tribes gather. These renew the link with premodern pagan-
tragedians, variously employed the term to designate sacred
ism, reminding civilized humanity of its archaic animism.
rituals (see, still in the first century CE, Plutarch, Life of Alci-
Indeed, it is a fundamentally pagan reaction that can be
biades 34, about a rite in honor of Athena). Byzantine lexi-
found in phenomena as diverse as deep ecology; the growth
cographers explain orgia as synonymous to “mysteries,” with
of alternative medicine; the influence of clairvoyance, astrol-
particular reference to Dionysos. The term is also employed
ogy, and the paranormal; and the many New Age systems,
by the anonymous author of the Hymn to Demeter (ll. 273
not to mention demonism and Goth and techno music.
and 476), who relates it to the Eleusinian mysteries (see also
The common denominator in these varied orgiastic
Herodotos 5.61; Aristophanes, Frogs 386 and Thesmophori-
phenomena is a new relationship with natural and social oth-
ans 948). Sometimes orgia is applied to Orphism (Herodotos
erness, with an emphasis upon correspondence. Unknowing-
II.81) and the rites of the Cabeiri (Herodotos 2.51, which
ly, one is linked to the Other and thus shares in a common
does not show orgiastic features, notwithstanding the venera-
destiny. In this way, it is possible to understand the astonish-
tion of a sacred phallus; see, however, Diodorus 5.49, which
ing mimicry that is everywhere prevalent. It is no longer dis-
shows an intermingling with the cult of Cybele and the Cor-
tinction but rather indistinction.
ybants). There are other examples of frantic and orgiastic
dances, probably of Oriental origin, practiced in honor of the
Orgy is indeed the union by which we are linked to the
Laconian Artemis (Aristophanes, Lysistrata 1312; Vergil,
common spirit of the tribe, and to the common animal na-
Georgics 2.487), where the female dancers are often associat-
ture of our species.
ed with the maenads. In Latin language and literature the
SEE ALSO Agriculture; Earth; New Year Festivals; Sexuality.
word orgia shares the same features as in Greek (mystery
cults, Dionysiac rites), but it is interesting to note that the
BIBLIOGRAPHY
term is once employed by the Christian poet Prudentius in
These themes are developed in my L’Ombre de Dionysos, contribu-
his Peristephanon (2.65) to understand Christian rites. A hos-
tion à une sociologie de l’orgie (Paris, 1982), translated into
tile usage of the term appears in Jerome, who wants to attack
English as The Shadows of Dionysos: A Contribution to the So-
his Origenist adversaries (Epist. 84.3).
ciology of the Orgy (Albany, N.Y., 1993); and in Le Temps des
Tribus, le déclin de l’individualisme dans les sociétés de masse

Despite the gradual development of such a meaning, the
(Paris, 1988), translated into English as The Time of Tribes:
ancient etymology (attested by Clement of Alexandria in
Decline of Individualism in Mass Society (London, 1996).
Protrepticus 2.13.1.2; and Servius, Commentary on Virgil’s
MICHEL MAFFESOLI (2005)
Aeneid 4.302), which relates the term to org¯e (“anger, wrath,
Translated from French by Paul Ellis
excessive passion”), is erroneous. According to modern schol-
ars the word orgia must be connected to the verb erdo¯ (“to
offer a sacrifice”), whose perfect form is eorga (see Chant-
ORGY: ORGY IN THE ANCIENT
raine, 1968).
MEDITERRANEAN WORLD
In ancient Greece and Rome the plural orgia was a sacral
ORGY AND SEASONAL FEASTS. Mircea Eliade established the
word that applied to any ceremonies practiced in the worship
strict relationship between seasonal feasts (for example, New
of various deities, with or without implication of extrava-
Year ceremonies) and orgiastic performing of rituals. Follow-
gance. Orgia became, in addition, the technical term to des-
ing hints enucleated by Wilhelm Mannhardt and James Fra-
ignate mystery cults and rites connected with festivals in
zer, Eliade considered how the orgy sets flowing the sacred
honor of Dionysos that were usually characterized by an ec-
energy of life, so that moments of crisis or abundance in na-
static or frantic attitude and were celebrated with dancing,
ture are the privileged occasion for unleashing an orgy. It
singing, and drinking. It is probably this latter meaning that
thus becomes simple to explain the orgies practiced by vari-
gradually led to a derogatory usage (see, for example, Plato,
ous ethnic groups, as well as the crystallization of some orgi-
Laws 910), which, however, is a modern one. From the eigh-
astic relics in modern European farming ceremonies, in con-
teenth century onwards, in fact, the term orgy has been used
nection with the drama of vegetation and particularly with
to refer to wild or dissolute revels marked by license or de-
the ceremonials of agriculture in order that the reproductive
bauchery; in this sense it is currently employed in religious
powers in earth, animals, and humans can be stimulated by
studies to refer to collective behavior (comprehensive of in-
phallic dances followed by orgies, thus involving a sort of re-
dulging in excessive bodily activity by means of rave music,
birth. As far as classical antiquity is concerned, certain feasts
dancing, banquets, promiscuous sexual intercourse, and the
of vegetation are abundant in orgiastic elements and collec-
infringement of normal order or rules) that sanctions a fes-
tive exaltation, such as the Floralia (celebrated in Rome at
tive period in order to reinforce the vital energies of the cos-
the end of April), the Lupercalia, or the festivals performed
mos and human communities.
in honor of Caeres or Tellus.
The Greek word orgia is first attested in a Milesian in-
Such an unbounded sexual frenzy can be likened to a
scription dating back to the fifth century BCE that shows a
divine hierogamy, because when sacred marriage is reenacted
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6864
ORGY: ORGY IN THE ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN WORLD
all the forces of the community are supposed to increase to
escape from an oppressive realm; and the so-called “ritual of
their highest point. The earth is reawakened and the sky
the sardonic laughter,” recorded by the Greek historian Ti-
aroused so that the great cosmic marriage, symbolized by
maeus (Fragmente Griechischer historiker 566 F 64); accord-
rain, will take place in the best possible conditions to ensure
ing to his explanation, old people were sacrificed and pushed
prosperity and new life (in this sense it is possible to explain
over a cliff by their sons, who made grimaces, probably under
also the links between orgies and initiation ceremonies).
the effect of a bitter herb. In fact, orgies possess a ritual func-
tion connected with the cult of dead people, as can be in-
Orgies can be found not only in the setting of agrarian
ferred from persisting customs in ethnic or folkloric contexts
ceremonies, although they always remained closely connect-
where banquets and orgies occur after funerals. The same at-
ed with rites of regeneration and fertility. A deeper meta-
titude was found in antiquity, and is testified by certain
physical significance and psychological function of orgy
Church Fathers (Ambrose, On the Death of His Brother 2.12;
clearly emerges when considering it as a way of expressing
Augustine, Sermons 311, PL 38.1415) and by many councils
the life of the community as a whole. Humans lose their indi-
(e.g., Arles, 524; Auxerre, 590; London, 1342; York, 1367)
viduality in the orgy, combining into a single living unity;
that attempted to forbid these orgiastic practices, especially
they perform a total fusion of emotions in which neither
during the Middle Ages.
norm nor law is observed so that participants can enter a pri-
mal, pre-formal, chaotic state, using the power of imitative
Mourning and its anomic features can be considered a
magic to assist the merging of the seeds into the one womb
liminal situation for the relatives of the deceased or for the
of the earth. Among the other functions, the orgy fulfils in
entire community during periods of disease, epidemic, and
the spiritual and psychological economy of a community.
famine; it is possible to show that these marginal situations
The orgy also symbolizes a renewal or regeneration of life.
are marked by a great variety of external patterning and re-
In fact, orgies make it possible for creation to be repeated be-
flect opposition to normal social features. The purpose inher-
cause they bring back mythical states that existed in earlier
ent in such marginal situations is to temporarily remove indi-
times and to which humans hope to return, restored and re-
viduals or groups from their normal social existence. Such
generated.
typical patterns as role or status reversal in matters of cloth-
ing, food (e.g., novices consuming food and drinks that are
A notion of a cosmos made up of cycles, which was born
usually forbidden), communication, and language add up to
of chaos and returns to it through a catastrophe or a great
a sort of legal anarchy and have thus been linked to social
dissolution, together with a thirst for regeneration and re-
instances of ransom or rebellion. Such reversals characterize
newal, are implied in orgiastic ritual performances, whose ab-
a number of exceptional festivals, like Carnival or similar an-
errant forms represent a degradation of this idea of the
cient equivalents.
rhythm of the universe. Since at a cosmological level the orgy
represents chaos—that is, the disappearance of limits and
Classical antiquity records various festivals during
boundaries and the fusion into a single unity—this wish for
which what was normally forbidden was tolerated, including
an abolition of time is particularly evident in orgies that take
the Sacaea in Babylon (according to the third-century BCE
place, at various degrees, during New Year ceremonies, the
historian Berossus, in Fragmente Griechischer historiker 680
seasonal dramas par excellence. Together with other patterns
no. 2) or in the Pontus region (according to Strabo 11.8),
that characterize similar events, the symbolic return of pri-
which were celebrated in the summer in honor of the goddess
meval chaos indicates the abolition of profane time in order
Ishtar or Anaitis and which involved a servant disguised as
to effect the dissolution of the world and restore the mythical
a king; Zagmuk, or feast of the lots, which took place in Mes-
moment of the beginning and the end. This is why such fes-
opotamia at the beginning of the year and included sexual
tivals are constantly marked by an attempt at abolishing
license and a symbolic king dethronement; Kronia in Greece;
order and consuetudes; license is let loose, all rules are violat-
Saturnalia in Rome; and women’s festivals such as the Thes-
ed, norms are suspended, and there can be an overthrowing
mophoria, and the Roman celebration of Bona Dea, which
of social conditions or a converging of opposites.
gave women in seclusion an opportunity to indulge in excess-
es in their own way (some writers, for example the Latin sati-
ORGIASTIC PATTERNS IN REVERSAL RITUALS. Besides sexual
rist Juvenal, considered these feasts to be nothing more than
promiscuousness, which is obviously a means to gain fertility
lascivious orgies). As far as these are concerned, in breaking
or reinforce vegetation and ransom it from obscure and men-
the fetters of social and marital codes women inevitably re-
acing evils, other elements or states of psychic exaltation can
turn to nature—that is, to the premarital status of the maid-
be related to orgiastic contexts. Among these are debauchery,
en. To control such excesses by limiting them to dedicated
revelry, dance, and especially laughter. Scholars have re-
periods could have helped safeguard the disjunction of sex
corded cases that can be considered semi-orgiastic, including
and maternity that is typical of many cultures, especially
the Latin fescennine, which are naughty verses usually sung
Greece and Rome, and that is evidently jeopardized in the
during wedding ceremonies; triumphal songs called carmina,
fertility festivals.
in which the iocatio (“joke” or “jest”, addressed by the troops
to their victorious officers) represented an apotropaic device
Temporary liberation from chains and bondage was the
to cast off the idea of death and help the individual psyche
central feature of Kronia and Saturnalia. Moreover, like cer-
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ORGY: ORGY IN THE ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN WORLD
6865
tain other Roman “interstitial” ceremonies, the Saturnalia
performed in the honor of Demeter and Dionysos represent-
festivities also included official cessation of all public services,
ed, so to speak, an absolute form of sacrifice, which was able
such as the mundus patet, and the Saturnalia can thus be
to grant an absolute form of salvation, as opposed to a rela-
paired with the iustitium (public mourning). Saturnalia is
tive one. All this meant a radical change in the human condi-
counted among the most ancient Roman festivals, since it
tion and implied going beyond human boundaries and lim-
was already mentioned in Numa’s calendar and continued
its, that is, taking part in divine realms. Moreover, for those
till the end of paganism (see Macrobius’s Saturnalia). The
who don’t close their minds against Dionysiac experience
festival began on December 17 and was celebrated by bare-
(the demand for which is sometimes, at their peril, ignored
headed people, according to Greek custom. It was an occa-
by humans), such an experience can be a deep source of spiri-
sion for all Romans, citizens and slaves, to enjoy a holiday.
tual power and beatitude. It is possible to hint at a further
Satire and derision were given free reign. Reversal patterns
effect, a merging of the individual consciousness within a
involved an interruption of normal political and business ac-
group consciousness: the worshipper is at one not only with
tivities (not to mention the allowance of gambling and dice-
the god master of life, but with his or her fellow worshippers,
playing, otherwise prohibited in everyday life), but the most
as well as with the entirety of life on earth. Recent sociologi-
important reversal was the exchange of roles between masters
cal approaches have employed the idea of Dionysiac orgiasm
and slaves. The assimilation of this reversal to Carnival is,
in order to stress, in contemporary daily life, the strong hedo-
however, erroneous; this aspect of Carnival should be linked
nistic ethic, which expresses only passing feelings, passion,
to New Year celebrations, Carnival being similar to other
and bonds of shared emotion, so typical of a “tribal” or mass
spring festivals, such as the Roman Liberalia.
society.
DIONYSIAC CULT. In classical antiquity Dionysos was the ec-
static divinity most closely related to orgiastic cult. Among
Drinking wine, which breaks inhibitions, acquired an
the numerous sources, the writer most responsible for con-
important religious value because the wine permitted people
sideration of Dionysiac ritual is the Greek tragedian Euripi-
to become entheoi (full of god). There were other means to
des. In his Bacchae (Bacchant Women, posthumously per-
reach this status: the strange oreibasia (mountain dancing)
formed in 406
described in the parodos of the Bacchae reflects a ritual prac-
BCE) Euripides described the introduction
into Hellas of a new religion with a peculiar attitude towards
ticed by women’s societies at Delphi (and also in other
the sacred, different from anything implied in the cult of the
places) down to Plutarch’s time. This took place in midwin-
traditional Olympian gods. Among modern exegetes, Frie-
ter in alternate years (hence the name triet¯eris, “triennial fes-
drich Nietzsche, borrowing from tradition, as well as draw-
tival”) and has often been explained as a commemorative
ing on his own imagination, made the figure of Dionysos an
rite, in imitation of the maenads, who are said to have been
emblem of disruptive power, whose external marker is the
associated with the god in the old days. Maenadism is sup-
divine mania or possession in which the followers of Diony-
ported by testimonies in epigraphic sources and therefore
sos are caught. The majority of scholarly interpretations rely
must not be considered a mere literary device. Some scholars
on Nietzsche when underlining the irrational and “intoxicat-
have borrowed from medical language the term collective hys-
ed” aspects of the cult. His account of ecstatic rituals in their
teria to designate such a phenomenon or have traced similar
wildest, most unrestrained forms, was taken as a model by
attitudes in other cultures: it was a compulsive and obsessive
subsequent scholars, mostly because his friend Erwin Rohde
dance, characterized by a particular carriage of the head and
made this perspective acceptable to scientific thinking by
tossing back of the hair, in which participants experienced
stressing, along with the eruptive character and psychological
a sense of being possessed by an alien personality. It has been
nature of the Dionysiac, an irruptive and supposedly histori-
suggested that in Greece the ritual oreibasia may have devel-
cal factor, which led Rohde to set the origins of the new reli-
oped out of spontaneous attacks of hysteria and that by chan-
gion outside of Greece. Even though Rohde’s perspective was
neling this hysteria in an organized rite once every two years
sometimes questioned (especially concerning the Thracian
the Dionysiac cult kept it within bounds and gave it a rela-
origins of the cult or his theory that Orphism was a “re-
tively harmless outlet. Another obviously primitive feature of
formed Dionysism” deprived of its wildest aspects), in all
the oreibasia is snake-handling, for which numerous parallels
modern accounts of the Dionysiac, an explosive hint has re-
can be traced in folkloric contexts.
mained dominant. It is reflected in many scholars, who
The culminating act of the Dionysiac winter dance was
bound the core of the Dionysian religion in orgiasm. Such
the tearing to pieces (sparagmos) and eating raw (o¯mophagia)
an explanation, however, is not unanimously accepted and
of an animal body, an act that in all sources is described as
has been questioned (by, for example, Karl Kerényi) by no-
a mixture of supreme exaltation and supreme repulsion. It
ticing that this phenomenon was only marginal to the cult
is at once holy and horrible, fulfillment and uncleanness, sac-
of Dionysos.
rament and pollution—the same violent conflict of emotion-
Dionysiac religion indeed unveiled a particular kind of
al attitudes that lies at the root of all religion of the Dionysiac
religious experience, which allowed participants to attain
type. Later writers explained the o¯mophagia by supposing it
communion with a god and transformed a human being into
to commemorate the day when the infant Dionysos was him-
a bacchos or a bacch¯e (an inspired, frantic person). The orgia
self torn to pieces and devoured. Modern explanations, how-
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ORGY: ORGY IN THE ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN WORLD
ever, link this custom to psychological causes, because it
directed against foreign cults as a form of ban or marginaliza-
seems likely that the warm and bleeding victim was felt to
tion. Of course many of these cults were genuinely character-
embody the vital powers of the god, which by this act were
ized, totally or partially, by orgiastic attitudes. These atti-
transferred to the worshippers. In this rite, therefore, the god
tudes gradually diminished, as happened with Dionysism,
was present in his bestial incarnation (bull, lion, snake) and
when those cults came to be considered part of public
in that shape was torn and eaten. The resulting effect was to
religion.
liberate the instinctive life in human beings from the bond-
Some of the most famous and widespread mystery cults
age imposed on them by reason and social custom: the wor-
during the Hellenistic age and late antiquity are characterized
shippers became conscious of a strange, new vitality, which
by collective ecstasy and frantic behavior (even though with-
was attributed to the god’s presence within them. Some
out sexual licentiousness). Among them was Montanism, a
scholars went so far as to surmise cases of human sacrifice,
Christian sect, strongly influenced by pagan local cults, that
even though there are only scattered indications pointing in
originated in Phrygia in the second century CE and counted
this direction. Human sacrifices are, however, sometimes
among its features prophetism and ecstasy. Malicious slan-
linked to initiation rites, and in classical antiquity charges of
ders about Montanists are, however, recorded by Jerome,
ritual murders are often associated with orgiastic practice.
who mentions cannibalistic rites and children sacrifices
ORGIASTIC ELEMENTS IN MYSTERY RELIGIONS AND FOR-
(Epist. 41).
EIGN CULTS. Over the centuries the original features of Dio-
nysiac cult were brought under state control and tamed, loos-
The annual rites that commemorated Osiris’s death and
ing much of their original character. Religion of the orgiastic
dismemberment were performed with exaggerated lamenta-
type nevertheless began to emerge again under other names.
tions and with a phallophory, that is, the carrying of a phallus
At the end of the fifth century Athens was invaded by a mul-
in procession. This detail led Herodotos to pair Dionysos
titude of foreign gods, as is clearly shown by many literary
and Osiris, but there are too few elements to accept this per-
references to the eastern and northern “mystery” gods Cybele
spective, except in the sense of a syncretism between these
and Bendis, Attis, Adonis, and Sabazios.
two gods because of their agrarian features.
The Phrygian god Sabazios is of special interest in rela-
The veneration of Cybele (originally an Anatolian and
tion to Dionysos because Sabazios was considered a sort of
Phrygian mother goddess, who was soon interpreted as De-
Oriental—or still un-Hellenized—counterpart of Dionysos,
meter) was widespread throughout Greece, and at the very
who promised his devotees identification with deity. Several
end of the third century BCE Cybele was introduced into
of the old ritual elements mentioned in the parodos of the
Roman culture. By this time the veneration of Cybele had
Bacchae are attested by Demosthenes for the Sabazios cult in
been deprived of its most barbaric features, including loud
a well-known passage from his oration On the Crown, deliv-
ululations, rousing music produced by cymbals, drums, and
ered against Aeschines. Other ancient sources closely relate
flutes, and wild dances that incited people to bloody self-
Dionysos and Sabazios, whose veneration is largely attested
flagellation, self-mutilation, and self-castration. Similar prac-
(see, for example Diodorus 4.4.1, and Iohannes Lydus, de
tices, which reached their apex in the spring festival com-
Mensibus 4.51).
memorative of Attis, were reserved for noncitizen adherents.
One of the most relevant literary documents, which presents
The potentially dangerous implications in Dionysiac
ecstatic frenzy in its most shocking and bloody aspects, is the
cult are displayed in the famous scandal of the Bacchanalia,
epyllium Attis, written in the first century BCE by the Latin
which took place in Rome in 186 BCE and led to the suppres-
poet Catullus. This poem shows how orgiastic patterns could
sion of the cult. Besides the contemporary allusion in the
seem striking and even repugnant to a civilized audience.
Plautine comedy Casina, a detailed account is reported by
Dea Syria (the title of Atargatis-Derketo in the Greco-
the Augustan historian Livy (39.8–19). According to Livy,
Roman world) resembles other mother goddesses and fertili-
the rites of initiation, including feasting and drunkenness,
ty goddesses of Asia Minor, such as Aphrodite-Astarte and
were held at night so that darkness could conceal “promiscu-
Rhea-Cybele. Dea Syria shares much with the cult of both
ous mating of free men and women,” as well as occasional
of these: procession to the sea, hydrophory (the act of carry-
murders. It was a classical case of immorality under the guise
ing water), lavatio (ritual washing), ecstatic dancing, castra-
of religion, and the Roman authorities felt bound to prose-
tion, and phallolatry (an account of her rites and her temple
cute the worshippers of Bacchus by accusing them of coni-
in Hierapolis is offered in a pamphlet written by Lucian).
uratio (conspiracy against the state). Bacchants were also per-
Bellona, who was identified with the Middle Eastern goddess
secuted outside the Roman Republic, as is shown in a famous
Ma after the Roman general Sulla became acquainted with
inscription (Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum I2 2581) from
this goddess in 92 BCE during his campaigns in the East, and
southern Italy, which contains the prohibition decree pro-
whose cult shared many patterns with that of the Magna
mulgated by the Roman Senate.
Mater, belongs to the same sphere as Dea Syria. The Latin
In discussing the case of the Roman repression of the
writer Apuleius (second century CE offers a totally negative
Bacchanalia, scholars have noticed how charges of promiscu-
account of the priests of the goddess in the eighth book of
ous intercourse or, more generally, of immoral behavior were
his Metamorphoses (chaps. 26–30) in order to stress a sharp
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ORGY: ORGY IN THE ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN WORLD
6867
contrast to the Isiac religion of which he was a worshipper.
Certain Gnostic rites can be considered one constituent
Apuleius describes the priests of the Syrian goddess as thieves
among others equally important that shaped the specific
and swindlers; indecent, lascivious, and dishonest, they per-
character of anti-Christian accusations in the second century.
form wild dervish dances, engage in self-mutilation, and
In fact, Gnostic sects, with their peculiar mythology and eth-
abandon themselves to aberrant and promiscuous sexual
ics, including their disdain for popular religion and morality,
practices.
were natural targets for accusations of immoral behavior.
Along with their predecessors at Corinth, which emerge from
Orgiastic rituals are elsewhere described in classical nov-
the reproaches of the apostle Paul (see 1 Cor. 6.12 ff.), Jus-
els because of a certain fondness for exotic and unusual de-
tin’s first apology is apparently aware of affinities between
tails. It is disputed whether the mysteries of Priapus
these or similar Gnostic rites and the crimes that were alleged
described by Petronius in his Satyricon (16–26, 6) really took
against the Christians. The accounts of the so-called libertine
place or must be considered a literary fiction because of the
insistence on Priapic themes throughout the novel, along
Gnostics found in Clement’s Stromateis and, later, in Epi-
with a constant attitude of parody. These mysteries were in-
phanius’s Panarion (fourth century) are major sources for
tended as a sort of counterpart of the rites of Bona Dea, and
knowledge of such rites.
are restricted to women. Organized and directed by a lustful
Clement mentions by name various Gnostic groups
matron, the ceremony turns into a long and far-fetched noc-
(Basilidians [3.1.1.1 ff.], Carpocratians [3.2.5.1 ff.], Antitak-
turnal orgy, which involves the male actors of the novel.
tai [3.4.34.3 ff.], and many other unnamed sects [3.4.27.1
The Phoinikika (Phoenician Histories), a Greek frag-
ff.]) that held lavish banquets, after which they extinguished
mentary romance preserved in a badly damaged papyrus
the lights and indulged in sexual promiscuity. Their practices
(Pap. Col. Inv. 3328), recently attributed to the Sophist Lol-
are compared to the cult of Aphrodites Pandemos and her
lianus of Ephesus (late second century
supposed “mysteries.” Some groups of Gnostics in the sec-
CE), describes the ritu-
al murder of a child, followed by the eating of its heart and
ond century and the beginning of the third (according to
then promiscuous intercourse. These episodes were com-
Clement) treated women as common property and in their
pared by Albert Henrichs, who first edited the papyrus, to
agap¯e practiced what they preached, interpreting sexual in-
the myth of Dionysos-Zagreus, dismembered by the Titans,
tercourse as a “mystical communion.” Already the followers
and to the charges against Christian religion and some late
of Simon, according to Hippolytus, advocated promiscuous
accounts about libertine Gnostics. The text is, however, too
intercourse, asserting that this was perfect love, which helped
fragmentary and corrupt to infer such details and to permit
participants achieve reciprocal sanctification. The Sethians
so complex a reading. Much more convincing is a reading
did the same. Irenaeus offers similar accounts of the Cainites,
provided by J. J. Winkler and S. A. Stephen, who dismantle
Sodomites, and Carpocratians. At the time of Epiphanius,
Henrichs’s theory and consider the whole scene analogous
the libertine sects had apparently multiplied in Egypt, since
to the accounts of scheintod (apparent death) traceable in
he mentions by name the Nicolaites, Stratiotici, Phibionites,
other classic novels.
Zaccheans, and Barbeliotes. What Epiphanius describes
about the Gnostic banquet and the orgy that followed,
CHRISTIANS AND GNOSTICS. Charges of immorality were
claiming that he personally met some of these sectarians, is
imputed to Christian communities already at the end of the
nearly identical to Irenaeus, except that the account of Epi-
first century. They were also accused of coniuratio (conspira-
phanius is much richer in piggish ritual details. For example,
cy against the state), and many similarities have been noted
besides uniting themselves in promiscuous intercourse after
between the suppression of the Bacchanalia and accusations
rich dinners, they practiced coitus interruptus and gathered
against Christians. During the second century accusations of
and ate menstrual blood and sperm. In addition, the sectari-
Thyestean banquets (anthropophagy) and Oedipodean in-
ans could not beget children and if a woman were to conceive
tercourse (incestuous or orgiastic practices) increased and
after such an orgy, the fetus would be aborted, pounded in
provoked rebuttals from a number of Christian apologists,
a mortar, seasoned with spices, honey, and oil, and then
including Justin (Apology I 26.7), Tertullian (Apologeticum
eaten. This cannibalistic feast was, according to their doc-
39), and Minucius Felix (Octavius 9), whose accurate ac-
trine, the perfect Passah (Panarion 26.5.5).
counts probably reflect a pagan source. According to F. J.
Dölger, such accusations were often a pagan misunderstand-
According to Epiphanius, such details also occupied a
ing of the Christian Eucharist and lacked any factual basis.
definite position in Gnostic theology. By examining here-
They show nevertheless an underlying ritual pattern, which
siologists’ accounts, it emerges that it is not possible to dis-
linked the alleged crimes of the Christians to similar practices
miss libertine Gnostics as mere sexual deviates, for their aim
of pagan origin in order to construct a coherent ritual series
was to throw into confusion the entire present order of the
that included, after an overturning of the lamp so that sav-
world, insofar as it is the work of the creator. Libertine Gnos-
ageness could be concealed, the murder of a child, the par-
tics considered the flesh as perishable because it is the ar-
taking of the victim’s blood and inner parts for initiatory
chon’s own; for the same reason they believed that procre-
purposes, the administering of an oath, and finally, sexual
ation should be abolished because it only prolonged the time
libertinism.
that the psyche had to spend in this world. Even the disgust-
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ORGY: ORGY IN THE ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN WORLD
ed way in which Epiphanius describes their dinner fellowship
After Friedrich Nietzsche’s Die Geburt der Tragödie oder Griechen-
displays certain liturgical characteristics, which parallel some
tum und Pessimismus (Berlin and New York, 1972) and
common patterns, such as the idea of eating together or such
Erwin Rohde’s Psyche: Seelenkult und Unsterblichkeitsglaube
liturgical formulas as the prayer of dedication after the act
der Griechen, 2d ed. (Tübingen, Germany, 1898), the idea
or the closing confession.
of Dionysiac orgiastic frenzy was developed by Walter F.
Otto, Dionysos: Mythos und Kultus (Frankfurt am Main, Ger-
It is indeed possible that the communitarian dinner of
many, 1933), as well as by Henry Jeanmarie, Dionysos: His-
these sects was considered a characteristic meal in which the
toire de culte de Bacchus (Paris, 1951). See, however, the dif-
basic element was the unio mystica, which Christians usually
ferent attitudes shown by Karl Kerényi, Dionysos: Urbild des
explain as a gathering of believers who become one body by
unzerstörbaren Lebens (Munich, Germany, and Vienna, Aus-
partaking of one bread. In Gnostic conventicles such a union
tria, 1976), translated into English by Ralph Manheim as
was achieved with the production and spreading of sperm,
Dionysos: Archetypal Images of Indestructible Life (Princeton,
which is the life-giving, divine element of man, indeed a part
N.J., 1976). Dionysiac mysteries and similar cults have re-
ceived a popularized, but well informed, treatment by Gé-
of God himself. It was “perfect” love, too, in the sense that
rard Freyburger, Maire-Laure Freyburger, and Jean-
it was not directed toward procreation or any other selfish
Christian Tautil, Sectes religieuses en Grèce et à Rome dans
end, but was exclusively for the purpose of being led to God.
l’antiquité païenne (Paris, 1986). See, also, the proceedings
There was also a sort of antiphrastic celebration of the Eu-
of a conference on orgiastic patterns in ancient Greek Reli-
charist, since the object of the dedicated sacrifice is identified
gion, “Actes du III Colloque du C.E.R.G.A. sur l’element or-
with the body of Christ in a physical sense, insofar as it is
giastique dans la religion grecque ancienne,” in Kernos 5
the life-substance of man, the sperm. According to modern
(1992): 13-220.
scholars, such a rite represented a sublimation process of the
A sociological interpretation of collective frenzy and orgiastic fea-
divine spark wrapped in the human body, shaped on the
tures in modern societies is provided by Michel Maffesoli,
soul’s return to divine realms, after having been exiled on
L’ombre de Dionysos, contribution à une sociologie de l’orgie
earth. This particular form of “libertinism” should be linked
(Paris, 1982). On the political and religious value of the
to a more generic anomie so peculiar to Gnostic systems, but
Senatusconsultum de Bacchanalibus, see Matthias Gelzer, Die
much more can be related to similar practices attested in
Unterdrückung der Bacchanalien bei Livius, in Kleine Schrif-
Tantrism or Daoism—a sort of sexual mysticism whose pur-
ten III, pp. 256–269 (Wiesbaden, Germany, 1964); Robert
pose is symbolizing cathartic transformation or allegorical el-
Turcan, “Religion et politique dans l’affaire des Bacchanales:
A propos d’un livre récent,” Revue Histoire Religions 180
evation towards the divine.
(1972): 3–28; and Wilfried Nippel, “Orgien, Ritualmored
S
und Verschwrung? Die Bacchanalien Prozesse des 186
EE ALSO Dionysos; Mystery Religions.
v.Chr” in Grosse Prozesse der römischen Antike, edited by Ul-
B
rich Manthe and Jürgen von Ungern Sternberg, pp. 65-73
IBLIOGRAPHY
There is no specific work devoted to orgy in classical antiquity,
(Munich, Germany, 1997).
but there is a seminal discussion in Mircea Eliade, Patterns
The charges against Christians and other “marginal” groups in an-
in Comparative Religion, translated by Rosemary Sheed (New
tiquity receive an extensive discussion in Franz Joseph Döl-
York, 1958). Eliade also investigated the close connection
ger, “Sacramentum infanticidii,” Antike und Christentum 4
between orgiastic patterns and marginal groups in Occultism,
(1934): 118–200; Albert Henrichs, “Pagan Ritual and the
Witchcraft, and Cultural Fashions: Essays in Comparative Reli-
Alleged Crimes of the Early Christians,” in Kyriakon: Festschr
gions (Chicago, 1976), chapters 5 and 6. On extra-European
Johannes Quasten, edited by Patrick Granfield and Josef A.
folkloric contexts see Vittorio Lanternari, “Orgia sessuale e
Jungmann, pp. 18–35 (Münster, Germany, 1973); Robert
riti di recupero nel culto dei morti,” Studi e materiali di storia
M. Grant, “Charges of Immorality against Various Religious
delle religioni (SMSR) 24–25 (1953–1954): 163–188. See
Groups in Antiquity,” in Studies in Gnosticism and Hellenistic
also the monograph by Susanna Foral, Die Orgie. Vom Kult
Religions Presented to Gilles Quispel on the Occasion of his 65th
des Altertums zu Gruppensexe des Gegenwart (Munich, Ger-
Birthday, edited by R. van den Broek and M. J. Vermaseren,
many, 1981).
pp. 161–170 (Leiden, Netherlands, 1981); and Agnes A.
Reversal rituals in classical antiquity, such as the Thesmophoria
Nagy, “Superstitio et coniuratio,” Numen 49 (2002): 178–
and the Saturnalia, are exhaustively investigated by H. S.
192. For classical novels (with particular reference to Lolli-
Versnel in Inconsistencies in Greek and Roman Religion; vol.
anos), after the edition provided by Albert Heinrichs, Die
2: Transition and Reversal in Myth and Ritual (Leiden, Neth-
Phoinikika des Lollianos. Fragmente eines neuen griechischen
erlands, 1993).
Romans (Bonn, West Germany, 1972), see Ancient Greek
Many studies are devoted to Dionysos and his worship. Euripides’
Novels: The Fragments, edited by Susan A. Stephens and John
Bacchae is edited with an introduction and commentary by
J. Winkler, pp. 314 ff. (Princeton, N.J., 1995).
Eric R. Dodds (Oxford, 1944). The same scholar offers an
On the so called libertine Gnostics, see Norbert Brox, “Nikolaos
interesting discussion on maenadism in the first appendix of
und Nikolaiten,” Vigiliae Christianae 19 (1965): 27–30; Ste-
his monograph, The Greeks and the Irrational (Berkeley,
phen Benko, “The Libertine Gnostic Sect of the Phibionites
Calif., and Los Angeles, 1951). On the same theme, see Al-
according to Epiphanius,” Vigiliae Christianae 21 (1967):
bert Henrichs, “Greek Maenadism from Olympians to Mes-
103–119; Michel Tardieu, “Epiphane contre les Gnos-
salina,” Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 82 (1978):
tiques,” Tel Quel 88 (1981): 64–91; and Giovanni Casadio,
121–160.
Vie gnostiche all’immortalità (Brescia, Italy, 1997).
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ORGY: ORGY IN MEDIEVAL AND MODERN EUROPE
6869
For terminology, see Pierre Chantraine, Dictionnaire étymologique
A trial in 1466 was the end of the Fraticelli as an orga-
de la langue grecque: Histoire des mots, p. 816 (Paris, 1968).
nized sect, albeit their renown as devil worshipers and canni-
CHIARA OMBRETTA TOMMASI (2005)
bals lasted later. This sect, whose adherents were not indeed
numerous and did not possess a unified organization, had
originated from a radical wing of the thirteenth-century
ORGY: ORGY IN MEDIEVAL AND MODERN
Franciscans, some of whom left the order and then the
EUROPE
church (they were the so-called Spirituals, inspired also by
Leveling charges against various dissenting groups or hereti-
the apocalyptic and prophetic writings by the Calabrian
cal sects both of holding meetings at which babies were ritu-
abbot Joachim of Fiore). They professed the opinion that
ally slaughtered and of conducting orgies at which every
Christ and the apostles lived in total poverty and therefore
form of intercourse, including incest, together with the wor-
considered the Roman church as the whore of Babylon, a
shiping of odd divinities in the form of animals, was almost
pattern that recurs elsewhere in millennial groups. The trial
a standard procedure in the history of religions. Cannibalism
of 1466 was the final act of a series of minor proceedings that
or sexual intercourse between close relatives, which are usual-
started at the beginning of the century. Many sources, such
ly considered against human nature and as such forbidden
as Bernardino of Siena and the historian Flavio Biondo, at-
in almost every society, were the natural imputation against
test the practice of a ritual infanticide (the practice is called
persons who saw themselves as outside the normal customs
barilotto, an Italian word that alludes to the little barrel of
or rules. Moreover, dissenting factions were labeled “conspir-
wine with the ashes of the dead child), followed by a promis-
atorial organizations” and often faced charges of conducting
cuous orgy.
ritual murder and cannibalistic feasts. In some cases it is pos-
Similar accusations were used by the French king Philip
sible to establish with certainty that these charges were no
the Fair to achieve at the very beginning of the fourteenth
more than a stereotype, as in the case of such activities im-
century the destruction of the Order of the Knights Templar,
puted to the early Christians. Besides allegations of cannibal-
whose power was more and more increasing: among the
ism and sexual promiscuity, radical groups were sometimes
charges, often extorted under torture, there were, as usual,
accused also of sacrilegious acts, such as spitting and tram-
those of impiety, blasphemy, and sodomy. But in all cases
pling on the crucifix or adoring Satan in corporeal form in
modern research, by a reexamination of the evidence, has
some obscene fashion. Sometimes the nocturnal orgy was
been able to clear these groups of charges, which to some ex-
imagined as presided over and supervised by a demon.
tent have hung over them for five or six centuries.
MEDIEVAL CHRISTENDOM. Already in late antiquity some
heterodox sects like the Priscillianists in Spain (fourth centu-
There are, however, several perplexing testimonies that
ry) or, according to isolated testimonies, the Montanists in
should discourage us from dismissing the accusations too
Africa were accused of unleashing orgies and ritual murders
summarily. This is the case, for example, of the so-called
of children, but there is no real basis for such accusations.
Brethren of the Free Spirit, another heretical sect that played
The same can be affirmed for a large number of Christian
a more important part than Catharism, since it extended over
groups in the Middle Ages, which showed a polemical—and
a vast area in Europe (from Germany to Holland and France,
sometimes even schismatic, by the rejection of some dog-
and also to Italy) and had an extraordinary capacity for sur-
mas—attitude toward the Catholic Church and sought a
vival, despite being constantly harassed by persecution. It is
radical restoration of its conduct, which should have been
possible that some of its adherents from Picardy influenced
more in conformance with Christ’s example, for example, by
also the Taborite revolution in Bohemia, and a brief but hec-
totally abolishing richness and luxury. Among these the Wal-
tic revival of the “Free Spirit” (whose adherents were known
densians (who originated at the end of the twelfth century)
as Ranters) took place in seventeenth-century England dur-
first and the Fraticelli (who developed from radical Francis-
ing its civil war. Its nature has been much debated by histori-
can spiritualism) can be also counted. In spite of their con-
ans, also because of the almost total absence of written
demnation in 1184, the Waldensians spread throughout Eu-
sources, including inquisitorial documents, not to mention
rope, and it is probably against them that the attacks of the
the difficulty of making out the forerunners of the move-
inquisitor Conrad of Marburg in Germany were directed.
ment and its effective adherents. For example, it is indeed
Also the papal bull Vox in Rama, issued in 1233 by Gregory
possible that the Beghards, officially condemned by the
IX, which for the first time gave official character to the trivi-
Council of Vienna in 1312, or the Beguines shared many
al charges of nocturnal orgiastic and demonic covens, had the
patterns with the Brethren of the Free Spirit; so did the
same sect in mind. Even though the archbishop of Mainz,
Amaurians, the followers of Gerardo Segarelli (d. 1300), Fra
in disagreement with Conrad, minimized the phenomenon
Dolcino (d. 1307), Wilhelm Cornelisz from Antwerp, and
(reducing the orgies to mere transgressions by individuals),
many other mystics of the thirteenth century, among whom
the stereotype survived in the following centuries and period-
many women can be mentioned too (Hadewych, Willemine
ically caused a repetition of the prosecutions, until the Wal-
of Bohemia, Bloemardine, Marguerite Porete). However, it
densians were finally rehabilitated in 1509 and given back
is possible to affirm that this sect was a sort of gnosis intent
their confiscated properties.
upon individual salvation, a system of self-exaltation often
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6870
ORGY: ORGY IN MEDIEVAL AND MODERN EUROPE
amounting to self-deification, which concluded in an aber-
ents with the usual accusation of orgy and cannibalism).
rant form of mysticism and anarchy. What distinguished the
Scholars have long since outlined, for example, the affinity
Free Spirit from other medieval sects is total amoralism. The
between the Interrogatio Iohannis—a Bogomil text—and
core of the heresy of the Free Spirit (which did not form an
Cathar sexual morals. This text emphasizes the view that sex-
organized church) lay in its adherents’ attitude toward them-
ual desire and sexual difference were a Satanic creation, im-
selves: they stressed the desire to surpass the human condi-
posed on angelic spirits that were originally bodiless, and it
tion and become godlike, and they believed they had attained
presents a dualist account of sexual difference. Scholars have
so absolute a perfection that they were incapable of sin, a
also suggested that the Catholic redefinition of marriage at
conviction that often could lead to antinomianism. It was
the end of the twelfth century, according to which it had to
thus permissible to do whatsoever was commonly regarded
be understood in terms not of sexual consummation but of
as forbidden, and, in particular, such antinomianism com-
free choice, was an effort to vindicate marriage in response
monly took the form of sexual promiscuity. Eroticism, far
to the Cathar attack. Whereas some sources included the
from springing from a relaxed sensuality, possessed above all
charge that the Cathars advocated sodomy and incest, other
a mystic and symbolic value of spiritual emancipation. Adul-
inquisitors, on the contrary, defended the “perfects” from the
tery too was regarded as a transcendental means of affirma-
charge of sexual debauchery and insisted on their denying of
tion or liberation. Moreover, for the elect, sexual intercourse
marriage: when some preachers emphasized the attack on
could not under any circumstances be sinful, so that they
marriage and childbirth as heretical, they were creating the
were able to indulge in promiscuity without fear of God or
buds of a Catholic view of “normal” sexuality and marriage.
qualms of conscience.
Furthermore, some scholars have also suggested that Catha-
rism influenced the troubadours and their poetic of courtly
In this perspective the Adam cult, which frequently
love, which craves for extraconjugal or adulterous relation-
characterizes the sectarians of the Free Spirit, becomes com-
ships.
prehensible. In this form of worship can be outlined a blend
of chiliasm and primitivism that became one of the com-
REFORMED CHRISTIANITY. The usual criticism brought
moner forms of modern romanticism: in fact, the Adam cult
against the church found, so to say, a land of election in Bo-
involved a sort of re-creation of the lost Paradise and at the
hemia, not only because of the enormous wealth of the
same time an affirmation of the advent of the millennium.
church but also because of a powerful national sentiment
The most famous episode took place in Cologne in 1325.
that gave impulse to the so-called Hussite revolution. After
It ended in a scandal that led to the execution of the most
the execution of its charismatic leader Jan Hus (in 1415), the
prominent members of the sect, who were recognized as ad-
unrest increased and led the country into a restless struggle
herents of the Free Spirit. A suspicious husband, in fact, dis-
that soon took violent forms, in particular when considering
guised as a Beghard, had followed his wife to a secret meeting
the radical Hussites, known as Taborites, a sect lead by Mar-
that was held in a subterranean chamber, sumptuously deco-
tin Húska and Petrus Kániˇs and finally defeated in 1421. In
rated and called Paradise. This gathering was presided over
fact, this revolutionary wing—characterized by anarcho-
by a man (probably an apostate priest identical with the cele-
communistic features and thus compared to the late antique
brated heresiarch Walter the Dutchman) and a woman, who
African circumcellions—was mainly formed by the harassed
claimed to be respectively Christ and the Virgin Mary. After
proletariat and peasantry, people encompassed by a social as
the celebration of some kind of Mass, a naked preacher then
well as religious animosity. Not only did they dismiss prayers
exhorted those present to remove their clothes in order to be
and Masses for the dead as vain superstitions, neglect the
like the innocent and restore the paradisiacal condition. A
veneration of the relics, and deny the dogma of purgatory,
banquet followed, with much singing and rejoicing, and ev-
but they were utterly convinced that the earth had to be
erything was concluded by the final orgy. It seems that the
cleansed of sinners so Christ could descend from heaven in
allegation of an orgy may have been something more than
majesty; thus, it was the inescapable duty of the elect to kill
the standard cliché against dissidents, since the mention of
in the name of the Lord. Thus, the usual millennial expecta-
ritual nudity is variously reported, as well as sexual promiscu-
tions degenerated into an unheard-of violence, massacre, and
ity. Also, in later centuries the descendants of this heresy
terror. The Taborites gathered in completely egalitarian
claimed to perform sexual acts in the same way as Adam and
communities, held together by brotherly love alone. The
Eve.
most important was near Usti, on a promontory that served
as a natural fortress, and was renamed Tabor, after the
The Free Spirit heresy can be partly compared to the
mountain where Christ had foretold his Parousia. There
case of the Cathars; their peculiar form of Christianity was
were even extremer wings, partly influenced by the doctrine
largely influenced by some dualistic or Gnosticizing move-
of the Free Spirit, which they practiced on a far larger scale.
ments in Eastern Europe such as the Bulgarian Bogomils,
These people are known by the name Pikarti (which alludes
who in turn derived from the Paulicians, recorded by some
to the refugee from Picardy who introduced the heresy in the
Byzantine heresiologists (for example, around 1050, Michael
Taborite community) or Bohemian Adamites. According to
Psellos mentions the Thracian sect of the Messalians—
the accounts given by some members, after their defeat and
probably identical to the Bogomils—and charges its adher-
imprisonment they lived in a state of community so uncon-
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ORGY: ORGY IN MEDIEVAL AND MODERN EUROPE
6871
ditional that not only did nobody possess anything of his
essence of anti-Christianity, or indeed a form of devil wor-
own but also marriage was regarded as an appalling sin and
ship). They were usually held at the summit of some famous
promiscuity seems to have been obligatory. Moreover, on the
mountains, but also in churchyards or crossroads. Sabbats
ground of Christ’s remark about harlots and publicans, the
could generally involve only the witches of a neighborhood,
Adamites argued that the chaste were unworthy to enter their
but three or four times a year ecumenical sabbats were cele-
messianic kingdom. The alleged ritual dances held by naked
brated, attended by witches from everywhere. It is possible
people around a fire and accompanied by much singing, to-
to draw a representative picture of the sabbat, since the vari-
gether with the custom of spending much time nude, were
ous accounts—usually recorded from the Inquisition trials
considered a return to the state of innocence enjoyed by
onwards—differ only in minor details. It was the devil, in
Adam and Eve before the fall. The Adamites have sometimes
the shape of a monstrous being, half man and half goat, who
been paralleled to the libertine Gnostics of the third and
presided over the sabbat. The coven began with a reassertion
fourth century, also because they pretended to have a divine
of the devil’s mastery over his servants, the witches (usually
nature even superior to Christ’s, whose death was regarded
women, but sometimes also men or even children). They
as evidence of his mere human condition.
knelt down and adored the demon, also kissing him on his
left foot or genitals. A parody of the Eucharist followed, and
Also Lutheranism and, more generally, Reformed
then a meal usually consisting of revolting substances was
Christianity had to reckon with dissenting groups, which
served. Finally, the participants took part in a hysterical
constituted the radical (or, as it has been labeled, “left”) wing
dance, to the sound of trumpets, drums, and fifes, which
of the Reformation and to which some charges of immorality
would become a frantic and erotic orgy. All things, including
were similarly imputed. The same patterns that have already
sodomy and incest, were permitted, and at the height of the
been sketched out for medieval Christian sectarians (millen-
orgy the devil would copulate with every person present.
nial enthusiastic exaltation, agapic spirituality, militant evan-
gelism, sometimes dualism), together with a sort of proto-
From the nineteenth century down to present times, the
communism, featured some Anabaptist movements too. As
subject has been variously investigated. Whereas some histo-
far as sexual promiscuity is concerned, originally the only
rians have encouraged the belief that there were secret socie-
permitted form was marriage between two Anabaptists, and
ties of witches—sometimes arguing that they were the most
they generally observed a stricter code of sexual morality than
extreme of all heresies or the most nihilistic of all sects—and
most of their contemporaries. A famous example is, however,
that the authorities who pursued them were in effect break-
provided by the Anabaptist “messianic reign” established in
ing the local organizations of that sect, others have suggested
Münster (between 1533 and 1535) by Bernhard Rothmann,
that the notion of an organized sect first developed as a by-
Jan Matthys, and Jan Bockelson, also known as Jan von Ley-
product of the campaign of the Inquisition against Catha-
den. The latter, who became the absolute regent of the rebel-
rism or other heresies. They have even dismissed the idea that
lious city, legalized polygamy in July 1534, an unpopular de-
witch hunting was directed against a real society or an effec-
cision that hastened the end of this singular political
tive cult, adducing psychological or sociological explana-
experiment, also because refusal to comply with the new law
tions, for example considering the sabbat a fantasy of men’s
was made a capital offence and some women were executed.
hatred and fear of women, and the great witch hunt a bloody
In explaining how the biblical precept to “increase and mul-
episode in the sex war. Furthermore, in his well-known pam-
tiply” had to be taken as a divine commandment, and how
phlet La sorcière (Paris, 1862), the French writer Jules Miche-
the polygamy already practiced by the patriarchs of Israel
let argued that witchcraft was nothing more than a protest
should be restored in the New Jerusalem, Bockelson under-
by medieval serfs against the oppressive social order, which
took a path that resembles the one carried out by the
later turned into a ritualized defiance of Christian religion.
Brethren of the Free Spirit and by the Adamites. Even allow-
His romantic description of the Medea-like priestess of the
ing for the exaggeration of hostile accounts (which mention
cult who ritually mates with Satan partially involves the idea
also sumptuous banquets and dissoluteness at Jan’s court),
of a fertility cult that aimed at securing an abundance of
it seems certain that sexual behavior in Münster turned from
crops. This thesis was largely developed in the 1920s and
rigorous puritanism to sheer promiscuity, and that polygamy
1930s by folklorist Margaret Murray, who was deeply influ-
was changed into something not very different from free
enced by the Frazerian vogue of her age. According to Mur-
love. It is interesting to remember that the composer Jacques
ray, down to the seventeenth century, there persisted in Eu-
Meyerbeer echoed these events in his grand opera Le Prophète
rope the relics of a religion centered on the worship of the
(1849).
two-faced horned god Dianus, who represented the cycle of
crops and seasons. This agrarian cult was easily confused with
Witchcraft. Orgiastic themes are a constant feature in
devil worshiping and, as such, prosecuted. Though mostly
the huge literature that flourished around witches and witch-
discredited, Murray’s thesis has enjoyed a certain influence
craft because of the alleged nocturnal gatherings in which at
and was responsible also for the proliferation of modern
regular intervals witches betook themselves to sacrilegious
witch covens. In more recent times, other scholars have re-
and orgiastic covens, usually known as “sabbats” (a term
considered the linking between fertility magic and witch-
taken from the Jewish religion, traditionally considered the
craft, or centered their attention on the libidinous aspects of
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the sabbat, suggesting that ecstatic experiences or trances,
of rabbinic law, a description oddly reminiscent of similar
often induced by drugs or hallucinogenic herbs, share many
and anything but legendary accounts of “Platonic” arrange-
patterns with the ancient cult of Dionysus, which also was
ments at the court of Jakob Frank.
mainly performed by women. It is indeed possible that the
stirrings of feminine discontent may have contributed to the
This account, despite its exaggeration, shares many fea-
orgiastic elements in witches’ revels. Those who plausibly
tures with the complaints to the Turkish authorities concern-
deny the existence of covens and organized sects underline
ing the unbearable abominations committed at Sabbatai’s
how the spreading of such an idea was the product of a soci-
court. The same sources mention, in addition to this example
ety that strongly insisted on religious conformity, repressed
of erotic perversity, instances of antinomianism, such as
dissent, and did its best to enforce that conformity. Never-
treading the phylacteries under foot or tearing up a Torah
theless, whatever might be the final interpretation, it is im-
scroll and trampling upon it, or the ritual consumption of
portant to consider how witchcraft was thought of as a col-
forbidden animal fats, preceded by his blasphemous benedic-
lective fact. Though witches performed spells individually,
tion, “that hast permitted that which is forbidden.” It is clear
they were a society bound together by communal rites, and
that this was essentially a symbolic expression of the abolition
in every respect they were thought to represent a collective
of sexual taboos and prohibitions, or, in other words, a dem-
inversion of Christianity.
onstration of antinomian, revolutionary messianism. Sab-
batai had planned to abolish the ritualistic Jewish obser-
Orgiastic practices in heterodox Judaism. During the
vances and had raised a standard of rebellion against the
Middle Ages and the Renaissance, qabbalistic doctrines were
hallowed traditions of the law, and abrogated its prohibi-
often given a shade of mystical eroticism. Such a develop-
tions, including, by implication, those against incest and for-
ment reached its apex in the controversial figure of the
nication. The symbolic overtones of his breaking the alimen-
Smyrnean Sabbatai Sevi, the pretended messiah and founder
tary taboos must have been obvious. It has also been
(in the Ottoman Empire during the second half of the seven-
supposed that his behavior was influenced by his wife (who,
teenth century) of a Jewish sect inspired by qabbalistic teach-
in turn, had led an irregular and eccentric life before mar-
ings and pervaded by millennial expectations, who at the end
riage) and by his own ideas regarding the messianic liberation
of his life made an astonishing and unclear conversion to
of women from the yoke of their husbands.
Islam in order to have spared his life from the sultan. Sab-
batai’s behavior presents a strange mixture of erotic mysti-
Sabbatai’s influence became widespread in Central Eu-
cism and inhibitions, which increased as he became master
rope too and lasted after his fall in disgrace. Messianic expec-
over a large number of enthusiastic followers, culminating
tations could also offer a sort of viaticum to the prosecutions
in an alternation of semierotic and semiascetic rituals (for ex-
suffered by Jews during that period, or were meant as a way
ample, the singing of psalms, clad in phylacteries and sur-
to improve the social condition of the Jews, also because of
rounded by women and wine). Accounts of his life include
the decline of the rabbinical schools. However, having lost
also charges of immorality, which cannot be lightly dismissed
its political influence messianism assumed a mystical color-
as an invention of hostile sources. However, there is little or
ing and was transformed into a secret and sectarian cult; in
no evidence of debauchery during the early period, as long
Turkey a half-Jewish, half-Islamic sect was established, the
as he was a Jewish rabbi, despite fits of manic enthusiasm;
so-called Dönmeh, while in the Polish region of Podolia nu-
on the contrary, all allegations of moral excesses date after
merous groups of Sabbatians were formed. Their adherents,
his apostasy. There may have been tendencies in Sabbatai
in expectation of the messianic revolution, discarded many
that remained suppressed for a long time by his ascetic way
dogmas and religious customs; the cult thus included ele-
of life but that erupted sooner or later, perhaps after his mar-
ments of both strict asceticism, including self-torture, and
riage with Sarah, through whom a licentious element entered
sensuality or licentiousness. Despite the attempt of the Polish
in his life. According to some contemporary Armenian
rabbis at extirpating it, the Sabbatian heresy survived and was
sources, Sabbatai had relations with women or favorites and
practiced in secret, Masonic-like, circles. The Frankist sect,
was accused by his adversaries of lewdness and debauches.
which was very influential in the eighteenth century, origi-
Among the disconcerting conduct he kept up, he was vari-
nated from Sabbatian ambits. Its founder, Jakob Frank, came
ously said to have taken with him for many days some virgins
from a Sabbatian family and was himself a devoted adherent
and then returned them, allegedly without having touched
to the movement, intimate with the leaders. He began gath-
them. There are also documents that testify how Sabbatai
ering sectarians around 1755 in his native Podolia, asserting
prided himself on his ability to have intercourse with virgins
that he had been directly instructed by Sabbatai’s successors
without actually deflowering them. Also a favorable source,
in Salonica. After having been excommunicated by a con-
that is, his disciple Abraham Cuenque’s idealized account of
gress of rabbis because of the scandal stirred up by their as-
Sabbatai’s residence (during his imprisonment) at the
semblies, Frank and his followers tried to gain the support
“Tower of Strength” in Abydos, says that the “messiah” and
of the Catholic hierarchy by proclaiming their rejection of
his wife Sarah were attended by beautiful virgins, the daugh-
the Talmud. A huge number of them were also able to re-
ters of the most illustrious families, and also that several rab-
ceive baptism in 1759, but the insincerity of the Frankists
bis submitted to him their queries and difficulties in matters
became more and more clear, and also a church tribunal
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6873
judged Frank as a heretic. Though imprisoned, he was able
ple of God,” or Khlysts, and it is difficult to distinguish the
to win a number of followers to his new religion, a strange
real significance of this mystical and totally irrational reli-
mixture of Sabbatianism and Christianity. He was released
gious approach, since the concealment of their rites was al-
in 1772 and traveled throughout Europe until his death in
most total and the majority of our information derives from
1791.
hostile sources (missionaries or police). The name Khlysts,
as the members were called by detractors, derives either from
An important role in the organization of the sect was
a distortion of “Christ,” because the adherents thought that
played by Eve, Frank’s beautiful daughter, to whom also a
Christ could become incarnate in every one of them, or (and
peculiar form of cultic veneration was directed (involving a
this seems the most probable interpretation) from the Rus-
sort of syncretism with the Virgin in Chentsochov); after the
sian word for “whip,” with an allusion to ritual practices of
death of her father she became the holy mistress and leader
self-flagellation. It seems possible to affirm that this sect was
of the sect. Frankism remained prominent also during the
an emanation of the various Russian schismatic movements
Romantic age and the nineteenth century, and in a certain
that began their diffusion during the seventeenth and eigh-
way inspired the Polish nationalism, together with other
teenth centuries and that taught that Christian faith had
mystical streams, which were more acceptable because of the
been destroyed by an Antichrist, after a long period of splen-
lack of antinomianism and sexual scandals. In fact, Frankism
dor and decadence, and should be founded again. Whereas
consisted—more than Sabbatianism—in a total negation of
Danil Filippovicˇ, a peasant from the Volga region and al-
the traditional bulk of Jewish religion and ethics, conforming
leged founder of the sect, seems to be nothing more than a
to a sort of mythology of nihilism, in which the new messian-
shadowy and legendary figure, the first important representa-
ic law entailed a complete reversal of values and the transfor-
mation of the prohibitions of the Torah, including sexual
tive was Ivan Timofeevicˇ Suslov. In the eighteenth and the
unions and incest, into licit acts. The adherents believed that
nineteenth centuries the sect spread out and reached also the
the descent into evil is a condition of ascent toward good,
high society in Saint Petersburg.
and, in this way, orgiastic practices were turned into the via
Both an emotional revelation and a multiplicity of the
mystica of the new eon. Also the outward conversion to
divine incarnations lay at the ground of the Khlyst spirituali-
Christianity was intended as the holy sin that would liberate
ty. In order to allow the death of the old person and the mys-
them from the repressions of Mosaic and Talmudic law.
tical resurrection in Christ, which also meant the presence
of a divine spark in the intimate self and possession by the
Among the Jewish sects that derived from Sabbatianism
Holy Spirit, fasting, chastity, prayer and self-flagellation were
and practiced sexual antinomianism, the Moravians in eigh-
necessary. The culmination of their rites consisted in a noc-
teenth-century London can be noted too. Their leader was
turnal ceremony, which began with a fanatical dervishlike
Count Ludwig Zinzendorf, himself an amateur qabbalist.
dance, after a dispersion of holy water: men and women con-
According to the theories followed by Zinzendorf, God and
the universe are dynamic sexual potencies that interact to-
centrically rotated in opposite directions, until they became
gether to generate orgasmic joy when in perfect equilibrium.
exhausted and proffered prophecies. Accounts of self-
Furthermore, contacts between Frankists and Zinzendorfi-
flagellation and a concluding orgy—after the ritual election
ans are well documented, as well as contacts with Masonic
of a woman, who was then adored as the Virgin Mary—are
milieus. Some contemporaries described the Moravians as a
also reported; these practices, a sort of hybrid between the
subversive secret society, whose leaders aimed at progressive-
cult of the ancient Mother Goddess and the Christian vener-
ly sapping the energy of civil government and establishing
ation of Mary, were justified by asserting that the satisfaction
an empire within an empire. Their “clinging together” was
of carnal desires is the straightest way to redemption and that
a euphemism for communal sex, ritual orgies, and compara-
humans can be saved only passing through a hyperbolic de-
ble “gnostic obscenities” reserved to the higher initiates. Also,
gree of depravation and sin. Sexual intercourse, however, was
Emanuel Swedenborg, who since youth was trained in het-
restrained to this singular rite, while usually a strict chastity
erodox Jewish mysticism and in Sabbatianism too, attended
was observed. The same kind of frantic, insistent attitude to-
the Moravian lodge during his sojourn in London. His dia-
ward asceticism and purity led some members to refuse such
ries testify to many of the shocking sexual ceremonies of the
transgressive behavior and to commit self-castration at the
Moravians, in which he was initially concerned but that later
end of a frantic dance (like their pagan antecedents, the Galli,
repelled him. However, like the Moravians earlier, the Swe-
priests of Cybele who emasculated themselves). The new
denborgians were vulnerable to becoming objects of public
monastic order was founded in the second half of the eigh-
ridicule and scandal. This motley crew who populated the
teenth century by Kondratij Selivanov, who asserted in 1765
clandestine world of illuminist Freemasonry in pre-Victorian
at the same time that he was the embodiment of God and
London found a sympathetic enthusiast in William Blake,
of Tsar Peter III. The members took the name Skoptzi (liter-
who maintained a lifelong commitment to radical theories
ally “whitened”), alluding to their condition: they also pro-
of sexuality, including polygamy.
claimed the intrinsic oneness of God and man and aimed at
restoring the chiliastic reign of God on earth. The Khlysts
The Khlysts. Even more puzzling are the accounts re-
enjoyed a special renown also because, according to many,
ported about the Russian orthodox sect of the so-called “peo-
the famous monk and political intriguer Rasputin (born
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6874
ORGY: ORGY IN MEDIEVAL AND MODERN EUROPE
c.1864–d. 1916) was a member of the sect, even though not
It is worth mentioning here also the enigmatic and con-
all his biographers credit this information. It is true, howev-
troversial figure of Edward Alexander (Aleister) Crowley
er, that he exercised a sort of magnetic fascination over
(1875–1947), himself a member and reformer of the OTO
women, and he is reported to having seduced many, despite
and founder in 1920 of the Abbey of Thelema (from the
his strong ascetic outlook.
Greek word for “will”) in Sicily, a utopian community in
which every desire could be gratified and every impulse ex-
NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS IN THE EIGHTEENTH AND
pressed through free experimentation in drugs, sex, and
NINETEENTH CENTURIES. As it has been seen, sex, magic,
physical excess. His impact on the modern revival of pagan-
and secrecy had long been associated in the Western religious
ism, magic, witchcraft, and occultist and esoteric practices
imagination, especially as far as esoteric orders are concerned.
has been extremely influential, albeit he has been neglected
It is possible to recall here also the radical illuminist sect of
by academic scholarship until recent times. The reason for
the frères (“brethren”) at Avignon, who were in contact with
this neglect is perhaps to be found, besides his more generally
Masonic and Swedenborgians circles. In their arcane obser-
outrageous behavior, in his strong insistence on the practice
vance they practiced ritual nudity, communal sex, and wor-
of “sexual magikc” (according to his spelling). During his life
ship of the Shekhinah (the qabbalistic feminine counterpart
Crowley had been the object of intense media scandal and
of God). Accusations about erotic ceremonies at Avignon, as
was apparently delighted in offending contemporary British
well as biographic details about their chief, Count Grabi-
society, not only by proclaiming himself the “Great Beast
anka, suggest that these revolutionary sexual theories were
666” but also by explicitly using the most “deviant” sexual
not only preached but also performed.
acts, including masturbation and homosexuality, as central
Of course, different is the practice of polygamy or group
components in his magical practice (therefore, he expanded
marriage variously theorized during the nineteenth century
to eleven OTO’s original nine degrees). Sex was believed to
by the proto-Marxian French philosopher Fourier and his
conceal some awesome, even sacred, power, the tremendous
well-known doctrine of the falansteries, or in the religious
liberation of which Crowley tried to effect through his magi-
experiences of some North American communities, among
cal practices.
which it is worth mentioning the Oneida Community,
Rejecting the prudish hypocrisy of the Victorian Chris-
founded in 1844 by John Humphrey Noyes and some
tian world in which he had grown up, Crowley identified sex
friends of his in New York. Regulated by a communist way
as the most powerful force in life and the supreme source of
of life, Noyes’s community was deeply pervaded by millenni-
magical power. He has been thus compared to other contro-
al feelings and practiced so-called complex marriage, accord-
versial figures of his day, such as D. H. Lawrence and Oscar
ing to which every man and every woman were married to
Wilde, who aimed at bursting the oppressive values and con-
each other and could engage in sexual intercourse but could
stricting morality of their society. Yet Crowley took the ideal
not be attached to each other as stated earlier. In addition,
of transgression to its furthest possible extremes, since he de-
the male members also practiced a form of birth control
liberately overthrew every imaginable social, moral and sexu-
where during and after sexual intercourse the man could not
al taboo in order to accomplish a radical superhuman free-
ejaculate.
dom, self-affirmation, and even self-deification. With a
certain fondness for ostentation and scandal, Crowley him-
However, the first well-developed system of sexual
self sensationalized his way of life, and his infamy as the
magic is due to Paschal Beverly Randolph (1825–1875), the
wickedest man alive was due to the emphasis of the popular
foremost American exponent of magical eroticism or Affec-
press, which described Crowley’s sexual promiscuity in vivid
tional Alchemy. This was a sort of sexual magic to which he
and exaggerated detail and considered him and his followers
claimed to have been initiated by some fak¯ırs during a jour-
as members of a blasphemous sect, whose proceedings con-
ney to Jerusalem, who were perhaps adherents to the mystical
tributed to immorality of the most revolting character.
order of the Nus:ayr¯ıs, a group long persecuted by orthodox
Islam because of their alleged Gnostic sexual rituals. Ran-
Crowley was also one of the first Western authors inter-
dolph saw in sexual orgasm the critical moment in human
ested in the Hatha Yoga, Raja Yoga and, most of all, the
consciousness and the key to magical power and personal ful-
Hindu and Buddhist traditions of Tantra, even though he
fillment as well as social transformation and regeneration.
seems to have mediated his knowledge of Tantric doctrines
His doctrines were developed mostly by the esoteric move-
by secondary and often highly distorted sources, which partly
ment known as the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO), inspired
reflected the prejudicial bias of European Asian scholars.
by Karl Kellner and Theodor Reuss. The OTO taught that
This complex exoteric body of spiritual teaching often in-
it is the polarity of male and female energies that creates the
volves explicit forms of ritual transgression, such as con-
universe, and it is sexual union that leads to the reunion of
sumption of food or sexual intercourse in violation of class
the divine ego and to angelhood; it also developed a system
laws, in order to awake the tremendous power or shakti that
of nine initiation degrees, the last three of which focused
flows through all things. However, according to recent schol-
upon the theory of sex magic and the techniques of auto- and
arship, Tantra is in most cases a conservative tradition, which
heterosexual magic.
allows social relations and sexual taboos to be violated only
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6875
in highly controlled ritual contexts so that the ritual authori-
simpler to interpret as reflecting repressed desires, tempta-
ty and social status of male Bra¯hmans may be ultimately reas-
tions, or even misogyny. Such a notion of unconstrained sex-
serted, that is, reinforced, outside the boundaries of esoteric
uality was combined with that of a systematic and total inver-
ritual. Even though sexual union is a fairly minor part of a
sion of the ordinary cult.
global spiritual practice, to a Western audience Tantra ap-
Conversely, the sects that really practiced orgies or expe-
peared nothing else than a popular form of spirituality whose
rienced sexual promiscuity during their (often secret) rituals
core was healthy sexuality or even a perverse confusion of sex-
show a characteristic blending of self-exaltation or rather self-
uality and religion (in the Victorian age Tantra doctrines
deification and antinomianism, which took the form of an
were trivialized by Edward Sellon, himself a pornographic
anarchic eroticism. A motif common to all these groups is
writer, who offered titillating descriptions of the licentious
the sinless condition of the elects (or, in other terms, “awak-
orgies among the votaries and of the disregard for every natu-
ened,” or “perfects”), which allows them to perform all the
ral restraint). The Western redefinition of Tantra by its sexu-
acts, including prohibited or impure ones. Such persons lose
al element, its comparison to the orgasm theory of Reich,
an experience of sin, understood as mortification or mystical
and the vague equation with “spiritual sex,” the goal of which
death, deprived sexual intercourse of its impure character,
is only heightened orgasm and optimal physical pleasure,
and produced an effect of transformation, which helped to
owes much to Crowley’s interest in this doctrine and to his
destroy one’s own conceit. This was achieved also thanks to
putting the sexual element, as well as perhaps the antinomian
a sort of neutralization of the individuals who merged into
one, at the first place; although Crowley had only a superfi-
a cosmic-pantheist unity, since orgies permit the individual
cial understanding of Tantrism, he became a seminal figure
constraint of eros to be overthrown.
in this transformation and is still today widely cited as the
modern pioneer of “Tantric Sex Magick.”
Moreover, sex, particularly in its transgressive, nonre-
productive forms, is intended as a way to unleash the su-
It seems that some neo-Gnostic movements were per-
preme creative power, which can be deployed for a wide
meated by libertine streams, just like their ancient predeces-
range of both spiritual and material ends. Recent interpreta-
sors; at the same time similar patterns are reported also for
tions (from Julius Evola onwards) consider orgasm as a
modern witchcraft, in the forms developed by Charles A.
means to attain a condition of exhaustion taken to the ex-
Lelend or Gerald Brosseau Gardner, although there is no real
treme limit, which can create “breakages of consciousness”
certainty of an effective practice. Orgies feature also the mod-
and so open the mind to the “supersensual.” It is thus possi-
ern Satanic or Luciferian cults (for example, in organized
ble to compare such practices to what Georges Bataille calls
movements like those inspired by Anton La Vey or Martin
the power of transgression, which is a central aspect of eroti-
Lamers) from the eighteenth-century “Hells of Fires” on-
cism, religious ritual (such as blood sacrifices, carnivals, etc.),
wards, even though it is very difficult to distinguish whether
and mystical experience alike. According to Bataille, the vari-
they have a religious significance or simply represent a way
ous acts of transgression imply deliberate violations and sys-
to vent one’s own instincts, usually induced or propitiated
tematic inversions of the moral laws and sexual codes of the
also by drugs or hallucinogens.
larger society, though they cannot be understood as mere he-
CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHICAL AND SOCIOLOGICAL IN-
donistic and unrestrained sexual license; their power lies in
TERPRETATIONS OF THE ORGY. To sum up, some patterns
the dialectic between taboo and transgression, and the ulti-
common to all these religious movements can be outlined.
mate aim of them is to transgress the very boundaries of the
Besides the risks involved in an overstatement of the orgiastic
self, that is, to smash the limits of finite human consciousness
phenomenon, often due to the hostility of the sources (for
in order to experience the unlimited continuity of the infi-
example, as far as the majority of medieval sects is con-
nite (in this sense eroticism is intimately linked to death it-
cerned), it is indeed true that in some cases the practice of
self). According to Bataille, who echoes some theories already
sexual promiscuity, accompanied by lavish banquets and
outlined by the Marquis de Sade at the end of the eighteenth
frantic dances, is well attested and draws on particular philo-
century, the prohibition is there to be violated, and the best
sophical premises. A more general antinomianism—usually
way of enlarging one’s desires is to try to limit them, because
permeated by chiliastic instances and sometimes by dualistic
it is just this experience that brings the blissful sense of conti-
conceptions and communism practices—lies at the founda-
nuity and unity with the Other. Nor are there lacking socio-
tion. Moving from the statement that the (often stereotypi-
logical interpretations of the orgy, like those by Michel Maf-
cal) acts attributed to these outgroups represented a total in-
fesoli and Jean Baudrillard, who argue that the present is a
version of the norms, totally forbidden and thus regarded
“post-orgy world,” after the great social and sexual revolu-
with horror, psychoanalytic attempts at explaining this kind
tions have broken every conceivable taboo. The orgy, in fact,
of phenomenon have also been made. While the charge of
is the explosive moment of modernity, that of liberation in
cannibalism or ritual murder of children can be explained ei-
all domains, although, as a consequence of it, liberation has
ther in terms of homicide fantasies experienced in infancy or
left everyone in an undefined and uncertain state, in which
early childhood and then deeply repressed, or—as seems
one’s own definition is put into question.
more probable—anxiety for the untimely death of children,
so frequent in the past centuries, the theme of erotic orgy is
SEE ALSO Sexuality, article on Sexual Rites in Europe.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
being convincing; see, for example, Giovanni Busino, “La
The Priscillianist heresy and a certain attitude of the church to-
microhistoire de Carlo Ginzburg,” Bibliothéque
ward magic and occultism is well outlined by Henry Chad-
d’Humanisme et de Renaissance 61 (1999): 763–778.
wick, Priscillian of Avila: The Occult and the Charismatic in
Among recent contributions see also: Early Modern European
the Early Church (Oxford, 1976).
Witchcraft: Centres and Peripheries, edited by Bengt Ankarloo
The dualistic grounds that feature many antinomian religious
and Gustav Henningsen (Oxford, 1993); Lyndal Roper, Oe-
groups have been investigated, with respect particularly to
dipus and the Devil: Witchcraft, Sexuality and Religion in Early
Eastern Europe, by Josef Leo Seifert, Die Weltrevolutionäre
Modern Europe (London and New York, 1994), which deals
von Bogomil über Hus zu Lenin (Wien, 1931); see also Ugo
particularly with post-Reformation Germany; Stuart Clark,
Bianchi, Selected Essays on Gnosticism, Dualism and Mysterio-
Thinking with Demons: The Idea of Witchcraft in Early Mod-
sophy (Leiden, 1978), who deals with Gnosticism and medi-
ern Europe (Oxford, 1997); and, most of all, Walter Ste-
eval sects. Norman Cohn’s The Pursuit of the Millennium:
phens, Demon Lovers: Witchcraft, Sex, and the Crisis of Belief
Revolutionary Messianism in Medieval and Reformation Eu-
(Chicago, 2002).
rope and its Bearing on Modern Totalitarian Movements, 2d
An excellent monograph about Sabbatai Sevi is Gershom
ed. (New York, 1961) considers in detail the chiliastic expec-
Scholem, Sabbatai Sevi: The Mystical Messiah, 1626–1676
tations of such movements.
(Princeton, N.J., 1976); for the Frankist movement see Ar-
For the various late antique, medieval and Renaissance Christian
thur Mandel, The Militant Messiah or The Flight from the
“heretical” groups or sects suspected of libertinism and orgi-
Ghetto: The Story of Jacob Frank and the Frankist Movement
astic practices, see the compendia arranged by Georges Wel-
(Atlantic Highlands, N.J., 1979), and Gershom Scholem,
ter, Histoire des sectes chrétiennes (Paris, 1950) and Martin
Du frankisme au jacobinisme (Paris, 1981). Sexual symbolism
Erbstosser, Ketzer im Mittelalter (Leipzig, Germany,1984).
in the Qabbalah is well investigated (among others) by
More detailed investigations are provided by: Romana Guarnieri,
Moshe Idel, “Sexual Metaphors and Praxis in the Kabbalah,”
Il movimento del Libero Spirito (Rome, 1965); R. E. Lerner,
in The Jewish Family: Metaphor and Memory, edited by
The Heresy of the Free Spirit in the Later Middle Ages (Berkeley
David Kraemer, pp. 197–224 (New York, 1989); and Fran-
and Los Angeles, 1972); Theodora Buttnwer and Ernst Wer-
co Michelini Tocci, “Simboli di trasformazione cabalistici ed
ner, Circumcellionen und Adamiten (Berlin, 1959); Howard
alchemici nell’E¯ˇs Mesare¯f con un excursus sul libertinismo
Kaminski, A History of the Hussite Revolution (Berkeley and
gnostico,” Annali dell’Istituto Orientale di Napoli 41 (1981):
Los Angeles, 1967); Alexander Patschovsky, “Chiliasmus
41–81.
und Reformation im ausgehenden Mittelalter,” in Ideologie
The best inquiry on the Khlysts still remains Karl Grass, Die Rus-
und Herrschaft im Mittelalter, edited by Max Kerner,
sischen Sekten (Leipzig, Germany, 1907–1909); see also René
pp. 475–496 (Darmstadt, Germany, 1982).
Fülöp Miller, Der heilige Teufel Rasputin und die Frauen
Denis de Rougemont, L’amour et l’occident (Paris, 1939) is an at-
(Berlin, 1927; English transl. New York, 1962), which deals
tractive—albeit not strictly scientific—monograph about
with Rasputin’s life.
transgressive and adulterous love during the Middle Ages.
On the utopian idea of group marriages as developed by Fourier
On the same theme and, more generally, about the Cathar
see Frank E. Manuel and Fritzie P. Manuel, Utopian Thought
views on sexuality see also Robert Nelli, L’érotique des troba-
in the Western World (Cambridge, Mass., 1979), as well as
dours (Paris, 1963) and Le phénomène cathare (Toulouse,
Roland Barthes, Sade, Fourier, Loyola (Paris, 1971; English
France, 1964).
translation by Richard Miller, New York, 1976); for Ameri-
The great European witch hunt of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and
can communities see Lawrence Foster, Religion and Sexuality:
seventeenth centuries has been the subject of numerous in-
The Shakers, the Mormons, and the Oneida Community (Ur-
quiries, which have been more and more increasing in the
bana, Ill., 1984); and Free Love in Utopia: John Humphrey
last decades. It is worth remembering here the well-known
Noyes and the Origin of the Oneida Community (Urbana, Ill.,
books by Margaret Murray, The Witch-Cult in Western Eu-
2001).
rope (Oxford, 1921; repr. 1962) and The God of the Witches
For sexual magic and its developments see: Tim O’Neill, “The
(London, 1933); Arno Runenberg, Witches, Demons and Fer-
Erotic Freemasonry of Count Nicholas von Zinzendorf,” in
tility Magic (Helsingfors, Finland, 1947) partially follows
Secret and Suppressed: Banned Ideas and Hidden History, ed-
Murray’s views. Shamanistic features in witchcraft are out-
ited by Jim Keith, pp. 103–108 (Los Angeles, 1993); Marsha
lined by Elliot Rose, A Razor for a Goat (Toronto, 1962);
K. Schuchard, “Why Mrs. Blake Cried: Swedenborg, Blake
Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, Les paysans de Languedoc (Paris,
and the Sexual Basis of Spiritual Vision,” Esoterica 2 (2000):
1966; English transl. Urbana, Ill., 1976) reconsiders the “so-
45–93; John Patrick Deveney, Paschal Beverly Randolph: A
cial” explanation of the phenomenon.
Nineteenth Century American Spiritualist, Rosicrucian and Sex
A well-documented inquiry is provided by Jeffrey Burton Russell,
Magician (Albany, N.Y., 1997); Francis King, ed., The Secret
Witchcraft in the Middle Ages (Ithaca, N.Y., 1972) and Nor-
Rituals of the O.T.O. (New York, 1973); Ronald Hutton,
man Cohn, Europe’s Inner Daemons (New York, 1975),
Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft
whose totally “negationist” views have, however, been ques-
(Oxford, 2000); John Symonds, The King of the Shadow
tioned. See, for example, Carlo Ginzburg, The Night Battles:
Realm. Aleister Crowley: His Life and Magic (London, 1989);
Witchcraft and Agrarian Cults in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth
Francis King, The Magic World of Aleister Crowley (London,
Centuries (New York, 1985); Ecstasies: Deciphering the
1987); Lawrence Sutin, Do What Thou Wilt: A Life of Aleister
Witch’s Sabbath (New York, 1992), who partially reconsiders
Crowley (New York, 2000). Important for the present subject
Murray’s and Runenberg’s arguments, even though without
is Hugh Urban, “Unleashing the Beast: Aleister Crowley,
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ORGY: ORGY IN ASIA
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Tantra and Sex Magic in Late Victorian England,” Esoterica
anything it was the continuity of the site and its geography
5 (2003): 138–192.
that carried forward in time the pre-Christian meaning. Cul-
Julius Evola, Metafisica del sesso (Rome, 1969; new edition with
tural anthropologists have come to similar conclusions about
a foreword by Fausto Antonini, Rome, 1984; translated into
South and Southeast Asian shrine festivals, where the village
English as The Metaphysics of Sex [New York, 1983]; or as
tradition addresses itself to survival, healing, and fertility in
Eros and the Mysteries of Love [Rochester, Vt., 1991]) is an
its own ritual idiom, even within the matrix of “great tradi-
interesting forerunner of modern sociological approaches to
tion” religiosity.
sexuality and orgiasm, such as those developed by Michel
Maffesoli, L’ombre de Dionysos, contribution à une sociologie
A CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF THE DEFINITION. In such so-
de l’orgie (Paris, 1982); see also Jean Baudrillard, The Trans-
cieties the orgiastic ritual is lived as a positive aspect and not
parency of Evil: Essays on Extreme Phenomena (New York,
primarily as a way to fulfill instinctual drives. Most cultures
1993). For Bataille’s views on transgression, see his Erotism:
indulge forms of transgression and release, such as recre-
Death and Sensuality (San Francisco, 1986); Visions of Excess:
ational alcoholic consumption, raucous music, banquets,
Selected Writings, 1927–1939 (Minneapolis, Minn., 1985);
and prostitution. Orgiastic rituals, however, are not primari-
and The Unfinished System of Nonknowledge (Minneapolis,
ly recreational activities; they occupy a precise niche in soci-
Minn., 2001). See also Michel Foucault, Histoire de la sexu-
etal expressions of religious emotion.
alité, 3 vols. (Paris, 1976–1984; English transl. New York,
1978–1986).
Transgressive collective behavior should be understood
CHIARA OMBRETTA TOMMASI (2005)
in terms of forms of conduct that are not done openly or out-
side particular times and places. The counterpoint to the
orgy as unbridled collective transgression may be seen in a
text from the Pali canon of early Buddhism. This Buddhist
ORGY: ORGY IN ASIA
“Genesis” myth asserts that sexual relations arise when
Western scholarship in the history of religions has taken the
human karmic propensities undergo embodiment, density,
orgiastic rituals of the eastern Mediterranean (Dionysos,
and passion. The sexual act provokes reactions of revulsion
Cybele) as the ideal type of religious behavior manifesting as
and shame, and so the first cabins are constructed in order
reckless bodily movements contributing to states of emotion-
to conceal the act of coitus. (Aggañña Sutta 27; iii; 88–
al excess, sometimes with the assistance of intoxicants. In the
89.16–17: “Accordingly those who indulged in such immor-
context of large-scale festivities, the force of these excesses
al practices began to build themselves dwellings so as to in-
sets aside the normal psychological restraints such that reli-
dulge under cover.”) The sexual act performed in the pres-
gious exaltation is obtained en masse through all types of sen-
ence of others, whether active participants or spectators, is
sual pleasure. This view enabled scholars and others to link
understood to be “transgressive” on a deep level of human
such pre-Christian rites with transgressive behavior in west-
experience. Lived as part of a larger continuum of human ac-
ern European history, especially witchcraft and heresy. Theo-
tivity, however, the orgy effectively reflects the variegated
ries of “pagan survivals” were advanced to explain both the
character of human life itself. Such rites enable humans to
presence of pre-Christian elements in festivals of the church
transcend moral categories under certain circumstances so as
year and the periodic outbreaks of heresy and sorcery. The
to become protagonists in a cosmic drama. Thus human
weaknesses of these theories of subterranean survival of pa-
community, and not the individual or couple alone, can be-
ganism require some attention in order to avoid applying er-
come an intentionally sacred representation of larger cosmic
rors of method to festival-located orgiastic rituals in Asian
energies that require periodic renewal.
cultures.
To this end human societies sanction periods of festival.
There is little archeological evidence to support the
Within the matrix of festival, the orgy has an initiatic charac-
claim that the orgiastic rites of Cybele, Dionysos, the Mae-
ter, because those who participate for the first time have to
nads, or Priapus were handed down, even in mitigated form,
be informed in some way about the boundary between the
from classical antiquity to the customs of medieval Christian
quotidian or profane and the sacred; even the orgy has a sa-
pilgrimage sites. At best the evidence from folklore supports
cred confine that encloses its secrets from the uninitiated or
a continuity in which the survival, healing, and fertility con-
the unprepared. The orgy is not merely a ritual to be enacted
cerns of human societies were addressed in festival rites at lo-
at the will of the participants. Because a transgression of con-
cations that continued to be venerated across the centuries.
ventional norms is involved, there has to be a link between
Rural customs involving magic, cursing, exorcism, and folk
the orgiastic rite and the correct time and place. Festivals are
medicine were for many centuries associated with Christian
calculated to fall on specific conjunctions of the cosmic
saints and their shrines.
markers of time. Only under the circumstances in which the
At the shrine of Saints Cosmas and Damian in Isernia,
human protagonists in a ritual are joined with the cosmic
Italy, a supposed “phallic cult” (or “cult of Priapus”) was
cycle of time can a rite renew the world by reenacting the
thought to have survived from pagan antiquity, when in real-
creative events of primordial time, at the threshold between
ity the rites deemed pre-Christian could just as easily have
timelessness and time. Orgy cannot sanction anything with-
arisen in the context of medieval popular Catholicism. If
out reference to the rightness of time and place, when the
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ORGY: ORGY IN ASIA
vital energies of the cosmos can be renewed. As a conscious,
formal religious traditions. For the vast majority of the popu-
organized human ritual art form enacted during the time of
lation, Hindu and Buddhist textual and philosophical under-
festival, the orgy makes possible a return to the time of ori-
standings have only tangential relationships to the lived reali-
gins in which chaos prevailed. This was the time before the
ties of space, time, and other more immediate matters.
ordering principles of the cosmos began to operate so as to
Among these in particular are the physical environment
establish the social order, with gender distinctions, hierarchy,
within which they live, spatially differentiated in terms of its
caste, and rulership. Both the profane interactions of the so-
uses for habitation and agriculture, and the ongoing cycle of
cial order and the agricultural cycles on which human life de-
the year, also closely tied to the agricultural cycle on which
pends are subject to decay and disharmony. Therefore a cycle
human life, with its own rhythms, depends.
of festivals in the course of the year periodically renews envi-
ronment and society. Some festivals, though not all, have ele-
India. It is likely that ideas and practices of an orgiastic
ments of sexuality, violence, role reversal, use of intoxicants,
type are rooted in archaic sex rites magically associating natu-
and frenzy.
ral and human fertility. These sex rites contributed widely
to the development of religious ideas and to the evolution
In effect the orgy is a rite not of stasis and interiorization
of human thought. In India archaic elements survived and
but of intensely energetic renewal. Orgiastic practices work
were given new forms and interpretations over time with the
with the play of energy in forms associated with dancing and
larger evolutionary tendencies of the great traditions.
singing gods and goddesses to whom the human protagonists
are assimilated. Environments and human communities are
In general the original Vedic rituals made use of an in-
reconstituted with particular emphasis on the blessings of sex
toxicant (soma), sexuality, and obscenity, as in the ritualized
and fertility. Orgiastic spirituality is in stark contrast to those
copulation in the Brhadaranyaka Upanis:ads account of the
contemplative practices that emphasize stillness, centered-
horse sacrifice. Maithuna, sexual union, is suggestive of the
ness, silence, renunciation, solitude, and ascetic discipline. In
doctrine of nonduality between the human and the divine.
the orgy extreme excess, ritual sacrifice of human beings, can-
In myth and ritual even adulterous love (parakiya) in
nibalism, mutilation, transgender mimicry, sexual promiscu-
Gaud:¯ıya Vais:n:ava theology came to symbolize the “illicit”
ity, and even warfare can become forms perceived as vehicles
and dangerous character of relations between the human soul
of communal and cosmic renewal. Typically these extreme
(Ra¯dha¯) and the divine Lover (Kr:s:n:a). At times the valoriza-
forms undergo mitigation in substitutionary enactments.
tion of adulterous and promiscuous union would have been
enacted in the Bengali Sahajiya Tantric rituals. Maithuna is
Nevertheless the use of drumming, extremely rhythmic
one of the “five m’s” of left-hand path Tantra (Va¯ma¯ca¯ra)
music, dance, raucous songs, intoxicants, banqueting, and
in the Kaula Kapalika cults of Shaivism. Some Tantric
sexuality continue to have a place in a large number of festi-
groups may have advocated uncontrolled use of maithuna in
vals around the world, however routinized and mitigated
ritual “orgies” as an extreme test of control and detachment.
they may have become across the span of time. These festi-
In these sectarian contexts the orgiastic festival is reconstruct-
vals engage the human body in the ritual play of infracosmic
ed along the lines of a transformative spiritual yoga or prac-
impulses. Often these forces are linked to the presence of the
tice (sa¯dhana).
powerful Mother who embodies the earth as a source of vital-
ity, and are intimately bound up with the experience of com-
Surviving orgiastic festivals in the village setting become
munity and tradition. A community’s capacity to renew itself
a locus for the expression of feelings otherwise prohibited or
is measured precisely by its obedience to the demands of in-
formally repressed, above all by the caste system and by gen-
stinct, with the understanding that instinct, in both the
der roles. These outbursts, occurring strictly during festival
human body and the social body, has its own set of rules.
times, are sanctioned by gods such as Ka¯l¯ı or Kr:s:n:a. Their
Times of festival open up an anamnetic channel to primeval
seasonal festivals, such as Holi, or the celebration of the god-
chaos that allows for the temporary redress of grievances
dess Bhadrakali’s defeat of the demon Darika, allow trans-
rooted in inequalities of gender, race, and class. The cosmic
gressive behavior to become obligatory. There are strict and
antinomianism of the orgiastic festival turns all social rela-
unpleasant “rules” involving danger, excess, sexuality, trans-
tions upside down, exposing and assailing patterns of abuse.
vestism, use of intoxicants, and acts of violence.
RELATIONSHIP TO THE “GREAT TRADITIONS.” The dynam-
The violent aspects of these manifestations might seem
ic structure of the festival continues to prevail in South and
to correspond to the hormonal drives of adolescent males
Southeast Asian societies, where the religious meaning of
and to the sense of frustration and quotidian resentment on
space and time still retains many elements of archaic sensibil-
the part of married women. However, there is also a kind of
ity. Significant places are typically associated with holy men
ethical side to the violence: the oppressed and marginal cate-
and women or supernatural beings of the great traditions.
gories of society identify and take a playful vengeance on
Festivals may be linked to events from Buddhist, Hindu, or
those who normally have all the privileges and make use of
Muslim history, legend, and mythology. The social coher-
them unjustly. In fact the attacks on ritual purity in these
ence of the festival is, however, local in nature and only tenu-
events is precisely a divinely sanctioned transgression meant
ously linked to the myth and symbol systems of the “great”
to undermine, even if only for a day or so, the rules of caste,
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ORGY: ORGY IN ASIA
6879
gender, and rituality, so that the true character of human re-
trend penetrated as far as North India, always being charac-
lations might be revealed and vindicated.
terized as somehow a “decadent” form of the devotional pat-
tern of the qalandariya brotherhoods. However, in the case
Tibet. The ritual traditions of Tibet reflect an assimila-
of Hafiz there seems to have been an underlying message that
tion of Tantric deity cycles from India and China within the
the spectrum from mysticism to the bacchanal can be used
preexisting Bon worldview. After the first diffusion of the In-
by the poet to demand a redress of grievances from society
dian Vajraya¯na in Tibet in the eighth and ninth centuries,
and from history. Specifically this would refer to the Iranian
a period of experimentation ensued in which the orgiastic el-
cultural resistance to Arabic dominance: the poetry expresses
ements of the Sahajiya¯ cults were readily imported by a pop-
a humanistic vision in opposition to religious rigorism. Thus
ulation eager to obtain the benefits of sorcery. A reaction set
to take on the appearance of immorality or even to commit
in during the early eleventh century, spreading as far as Cen-
illicit acts such as wine drinking or sexual indulgence is tanta-
tral Tibet, with a consequent suppression not only of the sor-
mount to warding off the sin of pride in oneself and the ex-
cery cults but even of the strictly controlled sexual yogas of
posure of arrogance in the false piety of others.
the “Path of Means” (thabs lam). Milarepa (c. 1052–1137)
criticized these reforms, which had made the Tantric meth-
The literary tradition linked to the festival settings of
ods suspect. He recovered and taught the Path of Means, in-
Sh¯ıE¯ı Islam continued to have a place for such figures as late
cluding the use of karmamudra (sexual yoga), as the best way
as the nineteenth century. The well-educated, though margi-
to attain realization of Voidness. The yogin tradition in
nalized poet who likes to make mulla¯s look ridiculous be-
Tibet preserved many lineages that recognized in the figure
came something of a folk hero. Typically he pays inordinate
of the d:a¯kin¯ıs and other high-energy goddesses the same gen-
attention to women and young men. This stock character is
dered transformational power that is encountered in sha-
found in the folk theater tradition, in which the rogue poet
manism and mediumism. The orgiastic elements were here,
(rend) shows himself undaunted by authority figures. Social
as elsewhere, mitigated in the form of festive ritual cycles or
and political criticism could thus be channeled through such
as yogic contemplative practices.
characters of satire, farce, and allegory.
Thailand. The annual ritual cycle in Northeast Thai
China. Primordial rites and festivals are preserved in the
villages provides an obvious example of mitigated orgiastic
perennial syncretism typical of Chinese religion and rituality.
rituality in the temporary ordination as Buddhist monks of
Young women’s role as shamanesses is a feature of the recog-
a group of young men of the village each year during the
nition of the feminine as a bearer of mysterious power going
rainy season retreat. The rite is part of a sequence that is relat-
back to prehistory. Closely associated with their shamanic
ed closely to the fertility of the rice fields on which the village
healing rituals are the phenomena of mediumism and posses-
depends. This rite also links closely to human fertility, as the
sion. Daoist systems sought to channel these primordial ele-
explicitly phallic rockets of the rocket festival following the
ments into systems of sexual hygiene bearing fruit in bodily
young men’s ordination and the accompanying obscene
immortality. The cult of energy in Daoist healing arts is re-
songs make abundantly clear. In fact the period of temporary
lated to breath and sexual energy sometimes cultivated by
ordination is also explicitly seen as a preparation for marriage
union with multiple partners but is not typically expressed
rather than as a commitment to the path of asceticism.
orgiastically. The body, its instincts, and the rules of instinc-
tual behavior are seen as part of a cosmic synergy of phe-
Central Asia. The typology described here corresponds
nomena.
to those elements of the ancient folk beliefs as they have sur-
vived in synthesis with Sh¯ıE¯ı Islamic spirituality. The typical
However, the inevitable lure of uncontrollable energy in
practices of dervish Sufism, dancing (whirling) to produce
a tightly knit society finds a time of festivity in which to sur-
a state of mind open to Divine Remembrance (dhikr) and
face. The Cheung Chau Festival (Festival of the Bun Hills)
singing “noisy” (yahri) mystical poetry, reflect this cultural
begins on the eighth day of the fourth moon and lasts for
synthesis. Dervish orders based on the Malamatiya tradition
four days. It is an atypical and at times dangerous celebra-
in Iran, in Kazakhistan, and along the Sino-Turkestan border
tion. Four days of religious rites, Chinese operas, and the
disseminated the ideal of qalandariya, the classic wandering
burning of paper clothing as gifts are conducted to placate
dervish, bearer of heterodox theology, whose nonconformist
the spirits. Cities are absorbed in a party atmosphere, with
behavior not only repudiated conventional values but sought
processions and celebrations at every turn. Huge structures,
to subvert static models of spiritual attainment. The beloved
typical of fertility rites elsewhere, are built. These towering
Shams al-Tabrizi, who inspired the poetry of Jala¯l al-D¯ın
mounds are covered with baked buns. The signal is given,
Ru¯m¯ı (1207–1273), was the archetype of qalandariya.
and young people scramble up the towers, picking off as
many buns, which symbolize good luck, as they can hold.
The extent to which any of the antinomian forms of Su-
fism could be considered “orgiastic” is debatable. It is true
Japan. The role of shamanism is a background for most
that homosexual activity, reflecting a concretization of the
Japanese rituality. Shinto¯ ritual preserves the primordial spir-
love poetry that reached its heights in writings of Hafiz in
ituality of Japan typically concerned with fertility. The island
the Persian-Turkish cultural world, came to characterize the
nation was originally a peasants’ country, and each agricul-
excesses of courtly life in Central Asia. This S:u¯f¯ı-related
tural community had its own local religious celebrations
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ORGY: ORGY IN ASIA
(matsuri). Each festival was organized around the Shinto¯
pugnant—an antisocial aberration. Even in the left-handed
shrine or the local Buddhist temple in order to honor the dei-
practices, the initiatic rite in which the guru has intercourse
ties. Festivals still take place all over the country, especially
with a female partner in order to produce the male and fe-
in summer. These folk events are high-energy manifestations
male sexual fluids used in the rite of initiation, the practice
of social cohesion through veneration of natural forces
is restricted and highly controlled. This rite was mitigated
(kami).
throughout the Himalayan cultural zone such that symbolic
substances and objects replaced the actual coital act. The sex-
Typically large teams of male youths play the role of
ual practices here are yogic, not frenzied. The sexual yoga
bearers of power in festival processions with deity-palanquins
(karmamudra) of the songs of the maha¯siddhas are practiced
(mikoshi), even though in some places priestesses continue
by the partners in secret.
to preside over the temple rites. The youths, who are plied
liberally with sake, wear happi, short kimonos that come
Maenad-type orgies, themselves literary products of the
down to their waists, usually worn with T-shirts underneath
ancient writers who constructed the women of Thrace as
and shorts but sometimes just with white loincloths. With
“wild and out of control,” should not too easily be read into
a towel or bandana wrapped around the forehead, this is the
Tantric rites, village festivals, Shinto¯ processions, Daoist
perfect outfit for a mikoshi bearer or taiko drummer sweating
erotic therapies, and shamanic healing rituals. Communities
in the heat of a summer festival in this unique expression of
celebrate fertility with songs, dances, gestures, costumes, and
powerful male bonding. The young men who carry the
symbolic objects rather than with the act of coitus itself in
mikoshi are not supposed to provide the kami with a smooth,
any form.
fast ride. Instead, they sway in all directions and push the
THE FAILURE OF THE ORGY. The risk of modern orgiastic
mikoshi up and down, often violently to amuse the kami. The
conduct in the contemporary East Asian avant-garde is that
movement of a mikoshi is considered to be directed by the
it is transgression without festival in the full sense of the word
will of the kami beyond the control of those shouldering it.
and as such goes against the instinctual laws of the body.
In some matsuri festivals mikoshi of several shrines are
Even instincts have a certain discipline, as is evident in Tan-
brought together. In some others the mikoshi is carried into
tric practice, in cannibalism, in sacrificial violence, and in
a river or sea to be washed. In other festivals mikoshis are
warfare. Take away the necessary features of communitas and
brought into contests of one kind or another, often causing
there is no festival at all. Take away the characteristics of fes-
blood to be shed. The kenka matsuri, or fighting festival, in-
tival and there is no sacredness. With the deconstruction of
volves violent ramming between competing mikoshi until
sacredness, all that remains is unbridled violence and malice.
one or another is destroyed.
Libidinous excess brings on brutal dehumanization, not re-
Although the ancient “orgiastic” elements have been
newal of human and cosmic energies. In this way modern
transformed, it is evident that extreme violence, the use of
theatrical attempts at orgiastic ritual tend to be little more
intoxicants, and the hint of sexuality remain in the matsuri
than a reflection of the soulless postmodern culture against
tradition. In addition the event can bring about the same
which they purportedly rebel. The social matrix in which sa-
kinds of role reversals that allow for the correction of faults
cred time, space, and tradition could allow mitigated orgias-
seen elsewhere. The symbolism of an entire community
tic rites to effect renewal is now being dismantled by the
being “wrapped” in the embrace of the kami and its undulat-
spread of ideological secularism. Invasive modernity con-
ing procession is still in evidence. Moreover there is a sense
structs oppositions in the form of class, race, and gender con-
of breaking out of the reserve that characterizes Japanese so-
flict rather than complementarity. Deconstruction suppress-
cial behavior most of the year, so that criticisms that would
es the prophetic voice that calls for redress and reconciliation,
otherwise remain unspoken can be offered in an endurable
which was perhaps the most durable social value of the an-
manner.
cient rites.
THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN ABERRATION AND FESTIVAL. The
SEE ALSO Tantrism.
notion of the orgiastic ritual in Western studies of the history
of religions is a function of constructions of East Mediterra-
B
nean polytheism going back to Roman times. The sexual
IBLIOGRAPHY
Bataille, Georges. L’Erotisme. Paris, 1957. Translated as Eroticism,
rites of archaic cultures can be seen as reviving agricultural
Death, and Sensuality, San Francisco, 1986.
fertility through the apotropaic magic of festival—most
often taking the form of dance, rhythmic song, mime, and
Bhattacharyya, N. N. History of the Tantric Religion. 2d ed. New
sexually referent poetry or gesture. Obscene gestures, erotic
Delhi, 1999.
dancing, and sexually colored lyrics are part of festival and
Caldwell, Sarah. Oh Terrifying Mother: Sexuality, Violence, and
wedding rites in many places, especially in village and archaic
Worship of the Goddess Kali. Oxford, 1999.
cultures, but it is extremely rare to find group, frenzied sexual
Crawley, Ernest. The Mystic Rose: A Study of Primitive Marriage
intercourse as part of a fertility rite or festival. Most cultures
and of Primitive Thought in Its Bearing on Marriage. Revised
of Central Asia, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, and India find
and enlarged by Theodore Besterman. London, 1965. Much
the notion of having sex in front of others to be utterly re-
on sexual taboos.
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ORIENTALISM
6881
Das Gupta, Shashibhusan. Obscure Religious Cults. Calcutta,
The work of Edward W. Said (1935–2003), especially
India, 1976. Sahajiya¯s both Buddhist and Vais:n:ava, S:u¯f¯ı re-
his path-breaking Orientalism (2003), first published in
lations with the Bauls of Bengal.
1978, initiated this shift in the meaning of the term. His Ori-
Girard, René. Violence and the Sacred. Baltimore, 1979.
entalism offers trenchant criticism of “Orientalist” scholar-
Kapferer, Bruce. The Feast of the Sorcerer: Practices of Consciousness
ship and calls for a theoretical and interdisciplinary rear-
and Power. Chicago, 1997. Analysis of violence, passion, and
rangement of knowledge in relation to questions of power
power in Sri Lanka.
and empire that would seek not a new field of research but
Lewis, Franklin. “Hafez and Rendi.” Available from
more integrated and self-reflective approaches in the scholar-
www.iranica.com. A study of the demimonde of Hafez’s po-
ly study of the global South and East. Subsequent post-
etry, weaving between social and religious critique and ana-
colonial, subaltern, and, more broadly, cultural studies, all
lyzing the nature of transgression in S:u¯f¯ı sectarianism.
of which attempt to shed light on increasingly manifold
Marriott, McKim. “The Feast of Love.” In Krishna: Myths, Rites,
forms of multicultural identities, have greatly benefited from
and Attitudes, edited by Milton B. Singer. Honolulu, 1966.
his work. Said himself, however, retained an allegiance to his
A classic anthropological study of orgiastic behavior in North
early literary training in close reading and philology (a train-
India during the Holi festival.
ing evident in his scrupulous and detailed analyses), and he
Samuel, Geoffrey. “The Religious Meaning of Space and Time:
was at times, as in Humanism and Democratic Criticism
South and Southeast Asia and Modern Paganism.” Interna-
(2004), somewhat dismissive of “contemporary critics who
tional Review of Sociology 11, no. 3 (2001): 395–418. Study
prefer what is implicit to what the text actually says” (p. 88).
of three sites in which ritual festivals have persisting elements
of ancient fertility cults within the matrix of Hinduism, Bud-
Said’s definition of the term Orientalism has multiple
dhism, and Islam. Excellent insights into the role of festival
facets. In his book Orientalism he seeks to present and inter-
and community.
pret it “as a historical phenomenon, a way of thought, a con-
Tiso, Francis. “Revisiting Pagan and Christian Syncretism: The
temporary problem, and a material reality” (p. 44). In part,
Shrine of Saints Cosmas and Damian in Isernia.” Origins:
this complexity results from his historical insight into the
Caiete Silvane 6, nos. 3–4 (2003): 16–25. A study of the
“Orient” as “that semi-mythical construct which since Napo-
phallic cult at an Italian shrine with methodological observa-
leon’s invasion of Egypt in the late eighteenth century has
tions and links with geography and festival customs.
been made and re-made countless times by power acting
White, David Gordon. Kiss of the Yogini: Tantric Sex in Its South
through an expedient form of knowledge” (p. xiii); in part,
Asian Contexts. Chicago, 2003. A key study of ritual sex and
it hinges on his conviction that the “sometimes sympathetic
its links with magic in Hindu Tantric traditions.
but always dominating scrutiny” (p. 57) directed toward
FRANCIS V. TISO (2005)
things “oriental” entails, not just an economy and an anthro-
pology, but an entire epistemology and ontology, whose axi-
oms and protracted effects must be uncovered by a patient
“genealogy.”
ORIENTALISM. Once associated with the exotic
“Eastern” themes and styles of Eugene Delacroix’s, James
Although European characterizations of the Orient date
McNeill Whistler’s, and John Singer Sargent’s paintings;
back to the Athenian plays of Aeschylus (The Persians) and
Victor Hugo’s Les Orientales; and Gustave Flaubert’s Salam-
Euripides (The Bacchae), and the exploration and exploita-
mbô (though related representations also can be found in
tion of its central tropes can already be traced in Herodotus
subjects ranging from world fairs to such Hollywood films
and Alexander the Great, Said dates the fateful, as it were of-
as The Thief of Baghdad and Lawrence of Arabia), the term
ficial, beginnings of the hegemonic regulation and objectifi-
Orientalism has come to denote a broader complex of discur-
cation of this geographical referent and its accompanying im-
sive assumptions and institutional (especially academic)
agry much later. Greece and Rome had conceptions of the
practices that regulate the understanding, appreciation, and
“primitive,” as Arthur O. Lovejoy and George Boas docu-
domination of the West’s—more precisely, Europe’s—
ment in their classic Primitivism and Related Ideas in Antiqui-
supposed “Other.” In the study of religion, both from con-
ty (1935 [1997]), but only in the Christian Middle Ages did
fessional dogmatic and secular comparatist perspectives, Ori-
Orientalism find its first expression as “a field of learned
entalism evokes the tendency to mystify, caricature, homoge-
study.” In Orientalism Said writes: “In the Christian West,
nize, and petrify Asian and North African cultural systems,
Orientalism is considered to have commenced its formal ex-
whether via idealization or via demonization, viewing them
istence with the decision of the Church Council of Vienna
as contrasting to and often opposing such “Western” con-
in 1312 to establish a series of chairs in ‘Arabic, Greek, He-
cepts as privatized and rationalized belief or the separation
brew, and Syriac at Paris, Oxford, Bologna, Avignon, and
of church and state. Indeed, the modern definition and ap-
Salamanca’” (pp. 49–50, quoting Southern, Western Views
plication of the concept “religion” as a universal category
of Islam in the Middle Ages). These chairs were not exactly
seems a first large step in the direction of Orientalism, as
disinterested, given that the suggestion came from Raymond
scholars such as Wilfred Cantwell Smith and Talal Asad have
Lull, who recommended the study of Arabic out of zeal to
argued.
use it as a tool in converting Muslims and refuting Arabic
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ORIENTALISM
philosophy. But such instrumentalization was always coun-
world of history as made by human beings” (p. xxix) admit
terbalanced by an ambiguous fascination, so that “between
a nuanced assessment of the role of religion in his narrative?
the Middle Ages and the eighteenth century such major au-
An attempt to answer this question yields two conflicting
thors as Ariosto, Milton, Marlowe, Tasso, Shakespeare, Cer-
elements.
vantes, and the authors of the Chanson de Roland and the
Poema del Cid drew on the Orient’s riches for their produc-
On the one hand, Said’s analysis undoes certain precon-
tions, in ways that sharpened the outlines of imagery, ideas,
ceptions in the study of Islam, especially concerning Islam’s
and figures populating it” (p. 63). Said cites “the Sphinx,
relation to modern notions of private faith, religious experi-
Cleopatra, Eden, Troy, Sodom and Gomorrah, Astarte, Isis
ence, violence, and democracy. Stressing the many commu-
and Osiris, Sheba, Babylon, the Genii, the Magi” (p. 63), but
nities of interpretation and the need to differentiate between
other examples of the lure of the “exotic” are legion.
historical periods, geographical locations, and individual
thinkers, he insists on the importance of avoiding generaliza-
In the central pages of Orientalism Said traces the aca-
tions and stereotypes, including where “religion” is at issue.
demic establishment of the field from the late eighteenth
century onward, focusing especially on the insinuation of
On the other hand, Said’s project remains based on an
power into even the most recondite fields and its imbrication
unapologetic “‘residual’ humanism” (p. 339), which sees in
in their constitution. Key representatives in this development
religion, even in its broadest and richest definition, stripped
are Johann David Michaelis and Friedrich Schlegel in eigh-
of its narrow Protestant and Enlightenment association with
teenth- and nineteenth-century Germany, Ernest Renan and
a privately held faith, a limited and far from perennial con-
Louis Massignon in nineteenth- and twentieth-century
stituent in the psychic and social dimensions of power and
France, and C. Snouck Hurgronje in the twentieth-century
knowledge. As Said notes in The World, the Text, and the
Netherlands. In their very different approaches to the biblical
Critic (1983), religion, in this view, is “an agent of closure,
text, the “wisdom of India,” the figure of Jesus, and the mys-
shutting off human investigation, criticism, and effort in def-
tical elements in Islam, these scholars all seemed to agree on
erence to the authority of the more-than-human, the super-
“the linguistic importance of the Orient to Europe,” as well
natural, the other-worldly” (p. 290). One can understand
as on the “unchanging, uniform, and radically peculiar” na-
Said’s reluctance to give in to the “contemporary Manichean
ture of the Orient as an “object” whose golden age was stead-
theologizing of the ‘Other’” (p. 291), but here, in fact, may
ily projected into a bygone past and whose present was there-
lie the greatest weakness of his overall project: the suggestion
fore historically tied to a “latent inferiority” (pp. 98, 209).
in Culture and Imperialism (1993) that all “‘returns’ to cul-
ture and tradition” go hand in hand with intellectual and
Preoccupation with the Orient led to the founding of
moral codes that undercut “such relatively liberal philoso-
many learned and trading societies, just as perceived interest
phies as multiculturalism” and in decolonized countries lead
in safeguarding a seemingly undivided Christian West moti-
largely to “varieties of religious and nationalist fundamental-
vated the establishment of explicitly missionary organiza-
ism” (p. xiii). Although he seems aware of the historical, geo-
tions such as the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge
political, and imaginative role of “public religion” (the ex-
(founded in 1698), the Society for the Propagation of the
pression is from José Casanova in Public Religions in the
Gospel in Foreign Parts (1701), the Baptist Missionary Soci-
Modern World [1994]) in the transition from secular nation-
ety (1792), the Church Missionary Society (1799), the Brit-
alism to different formations of political Islam, well beyond
ish and Foreign Bible Society (1804), and many others. The
his general observations in Orientalism that “what appears in
institutional embedding of “Orientalism” was thus also—if
the West to be the emergence, return to, or resurgence of
not first and foremost—religiously or theologically-
Islam is in fact a struggle in Islamic societies over the defini-
politically inflected. The genealogy of “Orientalism” Said
tion of Islam,” and that no “one person, authority, or institu-
proposes needs to unravel this connection.
tion has total control over that definition” (p. 332), Said ap-
Said’s analysis is based upon a certain conception of hu-
parently does not count “religion”—or the theologico-
manism and humanistic studies, however, and therefore on
political—as a potentially emancipatory or empowering, let
the opposition between “secular criticism” and “religious
alone democratizing and humanizing force per se. The re-
criticism,” a distinction introduced in Orientalism and elabo-
markable “return to religion” reinforced and refracted by the
rated in his later The Word, the Text, and the Critic (1983)
complicated economic and cultural processes of globalization
and Humanism and Democratic Criticism (2003). In the pref-
and driven by the newest technological media therefore poses
ace to the twenty-fifth-anniversary edition of Orientalism, he
an anomaly that his overall historical and cultural analysis
asserts that there is “a profound difference between the will
has difficulty in assessing. In Humanism and Democratic
to understand for purposes of coexistence and humanistic
Criticism (2003) he speaks of religion mostly in terms of “re-
enlargement of horizons, and the will to dominate for the
ligious enthusiasm,” which he considers “perhaps the most
purposes of control and external dominion” (p. xix), a claim
dangerous of threats to the humanistic enterprise, since it is
juxtaposed to his ambition to “use humanistic critique to
patently antisecular and antidemocratic in nature, and, in its
open up the fields of struggle” (p. xxii). Can his appeal to
monotheistic forms as a kind of politics, is by definition
“worldly secular discourse” and to the “secular world” as “the
about as intolerantly inhumane and downright unarguable
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as can be” (p. 51). In Said’s account, Christian, Jewish, Is-
out” (p. xii). Such a conclusion defies the modern under-
lamic, and Hindu fundamentalism are not fundamentally
standing of identities and requires, in the historiography of
different in this respect.
Orientalism and empire, an approach that is no longer “linear
and subsuming,” but “contrapuntal and often nomadic,” not
This being said, the premises and arguments of Said’s
least because “all cultures are involved in one another; none
project nonetheless provide a model for analyzing processes
is single and pure, all are hybrid, heterogenous, extraordinar-
of religious conflict and dialogue, missionary expansion and
ily differentiated, and unmonolithic” (p. xxv).
ecumenical cooperation, proselytizing and conversion, apol-
ogetics and the self-explication of faith seeking understand-
Said’s work has been taken to task by critics, notably
ing in confrontation with different epochs, locations, and
Bernard Lewis in his Islam and the West, as lacking in nuance
cultures.
and attacking scholarship that can claim more disinterest
In Orientalism Said leaves no doubt that the critique of
than Said allows. Others have pointed out that some Orien-
Orientalism should not be confused with “anti-Westernism”
talists were themselves active opponents of colonialism and
(pp. 330, 334). He distances himself from the claim, imput-
imperialism (and not just in the name of an idealized “Ori-
ed to Orientalism, that the historical phenomenon of Orien-
ent”), and that non-Western nationalists were, in turn, in-
talism is “a synecdoche, or miniature symbol, of the entire
spired by Western “Orientalist” writings or adopted the cari-
West, and indeed ought to be taken to represent the West
catures of themselves as “Other.” Still other critics have
as whole” (pp. 330–331). On the contrary, Said emphasizes
decried Said’s political engagement, since 1967, in the Pales-
repeatedly that he “has no ‘real’ Orient to argue for,” which
tinian cause for national self-determination (as he himself
is a way of saying that “neither the term Orient nor the con-
notes in Orientalism, “with full attention paid to the reality
cept of the West has any ontological stability,” each being
of the Jewish people and what they suffered by way of perse-
“made up of human effort, partly affirmation, partly identifi-
cution and genocide” [p. xxiii]).
cation of the Other,” and also that “words such as ‘Orient’
Yet Said views the psychological, ideological, and social
and ‘Occident’ correspond to no stable reality that exists as
complex of “Orientalism” as the counterpart and “secret
a natural fact,” meaning that “all such geographical designa-
sharer of Western anti-Semitism” (p. 27). As in the writings
tions are an odd combination of the empirical and the imagi-
of the early Frankfurt School, notably “Elements of Anti-
native” (p. 331). Ultimately, Orientalism and its related
Semitism” in Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno’s
studies thus seek to effect a process of unlearning (a term
classic Dialectic of Enlightenment, the analysis of “Oriental-
from Raymond Williams, Culture and Society, 1780–1950
ism” details a historically and culturally determined structure
[New York, 1958]) in which—at least the dominant mode
and comportment of prejudice ultimately based upon a
of interpreting—the “Orient” and the “Occident” will be
mechanism of projection. Depictions of Islam that start from
eliminated altogether (p. 28). Yet Said leaves no doubt that
analogy to Christian premises—namely, that “Mohammed
in this and similar relationships of opposition, polarity, and
was to Islam as Christ was to Christianity” (p. 60)—then
mirroring, “the development and maintenance of every cul-
proceed to erroneous and pejorative characterizations of
ture require the existence of another, different and compet-
Islam as “Mohammedanism” and of Muh:ammed as an “im-
ing alter ego. The construction of identity . . . involves the
postor” are just one example of how the imaginary geography
construction of opposites and ‘others’ whose actuality is al-
of Orientalism transposes a never-ending list of qualifications
ways subject to the continuous interpretation and re-
onto a supposedly amorphous “Other” whose contours and
interpretation of their differences from ‘us’” (p. 332).
meaning, let alone intentions and self-interpretations, seem
Indeed, Said writes, “even the primitive community we
all but irrelevant: “the Orient acquired representatives . . .
belong to natally is not immune from the interpretive con-
and representations, each one more concrete, more internally
test,” and the constructed “others” upon which the construc-
congruent with some Western exigency, than the ones that
tion of identity depends may be “outsiders and refugees, or
preceded it. It is as if, having once settled on the Orient as
apostates and infidels” (p. 332). All others are not created
a locale suitable for incarnating the infinite in a finite shape,
equal, however. Orientalism and Hellenism are crucially dif-
Europe could not stop the practice; the Orient and the Ori-
ferent, for example: “The former is an attempt to describe
ental, Arab, Islamic, Indian, Chinese, or whatever, become
a whole region of the world as an accompaniment to that re-
repetitious pseudo-incarnations of some great original
gion’s colonial conquest, the latter is not at all about the di-
(Christ, Europe, the West), they were supposed to have been
rect colonial conquest of Greece in the nineteenth and twen-
imitating” (p. 62).
tieth centuries; in addition, Orientalism expresses antipathy
Although in their accounts of primitive myth, magic,
to Islam, Hellenism sympathy for classical Greece” (p. 342).
and shamanism the neo-Marxists of the Frankfurt School’s
Said points out in Culture and Imperialism, however,
first generation continued the Orientalist blind spots Said
that the relationship between European expansion and the
identifies in Marx’s own 1848 The Eighteenth Brumaire of
non-West was never merely unilateral: “there was always
Louis Bonaparte and 1853 articles on British rule in India (as
some form of active resistance [armed or cultural], and in the
did, after them, Jürgen Habermas in adopting Max Weber’s
overwhelming majority of cases, the resistance finally won
acceptance of European exceptionalism vis-à-vis China into
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ORIENTALISM
Theory of Communicative Action), one of Horkheimer and
lie not only in a far more complex understanding of cultural
Adorno’s insights is important here. They knew well that
interrelation but in unsettling the categories of Orient and
where imitation fails (and it necessarily does), discriminatory
Occident themselves. French phenomenologist Emmanuel
judgment and ultimately persecution must result.
Levinas has likewise come, via a different, philosophical
route, to the conclusion that the categories of the West and
By contrast, Said offers a non-Marxist critique of power
the non-West should be demythologized, indeed, deontolo-
and knowledge based on the heterodox ideas of Antonio
gized. He repeatedly claims that Western metaphysics, which
Gramsci’s Prison Notebooks, notably his concept of “hegemo-
he associates with Greece and especially Athens, has fallen
ny,” and on the concept of “discursive formation” from Mi-
prey to a disorientation (désorientation), a certain forgetful-
chel Foucault’s The Archeology of Knowledge and Discipline
ness or faithlessness with respect to what one might term its
and Punish. Although, as discursive formation, Orientalism
Oriental Other (or at least one of them): the monotheistic tra-
could be seen as a “system for citing works and authors,” Said
dition of the Bible and Jerusalem.
in Orientalism corrects Foucault in order to recognize “the
determining imprint of individual writers upon the other-
Setting Levinas alongside Said highlights a weakness in
wise collective body of texts” (p. 23), the way they count for
the former, namely, that an all too abstract conception of the
something in the constitution of its power.
Orient tends to elide precisely the Arab populations Said, in
Since the publication of Orientalism, scholars have pur-
his writings and his life, worked tirelessly to advocate. Yet
sued its line of thought in many different geographical and
in Levinas’s view Greek thought has rightly destroyed the
imaginative contexts. Said’s own Culture and Imperialism
idolatrous and primitivist yearning for participation in dif-
broadens his earlier perspective by including critical studies
fuse, irrational totalities (of nature, people, collective senti-
on “a more general pattern of relationships between the
ment). Moreover, Levinas’s recognition of an intrinsic insta-
modern metropolitan West and its overseas territories”
bility in both the truths of philosophical reason and the
(p. xi), such as Africa, the Caribbean, and Australia, whereas
revelation of religious tradition can give us a new perspective
other scholars have focused on the construction of identity
on the significance of Orientalism. In critical opposition to
in the Western approach to the “religions of the East,”
both Lévy-Bruhl’s Primitive Mentality and Lévi-Strauss’s The
whether on the Indian subcontinent or in Southeast Asia,
Savage Mind, Levinas insists that Europeanization—the
China, and Japan. Thus, the volume Orientalism and the
philosophical project of Western modernity—and de-
Postcolonial Predicament: Perspectives on South Asia (1993),
Europeanization, including decolonialization and the cri-
edited by Carol E. Breckenridge and Peter van der Veer, ex-
tique of imperialism, go hand-in-hand. The deconstruction
plores the ways in which colonial administrators constructed
of Europe’s investment in knowing and dominating a con-
knowledge about the society and culture of India and the
structed Other itself relies on eminently European notions
processes through which that knowledge has shaped past and
of rational discourse, scriptural learning, and hermeneutic
current perceptions of Indian reality. These and other contri-
sensibility. But to say that all passes through “the West,”
butions to “modern cultural theory” would seem to confirm
Levinas knows, is not the same as to claim that everything
Said’s view, expressed in his 1994 afterword to Orientalism,
originates—or ends—there.
that “cultures are hybrid and heterogenous and . . . that cul-
Said’s Orientalism, informed by its author’s commit-
tures and civilizations are so interrelated and interdependent
ment to European humanism and his training in the field
as to beggar any unitary or simply delineated description of
of comparative literature, with roots in late eighteenth and
their individuality” (p. 347).
early nineteenth-century Germany and especially philology,
More recently, the discussion around Orientalism has
is an excellent example of the de-Europeanization for which
been shadowed by a parallel consideration of “Occidental-
Levinas calls. Moreover, Europe’s Orient, as Said points out
ism,” as if to challenge Said’s claim that “no one is likely to
in Orientalism, is a reminder that constructions and projec-
imagine a field symmetrical to [Orientalism] called Occiden-
tions of the Other may not be so distant from the self after
talism” (p. 50). In Occidentalism (2004) Ian Buruma and Av-
all: historically, “the Orient is not only adjacent to Europe,”
ishai Margalit describe Occidentalism as the “Orientalist
not only its “cultural contestant,” but also “the source of its
view upside down” (p. 10) and hence as the “dehumanizing
civilizations and languages” (p. 1)—and, we might add, of
picture of the West painted by its enemies,” directed at the
what historically have been its dominant religions.
scientific and secular worldview, global capitalism, sexual lib-
erties, pop culture, and a “cluster of prejudices” whose “his-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
torical roots,” they argue, lie in Europe and its Enlighten-
The texts by Said discussed are: Orientalism (New York, 1978; all
ment (p. 5). This “hateful caricature” of Western modernity
page references are to the twenty-fifth-anniversary edition of
in terms of a mechanical or “machine civilization” is con-
2003); The World, the Text, and the Critic (Cambridge,
trasted by Occidentalists to a (lost) ideal of organic and total-
Mass., 1984); Culture and Imperialism (New York, 1993);
izing spirituality (pp. 6, 7).
and Humanism and Democratic Criticism (New York, 2004).
A large body of literature has been produced in response to
In contrast to the hardening of opposites in Occidental-
or inspired by Orientalism. See especially: Nicholas B. Dirks,
ism, the true legacy of the Orientalism discussion will surely
ed., Colonialism and Culture (Ann Arbor, Mich., 1992);
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6885
Carol E. Breckenridge and Peter van der Veer, eds., Oriental-
ORIENTATION. Symbols of space and its order most
ism and the Postcolonial Predicament: Perspectives on South
clearly illustrate the religious act of orientation, that is, the
Asia (Philadelphia, 1993); Dipesh Chakrabarty, Provincializ-
fundamental process of situating human life in the world.
ing Europe (Princeton, N.J., 2000); and a volume published
Orientation is the conscious act of defining and assuming
on the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the publi-
proper position in space. Fixing the human place in existence
cation of Orientalism, Inge E. Boer, ed., After Orientalism:
in a significant way is a religious act when it orients a human
Critical Entanglements, Productive Looks (Amsterdam, 2004).
being toward the sacred. This fundamental disposition to-
On the question of religion, see: Wilfred Cantwell Smith,
ward the sacred extends its significance from the points of
The Meaning and End of Religion (New York, 1962); Talal
orientation to all individual and social acts, as well as to all
Asad, Genealogies of Religion: Discipline and Reasons of Power
cosmic structures. In relation to the sacred, inhabited space
in Christianity and Islam (London, 1993); Richard King,
and history become apprehensible. Various kinds of human
Orientalism and Religion: Postcolonial Theory, India, and the
“Mystic East”
(London, 1999); William D. Hart, Edward
living spaces define their order and meaning in relation to
Said and the Religious Effects of Culture (Cambridge, U.K.,
the sacred: the cosmos, the city, the village or residence space,
2000); and José Casanova, Public Religions in the Modern
the house, and the individual. They are described together
World (Chicago, 1994). For eighteenth- and nineteenth-
with those manifestations of the sacred toward which they
century examples of Orientalist biblical scholarship, see: Jon-
are oriented.
athan M. Hess, “Johann David Michaelis and the Colonial
SYMBOLIC FORMS. The technology of calculation and mea-
Imaginary: Orientalism and the Emergence of Racial An-
surement used in orientation would make an interesting and
tisemitism in Eighteenth-Century Germany,” Jewish Social
controversial study in the history of science. It would include
Studies 6, no. 2 (2000): 56–101; and Halvor Moxness,
treatment of geomancy, astronomic calculation, use of the
“Renan’s Vie de Jesus as Representation of the Orient,” in
gnomon, the astrolabe, and the plumb line, canons of mea-
Jews, Antiquity, and the Nineteenth-Century Imagination, ed-
ited by Hayim Lapin and Dale B. Martin, pp. 85–108 (Be-
sure derived from human body measurements, and determi-
thesda, Md., 2003). On the representation of Islam, see
nations of magnetic north, among other techniques. Howev-
R. W. Southern, Western Views of Islam in the Middle Ages
er, this article’s purpose is limited to the religious meaning
(Cambridge, Mass., 1962) and Edmund Burke III, “Orien-
of the act of orientation and a description of the sacred na-
talism and World History: Representing Middle Eastern Na-
ture of the points toward which the human situation is
tionalism and Islamism in the Twentieth Century,” Theory
aligned. Because orientation involves relating an entity to a
and Society 27, no. 4 (August 1998): 589–607. On what
reality other than itself, it always entails a conjunction of be-
could be called Orientalism’s predecessor concept, primitiv-
ings and, in this sense, creates a center where all realities
ism, see Arthur O. Lovejoy and George Boas, Primitivism
meet.
and Related Ideas in Antiquity, with supplementary essays by
W. F. Albright and P.-E. Dumont (Baltimore, 1935; reprint
According to Latin historians, Romulus founded the
1997). On the relationship between Marxism and Oriental-
city of Rome by drawing a circular furrow around the Pala-
ism, see Karl August Wittfogel’s Oriental Despotism: A Com-
tine hill with a plow. The trench around which the furrow
parative Study of Total Power (New York, 1981), which at-
was cut, and toward which it was oriented, was called the
tempted to do for non-Western societies, notably China,
mundus (“world”), the same name applied to the universe.
what Marx and Engels had done for Europe. Marx had used
The mundus was a pit, an opening between the earthly world
this terminology in 1853 in his articles on British rule in
and the underworld. For the living it provided a link not only
India. See also Raymond Williams, Culture and Society
with the sphere of the dead but also with the celestial sphere,
1780–1950 (London, 1958). On Orientalism’s parallel con-
for the outline plan (limitatio) of the city, especially its divi-
cept, “Occidentalism,” see Ian Buruma and Avishai Margalit,
sion into four quarters, was based on a model of heavenly
Occidentalism: The West in the Eyes of Its Enemies (New York,
origin. The mundus itself, being a detailed image of the cos-
2004) and Xiaomei Chen, Occidentalism: A Theory of Count-
mos, was divided into quadrants. Rome was habitable be-
er-Discourse in Post-Mao China (New York, 1995). On Kant
cause the city was built in the image of the cosmos—
and the religious construction of identity and ethnicity, see
according to a heavenly model of the universe—around a
Hent de Vries, Religion and Violence: Philosophical Perspec-
life-giving center, a navel of the world, which permitted con-
tives from Kant to Derrida (Baltimore, 2002). Emmanuel
tact with all realms of being.
Levinas’s most representative writings on the question of Eu-
rope and the West are Difficile liberté: Essais sur le judaïsme
The universe itself possesses a place where communica-
(Paris, 1976), translated as Difficult Freedom (Baltimore,
tion among all cosmic realms is possible. It is to this center
1990), and Totalité et infini: Essai sur l’extériorité (the Hague,
of the world that all other meaningful structures in the cos-
1961), translated as Totality and Infinity (Pittsburgh, 1969).
mos are directed and from which they derive. For the reli-
On the question of globalization and the technological
gious life of Indians in the Qollahuaya region of the central
media, see Hent de Vries and Samuel Weber, eds., Religion
Andes, Mount Kaata is the sacred center of all reality. Every-
and Media (Stanford, Calif., 2001).
thing that is whole, whether it be the microcosm of the
human body or the universe itself, may be identified with it.
HENT DE VRIES (2005)
Indeed, all integrity derives from it. An individual’s life cycle
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ORIENTATION
begins when a person’s soul emerges from the highland
cles (of humans, animals, rainbows, and supernatural beings)
springs; continues while it descends to its burial place at the
derive their creativity from and relate to one another through
mountain’s foot; and prepares for recycling as it reascends
the center.
the interior of the mountain along inner waterways, after
Two important ways of orienting oneself in space bear
death. This contemporary belief continues an older idea
close relationship to the act of creation, as it is conceived by
found in the Huarochiri manuscript, a sixteenth-century
a culture to have taken place. In the first instance, the center
Quechua text that reports that Kuntur Qutu, the Mountain
has prestige as a key position for orientation because it is the
of the Condor, stands at the center of the world and at the
first place, the place of origin of life. It is the omphalos, or
center of tahuantinsuyo, the four quarters of the Inca world.
navel, around which life takes shape. A second mode of ori-
All significant powers, both cosmic and divine, find their
entation involves sacrifice to consecrate a sacred place. It
place and carry on their powerful processes on this moun-
draws attention to the fact that, at the beginning of time, a
tain. The cosmic mountain, marking a center from which all
primordial being was sacrificed and dismembered. From its
creative life in the universe takes its bearings, is a widespread
parts derives the ordered integrity of the cosmos. In this sac-
religious theme found throughout the histories of Europe,
rificial cosmogony, orientation in the universe derives from
Asia, the Near East, Oceania, and the Americas.
the very structure of a primordial body, ritually positioned
For the Ngaju Dayak of southern Borneo the universe
in space. The universe, then, has the same set of relations
is centered on the tree of life, of which the inhabited world
among its parts as does the human body when consciously
is only a small part; for the tree encompasses all existence,
shaped in the deliberate acts of ritual. In either case, the
the totality of being, and the godhead itself. It also includes
points of orientation draw their prestige from their associa-
every possible period of time. As a result, all ceremonies of
tion with creation.
transition (birth, marriage, initiation, death) center on the
Taking their cue from the structures of the universe as
tree of life. This allows the human being to return to the peri-
they were created, other entities are located in space and time
od of divine creativity, so that he or she may issue once again
with reference to the same manifestations of sacred power;
from the tree of life as a new creature.
that is, following the cosmic model. The village often be-
The temple often extends the same symbolism of the sa-
comes a small image of the ordered space of the universe, and
cred mountain toward which life is oriented. For instance,
the same is true even for a house. The Na-Khi, a Tibeto-
the Mesopotamian ziggurat was explicitly likened to the cos-
Burman people living in the upper reaches of the Yangtze
mic mountain. Its seven levels symbolized the number of
River valley of northwestern Yunnan Province in China, per-
heavens. The goddess Ningal promised the divinity Nanna
form most of their important rituals at the center of the uni-
that, when he had filled the rivers with waters and brought
verse in their homes, which are purified and transformed into
life to the fields, forests, and marshes, she would join him
the image of Ngyu-na shi-lo ngyu, the cosmic mountain
in his ziggurat in Ur: “In your house on high . . . in your
(Mount Kaila¯´sa), by the installation of sacred ritual objects
cedar-perfumed mountain, I will come to live.”
in the house (Jackson, 1979, pp. 113ff., 209). In order that
the ritual objects be effective, they are empowered by means
All of these images of the center toward which reality
of lengthy chanting of their myths of origin.
is oriented call attention, at one and the same time, to the
vertical plane of the universe. In short, the world is oriented
Planners of cities aligned them to sacred forces, which
not only toward the center on a horizontal plane but to the
filled them and made them habitable. In ancient China, at
heights of the heavens. This connecting point of heaven and
the moment when a sacred city was founded, the king was
earth may be envisaged as a sacred ladder, rope, liana, or
beseeched to come and “assume responsibility for the work
bridge. In the Northern Hemisphere, the North Star be-
of God on High and himself serve . . . at the center of the
comes a crucial indicator of the center of heaven. Directly
land . . . and from there govern as the central pivot”
below it is oriented the sacred center of the world, where ce-
(Wheatley, 1971, p. 430).
lestial and terrestrial powers join together. In the Southern
The capital and the king became the points from which
Hemisphere, the Milky Way at its zenith often pinpoints the
direction and sacrality emanated throughout the entire king-
center of heaven. In Mismanay, near Cuzco in Peru, for ex-
dom. The power of creation passed out through the city gates
ample, the Milky Way is seen as an immense river of semen
to the four quarters and the cycles of time.
that, when it is in its zenith, runs through the center of the
sky. Mismanay is sited directly below the center of the heav-
Orientation is also a way in which the individual per-
ens. It is bisected by the Vilcanota River, the earthly counter-
sonality becomes aware of the objective in relation to the self.
part of the fertilizing river of stars in the heavens. From the
The Ñandeva, a Guaraní group of southern Brazil, picture
center one is able to determine the four points where the sun
the human soul as a carefully oriented spatial entity. The soul
rises and sets during the solstices. Using the center of the sky
is composed of three shadows (nane Ea, “our shadow”) that
marked by the Milky Way at its zenith, the people of Mis-
are all oriented on a vertical plane toward the heavens, the
manay are able to situate themselves at the center of an orga-
source of light that brings them into existence. All the facul-
nized space and ordered cycle of time. All spaces and life cy-
ties of human intelligence and action are accounted for by
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ORIGEN
6887
the soul’s orientation in space. Ayvú-kué-poravé (“the good
acts of creation. The orientation of the individual is de-
word that we speak”) is the shadow that falls directly in front
scribed in Miguel Alberto Bartolomé’s “Shamanism among
of or directly behind the personality. This central shadow-
the Avá-Chiripá,” in Spirits, Shamans, and Stars: Perspectives
soul is of divine origin and returns to its celestial source after
from South America, edited by David L. Browman and Ron-
death. The second shadow-soul is the atsy-yguá, the carnal
ald A. Schwarz (The Hague, 1979), pp. 95–148. Paul
essence of life, which humans share with animals. It is cast
Wheatley’s The Pivot of the Four Quarters: A Preliminary En-
quiry into the Origins and Character of the Ancient Chinese

to the left of a person. To the right falls the shadow known
City (Chicago, 1971) is a singularly important work for un-
as the ayvú-kué (“the word that sprouts”), which accompa-
derstanding both the methods and meaning of orientation
nies and obeys the central ayvú-kué-poravé (M. A. Bartolomé,
not only in China but around the world. Also helpful in this
1979, pp. 111–112). The personality is oriented to the cen-
respect is I-fu Tuan’s Topophilia: A Study of Environmental
ter of the celestial realm, the source of light that brings the
Perception, Attitudes, and Values (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.,
shadow elements of the person into existence. It is this orien-
1974). Mircea Eliade addresses the question of the religious
tation to another realm of being that enables a truly human
meaning of orientation in The Sacred and the Profane: The
consciousness to come into proper existence.
Nature of Religion (New York, 1959), esp. pp. 32ff. and 79ff.
Heinrich Nissen’s Orientation: Studien zur Geschichte der Re-
ORIENTATION AND HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS. All of the en-
ligion, 3 vols. (Berlin, 1906–1910), remains a valuable re-
tities in the above illustrations are oriented to and, paradoxi-
source of materials. Still stimulating is Ludwig Deubner’s
cally, derive their meaning from modes of being other than
“Mundus,” Hermes 68 (1933): 276–287. Further bibliogra-
their own. The various forms of orientation to sacred reality
phy and portrayal of more recent approaches to the question
highlight the human desire to inhabit a sacred world, a world
may be found in Joseph Rykwert’s On Adam’s House in Para-
as it was created in the beginning, new and powerful.
dise: The Idea of the Primitive Hut in Architectural History
(New York, 1972) and The Idea of a Town: The Anthropology
The kind of orientation situates human living space in
of Urban Form in Rome, Italy and the Ancient World (Prince-
meaningful relation to the beings around it. It requires a
ton, N.J., 1976).
grasp of the total human situation, a sense of the whole of
New Sources
existence at all its levels. This fundamental stance toward
Carmichael, David, ed. Sacred Sites, Sacred Places. London, 1994.
being constitutes a consciousness able to distinguish and
Chidester, David, and Edward T. Linenthal, eds. American Sacred
evaluate supernatural modes of being for what they are. Ori-
Space. Bloomington, Ind., 1995.
entation effects what it symbolizes: the proper relation of the
David, Bruno, and Meredith Wilson, eds. Inscribed Landscapes:
human situation to the very ground of being within which
Marking and Making Place. Honolulu, 2002.
human life finds itself. For this reason orientation—taking
one’s place in the world—is conceived of in many religious
Dodds, George, and Robert Tavernor, eds. Body and Building: Es-
traditions as the first act of fully human beings living in hab-
says on the Changing Relation of Body and Architecture. Cam-
bridge, Mass., 2002.
itable space. By symbolically assuming one’s proper position
in the world, one communicates with significant powers at
Jacobson-Widding, A., ed. Body and Space: Symbolic Models of
work in the cosmos and gains a sense of one’s unique signifi-
Unity and Division in African Cosmology and Experience.
Uppsala, 1991.
cance in relation to all else.
MIRCEA ELIADE (1987)
SEE ALSO Center of the World; Cities; Geography; Geo-
LAWRENCE E. SULLIVAN (1987)
mancy; Home; Human Body, article on Myths and Sym-
Revised Bibliography
bolism; Mountains; Sacred Space; Trees.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ORIGEN (c. 185–c. 254), surnamed Adamantius (the
The constancy of the symbolic complex of the mountain is pres-
man of steel or diamond), is considered the greatest Chris-
ented in Joseph W. Bastien’s Mountain of the Condor: Meta-
tian theologian of the Antenicene period.
phor and Ritual in an Andean Ayllu (Saint Paul, Minn.,
LIFE. The main source for Origen’s life is the sixth book of
1978). Other studies of orientation in the Andes may be
found in R. Tom Zuidema’s The Ceque System of Cuzco: The
Eusebius of Caesarea’s Church History. His teachings are also
Social Organization of the Capital of the Inca (Leiden, 1962)
described in a panegyric delivered by one of his students,
and “The Inca Calendar,” in Native American Astronomy,
who (despite recent doubts) is still believed to be Gregory
edited by Anthony F. Aveni (Austin, Tex. 1977),
Thaumaturgus. Much information about Origen that was
pp. 219–259, as well as in Gary Urton’s At the Crossroads of
contained in Eusebius’s lost writings is preserved in the writ-
the Earth and Sky: An Andean Cosmology (Austin, Tex.,
ings of Jerome. It is difficult to date precisely the events of
1981), which discuss the techniques and meanings assigned
Origen’s life, and recent attempts to do so are not completely
to orientation in the Andes in both rural and urban settings
satisfactory.
throughout history. Anthony Jackson’s Na-khi Religion: An
Analytical Appraisal of Na-khi Ritual Texts
(The Hague,
Origen was probably born in Alexandria in 185, the first
1979) illustrates clearly the way in which the house may serve
of seven children in a Christian family. His father, Leonides,
as a point of cosmic orientation when ritually linked to the
taught him Greek literature and the Bible. In 202, when he
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ORIGEN
was seventeen, his father was martyred (by beheading) during
During the Decian persecution, Origen was imprisoned
the persecution of Septimius Severus. To support his family,
and several times tortured in the hope that he would aposta-
Origen opened a school of rhetoric, and at the same time
tize, but he maintained his faith firmly. Upon the death of
Bishop Demetrius of Alexandria assigned to him the task of
Decius he was freed, but his health was broken and he died,
training catechumens. Some years afterward he left the
probably in 254. Up to the thirteenth century his grave could
school in order to devote himself entirely to the teaching of
be seen in the old cathedral of Tyre.
Christian doctrine. He divided his students into two groups;
W
the catechumens were taught by his disciple Heraclas, while
ORKS. A great part of Origen’s immense production is
now lost, and part of what is left survives only in Latin trans-
Origen instructed the more advanced students. According to
lations by Rufinus of Aquileia, Jerome, and an unknown
Eusebius, he castrated himself (taking literally Matthew
translator. Most of Origen’s works are directly exegetical. He
19:12), and he assisted some of his students in their martyr-
explained the Bible in three kinds of works: scientific com-
dom. He completed his own philosophical studies at the
mentaries; homilies preached in the church; and scholia, or
school of Ammonius Saccas, who later was the teacher of
short texts in which the meaning of a passage was elucidated.
Plotinus. To deepen his knowledge of the Bible Origen stud-
Today it is impossible to distinguish the scholia from the
ied Hebrew, although he never became proficient in the lan-
multitude of surviving fragments of Origen’s lost commen-
guage.
taries and homilies. It has been demonstrated recently that
Origen began to write between 215 and 220, encour-
homilies on Psalms once attributed to Jerome are slightly
aged by a wealthy man named Ambrose. Ambrose had been
adapted translations from Origen. In all, 279 of Origen’s
led by his intellectual zeal to adopt the Valentinian heresy,
homilies are extant. Jerome’s four commentaries on Paul’s
but Origen converted him from that heresy and in turn was
letters to the Galatians, the Ephesians, Titus, and Philemon
provided with stenographers and copyists—virtually a whole
are also in great part, as the author himself acknowledges, ad-
publishing house.
aptations of Origen’s corresponding commentaries.
During this first Alexandrian period of his life, Origen
traveled to Rome, to the Roman province of Arabia (present-
While still in Alexandria, Origen began his great bible
day Jordan) at the invitation of the governor, and to Antioch.
study, the Hexapla. In this work of six parallel columns, two
In Antioch he met the dowager empress Mammaea, who
columns contain the Hebrew text of the Old Testament (one
wished to learn about Christian doctrines. Along with all
in Hebraic and one in Greek characters), and four columns
teachers of philosophy in Alexandria, Origen was forced to
are devoted to four Greek translations: those by Aquila, Sym-
leave the city in 215. Origen stayed for a short period at Cae-
machus, and Theodotion, and the Septuagint. For some
sarea, in Palestine. Here, because of his great knowledge of
books of the Old Testament, three other Greek versions are
scripture, he was permitted by Bishop Theoctistus and his
also supplied, called “Quinta,” “Sexta,” and “Septima.” Dia-
colleague Alexander of Jerusalem to preach, even though he
critical marks are used to show what had been added or sup-
was still a layman; but Bishop Demetrius protested against
pressed in each version. Only numerous fragments of this
this innovation and called Origen back to Alexandria. About
work have been preserved.
231 Origen was invited by the bishops of Achaia (Greece)
Among the works not directly exegetical (although Ori-
to debate with heretics in Athens. Passing through Palestine,
gen also discusses scripture extensively in them), the most
he was ordained a priest at Caesarea by Theoctistus and Alex-
important is the treatise On First Principles (Peri archon), the
ander. When he returned to Alexandria, Bishop Demetrius,
first great attempt at speculative theology by a Christian.
angry at the ordination performed without his consent, sum-
This work was the cause of Origen’s posthumous misfor-
moned a synod of Egyptian bishops and priests that ordered
tunes. The entire book is preserved only in a much-discussed
Origen to leave Egypt, and another synod, composed only
Latin version by Rufinus, although there are two long Greek
of bishops, defrocked him. This sentence, however, was not
fragments from it in the Philokalia of Origen by the Cappa-
accepted by the bishops of Palestine and neighboring prov-
docian fathers Basil and Gregory of Nazianzus, and many
inces.
short extracts are quoted by Jerome, Justinian, and other au-
Origen was welcomed to Caesarea by Theoctistus and
thors. Another major book still preserved in Greek is Against
Alexander, and he opened a school in the city. Among his
Celsus, the main apologetic work of the Antenicene period.
first students were Gregory Thaumaturgus and Gregory’s
This work is a refutation of the True Discourse, an attack on
brother Athenodorus. Ambrose followed Origen to Caesarea,
Christianity by the Middle Platonist philosopher Celsus.
bringing his stenographers and copyists, and Origen contin-
Other nonexegetical books that survive in the original Greek
ued to compose his great works. Many homilies survive, at-
are the treatise On Prayer, which gives one of the first expla-
testing to his extensive pastoral activity. He acquired a high
nations of the Lord’s Prayer; Exhortation to Martyrdom, writ-
reputation as a theologian, and he was frequently invited by
ten during the persecution of Maximinus the Thracian; and
bishops to defend the faith. He traveled extensively through-
Dialogue with Heraclides, found during World War II in
out the eastern part of the Roman empire, including the
Egypt and consisting of a discussion in a local synod with
provinces of Achaia, Arabia, and Cappadocia, and the towns
a bishop suspected of modalism, a form of unorthodoxy that
of Ephesus and Nicomedia.
sees Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as only one person with
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6889
these names. Greek fragments survive of the lost works Stro-
Paul and the Bible than from Platonism. The spirit (pneuma)
mateis and On the Resurrection. Of Origen’s important corre-
is a gift of God, something analogous with the gratia sanctifi-
spondence, two complete letters and fragments of others
cans. The incorporeal soul (psuche), the seat of free will and
have been preserved.
personality, is divided into an upper and a lower part; the
upper part is the mind (nous), the faculty that receives the
Three groups of sources contain all the surviving frag-
spirit, whereas the lower part, the “thought of the flesh” (ph-
ments of Origen’s work. First are the two collections of select
ronema tes sarkos) draws the soul toward the body. The
pieces: Pamphilus of Caesarea’s Apology for Origen, the first
body—earthly for man, ethereal for angels and the risen—is
book of which is preserved only in Rufinus’s Latin transla-
the sign of the human “accidental,” creaturely condition, in
tion, and the Philokalia. Second are the exegetical Catenae,
contrast to the “substantiality” of the Trinity, which alone
collections of exegeses from various chruch fathers, including
exists without a body.
Origen, in which a given book of scripture is explained verse
by verse. Third are subsequent authors’ quotations from
Humans were created according to the image of God,
Origen.
that is, according to his Son (Gn. 1:26–27). This means
THE EXEGETE. Three aspects are mingled to varying degrees
much more than the reception of “natural” gifts; it means
in Origen’s entire corpus, as well as in each work: he is at
that a seed and a desire for divinization have been planted
once an exegete, a spiritual and mystical writer, and a specu-
in humanity, and this seed must with God’s help be devel-
lative theologian. Exegesis and spirituality are always present
oped into the perfect “likeness” of the blessedness. Such is
in his main speculative work, On First Principles. Together
the framework of ascetic and spiritual life, which is further
with Jerome, Origen is one of the two main critical and liter-
explained in terms of knowledge. But the Alexandrian de-
al exegetes of Christian antiquity.
fines knowledge according to Genesis 4:1: “Adam knew Eve,
his wife.” For Origen’s synthetic mind, knowledge is identi-
For Origen, the literal sense of scripture is the founda-
cal with love and union. Knowledge begins with the realities
tion for the spiritual sense, and he explains scripture using
of this world, which, in Platonic terms, are copies of “true”
philology and all the learning of his time. Spiritual exegesis,
realities, that is, the divine mysteries, toward which knowl-
or allegorical exegesis (synonymous for Origen), begins with
edge must strive. In other words, the way of knowledge be-
New Testament texts in which Old Testament images and
gins in the Old Testament and passes through the historical
prophesies have their fulfillment in Christ. This form of in-
Jesus—the Incarnate Word that enters the soul and leads it,
terpretation had been used by some earlier church fathers,
just as the apostles were led on the Mount of the Transfigura-
but Origen was its first great exponent, particularly in his
tion to see the Word through the man Jesus and thus to hear
theory of the three senses of scriptural meaning—corporal,
the words of Wisdom spoken among the perfect. The Trans-
or literal; psychic, or moral; and spiritual, or mystical. De-
figuration symbolizes for Origen the highest knowledge hu-
spite its great complexity (the result of later accretions), the
mans can have of God upon this earth; it is the prelude to
heart of Origen’s spiritual exegesis of the Old Testament is
the beatific vision, in which humans will contemplate, face
the manifestation of Christ as the key to the ancient scrip-
to face, the mysteries contained in the Son of God.
tures. These scriptures are a prophecy of Christ, both in their
entirety and in their details. In his spiritual exegesis of the
Origen was one of the great creators of the mystical lan-
New Testament, Origen applies what is said of Christ to the
guage and spiritual themes employed in later centuries. Be-
Christian, thus foreshadowing the things to come in the “last
fore his time, the bride in the Song of Songs had been inter-
days.” This exegesis can be understood only in the context
preted collectively as the church. Origen added to this
of spiritual life, prayer, and preaching. When Origen sug-
interpretation an individual meaning: the bride is the soul
gests the meaning of a text whose spiritual sense is not found
of the Christian. The imagery of the dart and the wound of
in the New Testament, he does not claim to give a definitive
love began with him. He often used the Pauline theme of the
answer, but only to provide “occasions for contemplation.”
birth and growth of Jesus in the soul, as well as the theme
Often he invites his reader or hearer to follow a better inter-
of the ascent of the Mount of the Transfiguration to express
pretation if it can be found. Origen’s spiritual exegesis does
spiritual ascension. Different aspects of grace and knowledge
not have the same aim as his literal exegesis (which for mod-
were represented by light, life, spiritual foods, spiritual wine,
ern exegetes, unlike for Origen, refers to the meaning intend-
and the five spiritual senses. He had a doctrine of the discern-
ed by the author). Literal exegesis, for Origen, points out the
ment of spirits, and he often spoke of Christ in a highly affec-
materiality of an expression independently, if possible, of all
tive manner that was rare in Christian antiquity. His far-
interpretation. Spiritual exegesis places the passage in the his-
reaching ascetic teachings included treatments of such
tory of salvation and draws spiritual food from it for the
themes as martyrdom, virginity, marriage, spiritual struggle,
faithful. A pastoral purpose is always present in Origen’s exe-
virtue, and sin.
gesis.
THE SPECULATIVE THEOLOGIAN. It is difficult to evaluate
THE SPIRITUAL WRITER. Origen is, after Clement, one of
Origen’s theology justly, as is known from his history. His
the founders of Christian spirituality and mysticism. His
theology “in exercise,” which was sensitive to the antithetical
trichotomic conception of man derives much more from
aspects of Christianity, lacked definitions and accurate termi-
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nology. This is understandable, since Origen wrote before
great Christian writers of the fourth century: in the East, of
the great trinitarian and christological heresies that in subse-
Athanasius, Basil, the two Gregories, and Didymus the
quent centuries made it necessary to develop more precise
Blind; in the West, of Hilary of Poitiers, Ambrose, Rufinus,
terms. To make a fair assessment, the historian therefore
and Jerome. (Jerome owed much to Origen, both early and
must study all that remains of his work: no single text alone
late in his career, although in his later years he became a
suffices to reveal Origen’s thought on any point. Because he
strong opponent of Origen.) The first attacks on Origen
was the pioneer of theology, Origen must be examined with
were launched at the turn of the fourth century by Methodi-
a strict historical method, with knowledge of the rule of faith
us of Olympus, Peter of Alexandria, and Eustathius of Anti-
of his time—still lacking precision—and of the heresies he
och; Origen was defended by Pamphilus of Caesarea.
fought. The historian must understand his vocabulary and
the persecuted church of the third century, so unlike the tri-
In the second half of the fourth century enthusiastic dis-
umphant church of his later accusers, who were little inter-
ciples among the monks of Palestine and Egypt turned the
ested in understanding him on his own terms. Similarly, the
ocean of Origen’s thought into a well-dammed river, thus
historian must avoid projecting on Origen the heresies of
making of him a heretic. This “Origenism” provoked the
later times.
first Origenist controversy. Origen’s opponents included
Epiphanius of Salamis, Theophilus of Alexandria, and Je-
The fundamental concern of Origen’s work, stimulated
rome; his defenders were John of Jerusalem and Rufinus. In
by the search of the convert Ambrose, was to give a Christian
the first half of the sixth century, Origenism—or, more
answer to problems (derived in part from Greek philosophy)
properly, “Evagrianism” (named for one of Origen’s enthusi-
that troubled his contemporaries. He had to ensure that they
asts, Evagrios of Pontus)—agitated some monasteries of Pal-
did not seek the answer in gnostic doctrines, and he had to
estine, and Emperor Justinian condemned Origen in a letter
supply searching Christians with the intellectual food they
in 543. He referred the question of the Palestinian Origen-
needed. His efforts in this direction, for which he had pre-
ists, rather than that of Origen himself, to the Second Coun-
pared himself by acquiring considerable philosophical erudi-
cil of Constantinople (553), but the anathemas against
tion, were totally misunderstood by his fourth-century and
Origenism do not appear in the council’s official acts.
fifth-century opponents, in spite of the fact that the success
Whereas the Byzantine church found Origen suspect, he was
of Origen’s efforts had played an important part in the con-
much read in the medieval Latin West until the thirteenth
version of the Roman empire.
century, and he held an especially important place in the Cis-
The philosophical foundation of Origen’s theology was
tercian tradition. His influence was eclipsed by the rise of
the Middle Platonism of his teacher Ammonius Saccas—an
Scholasticism but revived during the Renaissance, particular-
eclectic philosophy based mainly on Platonism and Stoicism
ly through the work of Pico della Mirandola and Erasmus.
and to a lesser degree on Aristotelianism. Origen borrowed
Today Origen, next to Augustine, is probably the most fre-
from this philosophy both terminology and doctrines, but
quently studied church father.
he used it as a theologian, not as a philosopher, to explain
and develop what he found in the Bible and in the rule of
BIBLIOGRAPHY
faith.
A general bibliography is supplied in my Bibliographie critique
It is impossible to give a detailed account of his theology
d’Origène (The Hague, 1971), and in its first supplement
in a short space. Only one of the erroneous doctrines of
(1982). Origen’s works are available in Patrologia Graeca, ed-
which he was later accused can safely be attributed to him:
ited by J.-P. Migne, (Paris, 1857), and in Die griechischen
his favorite hypothesis of the preexistence of souls. This idea
christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten drei Jahrhunderte (Leipzig,
was essentially Platonic, but Origen used it to a Christian
1899–1953; Berlin, 1953–). English translations of his
end: to refute the Marcionites, who accused the Creator of
works are offered in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 4, edited
wickedness, and to answer the great difficulties raised by the
by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (Grand Rapids,
Mich., 1965); in Prayer, Exhortation to Martyrdom and The
two contemporary Christian solutions to the problem of the
Song of Songs, Commentary and Homilies, nos. 19 and 26 in
origin of souls, traducianism and creationism. According to
“Ancient Christian Writers,” edited by Johannes Quasten
the rule of faith of his time, Origen’s hypothesis could not
and Joseph C. Plumbe (Westminster, Md., 1954 and 1956);
be described as heretical. The other controverted points—
and in Homilies on Genesis and Exodus, vol. 71 of The Fathers
the famous apocatastasis (the final restoration of all things),
of the Church, edited by Hermigild Dressler and others
the trinitarian subordinationism, and so on—must be exam-
(Washington, D. C., 1982). For On Principles, see Origen on
ined in the context of Origen’s entire work and intentions.
First Principles, translated by G. W. Butterworth (1936; re-
If this is done, these opinions lose most of the scandalous
print, New York, 1966). For Against Celsus, see Origen: Con-
character that they have acquired in his accusers’ formula-
tra Celsum, translated by Henry Chadwick (1953; reprint,
tions.
Cambridge, 1980). A general presentation of Origen’s life
and thought is available in Jean Daniélou’s Origen (New
POSTHUMOUS HISTORY. Origen has always been a contra-
York, 1955).
dictory figure in the history of the church. In spite of some
reservations from his followers, he was the teacher of all the
HENRI CROUZEL (1987)
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6891
ORPHEUS. In the sixth century BCE, a religious move-
ceased must behave and the words they must speak in the
ment that modern historians call Orphism appeared in
“Other World” in order to achieve perpetual happiness and
Greece around the figure of Orpheus, the Thracian enchant-
divine status. Although other gold leaves from Petelia, Crete,
er. The features of this movement, and even its existence,
and Thurii had been discovered earlier, those found in and
have been subjects of debate since the nineteenth century.
after 1974 cast a new light on early Orphism and compelled
A C
a reconception of the movement. According to these texts,
ONCISE SURVEY OF THE SCHOLARSHIP. In 1829 Chris-
tian Augustus Lobeck (1781–1890) collected and comment-
the religion of Persephone is related to that of the Dionysiac
ed on a huge amount of materials about Orphic literature
mystai (initiated) and bacchoi (those that have felt an ecstatic
and religion, in stark opposition to Georg F. Creuzer (1771–
trance), and it seems likely that the gold leaves contain frag-
1858), whose monumental work Symbolik und Mythologie
ments of an Orphic hieros logos (sacred discourse) about the
der alten Völker (1810–1812) had produced a great deal of
travel of the soul in the netherworld. As a result of these dis-
mystification. During the nineteenth and the early twentieth
coveries, many scholars came to hold the opinion that for
centuries, however, information about the activities of the
many centuries there existed a religious movement of vague
Orphics in the classical and early Hellenistic periods was
boundaries based on the authority of Orpheus. Its followers
scarce. Some scholars tended to fill the information gap by
believed in the immortality of the soul and in the transmigra-
elaborating a religious pattern for Orphism based on con-
tion of the soul until it reached final liberation.
cepts that are characteristic of modern religions. Such au-
DIFFICULTIES IN MARKING THE BOUNDARIES OF ORPHISM.
thors as Jane Ellen Harrison and Albrecht Dieterich were
Orphism occupies an intermediate position between diverse
convinced that the Orphics made up a true church and had
religious and philosophical movements, and it shares certain
a great influence over contemporary philosophy. Vittorio
features with several of them. The Orphics basically believed
Macchioro and Robert Eisler even argued that Christianity
in the same gods as followers of the Olympic religion that
was only a kind of derivation of Orphism. Against these ex-
is reflected by such authors as Homer and Hesiod. But while
cesses, Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff began, around
human beings and gods appear categorically separated in the
1930, a hypercritical reaction (followed by Ivan M. Linforth
Olympic worldview, the Orphics believed that it is possible
and E. R. Dodds, among others), which denied the existence
for human souls to reach a divine status. The Orphics were
of Orphism before the late Hellenistic period. This line of
also followers of Dionysos, with whom they shared the ecstasy
research was so dominant that until the 1970s it was believed
(a state of ecstatic trance, referred to by the verb baccheuein)
that Orphism was nothing more than an artificial product
that allowed men and gods to join together. However, the
of a series of interpretations advanced by Herodotus, as well
Orphics rejected the bloody rites that were characteristic of
as by Neoplatonic philosophers and modern historians en-
Bacchic religiosity. Orphism also received some features
amored of pagan mysteries. Some scholars, however, includ-
from Pythagoreanism; Orphics and Pythagoreans both be-
ing Erwin Rohde, Otto Kern, Arthur D. Nock, Martin P.
lieved in the dualism of the soul and the body, metempsy-
Nilsson, W. K. C. Guthrie, Pierre Boyancé, and Ugo
chosis and puritanism, and the associated taboos. But the
Bianchi, managed to maintain a more measured point of
Orphic ecstasy is not characteristic of the Pythagoreans, and
view.
the Orphics had little interest in politics. In addition, Or-
phism shares with the Eleusinian religion the myth of Deme-
During the 1970s Orphism became better known as a
ter and Persephone, the initiatic rites, and a belief in the sal-
result of discoveries that definitely established its presence
vation of the soul. Eleusis, however, was a stable cult,
and importance in the earliest of times. In 1962 the remains
associated with a sanctuary and controlled by certain fami-
of an “Orphic book,” dating to approximately 330 BCE, were
lies, while Orphism lacked sanctuaries and a stable priest-
discovered in a tomb at Derveni near Thessaloniki. The text,
hood. Orphism also coincided with certain ideas about di-
written around 400 BCE and consequently independent of
vinity developed by such authors as Aeschylos, Pindar, and
any Platonic influence, is a philosophical commentary on
Heraclitus; these include the proclamation of Zeus as the ori-
Orphic theogony and cosmogony. The poem that is dis-
gin and end of everything. Finally, Orphic texts include fea-
cussed dates to about 500 BCE, and the author of the com-
tures characteristic of oriental religions, such as statements
mentary also refers to certain rites performed by magoi.
in the gold leaves similar to statements found in the Egyptian
In 1978, Soviet archaeologists announced that they had
Book of the Dead. In addition, the central role of time in Or-
discovered three small bone tablets in Olbia, a Greek town
phic theogonies is reminiscent of Iranian Zurvan. Orphism,
on the Black Sea. The tablets attested the existence in the
however, is a typically Greek movement, and by no means
fifth century BCE of a group called the Orphics, who had an
an imported one.
explicit interest in the god Dionysos.
Orphism is contradictory in that its traditional character
Beginning in 1974 a series of Orphic gold leaves dating
resulted in the maintenance of its identity for centuries, but
from between 400 and 300 BCE were found in Vibo Valentia
since it was a religion without stable communities or ecclesi-
in Calabria, in Entella in Sicily, in Pharsalos in Thessaly, and
astic hierarchy, it allowed from the very beginning a great de-
in Pelinna in modern-day Paleoyardíki. The leaves contain
gree of variation among its believers and transmitters. Al-
brief texts, mainly in hexameters, that describe how the de-
though Orphism was without dogma or church, it was open
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ORPHEUS
to anybody and responded to the need for comfort and salva-
identity vacillates between the virginal, the androgynous, and
tion, allowing each follower to find in it something different.
the masculine. But the power of the voice and of song tri-
On the other hand, Orpheus’s prestige results in the attribu-
umphs over the sirens and their fatal spells. Thus, before he
tion to him of beliefs that sometimes contradict those prop-
becomes the founding hero of a new religion or even the
erly known as Orphic. It seems that from the beginning there
founder of a way of life that will be named after him, Orphe-
were different ways of feeling and transmitting the Orphic
us is a voice—a voice that is like no other. It begins before
message, including one branch of the movement that offered
songs that recite and recount. It precedes the voice of the
quick solutions to problems by means of a rite that assured
bards, the citharists who extol the great deeds of men or the
a better destiny. In certain cases there were also practices that
privileges of the divine powers. It is a song that stands outside
were clearly magical. From the days of Euripides until Atha-
the closed circle of its hearers, a voice that precedes articulate
nasius’s time, magoi traded with efficient enchantments,
speech. Around it, in abundance and joy, gather trees, rocks,
which were attributed to Orpheus for the sake of prestige.
birds, and fish. In this voice—before the song has become
Another branch tried to refine the Orphic message by giving
a theogony and at the same time an anthropogony—there
it a profound philosophical meaning. Between both branches
is the great freedom to embrace all things without being lost
there were, of course, simple believers who participated in
in confusion, the freedom to accept each life and everything
rituals called teletai, which they considered effective as prepa-
and to renounce a world inhabited by fragmentation and di-
ration for death and which offered them hope for the after-
vision.
life.
When representatives of the human race first appear in
Orphism, thus, was a complex phenomenon. It em-
the presence of Orpheus, they wear faces that are of war and
braced a long history, from the sixth century BCE to the Neo-
savagery yet seem to be pacified, faces that seem to have
platonic exegeses current in Alexandria at the time of Olym-
turned aside from their outward fury. These humans are
piodorus during the sixth century CE. Furthermore, Orphism
Thracian warriors, clad in animal skins and motley colored
involved three relatively autonomous types of religious phe-
cloaks, and just as birds leave the sky and fish forsake the sea
nomena. First, there were traditions concerning the birth,
at the sound of Orpheus’s song, so too do the warriors come
life, and descent of Orpheus into the underworld, his singing
out of the forests. In the midst of a wild audience, his head
among the Thracians, and his tragic death (he was said to
crowned with laurel, the enchanter is dressed in Greek fash-
have been torn to pieces by a band of women). Next, there
ion; he appears so Apollonian that only the clothing of his
was a literature that included writings attributed to Orpheus,
Thracian entourage distinguishes him from his father, Apol-
as well as several theogonic accounts. Finally, the Orphic
lo the citharist. But it is in full Thracian or oriental dress that
movement included certain practices and rules of conduct,
the vases of southern Italy depict Orpheus as he descends
proscriptions, and requirements to be met by those who
into the underworld, searches for Eurydice, or makes a dar-
chose to live in an Orphic manner.
ing journey to the heart of the realm of Hades.
Despite the growing evidence for an Orphic religious
Orpheus’s followers share in his triumph over death. A
movement, scholars such as Luc Brisson are still skeptical
large Apulian amphora, published in 1976, pictures Orpheus
about the existence of a specific religious stream with
in the underworld, standing and playing the lyre in the pres-
charasteristic rites. Claude Calame has expressed a more
ence of a heroized corpse. That corpse is seated in a pavilion,
moderate (though still skeptical) view. Many beliefs (e.g., the
and in its left hand it clasps a papyrus scroll, without doubt
immortality of the soul, the antecedent sin, metempsychosis,
an Orphic book similar to the one unearthed near a tomb
the possibility that the soul recovers its divine status), ritual
at Derveni or to the texts of the gold leaves.
practices (e.g., teletai), and personal attitudes (e.g., vegetari-
anism, Puritanism) appear to have been intertwined. They
The Altamura amphora presents another powerful
are thus better understood as belonging to the same move-
image. Orpheus the harpist stands before the Lord of the Un-
ment, rather than as separate entities or beliefs. While each
derworld, while the daughters of Danaus, damned forever,
feature attributed to Orphic religion may appear in other re-
ceaselessly pour water into a bottomless jar. Only the initiat-
ligious spheres, there is no other known religious movement
ed gain victory over the death that others must suffer, and
in which they all coincide. For example, if the gold leaves are
they alone enjoy the banquet and happiness of the blessed.
not Orphic, it would be necessary to reconstruct an un-
As a result, they become heroes or even resemble the gods
known movement with all the features of Orphism.
themselves.
WHO WAS ORPHEUS? A figure believed to be Orpheus, the
THE WRITINGS OF ORPHEUS. In Olbia, at Derveni, and in
citharist and enchanter, first appears around 570 BCE on a
southern Italy, writing was used to prolong Orpheus’s voice:
small black-figured vase. He is shown walking with a deter-
the song became a book. According to all sources, books were
mined stride and surrounded by two sirens (great angry birds
the main means of transmission of the texts. In Orphism,
with the heads of women). A frail silhouette armed with a
written literature took the place of oral communication. A
lyre, he clears a path for himself between these powers and
container for scrolls formed a part of the Orphic landscape.
their voice of death, between these hybrids whose sexual
On an Etruscan mirror (now in Boston) the container stands
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6893
at Orpheus’s feet, while silent beasts encircle the song. Thus,
which they boiled, roasted, and ate. In response, Zeus blasted
Orphic religion took on features of a “religion of the book.”
the Titans with a thunderbolt, and human beings were born
from the blood and soot of the Titans. Because of the cir-
There were two basic reasons for poets to attribute
cumstances of their origin, human beings have a divine and
poems to Orpheus, denying themselves fame as authors.
positive component, which comes from Dionysos, but their
First, for the Greeks, the older an idea was, the more presti-
souls retain a “Titanic nature” and the evilness of their ances-
gious it was. Plato often refers to Orpheus’s works as an “old
tors. Human souls can free themselves from their Titanic ele-
discourse,” which he considers worthy because it is old. Sec-
ment by passing through several reincarnations, thus recover-
ond, the advocates of this new religious doctrine invoked Or-
ing their divine state. Various scholars have doubted the
pheus’s name because if he had returned from the under-
authenticity and questioned the age of this myth. Nonethe-
world, he would be a reliable witness of what is revealed in
less, there are good arguments supporting its status as an an-
the poems.
cient myth. Several sources indicate that it was told in the
The oldest poems attributed to Orpheus (from the sixth
teletai, which would only make sense if this myth was related
century BCE until the Hellenistic age) focus on the origin and
to the origin and salvation of human beings. (See Bernabé,
destiny of human life. Some of the Orphic writings are the-
2002, for a full discussion of the topic.)
ogonies; others describe Orpheus’s descent to Hades (kataba-
sis
) and reveal the fate that awaits souls in the Other World.
The Orphics believed that these rites, along with the ec-
Some books prescribe a dietary regimen and extend to their
stasy and a form of puritanism that consisted in avoiding
readers an invitation to attend unblemished sacrifices and
bloodshed, favored their reintegration with divinity. People
sweet-smelling oblations. Some verses from a book of the lat-
taking part in the telete acquired a mystic knowledge and be-
ter type, in which a cereal diet is associated with justice, are
came aware of their place in the world order. They thus learn
quoted by Sextus Empiricus. Books of the latter type also in-
how to save their souls and achieve a better destiny in the
clude the lost Thuepolikon (How to make bloodless offer-
Other World once they have freed themselves from the ante-
ings), to which Plato alludes directly in the Republic. Plato
cedent (inherited) sin (they inherited their sin from their an-
also quotes many times a hieros or palaios logos (sacred or an-
cestors, the Titans; see Bianchi, 1966).
cient discourse) as a source of doctrines about the soul.
The telete was probably performed in various ways, with
Orpheus was also said to be the author of magical texts,
different types of people participating. Professional initiators
which is not surprising, since Orpheus himself has features
(orpheotelestai), who are contemptuously described as poor
of a wizard. Later, in the Roman age, Orpheus became a
and ragged and always carrying a stack of books, performed
prestigious name, and a diverse series of astrological, botani-
rites that supposedly freed people from sin and promised a
cal, and medical poems were attributed to him, including a
better destiny in the Other World. Nobody ordained them,
complete a poem about stones (Lithica). From the same peri-
and they were patronized by superstitious and ignorant peo-
od comes a version of Argonautica, told in first person by Or-
ple. After the drastic measures announced in the senatuscon-
pheus himself. The religious content of these later poems was
sultus de Bacchanalibus (186 BCE) against those that took part
already far removed from ancient Orphism.
in Bacchic rituals (see Livy 34, 8), the itinerant initiation
priest seems to have totally disappeared from Bacchic myster-
ORPHIC WAY OF LIFE. Plato summarized the strict rules of
ies. There were also many vagabonds and seers, who are
the Orphic way of life in the Laws: to abstain from all meat
quoted by Plato in the Republic. They were purifiers who
and to offer the gods only cakes or fruit soaked in honey, for
claimed that they could heal epilepsy, and were thus reviled
it is impious and unclean to eat flesh and to stain with blood
by Hippocrates. In addition, beginning in the fourth centu-
the altars of the gods. Since the bloody sacrifice was a basic
ry, there were people like the commentator of the Derveni
rite of the state religion, these rules would have placed the
papyrus, who respected Orphic poems because they were old,
Orphics outside of the polis.
but found some of their content, such as incest and castra-
Herodotus tells us that the Egyptian taboo prohibiting
tion, unacceptable. They solved the contradiction by resort-
the wearing of wool parallels Orphic and Bacchic obser-
ing to allegorical interpretations of the texts. Plato refers to
vances. In addition, the ecstasy (baccheuein) was an impor-
them in Meno, and he proposes in Cratylus his own allegori-
tant aspect of the Orphic way of life. This way of life was
cal interpretations of the old texts. This method of interpre-
not easy to follow and, according to Plato, many people
tation, which was continued by Plutarch and Plotinus, sur-
failed: “Many are narthex-bearers, but the bacchoi are few.”
vived until the era of Neoplatonism. Finally, ordinary men
and women participated in teletai as mystai. They looked to
THE TELETE, ORPHEOTELESTAI, AND MYSTAI. The trans-
the rite for comfort and for the promise of a better future
mission of the Orphic message as recorded in books was car-
life.
ried out through a rite called the telete. This rite was probably
accompanied by a performance that dramatized the follow-
The Orphics did not usually form stable communities.
ing myth. Zeus decided to appoint his son Dionysos as his
As a religion that promised individual salvation, Orphism
successor when Dionysos was still a child. The Titans lured
could have been considered dangerous in Greek society,
Dionysos away, killed him, and cut his body into pieces,
where religion was a means of social integration in the polis.
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But the movement’s lack of organization ensured that it
those who were at the point of being healed. The plurality
would never become an alternative to the status quo. Rela-
of the gods was unavoidable. The Orphics therefore had to
tively stable Orphic communities have been documented in
reconceive the divine, to transform the order of the divine
only a few locations, including Olbia and perhaps Cumae.
forces, and to work out an alternative genealogy of powers.
A fifth-century BCE inscription found in Cumae prevented
those that had not felt an ecstatic trance from being buried
ORPHIC COSMOGONIES AND THEOGONIES. The evolution
in that place. Taking this inscription as a starting point, Tur-
of the gods is recounted in a series of poems whose refined
can (1986) claims that a relatively stable Orphic Community
styles become evident as they are deciphered from new pa-
may have existed in Cumae. This is disputed, however, by
limpsests.
Pailler (1995, 109–126), though without convincing argu-
The Neoplatonic philosopher Damascius (fifth to sixth
ments. A second-century CE inscription from Torre Nova de-
century CE) refers to the existence of several Orphic theogo-
picts a private Bacchic association organized in a hierarchy,
nies. These include (1) what he calls “current Orphic rhapso-
which is more suitable for the Roman world.
dies,” which seems to be the only Orphic theogony directly
But who were these people who were interred with a pa-
known by the Neoplatonic school—it is also the longest and
pyrus scroll in their hands, who abhorred blood, wrote cos-
seems to be a conflation of several older poems; (2) a theogo-
mogonies, and dreamt strange tales about the birth of the
ny transmitted by Hieronymus and Hellanicus; and (3) a
gods? What did they want with Orpheus and his silent incan-
theogony recorded in the Peripatetic Eudemus as being of
tations? Actually, they sought one goal: health. They wished
Orpheus, which seems to be the same as, or similar to, that
to heal themselves and sought to do so by fleeing from the
of Derveni. The parodic cosmogony in Aristophanes’ play
world. The Orphics were renunciants who strove for saintli-
Birds (414 BCE) may also echo an ancient Orphic theogony.
ness. They devoted themselves to techniques of purification
in order to separate themselves from others, to cut themselves
The Orphic gods are bizarre. The firstborn (Greek, pro-
off from the world and from all who are subject to death and
togonos), the primal generator and generatrix described in the
defilement.
Rhapsodies, is called variously Protogonos, Phanes, Metis,
and Erikepaios. Descriptions of this deity offer repeated af-
By returning to a golden age, to the time of the begin-
fronts to the form of the human body: it has two pairs of
ning, the Orphics renounced the blood on altars and rejected
eyes, golden wings, the voice of a lion and of a bull, and or-
the eating of any flesh, and in doing so they rejected the val-
gans of both sexes, one of which adorns the upper part of
ues of the Greek state and that state’s religious system, in-
the buttocks. There is also the Zeus who rules over the fifth
cluding its discrete divine powers, its differentiated gods, and
generation of gods and who will transfer his power to his son.
the sharp distinction that it inevitably drew between the di-
Instead of being assured of ruling over the gods forever, this
vine and the human. The Orphic way of life implied an un-
Zeus, on the advice of Night, sends the Firstborn straight to
compromising renunciation that is expressed by the condem-
the pit of his belly. Thus he becomes a womb, as it were, the
nation both of sanguinary food and of the social bond that
shell of an egg whose dimensions are those of the All. In
is established within the state when an animal is sacrificed
other tales this god cuts an even poorer figure. He marries
on the altar and its flesh shared in a common feast.
his mother (Demeter), and as a result of this incestuous
In contrast with the way of life and patterns of thought
union a daughter (Persephone) is born. Zeus then impreg-
associated with the followers of Pythagoras, a similar form
nates Persephone, who is both his daughter and his half sis-
of mysticism, the Orphics never attempted political reform
ter. The church fathers, who assiduously observed so many
or envisaged an alternative state with an alternative political
couplings, turned from crimson to green.
cult. For the devotees of Orpheus, who chose writing and
The Orphic cosmogony/theogony contains a virtual
books as an effective symbol of their otherness, renouncing
orgy of baroque deities and polymorphic monsters, but the
the worldliness of the state meant not only finding in vege-
profusion of these multifarious gods is neither gratuitous nor
tarianism a foretaste of life among the gods—that is, life
insignificant. It gives meaning to their development. In the
among the gods who precede this world, with its bloody al-
beginning was the totality, the oneness of the All, the com-
tars—it also meant recasting, with a great deal of effort, the
pleteness of Phanes within the perfect sphere of primordial
genesis of the world, and rewriting the entire history of the
Night. In the course of five successive reigns, the ideal unity
gods. Like the sacrifice, the gods constituted a single struc-
undergoes the trials of separation and division on its road to
ture in which politics, society, and religion were in perfect
differentiation. The succession of rulers passes from
balance. When the Orphics renounced the gods of other
Phanes—via Night, so close to Phanes—to Ouranos and
Greeks, they called into question the whole fabric of social
Gaia, Kronos and Rhea, and finally to Zeus. Zeus, born of
life, including polytheism, to the extent that polytheism per-
Rhea (Demeter or Deo), marries her, and later he becomes
vaded society and played an integral role in politics.
the husband of Kore (Persephone), his daughter, who will
But although Orphism distrusted the polytheism of oth-
give birth to Dionysos. Dionysos, who was actually already
ers, it did not reject it entirely. If it had, it would have been
present in the Firstborn, will institute the sixth and final gen-
in danger of cutting itself off from all communication with
eration of the gods.
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ORPHEUS
6895
What is the motivating force behind this genealogical
tetralogy based on the legends of Dionysos, Aeschylus pres-
descent? Differentiation takes place first through sexual ac-
ented an Orpheus stricken with the devout love of one god
tivity, then through marriage, which works toward the sepa-
greater than all the rest. Every day, at dawn, Orpheus scales
ration of the divine powers. To be more specific, the first
the crags of Mount Pangaeus, the highest mountain in Thra-
conjugal union in the world of the gods appears in the third
ce. He wishes to be the first to salute the Sun, who is for him
generation: there is no gamos (marriage) before that of Ou-
“the greatest of the gods” and to whom he gives the name
ranos and Gaia. Nevertheless, Phanes takes from Night—the
Apollo. Dionysos, it is said, is filled with resentment at this
second Night, said to be his daughter—the flower of her vir-
daily ritual. He sends to Orpheus women with a barbarian
ginity. This act represents the first appearance of sexuality,
name, the Bassarai. They surround him, seize him, and dis-
but there is not yet any marriage. As Proclus, a good inter-
member him, tearing him to pieces immediately. In fact,
preter of Orpheus, writes: “For those who are most united
Dionysos takes an interest in Orpheus’s activity because Pan-
there is no union in marriage.”
gaeus is Dionysos’s own domain, an ambiguous region where
Sexuality initiates difference; marriage establishes and
Lykurgos, the king of the Edonians, is torn apart by wild
grounds it by bringing to completion the separation that is
horses. Pangaeus is also where Dionysos appears as an oracu-
in full force until the reign of Zeus in the fifth generation.
lar deity whose prophetess recalls the Pythia in the temple
The Zeus of the fifth generation (in contrast to the Zeus of
of Apollo. Thus the Dionysos of Pangaeus has two faces, one
the fourth) displays two faces; one is the face of degeneracy—
of which is Apollonian. And the instruments of Orpheus’s
his doubly incestuous marriage: the son with his mother, and
death are women, the fiercest and wildest representatives of
the father with his daughter—the other is the face of regener-
the feminine gender (they appear armed with skewers, axes,
ation. Hearkening to Night, he engulfs the Firstborn in his
stones, and hooks on Attic vases from between 480 and 430).
entrails and ushers in the second creation of the world. This
These are women whom the voice of Orpheus is powerless
Zeus is the pregnant god who realizes within himself both
to seduce, to tame, or to restrain. They would even have re-
the unity of all things and the distinctiveness of each.
joiced in killing Orpheus—one of several details that show
that they are outside the control of Dionysos, that they are
The commentator of the Derveni papyrus confirms this
not bacchanals but ferocious beasts who cause Orpheus to
process of differentiation, now in the origin of words and of
be destroyed by what he most deeply despises: the feminine,
things, for it deals with the assignation of multiple names to
which brought to humans the disease of birth and death. In
a single god. The vocabulary is philosophical, the vocabulary
opposition to this feminine, Orpheus embodies the purely
of Anaxagoras, the vocabulary of separation (diakrisis). In
masculine, the catharos who is seen also in Apollo, the princi-
particular, column twenty-one states that all things already
ple of unity, but Orpheus does so via the multiplicity of
existed in advance, but they received their names only when
forms and by the roundabout path of Dionysian polymor-
they were separated. Thus, naming replicates—on the level
phism.
of words—the separation and distinctions brought about
through sexual activity, in this case the activity of Aphrodite
TRACES OF ORPHISM IN NON-ORPHIC AUTHORS. Although
and her father, Zeus. The commentary in the Derveni papy-
Orphic literature was generally scorned in the classical age
rus attempts to display the truth of Orpheus’s words: the lin-
by writers closer to the religion of the state, some authors
guistic discussion appears as an additional means of conceiv-
were interested in certain aspects of its message. Such philos-
ing the unity that subsists within the interplay of the figures
ophers as Parmenides and Empedocles, and above all the Py-
of separation, a means that is available as a result of the ap-
thagoreans and Plato, as well as lyric poets such as Pindar,
propriateness of the names bestowed by Orpheus.
seemed to know and accept certain features of the Orphic
In recasting the gods of others, Orphism gives a special
message. Plutarch claims to have been initiated into the mys-
meaning to the complicity of two rival powers: Dionysos and
teries and mentions several Orphic doctrines. The Orphic in-
Apollo, the two gods who sum up the whole of Greek poly-
fluence is present in Neoplatonism during the fifth and sixth
theism. In the various theogonic accounts—the great dramas
centuries CE. There are also traces of Orphism in some Greek
in which Dionysos is assuredly the protagonist—Apollo
magical papyri and in Mithraism.
plays the role of a tutelary power. He embodies genuine orac-
The so-called Testament of Orpheus reveals an Orphic
ular knowledge in the Delphic landscape that he shares with
influence on Hellenized Jews, and the early Christians exhib-
Night, the daughter of Phanes. He collects and pieces togeth-
it two contradictory attitudes toward Orphism. Christians
er the scattered limbs of Dionysos and then lays the remains
sometimes highlighted common features between Orphic
of the executed god to rest in his sanctuary at the foot of
and Christian beliefs in order to make their new message eas-
Mount Parnassus. Finally, he is identified with another great
ier for pagans to adopt. Orpheus is represented in early
god, the Sun, who inspires Orpheus to sing his theogonic
Christian sarcophagi and is identified with the good shep-
song.
herd in the catacombs. Early Christians also at times directly
But Dionysos and Apollo also meet and confront each
rejected the Orphic message, renouncing in particular the
other in the tragic biography of Orpheus and, in particular,
most reprehensible aspects of the Orphic myths, such as
in the indirect manner in which Orpheus is slain. In his first
monsters, castration of gods, and incest.
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6896
ORPHEUS
SEE ALSO Apollo; Apotheosis; Baubo; Catharsis; Demeter
Cumae’s Inscription
and Persephone; Dionysos; Dualism; Eleusinian Mysteries;
Pailler, Jean-Marie. Bacchus: Figures et Pouvoirs. Paris, 1995.
Eros; Hellenistic Religions; Magic, article on Magic in
Turcan, Robert. “Bacchoi ou Bacchants: De la dissidence des vi-
Greco-Roman Antiquity; Music, article on Music and Reli-
vants à la ségregation des morts.” In L’association Dianysiaque
gion in Greece, Rome, and Byzantium; Mystery Religions;
dans les societiés anciennes. Actes de la table ronde de l’école
Neoplatonism; Plato; Platonism; Pythagoras; Soul, article on
francaise de Rome. Rome, 1986.
Greek and Hellenistic Concepts.
Overestimations of Orphism
Dieterich, Albrecht. Nekyia. Leipzig, Germany, 1913.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Eisler, Robert. Orpheus the Fisher. London, 1921.
Editions and Translations of Texts
Harrison, Jane Ellen. Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion.
Athanassakis, Apostolos N., trans. and ed. The Orphic Hymns.
Cambridge, UK, 1903; 3d ed., Cambridge, UK, 1922.
Missoula, Mont., 1977.
Macchioro, Vittorio. Zagreus: Studi intorno all’orfismo. Florence,
Bernabé, Alberto, ed. Poetae Epici Graeci, vol. 2: Orphicorum et
Italy, 1930. (See partial translation of this work that ap-
Orphicis similium testimonia et fragmenta. Monachii et Lip-
peared as “Orphism and Paulism” in the Journal of Religion
siae, 2003.
in 1928.)
Colli, Giorgio. La Sapienza greca. Milan, Italy, 1977.
Hypercritical Reaction
Halleux, Robert, and Jacques Schamp, eds. and trans. Les lapi-
Dodds, E. R. The Greeks and the Irrational. Berkeley, Calif., 1951.
daires grecs. Paris, 1985. French translation of the Orphic
Linforth, Ivan M. The Arts of Orpheus. Berkeley, Calif., 1941; re-
Lithica.
print, New York, 1973.
Kern, Otto, ed. Orphicorum fragmenta. Berlin, 1922; reprint,
Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, Ulrich von. Der Glaube der Hellenen.
Dublin and Zürich, 1972.
Berlin, 1931; 3d rev. ed., Darmstadt, Germany, 1959.
Ricciardelli, Gabriella, trans and ed. Inni orfici. Milan, Italy, 2000.
Measured Points of View
Vian, Francis, trans. and ed. Les argonautiques orphiques. Paris,
Bianchi, Ugo. “Orfeo e l’ orfismo nell’ epoca classica.” Studi e
1987.
materiali de storia delle religioni 28 (1957): 151–156.
Tablets of Olbia
Bianchi, Ugo. “Péché originel et péché ’antécédent’.” Revue de
Dubois, Laurent. Inscriptions grecques dialectales d’Olbia du Pont.
l’Histoire des Religions 170 (1966): 117–126.
Geneva, Switzerland, 1996. See pages 154–155.
Bianchi, Ugo. Selected Essays on Gnosticism, Dualism, and
West, Martin L. “The Orphics of Olbia.” Zeitschrift für Papyrolo-
Mysteriosophy. Leiden, 1977.
gie und Epigraphik 45 (1982): 17–29. A study of the tablets.
Boyancé, Pierre. “Sur l’ orphisme.” Revue des Études Anciennes 40
Zhmud, Leonid. “Orphism and Grafitti from Olbia.” Hermes 120
(1938): 163–172.
(1992): 159–168.
Boyancé, Pierre. “Platon et les cathartes orphiques.” Revue des
Derveni Papyrus
Études Grecques 55, (1942): 217–235.
Bernabé, Alberto. “La théogonie orhique du papyrus de Derveni.”
Boyancé, Pierre. “Xénocrate et les orphiques.” Revue des Études
Kernos 15 (2002): 91–129. A reconstruction and analysis of
Anciennes 50 (1948): 218–231.
the theogony.
Cumont, Franz. Lux perpetua. Paris, 1949.
Janko, Richard. “The Derveni Papyrus (Diagoras of Melos, Apopy-
Guthrie, W. K. C. Orpheus and Greek Religion: A Study of the Or-
rgizontes Logoi?: A New Translation.” Classical Philology 96
phic Movement. London, 1935; 2d rev. ed., London, 1952;
(2001): 1–32.
reprint, New York, 1967.
Janko, Richard. “The Derveni Papyrus: An Interim Text.”
Kern, Otto. Orpheus. Berlin, 1920.
Zeitschrift zur Papyrologie und Epigraphik 141 (2002): 1–62.
Keydell, Rudolf, and Karl Ziegler. “Orphische Dichtung.” Real
Laks, André, and Glenn W. Most, eds. Studies on the Derveni Pa-
Encyclopaedie 18, no. 2 (1942): 1221–1417.
pyrus. Oxford, 1997.
Lagrange, M.- J., Les mystères: L’orphisme. Paris, 1937. A Catholic
Gold Leaves
approach.
Bernabé, Alberto, Jiménez San Cristóbal, and Ana Isabel. Instrucc-
Meuli, Karl. Gesammelte Schriften. Basle, 1975.
iones para el Más Allá: Las laminillas órficas de oro. Madrid,
2001.
Nilsson, Martin P. “Early Orphism and Kindred Religious Move-
ments.” Harvard Theological Review 28 (1935): 181–230.
Pugliese Carratelli, Giovanni. Le lamine d’oro orfiche. Milan, Italy,
2001.
Nock, Arthur D. Conversion: The Old and the New in Religion
from Alexander the Great to Augustine of Hippo. Oxford,
Riedweg, Christoph. “Initiation-Tod-Unterwelt: Beobachtungen
1933.
zur Komunikationssituation und narrativen Technik der or-
phisch-bakchischen Goldblättchen.” In Ansichten griechischer
Prümm, Karl. “Die Orphik im Spiegel der neueren Forschung.”
Rituale: Geburtstag-Symposium für Walter Burkert, edited by
Zeitschrift für Katholische Theolologie 78 (1956): 1–40.
Fritz Graf. Stuttgart and Leipzig, Germany, 1998. See pages
Rohde, Erwin. Psyche: Seelencult und Unterblichkeitsglaube der Gr-
359–398.
iechen, 4th ed. Tübingen, Germany, 1907.
Zuntz, Günther. Persephone, Three Essays on Religion and Thought
Sabbatucci, Dario. Saggio sul misticismo greco. Rome, 1965
in Magna Graecia. Oxford, 1971.
(French trans. Essai sur le mysticisme grec. Paris, 1982.)
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

ORPHIC GOLD TABLETS
6897
Turcan, Robert. “L’âme oiseau et l’eschatologie orphique.” Revue
ORPHIC GOLD TABLETS. The Orphic Gold
de l’histoire des religions 155 (1959): 33–40.
Tablets are thirty-five small pieces of gold foil that have been
Turcan, Robert. “L’oeuf orphique et les quatre éléments.” Revue
found in graves scattered throughout ancient Greece and
de l’histoire des religions 160 (1961): 11–23.
Rome. The tablets are inscribed with texts in ancient Greek
New Approaches
that vary in length from one word to sixteen lines of poetry.
Alderink, Larry J. Creation and Salvation in Ancient Orphism.
The longer texts provide instructions and information to
Chico, Calif., 1981.
guide the soul of the deceased as it makes its way through
Bernabé, Alberto. “Platone e l’ orfismo.” In Destino e salvezza: tra
the underworld, and to ensure that it receives preferential
culti pagani e gnosi cristiana. Itinerari storico-religiosi sulle
treatment from the rulers there.
orme di Ugo Bianchi, edited by Giulia Sfameni Gasparro,
pp. 33–93. Cosenza, 1998.
The tablets were labeled Orphic in the early twentieth
century because scholars thought their statements reflected
Borgeaud, Philippe, ed. Orphisme et orphée, en l’honneur de Jean
Rudhardt. Geneva, Switzerland, 1991. Papers discussing dif-
the tenets of a religious system the ancient Greeks and Ro-
ferent aspects of Orphism.
mans believed was invented and promulgated by the legend-
Borgeaud, Philippe, Claude Calame, and André Hurst, eds.
ary musician Orpheus. However, newer discoveries of tablets
“L’Orphisme et ses écritures: Nouvelles recherches.” Revue de
that refer to bacchoi, to the “Bacchic one,” and to thyrsoi
l’histoire des religions 219 (2002): 379–516.
(staffs carried by worshippers of the god Bacchus) indicate
Brisson, Luc. Orphée et l’orphisme dans l’antiquité gréco-romaine.
that the tablets are associated with mystery cults in which
Aldershot, U.K., 1995. A collection of the author’s papers
Bacchus (also called Dionysos) and his mother Persephone
about Orphism and the Neoplatonic reception of the move-
were the most important deities. Calling the tablets Orphic
ment.
is not completely erroneous, however, for verses engraved on
Burkert, Walter. “Craft versus Sect: The Problem of Orphics and
the tablets probably were excerpted from a poem attributed
Pythagoreans.” In Jewish and Christian Self-Definition, vol.
to Orpheus. Some scholars now refer to the tablets as Or-
3: Self-Definition in the Greco-Roman World, edited by Ben
phic, some as Bacchic, and others simply as the Gold Tablets.
F. Meyer and E. P. Sanders, pp. 1–22. Philadelphia, 1982.
Most of the tablets have been found in southern Italy,
Burkert, Walter. Ancient Mystery Cults. Cambridge, Mass., and
northern Greece, or Crete, but one is from Sicily and another
London, 1987.
one from Rome. Most are from the fourth century BCE, al-
Burkert, Walter. Da Omero ai Magi: La tradizione orientale nella
though one from Hipponion (southern Italy) may be as early
cultura greca. Venice, Italy, 1999.
as the fifth century BCE and the tablet from Rome dates to
Calame, Claude, “Qu’ est-ce qui est orphique dans les Orphica?
the second or third century CE. Several were found on top
Une mise au point introductive.” Revue de l’histoire des reli-
of corpses, near a corpse’s hand, or, in one case, in a corpse’s
gions 219 (2002): 385–400.
mouth; another was found inside of an amulet case on a
Convegno di studi sulla Magna Grecia. Orfismo in magna Grecia.
necklace. A list of all of the tablets, with notes and transla-
Naples, Italy, 1975. Papers about Orphism in southern Italy.
tions into Spanish, can be found in Bernabé and Jiménez San
Detienne, Marcel. Dionysos Slain. Translated by Mireille Muellner
Cristóbal.
and Leonard Muellner. Baltimore, Md., 1979.
Detienne, Marcel. L’écriture d’Orphée. Paris, 1989.
Gunther Zuntz divided the longer tablets that had been
discovered by his time into two groups: A and B. Subse-
Graf, Fritz. Eleusis und die orphische Dichtung Athens in vorhellenis-
tischer Zeit. Berlin and New York, 1974.
quently discovered tablets display qualities of both groups
(prompting Bernabé and San Cristóbal to eschew the use of
Masaracchia, Agostino, ed. Orfeo e l’orfismo. Atti del Seminario
Nazionale (Roma-Perugia 1985–1991). Rome, 1993. Papers
categories completely), but Zuntz’s division still has heuristic
discussing different aspects of Orphism.
value. The A tablets are distinguished by the soul’s declara-
Parker, R. “Early Orphism.” In The Greek World, edited by Powell
tion of its purity and its kinship to the gods, its escape from
Anton, pp. 483–510. London, 1995.
the “circle of grief” (probably a reference to reincarnation),
and its expectation that Persephone, the Queen of the Dead,
Tortorelli Ghidini, Marisa, Alfredina Storchi Marino, and
Amedeo Visconti, eds. Tra Orfeo e Pitagora. Naples, Italy,
will bestow special honors and rights upon it due to its initia-
2000.
tion into Bacchic mysteries. There is a mention of death by
West, Martin L. The Orphic Poems. Oxford, 1983.
lightning in three A tablets and a cryptic reference to animals
falling into milk in four; the meanings of these statements
The Myth of Dionysos and the Titans
are much debated. The B tablets are marked by descriptions
Bernabé, Alberto. “La toile de Pénélope: a-t-il existé un mythe or-
of the underworld landscape, instructions to avoid drinking
phique sur Dionysos et les Titans?” Revue de l’histoire des reli-
gions
219 (2002): 401–433.
the subterranean waters of forgetfulness, and statements that
the soul must pronounce to the guardians at a lake of memo-
Edmonds, Radcliffe G. “Tearing Apart the Zagreus Myth: A Few
Disparaging Remarks on Orphism and Original Sin.” Classi-
ry before it is allowed to drink there.
cal Antiquity 18 (1999): 35–73.
There is no certainty about the ritual contexts in which
MARCEL DETIENNE (1987)
the tablets were inscribed and given to the individuals in
ALBERTO BERNABÉ (2005)
whose graves they were found, although it is certain that ini-
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6898
ORTHODOX JUDAISM [FIRST EDITION]
tiation into Bacchic mysteries was a prerequisite. It is possi-
Bernabé, Alberto, and Ana Isabel Jiménez San Cristóbal. Instrucc-
ble that tablets were sometimes bestowed on an initiate at the
iones para el más allá: Las laminillas órficas de oro. Madrid,
time of initiation and subsequently buried with him or her,
2001.
and that sometimes tablets were bestowed only at the time
Graf, Fritz. “Dionysian and Orphic Eschatology.” In Masks of Di-
of burial, perhaps by an anxious family member.
onysus, edited by Thomas Carpenter and Christopher Far-
aone. Ithaca, N.Y., 1993.
The myth that underlies the tablets and the rituals con-
nected with them, which is alluded to by some of the tablets’
Johnston, Sarah Iles, and T. J. McNiven. “Dionysos and the Un-
hexameters, concerns the birth of Dionysos to Zeus and his
derworld in Toledo.” Museum Helveticum 53 (1996): 25–36.
daughter Persephone; the subsequent murder, dismember-
Zuntz, Gunther. Persephone: Three Essays on Religion and Thought
ment, and consumption of the young Dionysos by jealous
in Magna Graecia. Oxford, 1971.
gods called Titans; Zeus’s incineration of the Titans with
SARAH ILES JOHNSTON (2005)
lightning bolts; the emergence of humanity from their sooty
remains (thus, humanity is largely composed of defective, Ti-
tanic material, although a bit of the consumed Dionysos
lightens its composition); and Dionysos’s miraculous rebirth
ORTHODOX JUDAISM [FIRST EDITION]
from the womb of Semele, a mortal woman, made possible
is the branch of Judaism that adheres most strictly to the te-
by the fact that the goddess Athena had snatched Dionysos’s
nets of the religious law (halakhah). Its forebears may be
heart away from the hungry Titans.
identified in the eighteenth century, by which time the qehil-
lah
, the Jewish communal organization in each locality, had
The myth helps to explain why humanity must atone
lost much of its authority in central and western Europe and
to Persephone, the grieving mother, for the deeds of the Ti-
its prestige in eastern Europe. This, in turn, undermined reli-
tans (humanity’s ancestors), lest Persephone make humans
gious authority, which had heretofore relied not only on the
suffer in her realm, the underworld. They are able to do so
faith of each Jew but also on communal consensus and the
by celebrating the mysteries of Persephone’s son. It was prob-
formal authority and prestige of communal leaders. The
ably during the mysteries that adherents were first given the
breakdown of the traditional community, coupled with the
directions about how to behave and what to do in the under-
hope and expectation of political emancipation, encouraged
world that are found, in abbreviated form, on the Gold Tab-
new interpretations of Jewish life and new conceptions of ap-
lets. The complete myth, as narrated above, must be pieced
propriate relationships between Jews and non-Jews. These
together from a number of ancient sources that span ten cen-
began to emerge by the end of the eighteenth century in cen-
turies, a fact that has sometimes caused scholars to question
tral and western Europe and somewhat later in eastern Eu-
the relationship of individual episodes to each other, or even
rope. Orthodoxy was born as the ideological and organiza-
the very existence of the myth itself in antiquity. The 1990s
tional response to these new conceptions.
saw attempts to dismiss the myth as either an allegorical in-
vention by late antique Neoplatonic authors who were inter-
The major tenets of Orthodoxy, like those of traditional
ested in alchemy or a projection of the Christian concept of
Judaism, include the dogma that the Torah was “given from
original sin onto ancient Greece by nineteenth-century
Heaven,” that the halakhah derives directly or indirectly
scholars. Yet in 2002, Alberto Bernabé offered a thorough
from an act of revelation, and that Jews are obligated to live
re-analysis of the sources, showing that the myth was present
in accordance with the halakhah as interpreted by rabbinic
already in the fifth century
authority. But unlike traditional Judaism, Orthodoxy is con-
BCE and was central to Bacchic
mysteries from an early period.
scious of the spiritual and cultural challenges of the modern
world and especially of rival formulations of the meaning and
Other materials enhance our understanding of the doc-
consequences of being Jewish. Orthodoxy, in all its various
trines and practices that lay behind the Gold Tablets, includ-
manifestations and expressions, has never recognized any al-
ing numerous passages in ancient literary texts and small
ternative conception of Judaism as legitimate. But it is aware
bone tablets from sixth or fifth century BCE Olbia (a city on
of itself as a party, generally a minority party, within the Jew-
the Black Sea), which are inscribed with the words “life-
ish world.
death-life” and “Dio [nysoi(?)] Orphikoi.” Also important is
a mid-fourth-century BCE funerary vase from Apulia in
Orthodox Judaism received its earliest formulation in
southern Italy, discussed by Johnston and McNiven, which
Hungary (then part of the Austro-Hungarian empire) in the
shows Dionysos shaking hands with Hades, Lord of the
first quarter of the nineteenth century and in Germany in
Dead, while Persephone and other mythological characters
the middle of the century. In both countries it constituted
look on; this can be interpreted as illustrating the promises
a response to the efforts of reformers to adapt the halakhah
made to those buried with the Gold Tablets.
in general and the synagogue service in particular to currents
in nineteenth-century culture. The reformers maintained
B
that this was a condition for Jewish emancipation and civil
IBLIOGRAPHY
Bernabé, Alberto. “La toile de Pénélope: a-t-il existé un mythe or-
equality. Orthodoxy developed in France and England at
phique dur Dionysos et les Titans?” Revue de l’histoire des reli-
about this same time but in far less explicit and rigorous a
gions 219, no. 4 (2002): 401–433.
manner. A major reason, no doubt, was that the challenge
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ORTHODOX JUDAISM [FIRST EDITION]
6899
of Reform Judaism was so much weaker. The weakness of
the Land of Israel in the Jewish tradition may also have been
Reform Judaism in France and England may be attributable
related to his negative attitude toward political emancipa-
to the fact that it developed after, rather than before, the Jews
tion. He feared its threat to religious authority. His followers
had more or less obtained civil equality in those countries.
believed they could establish a pure Jewish society, insulated
from secularist modernizing influences, in the Land of Israel.
Orthodoxy arose in eastern Europe at the end of the
They established a Hungarian subcommunity in the Land
nineteenth century, primarily in response to secular interpre-
of Israel that played a major role within the old yishuv (the
tations of Jewish life rather than in opposition to religious
nineteenth-century settlement of religiously observant Jews,
reform. The most important centers of Orthodoxy today are
as distinct from the new yishuv of late-nineteenth- and
in Israel and the United States.
twentieth-century settlers motivated by secular Jewish
HUNGARIAN ORTHODOXY. The ideological and program-
nationalism).
matic outlines of Hungarian Orthodoxy were formulated by
Rabbi Mosheh Sofer (1762-1839), better known as the
The distinctive instrument of Hungarian Orthodoxy in
H:atam Sofer, the title of his seven-volume responsa to
furthering its neotraditional objectives was the independent
halakhic questions. This earliest variety of Orthodoxy is best
communal organization. In 1868 the Hungarian govern-
described by the term neotraditionalism because it rejects any
ment convened a General Jewish Congress in order to define
attempt at change and adaptation of the tradition. According
the basis for the autonomous organization of the Jewish com-
to the H:atam Sofer, “all that is new is forbidden by the
munity. The majority of the delegates were sympathetic to
Torah”; the phrase is a play on the words of an injunction
religious reform (Neologs), and most of the Orthodox dele-
prohibiting consumption of “new” grain from each year’s
gates withdrew from the Congress. In 1870 the Hungarian
harvest until a portion is offered in the Temple in Jerusalem.
parliament permitted the Orthodox to organize themselves
Unlike some of his followers, the H:atam Sofer did not op-
in separate communal frameworks, which might coexist in
pose all forms of secular education. A knowledge of some sec-
the same locality with a Neolog community or a Status Quo
ular subjects, for example, is helpful in resolving certain
community (the latter was composed of those who refused
halakhic problems. But in characteristically neotraditional
to join either the Orthodox or the Neolog community). Or-
fashion, he legitimated secular education in utilitarian terms,
thodox communities provided their members with the full
not as an end in itself.
gamut of religious services (kosher food, schools, religious
courts, and, of course, synagogues) and represented Ortho-
The basic strategy of neotraditionalism was the sanctifi-
dox political interests to the government. Orthodox leaders
cation of the rabbinic tradition in its entirety. Whereas tradi-
discouraged contacts with members of the rival communities
tional Judaism recognized different levels of sanctity and de-
and prohibited entering their synagogues, and many Ortho-
grees of importance of halakhic injunctions (for example,
dox rabbis even enjoined intermarriage with them.
acts prohibited by the Torah were in a more stringent catego-
ry than acts prohibited by rabbinic legislation), neotradition-
Hungarian Orthodoxy included both Hasidic and non-
alists blurred the differences insofar as obligations to observe
Hasidic elements. Hasidism, which originated in the eigh-
the injunctions were concerned. The tradition was self-
teenth century, was bitterly opposed by the traditional reli-
consciously projected as woven of a single cloth, all parts of
gious elite, who feared that its folkishness, pietism, and am-
which were equally binding and sanctified. The two major
bivalence toward the central importance of Talmudic study
instruments that the neotraditionalists fashioned to socialize
undermined the tradition itself. Orthodoxy might have been
the community to their ideology and values were a greatly
born in opposition to Hasidism if not for leaders like the
expanded rabbinic authority and a new type of yeshivah (pl.,
H:atam Sofer who sought a modus vivendi, recognizing that
yeshivot), or academy for intensive Talmudic study. These
Hasidic leaders were no less antagonistic to basic changes in
new and larger yeshivot were designed to exist in economic
tradition than were the traditional religious elite. In fact, by
and ideological independence from the increasingly fragile
the end of the century, the centers of Hasidic influence in
local Jewish communities in which they were located. The
the smaller Jewish communities remained least compromis-
yeshivah of the H:atam Sofer in Pressburg, where he served
ing in their attitude toward modernity. In the larger, more
as communal rabbi from 1806 until his death, was the most
urbanized communities, one found signs of the growing at-
important yeshivah in central Europe. His students, in turn,
traction of German Orthodoxy with its more accommodat-
served as community leaders throughout Hungary, Galicia,
ing attitude toward modernity.
and Bohemia-Moravia and in the Land of Israel (Erets Yis-
Even in an earlier period, not all Hungarian Orthodox
raDel), strengthening neotraditional influences in all these
rabbis were neotraditional in orientation. A minority were
places.
attracted by aspects of modern culture and/or believed that
The H:atam Sofer favored immigration to the Land of
a more moderate approach might prove more attractive to
Israel. Many who favored immigration in those days were re-
potential deviators. Outstanding among such rabbis was
acting to the reformers’ rejection of nationalist elements in
German-born Esriel Hildesheimer, who served as a rabbi in
Judaism. The H:atam Sofer’s espousal of an early form of
Hungary until 1869. Although Hildesheimer was no less op-
Jewish nationalism and his projection of the importance of
posed to reform than his Hungarian colleagues, he aroused
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6900
ORTHODOX JUDAISM [FIRST EDITION]
their particular antagonism when he established in the
doxy united—the distinctive instrument that traditional Ju-
Austro-Hungarian community of Eisenstadt a yeshivah
daism forged to socialize its adherents to its values and
whose curriculum included secular studies. After leaving
conceptions was the autonomous congregation, even though
Hungary, Hildesheimer accepted the post of rabbi in an in-
it was only effective in a small number of localities. The heart
dependent Orthodox congregation in Berlin. In 1873 he es-
of the congregational activity was the synagogue service itself,
tablished a new rabbinical seminary in the more hospitable
where the weekly or biweekly sermons by the rabbi, in Ger-
climate of German Orthodoxy.
man, represented a dramatic innovation. The traditional
GERMAN ORTHODOXY. The year 1850 marks the emergence
rabbi preached only a few times a year and never in the lan-
of German Orthodoxy, with the establishment of the Israeli-
guage of the state. The German Orthodox rabbi was likely
tische Religionsgesellschaft in Frankfurt am Main, a congre-
to possess a university degree, an acquisition that distin-
gation led by Samson Raphael Hirsch from 1851 until his
guished him from his Hungarian and, as we shall see, his
death. But the distinctive ideological formulation of German
eastern European and Israeli counterparts. German Ortho-
Orthodoxy (often known as Neo-Orthodoxy) dates, at least
dox Jews were most attentive to the form of the service.
in embryo, from the publication of Hirsch’s Nineteen Letters
Many Reform innovations, influenced in turn by the Chris-
on Judaism in 1836. The publication a few years later of an
tian churches, were adopted. German Orthodox rabbis, to
Orthodox weekly by YaEaqov Ettlinger (1798–1871) is also
the dismay of their traditional colleagues in other countries,
of significance.
officiated in clerical gowns, encouraged the participation of
choirs (all male), and paid careful attention to musical ar-
Hirsch was the foremost proponent of the idea that
rangements in the service. In fact, some of their innovations
Torah-true Judaism (to borrow a popular phrase of German
would have been enough to identify a synagogue in Hungary
Orthodoxy) was compatible with modern culture and politi-
as Neolog.
cal emancipation. Hirsch envisaged a divine order revealed
in nature in which Jews could and should participate. But
In addition to the synagogue itself, the autonomous
the divine order was also revealed in the Torah, many of
congregation might sponsor a school, assume responsibility
whose commands were specific to Jews. The effect of Hir-
for the supervision of kosher foods, and provide opportunity
sch’s conception, though not his intent, was the compart-
for study and semisocial activity. Only political activity and
mentalization of life for the Orthodox Jew. Modern culture,
sometimes welfare services remained outside its sphere of
patriotism, civil law—all become legitimate spheres for Jew-
Jewish responsibilities, remaining the prerogatives of the
ish involvement since they were perceived as falling outside
more inclusive Gemeinde (the local Jewish community).
the realm proscribed by halakhah.
After the passage of a Prussian law in 1876 permitting
Hirsch and his followers directed their antagonism not
Jews to secede, Hirsch insisted, as a matter of halakhah, that
at the Gentile world or its culture, but rather at religious re-
members of his congregation resign from the Frankfurt
form, and in this respect they shared the outlook of the most
Gemeinde. Most of his congregants and certainly most Or-
intransigent of the Hungarian Orthodox. Reform Judaism,
thodox Jews in Germany refused to separate themselves and
as a self-conscious movement in Jewish life, began in Germa-
establish their own Austrittsgemeinde (seceded community).
ny with the establishment of the Hamburg temple in 1818.
Hirsch’s demand for secession met opposition from tra-
In the first few decades of the century it seemed that Reform
ditionalists such as Rabbi Seligmann Ber Bamberger of
conceptions of Judaism would replace those of traditional Ju-
Würzburg (1807–1878), probably the greatest contempo-
daism in Germany. Indeed, the major intellectual battle lines
rary Talmudist of Germany. It has recently been suggested
seemed to be drawn between the moderate reformers who
that Bamberger harbored animosity toward the “moderniz-
sought changes in Jewish practice through the reinterpreta-
ing ways” of Hirsch and his followers. The secession issue
tion of Jewish law and the generally younger second genera-
may have been a convenient opportunity to rebuke him and
tion of reformers who would abrogate the authority of the
challenge his mastery of textual sources. Hirsch himself, in
law entirely. Hirsch made no distinctions between moderate
his lengthy response to Bamberger’s opinion against seces-
and radical reformers. Although in his Nineteen Letters on Ju-
sion, noted that the latter had never accepted Hirsch’s ideal
daism he was critical of traditional as well as Reform Judaism
of Torah Eim derekh erets (Torah and worldliness), which was
and seemed to advocate a position equidistant from both,
the slogan of German Orthodoxy. Hildesheimer also favored
some of his early endorsement of change was mitigated with
secession and was not less antagonistic to Reform Judaism.
the passage of time. What Hirsch never forgot was that the
Nevertheless, he differed from Hirsch, to whom he was per-
attraction of reform was an outgrowth of Jewish desire for
sonally close, on other issues. He was more favorable than
emancipation and acceptance, that traditional Judaism ap-
Hirsch to integrating secular and sacred study. He and his
peared to be an obstacle to this goal, and that unless it could
followers did participate with non-Orthodox Jews in organi-
be reformulated as compatible with emancipation and mod-
zations dedicated to defending Jews against anti-Semitism.
ern culture, it had no future in Germany.
He was an enthusiastic supporter of the settlement of Jews
In addition to its educational system—day schools, reli-
and the establishment of Jewish institutions in the Land of
gious schools, and seminaries around which German Ortho-
Israel. To the chagrin of neotraditionalists, he sought means
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ORTHODOX JUDAISM [FIRST EDITION]
6901
to raise the educational and vocational standards of Jews in
leaders. At the margins of society, the small party of radical
the old yishuv and fought with them over this issue.
maskilim (adherents of Jewish enlightenment) challenged
traditional patterns of Jewish life. By the middle of the nine-
By the end of the century, Orthodoxy in both Germany
teenth century, changing economic conditions afforded new
and Hungary was well established, albeit with minority sta-
opportunities for a few, but further impoverished the masses
tus within the Jewish world. Its exclusionary form of organi-
and shook the moral consensus within the community. They
zation, its emphasis on those forms of observance that distin-
also highlighted the importance of secular education, thereby
guished it from Reform Judaism, and its insistence that the
undermining the alliance of the wealthy and the religious
core component of the authentic Jew’s faith was the belief
elite. They undermined the battei midrash (“houses of
that God dictated the Torah to Moses suggested, in fact, that
study”), once found in virtually every Jewish locality. There,
Orthodoxy was content to survive as a minority party in Jew-
small numbers of men had spent their day in study, sup-
ish life, more concerned with maintaining its purity than ex-
ported, however meagerly, by the local housekeeper.
tending its boundaries. The Orthodox camp in each country
was reasonably well integrated and possessed its own organi-
Traditional Judaism responded, however feebly and ten-
zational structure, periodicals, and schools. Its acknowledged
tatively, to these developments, but the response cannot be
leaders commanded deference in the general as well as the
labeled Orthodoxy, because it lacked one major distinguish-
Jewish community. In fact, conservative governments, wary
ing feature—self-awareness as one party among others in
of radicals in general and aware of the attraction of political
Jewish life. Traditional Jewish leaders who saw their authori-
radicalism to so many Jews, often favored Orthodoxy, which
ty questioned, Torah study abandoned, and new modes of
it associated with tradition, law, and stability, over Reform.
behavior and belief increasingly legitimated differed among
In short, by the end of the century it appeared that Ortho-
themselves as to how to meet the crisis. Their first concern
doxy, in one way or another, had withstood the challenge of
tended to be the challenge to the primacy of textual study
modernity and emancipation and the blandishments of Re-
in the hierarchy of religious commandments. Hasidism had
form. Jews in Hungary and Germany were increasingly as-
stressed the importance of religious experience and inten-
similating and intermarrying. But this was a matter of greater
tion—adapting from earlier mystical Jewish conceptions the
immediate threat to Reform than to Orthodoxy.
notion that in performing the commandments with true de-
votion and proper intent, the Jew was repairing the torn fab-
In retrospect, Orthodoxy’s strength was its ability to
ric of the cosmos. This stress on intention rather than behav-
create small, meaningful, integrated communities that pro-
ior introduced a potential antinomianism and, no less
vided its adherents with a sense of identity and stability and
seriously, suggested that the study of Talmud was of second-
mediated their involvement with the infinite. But Ortho-
ary importance in the hierarchy of religious injunctions.
doxy built upon certain assumptions. It was organized in a
milieu in which one anticipated continued political and so-
The traditionalists’ response was the establishment of
cial freedom and in which the major threat to the tradition
central yeshivot supported by contributions solicited
stemmed from religious reform. Its insularity from non-
throughout the Jewish world. The first such yeshivah was es-
Orthodox Jews ill equipped it for a role in the defense of Jew-
tablished in 1802 in Volozhin (near Vilnius) by Rabbi
ish rights against a rising tide of anti-Semitism. Second, it
H:ayyim of Volozhin from his own funds. During the course
had not yet developed ideological defenses against secular
of the century, yeshivot were founded throughout Lithuania
conceptions of Judaism. These, unlike Reform, argued not
and Belorussia (then still part of Russia). Leadership of a ye-
for religious alternatives to the tradition but for a totally new
shivah rather than service as a communal rabbi marked one
conception of the meaning of Jewishness. The most influen-
as a preeminent scholar automatically meriting deference and
tial of these conceptions was Zionism, the notion that the
authority.
Jews are a nation like other nations whose sancta are lan-
The yeshivot trained the Orthodox elite but generally
guage, territory, and people rather than God and Torah. It
failed to strengthen traditional Judaism among the masses.
was this last threat more than any other that led to the emer-
The Hasidic rebeyim filled a more important role in main-
gence of an international Orthodox organization—Agudat
taining traditional norms, at least among their followers. But
YisraDel. Before such an organization could emerge, however,
the decline of traditional patterns of observance until the last
the level of Orthodox consciousness in eastern Europe had
decades of the century must not be exaggerated. Rabbis such
to undergo development.
as Naftali Tsevi Yehudah Berlin (1817–1893), known as the
O
Netsiv; YisraDel MeDir ha-Kohen (1838–1933), known as the
RTHODOXY IN EASTERN EUROPE. The vast majority of
H:afets H:ayyim; and Yitsh:aq Elh:anan Spektor (1817–1896)
eastern European Jews continued to live in accordance with
retained authority and enormous prestige among the masses.
the religious tradition throughout the nineteenth century, al-
though the institutions of traditional Judaism were severely
One measure of the continuing strength of the tradition
undermined. Government law had destroyed many of the
was the failure of Rabbi Yitsh:aq YaEaqov Reines (1839–
traditional privileges and responsibilities of the Jewish com-
1915), who later founded Mizrah:i, the Religious-Zionist
munity. The charismatic authority of the rebeyim (Hasidic
movement, to establish a yeshivah in the 1880s. In 1881 Re-
leaders) had further undermined the status of communal
ines published a sharp critique of the method of study in tra-
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6902
ORTHODOX JUDAISM [FIRST EDITION]
ditional yeshivot and called for the reorganization of the insti-
tus in the world of religious Jewry. Nevertheless, in the Gali-
tutions of eastern European Judaism. Jewish society, he
cian and Lithuanian regions, the masses remained aloof. The
maintained, was undergoing an ideological and institutional
region around Warsaw and Lodz attracted Jews from the
crisis. Yeshivot were crumbling, the rabbinate was weakened,
countryside. The struggle between religion and its opponents
and its authority was undermined because of its economic
was most obvious and intense there, and Agudah prospered.
dependence on the wealthy. This, he argued, was a result of
In the older Jewish communities of Galicia, however, the
the loss of Jewish respect for the traditional leaders. His solu-
Jewish tradition was less threatened, and religious Jews were
tion was the establishment of a new yeshivah to include secu-
content to leave political activity to non-Jews and secularists.
lar studies in its curriculum and to produce graduates who
Agudah’s own rabbinical authorities were, at best, toler-
would fill positions of Jewish leadership. Reines’s view was
ant of the necessity for political activity. Agudah was estab-
supported by wealthy Russian Jews and Orthodox leaders
lished to protect the traditional way of life, but political ac-
from central Europe. But the opposition of the heads of the
tivity has an acculturating impact of its own. The Agudah
traditional yeshivot was enough to prevent the establishment
press carried warnings from rabbis not to regard partisan pol-
of the new yeshivah.
itics as more than a temporary expedient.
A more successful effort at the reform of yeshivot, known
as the Musar (ethical) movement, was initiated by Rabbi Yis-
Traditional religious leaders outside Agudah’s ranks
raDel (Lipkin) Salanter (1810–1883). His call for ethical re-
were impatient with the notion that some adaptation to mo-
newal was first addressed to the Jewish masses, businessmen
dernity was necessary in the very defense of the tradition.
and traders in particular, but failed to attract much enthusi-
Rabbi Yosef Yitsh:aq Schneersohn (1880–1950), leader of the
asm. His doctrines were more influential in the yeshivot.
Habad branch of Hasidism (better known as Lubavitcher
While many of the heads of these academies initially resisted
Hasidism), attacked Agudah schools for including secular
the introduction of the study of moral literature or discus-
studies, accusing them of behaving no differently than the
sions of moral issues at the expense of Talmudic study, the
enemies of the tradition.
Musar movement was eventually co-opted. A limited
In addition to sponsoring schools whose curriculum in-
amount of time was dedicated to the study of an ethical tract,
cluded secular studies, Agudah established reading rooms
and the custom of a weekly talk by the moral supervisor (a
where secular books were to be found, published a newspaper
new position created in the yeshivot in response to the de-
(though adherents were cautioned against reading it on the
mands of the Musar movement) was introduced.
Sabbath), and organized a youth movement in which yeshi-
What traditional religious leaders did not do until the
vah students were warned not to spend too much time. Most
end of the century, either because they saw no need or be-
damaging of all, Agudah’s political survival required alliances
cause they did not know how to do it, was oppose the organi-
with nonreligious parties, and when Agudah was the majori-
zation of rival parties with alternative conceptions of Juda-
ty party in the local Jewish community, it bore at least indi-
ism. But by the end of the nineteenth century this need was
rect responsibility for nonreligious and even antireligious ac-
becoming apparent. In the 1870s an organization of Hasidic
tivity which the community funds supported.
and non-Hasidic elements was formed to oppose the found-
Agudah, certainly in Poland, began as a neotraditional-
ing of a rabbinical seminary and the introduction of organi-
ist response to modernity. But its own efforts to defend the
zational changes in the community. In 1912 Agudat YisraDel
tradition through political instrumentalities and its own con-
(Agudah for short) was established under the impetus of Ger-
cern to control the environment within which the tradition
man Orthodox leaders, uniting the Orthodox leaders of cen-
had to function forced it into compromises that became par-
tral and eastern Europe in defense of the tradition.
ticularly noticeable in the 1930s.
Agudat YisraDel never spoke for all religious Jews. Its
World War II brought the end to Agudah activity in
greatest following was in Poland, the heartland of eastern Eu-
eastern Europe. By the late 1930s it was apparent to many
ropean Jewry. Within Poland it functioned as a political
within Agudah itself that Jewish life in Poland was heading
party after World War I, rivaling the Zionists and the Bund
for catastrophe and that traditional responses were ineffec-
(General Jewish Workers Union, a socialist Jewish party
tive. Settlement in the Land of Israel became an increasingly
founded in 1897) for control of the Jewish street. Even with-
attractive option, and Agudah muted its opposition to Zion-
in Poland it was opposed by the minority of religious Zion-
ism. Voices were increasingly heard, from within, for con-
ists and by the larger group of traditionalists, who remained
structive efforts in the Land of Israel and for cooperation
indifferent to the needs that had led to its creation.
with the Zionists at the tactical level. Isaac Breuer (1883–
Agudah’s primary strength came from the union of the
1946), grandson of Samson Raphael Hirsch, a leading
Hasidic rebe of Ger (Avraham Mordekhai Alter, 1866–
ideologue of German Orthodoxy, led the call for a reassess-
1948), whose followers numbered in the hundreds of thou-
ment of the Land of Israel in Agudah’s program and ideolo-
sands, with the leaders of the Lithuanian yeshivot, the most
gy. The Balfour Declaration and the modern Zionist settle-
prominent of whom included Rabbi H:ayyim EOzer Grodzin-
ment of the land revealed, Breuer believed, the hand of
ski of Vilnius (1863–1940). The latter carried enormous sta-
providence. The Jews, he claimed, were a nation formed by
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ORTHODOX JUDAISM [FIRST EDITION]
6903
Torah, but as a nation they required their own land in order
from all over the world. Whereas a short time ago they were
to renew themselves. In 1936 Breuer settled in Jerusalem. By
considered generally inferior to their counterparts in the
the time other Agudah followers were prepared to reevaluate
United States, this is no longer true. The Agudah world is
their position, the British had closed the gates of the land to
an international community with centers in New York,
world Jewry.
Montreal, London, Antwerp, and Zurich, to mention the
ORTHODOXY IN ISRAEL. Most Orthodox Jews today reside
major locations, but Jerusalem plays an increasingly impor-
in Israel or the United States. Religiously observant Jews
tant role. The young seem easily socialized to the values of
make up 15 to 20 percent of the Jewish population of Israel.
the community, and their large families (seven and eight
The neotraditionalists, once quite marginal to Israeli society,
children are not at all uncommon) apparently assure contin-
play an increasingly important role. The most colorful and
ued communal growth. In fact, Israeli observers are rather
controversial group within their ranks is the successor to the
surprised, given the size of Agudah families, that the party
old yishuv, the EEdah H:aredit (Community of the Pious),
has not increased its proportion of the vote in recent elec-
consisting of a few thousand families with thousands of sym-
tions—an indication that all may not be as well as it appears
pathizers located primarily in Jerusalem and Benei Be-raq
on the surface. One problem is Agudah’s inability to inte-
(on the outskirts of Tel Aviv). These are the most intransi-
grate Sefardic Jews (Jews originating from Muslim countries)
gent of the neotraditionalists. They relate to the state of Israel
in their leadership groups. Sefardic Jews represent an impor-
with varying degrees of hostility. They refuse to participate
tant constituency of Agudah voters (some claim almost half),
in its elections, the more extreme refuse to bear Israeli identi-
and in the summer of 1984 they bolted the party because
fication cards or utilize the state’s services (their schools, for
they were excluded from its leadership. Another threat is eco-
example, refuse government support), and the most extreme
nomic. Agudah’s educational institutions play a major role
seek the imposition of Arab rule.
in the socialization of the Agudah community. The extended
period of study for the men, often into their mid-twenties
A more moderate neotraditionalism is found in Israeli
and beyond (they are exempted from Israeli army service as
Agudah circles. They are dominated by the heads of yeshivot
long as they remain in the yeshivot), requires public and/or
and a number of Hasidic rebeyim. The most prominent con-
private sources of support, which may not necessarily contin-
tinues to be the rebe of Ger. Agudat YisraDel generally obtains
from 3 to 4 percent of the vote in Israeli elections. Although
ue in the case of economic depression or a radical change in
it has been a party to the ruling coalition, it continues to con-
the Israeli political climate.
demn ideological Zionism, that is, secular Jewish national-
The Agudah world is in, but lives apart from, Israeli so-
ism. It maintains that Israel’s constitution must be based
ciety. The religious Zionists are in a different category. They
upon Torah and halakhah as interpreted by rabbinical au-
make up roughly 10 percent of the Jewish population but
thority. The leading rabbinical authorities, Agudah further
are in some sense the symbol of contemporary Israel. Israel’s
claims, constitute its own MoEetset Gedolei ha-Torah
political culture, particularly since the 1970s, focuses on the
(Council of Torah Sages), to whom it turns for direction on
Jewish people, the Jewish tradition, and the Land of Israel
basic policy issues.
as objects of ultimate value. Symbols of traditional religion,
Agudat YisraDel maintains its own network of elementa-
though not traditional theology, pervade Israeli life. Reli-
ry schools. Following graduation, boys continue their studies
gious Zionists are viewed by many of the nonreligious as
in yeshivot qet:annot (minor yeshivot), whose curriculum con-
most committed to and most comfortable with these values
sists almost exclusively of sacred text. They do not receive a
and symbols. The political elite, in particular, has been
high school degree. At the age of sixteen or seventeen they
strongly influenced by the religious Zionists and their per-
generally move on to advanced yeshivot, where study is devot-
sonal example of idealism and self-sacrifice. In fact, the suc-
ed entirely to sacred writ, almost exclusively to Talmud. Girls
cess of religious Zionism makes the National Religious Party
pursue their high school studies in Beit YaEaqov, a network
(their political organization) less attractive to voters, who no
of girls’ schools first established in Poland. The tendency is
longer feel they need be as defensive about threats to religion
to prepare the girls to assume housewife-mother roles.
from the secular parties.
Beneficent government subsidy, largely for political rea-
In no other society do Orthodox Jews, religious Zionists
sons, has resulted in relative prosperity among Agudah-
in particular, feel quite so much at home. They are separated
oriented institutions. Although the party itself is seriously
from the non-Orthodox population by their distinctive cul-
troubled by personal and institutional conflicts and rivalries,
tural and educational institutions (in the advanced religious
and while it is the object of vociferous condemnation by
Zionist yeshivot, students are required to fulfill their military
more extreme neotraditionalists who charge it with selling
obligations but generally do so in selected units) and their
out to the Zionists, the Agudah world appears relatively se-
own friendship groups. There are political tensions between
cure. It sponsors or supports a number of institutions for
religious and non-religious Israelis over issues such as “Who
ba Ealei teshuvah, Jews raised in nonreligious homes who have
is a Jew?,” whether marriage and divorce law should be left
embraced Orthodoxy and are attracted by neotraditionalism
to the rabbinate, Sabbath closing laws, and the sense of many
rather than religious Zionism. Its yeshivot attract students
secularists that they are subject to religious coercion. But
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6904
ORTHODOX JUDAISM [FIRST EDITION]
most religious Zionists not only feel that they fully partici-
ory, to bring all aspects of life under the rubric of its interpre-
pate as equal members of the society but also sense a whole-
tation of Judaism. The program of religious Zionism, almost
ness to their lives that they find missing outside of Israel.
by definition, is expansionist. Since religious Zionism calls
Nevertheless, they, too, confront the tension between tradi-
for a Jewish state in accordance with Jewish law, its adherents
tion and modernity.
must believe, at least in theory, that Jewish law is a suitable
instrument to guide a modern state. MeDir Berlin (1880–
The founders of religious Zionism were influenced by
1949), a major political leader of religious Zionism, claimed
modern currents of nationalism and the desire for political
that the religious Zionist program was “not to content itself
emancipation. Religious Zionists shared a concern for the
with a corner even if the Torah was there, but to capture Ju-
physical as well as the spiritual welfare of Jews and an identi-
daism, Jewish life, to impose the spirit of the Torah on the
fication with nonreligious as well as religious Jews. Most of
market, on the public, on the State.” Anyone who reflects
them believed that the modern settlement of the Land of Is-
upon this statement must wonder whether, if this is indeed
rael pointed to the beginning of divine redemption of the
the task of religious Zionists, they would not have to reinter-
Jewish people. Unlike the neotraditionalists, they did not be-
pret major motifs in the religious tradition and introduce
lieve that Jews must patiently await the coming of the Messi-
rather radical changes in Jewish law. In other words, expan-
ah but rather that redemption was a process that Jews could
sionism of this type bears within it the seeds of adaptation-
initiate themselves. In other words, it was not only their es-
ism. The leadership of the religious Zionist labor movement,
pousal of Zionism that distinguished religious Zionists from
the religious kibbutsim in particular, were prepared, at least
the neotraditionalists, but also their acceptance of so many
in theory and sometimes in practice, for some halakhic adap-
of the assumptions and values of modernity. Compartmen-
tation. But they shied away from the final step that the real-
talization was an inadequate alternative. Although compart-
ization of their goal would have required—the legitimation
mentalization was and always will be a temptation for reli-
of religious changes through their adoption by the religious
gious Jews who want to participate in worldly activity
public rather than the assent of rabbinical authority. The am-
without compromising their religious principles, it is an in-
bivalent attitude toward adaptation by the leaders may help
adequate ideology for religious Zionists. The establishment
account for the permissive interpretation that many of their
of the state of Israel and its public policies are to them mat-
followers gave to halakhah. It may also help to account for
ters of metaphysical significance intimately related to their
the failure of this branch of expansionism to develop. It made
religiously formed conceptions of reality. The reconciliation
no real effort to realize in practice its theoretical pretensions
of tradition and modernity, therefore, requires other
to adaptation, and it never legitimated the halakhic devia-
strategies.
tions that occurred under its roof.
One such strategy is adaptationism, sometimes labeled
modern Orthodoxy. It affirms that the basic values of moder-
Expansionism today is associated with the personality
nity are not also compatible with Judaism but partake of its
and philosophy of Rav Kook (Avraham Yitsh:aq Kook). This
essence. Freedom, the equality of man, rationalism, science,
branch of expansionism, like neotraditionalism, is halakhi-
the rule of law, and nationalism are all found to be inherent
cally uncompromising. Unlike neotraditionalism, it abjures
in the Jewish tradition. Secular study is affirmed as a positive
social and cultural isolation. Its goal is to sanctify all of life.
religious value—an instrument whereby man learns more
The characteristic features of expansionism that support such
about the divinely created world and therefore more about
a worldview and make its realization feasible, in addition to
God. Adaptationism includes the effort to reinterpret the tra-
its commitment to Jewish nationalism, are a redefinition of
dition, including those aspects of the halakhah that seem to
secular-religious distinctions and a belief that divine redemp-
stand in opposition to modern values. Adaptationism was a
tion is imminent.
popular strategy among American Orthodox Jews. There are
Expansionism is necessarily nationalistic since it argues
very few Israeli halakhic authorities whose rulings are adapta-
that Jews must live a natural life in all its physical manifesta-
tionist, and they lack the ideological self-consciousness or
tions in order to invest all of life with the divine spirit. In
philosophical underpinning that is found among American
the expansionist conception, as it has worked itself out in the
Orthodox.
last few years, the state itself assumes a special sanctity, its
There are limits to the extent to which Orthodoxy can
very creation being a sign of God’s favor and a harbinger of
affirm every aspect of modernity, and there is an apologetic
the imminent redemption.
as well as an adaptive side to this strategy in practice. As in
The religious conception of the state is challenged by
other religions, family law and relations between the sexes
three facts: that Israel was established by Jewish secularists,
evoke the most conservative sentiments, though even here
that the avowedly nonreligious constitute a majority of the
adaptationism has proved far more accommodating of mo-
population, and that the institutions of the state are con-
dernity than other Orthodox strategies.
trolled by secularists. The expansionists overcome this objec-
An alternative strategy for religious Zionism is expan-
tion by their redefinition, following Rav Kook, of secularism.
sionism. Expansionism affirms modernity by reinterpreting
They blur distinctions not only between holy and profane
it through the prism of the Jewish tradition. It aspires, in the-
but also between ostensibly religious and ostensibly secular
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ORTHODOX JUDAISM [FIRST EDITION]
6905
Jews. This enables the expansionists to break out of the tradi-
pressed disdain for the modern Orthodox rabbi. He was like-
tional Orthodox perception, which viewed religious Jews as
ly to be a graduate of Yeshiva University, the major institu-
a beleaguered minority surrounded by hostile Jewish secular-
tion for the training of Orthodox rabbis in the United States,
ists with whom they might at best, and even then at their
where rabbinical students are required to have earned a col-
peril, cooperate at an instrumental level. The belief in immi-
lege degree. The neotraditionalists were zealous and very sup-
nent redemption that characterizes the expansionists’ view-
portive of their own institutions. In addition, they clustered
point reinforces their confidence in the eventual triumph of
in a few neighborhoods of the largest cities. Their concentra-
their position despite the apparent absence of support in the
tion and discipline provided their leaders with political influ-
international arena. It also serves as a caution against any re-
ence, which, in the heydays of the welfare programs of the
treat or compromise that might interrupt and delay divine
1960s and 1970s, was translated into various forms of gov-
redemption. Finally, the belief in imminent redemption per-
ernment assistance.
mits the evasion of troubling questions about the suitability
The neotraditionalist challenge to modern Orthodoxy
of the halakhah, in its present state, to direct a modern
has had a decided impact on the native generation raised in
society.
modern Orthodox homes, and the American environment
In addition to the neotraditionalists and religious Zion-
has left its mark on the generation raised in neotraditionalist
ists, one still finds vestiges of pre-Orthodox traditionalism
homes. The American-born Orthodox Jew, regardless of the
among some elderly Sefardic Jews of North African origin.
home in which he was raised, tends to be punctilious in reli-
They arrived in Israel before their own societies underwent
gious observance, more so than his parents, and hostile to
modernization. They have no successors. Their descendants,
what he considers deviant forms of Judaism (i. e., Conserva-
in turn, tend to be deferential toward the tradition; they ob-
tive or Reform). But he is sympathetic to many aspects of
serve many of its customs and practices but are neither as
contemporary culture and accepting of secular education, if
punctilious or knowledgeable about the religion as are most
only for purposes of economic advancement. With the ex-
Orthodox Jews. They categorize themselves and are catego-
ception of pockets of neotraditional extremists who recall the
rized by others as “traditional,” as distinct from the “reli-
ideology and attitudes of the EEdah H:aredit in Israel, the
gious” and “secular” segments of the population. They con-
American Orthodox Jew, even the neotraditionalist, is famil-
stitute a hinterland for Orthodox Jewry, though only time
iar with, if not at home in, modern culture. Finally, there is
will tell whether they will continue to do so.
a general willingness among most American Orthodox Jews
to work with the non-Orthodox on behalf of general Jewish
The state of Israel provides basic religious services such
interests, those of Israel in particular.
as religious schools, supervision over the kashrut of foods, re-
ligious courts, an established rabbinate with responsibility for
Among the outstanding Orthodox figures in the United
marriage and divorce of Jews, ritual baths, and subsidies for
States is Rabbi Menahem Mendel Schneersohn (b. 1902),
synagogue construction and rabbis’ salaries. The religious
the present leader of Habad Hasidism. Habad is the Hasidic
political parties act as intermediaries in the provision of wel-
group with the largest number of sympathizers in the world.
fare and educational services. Hence, the role of the syna-
It is really a sui generis variety of Orthodoxy because it com-
gogues proliferate in Israel, there is probably no country in
bines a neotraditional outlook with a conversionist impulse
the world where they play a less important role in the life of
(toward other Jews, not non-Jews) and a unique belief system
the Orthodox Jew.
centering on the charismatic figure of the rebe.
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein (b. 1895), who came to the
ORTHODOXY IN THE UNITED STATES. American Orthodoxy
United States in 1937, is renowned in the Orthodox world
bears the mark of two waves of immigrants and a native gen-
as the outstanding poseq (adjudicator of religious law). An-
eration that combines characteristics of each. Many of the
other significant Orthodox personality is Rabbi Joseph B.
eastern European immigrants who came to the United States
Soloveitchik (b. 1903), scion of a prominent rabbinical fami-
during the great wave of Jewish immigration between 1881
ly and considered by many the greatest living Talmudic au-
and 1924 were traditionalists. In the confrontation with
thority in the Orthodox world. Soloveitchik, who arrived in
American culture and the challenge of finding a livelihood,
the United States in 1932, is particularly revered in modern
they abandoned many traditional patterns of religious obser-
Orthodox circles. He has a doctorate in philosophy and can
vance. The dominant Orthodox strategy that emerged in the
communicate in the language of the world of ideas. His
United States was adaptationism. In fact, in the first few dec-
thought, which only began appearing in print in the last two
ades of the twentieth century it appeared as though the dif-
decades of the twentieth century, is characterized by sensitiv-
ference between American Orthodox and Conservative Juda-
ity to the tension between man, possessed of feelings and
ism was really the degree or pace of adaptation. The
ideas connected to the divine within him, and the objective
institutions and ideology of American Orthodoxy were se-
and demanding halakhah to which God also commands the
verely challenged by neotraditionalist immigrants who ar-
Jew to subject himself.
rived just prior to and immediately following World War II.
They established their own yeshivot, Hasidic rebeyim among
The increasing importance of the neotraditional ye-
them reestablished their courts of followers, and they ex-
shivot has challenged the central role of the synagogue, but
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6906
ORTHODOX JUDAISM [FIRST EDITION]
it is still the crucial mediator between most Orthodox Jews
Much can be learned from the two volumes of uneven bio-
and their religious identity. Certainly, the synagogue plays
graphical chapters edited by Leo Jung entitled Jewish Leaders,
a critical role in the lives of its members and recalls the im-
1750–1940 (New York, 1953) and Guardians of Our Heri-
portance of the autonomous congregations of German Or-
tage, 1724–1953 (New York, 1958).
thodoxy. However, unlike the German congregations, the
The best history of Hungarian Jewry covering the nineteenth and
rabbi’s role in the American Orthodox synagogue is more
twentieth centuries and devoting considerable attention to
limited, though by no means negligible. The real strength of
Orthodoxy is Nathaniel Katzburg’s “History of Hungarian
the Orthodox synagogue, which tends to be much smaller
Jewry” (in Hebrew), a lengthy introduction and bibliography
than the average Conservative or Reform synagogue, rarely
to Pinqas Qehillot Hungariyah (Jerusalem, 1975). His article
“The Jewish Congress of Hungary, 1868–1869,” in Hungar-
exceeding 200 to 250 members, lies in the sense of commu-
ian Jewish Studies, vol. 2, edited by Randolph Braham (New
nity and mutual support that it offers rather than the net-
York, 1969), is the most significant study of a crucial aspect
work of services that it provides.
of the topic. The H:atam Sofer is the subject of Jacob Katz’s
ORTHODOX JUDAISM TODAY. The dominant trend in Or-
major essay, “Contributions toward a Biography of R. Moses
thodoxy throughout the world, since the end of World War
Sofer” (in Hebrew), in Studies in Mysticism and Religion Pres-
II, has been increased religious zealotry, punctiliousness in
ented to Gershom G. Scholem on His Seventieth Birthday, by
religious observance, and, with some exceptions, less explicit
Pupils, Colleagues and Friends, edited by E. E. Urbach et al.
accommodation to modern values and contemporary cul-
(Jerusalem, 1967).
ture. This is, at least in part, a result of the direction in which
The English-language material on German Orthodoxy is more
modern values and culture have moved. Increased permis-
plentiful. Robert Liberles’s Between Community and Separa-
siveness; challenges to authority, order, and tradition in gen-
tion: The Resurgence of Orthodoxy in Frankfort, 1838–1877
(Westport, Conn., 1985) treats Hirsch and his community
eral; and affirmation of self are inimical to all historical reli-
in detail. Judaism Eternal: Selected Essays from the Writings of
gions. But Orthodoxy has become far more skilled, after a
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, vol. 2, translated from the
century of experience, in developing institutions—such as
German by I. Grunfeld (London, 1956), is probably the best
schools, synagogues, political organizations, a press, and
place to start in reading Hirsch himself. On understanding
summer camps—to mute the threats of secularism and mo-
some other leaders of German Orthodoxy, see David Ellen-
dernity. In some respects this means that Orthodoxy is more
son, “The Role of Reform in Selected German-Jewish Or-
at ease with the world and tolerates certain forms of accom-
thodox Responsa: A Sociological Analysis,” Hebrew Union
modation (advanced secular education is the outstanding ex-
College Annual (Cincinnati, 1982).
ample) that many Orthodox circles denounced in the past.
For a selection from Isaac Breuer, considered the most profound
But it also means an increased self-confidence and an absence
thinker of twentieth-century German Orthodoxy, see his
of fear on the part of Orthodoxy to challenge and reject some
Concepts of Judaism, edited by Jacob S. Levinger (Jerusalem,
of the basic behavioral and ideological assumptions upon
1974).
which most of modern culture rests.
There is no history of eastern European Orthodoxy, Emanuel
Etkes’s R. Yisra Del Salanter ve-reDshitah shel tenu Eat ha-musar
SEE ALSO Agudat YisraDel; Hirsch, Samson Raphael; Juda-
(Jerusalem, 1982) is an important source for understanding
ism, article on Judaism in Northern and Eastern Europe
the Musar movement and the world of eastern European
since 1500; Musar Movement; Yeshivah; Zionism.
yeshivot. Eliyahu E. Dessler’s Strive for Truth (New York,
1978), edited and translated by Aryeh Carmell, is an excel-
lent example of Musar thought. The Teachings of Hasidism,
BIBLIOGRAPHY
edited by Joseph Dan (New York, 1983), provides some fla-
Hebrew items are included only where English sources are inade-
vor of Hasidic literature.
quate and/or the Hebrew source is of major importance.
On Zionism and Orthodox Judaism, see Ben Halpern’s The Idea
Hayim Halevy Donin’s To Be a Jew (New York, 1972) is a practi-
of the Jewish State, 2d ed. (Cambridge, Mass., 1969),
cal guide to what it means to be an Orthodox Jew.
pp. 65–95. On mainstream religious Zionism, see Religious
There is very little scholarly material in any language on most as-
Zionism: An Anthology, edited by Yosef Tirosh (Jerusalem,
pects of the social and religious history of Orthodox Judaism.
1975).
The best material has been written recently; much is available
The best study of the old yishuv and its confrontation with mod-
only in the form of articles or doctoral dissertations.
ern Zionism is Menachem Friedman’s Society and Religion:
On the background to Orthodoxy, see the last five chapters in
The Non-Zionist Orthodox in Eretz-Israel, 1918–1936 (Jeru-
Jacob Katz’s Tradition and Crisis: Jewish Society at the End of
salem, 1977; in Hebrew with English summary). An expres-
the Middle Ages (New York, 1961) and Out of the Ghetto: The
sion of the extreme neotraditionalist position is I. I. Domb’s
Social Background of Jewish Emancipation (Cambridge,
The Transformation: The Case of the Neturei Karta (London,
Mass., 1973), particularly chapter 9, “Conservatives in a
1958). On Rav Kook, see Avraham Yitsh:aq Kook’s The
Quandary.”
Lights of Penitence, The Moral Principles, Lights of Holiness,
There is no general history of Orthodox Judaism. An outline of
Essays, Letters, and Poems, translated by Ben Zion Bokser
the topic is found in two articles by Moshe Samet, “Ortho-
(New York, 1978).
dox Jewry in Modern Times,” parts 1 and 2, Mahalakhim (in
Charles S. Liebman and Eliezer Don-Yehiya’s Civil Religion in Is-
Hebrew), nos. 1 and 3 (March 1969 and March 1970).
rael: Judaism and Political Culture in the Jewish State (Berke-
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

ORTHODOX JUDAISM [FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS]
6907
ley, Calif., 1983) reviews the role of traditional Judaism in
attend regularly was Orthodox, have stopped calling them-
Israel and devotes a chapter to the variety of Orthodox re-
selves Orthodox—in part because the demands of calling
sponses to Israel’s political culture.
oneself Orthodox became much greater toward the end of
On American Orthodoxy, Charles S. Liebman’s “Orthodoxy in
the twentieth century.
American Jewish Life,” American Jewish Year Book 66
As a result, Orthodox Jews who were once in the middle
(1965): 21–97, is the most extensive survey. An adaptation
of the continuum found themselves on the outer edge, a
of Rabbi Soloveitchik’s lectures is Abraham Besdin’s Reflec-
place they were not used to inhabiting. They also faced an
tions of the Rav (Jerusalem, 1979), but Soloveitchik’s work
“The Lonely Man of Faith,” Tradition 7 (Summer 1965):
increasingly confident right wing, warning them that they
5–67, is a better example of his speculative effort. Norman
were now more likely to fall prey to the defilements of the
Lamm’s Faith and Doubt: Studies in Traditional Jewish
outside world to which they were powerfully drawn. Where-
Thought (New York, 1971) illustrates the approach of a lead-
as in the past the modern or centrist Orthodox ignored these
ing American Orthodox rabbi to problems of contemporary
warnings and continued to participate in many different cul-
concern.
tures at once, increasingly they were influenced by their
The halakhic literature remains the heart of the Orthodox enter-
haredi co-religionists and began to move back toward a more
prise. This literature is virtually closed to the nonspecialist,
traditionalist position.
but the regular feature “Survey of Recent Halakhic Re-
There are four major reasons that account for this
sponses,” appearing in each issue of Tradition: A Journal of
change in the position of modern Orthodox Jews:
Orthodox Jewish Thought (New York, 1958–), provides the
nonspecialist with a good sense of that world. At a more aca-
1. The perceived decline of American culture.
demic level, see The Jewish Law Annual (Leiden, 1978–).
2. The complete handover by the family of the responsibil-
CHARLES S. LIEBMAN (1987)
ity for education to Jewish day schools and yeshivas.
3. The lower proportion of modernists in the ranks of the
Orthodox rabbinate and Jewish educators.
ORTHODOX JUDAISM [FURTHER CON-
4. The emergence of study in Israeli yeshivot and women’s
SIDERATIONS]. In a little more than fifty years,
seminaries, institutions that offer women an intensive
American Orthodox Judaism went from being a marginal
course of religious study that excludes Talmud and that
phenomenon whose survival seemed to be in question to a
has a goal of socializing them into a haredi lifestyle and
religious option firmly established and at home in North
haredi values, which is seen as an essential part of Or-
America. There has, however, been a struggle among Ortho-
thodox education.
dox Jews in the United States that has intensified since the
early 1980s. The struggle concerns the definition of Jewish
To begin with the first reason, as long as American society
identity and the best way to assure its continuity. The tradi-
and culture represented a positive model, the modern Ortho-
tionalist right wing of Orthodox Judaism, the so-called
dox ideal could be embraced without danger. The sexual rev-
haredi movement, has not disappeared as many predicted it
olution and the emergence of the university counterculture
would but has instead been successful in building institu-
in the late 1960s, however, aroused doubts among many
tions, training rabbis, and asserting its place in the Orthodox
conservative elements in the population—including many
world. This haredi approach appreciates American freedom
who considered themselves Orthodox Jews. Consequently,
of religion but wishes to remain separate from mainstream
the attraction of “making it in America” began to wear thin
culture and values. This includes living in separate enclaves,
in some Orthodox circles. The growing secularization of
dressing in demonstrably different ways (particularly notice-
public institutions, as well as the increasing moral relativism
able among the men), downplaying the use of English, and
and tolerance of nontraditional lifestyles in mainstream soci-
eschewing a university education, while at the same time giv-
ety—from the cohabitation of unmarried heterosexuals to
ing general secular cultural (which they consider toxic and
pressures for the legitimation of homosexual marriage—has
defiling) a lower ontological meaning than the Jewish one.
only increased these doubts about the integrity of American
Instead, they value a life of Torah study above all else and
culture.
scrupulous attention to ritual details, a life they sustain with
However, Orthodox Jews in America were also becom-
many institutions that they have successfully built and sus-
ing more self-confident in their ability to maintain their own
tained since the 1950s.
standards of conduct and religious behavior without having
In contrast to the haredi, the so-called modern, or cen-
to suffer persecution in America. As a result, a backlash de-
trist, Orthodox have tried to stand with one foot in the world
veloped not only against some of the cherished ideals of
of strict observance and loyal faith and with the other foot
modern Orthodoxy but even against its very name. The
in the outside world that they continue to view as valuable
quest for accommodation with modernity was increasingly
and essential for the survival of Orthodoxy into the future.
regarded as a step down the slippery slope of compromise.
At the same time, the people who once did little more than
When the 1990 National Jewish Population Survey and
call themselves Orthodox because the synagogue they did not
the resulting debate within American Jewry about the conti-
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6908
ORTHODOX JUDAISM [FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS]
nuity of tradition exposed the high rate of Jewish intermar-
A similar trend developed within the rabbinate. Few
riage and confirmed the continuing assimilation of American
modernists chose to be rabbis, leaving the yeshivot that
Jewry, modern Orthodox Jews became even more concerned
trained the rabbis to the haredi right wing. As a result, Amer-
about the cultural costs of modernity. The survey, and others
ican Orthodox rabbis began to express haredi values and the
like it, demonstrated that younger college graduates were
worldview that underlay them. They entered the pulpits and
among the most likely to marry non-Jews and become assim-
the classrooms, serving as religious authorities to which all
ilated. This revelation of the unintended consequences of a
Orthodox Jews had no choice but to turn. They had a grow-
college degree, which was so central to the ideological stance
ing effect on the character of their congregations and stu-
of modern Orthodox Jews, undermined their position.
dents. These rabbis convinced their laity that their young
people needed more powerful religious indoctrination in
The modern Orthodox then looked for more “Jewish
order to avoid the moral pitfalls of modern American
insurance” that would protect them against the assimilation-
culture.
ist tendency of American culture. This search led many of
them to seek an “inoculation” against the diseases of assimila-
The traditionalist rabbis believed that they would find
tion and intermarriage. To many, that inoculation was to be
the answer to their educational concerns in Israeli yeshivas
found in a more intensively Jewish education. As a result,
and seminaries, and Orthodox Jewish parents accepted this
many of the modern Orthodox handed over the Jewish edu-
line of reasoning. The Israeli institutions were, however, not
simply educational; they were ideological training grounds
cation of the young to those who had made it their vocation.
engaged in fighting back against secular culture, and the in-
Increasingly, however, those educators were not modern
structors had their charges under continuous control for a
Orthodox Jews. Even though the modern Orthodox were
year or longer. As a result, the Israeli teachers had a far greater
committed to full-time intensive Jewish education for their
influence than even haredi teachers on the faculties of Ortho-
children, they had not obtained college degrees in order to
dox Jewish day schools in the United States. Moreover, the
become Jewish educators themselves. Day-school heads often
students who had spent more than one year in the Israeli
admitted that harder than finding students to fill their class-
schools tended to shun all those who remained outside their
rooms was the critical quest for teachers who would provide
institutions. In time, as these young people matured and re-
instruction in Judaica and who shared the modern Orthodox
turned to America, they inserted their haredi values and be-
ideological outlook. Those who had that outlook had pur-
haviors into Orthodox Judaism in the United States, where
sued successful careers in the world outside Judaism. As a re-
increasingly right-wing younger rabbis were ready to serve
sult, the Jewish educators to whom they handed over their
them.
children were the haredim who had remained in Jewish edu-
The long-term consequences of these trends remain an
cation. By one count, nearly two-thirds of the teachers of Ju-
open question. While those who call themselves modern Or-
daica in the day schools of the early 2000s come from the
thodox may still be in the majority in North America, the
haredi or fervently Orthodox world.
center of gravity and confidence in the future appear to have
moved toward the religious right.
Moreover, once parents who were engaged in careers
outside the Jewish world gave up a significant role in the edu-
Orthodox Judaism in the United States in the early
cation of their children in favor of placing them in schools
twenty-first century finds most of its rabbinical leaders com-
where paid teachers provided the education, they became in-
ing from its right wing. That right wing is defined both by
creasingly dependent upon those teachers. The teachers had
those who embrace the values of the yeshivot and those whose
control over the children throughout the entire day, from the
political position favors a greater Israel. The latter group re-
earliest primary grades through the end of high school. Or-
flects the predominant role that the Orthodox, who consti-
thodox parents gave these teachers into whose hands they en-
tute 22 percent of the Israeli population, have played in the
trusted their children the right to supersede them. Even
settlement movement, the group that seeks to re-establish re-
when the teachers pushed their students toward the haredi
ligious Jewish communities in the ancient biblical lands,
right wing of Orthodox Judaism and away from modernist
many of which are in territories conquered in the 1967 war
values, the parents allowed this trend to grow because they
between Israel and the Arabs. This relationship has made the
had no alternative. In effect, these teachers inevitably under-
Orthodox in Israel an important part of the nationalist camp,
mined many modern Orthodox values related to accultura-
while many of those in the Diaspora have become moral and
tion. Yet the consumers of their teaching were given to un-
financial supporters of Israel.
derstand, both by the heads of the schools and the larger
Orthodox world, that these teachers were the guardians of
BIBLIOGRAPHY
the Jewish future. And the rabbi/teachers believed this no
Friedman, Menachem. “The Haredim and the Holocaust.” Jerusa-
less—that was one of the reasons they were willing to step
lem Quarterly 53 (1990).
out of their enclaves into the defiled domains of the day
Heilman, Samuel. “The Many Faces of Orthodoxy, Part I.” Mod-
school (although, to be sure, some did it because they needed
ern Judaism 2 (1982): 23–51; and “The Many Faces of Or-
the money).
thodoxy, Part II.” Modern Judaism 2 (1982): 171–198.
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

ORTHODOXY AND HETERODOXY
6909
Heilman, Samuel. “The Ninth Siyum HaShas at Madison Square
The scriptures normally serve to delineate the character-
Garden: Contra-Acculturation in American Life.” In Ameri-
istics of acceptable, as opposed to unacceptable, persons.
canization of the Jews, edited by Norman Cohen and Robert
Later theological or philosophical or legal schools often take
Seltzer, pp. 311–338. New York, 1995.
the scriptural indications as a basis for outlining systems.
Heilman, Samuel C., and Steven M. Cohen. Cosmopolitans and
Elaborating the fixed systems usually involves decisions as to
Parochials: Modern Orthodox Jews in America. Chicago,
the canon of scriptures and the modes of authority, as well
1989.
as the establishment of training institutions for those who are
Kaplan, Lawrence, and David Berger. “On Freedom of Inquiry in
to impart and uphold the particular orthodoxy. The self-
the Rambam—And Today.” The Torah U-Madda Journal 2
conscious articulation of an orthodox perspective tends to
(1990).
occur several generations after the establishment of a new
Keller, Chaim Dov. “Modern Orthodoxy: An Analysis and a Re-
perspective, or the successful renewal of an older tradition
sponse.” Jewish Observer 6, no. 8 (1970): 3–14.
that has been challenged. The usual process is to project the
Lichtenstein, Aaron. “A Consideration of General Studies from a
newly proclaimed orthodox position backward onto the be-
Torah Point of View.” Gesher 1 (1963).
ginnings of the community’s life.
Sacks, Jonathan. Arguments for the Sake of Heaven: Emerging
Trends in Traditional Judaism. Northvale, N.J., 1991.
In the past century, two opposite tendencies have mani-
Samet, Moshe. “The Beginnings of Orthodoxy.” Modern Judaism
fested across traditions: There is both an active fundamental-
8 (1988): pp, 123–137.
ism in every tradition and a new interest in reconciling diver-
Wurzburger, Walter S. “Confronting the Challenge of the Values
gent streams of thought and practice. The spread of literacy
of Modernity.” The Torah U-Madda Journal 1 (1989):
has enabled lay people to evidence new forms of interest and
pp. 26–32.
participation in religious leadership.
Zuroff, Efraim, and Yehuda Bauer. The Response of Orthodox Jewry
Those who lean toward fundamentalism tend to think
in the United States to the Holocaust. New York, 2000.
the identity for the members of the community requires one
SAMUEL C. HEILMAN (2005)
exclusive interpretation of the tradition, and that particular
interpretation must be imposed. The more traditional think-
ers and the modernists, however, see the traditional tolerance
ORTHODOXY AND HETERODOXY. The
of diverse interpretations as a source of strength rather than
concepts of orthodoxy and heterodoxy are found within all
weakness.
the major religious traditions, expressed by a variety of terms.
NONLITERATE PEOPLES. Nonliterate peoples commonly af-
In relation to religious life, orthodoxy means correct or sound
firm their group identity through myths that legitimate so-
belief according to an authoritative norm; heterodoxy refers
cial relations within the group and orient the group toward
to belief in a doctrine differing from the norm. The two
the wider universe. Shamans or equivalent figures serve as
terms originated in the patristic period of Christian history,
mediators with sacred powers. Knowledge of the sacred my-
when emphasis on belief rather than practice distinguished
thology may be shared in diverse ways by members of the
the concerns of Christian theologians.
group. Changes in the mythology may come about through
Each of the major religious traditions has its own modes
visions or insight. Ritual practice serves to maintain coherent
of determining orthodoxy. The extent to which heterodoxy
identity among members.
is considered a serious deviance varies across traditions, and
Deviance usually involves breaking codes of behavior,
also within traditions at different phases of their history.
particularly with respect to sexual or family matters. Deviants
From the perspective of an overview of the history of each
can sometimes be readmitted into a normal relationship with
tradition, one can discern that differing beliefs and/or prac-
the group through rituals of purification, but sometimes they
tices have been considered of vital significance over the
leave and join another group. Deviants are generally under-
course of time. Further, some traditions allow for a wide vari-
stood to be offending the sacred powers, and are therefore
ety of different perspectives within a wider unity, whereas
required to undergo rituals to transform them into accept-
others tend to split up into smaller groups competing as to
able persons.
which shall be considered the bearer of the authentic message
or teaching.
HINDUISM. Classical Hindu philosophy of religion divides
religious schools of thought into two types, a¯stika (usually
Every major religious tradition has had to establish
translated as “orthodox”) and na¯stika (usually translated as
criteria for the acceptance or rejection of its members. In
“heterodox”). Those characterized as na¯stika are the Jains,
some cases, the civil power has supported the religious au-
the Buddhists, and the materialists. The word a¯stika indi-
thorities, whereas in other cases, it has remained neutral or
cates the affirmation of being, whereas na¯stika suggests nihil-
disinterested. Sometimes a group has insisted on rigid criteria
ism, or denial of being.
of purity and conformity, whereas at other times, a great di-
versity of opinion and practice has been acceptable. Diversity
The Maitri Upanis:ad expresses the importance of avoid-
of attitudes on such matters has existed at different times
ing teachers of false doctrines. The same Upanis:ad uses the
within each of the major traditions.
term na¯stika, translated here as “atheism,” to designate one
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6910
ORTHODOXY AND HETERODOXY
of the characteristics emanating from the dark aspects of the
several effective religious personalities—not all brahmans
unenlightened self in every individual.
attempted to articulate interpretations of Hinduism that
would be acceptable to the modern age. Such writers as
There are no available sources available from the materi-
Vivekananda, Radhakrishnan, Tagore, Aurobindo, and Gan-
alist or atheist schools of thought of ancient India, therefore
dhi have exercised a great influence over modern Hindus.
the views of these schools are only known from the writings
of their adversaries. But in the case of the Jains and the Bud-
A number of groups advocating particular interpreta-
dhists, the sources still exist. The classical Hindu view is that
tions of Hinduism also have come into being, such as the
the na¯stika schools of thought are to be condemned because
Bra¯hmo Sama¯j and the A¯rya Sama¯j. These groups advocated
of their failure to accept the authority of the Vedas—a refusal
reform of Hindu social practices. A fundamentalist interpre-
that in practice means the rejection of their hereditary func-
tation of Hinduism has appealed to certain segments of the
tion as preservers and teachers of the Vedas, as well as in their
Hindu population, as evidenced most dramatically by the as-
duties as the priests responsible for ritual performances.
sassination of Mohandas Gandhi. India is a secular state; in
In time a principle of interpretation of the scriptures was
practice, therefore, no religious group receives favored status
developed that allowed for diversity: The interpretations var-
from the government.
ied according to which affirmations were deemed central.
BUDDHISM. Buddhism emerged as one of the protest move-
Hence more or less emphasis might be laid on ritual or other
ments against orthodox Hinduism around the sixth century
forms of religious life. Acceptance of the scriptures was, how-
BCE. The monks and nuns who followed the teachings of the
ever, a necessary precondition for acceptance within the
Buddha took those teachings as the only guide necessary for
community. In his History of Hindu Philosophy (Cambridge,
enlightenment. Present historians acknowledge that Bud-
1963), Surendranath Dasgupta has written: “Thus an ortho-
dhists held councils to resolve disputes, but because the vari-
dox Brahmin can dispense with image-worship if he likes,
ous groups have their own versions of what occurred at those
but not so with his daily Vedic prayers or other obligatory
councils, there is no consensus now as to what councils were
ceremonies.”
held and what issues were decided. The teachings were trans-
The coherence of Hinduism derives from the discipline
mitted orally for several centuries. It is impossible to say
of the brahmans as transmitters and preservers of Vedic ritual
when the oral tradition was written down. The Buddha
and wisdom. The classical view is that the ancient seers (r:s:is)
taught that missionaries were to speak in the language of
who received the primal wisdom set in motion the oral trans-
those they addressed. As a result, Buddhist teaching has
mission of the Vedas that is passed on through the educa-
moved rapidly from one language to another, and many va-
tional system of the brahmans. The primary revelation is thus
rieties of the teaching have been handed down.
oral, ´sruti. The secondary level of sacred literature, smr:ti,
Tradition says that a council was held immediately after
comprises the commentaries that explain the primal wisdom
the Buddha’s death. This council was concerned with the
and give instruction on moral conduct and related matters.
composition of the monastic discipline, Vinaya. A second
Deviance within Hindu life can take many forms. The
council, held at Vai´sa¯l¯ı, is said to have been concerned with
usual procedure for readmitting offenders is purification
disputes about the severity of the monastic rules. A third
through ritual administered by a brahman. Offense is per-
council was reportedly called by the emperor A´soka about
ceived as impurity that must be removed through the restor-
250 BCE. Some versions of the tradition say that this council
ative power of ritual.
completed the ratification of the canon of Buddhist scrip-
tures and sent missionaries to various countries.
By the tenth century CE, the Buddhists had gradually
disappeared from India, although their teaching had taken
As source material for understanding the relationship
root in other countries. The Jains remained as a distinctive
between Buddhism and the state, and also the issues of or-
group, sometimes supported by local rulers. When the Abbé
thodoxy and heterodoxy within Buddhism, the chronicles of
Sean-Antoine Dubois, in his Hindu Manners, Customs and
Sri Lanka, whose earliest written form dates from approxi-
Ceremonies (Oxford, 1928), wrote about India as he observed
mately the fourth century CE, are useful. The norm for the
it in the late eighteenth century, he formed the impression
monastic practices was the Vinaya, the code for monastic life
that the Jains had been on occasion dominant in certain parts
believed to have been transmitted directly from the Buddha.
of India. By the twentieth century this was no longer the
With respect to sectarianism, the Vinaya provides that,
case: The Jains formed a relatively small minority communi-
when four or more monks within a monastery differ from
ty. Before the Muslim conquests of India, the local rulers
the others, they may leave and found their own monastery.
probably helped determine whether the people tended to-
This has made possible the development of many perspec-
ward the Buddhist, Jain, or Hindu perspectives. The last-
tives within Buddhism. It is the discipline of the order that
named seems to have won out and to have remained domi-
maintains the unity. In Sri Lanka in the early period two
nant during the period of Muslim rule.
large monasteries tended to dominate Buddhist life and prac-
Diverse processes are taking place as the Hindu tradi-
tice: the Maha¯viha¯ra and the Abhayagiri. In his History of
tion confronts modernity. In the early twentieth century,
Buddhism in Ceylon (Colombo, 1956) Walpola Rahula
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ORTHODOXY AND HETERODOXY
6911
writes: “The Maha¯viha¯ra . . . was faithful to the very letter
Confucian scholars were killed and books of traditional
of the orthodox teachings and traditions accepted by the
learning were burned. After this regime’s collapse, the suc-
Therava¯dins. The Abhayagiri monks, therefore, appeared in
ceeding dynasties encouraged Confucianism as the state doc-
the eyes of the Maha¯viha¯ra to be unorthodox and heretic”
trine—a role it retained until modern times. During the Han
(p. 85).
period, Confucianism provided the government with a stan-
dard code of ritual and moral norms that regulated behavior
At certain points in the history of Sri Lanka, one or the
among persons. Books were preserved, and provided a per-
other of the major monasteries might be in favor, depending
spective from ancient days different from the immediate
on the predilections of the ruler. These incidents indicate
needs of the state. Under the emperor Wu (140–87
that in Buddhism, as in other traditions, the political leaders
BCE) ef-
forts were made to institute a national system of schools and
have exercised considerable control over what shall be
a civil service examination system. Textual orthodoxy was es-
deemed orthodox or acceptable. On the other hand, if the
tablished. The curriculum of the schools consisted of the
rulers unduly outrage the traditional values of the people,
Confucian classics. The aim was to produce Confucian sages
they can be in difficulty.
to serve the emperor and the society as civil servants and
The sixth great Buddhist council was held in Rangoon,
moral exemplars.
Burma, in 1954–1956. It reedited the Buddhist scripture
JUDAISM. Around the beginning of the fourth century BCE
and promoted movements of mutual understanding among
the religious leader Ezra, a priest and a scribe, returned from
Buddhists from different historical traditions. An ecumenical
among the exiles in Babylon to Jerusalem, where he effected
movement among Buddhists has developed, as indicated by
a religious reform that shaped subsequent Judaism. These
the founding of the World Fellowship of Buddhists in 1950.
events are recorded in the biblical books of Ezra and Nehe-
Lay followers are more active in the modern period. Histori-
miah. The reconstitution of Judaism that occurred at this
cally the monastic orders have dominated education and the
time made the scriptures available through the institution of
transmission of the scriptures, but under modern conditions
schools and the use of public occasions as opportunities for
this is no longer the case.
adult education. The Bible says: “And Ezra the priest
Fundamentalism has been a prominent feature of the
brought the law before the assembly, both men and women
twentieth-century So¯ka Gakkai. This group follows
and all who could hear with understanding . . . and the
Nichiren’s teaching as to the importance of one scripture
ears of the people were attentive to the book of the law”
only and advocates political activism as a way of imposing
(Neh. 8:2–3).
Buddhist virtues.
This reconstitution of Judaism gives a teaching function
CHINESE RELIGION. Religious life in China has been shaped
to the scribes (the scholars of the Law), but it also implies
since the earliest known dynasty (Shang, c. 1600 BCE) by
that the people are to appropriate the teachings by their ca-
cults of devotion to ancestors, and by a worldview that has
pacity to hear with understanding. Ezra’s reforms are said to
affirmed the necessity of directing human activities toward
have reached a climax when the people engaged in solemn
harmony with the forces implicit in and beyond nature. Al-
covenant to enter into no more mixed marriages, to refrain
most all schools of Chinese thought have assumed that an
from work on the Sabbath, to support the Temple, and in
encompassing reality, the Dao, maintains balance and
general to comply with the demands of the Law. The school
harmony among the divergent processes that constitute
of scribes established by Ezra, or in his name, probably insti-
existence.
tuted a framework of orthodoxy that led eventually to the
The emperor became a central legitimating figure, be-
canonization of the Hebrew scriptures after the destruction
cause he sanctioned the divine order and created or elevated
of the Temple in 70 CE.
new gods. Unlike in India, then, in China the legitimating
Subsequently, the locus of Judaism became a rabbinic
power did not lie with priests.
program that stressed study of the scriptures, prayer, and
The formative period of religious ferment was that of
works of piety. Under the leading rabbi, Yehudah ha-NasiD
the Hundred Schools (sixth to third centuries BCE). The is-
(135–220?), an effort was made to standardize Jewish prac-
sues debated were generally concerned with how to develop
tice. The result was the collection of rabbinic lore titled the
individual character so as to overcome the divisive forces that
Mishnah, which became the primary source of reference and
led to social chaos. The two major schools of thought that
the basis around which the Talmud was later compiled.
emerged from these debates, the Confucian and the Daoist,
Modern Hebrew uses the word orthodox, taken directly
shared the premise that the encompassing Dao existed, and
from the English, because no such term exists in earlier He-
that humans must learn to balance existence appropriately.
brew. The word for heterodox is min, which tends to mean
They differed as to how the balance should be acquired,
“individual deviant.” Procedures exist for readmission of de-
though neither perspective necessarily excluded the other.
viants. The philosopher Spinoza was excommunicated by
The school that insisted on an exclusive orthodoxy of
rabbinic authorities in Holland in 1656 because of his alleg-
belief and practice was that of the Legalist, in power during
edly dangerous attitudes toward biblical authority. The idea
the Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE). During this rigid regime,
that individuals or groups might have beliefs and practices
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6912
ORTHODOXY AND HETERODOXY
that threaten the well-being of the tradition has existed in
archy with the authority of the Bible. They denied the doc-
Judaism as far back as is known. In Ezra’s times, individuals
trine of transubstantiation and held ministers to be compe-
and groups were excluded from the Temple for various prac-
tent to interpret the scriptures. The teachings of the church
tices considered impure, such as mixed marriages. However,
councils were to be supported only insofar as they conformed
the extent to which exclusion was exercised varied considera-
to the scriptures.
bly in different historical periods. After the destruction of the
With the passage of time, the relationship between the
Temple, the rabbis rarely excommunicated anyone. In the
state and the churches in Protestant countries became one
modern period, exclusion is not considered a significant
of increasing separation. Therefore the differences among
problem.
Christians were not linked to the need of the state for unity.
Reform Judaism developed in Germany in the 1840s
If Christians differed, they had the option of leaving to estab-
and later appeared in the United States, where it spread wide-
lish different forms of Christianity. In the tract A Plain Ac-
ly. The Reform Jewish group first used the term Orthodox
count of the People Called Methodist (1749), John Wesley de-
Judaism to characterize their more traditional conservative
scribes the early Methodists’ protest against hierarchical
opponents. Reform Judaism stressed the individual obser-
authority legitimated by doctrine: “The points we chiefly in-
vance of the moral law rather than strict observance of the
sisted upon were four; First, that orthodoxy, or right opinion
traditional legal codes.
is, at best, but a very slender part of religion, if it can be al-
CHRISTIANITY. In the pastoral epistles of the New Testa-
lowed to be any part of it at all.” The chief business of reli-
ment, the members of the church are called upon to live “in
gion, according to Wesley, was to effect the transformation
all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting
of consciousness, so that the believer might come to have the
unto the coming of the day of God” (2 Pt. 3:11–12). They
mind of Christ.
are warned against “false teachers among you, who privily
The Council of Trent. At the Council of Trent (1545–
shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that
1563) the positions of the Roman Catholic church were reaf-
bought them” (2 Pt. 2:1).
firmed. Many of the abuses that had preceded the Reforma-
These and similar passages indicate divisiveness within
tion were done away with, but the authority of the church
the early generations of Christians. During the first three
hierarchy, the role of the priesthood, and the doctrine of
centuries, factionalism resulted from conflicts as to purity of
transubstantiation were reasserted. At the same time, anathe-
conduct, steadfastness under persecution, gnosis, Christolo-
mas were pronounced against the respective Protestant
gy, and practical matters such as the date of Easter. When
opinions.
the emperor Constantine became Christian in the fourth
The modern period. Efforts have been made toward
century, he attempted to further unite his territories by pro-
further mutual understanding among diverse Christian
moting a unified perspective among Christians. Under his
churches. At the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), a
auspices the Council of Nicaea was summoned in 325, and
number of studies reconsidered the roles of clergy and laity,
agreement was reached on disputed matters. Dissident opin-
and of biblical teaching with respect to the nature of the
ions were held to be anathema.
church. The forum for Protestant discussion of similar issues
Eastern orthodoxy. A schism took place in 1054 be-
has been the World Council of Churches, which meets every
tween the Roman Catholic church and the churches of the
six years since its establishment following World War II. It
Eastern Byzantine Empire. The Eastern churches see them-
is attended by representatives of the majority of Protestant
selves as a fellowship of churches governed by their own head
and Eastern Orthodox churches. Those who established the
bishops. Today there are fifteen such churches. They claim
World Council held that mutual respect might better arise
to have preserved the original apostolic faith, which they be-
out of mutual knowledge and common action. They have
lieve to have been expressed through the common Christian
envisaged a long-range process out of which a greater sense
tradition of the first centuries. They recognize seven ecumen-
of mutuality may emerge, as a result of which historic con-
ical councils.
flicts may eventually be resolved.
Roman Catholicism. The perspective that emerged as
Fundamentalism among Protestants usually affirms the
orthodox envisaged the bishop of Rome as the primary au-
inerrancy of the Bible and insists on one particular interpre-
thority. The authority of the bishops was legitimated by ap-
tation of scripture. Fundamentalist attitudes exist within all
ostolic succession. The importance of the priesthood was
the major Protestant denominations.
linked to the centrality of the ritual of the Eucharist. The his-
ISLAM. One of the Arabic words used as an equivalent for
torian Eusebius, a contemporary of the emperor Constan-
orthodox is mustaq¯ım. It comes from the first sura¯h of the
tine, wrote a history of the church that for centuries legiti-
QurDa¯n in which the believers are asked to follow the straight
mated the view that the structures and doctrines of the
path, al-sira¯t: al-mustaq¯ım. In this respect, the straight path
fourth-century church were equivalent to the original prac-
is primarily a way to live. Deviance would be a matter of re-
tices and beliefs.
jecting the divine commands. From the QurDanic perspec-
Protestantism. Reformers in the sixteenth century
tive, one who denies is called ka¯fir (“unbeliever,” from kufr,
claimed to replace the authority of the Roman Catholic hier-
“ingratitude; unbelief”).
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ORTHOPRAXY
6913
The first disputes among Muslims took place about
In the twentieth century Muslims threw off foreign
thirty years after the death of the Prophet. These differences
domination in every major Muslim nation. The newly inde-
centered around the legitimate leadership of the community.
pendent Muslim states varied in the ways by which they
After a brief civil war the members divided into two groups,
adapted the medieval religio-legal codes to modern condi-
Sunn¯ıs and the Sh¯ıE¯ıs. The former acknowledged the actual
tions. A number of individuals wrote interpretations of Islam
leaders of the community to have been legitimate. The latter
for modern times; two of the most influential were Syed
did not accept any leader apart from the caliph Ali, but rather
Ameer Ali and Muh:ammad Iqbal.
waited for a divinely appointed leader to reappear and estab-
An active form of Muslim fundamentalism has devel-
lish justice on the earth. A third group, the Kha¯rij¯ıs, attempt-
oped in the Arab world, Iran, and the Indo-Pakistan subcon-
ed to enforce a strict puritanism as a criterion for member-
tinent. Such groups affirm the urgency of agreement on one
ship in the community, but they failed to persuade the
interpretation of Islam, and of imposing this interpretation
majority. With the passage of time, their perspective became
by means of a state controlled by morally upright persons.
insignificant.
Sunn¯ı Islam and Shiism have each developed their own
SEE ALSO Canon; Expulsion; Heresy; Orthopraxy; Schism;
systems of religious law and theology, but neither explicitly
Theology, article on Christian Theology; Truth.
excludes the other from Islam. Rather, each sees the other
as misguided in its interpretations of particular aspects of
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Islam.
Peter Berger’s The Heretical Imperative (Garden City, N.Y., 1979)
offers a recent discussion of the issues of orthodoxy in the
In one of the Sunn¯ı theological statements commonly
context of modernity across all traditions. With respect to
used as a basis for training scholar-jurists in the Middle Ages,
ritual processes in the conflict between orthodoxy and het-
and in traditional schools today—the Commentary of
erodoxy among nonliterate peoples, see Victor Turner’s The
al-Tafta¯za¯n¯ı on the Creed of al-Nasaf¯ı (trans. Edward Elder,
Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure (1969; Ithaca,
New York, 1950)—heresy is characterized as ba¯t:in (esoteric
N.Y., 1977). A comprehensive survey of Indian religious
interpretation of the QurDa¯n). Such heresy is said to be equiv-
thought is contained in Surendranath Dasgupta’s History of
Indian Philosophy
, 3 vols. (1922–1940; Cambridge, 1963).
alent to unbelief. The theologians commenting on the
For modern India, see Religion in Modern India, edited by
QurDa¯n also equate unbelief with despair and with ridiculing
Robert D. Baird (New Delhi, 1981). Sukumar Dutt’s Bud-
the law. They are stating which attitudes they find unaccept-
dhist Monks and Monasteries of India (London, 1962) offers
able, rather than defining the characteristics that would lead
a survey of Indian Buddhism. For Chinese thought, Wing-
to exclusion. Al-Tafta¯za¯n¯ı deals with including great sinners
tsit Chan’s A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy (Princeton,
in the community and affirms the QurDanic emphasis on the
N. J., 1963) is excellent. Robert M. Seltzer’s Jewish People,
forgiveness of God. The community tended to leave final
Jewish Thought: The Jewish Experience in History (New York,
judgment of sinners to God’s decision on Judgment Day.
1980) is a good source for Jewish intellectual history. Three
books combined together give an excellent introduction to
The responsibility for guidance on matters respecting
the complex issues of early Christian development: Robert
membership in the community lay with jurists rather than
M. Grant’s Augustus to Constantine (New York, 1970); Rob-
with theologians. On occasion, if the civil power was willing
ert L. Wilken’s The Myth of Christian Beginnings (Garden
to support the opinions of particular scholar-jurists, persons
City, N.Y., 1971); and Elaine H. Pagels’s The Gnostic Gospels
were condemned for their views. More often, the condemna-
(New York, 1979). Kenneth Scott Latourette’s A History of
tions of scholar-jurists with respect to dissenting opinions
Christianity (New York, 1953) gives a comprehensive survey.
carried little force.
With respect to Islam, Fazlur Rahman’s Islamic Methodology
in History
(Karachi, Pakistan, 1965) explains the processes of
Deciding which practices and opinions were considered
Islamic reasoning. W. Montgomery Watt’s Islamic Philoso-
most adequate was a slow, informal process. There were no
phy and Theology, 2d ed., rev. & enl. (Edinburgh, 1984) de-
equivalents to the Buddhist or Christian councils. Only after
scribes the main schools of thought. Noel J. Coulson’s A His-
the fact could it be determined that a particular perspective
tory of Islamic Law (Edinburgh, 1971) discusses the religio-
had gained widespread support. Even so, adherents of differ-
legal structures. For the modern period, see Change and the
ing opinions were not normally excluded from participation
Muslim World, edited by Phillip H. Stoddard, David C. Cu-
in the community. Scholar-jurists often used abusive lan-
thell, and Margaret W. Sullivan (Syracuse, N.Y., 1981).
guage about one another, but such rhetoric did not usually
New Sources
cause persons to be excluded from communal life.
Metz, Johann Baptist, and Edward Schillebeeckx, eds. Orthodoxy
and Heterodoxy. Edinburgh, 1987.
The procedures by which the religious law, shar¯ı Eah,
was elaborated involved an appeal to chains of transmitters
SHEILA MCDONOUGH (1987)
to legitimate the traditional narratives respecting the words
Revised Bibliography
and deeds of the prophet Muh:ammad and his companions.
This process of legitimation was similar to the Christian and
Buddhist appeal to an unbroken line of trusted transmitters
ORTHOPRAXY. Derived from the Greek orthos
of the original teaching.
(“straight, right”) and praxis (“doing, practice”), orthopraxy
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ORTHOPRAXY
refers to “correctness of a practice or a body of practices ac-
Orthopraxy is central to the dynamics of religious life
cepted or recognized as correct,” according to Webster’s Third
in Judaism, Hinduism, Confucianism, and Islam. For in-
International Dictionary of the English Language. The term in
stance, in the first three traditions observance of the religious
English is rarely used, having been displaced by the related
code (orthopraxy) establishes and reinforces the cultural or
term orthodoxy, from the Greek orthos and doxa (“opinion,
ethnic identity of the community. These religions do not
belief”). Webster’s Third defines orthodoxy as “conformity to
claim to be universal; each is associated with a specific cultur-
an official formulation or truth, esp. in religious belief or
al group.
practice.” Thus common English usage assumes that dogma
Cultural and ethnic groups perpetuate their communal
governs practice.
identity through distinctive mores based on shared symbols
The proclivity of English speakers to think in terms of
and values that establish behavioral boundaries between
orthodoxy rather than orthopraxy has historical roots. Dur-
themselves and other groups (Royce, 1982). In Judaism,
ing the early centuries of the Christian church, the ecumeni-
Hinduism, and Confucianism, the practices mandated by
cal councils defined and championed an orthodox creed to
the sacred law define the distinctive boundaries of the culture
quell potentially divisive heresies. During the period of the
and the identity of the group within a larger world. In these
Reformation, doctrinal interpretation became a battleground
cases religion defines and reaffirms one’s cultural roots rather
for orthodoxy as the various churches strove to reestablish
than one’s beliefs; religious and cultural identity are insepara-
stability in beliefs after a period of ferment and schism. In
ble. Observance of the written code also ensures a semblance
the modern world, traditional ideologies have their champi-
of unity within each group despite considerable local varia-
ons, who militantly defend orthodox views against maverick
tions caused by linguistic or regional differences.
reinterpretations. As a result of this history, Westerners com-
monly assume that beliefs are the defining core of any
At first glance, Islam does not appear to use orthopraxy
religion.
to maintain an ethnic identity. Islam has not been bound to
one ethnic or cultural group; like Christianity and Buddhism
Religions, however, do not begin and end with doctrine.
it has become a world religion, ranging extensively across the
They also entail liturgical, contemplative, or ethical practices
globe among a diversity of peoples. Originally, however,
as well as direct or mediated experiences of the sacred. If doc-
Islam was strongly tied to Arab culture and identity; to be-
trines or beliefs remain the only yardstick by which a reli-
come a Muslim one had to join an Arab tribe if one were
gious tradition is measured, other aspects of religious life and
not favored by Arab birth. Perhaps the original cultural
experience, which may in certain cases be far more important
boundedness of Islam, its view of itself as the religion of a
than belief, will be neglected or ignored.
distinctive and chosen people, helps to account for the cen-
Orthopraxy provides a nondoctrinal focus for analysis,
trality of orthopraxy. To be a Muslim is to accept and ob-
an alternative model for understanding the functioning of re-
serve the law of Alla¯h. Surrender to Alla¯h is not a matter of
ligion in a given community. The concept of orthopraxy
belief in a doctrine; it is a matter of obedience to his com-
helps scholars to broaden their religious imaginations and
mands (Smith, 1963).
enhance their religious “musicality,” their sensitivity to the
full scope and variety of the rhythms, patterns, and harmo-
Although QurDanic law no longer maintains the original
nies of religious life.
ethnic boundaries of Islam, it serves to create unity within
the Islamic world, thus minimizing very real differences.
Orthopraxy is a particularly apt term for describing cases
Sunn¯ı and Sh¯ıE¯ı interpretations of the law differ considera-
in which written codes of behavior for liturgy and daily life
bly, and there are local variations in the way in which the
constitute the fundamental obligations of religion. Frederick
law is applied. Observance of the law, however, identifies
Streng has called this religious modality “harmony with cos-
each community as Muslim. A commitment to orthopraxy
mic law,” noting that the codes delineate not only the path
binds together all who surrender to Alla¯h.
of individual piety but also the hierarchical and complemen-
tary roles that build a harmonious society.
In Judaism, Hinduism, Confucianism, and Islam, the
sacred law also establishes a standard of religious purity that,
Judaism, Hinduism, Confucianism, and Islam exempli-
along with knowledge of the law, defines a religious and so-
fy Streng’s “harmony with cosmic law.” The primary reli-
cial elite. All members of the culture traditionally were ex-
gious obligation in these traditions is the observance of a
pected to observe the mores of the groups as encoded in the
code of ritual and social behavior minutely stipulated in reli-
law, but meticulous observance was both the defining quality
gious texts and in scholarly commentaries as interpreted by
and the responsibility of the religious elite.
the educated religious elite. The code has sacred authority
because it was established in ancient times by a god or the
Gradations of ritual purity and observance define and
revered founder or founders of the tradition. These religions
perpetuate the hierarchical structure of Hindu society.
have no creed, no officially sanctioned statement or dogma
Upper-caste Hindus have heavier ritual responsibilities and
that holds a key place in liturgy or rites of passage. In these
are expected to maintain an elevated standard of purity. Like-
instances religiosity is not primarily a matter of holding cor-
wise, groups seeking recognition of increased social status in
rect opinions but of conforming to a set of behaviors.
Hindu society must raise the level of their ritual purity. Thus
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ORTHOPRAXY
6915
in Hindu culture, the sacred law establishes a standard for
a single citizen. Most Chinese, in fact, combined Confucian
both individuals and groups (Dumont, 1967).
values and practices with Buddhism, Daoism, or some other
religion. Each religion, however, had its proper place in the
Although Jewish, Confucian, and Islamic cultures were
hierarchy of the social order. As an old saying goes, “Daoism
not characterized by the elaborately graduated ritual hierar-
cures the body; Buddhism regulates the mind; Confucianism
chy of the Hindu caste system, scrupulous observance of the
governs the state.” Thus the Chinese found a means to rec-
law and knowledge of tradition were the responsibility of the
oncile religious pluralism with the maintenance of a sacred
social and religious elite nonetheless. In China, the law or
code and orthopraxy, a reconciliation that served as the basis
ritual code dealt primarily with social ethics, the standard of
of the Chinese social order for two millennia.
a humane and civilized society. However, it also prescribed
ritual obligations in regard to the mourning and veneration
Orthodoxy and orthopraxy are also factors in the pro-
of ancestors. The mandarin was to be the model of the civi-
cess of communal religious renewal. The history of religions
lized moral person, with a profound sense of obligation to
offers endless variations on the theme of renewal as commu-
family and community. In Judaism and Islam, the law de-
nities struggle to recapture the freshness and power of their
fined a complete way of life: ritual observance, dietary code,
tradition. Belief and practice are subject to continual reinter-
ethics, familial and marriage practices. The rabbi in Judaism
pretation by the religious elite, who revise their understand-
and the Eulama¯D in Islam were scholars and teachers who em-
ing of tradition according to ongoing experience, and by or-
bodied and interpreted the law to their congregations.
dinary people, who believe and practice their religion in ways
that reflect their individual, social, and historical circum-
In traditions in which the observance of the law is the
stances. What makes beliefs or practices correct (orthos) is the
central religious obligation, orthopraxy establishes and main-
consensus of the living community in a particular social and
tains ethnic or religious boundaries and gradations of social
historical circumstance. In every religious drama, from every-
and religious purity. However, orthopraxy functions in a
day worship to grand ceremony, the actors negotiate the
broad range of religious traditions and circumstances. An ex-
meanings and practices according to their collective and per-
amination of selected examples will illustrate the variety of
sonal experiences.
roles orthopraxy plays in the religions of the world.
Orthopraxy and orthodoxy become issues because reli-
In tribal cultures, orthopraxy defines not only religious
gion and its meanings are social and shared. Private belief
obligations; it is also the law of the tribe. Its sacred and secu-
and experience neither mediated through the symbols of tra-
lar functions are barely distinguishable. The tribal rulers and
dition nor authenticated by the living religious community
the ritual specialists are usually two distinct groups; yet, be-
isolate the individual; private belief is socially meaningless,
cause they share a common tradition and sense of ortho-
often perceived as fantasy, or even madness. The ongoing
praxy, religion and government support each other. Religion
process of religious socialization is the mediation of belief,
and the state can cooperate in full harmony only in a reli-
the negotiation of significance. Collective perceptions, how-
giously homogeneous community. When religious pluralism
ever, are fluid; they evolve with time and circumstances,
becomes the norm, secular law must develop along autono-
and thus religious traditions are constantly renewed and rein-
mous principles to apply equally to all citizens, whatever
terpreted.
their religion.
Pluralistic cultures are torn by competing claims of or-
Even in large-scale and complex societies, such as pre-
thodoxy and orthopraxy. The issue of orthopraxy dominates
Mughal India or traditional China, sacred law can have an
religious competition in sectarian groups that seek to sepa-
intimate connection to sovereign authority and the secular
rate themselves from a corrupt, misguided, and tainted soci-
law, if one religion is overwhelmingly dominant or has estab-
ety. Their members retreat into communities marked by a
lished an unassailable claim as the state ideology. The Indian
strict and demanding religious life. The Amish and the Shak-
and Chinese rulers were not themselves the religious elite,
ers, among other groups, rejected the larger Christian cul-
but their sovereignty and ruling effectiveness were shaped
ture, considering its laws and religious life fallen and de-
and supported by the sacred code.
praved. They sought to live out their vision of a pure
In China, Confucianism remained the official state reli-
Christian life, abjuring the taint of sinful society. Members
gion and ideology until 1911, and its values were enforced
of their community who did not follow the discipline were
by law, although Buddhism, Daoism, Nestorianism, Islam,
first reproved, then shunned, and finally expelled. Correct
Judaism, and Christianity were present as well. The state ac-
living was the measure of the religious life.
cepted the existence of other religions as long as they made
Similar in some ways to the Amish and the Shakers, al-
no claim to be the law of the land. When Daoists, Muslims,
though not sectarian in intent, are the religious orders of the
or Buddhists occasionally tried to supplant Confucian mores
Roman Catholic church or the sam:gha of Buddhism. These
with their own, they were charged with rebellion and chas-
communities of individuals choose the religious life in re-
tised by the full military power of the state.
sponse to a special vocation; they renounce the pleasures and
The Chinese saw no threat in the coexistence of reli-
ties of the material world, such as sex and property, in order
gions, even when two religions coexisted within the life of
to live a life of purity and contemplation. Their exemplary
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6916
OSAGE RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
lives of sacrifice and discipline were traditionally believed to
feeling and activity as well as thought, orthodoxy becomes
benefit the broader community and not just themselves.
an inadequate criterion of its worth apart from right experi-
ence and right conduct. It ought to have for its correlatives
Orthopraxy can support the secular arm of the state or
such words as ‘orthopathy’ and ‘orthopraxy,’ the inward ex-
the rebellion of a sectarian movement. It can be a force for
perience and outward exercise of piety.” Wilfred Cantwell
change or for repression of change. At times, the powerful
Smith argues forcefully that observance of the law, and not
forces for change threaten traditional values, and religious
belief, is the sine qua non of Islam; see Smith’s The Meaning
communities may hold tightly to an orthopraxy in order to
and End of Religion: A New Approach to Religious Traditions
maintain traditional values. At other times, orthopraxy
(New York, 1963). Frederick J. Streng has gone further to
evolves along with community acceptance of new realities
define the religious modality of “harmony with cosmic law,”
and values, as in the loosening of regulations on drinking and
in which orthopraxy dominates religious life; consult his Un-
derstanding Religious Life,
2d ed. (Encino, Calif., 1976).
card playing among American Methodists in the mid-
twentieth century or the changes in Catholicism following
A number of anthropologists have explored the ways in which reli-
Vatican II. An earlier example of this is the acceptance of
gious practices and mores serve to define the ethnic or cultur-
married clergy among Pure Land Buddhists in Japan since
al boundaries of a community. In Ethnic Identity: Strategies
the thirteenth century. Orthopraxy may even serve the cause
of Diversity (Bloomington, Ind., 1982), Anya P. Royce pro-
vides a review of the literature and offers an articulate analysis
of progressive social change, as it does for many liberation
of strategies for maintaining ethnic identity. Barbara E.
theologians. This group sees praxis, action, and reflection on
Ward demonstrates how local regions and communities
action as the core of the Christian life and they believe that
within cultures unified by a standard of behavior consider
correct practice (orthopraxy) is directed toward liberating the
their variations on the universal mores in the realm of ortho-
oppressed and reducing suffering in the world.
praxy; see her “Varieties of the Conscious Model: The Fish-
ermen of South China,” in The Relevance of Models for Social
The concept of orthopraxy helps the student of religion
Anthropology, edited by Michael Banton (New York, 1965).
to avoid excessive emphasis on the doctrinal model of reli-
gions, but a word of caution is in order. In most cases ortho-
Louis Dumont explores how standards of ritual and behavioral
praxy and orthodoxy are intimately connected and represent
purity establish and maintain social differences in his now-
classic Homo Hierarchicus: An Essay on the Caste System, rev.
two interrelated aspects of religious life. Belief and practice
ed. (Chicago, 1980). For a Marxist analysis of orthopraxy,
at once entail and support each other.
see Pierre Bourdien’s Outline of a Theory of Praxis (Cam-
While orthopraxy is more important than orthodoxy in
bridge, U.K., 1979).
tribal religions, the “ways of the gods or ancestors” are based
New Sources
on stories or beliefs about what the gods or ancestors did or
Denny, Frederick M. “Orthopraxy in Islam and Judaism: Convic-
said. These practices are not merely a random set of behav-
tions and Categories.” In Studies in Islamic & Judaic Tradi-
iors; they express a worldview, a coherent story of the com-
tions: Papers Presented at the Institute for Islamic-Judaic
munity and its relationship to the world it knows. Likewise,
Studies, Center for Judaic Studies, University of Denver, edited
there is no motivation for following a ritually correct or pure
by William M. Brinner and Stephen D. Ricks, vol. 2,
life in Judaism, Hinduism, Confucianism, or Islam without
pp. 83–95. Atlanta, 1989.
belief in and about the God or gods or sages who handed
Schroeder, John. “Nagarjuna and the Doctrine of ‘Skillful
down the law. The law is rooted in and implies a particular
Means.’” Philosophy East & West 50, no. 4 (2000): 559–584.
view of the sacred, of human life, and of the world. There
JUDITH A. BERLING (1987)
is no ritual behavior that is not also the expression of certain
Revised Bibliography
beliefs about the relationship of the human and the divine,
the relationship of ordinary action and sacred command.
While belief and practice are intimately connected, it is
OSAGE RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS. The Osage
not the case that one always dominates the other. Some reli-
people (wazhazhe or ni u konshka) were the aboriginal occu-
gions under certain conditions stress that belief leads to prac-
pants of a large territory in the center of the present-day
tice. Other religions, such as Confucianism, stress that prac-
United States located between the Missouri and Arkansas
tice leads to and deepens belief and understanding. The
Rivers west of the Mississippi, with reservation lands located
student of religion must carefully observe how doctrine and
today in northeastern Oklahoma. The Osage people are a
practice complement and correct each other in each unique
part of a larger family of American Indian communities in-
historical circumstance.
cluding the Poncas, Omahas, Kansas, and Quapaws and re-
lated linguistically to the Lakotas and Dakotas.
SEE ALSO Heresy; Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy.
The Osage were the focus of study by an American Indi-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
an ethnographer who was fluent in a closely related dialect.
In his article “Orthodoxy,” in the Encyclopaedia of Religion and
Francis La Flesche, himself an Omaha, published some two
Ethics, edited by James Hastings, vol. 9 (Edinburgh, 1917),
thousand pages of ethnographic descriptions of the Osage for
William A. Curtis noted that “. . . since religion embraces
the Bureau of American Ethnography, recording substantial
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OSAGE RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
6917
parts of many ceremonies. His publications include ceremo-
ceremony might typically have taken up to a dozen days,
nial descriptions and extensive recitations in Osage collected
while the ceremony for initiating someone into the ranks of
from several older practitioners with whom he worked in the
the Little Old Ones could stretch over several years before
early 1900s. His compilation has been called the most com-
its completion.
plete record of North American Indian ceremonies. Al-
The importance of these ceremonies is already evident
though La Flesche had the advantage of language skills in his
in the personal spiritual practices of Osage people, noticed
study of the Osage, even these extensive documents need to
historically by many Western observers. Daily prayers were
be read with a critical and discerning eye.
a constant among the Osage, beginning with the personal
La Flesche published five lengthy treatises describing
song each member of the community sang to greet the rising
seven significant ceremonial rites, but these are only a partial
of the sun, a discipline practiced by other Indian communi-
sampling of the full array of Osage ceremonial life, as he him-
ties as far away as the Ojibwa in Minnesota. These personal
self clearly notes. He only alludes, for instance, to the cere-
prayers were then repeated at noon and sundown each day.
mony performed before engaging in a community buffalo
hunt, commenting that it was in “all respects” similar to the
OSAGE COSMOLOGY. Much of our knowledge of these cere-
war ceremony (namely, taking a period of some days to com-
monies comes from La Flesche, who uses two translations
plete); likewise, he barely mentions the ceremonial structures
that pose continuing problems for our understanding of
attending to the agricultural activities of planting and har-
Osage religious traditions. His use of certain convenient En-
vesting. There are other key factors for which he fails to give
glish language glosses as a device to connect with his reader-
any deeper explanation or interpretation, such as the central
ship of seventy or eighty years ago has biased understandings
role of the sacred pipe (no
of Osage culture and religious traditions ever since. Each of
nníonba wakondagi) in all Osage
proceedings.
these is a Western concept that is so loaded with connotative
meaning as to render it less than helpful in talking about any
OSAGE CEREMONIAL STRUCTURES. Like other indigenous
non-Western culture. The first of these is his use of the word
nations in the Americas (and especially in North America),
god to describe the Osage notion of the Sacred Other.
Osage people understood the world as an intricate and so-
phisticated, interconnected organic whole structured as a
Spiritual concepts. Wakonda was the spiritual force or
thoroughgoing dualism of reciprocity. They came to know
energy that Osages saw permeating the whole of the world,
the universe as a complementary pairing of above and below,
and which they experienced in a great variety of manifesta-
sky and earth, the two great fructifying forces of the universe,
tions at any given moment and especially in any given place.
and recognized a cosmic source of power that made itself
This was the insight that lent itself to the Osage conception
manifest with the same dualistic reciprocity. As a result, they
of the interrelationship of all things on the earth and in the
carefully modeled themselves—personally and socially—as a
universe. Wakonda was the Osage word used by the early mis-
mirror-image reflection of this universe, dividing themselves
sionaries to express their Christian concept of god, and in-
and their clans between the two sociopolitical divisions of
deed La Flesche most often translates wakonda as god. Treat-
tsízhu (sky) and hónga (earth).
ed thus, however, the word, like great spirit, is simply used
as a popular gloss and conveys misinformation rather than
The numerous ceremonial structures of the Osage peo-
real knowledge. La Flesche’s second entry in his Osage Dictio-
ples, along with their underlying cultural philosophy, were
nary begins to get at the real heart of the matter: wakonda
remarkably complex, like those of most American Indian na-
“is the name applied by the Osage to the mysterious, invisi-
tions. They required enormous physical preparation and in-
ble, creative power which brings into existence all living
tense ceremonial acts as well as extensive memorization, since
things of whatever kind. They believe that this great power
the ceremonies were detailed, lengthy, and required consid-
resides in the air, the blue sky, the clouds, the stars, the sun,
erable verbatim recitation. Their religious traditions were
the moon, and the earth, and keeps them in motion”
thoroughly interlaced with their cultural values and daily
(p. 193).
practices, but were especially characterized in these carefully
structured and intricately detailed ceremonies involving a
This wakonda is ultimately an unknowable mystery that
widely dispersed number of key participants and leaders,
only becomes knowable in particular manifestations. It
upon whose cooperation the success of each ceremony de-
makes itself manifest first of all as Above and Below, as
pended.
wakonda monshita and wakonda hiudseta, corporealized as sky
and earth, and called upon as Grandfather and Grandmoth-
There were ceremonies engaged in by the tribal commu-
er. Wakonda, which has no inherent or ultimate gender, be-
nity as a whole that involved key participants from all or
comes visible as the necessary reciprocity of male and female.
many of the clans, such as ceremonies preparing for war or
hunting, certain initiation ceremonies, or marking the begin-
It needs to be emphasized that these two are not differ-
ning of a new year. Other ceremonies were personal, family,
ent wakonda, but rather manifestations of the one wakonda,
or clan ceremonies and might still involve a significantly
even though they have specific personality traits similar to
large number of participants. The smoking of a sacred pipe
those which traditional Christian trinitarian doctrine asserts.
might take a short period of time—an hour or less. The war
While they are manifestations of the same wakonda, they rep-
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6918
OSAGE RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
resent power in different forms, both of which are necessary
this council because of the religious function of the position,
in order to have some balanced understanding of the Other-
and was most critical to the success of the military endeavor.
ness that is the Sacred Mystery. Indeed, wakonda has mani-
Most strikingly, this war leader was a noncombatant who
fested itself in a great many other ways, all of which help the
had no responsibility or authority for determining actual bat-
Osage people to better understand the Mystery, the world,
tle strategy even though he (or occasionally she) accompa-
themselves, and their place in the world. Since wakonda per-
nied the military detachment. The responsibility of this
meates all life in the world, Osages readily conceived of
dodon honga was to be in constant prayer from the beginning
themselves as kinfolk to the buffalo, eagles, spiders, rocks,
of the war ceremony until the completion of the military en-
and other manifestations of the cosmic energy that makes up
gagement.
the world. To assume that the simplistic gloss “god” some-
One of the most striking aspects of the Osage war cere-
how is adequate to translate and classify wakonda in English
mony was the commitment of this war leader to undertake
immediately falsifies the internal cultural meaning of
a serious regimen of isolation, prayer, and dry-fasting (with-
wakonda for Osage peoples by imposing a historic Western
out food or water) for up to seven days in a ceremony called
category of cognition.
in English the Vision Quest or Rite of Vigil. His fast contin-
Leadership. The second problematic translation is La
ued even while on the march until the excursion was fully
Flesche’s use of the word priest to refer to a group of initiates
completed and he returned home with the detachment.
who functioned as a village council. To get at this concern,
Then his role as war leader ended. The spiritual role of war
we need to look at the structures of leadership in Osage civil
leader could be filled by any one of a hundred or more
and religious life, which was organized around a great diffu-
nonhonzhinga who might potentially serve this function.
sion of civil and religious leadership and authority. Osage
While the nonhonzhinga underwent significant rites of
cultural organization allowed for a variety of voices to be in-
initiation into their formal eldership and held key roles in
volved in each ceremony and any decision-making process
all the ceremonies, they were not priests, and the use of this
and provided for the exercise of authority by different people
word becomes terribly misleading. La Flesche reports the ex-
in different community situations. While there were two ap-
istence of two other categories of religious leadership, which
pointed civil leaders (gahiga, called “chiefs” in English) in
seem to have had more day-to-day religious importance.
every village, one from each of the two principle divisions or
These include those who were keepers of the Great Bundles
moieties, they had only limited authority, which was exclu-
and whose responsibilities extend to tattooing and certain
sively focused on internal affairs and lacked any formal role
kinds of healing. The other category is one that he only men-
in the external affairs of the tribe, such as military activities.
tions, without interpretive description, but must have in-
The limitation of their authority can be seen implicitly in the
cluded those healers who are sometimes called “medicine”
practice of shared authority, with each taking leadership on
people by Western observers (whom James Dorsey calls “sha-
alternate days during a tribal hunting expedition.
man,” using the Tungusik word). Officially, La Flesche calls
The most significant religious and political leadership
them the keepers of the “great medicine bundles.” While
(but not day-to-day governance) in an Osage village was ex-
these latter two categories might more logically fit the West-
ercised by a council called the Little Old Ones
ern category of priest, neither of them had specific roles in
(nonhonzhinga), a group of mature adult men and always
the main public ceremonies of the tribe.
some women who coordinated the life of the community,
SOCIAL STRUCTURE. From all that can be pieced together of
conducted the ceremonies, and were the source and the keep-
earlier Osage life, this was a diametric dualistic society, of the
ers of the esoteric and abstract knowledge of the community.
sort Lévi-Strauss contended did not exist, but which anthro-
They held the greater decision-making power in key situa-
pologist Alfonso Ortiz demonstrated so thoroughly for his
tions. Selected because of their character, intelligence, abili-
own Tewa community at San Juan (see On Space, Time,
ties, and spiritual gifts, members of this council had each
Being, and Becoming in a Pueblo Society, 1969). Every detail
gone through rigorous initiation rites into one or more of the
of social structure, even the geographic orientation of the old
different ranks of ceremonial responsibility and leadership.
villages, reflected a reciprocal duality of all that is necessary
This council was, as a whole, the community’s repository of
for sustaining life. Like the Omahas, Poncas, Quapaws, and
wisdom and its members functioned as the principal ceremo-
other related peoples, an Osage village was divided into two
nial actors in every major ceremony. These council members
parts: the tsízhu, or sky moiety, and the hon’ga, or earth
are the public personalities that La Flesche calls priests.
moiety.
In the course of a war-preparation ceremony and subse-
An east-west roadway divided community architecture
quent military expedition, more than a dozen different mem-
(both permanent towns and hunting camps), with the tsízhu
bers of this council, each from different clans, would typical-
constructing their lodges to the north and the hon’ga to the
ly exercise leadership, either in the war ceremony itself or as
south. These two divisions represented female and male,
tactical leaders in the actual engagement, with a sharp differ-
matter and spirit, war and peace, but they functioned as a
entiation between the two. The one who is usually referred
unified whole because they were always paired together as a
to as the war leader (dodon honga) was always a member of
reciprocal duality who together represented balance and
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6919
completion. Spirit without matter is motion without sub-
may have been either tsízhu or hon’ga, she or he was always
stance; matter without spirit is motionless and meaningless.
a child of parents who come from each of the divisions.
This spatial arrangement is carefully repeated in the seating
Thus, each individual recognized herself or himself as a com-
of the nonhonzhinga, the council of elders, inside the lodge
bination of qualities that reflected both sky and earth, spirit
kept for their meetings and in all ceremonial observances.
and matter, peace and war, male and female, and each strug-
gled personally and communally to hold those qualities in
Just as the Osage perceived the necessity of the two
balance with each other. These value structures begin with
manifestations of wakonda participating together to sustain
spatial designs of existence and are rooted in those spatial
life, so the two grand divisions sustained the life of the whole,
metaphors as fundamental mores of communal behavior and
so that what ethnographers would classify as “religion” per-
social organization.
vaded marriage customs and even the habitual acts of sleep-
ing and putting on clothing. To preserve the principles of
B
spiritual and political unity in this duality, Osages were man-
IBLIOGRAPHY
Burns, Louis F. Osage Customs and Myths. Fallbrook, Calif., 1984.
dated to marry someone from the other grand division. To
further enforce this religious sense of wholeness, the two
Dorsey, James Owen. An Account of the War Customs of the Osages.
grand divisions developed personal habits that helped each
Philadelphia, 1884.
individual remember her or his part in this communal whole.
Dorsey, James Owen. Osage Traditions. Washington, D.C., 1888.
Hence, those from the hon’ga grand division customarily
Dorsey, James Owen. Siouan Sociology. Washington, D.C., 1897.
slept on their right side and put on the right shoe first, while
La Flesche, Francis. The Osage Tribe: Rite of the Chiefs. Washing-
those from the tsízhu grand division functioned in the oppo-
ton, D.C., 1921.
site manner, putting their left sleeve on first and sleeping on
their left shoulder. As a result, even in sleep the two divisions
La Flesche, Francis. The Osage Tribe: The Rite of Vigil. Washing-
ton, D.C., 1925.
performed a religious act that maintained their unity in divi-
sion, as they lay facing each other asleep across the road that
La Flesche, Francis. The Osage Tribe: Two Versions of the Child
divided the whole community.
Naming Rite. Washington, D.C., 1928.
La Flesche, Francis. The Osage Tribe: Rite of Wa-xo’-be. Washing-
Much of the cosmological mythology of the tribe con-
ton, D.C., 1930.
sists of accounts of the different origin of the two divisions
La Flesche, Francis. A Dictionary of the Osage Language (1932).
and how they came to be together. The tsízhu division repre-
Phoenix, Ariz., 1975.
sents the tribe’s origins in the sky itself, where the first Osag-
es were created as incorporeal entities who needed to attain
La Flesche, Francis. War Ceremony and Peace Ceremony of the
corporeality. In the course of this process they are eventually
Osage Indians. Washington, D.C., 1939.
sent down to earth by wakonda, “dropping like acorns from
La Flesche, Francis. The Osage and the Invisible World: From the
an oak tree.” In their wanderings on the earth they soon dis-
Works of Francis La Flesche. Introduced and edited by Gar-
covered another community of hon’ga who called themselves
rick Bailey. Norman, Okla., 1995.
the Isolated Earth People. After some negotiation these two
TINK TINKER (2005)
decided to live together as one, bringing together the distinct
qualities of each, and symbolically and functionally repre-
senting the whole of the Osage cosmology. To preserve the
memory of their origins, the group maintained the division
OSIRIS. Osiris is the Greek form of the name of the Egyp-
between sky and earth, and appointed two of three original
tian god Wsjr, king of the afterworld. The Egyptian god
divisions to live with the Isolated Earth People as the hon’ga
Wsjr was often represented by a throne and an eye. He did
moiety. Mandated intermarriage then functioned to hold the
not live with the other gods but among the dead, and there-
two divisions together. At the same time it symbolically held
fore the Greeks identified him with Hades, as Plutarch (c.
together the universe in microcosm and brought the oppo-
46–after 199 CE) did in his On Isis and Osiris.
sites together both in the whole and in each individual. Thus
By the time of the Pyramid Texts (third millennium;
it is that this dualism dominates even the material and cere-
fifth and sixth dynasties), the Egyptians believed that King
monial structures of Osage architectural geography and lends
Osiris once reigned in their land and was killed by his broth-
itself to the political and social cohesion and balance of every
er Seth. His corpse was saved and revified by his sister-wife
historic Osage community.
Isis, his sister Nephthys, and other gods. Osiris’s life contin-
ued in the next world, where he became king of the dead.
This symbiotic dualism, spatially configured, is not the
The myth was the origin of rituals to preserve the deceased
oppositional dualism of good and evil that is typical in
pharaohs. His was the prototypical death, and Osiris adopted
Judeo-Christian thought, but is, rather, a necessary reciproci-
the name Khentimentu (or Khentamenthes, Foremost of the
ty. It functions at a much more deeply spiritual level that still
Westerns).
pertains for a great many American Indian people today, in-
cluding Osages, even as they have abandoned the explicit
According to the Greek version of the myth related by
structures of their historical past. While an Osage person
Plutarch in On Isis and Osiris, Typhon (the Greek name of
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6920
OSIRIS
Seth) had a beautiful coffin made to Osiris’s exact measure-
During the Middle Kingdom, Osiris’s prevailing ico-
ments and, with seventy-two conspirators at a banquet,
nography was as a mummy bearing a wig, a crook, a flail,
promised it to the one who fit it. Each guest tried it for size,
and sometimes a crown. Plutarch recorded in On Isis and
and of course Osiris fit exactly. Immediately Seth and the
Osiris that his body was dark. Later he was depicted lying on
conspirators nailed the lid shut, sealed the coffin in lead, and
a lion-shaped bed flanked by Isis and Nephthys and backed
threw it into the Nile. The coffin was eventually borne across
by Anubis, the divine embalmer. In the Book of the Dead,
the sea to Byblos, where Isis, who had been searching for her
Osiris is chairman at the soul’s trial, when the heart of the
husband, finally located it. After some adventures of her
dead is weighed.
own, Isis returned the body to Egypt, where Seth discovered
One of the oldest centers of the Osirian cult was Aby-
it, cut it into pieces, and scattered the pieces throughout the
dos, where the kings of the earliest dynasties were buried and
country. Isis, however, found all the pieces (except the penis,
where many New Kingdom nobles were buried and repre-
which she replicated), reconstituted the body, performed the
sented face to face with Osiris. The Ramessides built many
rituals to give Osiris eternal life, and founded his cult. The
monuments in his honor. Here he was identified with the
principal version of the story cited by Plutarch does not re-
jackal god Khentimentu. His appellation “Lord of Busiris”
veal how Isis gave birth to her son Horus, but according to
witnesses an ancient cult location at Busiris, whose name sig-
the eighteenth-dynasty Hymn to Osiris and the iconography
nifies “house of Osiris.” Osiris was identified with the funer-
of several Egyptian monuments, she conceived Horus by the
ary god Anedjti, but it is possible that Anedjti is simply the
revivified corpse of her husband. The death of the god is
local name of Osiris. Memphis, Philae, and many other
often described by the Egyptian texts as a drowning at the
places pretended to keep a piece of the dismembered body
end of a combat against Seth. Plutarch tells the story of the
of Osiris. His birth from Geb and Nut and his kinship to
previous adultery of Osiris and Nephthys, Seth’s sister and
Isis, Seth, and Nephthys claim the ancient influence of the
wife, the consequent birth of Anubis, and the wrath of Seth.
Heliopolite theology, in which he was one of the nine great
The Pyramid Texts mention the “magic” acts performed by
gods of the Ennead.
the gods to keep Osiris alive. Isis protected him with her
wings, and Horus gave him an eye of his own to eat (Faulk-
Although each Egyptian district had its own specific
ner, 1969, nos. 579, 585).
cult, the rituals for Osiris were performed everywhere under
pharaonic control. The most important one was the fall ritu-
Although Seth challenged the legitimacy of Isis’s son,
al in the month of Khoiak. At Dendera, twenty-three biers
the gods decided in favor of Horus. The Contendings of Horus
with various local forms of Osiris were venerated in the
and Seth, preserved on a late New Kingdom papyrus and on
course of the local festival in Khoiak. People prepared mum-
a fragment of a Middle Kingdom one, indicates that Re, the
miform figures molded from sand and barley that were later
chief god, favored Seth, but all the other great gods sup-
watered and allowed to germinate. Many mummiform figu-
ported the cause of Horus. In the actual contest Horus
rines containing grains of corn or barley, most of them ithy-
proved himself the cleverer god. Horus succeeded and
phallic, have been discovered in excavations, and many im-
avenged his father without completely destroying Seth, to-
ages of Osiris show cornstalks sprouting from his corpse. In
ward whom Isis showed pity.
his honor the djed pillars, which were thought to represent
From the netherworld, Osiris granted the gifts of fertili-
the backbone of Osiris, were raised. In Abydos and Edfu the
ty and abundance to the earth and people. Droughts and the
statue of the god was treated by the priests with secret sub-
infertility of deserts were unavoidable as the god Seth was un-
stances, covered with a ram’s skin, and kept in a special con-
tamed, but the rituals in honor of Osiris assured the return
tainer. The idol of Osiris was also brought in the Neshmet
of water and fertility.
ship. The papyrus Salt deals with those ceremonies. Plutarch,
CULT. Rituals of great political value included the balming,
as evidenced in On Isis and Osiris, knew the Osirian Pamylia
mummification, “opening of the mouth,” and burial of the
festival, which included a procession in which the phallus of
pharaohs to transform them into new beneficent gods fol-
the god was celebrated. That festival was celebrated in Alex-
lowing the Osirian pattern. The Pyramid Texts (e.g., nos.
andria in August to celebrate the birth of Osiris. Herodotos
219, 684) identify the dead pharaohs with Osiris and the liv-
(c. 484–between 430 and 420 BCE) notes that at Sais, near
ing ones with Horus. The main purpose of the rituals was
a lake, some nocturnal performances called mysteria (myster-
to keep the god alive, to preserve his vital might even in the
ies) were organized. Diodorus (first century BCE) states that
realm of the dead. The condition of the god was sometimes
secrets surrounded the truth about Osiris’s death. Noise was
described as asleep. In the Middle Kingdom period (2160–
forbidden by him as a god of silence, and his burials were
1580 BCE) the burial rituals of nobles identified them with
often surrounded by inaccessible precints (Assmann, 2001,
Osiris, and during the New Kingdom period (1580–1090
p. 254). Herodotos identifies Osiris with Dionysos, and his
BCE) the assimilation was widespread among the people. Rel-
opinion that the phallic processions of Greek Dionysiac festi-
atively poor people could buy a cheap edition of the essential
vals could have been influenced by Egyptian Osirian ceremo-
funerary texts in which their names were associated with Osi-
nies has found modern acceptance (Burkert, 2002). In the
ris. The name of the dead often included the name of Osiris
Hellenistic Age (c. 200 BCE), Osiris also became the god who
before the personal name because he or she was like the god.
taught viticulture (Diodorus 1,17–18).
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6921
The motif of Osiris’s life among the dead was specified
death. Nevertheless, in the coffin texts he was conceived as
and expanded in the solar character assumed by Osiris before
the immutable eternity.
the Amarna period (c.1370–c.1325 BCE). He was in fact
HELLENISTIC AND ROMAN PERIODS. The Osirian mysteries
joined to Amun-Ra. The Book of the Dead mentions “Osiris
acquired in imperial times a new philosophical dimension,
of sun-disk”; the Abydos stela of Ramses IV (twelfth century
and Osiris was thought of as the eternity. The priest-
BCE) knows Osiris and Ra as “joined souls in the Dat (the
philosopher Heraiskos (fifth century CE) discovered that
realm of dead).” The mixed iconography of the Osirian
Aion of Alexandria was also Osiris and Adonis (Damascius,
mummy with the ram’s head of Amun represented the joint
Life of Isidorus, p.174 Zintzen). Aion was the deity on peren-
nature of the gods. Osiris was therefore thought of as the sun
nial time, and the Alexandrian Aion was also the god of desti-
during the night, when it visited the realm of dead, and his
ny. His image was that of a snake, and Osiris also was some-
role as savior was bound to the vicissitudes of the sun. In this
times represented entwined with a snake. That image
evolution there is no precise opposition between the solar
corresponds to the hieroglyph signifying eternity.
theology of Heliopolis and chthonic religion as it has been
thought (Kees, 1941).
The Apis bull was thought of as the soul of Ptah and
Osiris (Diodorus 1.85.4; Strabo 17.1.31; Plutarch, 1970, 20;
Osiris’s connections with the creator god Atum were
29), and the Greeks worshiped it at least from the beginning
strong. The lion-shaped funerary bed and the ram-shaped
of the fifth century. The foundation of a Greek city at Alex-
tool by which the mouths of the dead were opened were sym-
andria and the creation of the Macedonian kingship in Egypt
bols of Atum. From the twenty-first dynasty, Osiris could be
under Alexander (356–323 BCE) and later under the Ptole-
substituted as king and judge of the dead.
mies produced a restyling of the great god of the dead. The
names of Osiris and Apis (Osor Apis) were joined and gave
According to Plutarch’s On Isis and Osiris, the fall festi-
birth to the name of Sarapis (or Serapis). Perhaps Alexander
vals occurred when the days became shorter, the nights grew
knew this god, but the complete transformation of Osiris
longer, and the level of the Nile began to recede. The fertility
into Sarapis was conceived by Ptolemy I (367, 366, or 364–
of the Egyptian earth depended on the Nile’s inundation,
283 or 282
and the cyclic burial and revival of Osiris were connected
BCE), the Egyptian priest Manetho, and the Eleu-
sinian priest Timotheos (fourth century
with the Nile’s yearly phases. The inscription on the Sha-
BCE). The king saw
in a dream a statue of Hades. His minister Sosibios discov-
baka’s Stone (end of the eighth century) connects Osiris with
ered this statue at Sinope, and the Egyptians succeeded in
the inundation of the Nile and its fructifying waters. The
taking it to Alexandria. That was the new image of Osiris
first century CE Egyptian priest Chaeremon attributed the
identified with Hades, Dionysos, and Asklepios. Plutarch
same meaning to Osiris (fr.17 D van der Horst = Eusebius,
noted in On Isis and Osiris that he was seated on a throne
Evangelic Preparation 3.11). Several later theologists con-
and a snake stood on his hand and Cerberus by his feet. Over
tended that Osiris was the element of water, as Plutarch re-
his head was the kalathos or modius, the measure of corn, to
corded in On Isis and Osiris. The papyrus Jumilhac informs
symbolize his attitude to produce fertility.
us that people believed Osiris’s sweat produced the Nile’s
flood and thus enabled the cultivation of cereals (Vandier,
Sarapis’s temple, the Serapeum, was built by Ptolemy
1962).
III (d. 221 CE) and became the most famous one in Alexan-
dria and one of the most important in the ancient world. Its
The famous interpretation by James Frazer, Adonis,
destruction in 491 CE produced a pagan outburst. The Ptole-
Attis, Osiris (1962), recognized in Osiris the spirit of the
mies attached a large library to the temple. The meter to
corn, and Osiris’s mythology should be an interpretation of
measure the Nile’s level (Nilometer) was kept by the
corn’s annual cycle. The connection with agriculture is evi-
Serapeum, and Aelius Aristides (129–c.189 CE) celebrated
dent, but Osiris’s actions covered a larger field in the social
Sarapis as the one who “drives up the Nile in summertime,
structure. An often adopted definition of Osiris is “suffering
and calls him back in winter” (Oration on Sarapis 32).
god” (or “dying and rising god”). The ancient (Diodorus’s
book 1) and modern (Sethe, 1930, pp. 94–95) euhemeristic
The nature of Sarapis was that of an international god,
explanations of Osiris as a deified ancient man are not suit-
and many Serapea were consecrated in the Hellenistic and
able. The personality of this god goes back to the features of
Roman worlds with a major shift in the second century CE.
Neolithic religion, in which cults of the dead were strictly
The first phase (third to first centuries BCE) of his cult was
related to the agrarian rituals. A central feature of Osiris was
marked by an evident Hellenization. During the first century
his kingship over the dead, and this fact reproduced the
BCE the Roman phase began, marked by a stronger Egyptian
structure of Egyptian society as a great monarchy (Griffiths,
style. Because he was also the protector of the Ptolemaic
1980). The dilemma of the dying god has worried many
dynasty, the spread of Sarapis’s cult advanced in accord with
scholars, although Erik Hornung (1990) has stressed that
the foreign policy of the Alexandrian royal house. Sarapis was
death was the destiny of many Egyptian gods, whose beings
a supreme god, whose cosmological place was over the top
were ever marked by cyclic death and life, as was the sun. A
of the universe, which was conceived as a sphere. Many Jews
Greek god never looks older and never dies, whereas the eter-
and Christians venerated him as the image of their god (Bab-
nity of Osiris consisted in a mysterious cycle of life and
ylonian Talmud, Avodah Zarah; Historia Augusta, Life of Sa-
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

6922
OSIRIS
turninus 8). The Greek translation of the Bible was kept in
Burkhard, Günter. Spätzeitliche Osiris-Liturgien im Corpus der As-
his temple (Iohannes Chrysostomus, Patrologia Graeca 48,
asif-Papyri. Wiesbaden, Germany, 1995.
851), and he was often identified with the biblical Joseph
Cauville, Sylvie. La théologie d’Osiris à Edfou. Le Caire, Egypt,
(Gn 41:34–57) because this Jewish hero supplied the Egyp-
1983.
tians with corn during the seven years of famine (Mussies,
Cauville, Sylvie. Le temple de Dendara: Les chapelles osiriennes. Le
1979). Sarapis often delivered oracles or performed miracles
Caire, Egypt, 1997.
during dreams. The Roman Empire conceived of Sarapis as
Derchain, Philippe. Le Papyrus Salt 825 (B.M. 10051): Rituel pour
a solar god, the one god to whom the other divine entities
la conservátion de la vie en Égypte. Brussels, 1965.
owed their power (e.g., Iulian, Hymn to Helios 10; Macrobius
Faulkner, Robert O. The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts. Oxford,
1.20.13). According to Erik Peterson (1926), he was often
U.K., 1969.
acclaimed, together with Zeus, as the only god.
Frazer, James G. Adonis, Attis, Osiris. 3d ed. The Golden Bough,
pt. 4. London, 1962.
Plutarch wrote that the cult of Osiris survived in the
Griffiths, John Gwyn. The Origins of Osiris and His Cult. Rev. and
mysteries, and one can add that it was important in the doc-
enl. ed. Studies in the History of Religions, vol. 40. Leiden,
trines and rituals of magic and that Sarapis was never substi-
Netherlands, 1980.
tuted for him among Egyptian natives. The late mysteries of
Helck, Wolfgang. “Osiris.” In Paulys realencyclopädie der klassisc-
the Hellenistic and Roman worlds are scarcely known be-
hen, Supp. 9 (1962): 469–513.
cause of their secrecy. They were practiced in the temples of
Horbostel, Wilhelm. Sarapis. Études préliminaires aux religions
Sarapis and Isis. The most important text describing the cer-
orientales dans l’empire romain (EPRO) 32. Leiden, Nether-
emonies outside the temples is the eleventh book of Apule-
lands, 1973.
ius’s (c. 124–after 170 CE) Metamorphses. The procession of
Hornung, Erik. Der Eine und die Vielen: Ägyptische Gottesvorstel-
the initiates carried an Osirian image in the form of a pre-
lungen. 4th ed. Darmstadt, Germany, 1990.
cious vessel an image of Osiris Hydreios that often had Osi-
Kàkosi, Lazlo. “Osiris-Aion.” Oriens Antiquus 3 (1964): 15–25.
ris’s head on top (the “Canopic Osiris”) and held the sacred
Kees, Hermann. Der Götterglaube im alten Aegypten. Leipzig, Ger-
water of the Nile during the ceremonies. The bald-headed
many, 1941.
priests clad in linen held secret objects, wands and ivy used
Merkelbach, Reinhold. Isis regina, Zeus Sarapis: Die griechisch-
also in the Dionysiac cult, and in the temples water basins
ägyptische Religion nach den Quellen dargestellt. Stuttgart and
were regulated in the proper time to imitate the Nile flood.
Leipzig, Germany, 1995.
According to Julius Firmicus Maternus (fourth century CE)
Mussies, Gerard. “The Interpretation Judaica of Sarapis.” In
in On the Error of Profane Religions, the crucial rituals of the
Studies in Hellenistic Religions, edited by Maarten
Isiac mysteries were the burial of Osiris, the mourning, the
J.Vermaseren, pp.189–214. Leiden, Netherlands, 1979.
search for and discovery of his corpse, followed by the joy
Otto, Eberhard. Osiris und Amun: Kult und heilige Stätten. Mu-
of the congregation.
nich, 1966. Translated by Kate Bosse Griffiths as Ancient
Egyptian gem cutters produced series of hematite amu-
Egyptian Art: The Cults of Osiris and Amon (New York,
1967).
lets that supposedly gave health to the womb. On them Osi-
ris was represented alongside other fertility gods,such as Isis,
Peterson, Erik. Heis Theos. Göttingen, Germany, 1926.
Chnumis, Bes, the child Horus, and the mummiform Anu-
Plutarch. On Isis and Osiris. Translated and edited by John Gwyn
bis, all standing on a schematic womb. These gods favored
Griffiths. Cardiff, Wales, 1970.
pregnancy and birth. In the magic practices several magicians
Raven, Maarten J. “Corn-Mummies.” Oudheidkundige mededelin-
gen uit het rijksmuseum van oudheden te Leiden (OMRO) 63
acted as if they were Seth, threatened Osiris, and forced him
(1982): 7–38.
to do what they wanted (e.g., Papyri Graecae Magicae 4,179–
Sethe, Kurt. Urgeschichte und älteste Religion der Ägypter. Leipzig,
189; 12,121–143).
Germany, 1930.
SEE ALSO Iconography, article on Egyptian Iconography;
Stambaugh, John E. Sarapis under the Early Ptolemies. Leiden,
Kingship, article on Kingship in the Ancient Mediterranean
Netherlands, 1972.
World; Mystery Religions.
Tran, Vincent Tam Tinh. Sérapis debout. Études préliminaires aux
religions orientales dans l’empire romain (EPRO) 84. Lei-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
den, Netherlands, 1983.
Apuleius. The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI). Translated and
Vandier, Jacques. Le papyrus Jumilhac. Paris, 1962.
edited by John Gwyn Griffiths. Leiden, Netherlands, 1975.
Vidman, Ladislav. Sylloge inscriptionum religionis Isiacae et
Assmann, Jan. Tod und Jenseits im Alten Ägypten. Munich, 2001.
Sarapiacae. Berlin, 1969.
Beinlich, Horst. Die “Osirisreliquien”: Zum Motiv der Körperzer-
Vidman, Ladislav. Isis und Sarapis bei den Griechen und Römern.
gliederung in der altägyptischen Religion. Wiesbaden, Germa-
Berlin, 1970.
ny, 1984.
Wild, Robert A. Water in the Cultic Worship of Isis and Sarapis.
Bergman, Jan. Isis-Seele und Osiris-Ei. Uppsala, Sweden, 1970.
Études préliminaires aux religions orientales dans l’empire
Burkert, Walter. “Mysterien der Ägypter in griechischer Sicht.” In
romain (EPRO) 87. Leiden, Netherlands, 1981.
Ägyptische Mysterien? edited by Jan Assmann and Martin
LEONARD H. LESKO (1987)
Bommas, pp. 9–26. Munich, 2002.
ATTILIO MASTROCINQUE (2005)
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OTHERWORLD
6923
OSTIAK RELIGION SEE FINNO-UGRIC
and renders it unclean. The Navajo practice of abandoning
RELIGIONS; KHANTY AND MANSI RELIGION;
the dwelling in which a death occurs shows the fear with
SOUTHERN SIBERIAN RELIGIONS
which many view the denizens of the otherworld. Further-
more, the modern fear of haunted places and the interest in
ghosts found in nearly all cultures lingers in many of us.
In still another stratum of belief, these unhappy shades
OSTRACISM SEE EXPULSION
are collected together in one place, usually an underworld,
to which they pass directly down from the grave. It is a dull,
colorless place of half-existence. The Babylonians viewed the
OTHERWORLD.
place of the dead very much as the Hebrews viewed She’ol,
The belief that human beings are in
a place of diminished existence where there is no contact
touch with several dimensions of reality is nearly universal.
with Yahveh. The Homeric Hymns portray the same kind
Indeed, for many cultural groups and most religious ones,
of place. For Dante, this place is described as limbo, where
the nonphysical world is far more real and important than
the righteous pagans must remain.
the material one. In most cultures it is believed that those
who have died move into another dimension of reality and
Edgar Herzog’s excellent study Psyche and Death (New
that the living can experience the presence of the deceased
York, 1967) traces the psychological development of the un-
as well as other aspects of the nonphysical realm. Sometimes
derstanding of afterlife from fear of the dead to a more happy
this belief is clearly articulated; sometimes it can best be ob-
view of the deceased and the otherworld. The life of the de-
served by witnessing the rituals that people perform. Often,
ceased from this view point is seen as being much the same
what people believe is better evaluated by what they do than
as a full life in this world. The otherworld contains the best
by what they say they believe.
of human pleasures and joys. There is also a belief that the
next world will be much better than this one, with greener
The available material on the nature and quality of the
grass, more beautiful flowers, and a more positive relation
otherworld has grown to voluminous proportions as anthro-
with the divine reality. Raymond Moody’s Life after Life (At-
pological studies have added to the data over the last hundred
lanta, 1975) and Karlis Osis’s At the Hour of Death (New
years. There are only a limited number of disparate points
York, 1977) describe dying and near-death experiences, re-
of view concerning its essential nature, yet there is an amaz-
port contacts with deceased, and give a largely optimistic pic-
ing wealth of difference in specific details. Nearly every large
ture of the otherworld. This view is found throughout the
cultural or religious group, from archaic times to the present,
world—among some Bantu-speaking peoples and many
has one or another of these points of view concerning the
Polynesian tribes, as well as among some American Indians;
otherworld. The attitude of the religious expert differs from
it is represented in modern times by nonreligious research
that of the well-informed member of the group, and the lat-
into the otherworld.
ter in turn differs from the basically unconscious attitudes
of the large majority of participants in a belief system. Some
The most common view of the otherworld gives a pic-
of the greatest works of literature describe this otherworld in
ture of several different realms: a highly desirable heaven or
detail, among them the Epic of Gilgamesh of Babylon, the
heavens, many varieties of fearful and horrible states, and in-
Bhagavadg¯ıta¯ of India, the Tibetan Book of the Great Libera-
termediate states through which one passes to arrive at the
tion, several of Plato’s dialogues, Vergil’s Aeneid, Dante’s
final destination. The quality of the dying person determines
Commedia, and Goethe’s Faust. On the other hand, B. F.
the realm of the otherworld into which he or she will pass.
Skinner’s popular Walden Two (New York, 1948) presents
In some cultures the status of the deceased determines the
a view of a world with no otherworld as counterpart.
outcome: a warrior killed in battle, a king, or a chief has easy
access to the realm of bliss. In later Greek religion some of
In order to cover this enormous wealth of material, I
the heroes were able to escape Hades and enter the realm of
shall deal first of all with seven quite different understandings
the gods, a blissful otherworld. This view implies a soul that
of the otherworld. Communion with this dimension of reali-
is immortal or at least long-lasting; the body is seen as only
ty on the part of specific groups will then be examined. Non-
the temporary carrier of the soul. Mircea Eliade has demon-
religious studies and evidence for the reality of this domain
strated in his monumental study of archaic techniques of ec-
will be surveyed, along with a brief discussion of the world-
stasy, Shamanism (Princeton, 1964), that this view of a per-
views underlying these different conceptions.
manent core of humanness and a realm into which it can pass
VARIETIES OF BELIEF. In many cultures the otherworld is
is found all over the globe and reaches back into prehistoric
viewed as a shadowy state, gray and dull. In some groups the
times. The shaman can leave the body through ecstasy and
soul, or shade, of the person is believed to continue to live
trance and enter the otherworld. The shaman can, therefore,
near the site of the burial. Ancient Roman and popular Chi-
become the guide of the dying, who must make a perilous
nese beliefs and rituals suggest that the ghost of the person
journey into the otherworld. The dying can also step into
is envious of living human beings and needs to be placated
this other dimension to bring back souls lost there and so
with offerings of food and other gifts. Some groups believe
bring healing to those whose sickness has been caused by a
that the departed spirit of a person lingers near the corpse
disturbed relation with the otherworld.
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OTHERWORLD
One enters this otherworld by way of a journey, passing
tached from concern with outer physical illusion. At the end
through difficulties and tests, often crossing a bridge that is
of the great Hindu epic called the Ra¯ma¯yan:a, the hero leaves
razor-sharp. In Hinduism, Islam, some forms of Buddhism,
his beloved wife so that he can come to the detachment nec-
ancient Iranian religion, and Christianity, this journey and
essary for spiritual advancement in the otherworld.
the places visited are described using earthly symbols, but the
The Buddhist conception of nirva¯n:a is unique and im-
otherworld is perceived as another dimension of reality. Less
portant; it presents a conception diametrically opposed to
reflective thinkers in these traditions retain a geocentric point
the richly sensuous picture of heaven presented by Hinduism
of view, picturing heaven as above and hell as below the
and most other world religions. Nirva¯n:a is described mainly
earth. Others believe that the entrance into the otherworld
in negatives. If, indeed, the physical world is illusion, so is
is put off until the end of time, when the dead will rise and
the human ego, which clearly differentiates the contents of
take their places in a reconstituted heavenly earth or in the
that world. According to Zen and many other schools of
abyss or will even be annihilated.
Buddhism, the distinction between subject and object disap-
Coming to the place of bliss and avoiding the state of
pears in the enlightened person. The individual becomes one
torment can be accomplished in numerous ways. A skilled
with reality and merges into it. It is therefore impossible to
shaman may help to effect the passage. In Islam, knowing
give any significant descriptions of this ultimate state.
the right formula for acknowledging God may be more sig-
nificant than the quality of moral or religious practice. In
Many statements about nirva¯n:a sound as if the individ-
Christianity, having the last rites properly performed and
ual was annihilated, whereas others describe nirva¯n:a as a state
confessing one’s sins before death are important factors. The
of ecstatic bliss. Illumination is a taste of nirva¯n:a for the liv-
ultimate nature of the otherworld and the powers within it
ing. Images can be another form of illusion. Thus, the path
determine one’s place there.
toward enlightenment leads through imageless (apophatic)
prayer to an imageless fulfillment that cannot be described
In both Hinduism and Buddhism, there is another im-
except in saying what the earthly condition is not.
portant aspect of belief in the otherworld. The nonphysical,
spiritual dimension is the only reality; religious illumination
The major world religions (with the exception of Bud-
consists in coming to realize this truth and then, on the basis
dhism) perceive inner and outer images as revealing reality
of this realization, becoming detached from the illusion
rather than hiding it. Various schools in each tradition de-
(ma¯ya¯) of this physical world, which keeps one from fulfill-
scribe heaven as a place of transformation, where people are
ment in the real world. This is achieved by spiritual and
gradually or suddenly changed into the quality and likeness
moral discipline, well exemplified in the life of Gandhi.
of the god image, becoming more and more like Alla¯h,
Much the same point of view is found in Gnosticism, in
Kr:s:n:a, Yahveh, or Christ. In some versions this process goes
which the physical world is not only unreal but evil. It is irre-
on into eternity; while in certain forms of Hinduism, after
deemable and can only be escaped by a process of knowledge
a very long time the universe returns to its divided condition,
(gno¯sis) and asceticism. By the same process one enters pro-
and the whole cycle repeats itself. Heaven and hell are under-
gressively higher levels of an eternal spiritual dimension.
stood by some religious thinkers as a process and by others
as a static condition. Important thinkers in most traditions
Belief in reincarnation or the transmigration of souls is
emphasize the inadequacy of all human descriptions of the
found associated with both these points of view. Those who
otherworld.
do not escape from the bondage of evil or the illusory materi-
al world are reborn again and again into this world. They are
The last major view about the otherworld is simply that
reborn according to their karman, a moral and spiritual ac-
there is none. This very important conception has dominat-
counting of one’s life. Karman automatically determines the
ed the Western world for several centuries and has deeply in-
fate of the individual in the next reincarnation; rebirth can
fluenced Christianity. The same point of view has been held
bring one into a higher or lower human state or even into
by the realistic philosophical schools in China described by
an animal existence. The goal of this process is to be released
Arthur Waley in Three Ways of Thought in Ancient China
from this agonizing, continuing reimmersion in the illusory
(New York, 1939). However, it is only in the cultures of
material world, thus passing into heaven as a godlike being
Western Europe and those that derived from them that this
or entering nirva¯n:a. This view has filtered down into popular
worldview has been fully developed and has achieved wide
thought in many Eastern cultures, and, as difficult as it is for
acceptance. A few archaic cultures, including the people of
Westerners to believe, for many of these people the other-
Kiwai on the Fly River in New Guinea, the Fuegians, and
world is more real and important than this one.
some Bantu-speaking peoples, have little or no conception
of any other world than this physical one.
Heaven is pictured in a welter of vivid images in the lit-
erature and in the art and sculpture characteristic of Hindu-
The Western attitude is important because it is based
ism and Buddhism. Hindu and Buddhist temples portray the
on the philosophical premise that the only reality is physical
real world of the gods throughout East Asia. This exciting,
or material. The only means of coming into contact with re-
richly colored world is worth the moral and spiritual disci-
ality is through the five senses, which can be clearly differen-
pline required to become emotionally uninvolved and de-
tiated, as described by Descartes in his Discourse on the Meth-
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OTHERWORLD
6925
od of Rightly Conducting the Reason (1637). The major thrust
bidding (1 Sm. 28:6ff.). Once belief in an otherworld eroded
of Western thought has been in this direction and is well ex-
in Christian cultures influenced by materialism, there was a
emplified in the writings of A. J. Ayer, B. F. Skinner, and
spontaneous, popular resurgence of the practice of spiritual-
Konrad Lorenz. Marxism denies the value of any world ex-
ism, which brings the seeker into contact with the deceased
cept the one created on this earth through revolution by the
through mediums and their controls.
proleteriat. From this frame of reference, any concept of an
The belief in ongoing contact with the spirits of the de-
otherworld is considered illusory, primitive (in the sense of
ceased is widespread in this and most countries. Sometimes
infantile), premodern, and even dangerous. It is for this rea-
these visitations are frightening, and at other times helpful
son that the subject of otherworld is so largely ignored in
or even numinous. J. B. Phillips, the British New Testament
modern Western culture and the modern evidence for the
scholar, reports in The Ring of Truth (New York, 1967) that
continued existence of the deceased is passed over and re-
C. S. Lewis appeared to him and helped him translate a diffi-
jected.
cult passage of the Bible. The Christian doctrine of the com-
If the materialistic worldview is accepted uncritically, it
munion of saints maintains that communion between the
is quite natural to view all the data on the otherworld as of
living and the dead is possible to those who are deeply rooted
archaeological interest only. However, starting in about
within the Christian fellowship. The same idea is found in
1900, developments in scientific thought led to the question-
Islam and Hinduism. These experiences of meeting the de-
ing of rational materialism as a viable hypothesis. The mate-
ceased, inhabitants of the otherworld, can occur either spon-
rialist point of view is not able to account for the available
taneously, through religious rituals (particularly highly devel-
data on many subjects and the evidence for otherworld in
oped in China), through the trance condition, or through
particular. In Encounter with God (Minneapolis, 1972) and
dreams and visions.
Afterlife (New York, 1979), I have presented the develop-
MODERN EVIDENCE. With the publication of Moody’s Life
ment of this thought in detail.
after Life in 1975, a new surge of interest arose concerning
COMMUNION WITH THE DEAD. The basic worldview of a
reported experiences of an otherworld and of those who ex-
person or culture will largely determine the way the other-
isted in it. Moody’s study is a careful one; this well-trained
world is viewed. From the point of view of Eastern religion
philosopher and psychiatrist is cautious not to claim more
and philosophy, the physical world is illusory and the other-
than his evidence warrants. His work was followed by that
world real, and heaven or nirva¯n:a is the goal to be sought.
of Karlis Osis and Elendur Haraldsson’s At the Hour of Death
According to Platonism (the philosophical base for early
(New York, 1977), Michael Sabom’s Recollections of Death
Christianity) and the modern view of C. G. Jung, human be-
(New York, 1981), and Kenneth Ring’s Life at Death (New
ings participate both in a material universe and in a nonma-
York, 1980). This data has been collected by medical doctors
terial one. Thus, both the otherworld and this world are im-
and trained psychologists; Ring’s work is a careful statistical
portant aspects of total reality. Human wholeness depends
study of the data.
on dealing adequately with each domain. Both moral actions
Many different kinds of evidence can be studied once
(as in, for instance, learning to love) and specifically religious
one is no longer bound by a materialistic worldview. Some
practices are essential to human wholeness.
people appear to die clinically and return to life, to report
In both of these points of view, the human person is
a series of experiences in which they go through a process of
more than just a physical organism operating mechanically
detachment from the body, experience an otherworld, some-
or through conditioning. The psyche (or soul) is a complex
times meet deceased friends, relate to a being of light, and
nonphysical reality sharing the reality of a multifaceted non-
arrive at a boundary that they cannot cross if they are to re-
physical otherworld. The psyche can be viewed as preexistent
turn to life.
(which leads to the idea of reincarnation) or as created at
People who are at the point of death and who then die
conception or birth. In both Islamic and Christian thinking,
are occasionally observed to be participating in both this
the soul is viewed as having vegetative, appetitive, intellectu-
world and the other one simultaneously, and give reports
al, and spiritual aspects. In the views of some thinkers, only
similar to those who have had near-death experiences. Nu-
the spiritual or intellectual aspects survive in the otherworld.
merous reports have been studied of encounters with people
The Christian doctrine of the resurrection of the body main-
from the other side. Supporting the possibility of these re-
tains that most aspects of the personal nonphysical being are
ports is the development of parapsychology, which suggests
preserved and transformed.
that we have faculties other than the five senses for obtaining
In most cultures (not influenced by materialism), con-
information. In Doors of Perception (New York, 1970), Al-
tact with the deceased is a part of religious practice. Eliade
dous Huxley suggests a theory of perception based on the
shows that one of the principal functions of living shamans
thinking of Bergson, which states that we are in touch with
is to pass over into the otherworld, return, and then help
many dimensions of reality but that the five senses block our
other people deal with both dimensions. Some shamans have
contact with these dimensions, tying us to the physical
mediumistic abilities and can bring back the dead, as the me-
world. Franz Riklin, a follower of C. G. Jung has stated that
dium of Endor brought forth the ghost of Samuel at Saul’s
the dreams of the dying usually treat the physical death of
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6926
OTOMÍ RELIGION
the individual as of little significance. Within the framework
shaman and the technique of ecstasy by which the other-
of Einstein’s theory of relativity, physical death loses its final-
world is mediated. Provides a cross-cultural worldview with
ity, because time appears to be relative and not absolute.
a place for an otherworld.
Some who practice meditation maintain that they are in con-
Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics. 13 vols. Edited by James Has-
tact with an otherworld and experience much of what has
tings. Edinburgh, 1908–1926. Contains a wealth of detailed
been described here. Poetic imagination also seems to give
accounts of the otherworld in “State of the Dead” and many
access to some other dimension.
associated articles. Must be consulted with care because of its
moralistic, Christian, and materialistic bias.
CHRISTIANITY AND THE AFTERLIFE. Little of the foregoing
data has been discovered by those primarily interested in
Herzog, Edgar. Psyche and Death. Translated by David Cox and
Christianity. Indeed, some of this evidence has been resisted
Eugene Rolfe. New York, 1967. An excellent anthropologi-
by certain theologians who state that belief in the otherworld
cal and psychological study of human concepts of death and
the otherworld.
is based on faith and acceptance of dogma, rather than on
experience. Some academic Christian thinkers maintain that
Jung, C. G. Psychology and Religion: West and East. Translated by
profession of Christianity need not entail the belief in an af-
R. F. C. Hull. New York, 1958. Provides a philosophical and
terlife or otherworld. Within the wide range of Christian be-
psychological framework for understanding religious texts on
the otherworld. Offers excellent commentary on the Tibetan
lief and practice, one can find nearly all of the attitudes to-
Book of the Dead and the Book of the Great Liberation.
ward the otherworld that have been described above.
Kelsey, Morton. Afterlife: The Other Side of Dying. New York,
There is, first of all, an academic skepticism that either
1979. The only modern Christian study providing a world-
denies or ignores this aspect of reality. For some scholars,
view for the otherworld and nonreligious evidence for con-
what is continuously ignored is usually of little value or con-
tinued existence. Presents a picture of the otherworld for a
cern. At the other extreme is the archaic belief in the dull,
critical modern reader. Contains an extensive bibliography.
shadowy existence of the deceased and their ghostly presence
McGinn, Bernard. Visions of the End. New York, 1979.
at the place of death or burial. Many Christians have a view
Parabola (New York), vol. 2, no. 1 (1977). The entire issue deals
of the otherworld as a place only of bliss, which is unrelated
with the subject of death and otherworld. A comprehensive
to one’s actions or beliefs. Others accept the traditional di-
cross-cultural, up-to-date overview.
chotomy between heaven and hell, while yet others believe
Ring, Kenneth. Life at Death. New York, 1980. A comprehensive
in purgatory as a transitional state between the two. For
examination of the near-death experience with a careful sta-
some, the afterlife begins at the millennium, on a rejuvenated
tistical study.
and transformed earth; others still imagine a heaven some-
where in the sky (although this image has become difficult
Turner, Alice K. The History of Hell. New York, 1993.
to maintain, because of modern space travel). Others regard
Zaleski, Carol. Otherworld Journeys: Accounts of Near-Death Expe-
these different aspects of the otherworld as other dimensions
rience in Medieval and Modern Times. New York, 1987.
of reality, seeing sensory images of it as purely symbolic. Still
MORTON KELSEY (1987)
other Christians believe in reincarnation and all that it en-
tails. Some see the otherworld as a place of continued growth
and development in the presence of divine mind or divine
love. This variety of beliefs is found in the other major world
OTOMÍ RELIGION. The Otomí Indians of central
religions as well as Christianity.
Mexico, who speak a language of the Oto-Manguean phy-
lum, number approximately 250,000. They occupy a vast
There is almost total consensus among the religions and
territory located between 19° and 21° north latitude and 98°
cultures of humankind that human beings are not totally ex-
and 100° west longitude. This area, characterized by stark
tinguished at death and that there is continuing experience
geographical contrasts, stretches from the steep mountain
in an otherworld. Human beings are also given occasional
masses of the Sierra Gorda to the semiarid Mezquital pla-
experiences of this dimension and those continuing to exist
teaus, and from the Toluca Valley to the rolling hills of the
in it. These varied views of the nature of an otherworld can
Huastecan piedmont. In addition to the different sociocul-
be traced historically and cross-culturally; perhaps they may
tural patterns that have emerged from this mosaic of environ-
ultimately constitute different aspects of a reality too large
ments, the blending of Indian culture with folk Catholicism
for any one description.
from the colonial period to the present day has yielded a syn-
cretic religion that is dominated by Christianity but includes
SEE ALSO Afterlife; Heaven and Hell; Nirva¯n:a; Supernatu-
ral, The; Underworld.
specific forms of dualism that set the Otomí symbolic uni-
verse apart from its colonial influences.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
There is little information on the origins of the Otomí,
Culianu, I. P. Out of this World: Otherworldly Journeys from Gil-
and their role in shaping the great Mesoamerican systems of
gamesh to Albert Einstein. Boston, 1991.
thought remains unexplored. Subjects of the Aztec Empire
Eliade, Mircea. Shamanism. Rev. & enl. ed. New York, 1964. The
from the fifteenth century to the conquest, the Otomí came
authoritative, although not universally accepted, study of the
under its sway everywhere except in the outlying eastern re-
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OTOMÍ RELIGION
6927
gions (Tutotepec, Huayacoctla). Since then, Otomí religious
Otomí ritual is, in essence, a manifestation of a process
activities have been constrained to a clandestinity favored by
of fusion between polarities of which the sexual distinction
the dispersal of their settlements. They have come to center
is the prototype. This is seen in rituals from fertility rites (cos-
primarily on local patrilineal cults (agrarian fertility rites and
tumbres) to the Feast of the Dead, which is both a mourning
ancestor worship), while their ceremonial and liturgical cal-
of ancestors and a celebration of the life force contained in
endar continues to reflect patterns of thought similar to those
their bones. The interdependence of life and death is revealed
of the Aztecs on the eve of conquest.
most completely in Carnival. During this time the major
gods are represented by an ancestral couple, such as Old Fa-
Throughout the colonial period and down to the pres-
ther (Sˇihta) and Old Mother (Po⁄mbe), whose function is to
ent, their particularly fluid social organization, built on a net-
reenact the primordial creation. From their broken bodies
work of patrilineagical shrines, has allowed the Otomí to re-
they kindle life and youth in a supernatural society governed
sist evangelization. Yet, devotions to Roman Catholic saints
by devils, demons of vegetation, and lascivious women. Para-
coexist with native rituals and sometimes, as in the Sierra
doxically, in Mezquital, where the erosion of indigenous tra-
Madre, serve to camouflage them. The focal points of this
dition has been most complete, Carnival remains, despite its
dual religious life are the home, the shrines, and the sacred
European origins, one of the last areas of resistance to cultur-
mountain, on the one hand, and chapels and village church-
al hybridization. Indigenous elements are also plainly evident
es, on the other. These different ritual spaces are arranged
in a number of rituals in the Catholic liturgical cycle, such
in a hierarchy that parallels a cosmic vision of different
as the Feast of the Finding of the Cross (Sierra Gorda) and
“skins” (si), or sacred places (from the uterine cavity to the
the Feast of the Three Magi (Rio Laja Valley).
celestial vault), symbolically enclosed within each other.
The richest complex of rituals is found on the eastern
At each level of the cosmic hierarchy there are corre-
periphery of the Otomí region, in the foothills of the Sierra
spondences based on fundamental male-female polarity.
Madre. A distinctive feature of the religious life here is the
Thus, at the uppermost level of space, the sun and the moon
use of hammered bark figurines that are fashioned and given
form a complementary and antagonistic pair. The moon
their power by shamans. These figurines, rare evidence of
(Zâna), however, presents a complex and disquieting image
pre-Hispanic iconography, are a precious source for inter-
to the Otomí. While in her syncretistic form Zâna is femi-
preting the indigenous cosmological system. They are part
nine and is associated with the Virgin of Guadalupe, in the
of the essential paraphernalia of the healing and fertility ritu-
indigenous cosmological system the moon displays a com-
als organized by shamans. As adepts possessed of specialized
plex of complementary characteristics, including dual gen-
knowledge, shamans manipulate unseen forces and are thus
der: It represents feminine characteristics (childbirth, sensu-
able to cure (by restoring the body’s equilibrium) and to af-
ality, weaving, computing of time, death) as well as
flict (by casting spells at a distance).
masculine ones (erection, mastery of women and their fertili-
The cargo system—that is, the system of ritually based
ty). While the moon is the antagonistic counterpart to the
obligations to participate in the functioning of the commu-
masculine sun, it also embodies within itself the complemen-
nity’s civil and religious life—varies significantly from one
tary forces. Further, as the heavenly counterpart to the earth
community to another. This system is a primary cohesive
goddess Hmûhoi, Zâna helps govern both creation and de-
force binding villages (pueblos) and their dependent periph-
struction.
eries (hamlets). Such cohesion is also promoted by regional
The conception of a nighttime creation continues to
pilgrimages to sacred mountains or Catholic sanctuaries (San
power the Otomí imagination. One of the oldest Me-
Agustín Mezquititlán, Chalma, Tepeaca in Mexico City).
soamerican deities, the Otomí fire god known in the Aztec
Through their many variants, Otomí rituals reveal cer-
pantheon as Otontecuhtli (“the Otomí lord”) is believed to
tain obscure aspects of Otomí cosmology that are hardly
govern, as he did in times past, the order of things. He is
brought to light by the myths themselves. Though known
Sˇihta Sipi (“the ancestor who devours excrement”), the puri-
in a version little changed since pre-Hispanic times, the story
fying principle whose presence marks the emergence of cul-
of the creation of the sun and moon, the foundation of the
ture (associated with cooked food). He is also the preeminent
dualistic order of the universe, is not often told anymore, ex-
lord of nocturnal spaces and grottoes, the realm of an imagi-
cept in villages deeply rooted in the Indian tradition. Yet the
nary world that mirrors in miniature the world of humans.
symbolic structure of this text remains, dimly outlined, in a
number of tales that pit Christ against the Devil. Similarly,
To understand the logic of the oppositions that inform
the theme of the Flood, in its variations, reveals how Me-
Otomí cosmology, it is helpful to understand the model on
soamerican symbols combine with biblical ones according to
which they are based: the human body. As a receptacle for
the importance each community gives to the two traditions.
the field of forces animating the universe, the body reveals
the difference between a diurnal, masculine, “warm” world
In Otomí mythology today, the Devil appears as a pre-
and a feminine, nocturnal, “cold” one and the process by
dominant figure everywhere. Through a process of adjust-
which energy flows between the two (in the transfer of “ener-
ment and reinterpretation, the medieval European figure of
gy” from the man’s body to the woman’s).
Satan has merged with indigenous representations of evil,
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6928
OTTO, RUDOLF
fertility, and impurity. The Devil now sits enthroned at the
LIFE. Born on September 25, 1869, in Peine in the region
apex of the pantheon, holding sway over a band of nocturnal
of Hanover, Germany, Otto spent his childhood in Peine
deities and merging with the enigmatic lunar figure of Zâna.
and Hildesheim, where his father owned malt factories. After
graduating from the Gymnasium Adreanum in Hildesheim,
BIBLIOGRAPHY
he studied first at the University of Erlangen, a conservative
Carrasco, Pedro. Los Otomies: Cultura e historia prehispánicas de
neo-Lutheran institution, then at the University of Götting-
los pueblos mesoamericanos de habla otomiana. Mexico City,
en, where liberal theology and the historical-critical study of
1950. A comprehensive account of the ethnohistorical
the Bible prevailed. He initially prepared for a ministerial ca-
sources available on the subject.
reer, but conservatives in the German church administration
Dow, James. Santos y supervivencias: Funciones de la religion en una
comunidad otomi. Mexico City, 1974. A very detailed analy-
found him unsuitable. Instead of taking a German congrega-
sis of the religious obligation system in Santa Monica, a Sier-
tion in Paris, he opted for an academic career, where his pros-
ra Madre village.
pects were only somewhat brighter. He became a Privatdo-
Galinier, Jacques. N Dyuhu: Les indiens Otomis. Mexico City, 1979.
zent at Göttingen in 1898 and something like a visiting
An ethnographical study of the eastern Otomí area.
associate professor there in 1906, but official opposition to
Manrique, Leonardo. “The Otomí.” In Handbook of Middle
his liberal views and popularizing activities plagued him for
American Indians. Austin, Tex., 1969. A brief synthesis of the
years.
main cultural features of the Otomí-Pame groups.
In 1904 Otto adopted the philosophy of Jakob Frie-
Soustelle, Jacques. La famille Otomi-Pame. Paris, 1937. The first
study concerning the geographical distribution and linguistic
drich Fries, helping to establish a neo-Friesian movement
characteristics of the Otomí, Mazahua, Atzinca, Pame, and
along with two Göttingen colleagues, the philosopher Leon-
Chichimeca languages, containing also valuable ethnograph-
ard Nelson, who introduced him to Fries’s thought, and the
ical data.
New Testament scholar Wilhelm Bousset, whom he recruit-
New Sources
ed to the cause. In the same year, however, Otto fell into a
Dow, James. “Symbols, Soul and Magical Healing among the
deep depression and considered abandoning theology alto-
Otomí Indians.” Journal of Latin American Lore 10, no. 1
gether. When his health finally recovered in 1907, Otto re-
(1984): 3–21.
turned to teaching and writing, to ecclesiastical and liturgical
Dow, James. Shaman’s Touch: Otomí Indian Symbolic Healing.
activities with a group known as “The Friends of Die Chr-
Salt Lake City, 1986.
istliche Welt” (Die Christliche Welt was a semipopular maga-
Galinier, Jacques. Moitié du monde: le corps et le cosmos dans le rit-
zine for liberal theology), and to political activities, at that
uel des Indiens Otomi. Paris, 1997.
time in conjunction with a student-oriented group known
Pérez Lugo, Luis. Visión del mundo otomi en correlato con la maya
as the Akademischer Freibund, the Göttingen chapter of
en torno al agro y al maiz. Toluca, Mexico, 2002.
which he, along with Nelson and Bousset, led. His most im-
Sandstrom, Alan R. Traditional Curing and Crop Fertility Rituals
portant publication from the period was Kantisch-Fries’sche
among Otomí Indians of the Sierra de Puebla, Mexico. Bloom-
Religionsphilosophie und ihre Anwendung auf die Theologie
ington, Ind., 1981.
(The Philosophy of Religion Based on Kant and Fries,
JACQUES GALINIER (1987)
1909).
Translated from French by Robert Paolucci
Revised Bibliography
In 1911 to 1912 Otto undertook a “world tour”—
actually a journey from the Canary Islands to China and
Japan—financed through the German government by the
OTTO, RUDOLF. Rudolf Otto (1869–1937) was a
cosmopolitan French banker, Albert Kahn, for the purpose
German systematic theologian who contributed especially to
of preparing an introduction to the history of religions (never
the philosophy and history of religion. As a liberal theologian
written). During a visit to a Moroccan synagogue on this trip
or, more accurately, a Vermittlungstheologe (theologian of
he encountered in memorable fashion the trisagion—“Holy,
mediation), Otto conceived of systematic theology as a sci-
holy, holy. . .” (Is. 6.3)—an encounter that he and his disci-
ence of religion, whose components were the philosophy,
ples later considered the moment when he discovered the
psychology, and history of religions. In his view, philosophy
Holy. Upon his return, Otto pursued the history of religions
identified the source of religion in a qualitatively unique ex-
as part of a broader strategy of German cultural imperialism,
perience for which he coined the term numinous. Descriptive
commensurate with the ethical imperialism of the theologian
psychology revealed the nonrational dimensions of this expe-
and publicist Paul Rohrbach but in sharp contrast to the mil-
rience as a mysterium tremendum et fascinans, dimensions
itaristic colonialism of organizations like the Naval and Pan-
that, Otto said, were conjoined to rational or conceptual ele-
German Leagues. As part of this program he promoted the
ments through a process that, loosely following Immanuel
series Quellen der Religionsgeschichte, a German equivalent to
Kant, he called schematization. Otto’s ideas became founda-
the Sacred Books of the East. In 1913 he was elected to rep-
tional for much twentieth-century work in the study of reli-
resent Göttingen in the Prussian state legislature, where in
gion that claimed to be phenomenological or scientific rather
1917 he led a faction of the National-Liberal Party in an at-
than theological.
tempt to abolish Prussia’s notorious three-tier system of
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OTTO, RUDOLF
6929
weighting votes. In 1915 he finally received a professoriate
of modern theology as a science of religion, a term whose
in systematic theology at the University of Breslau.
apologetic utility is evident.
Otto wrote his most famous book, Das Heilige (The
In the tradition of German idealism and, more remote-
Idea of the Holy, 1917), during World War I. In part due
ly, of Cartesian dualism, Otto distinguished two realms, the
to the attention this book received, he became professor of
mental and the material, a distinction that he took over from
systematic theology at the University of Marburg in 1917,
his teacher Hermann Schultz and developed in his first major
where he stayed until his death. During the 1920s he wrote
book, Naturalistische und religiöse Weltansicht (Naturalism
two major comparisons of Indian religions and Christianity,
and Religion, 1904). Nineteenth-century naturalism made
West-östliche Mystik (Mysticism East and West, 1926), origi-
a major error, he thought, when it devalued the mental in
nally delivered as Haskell Lectures at Oberlin College in
favor of the material. Human beings had immediate access
Ohio in 1924, and Die Gnadenreligion Indiens und das Chris-
to and direct knowledge of only mental events, and such
tentum (India’s Religion of Grace and Christianity, 1930),
events always mediated knowledge of the material world.
originally the Olaus Petri lectures in Uppsala, Sweden, in
Along with some noted biologists, such as Emil Dubois-
1927. At Marburg Otto founded the Religionskundliche Sam-
Reymond, Otto maintained that consciousness was a prima-
mlung, a museum of the world’s religions, on behalf of which
ry datum that in principle could not be explained in terms
he made a second lengthy journey to South Asia in 1927 and
of material processes, such as neurophysiological events. Fur-
1928. He also attracted younger scholars as students and as-
thermore, he reversed the relationship between rational cer-
sociates, including Heinrich Frick, Theodor Siegfried, Frie-
tainty and intuition that René Descartes had postulated. For
drich Heiler, Ernst Benz, and, more remotely, Gustav Men-
him, the mental was not so much a rational realm of eternal
sching, Joachim Wach, and James Luther Adams. In the
ideas or pure reason as it was a realm of conscious experience
immediate aftermath of World War I he served on the com-
whose rational representations rested ultimately on nonratio-
mission to draft a new constitution, and in 1920 he orga-
nal feelings and intuitions.
nized a Religiöser Menschheitsbund (Religious league of hu-
manity), an international nongovernmental organization
Although originally attracted to the thought of Frie-
that he saw as a necessary complement to the League of Na-
drich Schleiermacher—as a young instructor, he edited the
tions. His time in Marburg was also marked by vehement
one-hundredth anniversary edition of Schleiermacher’s fa-
antagonism to his thought from neoorthodox theologians,
mous Speeches on Religion—Otto came to believe that the
represented there by the New Testament scholar Rudolf
thought of Fries provided a philosophically more satisfactory
Bultmann.
account of religion. He summarized that thought in Kan-
tisch-Fries’sche Religionsphilosophie,
and in doing so provided
Although Otto retired early from teaching in 1929 for
a philosophic critique (in the Kantian sense) of the possibility
reasons of poor health, he continued to write and, after a
of religious experience, taking “experience” as much in an
brief hiatus, also to teach part time. In addition to pursuing
empirical as in an emotive sense (Erfahrung as well as Erleb-
interests in Indian religions, he discussed what he alleged
nis). Unlike Kant, Fries thought that cognition takes place
were Persian roots of Christianity in Reich Gottes und Mensc-
in the realms of practical and aesthetic as well as of theoreti-
hensohn (The Kingdom of God and the Son of Man, 1934).
cal reason, raising the possibility of a peculiar sort of religious
He intended his final major work, which was also to have
cognition, too. Furthermore, in Fries’s thought all knowl-
been his Gifford Lectures, to be a system of ethics, but his
edge depends upon feeling. For example, a Wahrheitsgefühl,
scattered essays on the subject were not collected until 1981.
or feeling of truth, is said to be responsible for one’s judg-
Ever an ardent nationalist, Otto seems in 1933 to have taken
ment that the results of one’s rational processes are correct.
an interest in the German Christian position, although he
Even in the realm of science and mathematics it is possible
found German Christian leaders distasteful. He did not ac-
to be convinced of the truth of a proposition without being
tively oppose the Nazi regime.
able to demonstrate it, as Otto once illustrated with Fermat’s
In October 1936 Otto fell some twenty meters from a
last theorem: mathematicians could sense that the theorem
tower, a fall that persistent but unconfirmed rumors identify
was true, even if they could not prove it. But unlike scientific
as a suicide attempt. Whatever the cause, he suffered severely
cognition, Otto claimed, religious cognition involves experi-
from his injuries and died of pneumonia on March 6, 1937.
ences that are in principle not subject to correction, or even
full formulation and elaboration, by theoretical reason.
THOUGHT. Otto’s intellectual project grew from a desire to
defend religion in general and Christianity more specifically
In his most famous book, Das Heilige, Otto turned from
from the attacks of nineteenth-century historians and natural
a critical philosophical account of the possibility of religious
scientists. As a result, although he taught dogmatics and eth-
experience to a descriptive psychology of the content of that
ics, most of his writing in systematic theology fell within a
experience and its relationship to the “rational,” symbolic di-
domain traditionally known as apologetics, albeit focused
mension of religion. To designate religious feelings at their
upon a general apologetics of religion rather than a defense
most distinctive he coined the word numinous, which re-
of the superiority of Christianity. By 1909, however, Otto
ferred, he said, to the Holy or Sacred minus the moral di-
had abandoned these categories and had come to conceive
mension. But he soon encountered a methodological limita-
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6930
OTTO, RUDOLF
tion. Conscious experience is only available to the person
similarities that derive not from common ancestry but from
who has it; therefore, it is possible to formulate a descriptive
adaptation to similar environmental circumstances. But Otto
account of religious feelings only on the basis of introspec-
did not expect comparative study to reveal the universal con-
tion, informed by apparent similarities in what others have
ceptual or symbolic content of religion, a point he made as
said. In other words, in order to study the experience that
early as his critique of Wilhelm Wundt (1910). Indeed, the
is the ultimate source of religion, a scholar must have a sensus
structure of Otto’s thought, oriented to a universal feeling
numinis, an ability to experience numinous feelings—just as
beyond thought and expression, relegates symbols and ideas
the description of color in painting or pitch in music requires
to a culturally determined rational schematization and so is
certain kinds of perceptual abilities. Those who have such
fundamentally incompatible with later attempts by scholars
abilities, Otto suggested, experience the numinous as a
such as C. G. Jung and Mircea Eliade to identify universal
mysterium tremendum et fascinans. As a mysterium, it is com-
elements of religious or mythic thought. In old age Otto de-
pletely other, beyond the realm of ordinary existence, appre-
clined an invitation to participate in the first Eranos confer-
hensible but not comprehensible, evoking in human beings
ence.
the feeling of stupor and stunned silence. People find this
Otto’s ethics, left incomplete, has received relatively lit-
mysterium both attractive (fascinans) and repulsive (tre-
tle attention, but like his work on religion it builds upon a
mendum). On the one hand, it arouses the sense of grace,
descriptive psychology of moral feelings, such as the feelings
love, and mercy. On the other, it arouses feelings of terror
of guilt and responsibility. One might also note that Otto’s
and awe and the conviction that human beings are in reality
thinking was never isolated from the world but always explic-
nothing—feelings to which Otto, countering tendencies to
itly engaged with it, especially with the church and state. In
equate genuine religion with love, gave a great deal of atten-
the church, Otto strove to improve worship and ministry by
tion. Furthermore, this Holy is a category a priori, and as
encouraging liberal theology and incorporating moments of
such beyond empirical criticism. (Otto’s Kantianism is mud-
numinous experience into the liturgy. He was also convinced
dled.) It is, however, a complex category, consisting not just
that his insights into religion could further the interests of
of the nonrational numinous but also of rational symbolic
the German state, which came into existence during his in-
and ethical elements that “schematize” the numinous and re-
fancy, but his assessment of those interests changed over
sult in relatively persistent but culturally variable religious
time. In religion as he understood it, he found the source of
forms.
both German colonial greatness (his cultural imperialism be-
Within the framework provided by these basic convic-
fore the first World War) and of international justice and
tions in philosophy and psychology, Otto worked extensively
equality between nations (the Religiöser Menschheitsbund af-
in the history of religions. After his journey of 1911 to 1912
terward). In the Nazi period he claimed that the study of reli-
he learned Sanskrit and translated several religious texts into
gions revealed the struggle of the German soul at its most
German. His most ambitious venture was a three-volume
profound and that dialogue between Protestants and Catho-
study of the Bhagavadg¯ıta¯ (one volume in English), which
lics was necessary to unify the German nation.
sought to reconstruct the poem’s textual history and thus to
IMPACT AND ASSESSMENT. When it appeared in late 1916
recover its original inspiration. His two major comparative
(dated 1917), Otto’s account of the Holy created an immedi-
works, West-östliche Mystik and Die Gnadenreligion Indiens
ate sensation, and it was quickly translated into English
und das Christentum, also reflect his interest in Indian reli-
(1923), Swedish (1924), Spanish (1925), Italian (1926), Jap-
gions, as well as a division of religiosity common at the time
anese (1927), Dutch (1928), and French (1929). The impact
into the mystical and the devotional. The former book com-
was especially pronounced in the English-speaking world,
pares the positions of the Advaita philosopher S´an˙kara¯ca¯rya
perhaps because of affinities between Otto’s thought and En-
with the German mystic Meister Eckhart; the latter makes
glish Romanticism (e.g., William Wordsworth’s “Intima-
a similar comparison of bhakti movements with Christianity
tions of Immortality”). Otto’s word numinous, his phrase
of a Pietist bent. Both works ascribe the distinctiveness and
mysterium tremendum et fascinans (occasionally cited as fas-
superiority of Christianity to a dynamism that derives from
cinosum, which means something different in Latin), and
its Jewish roots. Otto’s last major work, Reich Gottes und
even the title of his book, “The Idea of the Holy,” still enjoy
Menschensohn, is genealogical rather than comparative in in-
a certain currency among English-speaking writers and art-
tent and bridges what in the two major comparative studies
ists, even apart from the details of Otto’s thought.
is a divide between the Christian and the Indo-Iranian or,
as that cultural region was called, Aryan. It examines the al-
Although himself a theologian, Otto’s impact upon
leged Iranian roots of Christianity, although it still attributes
Protestant theology was muted, because his attempt to found
the highest Christian insights to its Jewish ancestry.
religion on human experience went counter to the tenets of
neoorthodoxy. Paul Tillich, however, made significant use
Otto’s work in the history of religions was not all de-
of Otto’s ideas, and recently some theologians interested in
scriptive. Influenced in particular by biology, he made mod-
interreligious dialogue (e.g., Hans-Martin Barth) and femi-
est attempts to identify processes at work in religious history,
nism (e.g., Melissa Raphael) have engaged them, too. Otto’s
such as his account of parallels and convergences; that is, of
most significant impact was on the comparative study of reli-
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OTTO, RUDOLF
6931
gions, especially that form often known as phenomenology.
cross-cultural experimentation. So long as presumptions
Students and successors utilized Otto’s analysis in far-
such as these dominate, Otto’s account of religious experi-
reaching accounts that saw religion as the expression of an
ence will remain data for the history of religious thought, but
experience sui generis. Indeed, Otto’s analysis became part of
it will not be a live theoretical option within the study of reli-
a standard rationale for founding independent academic
gions.
units to study religion. With time, however, scholars have
become suspicious that Otto’s ideas improperly universalize
BIBLIOGRAPHY
structures that best fit Christianity. In addition, the wide-
Works by Otto
spread turn to culture and language that began in the 1960s
Naturalistische und religiöse Weltansicht. Tübingen, Germany,
tended to reject Otto’s account of an experience that was au-
1904. Translated as Naturalism and Religion by J. Arthur
tonomous, primary, and universal, and either to speak of ex-
Thomson and Margaret R. Thomson. London, 1907.
periences as shaped by particular cultural and symbolic envi-
Kantisch-Fries’sche Religionsphilosophie und ihre Anwendung auf die
ronments or to ignore them altogether. Furthermore, a
Theologie. Tübingen, Germany, 1909. Translated as The Phi-
losophy of Religion Based on Kant and Fries
by E. B. Dicker.
significant number of scholars have rejected Otto’s insistence
London, 1931.
upon introspection and his prerequisite that in order to study
the source of religion scholars possess a sensus numinis as a
Das Heilige: Über das Irrationale in der Idee des Göttlichen und sein
Verhältnis zum Rationalen. Breslau, Germany, 1917. Trans-
violation of scientific method. Among North American
lated as The Idea of the Holy by John W. Harvey. Oxford,
scholars, historical interest in Otto has been eclipsed by in-
1923; 2d ed., 1950.
terest in William James.
West-östliche Mystik. Gotha, Germany, 1926. Translated as Mysti-
The concurrence of neuropsychology, cognitive science,
cism East and West: A Comparative Analysis of the Nature of
and the study of religion that took place in the 1990s re-
Mysticism by Bertha L. Bracey and Richenda C. Payne. New
York, 1932.
turned in significant respects to themes that interested Otto,
but in a way that reveals the difficulties of using Otto’s
Die Gnadenreligion Indiens und das Christentum. Gotha, Germa-
ny, 1930. Translated as India’s Religion of Grace and Chris-
thought today: For example, neuropsychologists such as Eu-
tianity Compared and Contrasted by Frank Hugh Foster. New
gene d’Aquili and Andrew Newberg have studied religious
York, 1930.
experiences that are reminiscent of Otto’s numinous experi-
Religious Essays: A Supplement to the Idea of the Holy. Translated
ence, but unlike Otto they postulate a unitary mind-brain,
by Brian Lunn. London, 1931.
and so seek to discover the basis for religious experiences in
Reich Gottes und Menschensohn. Munich, 1934. Translated as The
the structure and functioning of the physical brain. Some
Kingdom of God and the Son of Man: A Study in the History
theologians have seen in such work a foundation and valida-
of Religion by Floyd V. Filson Bertram and Lee Wolff. Bos-
tion for human religiosity—a fulfillment of Otto’s ultimate
ton, 1943.
theological aim, if by a somewhat different route.
Aufsätze zur Ethik. Edited by Jack Stewart Boozer. Munich, 1981.
Cognitive scientists such as Pascal Boyer, Scott Atran,
Autobiographical and Social Essays. Edited by Gregory D. Alles.
and Stewart Guthrie have had relatively little interest in reli-
Berlin, 1996.
gious experiences, even if they have on occasion mimicked
Works about Otto
Otto’s phrases, perhaps unconsciously. Nevertheless, in sig-
Alles, Gregory D. “Rudolf Otto (1869–1937).” In Klassiker der
nificant respects their fundamental questions resemble
Religionswissenschaft: Von Friedrich Schleiermacher bis Mircea
Otto’s. In a manner reminiscent of Kantianism they want
Eliade, edited by Axel Michaels, pp. 198–210. Munich,
both to identify the a priori, universal structures that shape
1997.
intuitive, prerational cognition (folk physics, biology, and
Almond, Philip. Rudolf Otto: An Introduction to His Philosophical
psychology) and to relate to those structures the cognitive
Theology. Chapel Hill, N.C., 1984.
processes that make religion possible. But they focus on men-
Benz, Ernst, ed. Rudolf Otto’s Bedeutung für die Religionswissen-
tal representations rather than feelings and intuitions, and
schaft und für die Theologie Heute. Leiden, 1971.
they embrace rather than reject evolutionary explanation.
Davidson, Robert F. Rudolf Otto’s Interpretation of Religion.
Like Otto they do postulate a plurality of distinct mental do-
Princeton, N.J., 1947.
mains, but they define them in terms of content (inanimate
Frick, Heinrich, Birger Forell, and Friedrich Heiler. Religion-
object, living thing, animal, human) rather than varieties of
swissenschaft in neuer Sicht: Drei Reden über Rudolf Ottos Per-
rationality (theoretical, practical, aesthetic), and unlike Otto
sönlichkeit und Werk. Marburg, Germany, 1951.
they do not consider religious cognition to constitute an in-
Gooch, Todd A. The Numinous and Modernity: An Interpretation
dependent, universal domain. Although they see religion as
of Rudolf Otto’s Philosophy of Religion. Berlin, 2000.
beyond adequate rational formulation, they attribute this to
Haubold, Wilhelm. Die Bedeutung der Religionsgeschichte für die
the symbolic rather than literal quality of religious represen-
Theologie Rudolf Ottos. Leipzig, 1940.
tation and, unlike Otto, see it as a mark against the literal
Schütte, Hans Walter. Religion und Christentum in der Theologie
veracity of religious claims. Finally, they expect to test their
Rudolf Ottos. Berlin, 1969.
claims not through introspection but through vigorous,
GREGORY D. ALLES (2005)
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6932
OTTO, WALTER F.
OTTO, WALTER F. Walter Friedrich Otto (1874–
a key role in Frankfurt’s cultural life, attending both Wil-
1958) was a German scholar of classical philology, mytholo-
helm’s China-Institut and Frobenius’s Forschungsinstitut
gy, and the history and philosophy of religions. The son of
für Kulturmorphologie (Otto helped to transfer the latter
pharmacist Hermann Ernst Otto, Walter Otto was born in
from Munich to Frankfurt). He went several times to the
Hechingen, a small town below Mount Hohenzollern in
exile residence of Kaiser Wilhelm II in Doorn (Netherlands),
Swabia. His family, marked by strong pietistic principles,
where scholars of Frobenius’s entourage were invited regular-
soon moved to Stuttgart, where Otto attended secondary
ly to hold conferences on myth-related topics. In his last
school at the humanistic Eberhard Ludwigs Gymnasium be-
years in Frankfurt, Otto put great efforts into advising the
ginning in 1882. After winning the Konkurs in 1892, he was
scientific edition of the unpublished works of Max Scheler
admitted to the Stift, an evangelical college in Tübingen that
and Friedrich Nietzsche. Otto was an important member of
had been in earlier times the school of the poet Friedrich
the scientific committee of the Nietzsche-Archiv in Weimar:
Hölderlin and the philosophers G. W. F. Hegel and Frie-
together with Karl Schlechta and Martin Heidegger, both
drich Schelling. The following year Otto switched to classical
appointed to the committee by his suggestion, Otto tried to
studies under Otto Crusius, Wilhelm Schmid, and Ludwig
save Nietzsche’s legacy from a mere political use.
Schwabe. He continued these studies in 1894 in Bonn,
Because of his connections with Kurt Riezler and his
where he was strongly influenced by Hermann Usener and
“clique,” the Nazis forced Otto to move to Königsberg in
Friedrich Bücheler. Under the supervision of the latter, he
1934. Here he succeeded the Greek classicist Paul Maas, who
wrote his dissertation on the origin of Roman proper names,
had to leave his chair because of his Jewish origins, and be-
for which he was awarded a Ph.D. degree in 1897.
came a good friend of the younger scholar Willy Theiler. He
Following the Staatsexamen in the same year, he taught
was also close to the philosopher Hans Heyse, the art histori-
in a secondary school in Bonn for six months, and from 1898
an Wilhelm Worringer, the musicologist Hans Engel, the ar-
onward he served as assistant of the Thesaurus Linguae La-
chaeologist Guido von Kaschnitz-Weinberg, and the In-
tinae in Munich. As part of this project he became editor of
dologist Helmut von Glasenapp. Besides his academic
the Onomasticon Latinum from 1905 to 1911, continuing his
relationships, Otto took part in Königsberg’s cultural life,
work in the field of Latin onomastics. In 1905 Otto complet-
becoming a member of the Königsberger Gelehrte Gesell-
ed his Habilitationsschrift on Juno at the University of Mu-
schaft and the Kant-Gesellschaft, and attending the aristo-
nich under his former teacher in Tübingen, Otto Crusius.
cratic society of Eastern Prussia (through the families Dohna
Other major essays on Roman religion appeared in the years
and Dönhoff he was introduced to anti-Nazi milieus). Dur-
1900 to 1916, most of them in the Real-Encyclopädie. At the
ing this period Otto wrote about Goethe’s and Hölderlin’s
University of Munich he became Privatdozent in 1905; he
relationship to Greek religion, lectured on Nietzsche and
gave Latin style exercises from 1907 on, and was appointed
Socrates, and edited the Jahrbücher für die geistige Überlie-
außerordentlicher Professor in 1910. Besides the philological
ferung together with Karl Reinhardt and Ernesto Grassi. The
work at the Thesaurus, which led Otto to the acquaintance
second volume of this series was forbidden by the Nazis, who
of Ernst Diehl and Alfred Klotz, he attended the psyc-
therefore decided to cancel the award of the Kant-Preis to
hodiagnostic lectures of the Bachofen-influenced scholar
Otto in 1943. In 1944 he escaped the disaster of Königsberg,
Ludwig Klages. In 1911 he gave lectures at the University
leaving behind his library and several manuscripts. This
of Vienna, where his friendship with Hans von Arnim
heavy loss was important for Otto’s shift to a more philo-
started.
sophical—and less philological—approach to classical myth,
which goes back to the 1920s but is particularly characteristic
In 1913 Otto was appointed ordentlicher Professor for
of his works after 1945. Having spent the last year of war
Latin literature in Basel, and the next year he moved, with
in Elmau (Bavaria), he obtained two teaching assignments
the same function, to Frankfurt am Main, where he wrote
in Greek literature in Munich and Göttingen (1945 and
his main works, The Homeric Gods (1929) and Dionysus
1946), was visiting professor in Tübingen in 1946, and be-
(1933). Here he was the leader of a major school in ancient
came emeritus in that university in 1955. During this period
culture and religion to which adhered important scholars,
he was one of the founders of the Wissenschaftliche Buchge-
such as the classicist Karl Reinhardt and the ethnologist Leo
sellschaft and the Max-Scheler-Gesellschaft (the latter of
Frobenius (who were Otto’s best friends for his whole life),
which he directed), and lectured on various topics, including
the Sinologist Richard Wilhelm, the philosopher Kurt Rie-
Apollo, Prometheus, the spirit of Greek religion, Greek trag-
zler and, among the younger generation, the Germanist Max
edy, Socrates, and humanism.
Kommerell (who became Otto’s son-in-law in 1936), the
historian Franz Altheim, the religious historians Carl Koch
Starting from studies in Latin onomastics strongly influ-
and Károly Kerényi, the Iranist Hermann Lommel, and the
enced by Usener’s Götternamen (1896) and Bücheler’s works
ethnologist Adolf Ellegard Jensen. Most of these scholars
on ancient Italic languages, Otto moved in his postdoctoral
wrote important works within the sixteen-volume series
years to a comprehensive interpretation of Roman religion.
Frankfurter Studien zur Religion und Kultur der Antike, edited
As a challenge to Georg Wissowa’s Religion und Kultus der
by Otto between 1932 and 1938. In those years Otto played
Römer (1902), Otto concentrated on the autochthon (non-
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OTTO, WALTER F.
6933
Greek) aspects of the main Roman gods (Fatum, Faunus,
(incarnating the simultaneity of presence and absence), the
Fides, Fortuna, Genius, Janus, and Juno), pointing out their
music (embodying both noise and silence), and the wine
chthonian, as well as their benign, character. In these years
(symbol of the paradoxical unity of pleasure and pain). This
he also extended his cognition in the field of history of reli-
madness, in which brightness and obscurity, and joy and
gions, on which he gave lectures at Munich University
horror, coincide, unifies also life and death, concealing in it-
(thereby dwelling especially on Greek mystery cults). These
self the mystery of procreation. For this reason, the Diony-
interests directed his studies about soul-beliefs in ancient reli-
sian world is a feminine one, closely connected to women,
gions—a topic on which he lectured in Frankfurt and wrote
as is clearly shown by the god’s followers, the Maenads, and
his first book in 1923 (Die Manen).
his spouse Ariadne.
In another book of the same year (Der Geist der Antike
SEE ALSO Greek Religion; Kerényi, Károly.
und die christliche Welt) Otto gave a strongly Nietzsche-
influenced view of the Jewish and Christian religions in an-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
tithesis to the Greek Olympian world. Here, and in a series
Otto’s Ph.D. work was written in Latin and published in 1898
of articles leading to his main work, the Homeric Gods (1929;
in the Fleckeisens Jahrbücher (Nomina propria latina oriunda
English translation, 1954), he supplied a philosophical inter-
a participiis perfecti; Leipzig, 1898), pp. 745–932. His most
pretation of Greek religion, abandoning the philological
important essays on Roman religion, which made him a re-
method that had guided all his previous works. This method-
nowned philologist, have been collected posthumously in the
ological shift was due to Otto’s classicistic conception of the
Aufsätze zur römischen Religionsgeschichte (Meisenheim a. G.,
uniqueness of Greek religion compared to any other. He
1975). Other major contributions to this topic can be found
in volumes 6, 7, and 8 of August Pauly and Georg Wissowa’s
maintained that the Homeric mode of seeing and thinking
Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft (Stutt-
of the Olympian gods found continual expression within the
gart, 1909–1913).
Greek world “despite all temporal and individual variations,
in the representative works of the Greek genius, whether in
The shift to a comprehensive view of the history of religions is evi-
dent in Otto’s editorial effort in the series Religiöse Stimmen
poetry, plastic art or philosophy” (Otto, 1929/1954, p. 20),
der Völker (a German translation of the major religious texts
being not only the very essence of Greek civilization, but in-
of the world, published in Jena, 1915–1923), and in his
deed “the religious idea of the European spirit” and “one of
monograph Die Manen oder von den Urformen des Totenglau-
humanity’s greatest religious ideas” (p. 13). According to
bens: Eine Untersuchung zur Religion der Griechen, Römer,
Otto, each Olympian god (he dwells on Athene, Apollo, Ar-
und Semiten und zum Volksglauben überhaupt (Berlin, 1923),
temis, Aphrodite, and Hermes, not taking into account
which challenges Erwin Rohde’s notion of psyche by show-
Zeus) is an Urgestalt des Seins, capable of revealing from its
ing the distinction between thymos, the life-spirit, and psy-
peculiar point of view the totality of reality—worldliness and
che—that is, the immaterial phantom of a person that re-
naturalness—in human shape. Such are, for example, Apol-
mains when the life-spirit leaves the body at the moment of
lo, the anthropomorphic revelation of spiritual freedom and
death (this distinction can be made in Roman and Jewish re-
ligions as well). In 1923 appeared also Der Geist der Antike
distance from the mortal’s world, and his twin sister Artemis,
und die Christliche Welt (Bonn; Italian trans., 1973), a book
who represents “freedom of another sort—the feminine,”
Otto didn’t want republished, followed by his most widely
which is “free nature with its brilliance and wildness, with
known works, namely Die Götter Griechenlands: Das Bild des
its guiltless purity and its mysterious uncanniness” (p. 102).
Göttlichen im Spiegel des griechischen Geistes (Bonn, 1929;
As Goethe had pointed out, Greek religion should therefore
English trans. by Moses Hadas: The Homeric Gods: The Spiri-
be considered as “theomorphic” and not as “anthropomor-
tual Significance of Greek Religion, London, 1954; Italian
phic,” with the divine in its human appearance being the
trans.: Florence, 1941; Spanish trans: Buenos Aires, 1973;
model for mankind—and not the opposite.
French trans. with a foreword by Marcel Détienne: Paris,
1981; Romanian trans.: Bucharest, 1995); and Dionysos: My-
Otto deepened his idea of the Greek divine as a revela-
thos und Kultus (Frankfurt a. M., 1933; English trans. with
tion of “being” in human form in his other major work, Dio-
an introduction by Robert B. Palmer: Dionysus: Myth and
nysus (1933; English translation, 1965). Relying on this con-
Cult, Bloomington, Ind., and London, 1965; French trans.:
ception, Otto was one of the few scholars of his time
Paris, 1969; Italian trans.: Genoa, 1990; Greek trans.: Ath-
maintaining the Greek provenience of Dionysos, long before
ens, 1991; Spanish trans.: Madrid, 1997).
Michael Ventris and John Chadwick discovered the god’s
Important writings to evaluate Otto’s relationship to the Nazi re-
Mycaenean evidence in 1952. Though not belonging to the
gime are his booklet Der junge Nietzsche (Frankfurt a. M.,
Olympian deities, this god discloses “a whole world, whose
1936; reprinted in Mythos und Welt, Darmstadt and Stutt-
spirit presents itself again and again in new forms, connect-
gart, 1963), and two volumes of the series Geistige Überlie-
ferung
, which he edited in Berlin in 1940 and 1942. Otto’s
ing in an eternal unity the sublime with the simple, the
literary bequest is evident in his books Der Dichter und die
human with the animal, the vegetal with the elemental”
alten Götter (Frankfurt a. M., 1942; Italian trans.: Naples,
(Otto, 1933/1965, p. 188). The very essence of Dionysos lies
1991) and Die Gestalt und das Sein: Gesammelte Abhandlun-
therefore in the opposition between these incompatible
gen über den Mythos und seine Bedeutung für die Menschheit
poles; hence his madness, visible in his symbols: the mask
(Düsseldorf and Köln, 1954), where Hölderlin’s topic of the
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OTTO, WALTER F.
“flight of the Divine” is analyzed in relation to the absence
writings on Greek religion and leaves out Otto’s interpreta-
of the Olympian gods in modern times. According to Otto,
tion of Roman religion, which influenced profoundly his pu-
in our epoch only poetry can save humankind from decay,
pils Franz Altheim and Carl Koch, and was appreciated even
poetry being the only possible approach to the truth of reali-
by Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff (Der Glaube der
ty, as pointed out in Die Musen und der göttliche Ursprung
Hellenen, Berlin: vol. 1, 1931, pp. 11–12, 142, 313; vol. 2,
des Singens und Sagens (Darmstadt, 1954). The importance
1932, pp. 328–329). In more recent times, following the re-
of Greek myth from a philosophical perspective is pointed
print of Otto’s main writings on Roman religion in 1975 by
out as well in Gesetz, Urbild, und Mythos (Stuttgart, 1951;
Reinhold Merkelbach, Wolfgang Fauth underlined their im-
reprinted in Die Gestalt und das Sein [Dusseldorf and Koln,
portance (Anzeiger für die Altertumswissenschaft 32 [1979]:
1954], pp. 25–90, and in New York, 1978; Italian trans.:
105–109), whereas George Dumézil criticized them in, for
Rome, 1996), and in Theophania: Der Geist der altgriechisc-
example, La religion romaine archaïque (Paris, 1974).
hen Religion (Hamburg, 1956), with a biographical sketch by
In a similar way, due to its nonphilological nature, Otto’s ap-
Ernesto Grassi; reprinted with a foreword by Friedrich Georg
proach to Greek religion encountered on one hand indiffer-
Jünger and a biographical note by Bernhard Wyß (Frankfurt
ence (or even resistance), and on the other appreciation. This
a. M., 1934; Japanese trans.: Tokyo, 1966; Spanish trans.:
is evident in the reactions of major scholars to Die Götter Gr-
Buenos Aires, 1968; Italian trans.: Genoa, 1983; French
iechenlands, which encountered unfavorable criticism in the
trans.: Paris, 1995).
reviews by Martin Persson Nilsson, Deutsche Literaturzeitung
Otto dedicated his last efforts to two major figures of Greek phi-
28 (1929): 1334–1337; Louis Gernet, Revue de philologie, de
losophy: Socrates (about whom he wrote 1,800 pages from
litterature et d’histoire anciennes 5 (1931): 91–94; Herbert
1940 to 1955, still unpublished) and Epikur, edited posthu-
Jennings Rose, The Classical Review 6 (1956): 162; Hubert
mously in Das Wort der Antike (Darmstadt and Stuttgart,
Cancik, Der altsprachliche Unterricht 27 (1984): 71–89. Die
1962), pp. 293–333; Italian trans.: Parma, 2001). Also pub-
Götter Griechenlands was assessed positively by Mario Unter-
lished after Otto’s death were Das Wort der Antike (Darm-
steiner, Il mondo classico 1 (1931): 15–23; Bruno Snell,
stadt and Stuttgart, 1962) and Mythos und Welt (Darmstadt
Theologische Literaturzeitung 3 (1955): 152–153; Arthur Hil-
and Stuttgart, 1963), edited by Kurt von Fritz with a critical
ary Armstrong, The Hibbert Journal 54 (1955–1956): 96–
commentary on Otto’s work and a bibliography of his publi-
98; Françoise Frontisi-Ducroux, Revue de l’histoire des reli-
cations by Egidius Schmalzriedt; and Die Wirklichkeit der
gions 200 (1983): 102–103. Dionysus was heavily attacked by
Götter: Von der Unzerstörbarkeit griechischer Weltsicht (Ham-
Martin Persson Nilsson, Gnomon 11 (1935): 177–181, and
burg, 1963), containing a deep appreciation on Otto’s oeu-
Hubert Cancik in Die Restauration der Götter, edited by
vre by Károly Kerényi. The unpublished work of Otto that
Richard Faber and Renate Schlesier (Würzburg, 1986),
survived the flames of Königsberg lies in the Deutsches Litera-
pp. 105–123; it was evaluated neutrally by Arthur William
turarchiv in Marbach; it includes roughly 25,000 handwrit-
Hope Adkins, The Classical Review 21 (1971): 147–148; and
ten pages, mostly stemming from lectures and conferences,
was appreciated by Gustav van der Leeuw, Nieuwe theologis-
and about 1,250 letters from and to Otto dating from 1944
che Studien 17 (1933): 87–94, and Mario Untersteiner, Il
to 1958.
mondo classico 6 (1936): 297–305. Other interesting reviews
Major biographical sketches of Otto include Karl Reinhardt,
on Otto’s interpretation of Greek myth, extending beyond
“Walter F. Otto,” in Vermächtnis der Antike (Göttingen,
his main works, are those of Ludolf Malten, Gnomon 20
1966), pp. 87–90; Otto Weinreich, “Walter F. Otto zum 75:
(1944): 113–126; Albin Lesky, Gnomon 24 (1952): 432–
Geburtstag” and “Walter F. Otto zum 80: Geburtstag,” both
434; Walther Kraus, Gnomon 30 (1958): 561–566; Willy
collected in Ausgewählte Schriften 1937–1970, vol. 3 (Am-
Theiler, Gnomon 35 (1963): 619–621, and Philip Merlan,
sterdam, 1979), pp. 275–277 and 361–363; Willy Theiler,
Gymnasium 70 (1963): 424–429.
“Walter F. Otto +” in Gnomon 32 (1960): 87–90; Viktor
The influence of Otto’s ideas is mostly evident in the oeuvre of
Pöschl, “Walter F. Otto und Karl Reinhardt,” in Literatur
Károly Kerényi, especially in his Dionysos (London, 1976),
und geschichtliche Wahrheit (Heidelberg, 1983),
but it can also be noticed in such scholars as the philologists
pp. 247–273; Gerhard Perl, “Walter F. Otto (1874–1958)
Bruno Snell (Die Entdeckung des Geistes [Hamburg, 1946],
in Königsberg,” in Eikasmos 4 (1993): 283–285; and Hubert
pp. 30–44) and Willy Theiler (“Der Mythos und die Götter
Cancik, “Walter Friedrich Otto,” in Neue Deutsche Biogra-
Griechenlands” in Untersuchungen zur antiken Literatur
phie, vol. 19 (Berlin, 1999), pp. 713–714. A biographical
[Berlin, 1970], pp. 130–147), as well as in the archaeologists
picture including information on Otto’s unpublished work
Karl Schefold (Griechische Kunst als religiöses Phänomen
is supplied by Alessandro Stavru, “Il lascito di Walter Frie-
[Hamburg, 1959]) and Erika Simon (Die Götter der Griec-
drich Otto nel Deutsches Literaturarchiv di Marbach,” in
hen, [Munich, 1969]). A much more indirect reception of
Studi e materiali di storia delle religioni 64 (1998): 195–222.
Otto’s thought can be caught in some writings of Walter
On Otto’s gradual divergence from the ideas of his teacher
Burkert (via his teacher Carl Koch) and, in a structuralistic
Hermann Usener see the thorough study of Antje Wessels,
frame, in the later works of Jean-Pierre Vernant and Marcel
Ursprungszauber. Zur Rezeption von Hermann Useners Lehre
Détienne.
von der religiösen Begriffsbildung, New York- Berlin, 2003,
The importance of Otto’s view of Greek Olympian religion for
pp. 185-225.
studies in the history of religion has been pointed out by Al-
The only booklength work on Otto—Josef Donnenberg’s disser-
bert Henrichs, “Die Götter Griechenlands: Ihr Bild im Wan-
tation Die Götterlehre Walter Friedrich Ottos: Weg oder Irrweg
del der Religionswissenschaft,” in Thyssen-Vorträge: Ausei-
moderner Religionsgeschichte? (Innsbruck, 1961)—cannot be
nandersetzungen mit der Antike, edited by Hellmut Flashar
considered a comprehensive study, since it analyses only his
(Bamberg, 1987), pp. 3–49. The latter scholar contributed
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OUSPENSKY, P. D.
6935
also to the success of Otto’s interpretation of Dionysian dual-
chose to suppress metaphysics in favor of empirical science.
ity in “Loss of Self, Suffering, Violence: The Modern View
Aristotle (384–322 BCE) wrote the first Organon, a compen-
of Dionysus from Nietzsche to Girard,” in Harvard Studies
dium of logic and a systematic means of communicating
in Classical Philology 88 (1984): 205–240, making it become
knowledge, exploring the principles of logic and discovery;
a popular hermeneutic paradigm (Anton Harald Bierl,
Francis Bacon (1561–1626) wrote the New Organum, expos-
Dionysos und die griechische Tragödie [Tübingen, 1991],
ing the idols of the human intellect, which opened the way
pp. 1–20; Françoise Frontisi-Ducroux, Le dieu-masque [Paris
for further scientific exploration during the Renaissance.
and Rome, 1991], pp. 62–63; and Giovanni Casadio, Il vino
dell’anima
[Rome, 1999], pp. 79–81).
Ouspensky’s Tertium Organum brought together theories of
Eastern and Western mysticism, as well as sacred art and
ALESSANDRO STAVRU (2005)
modern science, in a way that enlightened and moved the
seeker toward a higher consciousness and a greater under-
standing of the principles of the universe.
OUSPENSKY, P. D. Petyr Dem’ianovich Uspenskii
Ouspensky’s search for esoteric knowledge led him to
(1878–1947) was a Russian philosopher, mathematician,
travel to India and Ceylon in 1913. He was prevented from
teacher, and mystic. He is known as a conveyor and inter-
going to Persia and Central Asia because of the outbreak of
preter of the teachings of G. I. Gurdjieff (1866–1949), but
World War I. He returned to Saint Petersburg via London,
was well established as an author even before he encountered
Norway, and Finland. Giving a lecture in Saint Petersburg
Gurdjieff. Ouspensky has a lasting place in the early-
in 1915, he met Sof’ia Grigor’evna Maksimenko, who be-
twentieth-century Russian literary tradition, and as a writer
came his wife. Ouspensky was told of another group engaged
of numerous books on human spiritual development.
in the study of esoteric wisdom and occult phenomena; this
was the circle around Gurdjieff. Ouspensky went to meet
Ouspensky was born in and grew up in Moscow. His
him in Moscow, and was accepted as a student of stature.
mother was a painter, and his father a railroad surveyor who
Gurdjieff acknowledged that Ouspensky was a thinker and
died when Ouspensky was a child. The precocious boy was
author in his own right. In Search of the Miraculous: Frag-
dissatisfied with school. Even as a youth he discriminated be-
ments of an Unknown Teaching (1949) contains an account
tween “ordinary knowledge” of worldly matters and “impor-
of Ouspensky’s conversations with Gurdjieff and a lucid sys-
tant knowledge” concerning questions about the nature of
tematic exposition of Gurdjieff’s early ideas.
reality, human evolution and destiny, and the acquiring of
higher consciousness. For this reason, he left the academic
As early as 1918, Ouspensky began to become disillu-
world and did not take any of the higher degrees for which
sioned with Gurdjieff’s leadership. In a typescript for a meet-
he was qualified. These questions preoccupied him through-
ing in 1937, Ouspensky explained that Gurdjieff had said
out his life. In 1905 he wrote a novel titled Kinema-Drama;
years earlier, “First of all you must not believe anything, and
it was not published until 1915 and was later was translated
second you must not do anything you do not understand.”
into English as The Strange Life of Ivan Osokin. The book,
Ouspensky felt Gurdjieff was violating these principles, al-
based on the idea of eternal recurrence popularized by Frie-
though the two men continued to work together. After im-
drich Nietzsche (1844–1900), dramatizes the notion that
migrating to London to escape the Bolsheviks, Ouspensky
eternal recurrence, or living the same life again and again, can
developed his own circle of disciples. Gurdjieff joined him
come to an end for a person who learns its secret. To escape
there in 1922 and acquired some of Ouspensky’s pupils. In
“the trap called life,” one must make sacrifices for many
1924 Ouspensky refused to stay at Gurdjieff’s Institute at
years, and even many lifetimes.
Prieuré des Basses Loges at Fontainebleau-Avon in France,
and he announced the independent nature of his future
In 1907 Ouspensky’s quest led him to Theosophy. After
work. The final break came in 1931 when Ouspensky was
reading the works of Helena P. Blavatsky (1831–1891) and
denied all access to Prieuré.
others, he joined the Theosophical Society in Saint Peters-
burg. However, Ouspensky became dissatisfied with Theoso-
Undaunted, Ouspensky continued to teach and to write
phy. Although invited to join the Inner Circle of initiates to
in London and founded the Historico-Psychological Society.
study secret teachings, he declined and left the Theosophical
However, World War II made life in London difficult. He
Society in 1916. Ouspensky found that Theosophy was not
also taught for a time in Lynn in Surrey, but decided to go
a continuing path for him, but he acknowledged that it
to the United States, where he held large meetings in New
opened the door to esotericism and the study of higher di-
York and New Jersey from 1941 to 1946. Although in failing
mensions.
health, he returned to England in 1947. Before his death in
October of that year, he told his disciples that the work as
In 1911 Ouspensky published a major work, the Terti-
they had known it could not continue without him. Howev-
um Organum: The Third Canon of Thought, a Key to the Enig-
er, they were free to pursue the truth in their own way.
mas of the World. This book, translated into English in 1920,
argued that a new mode of thinking was needed in Western
The Fourth Way (1957), consisting of records of Ous-
civilization. The classical mode had opened metaphysical in-
pensky’s meetings from 1921 to 1947, was published under
quiry. However, it also led to positivistic thought, which
the supervision of Ouspensky’s wife. The term “Fourth
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6936
OWLS
Way” means bringing the life of the fakir, the monk, and the
Webb, James. The Harmonious Circle: The Lives and Work of
yogi into ordinary life, to experience eternity doing simple
G. I. Gurdjieff, P. D. Ouspensky, and Their Followers. Boston,
tasks. This fourth form of consciousness is the beginning of
1980.
the transition to cosmic consciousness—the state of the spirit
JUDY D. SALTZMAN (2005)
beyond time and the cycles of life and death.
Ouspensky’s “Psychological Lectures,” given from 1934
to 1940, were published posthumously as The Psychology of
OWLS. As a creature of two realms, the owl is a multiva-
Man’s Possible Evolution (1981). Here Ouspensky contends
lent symbol admitting of both benevolent and malevolent in-
that living beings are progressing through levels of being
terpretations. Like most birds, owls represent higher states
from the one-dimensional (plants and lower animals), to the
of being (angels, spirits, supernatural aid, and wisdom),
two-dimensional (higher animals), to the three-dimensional
while their nocturnal nature and ominous hoot ally them
(ordinary humans). However, some humans who strive to do
with the instinctual world of matter, darkness, death, and
so can pass beyond the mere sensory consciousness of three
blind ignorance. In a series of etchings he called Los caprichos,
dimensions in understanding time as the fourth dimension
the Spanish painter Goya depicted owls as the dark forces of
of space. There is a fifth dimension perpendicular to the line
the irrational.
of time, which is the line of eternity, or an infinite number
For many early peoples, owls were associated with the
of finite points in time.
baleful, devouring nature of the Great Mother, and their sin-
In a work published in 1931, A New Model of the Uni-
ister aspect as birds of ill omen prevailed over their benign
verse: Principles of the Psychological Method in its Application
connotations. In the Egyptian system of hieroglyphs, owls
to Problems of Science, Religion, and Art, Ouspensky argues
signify night, death, the sun that has sunk into darkness; in
that to really understand non-Euclidian space, the seeker
the Hindu tradition, they represent the soul and Yama, god
must expand his or her consciousness and experience directly
of the dead; and in China, images of owls carved on funeral
the higher dimension. Ouspensky explained that the phe-
urns symbolize death. The owl was an attribute of the god
nomenal universe is all most humans know. For example, a
of darkness for the Etruscans, a chthonic sign for the Celts,
star is seen as a point of light, although astronomy contends
who called it the “corpse bird,” and the taboo animal of early
it is a giant ball of gases. Ouspensky affirmed the idea of Im-
metallurgists. In the pagan religion of the Abyssinian Ham-
manuel Kant (1724–1804) that all phenomena have a nou-
ites, owls were sacred and were believed to embody the souls
menal substrate or real nature. Unlike Kant, Ouspensky’s
of those who had died unavenged.
final message was that metageometrical laws could en-
Because of the owl’s association with the otherworld and
compass noumena, the key to intuitive knowledge of the
its mysteries, the bird was thought to be cognizant of future
universe.
events and became an emblem of wisdom. Owls were regard-
SEE ALSO Gurdjieff, G. I.
ed as auspicious in classical Greece, where they were sacred
to Pallas Athena, the goddess of divine knowledge, human
BIBLIOGRAPHY
wisdom, and the arts; they were depicted on vases, coins, and
Driscoll, J. Walter. “P. D. Ouspensky: A Brief Bibliography.”
monuments as her emblem and companion. A trace of to-
Gurdjieff International Review. 1999. Available from http://
temism is detected in one of her epithets, Glaucopis (“owl”),
www.gurdjieff.org.
which suggests that at one time the bird had been worshiped
Ouspensky, P. D. In Search of the Miraculous: Fragments of an Un-
as a god and only later became an attribute of the goddess.
known Teaching. New York, 1949.
The Romans allied the owl to Athena’s counterpart Minerva,
Ouspensky, P. D. The Fourth Way: A Record of Talks and Answers
and also believed that it augured death. The funereal screech
to Questions Based on the Teachings of G. I. Gurdjieff. New
owl was anathema to the Romans, and its appearance at pub-
York, 1957.
lic auspices was deemed unpropitious. In Vergil’s Aeneid,
Ouspensky, P. D. A New Model of the Universe: Principles of the
when Dido contemplates death upon learning that Aeneas
Psychological Method in Its Application to Problems of Science,
is to abandon her, she hears the “deathly lamentations” of
Religion, and Art. New York, 1971.
an owl. And Shakespeare has Lady Macbeth say “I heard the
Ouspensky, P. D. The Psychology of Man’s Possible Evolution. New
owl scream” when Duncan is murdered.
York, 1981.
In Judaism the owl symbolizes blindness, and according
Ouspensky, P. D. Tertium Organum: The Third Canon of
Thought, a Key to the Enigmas of the World. New York, 1981.
to the Talmud it is an ill omen in dreams. The Hebrew scrip-
tures classify owls among the unclean birds, and when God
Ouspensky, P. D. The Strange Life of Ivan Osokin. New York,
1988.
declares his vengeance against Zion, he condemns it to be
“a habitation of dragons and a court for owls” (Is. 34:14).
Presley, Michael. “A Brief Overview of Certain Aspects of the
Job, in his despair, cries that he is “a companion to owls” (Jb.
Thought of Petyr Demianovich Ouspensky.” Available from
http://www.sumeria.net/cosmo/ouspensky.html.
30:29).
Taylor, Merrily E., ed. and comp. Remembering Pyotr Demi-
Throughout Christian Europe in the Middle Ages, owls
anovich Ouspensky. New Haven, 1978.
were a sign of the darkness that prevailed before the advent
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OWLS
6937
of Christ and a symbol of those Jews who elected to dwell
dead passed the “owl bridge,” and the Pima believed that owl
therein instead of in the light of the gospel. As a bird that
feathers facilitated the soul’s flight to the world beyond.
shuns the light, the owl was equated with Satan, Prince of
Darkness, who lures people into sin as the owl tricks birds
BIBLIOGRAPHY
into snares. A symbol of solitude when depicted with hermits
Cassirer, Ernst. The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms, vol. 2. Translat-
at prayer, the owl denotes wisdom when it is shown at the
ed by Ralph Manheim. New Haven, Conn., 1955. The owl
side of Saint Jerome. Scenes of the crucifixion sometimes
as a totemic animal. Basing his concept of totemism on the
mythically experienced unity and equivalence of human and
show the owl with Christ, whose sacrifice brought light to
animal, the author accounts for totemism as a belief that the
those in darkness.
clan was not merely descended from the animal but united
Owls are considered the agents of magic among many
with it in a magical context of the energy flowing between
them.
peoples. Siberian and Inuit (Eskimo) shamans regard them
as helping spirits, a source of powerful aid and guidance, and
Eliade, Mircea. Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy (1964).
wear their feathers on caps and collars. Tatar shamans try to
Rev. & enl. ed. Reprint, Princeton, N.J., 1970. Owls as pow-
erful guardians and helping spirits, bearers of instructions to
assume the bird’s shape, and the Buriats keep an owl or hang
sorcerers and shamans, symbolic of their power of flight.
up its skin to ward off evil spirits. The Ainu look on the owl
Ovid. Metamorphoses, vol. 2. Translated by Frank Justus Miller.
as a deity. In one Samoan village the people believe that the
New York, 1916. The association of owls with the dark as-
owl incarnates their god. A malevolent pre-Columbian Aztec
pects of the goddesses of the underworld and their evocation
god is represented with a screech owl on his head.
of primitive fears.
Among certain American Indian tribes, it was believed
New Sources
that God’s power was transmitted to the shaman through
Cenzanto, Elena, and Fabio Santopietro. Owls: Art, Legend, Histo-
owls. The Kiowa thought that the medicine man became an
ry. Translated by Graham Fawcett. Boston, 1991.
owl after death, and Creek priests bore a stuffed owl as their
Holmgren, Virginia. Owls in Folklore and Natural History. Santa
insignia. Owl dances were performed as a magical rite, and
Barbara, Calif., 1988.
in the Medicine Pipe Dance of the Crow tribes, the pipe
Weinstein, Krystyna. The Owl in Art, Myth, and Legend. New
stem was decorated with owl and woodpecker feathers to
York, 1991.
symbolize night and day. For some tribes the owl represented
ANN DUNNIGAN (1987)
a psychopomp: The Ojibwa called the bridge over which the
Revised Bibliography
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P
PACHOMIUS (293?–346) was a Christian ascetic and founder of cenobitic monasti-
cism. Information about Pachomius has been much confused in the many legends and
biographies preserved in various versions and translations. Born of pagan parents in Upper
Egypt, Pachomius encountered Christianity for the first time in the city of Latopolis
(Copt., Esnen; modern-day Isna) while serving in the military. There he was impressed
with the seemingly virtuous life of local Christians and by the love they showed for all
people. After his conscription ended, Pachomius returned to his village, Chinoboskeia
(Copt., Schneset), and was baptized. Because of his great love for God, he decided to be-
come a monk and was placed under the spiritual guidance of the ascetic Palemon. In
Egypt at the time the eremitic life as established by Antony of Egypt was dominant. After
receiving divine exhortation, Pachomius decided to organize a monastic community.
In an abandoned village on the east bank of the Nile, near Dendera, Pachomius es-
tablished a monastery surrounded by a wall and named it Tabennis (c. 318). The small
number of ascetics there soon increased greatly, creating a need for other monasteries.
Under his direction, nine monasteries for men and two for women were established. In
order to administer the newly established monasteries more effectively, Pachomius moved
the center from Tabennis to Pebu, where he was installed as general leader, or hegumen
(Gr., h¯egoumenos). His sister Mary became the first hegumen in one of the women’s
monasteries. A wealthy monk, Petronius, gave financial support to Pachomius to retain
control of his institutions during a general meeting of the monks in Pebu at Easter. Pa-
chomius died on May 9, 346, in an epidemic that took the lives of about a hundred
monks.
In fourth-century Egypt three basic forms of monasticism appeared: (1) the severe
eremitic form, which was based on Antony’s life in the desert; (2) the anchoritic monasti-
cism of Makarios, which employed Sunday worship as one of its common elements; and
(3) cenobitic monasticism as developed and practiced by Pachomius. Cenobitic monasti-
cism centered on life inside the walls of the monastery with all the hours of the day and
night strictly regulated. Monastic rule governed all the needs and activities of the monks:
C LOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT CORNER. Fifteenth-century woodcut depicting the burning of the Jews.
[©Bettmann/Corbis]; Sixth-century BCE Laconian cup depicting Atlas and the punishment of
Prometheus. Museo Gregoriano Etrusco, Vatican Museums. [©Scala/Art Resource, N.Y.]; The
pyramids of Giza, Egypt: Menkaure (foreground), Khafre, and Khufu. [©Yann Arthus-
Bertrand/Corbis]
; The Temple of Poseidon in Sounion, Greece. [©Jan Butchofsky-Houser/Corbis];
Nineteenth-century carving of the Polynesian god Rongo, from the Gambier Islands. Museo
Missionario Etnologico, Vatican Museums. [©Scala/Art Resource, N.Y.] .
6939

6940
PACIFISM
common prayer, common table, common work, and com-
gière, in “Les moines d’Orient,” vol. 4, no. 2 (Paris, 1965),
mon use of the products of labor. According to monastic leg-
and The Life of Pachomius: Vita Prima Graeca, translated by
end and tradition, an angel dictated these rules to Pachomi-
Apostolos N. Athanassakis (Missoula, Mont., 1975). A
us. Regarded as equal to scripture, obedience to them was
French translation of the Coptic lives is Les vies coptes de Saint
considered a great virtue.
Pachôme et de ses premiers successeurs, translated by L. T. Le-
fort, “Bibliothèque du Muséon,” no. 16 (Louvain, 1943).
The hegumen was the spiritual leader of the monks, also
See also the Œuvres de S. Pachôme et ses disciples, 2 vols., ed-
undertaking responsibility for the financial support of the
ited by L. T. Lefort, in “Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum
monastery in order to relieve the monks of worldly cares.
Orientalium, Scriptores Coptici,” vols. 23 and 24 (Louvain,
Thus the monks could turn their undivided attention to spir-
1956) for Coptic and French versions. The rule of Pachomi-
itual exercises and toward heaven. In fact, this was the most
us along with eleven letters are available in the Latin transla-
tion of Jerome in Patrologia Latina, edited by J.-P. Migne,
important difference between the monasticism of Pachomius
vol. 23 (Paris, 1865), pp. 61–99.
and that of Makarios: the hegumen was not only responsible
for the spiritual needs of the monks but also for all material
Three relevant secondary works are Heinrich Bacht’s “L’im-
needs (e.g., housing, clothing, food, health care). On the
portance de l’idéal monastique de S. Pacôme pour l’histoire
du monachisme chrétien,” Revue d’ascetique et de mystique 26
other hand, the eremitic, anchoritic, and cenobitic lives did
(1950): 308–326; H. Idris Bell’s Egypt from Alexander the
have common elements—removal from the world, severe as-
Great to the Arab Conquest (Oxford, 1948), pp. 109ff.; and
ceticism, work with the hands, prayers, and obedience to the
Karl Heussi’s Der Ursprung des Mönchtums (Tübingen,
hegumen and the canons.
1936).
Pachomius wrote his famous rules for monks in Coptic,
THEODORE ZISSIS (1987)
but only Jerome’s translation from Greek into Latin is ex-
Translated from Greek by Philip M. McGhee
tant. In Coptic and Greek, only fragments are preserved, but
there are also Ethiopic and Arabic translations. The long ver-
sion of his rules seems to be the original. Eleven letters of Pa-
chomius
are also preserved in translations by Jerome. Admoni-
PACIFISM SEE NONVIOLENCE
tions and a small section of Catechetical Instructions have also
survived.
Pachomius was not a great theoretical teacher of asceti-
PADMASAMBHAVA, an Indian Tantric adept of the
cism, but he was a great organizer of its practice. His teach-
eighth century who became a foremost Tibetan cultural
ings were directed to the ordering of the monks’ lives by
hero, is the subject of greatly elaborated legends and serves
strict canons. These canons were meant to insure the good
as the eponymous source of much of the enormous corpus
operation of the cloister and to make the separation from the
of revelatory textual “treasures” (gter ma). He remains, how-
world pronounced, including regulating the travels of the
ever, so obscure to historical research that it has even been
monks and visits from the laity. The canons imposed unifor-
proposed that he was an entirely mythical construction who
mity on the monks’ way of life, dress, and nourishment even
in fact never lived. Though this extreme conclusion seems,
when the monks were outside the monastery. Only the sick
in the light of the slim evidence that does exist, to be without
were exempt from the austere dietary rules. Pachomius’s can-
merit, it does underscore that here, as with a great many
ons covered all hours of the day and night, which were strict-
founders of religious traditions, the religious view of the past
ly arranged and scheduled to cover work, prayer, and rest,
cannot be readily reconciled with the demands of critical
as well as behavior in church and at the table.
history.
The greatest influence Pachomius had on the history of
THE LEGEND. According to traditional Tibetan accounts,
monasticism was in the organizational thoroughness and ef-
the emperor Khri Srong lde btsan (Trhi Songdetsen, r.
fectiveness of his rules. He created a form of monasticism
755–c. 797), sometime after his adoption of Buddhism in
that was to extend beyond his own epoch: the development
762, resolved to create the first monastic complex, Bsam yas
of monasticism in the East and West was largely based on
(Samye), at which Tibetan aspirants could be ordained into
his rules. He influenced such monastic leaders as Basil the
the Buddhist sam:gha. To achieve this, he invited the re-
Great, John Cassian, and Benedict of Nursia, either directly
nowned Indian monk and philosopher S´a¯ntarak¸sita to pre-
or indirectly, and his rules are still followed in the austere
side over the construction of Bsam yas, but whatever men
monastic life lived on Mount Athos.
built by day, the gods and demons of Tibet tore down by
night. S´a¯ntarak¸sita then determined that such obstacles
B
could be overcome only by great occult power, which he, as
IBLIOGRAPHY
The Greek lives (i. e., biographies) of Pachomius are available in
a monk who observed the Vinaya, could not deploy. He sug-
Sancti Pachomii vitae Graecae, edited by François Halkin, in
gested therefore that the monarch extend an invitation to the
“Subsidia Hagiographica,” vol. 19 (Brussels, 1932). French
great Indian master of esoteric Buddhism, Padmasambhava,
and English translations of the “first Greek life” are La pre-
who had been miraculously born in the land of Od:d:iya¯na
mière vie grecque de Saint Pachôme, translated by A.-J. Festu-
and now practiced Tantric rites in Nepal. It is said that when
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PADMASAMBHAVA
6941
Khri Srong lde btsan’s emissaries arrived at the frontier, Pad-
Considering this probably tenth-century account in the
masambhava was already waiting for them and refused the
light of a second group of early traditions—those contained
gold that they offered, declaring that everything had been
in the several redactions of the Dba’ (or Sba) bzhed, dating
transformed into gold in his vision. When the progress of his
to the early second millenniumwe may conclude that these
journey was obstructed by Tibet’s fierce local divinities, he
sources testify to the recollection of an eighth-century Tan-
waged miraculous competitions with them, converting them
tric adept, a specialist in the Vajrak¯ıla cycle of Tantric rites,
to become protectors of the Buddhist faith. In the most de-
who developed a following in Nepal and southern Tibet. He
veloped versions of the tale, these battles assume the charac-
may have also met with the king, acted as an exorcist in con-
ter of an epic account of the taming of the land, converting
nection with the construction of Bsam yas, and, because the
it from a savage realm to a sphere of civilization.
control of rivers and irrigation figures prominently through-
out the legends, it is not impossible that among the wonders
On arriving in Central Tibet, Padmasambhava’s charis-
he worked were elements of hydraulic engineering.
ma overwhelmed the ruler himself, so that he, together with
the leading members of his court, became devoted disciples.
Given this, it becomes possible to imagine that the sev-
A lady of the court, Ye shes mtsho rgyal (Yeshe Tsogyel), was
eral lineages of lay Tantric practitioners that during the late
taken as Padmasambhava’s consort and in the developed leg-
tenth and early eleventh centuries traced their antecedents
ends she herself is divinized, becoming the spiritual mother
back to Padmasambhava, and that were devoted to the cult
of the Tibetan people. For his part, Padmasambhava worked
of Vajrak¯ıla, would have laid great stress upon the royal
wonders so as to turn deserts into rich, irrigated fields. By
meeting, whatever the real facts of the matter may have been,
marking the outer wall of Bsam yas with his ritual dance he
as this no doubt strengthened their sense of legitimacy and
quelled the spirits that had obstructed the monastery’s con-
authority. Once these early Tibetan Tantric lineages started
struction. The temple was built and consecrated, and soon
to come under attack by proponents of the newer lines of
became an outstanding center of Buddhist learning.
Tantrism being introduced from India from the late tenth
century onwards, the tendency would have been to insist in-
Padmasambhava, however, by gaining the favor of the
creasingly upon recollections of Padmasambhava’s imperial
king, became an object of jealousy among some factions of
connection, thereby reinforcing the ancient tradition against
the aristocracy and these now plotted against him. The local
the upstart claims of the new teachings. Padmasambhava,
divinities, too, although bound by oath to him, in some cases
perhaps a marginal dharma-master of the eighth century, in
grew restive. With circumstances no longer propitious for his
this way reemerged two centuries later as an emblem of
continued sojourn in Tibet, he departed, traveling to the
Tibet’s imperial greatness, the hero to a wide network of
southern island of Camara, where he will dwell as an immor-
Tantric cults that had taken root and flourished during this
tal until the end of the present aeon. Prior to his departure
time.
from Tibet, however, accompanied by Ye shes mtsho rgyal,
he traveled over every inch of the Tibetan plateau, every-
The tales of Padmasambhava’s compassionate interces-
where concealing treasures specially intended for particular
sion in the Tibetan world were elaborated in epic narratives
needs in the future. These treasures—images, ritual objects,
that were discovered as revealed treasures (gter ma). In the
and above all texts (for instance, the celebrated Tibetan Book
early development of this literature the treasure-finder
of the Dead)—would be discovered by his own Tibetan disci-
Nyang ral Nyi ma ’od zer (Nyangrel Nyima Özer, 1124–
ples, perpetually reincarnating as “treasure-discoverers.”
1192) and his successor Guru Chos dbang (Guru Chöwang,
Their continuing activity is a sign of the “Precious Guru”
1212–1270) emerge as central figures in the formation of his
(guru rinpoche) Padmasambhava’s special love for the Tibet-
cult. With the revelation by O rgyan gling pa (Orgyen Ling-
an people, a love that may also be activated when the devotee
pa, fourteenth century) of the epic verse account of his life,
summons him through prayer from his fortress on the isle
the Padma bka’ thang shel brag ma, as well as five supplemen-
of Camara.
tary works (Bka’ thang sde lnga), all concerned with the con-
version of the Tibetan empire to Buddhism, the legend of
The legend in history. The late-first-millennium Ti-
Padmasambhava arrives at its definitive form.
betan manuscripts discovered at Dunhuang contain only two
mentions of Padmasambhava that have been noted so far.
INFLUENCE ON DOCTRINE, RITUAL, AND ART. Throughout
One of these is a mere annotation in a colophon, but the
the second millennium Padmasambhava played an unusually
other provides a brief hagiography, in which certain of the
significant role in the ongoing development of Tibetan Bud-
elements that will inform the developed legend are already
dhism. Though it is impossible to securely assign any extant
present. Here Padmasambhava is portrayed as a Tantric
writings to his authorship, even after excluding the innumer-
adept residing in Nepal who vanquishes demonic obstacles
able “treasures” as apocryphal works, a few texts do at least
through his mastery of the occult rites of Vajrak¯ıla (the “ada-
reflect beliefs regarding his teachings as formulated among
mant spike”), one of the Tantric divinities with which he is
the first generations of Tibetans owing allegiance to him.
indeed most closely associated in later tradition. His Tibetan
The most prestigious of these is the Man ngag lta ba’i phreng
disciples, instructed by him in accord with the progression
ba (Esoteric instruction: A garland of views), a survey of the
of Tantric systems, realize a variety of miraculous abilities.
nine vehicles of the Rnying ma (Nyingma) pa from the
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6942
PAGANISM, ANGLO-SAXON
standpoint of the exegetical tradition of the Guhyagarbha
Klaus, Christa. Der aus dem Lotos Entstandene: Ein Beitrag zur
Tantra, the fundamental Tantra of the Rnying ma pa esoter-
Ikonographie und Ikonologie des Padmasambhava nach dem
ic system. This work has spawned a substantial commentarial
Rin chen gter mdzod. Wiesbaden, Germany, 1982. Icono-
literature and has much influenced the formulation of Rny-
graphical study of an important liturgical corpus.
ing ma pa doctrine in general.
Kunsang, Eric Pema, trans. Dakini Teachings: Padma Sambhava’s
Oral Instructions to Lady Tsogyal. Boston, 1990. Selections
Besides being regarded as the source of the majority of
from a twelfth-century compilation.
treasure-texts, and hence of the ritual and contemplative sys-
Kunsang, Eric Pema, trans. The Lotus-Born: The Life Story of Pad-
tems they propound, Padmasambhava himself is frequently
masambhava. Boston, 1993. The influential version of the
invoked as a principle figure in the liturgy, whether as the
life by Nyang ral Nyi ma ’od zer.
guru who is the object of devotion or as the central figure
in the esoteric man:d:ala with whom the adept identifies. As
Ngawang Zangpo, trans. Guru Rinpoche: His Life and Times. Itha-
ca, N.Y., 2002. Includes Ta¯rana¯tha’s influential “Indian”
such, Padmasambhava has inspired a tremendous body of li-
version of the life.
turgical poetry, iconic representation, and even sacred dance.
To list the major Tibetan religious figures who have been
Thingo, Tsering T., and Gerd W. Essen. Padmasambhava: Leben
und Wundertaten des grossen tantrischen Meisters im Spiegel der
among the leading contributors in this respect, as treasure-
tibetischen Bildkunst. Cologne, Germany, 1991. An attractive
discoverers or authors, would require a virtual Who’s Who of
collection of icons of Padmasambhava’s varied forms.
Tibetan religion. With the career of the fifth Dalai Lama
(1617–1682), a fervent devotee of the Precious Guru, the
Toussaint, Gustave-Charles, trans. Le Dict de Padma: Padma
thang yig, Ms. de Lithang. Paris, 1933. Translated from the
cult of Padmasambhava was, in effect, given the sanction of
French by Kenneth Douglas and Gwendolyn Bays as The
the highest authority. Nevertheless, some sectarian factions
Life and Liberation of Padmasambhava, 2 vols. Emeryville,
regarded the entire revelatory corpus of treasures to be spuri-
Calif., 1978. Though the French translation of O rgyan gling
ous and so sought its suppression. It is safe to say, however,
pa’s epic sometimes goes astray, Toussaint had a richer poetic
that most Tibetan Buddhists, whether Rnying ma pa or not,
sense than any Western translator of Tibetan before or since.
count themselves among Padmasambhava’s faithful
Wangdu, Pasang, and Hildegard Diemberger. dBa’ bzhed: The
adherents.
Royal Narrative concerning the Bringing of the Buddha’s Doc-
trine to Tibet
. Vienna, 2000. An early and important account
SEE ALSO Buddhism, article on Buddhism in Tibet; Bud-
of the adoption of Buddhism under Khri Srong lde btsan.
dhism, Schools of, article on Tibetan and Mongolian Bud-
dhism.
MATTHEW T. KAPSTEIN (2005)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bischoff, F. A. “Padmasambhava est-il un personnage historique?”
PAGANISM, ANGLO-SAXON. The “Anglo-
In Proceedings of the Csoma de Ko˝rös symposium, edited by
Saxon” history of England stretches from the fifth to the
Louis Ligeti, pp. 27–33. Budapest, 1978. Skeptical assess-
eleventh centuries. Even before then, however, in 98 CE,
ment of the historical evidence.
Tacitus cites the “Angli” as one of seven tribes on the north-
Bischoff, F. A., and Charles Hartman. “Padmasambhava’s Inven-
eastern German seaboard who worshiped “Nerthus, i.e.,
tion of the Phur-bu: Ms. Pelliot tibétain 44.” In Études tibé-
Earth the Mother” (Robinson, 1935, p. 317), a Bronze Age
taines dédiées à la mémoire de Marcelle Lalou, edited by Ariane
goddess borne about in a wagon. A formal comparison here
Macdonald, pp. 11–28. Paris, 1971. The first study of the
with Njörðr, the name of a Norse god, may indicate that Tac-
Dunhuang account.
itus mistakenly identified Nerthus with the earth when his
Dudjom Rinpoche, Jikdrel Yeshe Dorje. The Nyingma School of
informant treated them as divine husband and wife (North,
Tibetan Buddhism: Its Fundamentals and History. 2 vols.
1997, pp. 19–25). When the Angles, Saxons, and other Ger-
Translated by Gyurme Dorje and Matthew Kapstein. Bos-
manic invaders settled in Britain they stayed heathen until
ton. 1991. Compendium of Rnying ma pa tradition, with
various moments in the seventh century. It is hard to know
much inter alia on the legends and teachings attributed to
what their beliefs were before this time (Owen, 1981). There
Padmasambhava.
is a dearth of evidence, and our literary sources consist of
Guenther, Herbert V. The Teachings of Padmasambhava. Leiden,
scraps found here and there in place-names, royal genealo-
1996. An interesting compilation of texts attributed to Pad-
gies, and passages derived from a number of mostly Latin
masambhava, though Guenther’s historical speculations are
works concerned with Christian history and doctrine (Page,
implausible.
1995).
Kapstein, Matthew T. The Tibetan Assimilation of Buddhism: Con-
version, Contestation, and Memory. Oxford, 2000. Includes
Our chief sources are Northumbrian. Bede (c. 675–
comments on the Dunhuang and Sba bzhed traditions.
735), in his History of the English Church and People (c. 732),
Karmay, Samten Gyaltsen. The Great Perfection: A Philosophical
records the Anglo-Saxon conversion and its aftermath from
and Meditative Teaching of Tibetan Buddhism. Leiden, 1988.
597 to the 640s (Colgrave and Mynors, 1969). He relates
Includes a translation of the Esoteric Instruction: A Garland
three crucial moments of conversion: when King Æthelberht
of Views.
of Kent gave Augustine permission to preach in 597; when
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PAGANISM, ANGLO-SAXON
6943
King Rædwald of East Anglia put a Christian altar at the cen-
Grave finds, on the other hand, are easily identified, the most
ter of his temple in the 610s; and when King Edwin of Deira,
significant being Sutton Hoo, a ship burial, or cenotaph, dis-
though he held off for eight years, had himself and his people
covered in 1939 and dated to about 625, and probably
baptized by Paulinus in 627. In this episode Bede refers to
meant for Rædwald. This find includes a whetstone mount-
a man named Coifi, “first among the high priests” of Deira,
ed with a stag emblem, both of which might be pagan (Wil-
who burned down the enclosure at Goodmanham after rid-
son, 1992, pp. 168–169). Made known in 2004, the grave
ing there unlawfully on a stallion and casting a spear at the
find of another newly Christian king in Prittlewell, Essex,
idols inside. The same period is covered without this tale, but
possibly the East Saxon Sæberht (d. 619?), will become a fur-
with some interesting additions, in the anonymous Life of
ther rich source of research. The evidence from fifth- and
Pope Gregory the Great, which was written in Whitby proba-
sixth-century cemeteries also gives a picture of an imagined
bly around 713 (Colgrave, 1968). Bede, in two works on
heathen afterlife in which earthly goods such as treasures and
computus, the calculation of the liturgical year, also claims
garments, horses, weapons, and even foodstuffs could ac-
that his heathen ancestors held a festival in honor of a “god-
company the dead as if into another version of the living
dess” named Eostre at about the time of the Passion (Wallis,
world (Wilson, 1992, pp. 97–123).
1999, p. 54). Although the Modern English word Easter, a
term for a time of year, comes from eostre, there is no other
It is not easy to make sense of all this. Most attempts
reason to personify the name in this way, and it looks as if
involve comparisons with the rich mythological poetry and
Bede deified eostre on analogy with Februus, an invented
prose of tenth- to thirteenth-century Iceland (e.g., Dronke,
Roman god whom he knew to be associated with the month
1992; Harris, 1975). In one such case, it is argued that hea-
of February (Wallis, 1999, p. 48). An older contemporary
then kingship was “sacral” and based on a presumed hieros
of Bede was Bishop Aldhelm of Sherborne (640s?–709), one
gamos between Woden and the earth (Chaney, 1970); in an-
of whose letters hints at the existence of priapic cults in Wes-
other, that the husband was rather Ingui or Ing, not only a
sex in the early seventh century (Lapidge and Herren, 1979,
counterpart of the Norse gods Baldr and (Ingunar- or
p. 479). Still further south, according to Life of Saint Wilfrid,
Yngvi-) Freyr, but also a progenitor god with a wagon, of
which was written between 710 and 720, there is an account
whom mention is made in The Old English Rune Poem
of a heathen sorcerer defeated perhaps in the 680s by Bishop
(North, 1997). Some scholars try to examine Anglo-Saxon
Wilfrid on a beach in Sussex (Mayr-Harting, 1991, p. 24).
paganism without recourse to the cognate mythology of
Other sources derive from place-names, epigraphy, and
Óðinn, Þórr, Frigg, Baldr, Freyr, and Freyja (Wilson, 1992).
archaeology. The gods’ names Woden, Tiw, Thunor, and
Yet Norse paganism remains relevant in another way in that
perhaps once the feminine Freo survive in place-names only
its first purveyors, the Vikings, settled the east of England
in the south and midlands (Meaney, 1995). There Woden’s
in the late ninth century, the northwest in the tenth, and the
name is the most common, and it was also used in Anglian
southwest in the early eleventh. Their paganism was kin to
royal genealogies of the eighth century (Dumville, 1976).
the Anglo-Saxon variety, and it seems likely that until their
Pre-Christian inscriptions of the Anglo-Saxons were written
own conversion moments they helped to turn English super-
in runes. Aside from coin-legends, about ninety runic in-
stitions back into cults. Most of the later evidence must be
scriptions survive from England and the associated Frisian
seen in this light. It is unclear, for example, whether or not
region in the fifth to seventh centuries (Page, 1999). Now
an invocation to “Erce, mother earth” in the eleventh-
and then new texts are found, but no runes have turned up
century Charm for Unfruitful Land, which presents her as a
that might throw light on Anglo-Saxon paganism, unless the
bride in the embrace of God, is an Anglo-Saxon relic entirely
gibberish of three inscriptions can be taken to represent
free of Norse influence. On the other hand, it can be argued
magic rituals. The names for a couple of runes, however, Tiw
that Balder, who replaces the unrelated Baldæg in a genealo-
and Ing, do appear to refer to heathen gods, although any-
gy in Æthelweard’s Latin version of the Anglo-Saxon Chroni-
thing about them more than their names is a matter for inter-
cle (c. 975), is witness to a Norse myth imported into En-
pretation (Page, 1999, pp. 76–77). Within the wider archae-
gland (North, 1997, pp. 124–131). Abbot Ælfric of
ology, it is often assumed that some of the first English
Eynsham (c. 950–c. 1010), in his De falsis diis (On the false
churches were built over heathen sites of worship, which had
themselves been converted from Romano-British shrines
gods), draws attention to Óðon, Þór, and Fricg (Johnson,
(Blair, 1995). In 601 Pope Gregory commanded that hea-
1995), where one might expect the native English names.
then shrines should be reconsecrated rather than torn down,
Archbishop Wulfstan of York (d. 1023) rewrote this homily
so that converts might hasten more readily to their accus-
and also drafted laws for the Danish king Cnut in which he
tomed places (Colgrave and Mynors, 1969, p. 106). To start
rendered some anti-pagan prohibitions of the sixth-century
with, at least, Anglo-Saxon heathens probably had no priest-
Bishop Martin of Braga into his own powerful West Saxon
hood, but Old English place-name elements such as weoh
prose. This usage, above all, shows that heathen abuses were
and hearh show that they had, respectively, wayside and pub-
still rife in England as late as the eleventh century.
lic shrines (Meaney, 1995), even if it is hard to recognize
these in excavated ground plans (Wilson, 1992, pp. 44–46).
SEE ALSO Archaeology and Religion.
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6944
PAIN
BIBLIOGRAPHY
willfully hurt themselves. Although such positive evaluation
Blair, John. “Anglo-Saxon Pagan Shrines and Their Prototypes.”
of pain in religious contexts is diminishing, it is still widely
Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History 8 (1995):
normative. In 1984, Pope John Paul II stated that “Chris-
1–28.
tianity is not a system into which we have to fit the awkward
Chaney, William A. The Cult of Kingship in Anglo-Saxon England:
fact of pain. . . . In a sense, it creates, rather than solves the
The Transition from Paganism to Christianity. Manchester,
problem of pain.”
U.K., 1970.
DEFINITIONS OF PAIN. The International Association for the
Colgrave, Bertram, ed. Vita Sancti Gregorii Magni: the Earliest Life
Study of Pain defines pain as “an unpleasant sensory and
of Gregory the Great. Lawrence, Kans., 1968.
emotional experience associated with actual or potential tis-
Colgrave, Bertram, and Roger Mynors, eds. and trans.Bede’s Eccle-
sue damage or described in terms of such damage.” The vast
siastical History of the English People. Oxford, 1969; reprint
majority of people know pain directly and vividly as a nox-
with corrections, 1991.
ious feeling located somewhere in the body. Despite the fact
Dronke, Ursula. “Eddic Poetry as a Source for the History of Ger-
that pain is notoriously difficult to express in a verbal way,
manic Religion.” In Germanische Religionsgeschichte: Quellen
most languages do provide tropes for speaking about the sen-
und Quellenprobleme, edited by Heinrich Beck, Detlev Ell-
sation. Over seventy words are used in the McGill Pain
mers, and Kurt Schier, pp. 656–684. Berlin and New York,
1992.
Questionnaire, which is administered to patients who com-
plain of pain. These include physical, emotional, and evalua-
Dumville, David N. “The Anglian Collection of Royal Genealo-
tive terms, such as piercing, burning, drilling, punishing,
gies and Regnal Lists.” Anglo-Saxon England 5 (1976):
23–50.
nagging, and terrifying. Other languages are equally rich in
pain terms. Biblical Hebrew (the books of Job and Jeremiah)
Harris, Joseph. “Cursing with the Thistle: Skírnismál 31 and Old
describes pain as tearing its victim, penetrating like arrows,
English Metrical Charms 9, 16–17.” Neuphilologische Mit-
and crushing like a storm. Similarly, Sanskrit and other Asian
teilungen 76 (1975): 26–53.
languages use terms that refer to tools or weapons, such as
Hofstra, Tette, Luuk A. J. R. Houwen, and Alasdair A. MacDon-
lances, darts, spears, or fire, in order to communicate the na-
ald, eds. Pagans and Christians: The Interplay Between Chris-
ture of the hurt.
tian Latin and Traditional Germanic Cultures in Early Medi-
eval Europe.
Groningen, Netherlands, 1995.
The vocabulary of pain strongly suggests that pain and
Lapidge, Michael, and Michael Herren, trans. Aldhelm: The Prose
suffering are inseparable. In fact, the word pain is often used
Works. Cambridge, U.K. and Totowa, N.J., 1979.
as a synonym for suffering: C. S. Lewis’s famous book, The
Mayr-Harting, Henry. The Coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon
Problem of Pain (1940) is about emotional suffering. Howev-
England. 3d ed. London, 1991.
er, it is important to make a conceptual distinction between
Meaney, Audrey L. “Pagan English Sanctuaries, Place-Names, and
nociception (the perception of “physical” pain) and suffering.
Hundred Meeting-Places.” Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeolo-
A back injury may be accompanied by suffering, for instance,
gy and History 8 (1995): 29–42.
due to isolation and loss of productivity leading to depression
North, Richard. Heathen Gods in Old English Literature. Cam-
or anxiety. Other pains, however, may be experienced more
bridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England 22. Cambridge,
ambiguously or even as desirable and joyful. A runner may
U.K., 1997.
report pleasant or desirable pain, and some cancer patients
Owen, Gale R. Rites and Religions of the Anglo-Saxons. Newton
describe the severe discomfort of chemotherapy as healing.
Abbot, U.K., 1981.
Similarly, most forms of suffering—the loss of a child to ill-
ness, for instance, or the fear of death—are not accompanied
Page, R. I. An Introduction to English Runes, 2d ed. Woodbridge,
U.K., 1999.
by pain.
Robinson, Rodney P., ed. The Germania of Tacitus. Middletown,
Another distinction must be made: pain is distinct from
Conn., 1935.
either violence or death. Religious literature and rituals
Wallis, Faith, trans., with introduction, notes, and commentary.
around the world describe violent executions, sacrifices, and
Bede: the Reckoning of Time. Translated Texts for Historians
the slaughter of nonbelievers and heretics as meaningful
29. Liverpool, 1999.
theological phenomena. A substantial body of scholarship is
Wilson, David N. Anglo-Saxon Paganism. London, 1992.
devoted to interpreting or analyzing violence and the sacred:
Rene Girard’s Violence and the Sacred (1977) stands out in
RICHARD NORTH (2005)
this respect. The phenomenon of pain occupies a distinct do-
main of religious discourse and practice. The swift beheading
of a heretic does not communicate the same information on
PAIN. Most religious traditions seek to minimize suffering
the role of the body, power, self, and eschatology as the grad-
and explain its causes. At the same time, many religions
ually increased and slow torment of a martyr who is given
around the world promote painful behavior in specific ritual
the option of ending the torture by conversion. Moreover,
contexts and produce influential discourse that praises the
the self-willed pain of pilgrims and ascetics is different from
value of pain or glorifies those who either endure pain or
both. Similarly, violent displays accompanied by heroic in-
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PAIN
6945
sensitivity to pain—the Malaysian piercers during the
Crows, and other Native Americans are lengthy and elabo-
Thaipusam festival, for instance—are only indirectly linked
rate series of painful rites culminating with the piercing and
to the subject of pain. Here pain is regarded as a meaningful
tearing of tissue in the chest. Although ritual participants ar-
existential category, but only to be transcended and ignored.
ticulate numerous reasons for participating in the Sun
Ritual analgesia is not pain behavior, but it is based on a pro-
Dance, the pain discourse focuses on self-sacrifice for the
found religious evaluation of pain.
sake of the community, love, and compassion (Jorgensen,
1972).
DISTRIBUTION AND CONTEXTS. The use of pain, or the
praise of it, in religious contexts has been extremely wide-
Mourning rituals in which self-mutilation is practiced
spread and diverse. Virtually every known tradition describes
range from the merely symbolic tearing of the button in con-
pain in spiritual terms, praises its effects, or prescribes it to
temporary Judaism (a remnant of painful biblical practices)
adherents. This can be seen anywhere from ancient Near
to self-beatings and head slashing by Muslim followers of the
East religions, the three Western monotheistic traditions,
murdered Imam H:usayn. Mourning rituals involving self-
and Greek and mystery cults to the major South and East
mutilation also extend through numerous tribal religions in
Asian traditions and the religions of the Americas, Africa,
which such practices as tearing out one’s hair, slashing the
and Australia. Pain figures either as an important feature of
thighs with a knife, cutting the body with various objects,
ritual performances or as the subject of extremely diverse and
or banging one’s head against the ground are ritually enacted
elaborate discourse. The performative use of pain includes
(Durkheim, 1965/1912).
pilgrimages, initiations (including shamans, secret societies,
PAIN DISCOURSE. The discursive contexts in which pain is
rites of passage, and puberty rites), mourning and funerary
described, prescribed, or praised include scriptural teachings,
rituals, judicial ordeals, rites of possession and exorcism, spe-
myths, and folk narratives; biographies and hagiographies of
cialized mystical disciplines, monastic guidelines, and mod-
mystics, saints, or martyrs; religious poetry; sermons; and
ern mind-altering practices such as body-piercing and tat-
ethnographic evidence. Unlike ritual performance, pain dis-
tooing.
course explicitly addresses the nature and function of self-
The most commonly practiced rituals in which pain fig-
inflicted or involuntary pain. The literary and oral sources
ures prominently are pilgrimages, initiations, and rites of
invariably couch their discussions of pain in tropes or elabo-
mourning. Pilgrims are often encouraged to walk barefoot
rate models. These included juridical, medical, military, ath-
on rocky or hot terrain, crawl on hands and knees or pros-
letic, magical, communal, and psychotropic ways of concep-
trate on the hard ground, sleep under difficult conditions,
tualizing pain. The tropes reveal both implicitly and
expose themselves to the heat or cold of the elements, and
explicitly a dual evaluation of the effects of pain on the agent.
avoid refreshment and nourishment. Such discomforts are
Pain is either a destructive force—a punishment—that
practiced in such places as Sabarai Malai in South India,
causes aversion, or it is a necessary evil or even blessing, like
Mount Kailash in Nepal, Lourdes in France, Guadalupe in
medicine. In either case, pain in religious literature is a mean-
Mexico, Karbala in Iraq, Jerusalem in Israel, Mecca in Saudi
ingful aspect of human experience, which either strengthens
Arabia, and numerous lesser known centers of pilgrimage.
something of value (e.g., identity with God, community), or
Pilgrimage discomforts and pain are not incidental to the
destroys something of perhaps lesser value (e.g., ego, self).
goals of the pilgrims’ journey, or merely contingent on being
Despite the varying cultural contexts in which religious dis-
on the road. They are central to the goal of pilgrimage. In
course takes place, pain models always reveal this dualistic
Sabarai Malai, for example, a pilgrim was recorded as saying:
evaluation.
“At one moment everything is pain. But at the next moment
The juridical model. Narratives and discourses about
everything is love (anpu). . .for the Lord” (Daniel, 1984,
pain that describe it in terms taken from the world of juris-
p. 269).
prudence are included in this model. The clearest is pain as
punishment, an obvious feature considering the etymology
Initiatory rituals, especially rites of passage for boys and
of the word from the Greek poena, meaning “payment” or
girls at puberty, have been extremely common and are still
“penalty.” But pain may also be described as a debt or as
widely practiced—often in a painful manner. Methods of
damages owed, and it may be related to laws of evidence
hurting, applied to both sexes, commonly center on the geni-
when it is linked to methods of eliciting truth. This model
tals, with various forms of incision, insertion of objects such
accounts for a large percentage of the cases found in religious
as twigs, and scraping or stabbing. Other types of initiatory
literature, and many pain patients still use it today.
pain include scarification, piercing of various body parts
(e.g., nose, ears, cheeks), knocking out of teeth, the practice
Pain is often described as a punishment by some person-
of kneeling on hot coals, suspension from hooks, and whip-
al agency (e.g., God, Satan, demons) or by some impersonal
pings and beatings. Similar and additional tortures are used
mechanism, such as karma. The punishment may be per-
in initiations to religious and military societies, as well as aca-
ceived as just, as the confessional writings of sinners and pen-
demic and athletic fraternities; such tortures are also associat-
itents indicate, or it may be entirely unwarranted and tragic.
ed with shamanic practices in Asia and the Americas. For in-
Such is the case of Job, or the cry of Prometheus, who rightly
stance, the Sun Dance rituals of the Arapahos, Cheyennes,
calls Zeus a tyrant.
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6946
PAIN
Juridical pain straddles the boundary between lex tal-
physical health, so he must heed the health of the soul to
lionis (the law of retaliation) and the law of debts in a variety
avoid hell. And Sha¯hEAbdul Lat:¯ıf, an eighteenth-century In-
of cultures, from Judaism and ancient Greece to Hindu ver-
dian S:u¯f¯ı, wrote that the true lover of God does not seek out
sions of karma. The difference between pain as punishment
the medicine of the physician. The South Asian Muslim
and an exchange of debts involves the legal distinction be-
mystic Mirza¯ AsaduDlla¯h Gha¯lib exclaimed: “When pain
tween owing something to a private party and being account-
transgresses the limits, it becomes medicine.”
able to society as a whole. The strongest Jewish instance of
Additional models of pain. Pain can also be conceptu-
this distinction may be found in the Yom Kippur (Day of
alized as a weapon used to destroy self-love in a spiritual bat-
Atonement) liturgy with its notion of redemption as ex-
tle. This is evident in the writings of such Christian theolo-
change (pidyon) or a debt. This mechanism, the restoration
gians as Augustine of Hippo (354–430), as well as John
of a balance through the perhaps magical or sacrificial media-
Calvin (1509–1564), who conceived of the spiritual life as
tion of pain, is also seen in the South Asian vrata—the vow
a battle against “the old man.” Simon the Stylite (d. 459)
that utilizes self-sacrifice to bring about desired results.
battled his own body, and Macarius (d. 390) wrestled against
Juridical pain evokes the laws of evidence: Pain serves
the “fiends” that occupied his body. Muslim ascetics such as
as the instrument for obtaining the truth from reluctant wit-
Abu¯ Bakr Wa¯sit:¯ı claimed to be practicing jihad or holy war
nesses or the accused. This principle operates not just in cases
against the individual soul that deluded itself into thinking
of ordeals or religious inquisitions, as one might expect, but
that it was divine.
also in cases of initiatory ordeal and asceticism. This pain is
The athletic model of pain is evident in the word asceti-
a test. In the New Testament the agony that Jesus suffered
cism, which Plato and Aristotle took to mean “training.” The
in Gethsemane is characterized as a test, a type of ordeal or
attitude revealed in the athletic model toward the body is
trial that reveals a hidden truth: “Because he himself was test-
softer than the military. Hebrews 12 describes pain as God’s
ed by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being
training for his faithful, and both Tertullian (third century)
tested” (Heb. 2:12). Buddhist and Hindu texts (e.g., Warrior
and Prudentius (fourth century) identified martyrdom with
Zen: The Diamond-hard Wisdom of Suzuki Shosan, the
an athletic contest against false religion. Still, the strong aver-
Bhagavadg¯ıta¯, and Patañjali’s Yoga Su¯tra) urge the practi-
sion toward the flesh or individual ego is relatively mute here.
tioner to treat pain and pleasure alike in order to unmask the
truth about the self.
Pain can also be conceived as an alchemical purifier that
transforms ordinary humans into saved souls. It acts like the
Pain as medicine. Even though modern medical au-
fire that melts impure gold, in the words of Gregory of Nyssa
thorities characterize pain as an aversive sensation, religious
(fourth century), or in Ru¯m¯ı’s words: “I am the fire!” Magi-
sources often describe it as medical, and in so doing, evaluate
cal metaphors extend beyond alchemy or the blacksmith’s
it as a beneficial experience. A dramatic example comes from
trade to agricultural tropes, or in the case of the tapas (heat)
Prudentius, a fourth-century Christian poet who attributes
of Hindu mysticism, the metaphor extends to a tool that be-
to the martyr Saint Romanus the following words: “You will
stows supernatural powers. Similarly, the idea that pain can
shudder at the handiwork of the executioners, but are doc-
miraculously transform consciousness and identity in an im-
tors’ hands gentler, when Hippocrates’ cruel butchery is
plicit passage is indicated by the charter of the Midwives Alli-
going on? The living flesh is cut and fresh-drawn blood stains
ance of North America: “Labor. . .is a rite of passage, a psy-
lancers when festering matter is being scraped away.” The
chospiritual training ground for both mother and child.”
claim, made forcefully by Saint Basil (d. 379) and others, is
not that pain is pleasant, but that it benefits the soul. One
Central to the Christian conception of pain is the model
need not seek it like a martyr, but if afflicted naturally, the
of vicarious or communal suffering. Colossians 1:24 states:
pain ought to be taken as a spiritual sign—not just a reason
“Now I rejoice in my suffering for your sake.” Indeed the
for running to the doctor.
painful death of Christ is a vicarious force that extends in ef-
fect to the entire community. Such too is the ritual destruc-
Medicine is both preventive and curative. It either cures
tion of the scapegoat in numerous cultures; in the Zohar’s
diseases that have already been contracted (sin), or prevents
addition to the Yom Kippur liturgy, for example, the death
ills to follow (punishment). In either case a familiar feature
of the righteous atones for the sins of others.
of classical medicine—and attendant aspects of this way of
conceptualizing pain—is that the remedy is as bitter as the
In contemporary Western discourse on self-hurting, de-
disease. In its Christian version this model may owe a great
scribing for instance the performances of “modern primi-
deal to the classic dictum that “medicine is the philosophy
tives,” brain processes are often invoked to explain the
of the body, and philosophy is the medicine of the soul.”
heightened states of consciousness achieved. Although ex-
This ideology can also be seen in Islamic metaphors for reli-
citement and euphoria are often reported as a result of the
gious pain. The S:u¯f¯ı poet Ru¯m¯ı (1207–1273 CE) referred
secretion of beta-endorphins, the language of transcen-
to “love” (of God) as pain without cure. The Sea of Precious
dence—unity of spirit and body, for instance—prevails: “It’s
Virtues (twelfth century) warns the man who seeks worldly
an ecstasy state where no matter what happens in the body,
gain that just as he is willing to suffer with a physician for
no matter how much more intense the physical sensations
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PAIN
6947
become, I feel no more. Sensations just ‘are’” (Mufasar,
ars of mysticism, including Maureen Flynn and Maureen A.
1995, p. 5).
Tilley, now believe that mortification of the flesh is designed
MEANING AND FUNCTION OF PAIN. The methods of causing
to “unmake the world” and eradicate language and identity
oneself or others pain in religious contexts, and the manner
through the mute power of pain.
of articulating the nature of pain have been extremely di-
The most recent and extended analysis of pain in reli-
verse. Pain, itself a biological and psychological phenome-
gious contexts is Ariel Glucklich’s Sacred Pain: Hurting the
non, has been so deeply embedded in cultural expression that
Body for the Sake of the Soul (2001). This book argues, based
it has proven elusive and difficult to theorize. Few theorists
on neuropsychological and cybernetic theories, that self-
have even attempted to focus on pain perception apart from
inflicted pain makes the agent transparent and thereby
its theoretical and ritual contexts. Four distinct approaches
strengthens values, which are held in high regard. The volun-
for understanding religious pain may be identified: cultural-
tary mortifications and discomforts of such mystical practi-
symbolic, psychoanalytical, sociobiological-ethological, and
tioners as Maria Maddalena de’ Pazzi and Henry Suso dis-
psychodynamic. To simplify this range, one may say that re-
solve personal identity while fortifying a new telos or valued
ligious pain has been reduced either to cultural interpretation
goal, such as God or community. Unwanted or natural pain
or to biological analysis.
(e.g., illness, accidents) can be transformed into “sacred”
pain through the psychological mechanisms of self-sacrifice,
Mircea Eliade is preeminent among those theorists who
or by subsuming one’s personal identity within a broader and
refuse to “reduce” ritual performance or religious discourse
more highly valued center. The neuropsychological work of
to universal transcultural principles other than the sacred it-
Ronald Melzack and Patrick D. Wall on phantom-limb pain
self. Consequently, he argues that the pain inflicted on nov-
offers a specific and sophisticated explanation of what may
ices, for instance among Native Americans, is symbolic of
be taking place when the organism is over-stimulated with
specific cultural interpretations of the sacred, and the ritual
pain or irritation. A shutting down or diminution of output
hurt aims at “the spiritual transformation of the victim.” The
from the central nervous system results in phenomenal expe-
torture may represent a symbolic death and rebirth; the geni-
riences, which diminishes the sense of self and reinforces the
tal incisions symbolically de-sexualize the youngster to create
religious psychology that values other sources of identity:
an androgynous being for the state that precedes the new
God, Christ, community, and others. Pain here is under-
birth. In either case, the important religious phenomenon is
stood in terms of its phenomenal effects, not as a pathology
not the sensation of pain itself but the symbolic value of its
or a political weapon.
ritualized application.
Biological reductions, or ethological theories based on
SEE ALSO Healing and Medicine; Mortification; Ordeal;
biology, address the question of aggression and dominance,
Suffering.
access to females, or in some sophisticated versions, imposing
B
ritual constraints on biological drives. For example, in On
IBLIOGRAPHY
Bakan, David. Disease, Pain, and Sacrifice: Toward a Psychology of
Aggression (1963) Konrad Lorenz regards the violent torture
Suffering. Chicago, 1968. A psychoanalytical and phenome-
of initiates as an expression of such biological principles as
nological study of the two-fold effect of pain on the self: inte-
the natural aggression of adults toward young sexual compet-
grative and disintegrative (telic-centralizing and decentraliz-
itors. The highly respected theories of René Girard and Wal-
ing).
ther Burkhert ultimately resolve into such universal—
Chittick, William C., trans. The Sufi Path of Love: The Spiritual
“human nature”—principles. Freudian psychoanalytical the-
Teachings of Rumi. Albany, N.Y., 1983.
ory explains the self-hurting of religious individuals, or the
Daniel, E. Valentine. Fluid Signs: Being a Person the Tamil Way.
tortures of initiates, in broadly reductive terms. The former
Berkeley, 1984. A sophisticated combination of ethnogra-
may represent masochistic pathology, or the ego’s response
phy, ethno-psychology, and traditional Indian philosophy as
to the anxiety of a profound sense of guilt. Sigmund Freud’s
tools for understanding South Indian ritual.
Civilization and Its Discontents (1930) discusses how the tor-
Durkheim, Émile. The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life
ture of youngsters may be due to aggressive and erotic drives
(1912). Translated by Joseph Ward Swain. New York, 1965.
as they manifest in competition over sexual resources, or it
The foundational text for the sociology of religion, contains
may serve to curtail such potentially destructive drives.
a large number of examples of ritualized pain, including in
mourning and rites of expiation or penance.
While none of these approaches focuses exclusively on
Eliade, Mircea. Rites and Symbols of Initiation: The Mysteries of
the perception of pain as a distinct area of interest, Elaine
Birth and Rebirth. Translated by Willard R. Trask. New
Scarry in The Body in Pain (1985) isolates pain as a unique
York, 1965. A comprehensive collection and symbolic inter-
phenomenon—an overwhelming “objectless,” and therefore
pretation of initiatory ordeals from around the world.
mute, experience that destroys the victim’s ability to commu-
Flynn, Maureen. “The Spiritual Uses of Pain in Spanish Mysti-
nicate and ultimately shatters his or her entire world, includ-
cism.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 64, no. 2
ing even the self. Scarry’s theory, which is based on the obser-
(1999): 257–278.
vation of torture victims, has had a significant influence on
Freud, Sigmund. Civilization and Its Discontents (1930). Translat-
religious scholarship. Historians of religions, especially schol-
ed by James Strachey. New York, 1962. One of several cul-
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6948
PALEOLITHIC RELIGION
tural studies based on the psychology of biological drives.
Pleistocene), in which polished stones, pottery, and agricul-
Useful primarily for the insight on the cultural curtailment
ture were still unknown. When it became clear that with few
of drives through ritual.
exceptions the characteristic traits of the Neolithic age ap-
Girard, René. Violence and the Sacred. Translated by Patrick Greg-
peared only some time after the end of the Pleistocene, phe-
ory. Baltimore, Md., 1977. An extended and influential
nomena dating from the postglacial (Holocene) period but
study of the religious and social psychology of the sacrifice.
prior to the Neolithic came to be known as Epipaleolithic
Glucklich, Ariel. Sacred Pain: Hurting the Body for the Sake of the
or, rather unfortunately, as Mesolithic.
Soul. New York, 2001. A neuropsychological and psychody-
To be sure, the radical geologic and climatological
namic study of the effect of self-hurting on states of con-
changes that took place at this time of transition, more than
sciousness sought by religious practitioners.
ten thousand years ago, certainly affected the conditions of
Jorgensen, Joseph G. The Sun Dance Religion: Power for the Power-
life and culture, but a truly epochal cultural transformation
less. Chicago, 1972. A comprehensive overview of several rit-
that indicates the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic period
uals and a number of ideologies and theories that explain
them.
had occurred already about 35,000 years ago, that is, much
earlier than the environmental change. In Europe, parts of
Lorenz, Konrad. On Aggression. New York, 1963. One of the early
Siberia, and southwestern Asia, and perhaps in some parts
texts of ethology, the precursor to sociobiology.
of Africa, the cultural transition is marked by the emergence
Melzack, Ronald. “Pain: Past, Present, and Future.” Canadian
of tools made of thin and slender stone blades and, in some
Journal of Experimental Psychology 47 (1993): 615–629. A
areas, by the appearance of representational art. A more
relatively accessible explanation of the new theory of neuro-
meaningful classification of periods would therefore merge
matrix and neurosignature and its effect on the understand-
ing and treatment of pain.
the Lower and Middle Paleolithic into one period and distin-
guish it from the combined Upper Paleolithic and the Meso-
Melzack, Ronald, and Patrick D. Wall. The Challenge of Pain.
lithic. (Some scholars have proposed that terms Protolithic
New York, 1983.
and Miolithic should be used, but the suggestion has not won
Morris, David B. The Culture of Pain. Berkeley, 1991. A detailed
acceptance.) Outside the context of Europe, and especially
literary and cultural study of pain, including one chapter on
with reference to America, the term Paleolithic is, practically
pain in religious contexts.
speaking, not used at all.
Mufasar, Fakir. “Editorial: Changes of Body-State.” Body Play:
And Modern Primitives 1, no. 3 (1995): 4–5.
Although the end of the Paleolithic is usually identified
by the beginning of the postglacial period (c. 8000 BCE),
Rey, Roselyne. The History of Pain. Translated by Louise Elliott
Wallace, J. A. Cadden, and S. W. Cadden. Cambridge,
there were no highly significant distinctions between the two
Mass., 1993. A comprehensive study of pain in Western
periods. As far as is known today, the Paleolithic was mainly
medical history and the interaction between medical theory
a time during which food was acquired solely by hunting (in-
and culture.
cluding fishing) and gathering. But such methods of subsis-
Scarry, Elaine. The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of
tence were used throughout broad areas of the world during
the World. New York, 1985. A literary and philosophical
the postglacial period, too, and continue to be used in a few
study of the destructive effect of extreme pain on conscious-
restricted areas today. With certain reservations, then, it is
ness and identity, and the creative potential embedded in this
possible to show continuity between the Paleolithic period
destruction.
and present-day “primitive” societies that follow a similar
Tilley, Maureen A. “The Ascetic Body and the Unmaking of the
way of life.
World of the Martyr.” Journal of the American Academy of Re-
In theory, the Paleolithic age begins with the first ap-
ligion 59, no. 3 (1990): 467–479.
pearance of human beings. In practice, both occurrences are
ARIEL GLUCKLICH (2005)
equally difficult to pinpoint. The beginning of the Stone
Age—and therefore of all prehistory—is characterized by the
appearance of artificial stone tools that could be used not
PALEOLITHIC RELIGION.
only for immediate tasks but also to make additional tools
The term Paleolithic
(Henri Bergson’s “tools for making tools”). The oldest tools
was coined more than a hundred years ago to distinguish the
discovered so far are from East Africa and are between two
simple stone tools discovered in deep gravel pits or caves of
and two and one-half million years old. Whether East Africa
the diluvial (or antediluvian) period from the polished stone
is therefore the real cradle of civilization or whether accidents
tools of a later age, the Neolithic. Two incongruous
of preservation and of research and discovery only make this
criteria—geologic or climatological data and cultural or tech-
seem to be the case must for the present remain an open
nological data—were used to distinguish the periods. Later
question.
the use of pottery became characteristic of the Neolithic age,
and agriculture was seen as its chief distinguishing mark.
In the course of time human beings appeared in other
Nowadays the term Paleolithic is understood in its strict
areas of Africa and, between one and one and one-half mil-
sense, as the cultural equivalent of the geologic and climato-
lion years ago, in parts of southern and western Europe.
logical period known as the Ice Age (today usually called the
Finds in southeastern and eastern Asia are probably as old
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PALEOLITHIC RELIGION
6949
or even older. As early as 300,000 years ago humans ap-
The interpretation of such sources by analogy with pres-
peared in numerous other parts of Europe and Asia. Even in
ent-day religious practices implies that a more or less com-
Australia there is evidence of human presence more than
plete correspondence or at least a great similarity is inferred
twenty thousand years ago, and it is likely that by that time
from an observed partial correspondence. But not infre-
human beings had already entered broad areas of America,
quently particular findings can be interpreted in different
although their presence becomes certain only about 10,000
ways. For example, it is often not clear to which religious cat-
BCE. Thereafter even the more northerly regions of Europe
egory a find belongs; sacrifices and burials, cannibalism and
became increasingly populated.
human sacrifices, and animal sacrifices and animal cults are
Many developments and transformations occurred dur-
not clearly distinguishable by archaeological criteria. It is not
ing this long stretch of time; very different cultures took
enough, therefore, to select a few religious phenomena from
shape in the various regions. It is questionable, therefore,
contemporary primitive societies and apply them to the ar-
whether Paleolithic religion is a meaningful concept at all.
chaeological material. Instead, it is necessary to conduct
Rather, the point of departure for this article ought to be the
comprehensive comparative studies in order to obtain a suffi-
existence of a variety of religions in the Paleolithic period.
ciently wide range of correlations and establish a basic corre-
The nature and scarcity of the evidence (for the most part
spondence of meanings. Admittedly such studies make it
only fragmentary material remains) and its random character
possible to register only general characteristics and not con-
prevent researchers from convincingly distinguishing and de-
crete particularities. Even then it is still possible in many
fining any specific traits of these religions. The expression
cases to give divergent interpretations, and it therefore be-
Paleolithic religion can really mean nothing more than the to-
comes necessary to choose the one that is most likely.
tality of ascertainable or inferred religious phenomena of the
The first rule, therefore, that must be observed in the
Paleolithic period. In addition, the term religion itself must
interpretation of prehistoric finds is to compare them only
be defined very broadly and be allowed to include everything
with such recent phenomena as occur in a basically similar
that suggests dealings with a realm above and beyond natural
or corresponding context. For example, it is not possible to
phenomena.
simply select a religious phenomenon connected with food
SOURCES AND THEIR INTERPRETATION. Current knowledge
cultivation (for example, feminine figurines of the Magna
of the Paleolithic period depends mainly on a functional in-
Mater type from Mediterranean and Eastern civilizations)
terpretation of material remains, that is, a reconstruction of
and use it to explain one or another find connected with the
their use and cultural context in the life of prehistoric human
culture of Paleolithic hunters and gatherers.
beings. Such an interpretation relies, in turn, on a compari-
son of the available evidence with objects, facts, and process-
The vast stretch of time separating the Paleolithic period
es that are directly known or have been transmitted in writ-
and today, the numerous opportunities for a shift in the
ten, pictorial, or oral form from a relatively recent past. Since
meaning of things, and the modern dissemination and vari-
the situation in the prehistoric, and especially the Paleolithic,
ety of phenomena all call for critical judgment in the use of
period is to be compared with that of present-day “primitive”
ethnographic and historical analogies. One should be espe-
societies rather than that of more “developed” ones, close at-
cially cautious in comparing prehistoric phenomena with
tention must be given to conditions and modes of behavior
contemporary primitive religions. On the other hand, as is
examined in the studies of so-called primitive peoples. These
clear from not a few cases, the very long interval of time that
studies can help in the interpretation of archaeological finds,
has passed does not necessarily mean that radical changes
but not infrequently they also show that similar material ob-
have occurred; often enough, strong tendencies toward sta-
jects allow divergent functional interpretations.
bility are also observable. The lapse of time must be judged
in relation to fundamental conditions; progressive develop-
These remarks about interpretation apply to a high de-
ment is accompanied by an acceleration. The first really ep-
gree to religion because it is primarily a spiritual phenome-
ochal change took place only about 35,000 years ago, at the
non in which the sacred or supernatural word plays an im-
beginning of the Upper Paleolithic period. Thirty-five thou-
portant role. It is clear that manifestations of religion cannot
sand years seems a short and insignificant span of time when
be determined from archaeological research because material
compared with the hundreds of thousands of years’ existence
remains are silent. Only indirectly and in special circum-
of the earliest human beings. It is therefore not as unimagin-
stances do archaeological finds yield a religious meaning.
able as it might first appear that fundamental elements from
Thus the first question that students of prehistoric religion
a very early time should be preserved to the present day
must ask is “Which objects and findings can be regarded as
under comparable conditions. Furthermore, in comparison
signs of religious intentions, experiences, and activities?” Al-
with the modern multiplicity and variety of phenomena, the
though religion is primarily a spiritual phenomenon, it none-
number of possibilities realizable under simple conditions is
theless uses a wide range of material accessories: artifacts and
limited.
places that have a cultic and ceremonial significance, images
and symbols, sacrificial and votive offerings. In many cases
A spiritual phenomenon such as religion does not devel-
religion makes use of art; to a certain extent inferences about
op in complete independence and isolation but depends to
religious conceptions can also be drawn from burial customs.
some degree on functional interrelations and limitations, in-
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PALEOLITHIC RELIGION
cluding those of an economic and ecological kind. Careful
Burials also provide evidence of the same situation. The
account must be taken of duration and the interaction of
dead are typically found with their legs slightly flexed, usually
tendencies toward stability or change, the multiplicity of
in elongated pits; in some Near Eastern finds, however, the
possibilities and the limitation placed on them by general
dead are in a tightly crouched position, as though they had
conditions, independent development, and functional inter-
been forced down into narrow holes. With some regularity
dependence. The divergent value judgments made of these
they are laid on an east-west axis, usually with the head to
criteria are the main reason for the debates among scholars
the east and, in the majority of cases, the body lying on its
about the significance and persuasiveness of the inferences
right side. It is not always possible to say with certainty
they draw from comparisons.
whether animal bones and tools found near the corpse were
SURVEY AND ASSESSMENT. Current understanding of Paleo-
burial gifts.
lithic religion is essentially based on objects whose form and
Noteworthy, however, is the little cemetery at La Ferras-
attributes themselves indicate religious or magical use or
sie (France) where three fine stone artifacts, suited for adults,
whose manner of deposition (burial, for example) or other
were found in the grave of three children, including a new-
contextual peculiarities suggests such a use, as well as on
born or stillborn infant. Tools of the same kind were also
works of art whose content or situation reflects religious or
found with adults, and some sites have yielded pits contain-
magical meaning. For most of the Paleolithic (spatially as
ing animal bones and artifacts, as well as reddish fragments.
well as temporally) there are no such objects or artworks.
For example, the head of an elderly man found at La Chapel-
Traces of these increase in Europe and some neighboring re-
le aux Saints (France) was covered with large plates made of
gions in the last part of the Paleolithic period. Previously,
bone; his body was surrounded by pieces of jasper and quartz
and outside these areas, they are scarce. Only in the immedi-
and fragments of a red material.
ately preceding time—the Middle Paleolithic (back to about
100,000 years ago)—does one find oneself on somewhat reli-
There are other instances in which the dead—and espe-
able ground.
cially their heads, which were often protected by stones—
were partly surrounded by large bones. For example, the
The Middle Paleolithic. This discussion begins with
grave of an approximately eight-year-old boy at Teshik-Tash
finds from the Middle Paleolithic and not with the oldest
in the foothills of the Tian Shan (Kyrgyzstan) was surround-
finds, for one can make some useful statements about this
ed by a circle of horns. The corpse of a man found in the
period, especially on the basis of burials. In this context are
cave of Shanidar was surrounded by blossoms of flowers that
human beings known as the Neanderthals. Because of their
are almost all used as curatives in popular medicine today.
external appearance, Neanderthals were initially regarded as
(Although graves containing flowers may have been more
incapable of religious ideas, unlike the more recent Homo sa-
numerous, only one example has been discovered, thanks to
piens. But the picture of these early human beings has since
a fortunate combination of circumstances and to modern in-
changed substantially.
vestigative techniques.)
Neanderthal skeletons often exhibit severe injuries, but
In all these cases are found clear signs that Neanderthals
for the most part researchers are not able to say with certainty
took care of their fellow human beings. The burial gifts really
whether they resulted from fights and battles. Some of the
leave no reasonable doubt that the dead were thought to con-
head injuries had healed; others were evidently fatal, and the
tinue to live in some manner. This belief explains why ob-
hipbone of a man from a site on Mount Carmel (Israel) ap-
jects were buried along with the dead, to be used in the fu-
parently has been pierced by some lancelike object. Not a few
ture; even children were provided with objects that they
Neanderthals survived not only wounds but also numerous
certainly could not have used during their lifetime. What
illnesses. This was apparent also from the skeleton of the
particular shape these general ideas took one cannot say. It
original Neanderthal—the find that gave the Neanderthals
can at least asserted, however, that the Neanderthals had an
their name—who despite numerous afflictions had reached
understanding of death and had somehow come to grips
the age of fifty or so, a very advanced age for his time. Evi-
with it.
dence of illnesses is also observable in other finds, especially
that of an elderly Neanderthal at Shanidar (Iraq) who was
In the cemetery at La Ferrassie, a skull of a child was
probably blind from childhood and whose right forearm had
found in a burial pit about a meter away from the skeleton.
been amputated. He had survived a number of illnesses and
Isolated skulls were also found elsewhere. In a cave on Monte
injuries, something possible only if he enjoyed the protection
Circeo, about a hundred kilometers southeast of Rome
and care of a community, although he was probably of little
(Italy), a Neanderthal skull was found on the surface of the
economic value to it. There is no way of knowing whether
cave floor, with the basal opening (which had evidently been
this man had other abilities and knowledge that might have
widened artificially) facing upward; it was surrounded by a
made him a respected member of the group. In any case, this
circle of stones, and nearby there were three heaps of auroch
instance, as well as others, indicates that Neanderthals were
and deer bones. The basal openings of most of the numerous
by no means the crude savages they are sometimes made out
skulls found in isolation—some from an even earlier peri-
to be but lived in a kind of community in which not only
od—are believed to have been artificially enlarged, probably
the law of the jungle and economic utility carried weight.
to facilitate removal of the brain. This practice was probably
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PALEOLITHIC RELIGION
6951
connected with the consciousness of death and may indicate
Skulls from the Lower Paleolithic, like those from the
a special relationship between the living and the dead; re-
Middle Paleolithic, are often found in isolation, as with Java
searchers are not in a position, however, to hypothesize about
men, for example. Some of these as well as some of the skulls
the particulars of these ideas and activities.
found at the site of Peking man have a basal opening that
In the burial site at Regourdou near Montignac
seems to have been artificially widened. Far more skulls, and
(France), the skull and some other bones of a brown bear
especially tops of skulls, were found than other parts of the
were found under a large block of stone. There are also re-
skeleton, suggesting that the skulls were buried apart from
ports of finds, not associated with human burials, of individ-
the rest of the body. (The fact that in some strata the skulls
ual skulls of bears, especially of the great cave bear, together
were found in no particular order as well as mingled with ani-
with some long bones. Stone chests containing the vertebrae
mal bones has led some to hypothesize that cannibalism was
of the neck still attached to the skulls were reportedly found
practiced. If so, the cannibalism must have been carried out
in a few caves in Switzerland, but these finds are poorly docu-
elsewhere and the skulls and a few other bones subsequently
mented and uncertain. Nonetheless it would not be wise to
brought to the site. But the bones could have just as well
completely doubt the validity of these finds, as many do.
been brought to the site without cannibalism entering the
picture.) The only thing researchers can say is that the skulls
The specific meaning of such finds is again unclear. Per-
probably received special treatment and were deposited
haps they represent simple sacrifices of the especially impor-
apart. As no convincing secular explanation of the phenome-
tant parts of the prey; perhaps Neanderthal hunters, like
non has been offered, it should simply be assumed that there
those of a later period, buried the bones in order to ensure
existed practices in which the skull played a special role that
the survival of the animals and their species. Such a theory
transcended the life of the individual in question.
may explain why parts of the skull, backbone, and long bones
of a bovine were placed under a great stone at the entrance
There are no similar indications for the earliest Paleo-
of the above-mentioned cave at La Chapelle.
lithic, which began at least two million years ago, perhaps
The Lower Paleolithic. All in all, researchers find clear
even earlier. Yet even sites from this time have yielded artifi-
indications that the people of the Middle Paleolithic were
cial stone tools that are at least as complex as those of Peking
concerned with the phenomenon of death and with existence
man, as well as smashed and, in various places, collected
in another world. Some of their practices display no secular
bones of animals. Some finds from this period also suggest
meaning but, like burial rites, show a commitment to certain
the presence of huts or shelters from the wind. Were these
binding customs.
finds from a later date, no one would doubt such an interpre-
tation. But because the hominids of the earliest Paleolithic
Hominids from the Lower Paleolithic period, who date
had a very small brain, some researchers think that the ar-
as far back as over a half million years ago, have skulls with
chaeological finds of the period are not to be interpreted as
primitive proportions and generally smaller brains than
they would be if they belonged to later human beings. (Al-
modern man. These characteristics led some researchers to
though biological factors and archaeological evidence points
doubt that these hominids were capable of achievements
comparable with those of human beings from later periods.
to the existence of communities made up of small groups of
But objective findings show that the way of life of these hom-
nuclear families, many scholars think they should not assume
inids must on the whole have been the same as that of the
that such “human” characteristics existed during the earliest
Neanderthals. Occasionally researchers have found shelters
Paleolithic.) If other explanations of these early finds are
from the Lower Paleolithic that are superior to those of the
sought (they are not very convincing), it is for two reasons:
Middle Paleolithic, although they have assumed, probably
The finds are very old and doubtless simple, and the homi-
with justification, that the lack of such dwellings in later
nids of that period were physically “more primitive” than Pe-
times should be attributed to the unfavorable conditions of
king man or the Neanderthals. Whether these are persuasive
preservation.
reasons may be left unanswered for the moment, but it
will be important for a general assessment of these early
The opposite argument has been used to explain the
hominids.
lack of some kinds of finds from the Lower Paleolithic, espe-
cially the absence of burials. In fact, however, even burials
The Upper Paleolithic. The people of the Upper Pa-
from the Middle Paleolithic are found only in restricted areas
leolithic are equal to present-day humans in physical appear-
and in caves. Because Lower Paleolithic archaeological finds
ance, and they are therefore given the same name, Homo sapi-
have rarely been unearthed in caves, it is not surprising that
ens. People of this time were still living as hunters and
researchers should know of no burials in caves dating from
gatherers. Only in the course of the later Upper Paleolithic
that period. It is not known whether the hominids of the
are more definite signs of specialization, differentiation, and
Lower Paleolithic may have buried their dead elsewhere; if
an accumulation of cultural possessions to be seen. As an ex-
they did, perhaps the evidence has simply vanished. The spir-
ample is mentioned only the pronounced presence of person-
itual background and ideas that can be inferred from burials
al ornaments, which are also to be found in graves. This fact
may well have existed even if they have not manifested them-
differentiates the people of the Upper Paleolithic from those
selves in burials.
of the Middle Paleolithic, but it does not necessarily indicate
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6952
PALEOLITHIC RELIGION
any substantial distinction between them. Only rarely do in-
stone wall. Often it is possible to view the pictures only with
dividual dead persons seem to have been given more special
difficulty. Everything militates against the view that this is
attention than others.
l’art pour l’art, “art for art’s sake.”
Of special interest is the grave of a powerfully built man
The pictures represent, above all, the essential character
found at Brno (Czechoslovakia) and dating from the begin-
of the animal, sometimes in relation to the hunt, sometimes
ning of the Upper Paleolithic. A great deal of red material
in relation to human beings or to anthropomorphic figures,
was used for the burial; near the skull were over six hundred
especially when the latter show a mergence of human and an-
cut, tubelike fossil mollusks (Dentalium badense). A find of
imal forms. Animals clearly played an extremely important
particular importance at this site, however, is the only cer-
part in the mental world of these hunters, insofar as this
tainly masculine figurine thus far known from the Upper Pa-
world is reflected in their art. One may probably assume that
leolithic; it is distinguished by other characteristics as well.
to a certain extent the artworks mirror the real role of ani-
In addition, the grave contained two stone rings of a kind
mals; they probably point even more clearly, however, to the
previously known from only a very few examples; perhaps all
special evaluation of animals and of certain species in partic-
of them were connected with graves. Furthermore, the grave
ular. Paintings in which humans and animal forms and attri-
at Brno is the only one in which a large number of round
butes are depicted together and in which the forms and attri-
disks made of stone, bone, and ivory have been found. Thus
butes of various animal species are portrayed show the close
there are a number of objects that are rarely found elsewhere
connection between the animal world and other spheres of
or at least rarely or never appear in graves (the anthropomor-
life.
phic figurine, for example). It is hard not to think that the
It is probable that researchers are dealing, at least in
interred man was involved in some capacity with cultic or
principle, with a manifestation similar to one that still char-
magical things.
acterizes the mental world of numerous more developed
The most important sources of information about reli-
hunting cultures. Central to this “animalism” are close rela-
gion during the Upper Paleolithic are works of art. Although
tions between animals and humans and a heightened impor-
the well-known paintings and drawings on the walls and
tance of the animal world even outside and above the natural
roofs of caves are expressive, they do not display a great
realms. The animalist outlook is fleshed out and developed
wealth of motifs. They primarily depict animals and only
in ways that often differ widely in their details. Thus one
rarely, and then most often crudely, represent human beings.
often finds the notion of the animal as tutelary spirit and
In many instances, moreover, the humans are not presented
alter ego, the idea that human and animal forms are easily and
simply as humans but with animal attributes or as hybrid
often interchanged, and the idea of a higher being who is
human-animal forms. Only a small number of the animals
thought to have an animal shape or to be capable of changing
are depicted as prey, as indicated by the projectiles being
and combining shapes and who is regarded as a kind of lord
thrown at them. Many anthropomorphic figures with animal
of animals, hunters, and the hunting grounds, as well as of
attributes are regarded as masked dancers or sorcerers, but
the spirits of game and of the bush. Such zoomorphic higher
a good number are better described as composite figures. In
beings are often group progenitors and culture heroes and
any case, masking cannot be seen in images of animals that
appear also as mediators and as hypostases and personifica-
combine the attributes of various animals without any an-
tions of a supreme god. In short, animalism is a widely found
thropomorphic element. There are even strange pictures for
and dominant manifestation and yet, by its very nature, it
which no models could have been found in the fauna of the
should be seen as a lower or marginal sphere of religion, one
time. In many cases certain species predominate, but for the
that is frequently interspersed with other motifs and atti-
most part they are not the ones also found in the correlative
tudes, including those of a magical type.
strata of cultural relics.
Because paintings and objects can be put in the service
of both religion and magic, it is difficult and often impossible
A good deal of emphasis has been put on the fact that
to distinguish between these two purposes. There is, howev-
two species of animals or two groups of species frequently
er, no reason to regard rock paintings solely as instruments
predominate in the pictures of a cave, but this dualism is by
of magic. (This assumption arose when the study of Paleo-
no means as clearly marked as is sometimes claimed. (At least
lithic art was in its infancy. The paintings were then regarded
there is no convincing evidence of a contrast between male
primarily as evidence of totemism; totemism, in turn, was
and female.) At least as important is the fact that the pictures
seen as a manifestation of the magical mentality.) Research-
are generally unrelated to one another and that one will often
ers have no way of knowing which of the many possible uses
cover and ruin another so that it has been possible to speak
was actually intended for Paleolithic painting.
exaggeratedly of pictures being “consumed.” By and large,
it is the animal or, more rarely, an anthropomorphic being
A number of paintings of bears show peculiarities of one
that is the focus of the artist’s interest. The pictures are often
kind or another and occur in an unusual context. They may
drawn in parts of the caves that are dark and far from the
well have played a part in bear ceremonialism. Here the slain
entrances and, less frequently, in more accessible places. In
or to-be-slain bear is at the center of various rituals in which
some cases the old entrance has been blocked by a kind of
it is treated as a guest to whom respect is due or as an ancestor
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PALEOLITHIC RELIGION
6953
or mythical forefather. The climax of a festive meal is often
the figures and scratch-drawings of a later period it is usually
the consumption of the bear’s brain; the skull and long bones
possible to conclude only indirectly that women are intend-
or even the entire skeleton are buried. Perhaps the bones and
ed. Sexual characteristics often no longer play any part in
skulls of bears found at Paleolithic sites are to be interpreted
these figures, but there is a great deal of emphasis on the but-
along similar lines. Contemporary hunting peoples frequent-
tocks. Whether these figures have the same meaning as the
ly bury parts of their prey to ensure a resuscitation of the ani-
Venus figures is an open question. But perhaps the feminine
mal and the preservation of its species. The deeper meaning
need not always be expressed in such an extreme way.
of this ritual, however, is that it probably mystically returns
the bear to the lord of the animals.
Many other questions about religion during the Paleo-
lithic remain mysterious and unexplained. Current knowl-
Bones of other animals are also occasionally found in
edge covers only a small part of what once existed. It is clear
circumstances indicating an intentional deposition that can-
enough, however, that one must rule out any attempt to im-
not be explained in secular terms. At some sites parts of rein-
pose a single general explanation on everything. Nonetheless,
deer have been discovered: head, neck, and the front part of
it also seems clear that animals and shapes with animal attri-
the trunk, including the forelegs. A small scratch-drawing
butes, on the one hand, and a female principle, on the other,
found at one site might depict a similar ceremony using a
often played a part in the mental and spiritual world of the
bovine. A deposition containing these parts of the skeleton
Paleolithic and fit in with the peculiar character of a world
was also found at the earlier-mentioned cave of La Chapelle.
of gatherers and specialized hunters.
Once again, there is no way of determining whether there
T
was a real sacrifice.
HEORIES ABOUT PALEOLITHIC RELIGION. Finds from the
Upper Paleolithic period, though relatively rich and poten-
The significance of a painting of a birdlike man in the
tially informative when compared with those of previous pe-
cave of Lascaux (France) has been much debated. The correct
riods, surely reflect only a small part of the religious phenom-
interpretation is probably that the picture depicts a man in
ena of the time. It is not even known whether the finds lead
a trance. His birdlike head and the bird shown on a pole may
to the heart of the religion in question or simply represent
represent a shaman and a helping spirit. Anthropomorphic
marginal and secondary manifestations of it. Observations
figures with the heads of birds may be interpreted similarly.
and conclusions about the Middle Paleolithic are much
The figurines of birds that have been found at sites in eastern
scantier; they are especially important, however, because here
Europe and Siberia and that were apparently nailed or hung
one leaves the world of human beings who are “modern” in
remind observers of parts of a shaman’s clothing. Other pic-
their physical appearance and yet still finds clues pointing to
tures may likewise depict shamans—for example, the draw-
ideas of a world beyond this one and to precise customs con-
ing of the so-called Sorcerer of Les Trois Frères—but here
nected with such concepts. If one goes still farther back in
as in most cases other interpretations are also possible.
time, the archaeological picture becomes more obscure. On
the one hand, the conditions needed for the preservation and
Whether small scratch-drawings from the early Upper
discovery of relics and traces of religious activities are much
Paleolithic can be interpreted as pubic triangles or vulvas is
less favorable; on the other hand, one finds no break in the
uncertain. Only later do the so-called Venus figures make
continuity of material remains that can be compared with
their appearance. These are distinguished for the most part
the break between the Middle and the Upper Paleolithic in
by their ample bodies and large breasts, which perhaps indi-
Europe. Any claim of division that separates later periods
cate pregnancy in some cases; there is no special emphasis on
from an era in which religious ideas and activities were im-
the primary sexual characteristics. Most of the figures do not
possible is arbitrary. In this matter researchers are simply
have feet, and their arms, which are always very thin, often
groping in the dark.
display decorative bracelets. Frequently, too, care has been
taken to represent the style of hair or a head covering, where-
It may be asked whether early human beings possessed
as the face is not developed at all. The emphasis is clearly on
a religion, or it may even be asserted that a being, regardless
the areas of the body connected with pregnancy, birth, and
of his appearance, who does not possess some form of reli-
nursing. It is reasonable therefore to assume that these little
gion cannot be regarded as truly human. (Humanity could
figures are associated with the idea of fertility, but this need
also be determined by the development of language and
not be their only significance. The fact that the figures always
other indicators.) The question becomes more pragmatic if
appear in dwellings or camps may indicate that they were
one does not make religion the sole criterion for humanity
protectors of dwellings. Even today there is frequently found,
but seek to discover whether there are other material mani-
among peoples of the Northern Hemisphere, the idea of a
festations pointing to a psyche, of a kind that allows research-
higher feminine being who is, among other things, a mother
ers to infer some degree of what is specifically human and
or mistress of the animals, a divinity of the underworld (to
justifies their speaking of human beings in the true meaning
which a shaman travels on his journey), a helper in the hunt
of the word. In any event, the statement that early human
and a provider of prey, a mistress of the land, of other re-
beings did or did not possess a religion is an eminently an-
gions, and of the powers of nature. But here again researchers
thropological one. But behind it, as behind all anthropologi-
cannot tie themselves down to details and specific traits. In
cal statements, lie fundamental anthropological assumptions.
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PALEOLITHIC RELIGION
The position researchers take on the question of early
is a universal human trait. According to this position, if early
religion depends not least on their picture of early human
hominids show human traits in the areas accessible through
beings. Some interpreters regard the earliest stone artifacts
archaeological finds, they probably practiced some form of
as evidence of low intelligence and a primitive mentality;
religion. No theory on the nature and development of the
nothing else, they claim, could be expected given the small
religion of early human beings can be based directly on these
brain of the hominids of that time. Others, however, will
finds; all are hypotheses developed on the basis of later phe-
point out that stone artifacts indicate a mediated relation to
nomena. The question in every case is whether the archaeo-
nature, such as is characteristic of human beings, and reveal
logical evidence from the Paleolithic can provide—and does
that these early hominids had human insight into the nature
provide—material grounds for these theories.
of things. This second group of researchers is therefore in-
The nature and reciprocal relationship of religion and
clined to regard even the early hominids as fully human in
magic have played an important part in these discussions. Be-
principle, although they had not yet fully evolved in every
cause the Upper Paleolithic was at one time widely regarded
respect and would undergo further developments. In any
as a period in which belief in magic predominated, it was
case, the earliest archaeological finds are such that they fit
thought—and still is in many quarters—that researchers had
without difficulty into the picture of a group of hunters and
a fixed point to which they could refer. To the extent that
gatherers of the Homo sapiens type. (The main argument to
magic was considered to be an early form or a forerunner of
the contrary, whether or not it is expressed, is that early hom-
authentic religion, the development of genuine religious
inid toolmakers differed physically from modern man; in
forms could only have begun at a later time.
particular their brain was smaller and had different propor-
tions from the brain of Homo sapiens. No one, however, is
Another view, however, holds that belief in a personal
in a position to say what size and form a brain must have
god who creates and preserves the world and its order is the
to develop religious ideas.)
earliest and original form of religion; magic, according to this
position, is a secondary form of religion and a product of
These divergent points of view then become the basis
decadence. To the extent that this view recognizes the special
on which other matters and questions are discussed and in-
importance of magic in the Upper Paleolithic, it also sees au-
terpreted. For example, some researchers (who, in the final
thentic religion as having begun at a correspondingly earlier
analysis, belong to the evolutionist tradition of the nine-
date. It is extremely unlikely, however, that magic occupied
teenth century) think they must deny that early humans had
such a great role that it can be considered a stage in the devel-
permanent nuclear families, the basic form of human society.
opment of religion, whether it is seen as a precursor to reli-
Scholars differ even more on whether beliefs in psychic phe-
gion or as a degenerative form. However religion (in the
nomena and other forms of religion existed among early
strict sense) and magic are conceived and defined in detail,
human beings.
the two should be viewed as different types of attitudes to-
In this type of discussion it is all too easy to forget that
ward the supernatural. Although these two attitudes are op-
in dealing with other aspects of the early period, much is pos-
posed, they are not always strictly distinguishable, with one
tulated that is not directly documented by finds. (For exam-
capable of acquiring greater importance when the other re-
ple, some scholars believe that at least half a million years ago
gresses. When circumstances allow, both magic and religion
human beings crossed parts of the Mediterranean where
use the same “artifacts,” so that it is often impossible to dis-
there was no land bridge and must therefore have had some
tinguish between them at the archaeological level.
kind of craft, although no remains of these have been found.)
Even if one accepts that early human beings had a reli-
It is necessary in particular to avoid taking the simplicity of
gion, a further question must be posed: Are there forms of
stone tools as the measure of everything else. For example,
religion that they could not have possibly had? It must be
in the site at Huaca Prieta (Peru), equally primitive stone
acknowledged that there is usually a close association be-
tools coexist later than 3000 BCE with cultivated plants and
tween certain special manifestations of religion and the gen-
textiles. If one were to adopt that criterion, the presence of
eral conditions in which people live; the model on which so-
very simple stone tools in “more developed” cultures from
ciety is actually based plays a part in determining it
later periods would almost certainly lead to erroneous
conceptions of the supernatural. Among simple hunters and
judgments.
gatherers who live in small and essentially egalitarian groups,
there will hardly be a place for a proper hierarchy of divinities
Two basic judgments on the nature of early human be-
such as is found in hierarchically ordered civilizations.
ings are thus possible; neither of them can be strictly demon-
strated nor strictly refuted. So, too, are there two basic atti-
These differences are in fact only differences of expres-
tudes that can be adopted toward the question of early
sion. This author does not see, however, why any of the fun-
religion. One current view is that early human beings pos-
damental religious categories cannot be ascribed to early hu-
sessed no religion initially and only at a late date gradually
manity when one is trying to assess him as homo religiosus.
moved beyond “low” conceptions of the supernatural and as-
In this area the criterion of early humanity’s simplicity is
cended to the level of “authentic” religion. Others, on the
sometimes invoked—but then one may ask: Is not the con-
contrary, believe that the possession of some form of religion
crete and the personal more congenial to a simple mentality
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PALI TEXT SOCIETY
6955
than abstractions of any kind? And if so, will not simple so-
Talalay, Lauren E., and Richard Handler. “The Present in the
cieties of hunters and gatherers, who are trying to achieve a
Past: Archaeological Objectivity and Interpetation of Stone
basic understanding of things and processes for which they
Age Figurines.” American Journal of Archaeology 90 (April
see no real explanation but on which they nonetheless de-
1986): 185.
pend, tend to think of personal supernatural beings (divini-
Young, Dudley. Origins of the Sacred: The Ecstasies of Love and
ties) instead of more abstract powers and forces?
War. New York, 1991.
KARL J. NARR (1987)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Translated from German by Matthew J. O’Connell
General surveys of prehistory, including religion, can be found in
Revised Bibliography
my Urgeschichte der Kultur (Stuttgart, 1961) and in my
Handbuch der Urgeschichte, vol. 1, Ältere und mittlere Stein-
zeit: Jäger- und Sammlerkulturen
(Bern, 1966).
For early surveys of prehistory that assert the agnosticism of early
PALI TEXT SOCIETY. In 1881 British scholar
humans, see John Lubbock’s Pre-Historic Times, as Illustrated
Thomas William Rhys Davids (1843–1922) founded the
by Ancient Remains, and the Manners and Customs of Modern
Pali Text Society (PTS) to facilitate the study of Therava¯da
Savages (London, 1865) and Gabriel de Mortillet’s Le préhi-
Buddhism by producing editions in roman characters of the
storique: Antiquité de l’homme, 2d ed. (Paris, 1885). Con-
trasting views regarding the religious thought of early man
Therava¯da texts written in the language called Pali, and
can be found in Thomas Lucien Mainage’s Les religions de
translations of as many as possible of them into English. Pali
la préhistoire: L’âge paléolithique (Paris, 1921); Johannes
literature includes the Pali canon, a collection of texts the
Maringer’s De Godsdienst der Praehistorie (Roermond en
Therava¯da Buddhists claim preserves the “words of the Bud-
Masseik, 1952), translated by Mary Ilford as The Gods of Pre-
dha,” and the commentaries on those canonical texts, as well
historic Man (New York, 1960); and my “Approaches to the
as the subcommentaries on the commentaries, independent
Religion of Early Paleolithic Man,” History of Religions 4
works of history and poetry, and works about ritual practice
(Summer 1964): 1–22. Mainage’s book is still the essential
and monastic discipline.
work in this area, Maringer’s discussion follows the view
of the Vienna school, and my essay attempts a general
Rhys Davids had learned Pali from Therava¯da Buddhist
evaluation.
monks during his years in the Ceylon Civil Service (1866–
The meaning and content of Paleolithic art are discussed in the
1872). In Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) he came to regard
following works.
Therava¯da as the oldest form of Buddhism, and its Pali litera-
Leroi-Gourhan, André. Art et religion au paléolithique supérieur.
ture as the repository of the most authentic Buddhist teach-
2d ed. Paris, 1963.
ings. Upon his return to England, Rhys Davids continued
Leroi-Gourhan, André. Préhistoire de l’art occidental. Paris, 1965.
his study of Buddhism and contributed to some of the earli-
Translated by Norbert Guterman as The Art of Prehistoric
est efforts by European scholars to edit, translate, and inter-
Man in Western Europe (London, 1968). A dualistic interpre-
pret Pali texts. He founded the PTS to complete this task.
tation in the sexual sense.
By doing so, he sought to deepen international understand-
Narr, Karl J. “Bärenzeremoniell und Schamanismus in der Älteren
ing of Buddhism, and thereby to advance the study of the
Steinzeit Europas.” Saeculum 10 (1959): 233–272.
history of religion, language, and human culture. From the
Narr, Karl J. “Weibliche Symbol-Plastik der älteren Steinzeit.”
outset, the work of the PTS interested scholars in Europe,
Antaios 2 (July 1960): 132–157.
America, and Asia. It also appealed to the members of the
Narr, Karl J. “Sentido del arte Paleolitico.” Orbis Catholicus: Re-
growing middle class in Britain whose recent access to higher
vista Iberamericana Internacional 4 (1961): 197–210.
education, increased income, and leisure time enabled them
Narr, Karl J. “Felsbild und Weltbild: Zu Magie und Schamanis-
to explore foreign religions as alternatives to what they saw
mus im jungpaläolithischen Jägertum.” In Sehnsucht nach
as the empty materialism of modern science and the mindless
dem Ursprung, edited by Hans P. Duerr, pp. 118–136.
dogmatism of the dominant religions of their own culture.
Frankfurt, 1983.
Reinach, Salomon. “L’art et la magie: À propos des peintures et
Rhys Davids succeeded in enlisting European and Asian
des gravures de l’âge du renne.” L’anthropologie 14 (1903):
scholars to edit and translate Pali texts. Although these schol-
257–266. Starting from totemistic interpretation and assert-
ars donated their services and subsidized the work by pur-
ing magic meaning.
chasing subscriptions to the Society, Rhys Davids needed
Ucko, Peter J., and Andrée Rosenfeld. Palaeolithic Cave Art. New
more funds to cover the costs of printing the projected tens
York, 1967. A critical review, neglecting animalism.
of thousands of pages. He obtained early support from the
New Sources
king of Siam (now Thailand), who funded the first volume,
Burkert, Walter. “The Problem of Ritual Killing.” In Violent Ori-
from private friends whose subscriptions supported the sec-
gins, pp. 149–176. Stanford, Calif., 1987.
ond, and from “poor men and scholars” (including Buddhist
Dickson, D. Bruce. The Dawn of Belief: Religion in the Upper Pa-
monks in Ceylon) who each paid a guinea (£1.05) a year to
leolithic of Southwestern Europe. Tucson, 1990.
receive one copy of each of the PTS publications. Rhys Da-
Leroi-Gourhan, André. Les Religions de la préhistoire: paléolithique.
vids frequently urged “anyone intelligent enough” to see the
Paris, 1986.
significance of the Society’s work to donate funds.
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6956
PALI TEXT SOCIETY
At first the PTS undertook the apparently finite task of
research, took place in the context of western Europe’s colo-
completing the publication of roman-character editions of
nial domination of large portions of Buddhist Asia. Western
the canonical Pali texts, and translating into English as many
scholars, as well as western-educated Asian scholars, who
of those texts as possible. The scope of the Society’s work
studied Buddhist traditions during that period tended to re-
soon expanded to include editing the Pali commentaries. In
flect colonial attitudes in the methods and aims of their
1896, Rhys Davids reported that in just twelve years the PTS
work. In the widely accepted interpretive framework of their
had accomplished about half its work, having published thir-
time, the beliefs and practices of living Asian Buddhists were
ty-four volumes. By the time of Rhys Davids’s death in 1922,
seen as degenerate manifestations of a pure philosophy
the PTS had issued sixty-four texts in ninety-four volumes,
taught long ago by the Buddha, which had been developed
and had begun to publish a new Pali-English dictionary.
legitimately into its full “classical” form, and subsequently
Two years later, his wife and the second president of the
corrupted by many centuries of unenlightened folk practices.
PTS, Caroline Rhys Davids, reported that the original task
Scholars who sought to recover the authentic Buddhist
of the PTS was completed—unless the Society undertook
teaching focused on gaining access to and interpreting the
the translation of more texts into English or the editing of
written texts, which they saw as the most promising sources
the Pali subcommentaries. The PTS carried on with this ex-
of Buddhism’s “classical” formulations of the Buddha’s wis-
panded mission, under the leadership of Caroline Rhys Da-
dom. Quickly shipping whatever such texts they found in
vids and, after her death, of W. H. D. Rouse (president
Asia off to the libraries of Europe for safe-keeping and careful
1942–1950), then W. Stede (president 1950–1958), and I.
study, they edited, translated, analyzed, and interpreted
B. Horner (hon. secretary 1942–1959, president 1959–
them to determine the shape and content of the real Bud-
1981).
dhism—one that existed over and above the particular cul-
In 1954, Horner reported that the PTS founder’s dream
tural contexts in which it appears.
of making the Pali literature available in the West was “all
Not surprisingly, for many decades the publications of
but realised,” with the publication of 123 volumes of Pali
the PTS reflected this narrowly intellectualized, exclusive un-
texts and commentaries, plus the shorter texts and commen-
derstanding of Asia’s Buddhist traditions. More recently, as
taries included in the Society’s journal, forty-eight volumes
Europe has moved beyond colonialism, scholars of Bud-
of translations, and the publication (1921–1925) of the PTS
dhism have developed more nuanced and inclusive ways of
Pali-English Dictionary. She noted that the Society had also
discussing their subject matter. Although the work of the
begun to produce a concordance of the Pali canonical litera-
PTS, by necessity, remains focused on texts, its publications
ture, a project originally envisioned by Caroline Rhys Da-
continue to incorporate the latest developments in philology
vids. According to Horner, the “only” remaining tasks were
and to reflect the changing assumptions and methodological
to complete the last few editions of the Pali commentaries,
approaches of Buddhist Studies. By producing substantially
to produce editions of one or two subcommentaries, as well
revised editions and translations of previously published texts
as editions of a few “other and later works,” and to translate
and expanding the range of new texts it publishes, the PTS
more texts. Horner also considered it advisable, given the ad-
continues to foster and promote the study of Pali literature
vances in the study of Pali in the first half of the twentieth
in service of greater understanding of the history of religion,
century, to begin to re-edit and retranslate some of the earlier
language, and human culture.
volumes, as well as to reprint texts and translations to keep
available as many volumes as possible.
SEE ALSO Buddhism; Horner, I. B.
From the 1950s on—first under Horner and then dur-
ing the successive tenures of PTS presidents K. R. Norman
BIBLIOGRAPHY
(1981–1994), Richard Gombrich (1994–2002), L. S. Cous-
Carpenter, J. Estlin. “The Passing of the Founder.” Journal of the
ins (2002–2003), and Rupert Gethin (beginning in 2003)—
Pali Text Society 7, no. 4 (1920–1923; reprint, London,
the work of the PTS has proven to be ever-expanding, while
1978): 1–21.
remaining remarkably true to Rhys Davids’s original vision.
Hallisey, Charles. “Roads Taken and Not Taken in the Study of
The PTS now publishes new and revised editions and re-
Therava¯da Buddhism.” In Curators of the Buddha: The Study
prints of Pali texts in roman characters, English translations
of Buddhism Under Colonialism, edited by Donald S. Lopez,
of these texts, dictionaries (including the multi-volume Dic-
pp. 31–61. Chicago and London, 1995.
tionary of Pali by Margaret Cone), a concordance, grammars
Horner, I. B. “The Pali Text Society.” The Middle Way 29, no.
and other books for students of Pali language, and a journal.
3 (1954): 122–123.
The Society has also collaborated with the Dhammakaya
Horner, I. B. “Early Days of Western Pali Studies.” The Middle
Foundation of Thailand to publish the entire PTS edition
Way 39, no. 3 (1964): 109–112.
of the Pali canon on CD-ROM. In addition the PTS offers
Lopez, Donald S. “Introduction.” In his Curators of the Buddha:
grants to scholars for research expected to foster future publi-
The Study of Buddhism under Colonialism, pp. 1–29. Chicago
cations of Pali texts.
and London, 1995.
The foundational work of the PTS, like the initial devel-
Norman, K. R. “The Pali Text Society: 1881–1981.” In Collected
opment of Buddhist Studies as a separate field of academic
Papers. Vol. 2, no. 47, pp. 194–199. Oxford, 1991.
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

PAN
6957
Norman, K. R. “The Pali Text Society: 1981–86.” In Collected
however, no known figurative representation of the god ante-
Papers. Vol. 3, no. 62, pp. 108–114. Oxford, 1991.
dating the diffusion on his cult outside Arcadia, nor does
Norman, K. R. “The Pali Text Society: Its Contribution to Bud-
there exist any literary testimony, with the exception of some
dhist Literature.” Jagajjyoti: Sanghanayak Dharmapal
dedications that retain only the name of the god. Not until
Mahathera Felicitation Volume, pp. 89–94. Calcutta, 2000.
the beginning of the fifth century BCE, and after the intro-
Pali Text Society homepage: www.palitext.demon.co.uk.
duction of his cult in Athens, does the image of Pan take
shape. Although the god now loses some of his theological
Rhys Davids, T. W. Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion
importance, as he assumes a marginal position in regard to
as Illustrated by Some Points in the History of Indian Buddhism
(The Hibbert Lectures, 1881). 2d ed. London, 1891.
Olympus and joins the host of minor gods, he nevertheless
gains in symbolic richness, and his rites are no longer con-
Rhys Davids, T. W. Buddhism: Its History and Literature (Ameri-
fined to the pastoral world. His cult, his mythology, and his
can Lectures on the History of Religions, First Series, 1894–
iconography spread rapidly throughout the Greek world and
1895). New York and London, 1896.
were adapted to the local character of Attica, Boeotia, and
Wickremeratne, L. Ananda. The Genesis of an Orientalist: Thomas
especially the regions of Delphi and Macedonia.
William Rhys Davids and Buddhism in Sri Lanka. New Delhi,
1985.
In an account by Herodotus (6.105ff.), Pan became an
official deity at Athens following his appearance in Arcadia
GRACE G. BURFORD (2005)
to the messenger Philippides, whom the Athenians had sent
to Sparta shortly before the Battle of Marathon (490 BCE).
Pan asked Philippides why the Athenians did not dedicate
PAN is a Greek god whose name, of Indo-European deriva-
a cult to him, since he had already been so benevolent toward
tion, means “shepherd” (cf. Latin pastor). In appearance, he
them and would be again. Remembering this epiphany after
has the hooves, tail, hair, and head of a goat and the erect
the battle, the Athenians consecrated to Pan a small grotto
posture, upper body, and hands of a man. He is frequently
on the northwest slope of the Acropolis.
depicted holding either a lagobolon, a kind of shepherd’s
The rapid spread of Pan’s cult, from this time on,
crook used for hunting rabbits and controlling small flocks,
brought with it certain readjustments. A thorough reworking
or a syrinx, a flutelike instrument otherwise known as a pan-
of symbolism gave this god, who was unknown to Homer
pipe.
and Hesiod, a complex but coherent form. In the poetry of
Pan has his origins in ancient Arcadia, a remote and
the fifth century, numerous allusions are made to Pan. There
mountainous area of central Peloponnesus where an Archaic
are allusions to his natural habitat, Arcadia, which becomes
dialect is still spoken. Lord of Arcadia and guardian of its
a metaphor for the pastoral in contrast to the urban, the wild
sanctuaries (according to Pindar), the goat-god is very much
in contrast to the cultivated. The coexistence of the divine
at home in this primitive region, with its essentially pastoral
and the animal in Pan explains the ambiguity of a being
economy, where the political system of Classical Greece was
whose power oscillates unceasingly between fear and seduc-
slow in being established. The enclosure dedicated to Pan on
tion, disorder and harmony. Represented as shepherd, hunt-
Mount Lycaeus (Aelianus, De natura animalium 11.6) func-
er, musician, and dancer, as an untiring and often unlucky
tions as a sanctuary where animals pursued by the wolf seek
pursuer of nymphs, Pan also appeared as the agent of “panic”
protection. Pan thus appears as a master of animals, protect-
fear (that collective, animal-like disorder that seizes military
ing wild and domestic creatures, while watching over the
camps at rest, especially at night) and of a form of individual
human activities of hunting and animal breeding. His ac-
possession (panolepsy). Finally, some accounts describe the
tions, whether they brought sterility or fertility, were of in-
birth of Pan, whose monstrous appearance causes the gods
terest primarily to shepherds and hunters, who were con-
to rejoice but sends his human nurse fleeing (Homeric Hymn
cerned with reproduction in the animal world.
to Pan 19). Other stories describe his unfruitful love affairs
with Echo, Syrinx, or Pithys (in Alexandrine and post-
Theocritus in his Idylls (7.103–114) alludes to a rite per-
Alexandrine poetry).
formed by the Arcadians for Pan during periods when the
The philosophical destiny of the god, especially among
animals were not reproducing: young men whipped his stat-
the Stoics, is remarkable. By virtue of a Platonic play on
ue in order to call the inactive god back to life. The Arcadians
words—the identification of Pan with pan, “all,” in Plato’s
pictured Pan as reigning over his own flocks in the moun-
Cratylus (408c–d)—the goat-god becomes the personifica-
tainous lands that constituted his domain and his sanctu-
tion of the All, the cosmic totality represented by the coexis-
aries. Thus the whole of Mount Lampeia, where the Ery-
tence, in a single figure, of the animal (the material nature
manthe has its source, is a sanctuary of Pan. So is the Menale,
below) and the human (the spiritual nature above). Outside
where people believed they could hear, in the mysterious and
the Hellenic world his destiny is multiple: in Egypt he is as-
fearful sounds of the wilderness (echoes in particular), the
similated to the god Min of the region of Coptos, lord of the
music of this wild shepherd.
routes of the eastern desert. At Rome he becomes the Greek
In Arcadia Pan was considered a major god. He had a
version of Faunus, or of Inuus, because of the influence of
cult on Mount Lycaeus, alongside that of Zeus. There is,
the legend about the Arcadian origins of the town.
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PANATHENAIA
Plutarch provides the account of the death of Pan, an-
the seated olivewood statue of Athena (the xoanon); third,
nounced by a mysterious voice to the pilot of a ship on its
large sacrifices (of more than one hundred animals for small
way from Greece to Italy under the reign of Tiberius. Pan’s
festivals) of sheep and cattle to be distributed among and
death upset the emperor so much that he called a committee
eaten by the assembly; and fourth, an ancient form of racing
of philologists to find out who this god was. The third-
(agon).
century bishop Eusebius of Caesarea believed that the death
of the great Pan meant the death of all the demons of pagan-
During the first day, fire was kindled after sunset on the
ism, which occurred after the passion of Christ under Tiberi-
Akademos (the district outside the sacred Dipylon, or double
us. Subsequently the account has been of interest to folklor-
gate), accompanied by sacrifices to Athena and Eros amid
ists analyzing popular legends concerning “messages of
songs and dances by the youths. The fire was then carried
death,” legends that spread through northern Europe begin-
by torch race through the Agora to the altar of Athena, where
ning with the sixteenth century, that is, at the same time that
the cotton wick was lit. The mythic legitimation of this act,
the ancient figure of Pan reappeared in literature (especially
which was understood as the mystical significance of the
in Rabelais, in chapter 27 of his Quart livre).
rites, refers to the birth of the founding king of the city,
Erichthonios: When Athena was pursued in love by
B
Hephaistos, she preserved her virginity by having his seed
IBLIOGRAPHY
spilled on her thigh, then wiping it with a cotton ball that
Cults, Myths, and Literary Destiny
she threw on the earth. From this seed sprang Erichthonios,
Borgeaud, Philippe. “La mort du grand Pan: Problèmes
a creature half human, half snake.
d’interpretation.” Revue de l’histoire des religions 200 (1983):
5–39.
On the second and main day, a large procession started
Borgeaud, Philippe. The Cult of Pan in Ancient Greece. Chicago,
from the Dipylon, where the road from Eleusis entered Ath-
1988.
ens; the procession consisted of old men with olive branches,
Merivale, Patricia. Pan the Goat-God: His Myth in Modern Times.
young girls with sacrificial vessels and sacred baskets, and the
Cambridge, Mass., 1969.
sacrificial animals. The focus of the procession was the large
Iconography and Archaeology
peplos, woven during the previous nine months by the
Bernand, André. Pan du désert. Leiden, 1977.
women of Athens under the guidance of the virginal atten-
Boardmann, John. “Pan.” In Lexikon iconographicum mythologiae
dants of the temple of Athena (the Arrephoroi). Weaving had
classicae VIII (1997): 923–941.
started at the Chalkeia festival for Athena Ergane (“Athena,
patroness of crafts and craftiness”). The peplos was draped
Cabanes, Pierre. “Le culte de Pan à Bouthrotos.” Revue des études
anciennes 90 (1988): 385–388.
around the wooden statue, which had been ritually washed
at an earlier celebration (the festival Plynteria in the month
Herbig, Reinhard. Pan der griechische Bocksgott: Versuch einer
Thargelion, mid-April to mid-May).
Monographie. Frankfurt, 1949.
Jost, Madeleine. Sanctuaires et cultes d’Arcadie. Paris, 1985.
While the Panathenaia can be fully appreciated only in
Pouzadoux, Claude. “La dualité du dieu bouc: les épiphanies de
relation to all other festivals of the agricultural year, its im-
Pan à la chasse et à la guerre dans la céramique apulienne.”
portance is to mark the ancient founding of the city and the
Anthropozoologica 33–34 (2001): 11–21.
start of a fertile year: It is a New Year festival. The great chari-
Walter, Hans. Pans Wiederkehr: Der Gott der griechischen Wildniss.
ot race, during which fully clad warriors had to jump from
Munich, 1980.
their wagons and race on, recalls its originator, Erichthonios.
Many more references are made to Athena as founder, pro-
PHILLIPE BORGEAUD (1987 AND 2005)
Translated from French by Mary Lou Masey
tector, and virgin deity with strong chthonic features: Cen-
tral to the meaning are the multiple snake symbols. Both
Erichthonios and the earlier autochthonous king Kekrops are
depicted on vases as snakes winding around olive trees.
PANATHENAIA. One of the great pan-Hellenic festi-
Kekrops had three daughters, to whom Athena handed a
vals of the city of Athens and its tutelary deity, Athena, the
closed basket in which she had secreted the snake-child
Panathenaia can be seen as a commemorative celebration of
Erichthonios. All three girls’ names refer to fertility, contain-
the city’s foundation. The great festival was performed every
ing the word for “dew,” which also connotes “semen.” One
four years from 570 BCE onward, though there were yearly
daughter, Pandrosos, also received sacrifices during the Pana-
“small” Panathenaias as well. The date was the twenty-eighth
thenaia. The gist of the festival seems to be the symbolic asso-
day of the month Hekatombaion (mid-July to mid-August).
ciation between fertility and autochthony, which accords
The ceremonial elements are the same for both forms of the
well with the structural logic of the myths surrounding Athe-
cyclical feast, consisting of the following acts: first, the bring-
na: The goddess who was born without mother gives birth
ing of new fire to the temple of Athena Polias, protector of
to progeny without her virginal status being violated.
peasants and craftsmen; second, a procession (pompe) with
a new garment (peplos), carried on a shiplike float, to clothe
SEE ALSO Athena.
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PAÑCATANTRA
6959
BIBLIOGRAPHY
catantra consists of five (pañca) books (tantra) of varying
Burkert, Walter. Griechische Religion der archaischen und klassisc-
length. Its characters are, for the most part, animals, birds,
hen Epoche. Stuttgart, 1977. Emphasizes strongly the central
and fish whose behavior is like that of human beings. So con-
rite of dressing the statue of the goddess. Coherently inte-
trived as to lead from one to the other in a continuous series,
grates this festival into a rhythm of festivals of the city of Ath-
the stories are emboxed in one another, each being intro-
ens, in particular the constellation between goddess and pri-
duced by a character in the foregoing story who recites a verse
meval king.
of general wisdom or one about a situation similar to the
Kerényi, Károly. Athene, die Jungfrau und Mutter der griechischen
matter at hand. This leads to a request by one of the other
Religion. Zurich, 1952. Translated as Athene, Virgin and
characters for an explanation, which then follows in the form
Mother (Irving, Tex., 1978). A thorough but often disorga-
of an illustrative story.
nized attempt to show the consistency of the myths around
the many forms of Athena; often comes close to later struc-
Typical of the fables of the Pañcatantra is that of the two
tural analysis. Some daring philological derivations that nev-
geese and their friend the tortoise. Because there is a scarcity
ertheless seem to capture the underlying logic of mythic nar-
of water in the lake where the three have been living happily,
ratives.
the geese are about to leave for another lake. The tortoise
New Sources
begs them to take him along. They agree to transport him
Brulé, Pierre. “Fêtes grecques: périodicité et initiations: Hyakin-
if he grasps with his mouth a stick they will hold in their
thies et Panathénées.” In L’initiation: actes du colloque inter-
beaks, and warn him not to say anything if he hears people
national de Montpellier, 11–14 avril 1991, vol. 1. Les rites
below expressing wonder at the sight. In spite of his promise,
d’adolescence et les mystères, pp. 19–38. Montpellier, 1992.
the tortoise opens his mouth to reply to the comments of the
Brulé, Pierre. “La cité en ses composantes.” Kernos 9 (1996):
people on the ground and falls to his death. The moral of
37–63.
this tale is that he who fails to heed the exhortation of his
Neils, Jenifer. Worshipping Athena: Panathenaia and Parthenon.
friends and well-wishers comes to grief.
Madison, Wis., 1996.
Because of its widespread popularity the Pañcatantra has
Piblis, Spyros. Panathenaea: The Greatest Festival of Ancient Ath-
been endlessly recopied and recast over the centuries, leading
ens. Athens, 1970.
to many recensions. Its fables were also variously abbreviated
Robertson, Noel. “The Origin of the Panathenaea.” Rheinisches
or condensed for incorporation into other works, as for ex-
Museum f. Philologie 128 (1985): 231–295.
ample the Kathasa¯ritsa¯gara of Somadeva and the
Sfyroeras, Pavlos. “Fireless Sacrifices.” American Journal of Phi-
Br:hatkatha¯mañjar¯ı of Ks:emendra, both of the eleventh cen-
lology 114 (1993): 1–26.
tury. One of the most famous abridgments is that contained
in the Hitopade´sa (Instruction in What Is Salutary), whose
KLAUS-PETER KÖPPING (1987)
author states that he drew his work “from the Pañcatantra
Revised Bibliography
and another book.” Many of the fables are common parlance
among Indians of all classes today, who are often unaware
of a particular story’s connection with the Sanskrit Pañca-
PAÑCATANTRA. The Pañcatantra is a collection of
tantra, because one version or another will have been trans-
animal stories, in Sanskrit, compiled by an unknown author
lated into almost every vernacular of India. The original Pañ-
some time prior to the sixth (possibly as early as the fourth)
catantra has, of course, long since perished, superseded by
century CE. Many of the stories were doubtless drawn from
these countless variations and metamorphoses, whose mutual
the great mass of Indian oral tradition, and part at least are
interrelations are often difficult, if not impossible, to estab-
of Buddhist origin, as may be seen from their close affinities
lish with certitude.
to the Ja¯takas, or stories of the prior births of the Buddha.
At an early time fame of the Pañcatantra began to ex-
The Pañcatantra belongs in part to a class of works known
tend far beyond the borders of India, and scarcely a land can
as n¯ıti´sa¯stra (“science of right conduct”) and partly also to
be named to which a translation of all or part of it has not
the closely allied artha´sa¯stra (“science of polity”), which in-
come, whether centuries ago or in recent times. The oldest
volves the practical and shrewd knowledge needed by an In-
translation outside India is that into Pahlavi (c. 550) made,
dian king to rule his kingdom and conduct its internal and
according to the traditional account, by a physician named
extermal affairs efficiently. Because of their practical and
Burzu¯ye, who had been sent from Persia by the Sasanid king
worldly purpose, the Pañcatantra fables are often amoral in
Khusru¯ Anu¯sh¯ırva¯n for the purpose of translating the Pañca-
tone, in contrast to the fables of the Greek storyteller Aesop,
tantra and other works of Indian wisdom. Although this
the connection with which, though much discussed, seems
translation, like the original Pañcatantra, has long since dis-
most unlikely on a number of grounds.
appeared, two translations from it have survived. By far the
The stories of the Pañcatantra are set in a frame story
more important of the two is that made into Arabic around
in which a learned brahman named Vis:n:u´sarman undertakes
750 by EAbd Alla¯h ibn al-MuqaffaE; its title, Kita¯b Kal¯ılah
to impart political and social propriety to the ignorant and
wa-Dimnah (The Book of Kalilah and Dimnah), contains
dissolute sons of King Amara´sakti of Mahilaropya. The Pañ-
the arabicized names of the two jackals called Karataka and
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

6960
PANTHEISM AND PANENTHEISM
Damanaka in the Pañcatantra. The Kal¯ılah wa-Dimnah
by N. M. Penzer, vol. 5 (1926; reprint, Delhi, 1968), app.
quickly became diffused everywhere in the Arab world from
2, pp. 232–242. Another general account of the migration
Spain to India through translations into its principal lan-
of the fables, though much less detailed, is given by Joseph
guages. Of all these translations the Hebrew by Rabbi Jo¯Ee¯l
Jacobs in The Earliest English Version of the Fables of Bidpai
has an especially significant place in the westward migration
(London, 1888), which reproduces Sir Thomas North’s En-
of the fables, as it was from this Hebrew version that they
glish translation, The Morall Philosophie of Doni (1570).
were finally brought into Latin and so made accessible to Eu-
New Sources
ropeans. The Latin translation, by a converted Jew named
Olivelle, Patrick, trans. Pañcatantra: The Book of India’s Folk Wis-
John of Capua, entitled Liber Kelile et Dimne, Directorium
dom. New York, 1997.
Vite Humane, about two centuries later became one of the
Sternback, L. Hindu Legends of Justice: Panchantantra & Smrti.
earliest books printed in Europe, for its first edition appeared
Delhi, 2002.
in 1480, barely three decades after the invention of movable
WALTER HARDING MAURER (1987)
types by Gutenberg. An Italian translation of the Latin Direc-
Revised Bibliography
torium by Antonio Francesco Doni, La moral Filosophia del
Doni,
in turn was rendered into English in 1570 as The Mor-
all Philosophie of Doni
by Sir Thomas North. Thus did the
PANTHEISM AND PANENTHEISM. In Greek
Pañcatantra fables come into English more than a thousand
pan means “all,” theos means “god,” and en means “in.” Pan-
years after their composition, in a version standing in the sev-
theism means that all is God; panentheism, that all is in God.
enth degree from the original.
The two doctrines can be definitely distinguished. When
considered together they may be called the pan-doctrines.
SEE ALSO S´a¯stra Literature.
Although theism is often contrasted with pantheism and
panentheism, the idea of all, or totality, is prominent in every
BIBLIOGRAPHY
form of theism as a doctrine of the high religions. Thus it
Complete and selective translations of the Pañcatantra have been
occurs in the terms all-knowing, all-powerful, creator of all,
made by Arthur W. Ryder under the titles The Panchatantra,
and still others. Nevertheless, the most usual form of West-
Translated from the Sanskrit and Gold’s Gloom: Tales from the
ern theology, sometimes called classical theism, holds or im-
Panchatantra (both Chicago, 1925). An attempt was made
plies that the world of creatures is outside God. Yet it is also
by Franklin Edgerton in The Panchatantra Reconstructed, 2
said by those in this tradition that in God is knowledge of
vols. (New Haven, Conn., 1924), to restore the lost original
Pañcatantra by a painstaking comparison of the oldest sur-
all things. Can anything be outside knowledge-of-all-things?
viving derivatives. The first volume contains a detailed dis-
To many great minds this has seemed an unendurable para-
cussion of his method and the interrelationships of the vari-
dox. To escape this apparent absurdity of a knowing that
ous derivatives in addition to an English translation of the
does not include the known and yet also to avoid including
reconstructed Pañcatantra; the second volume has the recon-
the world in the divine life, Aristotle denied knowledge of
structed Sanskrit text and critical apparatus. The English
particular things to God, who, he held, was aware only of
translation has been separately published as The Pancha-
universal forms or ideas. Divine thought then knows only it-
tantra, Translated from the Sanskrit by Franklin Edgerton
self: it is pure thinking of thinking. Therewith Aristotle fell
(London, 1965). In Quellen des Pañcatantra (Wiesbaden,
into other paradoxes, including that of exalting as divine a
1978), Harry Falk compares the Pañcatantra fables with par-
being ignorant of us and our world and hence, it seems, infe-
allel versions in the Buddhist Ja¯takas and the Maha¯bha¯rata.
rior to us. Yet classical theists accepted Aristotle’s formula
This work is much influenced by Ruprecht Geib’s Zur Frage
nach der Urfassung des Pañcatantra
(Wiesbaden, 1969).
“unmoved mover” (meaning unchanged changer) as descrip-
tive of God. This conception implies that there can be noth-
A translation that is antiquated in a number of respects yet re-
ing changing in God. Was then Paul, who said, referring to
mains of great intrinsic value to the student of the Pañca-
God, “For in him we live and move, and have our being”
tantra and its diffusion is Theodor Benfey’s Pantschatantra:
(Acts 12:28), a pan-theologian?
Fünf Bücher indischer Fabeln, Märchen und Erzählungen, aus
dem Sanskrit übersetzt mit Einleitung und Anmerkungen,
2
When we human beings know things other than our
vols. (1859; reprint, Hildesheim, 1966). A convenient and
own minds and bodies, the known things seem to be outside
readable discussion of the fables and their progression from
us. However, our knowledge of these outside things is ex-
language to language outside India is contained in Kal¯ılah
tremely incomplete and uncertain. God must know every-
and Dimnah, or the Fables of Bidpai: Being an Account of
thing at least as well and as certainly as we know our own
Their Literary History, with an English Translation of the Later
pains and pleasures. Nothing can be so external to an all-
Syriac Version of the Same, and Notes by I. G. N. Keith-
knowing God as most things are to us. Accordingly, Plato,
Falconer (Cambridge, 1885). Following the introduction
there is a genealogical table of the principal translations that
the first great philosophical theologian, believing in a divine
have descended from the Sanskrit original outside India. A
Soul of the World (who knows us and whose body is the uni-
much more detailed and accurate table, prepared by Franklin
verse), made it clear that nothing was simply outside this
Edgerton, is to be found in The Ocean of Story, Being C. H.
deity: the universe as divine body is “in” the divine soul rath-
Tauney’s Translation of Somadeva’s Katha¯ Sarit Sa¯gara, edited
er than the reverse. Plato was certainly a pan-theologian.
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PANTHEISM AND PANENTHEISM
6961
The essential difference between the two forms of pan-
theology is manifest in their answers to the question “Do the
Model Table of Views of God and the Creatures
creatures have genuine freedom of decision making, or does
I
II
III
God determine everything?” Classical pantheism was a form
(1) N > c
(4) C ? c
(7) N C > c
of theological determinism: God decides or determines ev-
(2) N > n
(5) C > n
(8) N C > n
erything, including our supposed decisions. Both the ancient
(3) N > c n
(6)C ? c n
(9) N C > c n
Greek Stoics and Spinoza (1632–1677) held this view. Pa-
nentheists object that, if one power determines all, there is,
causally speaking, only one agent in all action. The Stoic-
T ABLE 1 .
Spinozistic doctrine is an extreme monism rather than a gen-
uine pluralism. Or, at best, its pluralism is unclear or ambig-
uous, for reality is active agency or nothing. As Plato said,
cludes the creatures, who, in different respects, are contin-
“being is power”; for him every soul is “self-moved.” This
gent and necessary.
agrees with panentheism, which admits a plurality of active
The reversal of the order of NC and cn (3, 6, 7, 8, 9)
agents within the reality of the supreme agent.
symbolizes the greater importance of necessity in God and
The medieval tradition, following Aristotle’s wisdom in
of contingency in creatures. God, except according to views
this, admitted that—at least in all cases apart from God—to
4, 5, and 6, exists necessarily but may also (7, 8, 9) have some
know something is one thing; to determine or make it is
qualities that might have been otherwise. In contrast, a par-
quite another. If this applies to God, there is no absurdity
ticular creature, according to six of the views (1, 3, 4, 6, 7,
in holding that God knows and in that sense includes all
and 9), exists contingently. The n in cn (third row) is best
things but does not fully determine their actions. Panenthe-
taken to mean only that there must be some creatures or
ism avoids both extreme monism and extreme pluralism, and
other. The C standing alone (column II) symbolizes that
it does this, it claims, without obvious paradox. Indeed, it
God might not have existed at all. The c alone (first row)
sees in extremes a chief source of philosophical paradox.
means that there might have been no creatures at all, while
Also, since God does not determine all, the problem of evil
n alone (second row) means that the creatures are entirely
is less formidable for panentheism than for either classical
necessary.
theism or pantheism as usually formulated. For, as one can
The two definite noninclusions (1, 3) result from the
see in Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and many others, classi-
law of modal logic according to which there can be nothing
cal theism was always tempted by—and, in the case of the
contingent in the wholly necessary. Three definite inclusions
early American theologian Jonathan Edwards, frankly adopt-
(2, 5, and 8) express the modal law that the necessary is in
ed—theological determinism.
everything. The inclusions in views 7 and 9, although not
The possible ideas of God and the created world can be
required by modal logic, are permitted by it and, because of
classified with a precision not customary in the past by using
the paradox of putting the known outside the all-inclusive
the “modal” concepts of necessity and contingency (see table
and infallible knowledge, are appropriate.
1). Classical theism contrasts the contingency of the world
In column I are the three views that take God to be
(meaning that it might not have existed as it actually does)
wholly necessary. Classical theism is expressed in view 1; clas-
with the necessary existence of God, who, it is held, could
sical pantheism in view 2. View 3 was held by Aristotle. The
not have failed to exist. In table 1 it is assumed that both God
views that take God to be wholly contingent (column II) in-
and a world exist. Also assumed is that God is a religious
clude what is usually meant by a “finite God,” one entirely
term, in that it is appropriate to speak of worshiping, serving,
without any necessary, absolute, eternal, infinite, or self-
and loving God with all one’s mind, heart, soul, and
sufficient aspect; this is the view held by Charles Renouvier,
strength.
John Stuart Mill, William James, and others. (John Hick
Let N stand for necessity in God, C for contingency in
would be among these, except for his attempt to find a mean-
God; let n and c stand for the same in creatures. Also let >
ing for the divine preeminence that implies eternal existence
mean that God includes the creatures and >/ mean that God
and a necessary support for other existing things but is com-
does not include the creatures. In views 4 and 6 the question
patible with the possibility that God might not have existed.)
mark instead of the inclusion symbol means that, so far as
Column III shows the modal possibilities for allowing in
the table goes, it is indefinite what contingent things God,
God a contrast between necessary and contingent qualities.
as a wholly contingent being, does or does not include.
Classical pantheism, view 2, derives an advantage from
View 1 has been long and widely held; view 9 has re-
the laws of modal logic, which do not allow a wholly neces-
cently become important. View 1 consists of the view that
sary God to include the creatures if they are (even in part)
God, who is wholly necessary, does not include the creatures,
contingent, but do require such a deity to include the crea-
who are wholly contingent. View 9 refers to the belief that
tures if they are wholly necessary. Thus classical pantheism
God (in different respects, otherwise there would be contra-
has no problem on this score; but classical theism (in its usual
diction) is necessary and also contingent and that God in-
N, c form) does, since it attributes omniscience to God. Pre-
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

6962
PANTHEISM AND PANENTHEISM
cisely for this reason, Spinoza was scornful of classical theism.
different kinds of worlds but also to decide upon no world.
He was its first severe critic, although Aristotle would have
Yet what good, one may ask, is this freedom to create noth-
preceded him had classical theism been known in his time.
ing? Is not anything better than nothing? “Being as such is
good” was a traditional doctrine, from Plato down. Why
The fact that the three views in column I were the chief
should one suppose it exalts divine power to think of it as
forms of belief during the first two millennia after Plato may
capable of creating nothing as well as of creating something?
be explained in two ways. First, views 1 and 2 are the sim-
This is another paradox of classical theism. So we are left
plest of the nine views, except for 4 and 5, which reduce God
with 9 as the view that retains the advantages of the others
to a mere accident of existence, a “fetish” according to
without their disadvantages. Clearly the five positive ideas of
Charles S. Peirce. Second, views 1 and 3 have an advantage
the table are all present in 9 and only in 9. Wilmon Sheldon,
over 2 and 4 in that they honor the principle of contrast
like Leibniz (both classical theists), held that the mistakes of
(Wittgenstein), or polarity (Morris Cohen), which says that
philosophers were in what they denied, not in what they as-
one pole of an ultimate contrast, such as necessary-
serted. If so, it is view 9 that should be preferred. It symbol-
contingent, has meaning only because the other does and
izes the modal structure of panentheism, or (as I call my ver-
that both must apply to reality if either does. Where all is
sion) neoclassical theism.
necessary or all is contingent, both concepts lose their dis-
tinctive meanings. Hegel had a similar idea. Yet the paradox
Besides the polarity of necessary-contingent, there are
of an all-inclusive knowledge possessed by a non-all-inclusive
other ultimate contrasts that play similar roles: absolute-
being favors view 2, classical pantheism, as against view 1.
relative, infinite-finite, eternal-temporal, potential-actual,
Thus is explained the recurring opposition between first the
abstract-concrete, object-subject. Each of these yields a set of
Stoics, then Spinoza, and then the German theologian
nine views subject to similar laws, except that while there are
Schleiermacher on the one hand and the countless classical
modal logics, there are no worked-out logics for the other po-
theists on the other. Although views 1 and 2 are perhaps the
larities, although in my writings there are informal indica-
two simplest religious doctrines that can be made plausible,
tions of what the logics would be like. The ninth combina-
each has advantages and serious disadvantages when com-
tion, I hold, is logically favored for all pairs of universal
pared with the other. For several centuries, however, the de-
contraries. If this is so, the American philosopher E. S.
terminism of early modern (Newtonian) science favored
Brightman (1884–1952) did well to use the phrases “finite-
view 2.
infinite” and “temporal-eternal” of God.
The unpopularity of view 3 is readily accounted for. It
If the N and the C in NC, or if infinite and finite, were
lacks the simplicity of 1 and 2, and it either, with Aristotle
to be applied to God in the same respect, column III would
and Gersonides (Levi ben Gershom, 1288–1344), denies
represent self-inconsistent views. But this is not the inten-
concrete knowledge to God or shares, with view 1, the para-
tion. Whitehead, for example, makes this clear by distin-
dox of the wholly necessary God knowing something contin-
guishing the “primordial” and the “consequent” natures of
gent—whether contingent in all or only some respects does
God, describing the former as abstract, absolute, infinite, and
not alter this difficulty. (Knowledge of a contingent aspect
strictly eternal and the latter as concrete, relative (depen-
of something must itself have a contingent aspect. If proposi-
dent), finite, and “in a sense temporal.” The two natures
tion p is contingent, it could have been false, and then there
form one being by the “ontological,” or “Aristotelian,” prin-
would have been no such knowledge as knowledge-that-p.)
ciple that abstract entities are real only in the concrete. By
no logical rule can view 9 be declared contradictory simply
Aristotle, by clear implication, held view 3 but saw that
because the same being is assigned characters that would be
he must pay the price of denying concrete worldly knowl-
contradictory if both were on the same level of abstractness
edge to God. The Scholastics and some of the Jewish and Is-
or concreteness.
lamic thinkers refused to pay this price yet insisted on the
knowledge; but, as Spinoza saw, they failed to pay the equally
Historically, classical theism has been represented by
obligatory logical price of that decision—either by admitting
Philo Judaeus (Jewish theologian of the first century CE), Au-
contingency in God as well as in the world (as the Italian
gustine, Anselm, al-Ghaza¯l¯ı (Islamic theologian, 1058–
Fausto Sozzini later did) or by affirming the sheer necessity
1111), Thomas Aquinas, and countless other scholastics.
of the world (as Spinoza and the Stoics did). Modal law ex-
More recently, Calvin, Luther, Descartes, Leibniz, Kant (in
cludes divine cognition from views 1 and 3; both the princi-
his Ethics), and the Americans Jonathan Edwards and Wil-
ple of modal contrast and the need to admit real freedom
mon Sheldon—the list could be very long—have been in this
(therefore contingency) in God and the creatures render view
tradition.
2 problematic; some would say impossible.
In this century classical pantheism has been losing
If we eliminate column II as dishonoring deity by mak-
ground. Its universal necessity is a doctrine of Brand Blans-
ing it wholly contingent, we have left column III. View 8
hard, but Blanshard is not a theist in any clear sense. F. H.
seems absurd—if there is any contingency at all, there must
Bradley, by one interpretation, was a pantheist (see W. L.
be some in the creatures. View 7 agrees with view 1, or classi-
Reese’s article on Bradley in the Dictionary of Religion and
cal theism, that God must be free not only to decide among
Philosophy, 1980). Josiah Royce could also be so classified.
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PANTHEISM AND PANENTHEISM
6963
His deity is inclusive and all-knowing, and he says that rela-
German philosopher K. F. Krause (1781–1832), a student
tions are universally and exclusively internal or essential to
of Hegel and Fichte. Krause thought of the deity as a divine
their terms, which implies universal necessity; however, the
organism inclusive of all lesser organisms. He said that God
implication is never clearly admitted in so many words, as
is more than and includes nature and man. Consciously or
it is by Blanshard, who was influenced by Royce. Royce’s fa-
not, he was to some extent returning to Plato’s Timaeus. To-
vorite pupil, W. E. Hocking, was a panentheist or a neoclas-
land coined the word pantheist and held that the universe is
sical theist, although he did not spell out the matter so clearly
God. Similarly, Spinoza had spoken of “God or nature.”
as some do.
There seems no evidence that either Toland or Krause had
Plato’s theism has been rather poorly understood. Plato
much influence on later doctrines, apart from funishing a
affirms self-determination (“self-motion”) of those creatures
label; they were minor figures in the history of thought.
that have souls and by implication also conceives the all-
Oddly enough, Krause’s chief influence was in Spain.
inclusive World Soul as self-moved. This implies some con-
Hegel (1770–1831) must be regarded as a panentheist
tingency in God and the world. As for necessity, Plato never
if he is any definite kind of theist. He holds that contraries
suggests that not existing or not having a world was a possi-
must be united to express truth, and he uses both terms, ne-
bility for God. In the Timaeus he speaks of two gods, the
cessity and contingency. Yet, what precisely he means by
eternal God, the Demiurge or Creator, and “the God that
these is difficult to determine. He certainly holds that the
was to be,” the World Soul. There are hints that the Demi-
unity of necessary and contingent, infinite and finite, universal
urge is a mythical figure, but the World Soul, with its cosmic
and particular, is the truth of both. But how the unity is to
body, seems intended more literally. The Plato scholar Fran-
be described is the problem. On this issue Hegel is, for me,
cis M. Cornford suggests that the World Soul is the actual
unclear. Friedrich Schelling (1775–1854), Hegel’s fellow
deity (Ronald Levinson says “Plato’s real God”) while the
student at Tübingen, in his later writings seems a panentheist
Demiurge is only an abstract aspect of the World Soul, its
in a clearer, more definite sense than Hegel, although he is
eternal envisagement of the form of the Good, according to
still not notably clear. He did affirm change and freedom of
which it acts creatively. In this interpretation, which might
both God and creatures and certainly did not regard either
have somewhat surprised Plato, he can be considered the first
the creator or the existence of some created order as merely
panentheist. The Neoplatonists, however, including Ploti-
contingent.
nus, seem too unclear to be usefully classified. Their emana-
tions from the One are apparently outside it and, as in classi-
After Schelling, the German physicist, psychologist, and
cal theism, contribute nothing to it; and the World Soul is
philosopher G. T. Fechner (1801–1887) developed a rather
held less real than the One. Yet we are not told that the ema-
neat system that easily fits CN > cn: both God and creatures
nations might not have taken place or are contingent.
have some freedom; both face an open future; and there is
For two thousand years Plato’s suggestion of a soul-and-
no suggestion that God exists contingently or could have
body structure in God was ignored (or misunderstood), first
lacked creatures. (Here is an unusually clear case of the ninth
by Aristotle and Plotinus and then by the Scholastics. More
view.) As with Socinus, most scholars gave no heed. In
recently it was underestimated even by Whitehead. But
France, however, Jules Lequier (1814–1862), aware of the
about 1600 the heretical doctrine Socinianism, named for its
Socinians, took freedom as his “first principle,” addressing
founder, Socinus, proposed that God does not know or de-
God thus: “Thou hast created me creator of myself.” In this
termine our decisions eternally (they are not eternally there
he anticipated Whitehead’s “self-created creature.” Of course
to be known); rather, God knows them only as or after they
Lequier had no such idea as that the divine existence was a
occur. By making free decisions, we give divine knowledge
mere logical accident, nor did he imply divine freedom to
new content and thus change God. Socinus may not have
have no creatures at all. He also clearly affirmed that our de-
held that divine knowledge includes the things known, but
cisions make a difference to God, that they “make a spot in
he might as well have. At any rate his view conforms to NC,
the absolute.” That the deity includes the creatures in know-
cn. A Socinian theologian defined the eternity of God in
ing them is not clearly stated, but it seems to be implied.
modal terms, “God is eternal in that he cannot not exist.”
In Italy Bernardino Varisco (1850–1933) affirmed
This was a deliberate avoidance of the well-known medieval
some freedom of indeterminacy for every creature (which
doctrine that God is immutable and impassable (meaning
Plato, Socinus, Lequier, and, probably, Hegel had not done)
that no creature can influence God). This momentous event
and affirmed that God includes the creatures. Varisco also
of three centuries ago—the rejection of a central doctrine of
held that every creature is sentient: there is no dead, mindless
classical theism, a rejection made on behalf of the self-
matter. This only Fechner, of the previous European writers
motion, or freedom, of souls—was passed over by historians
in this tradition, had proposed. In America Charles S. Peirce
and scholars until recently. It is still not to be found in ency-
(1839–1914) also (after about 1880) asserted that every crea-
clopedias and histories. Only a German book on Socinian-
ture has some freedom and sentience, that chance, or piece-
ism (by Otto Fock) tells the story.
meal contingency, is pervasive in nature, and that the future
The term pantheism goes back to the English writer
is partly indeterminate, not simply for our knowledge but in
John Toland (1670–1722), and the term panentheism to the
reality. He accepted the characterization of God as the “nec-
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6964
PANTHEISM AND PANENTHEISM
essary being” but was not satisfied with the unqualified de-
lich (1886–1965) was no classical theist, and, in the third
scription of God as eternal or immutable. He did not believe
volume of his Systematic Theology (3 vols., 1951–1963), he
that our thoughts about God could be made very precise and
admits that the creatures contribute to the divine life. This
hence left his theological ideas somewhat indefinite and not
had already been said by Nikolai Berdiaev (1874–1948),
altogether consistent. But, if he had a definite position, it
who called himself a “mystical pantheist” but spoke of a “di-
could only be the ninth view.
vine time” and of creaturely freedom undetermined by God.
He was essentially a panentheist, except that, like Tillich, he
Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947), an English
thought that theological truth cannot be stated literally.
mathematician, logician, physicist, and philosopher who
Schubert Ogden (b. 1928), a theologian who defends panen-
moved to America in 1924, soon thereafter developed a com-
theism, partly agrees with Tillich and Berdiaev about the ir-
prehensive metaphysical system, clearly theistic, and, in most
reducibly symbolic, or nonliteral, functioning of religious
respects, clearly a panentheism. The polar principle, which
language.
in application to God may be called “dual transcendence,”
is, as already remarked, quite clear in his writing (apart from
Among living philosophers whom I know at all well, the
the label, which is an invention of mine). His “category of
nearest to a classical theist is the logician Richard M. Martin,
the ultimate,” creativity, implies universal freedom, with an
who holds that all truth is timelessly known to God. Yet
open future even for God. Sentience, or “feeling,” is taken
since Martin (together with the influential logician W. V. O.
as universal (from atoms to people), and God is characterized
Quine, b. 1908) thinks that modal concepts are an affair of
as “the unification of all things” (in the divine “consequent
our language rather than of the nature of things, it is hard
nature”). Although the divine existence is not said to be nec-
to classify his doctrine in modal terms.
essary, still, since God as primordial is taken as the necessary
The nine views in our modal table do not exhaust possi-
seat of the “pure potentials” without which nothing would
ble beliefs about God or the extraordinary, supreme reality.
even be possible, what “the possibility of the divine nonexis-
Various forms of atheism, for example, have been omitted.
tence” could mean is not apparent.
An important omitted view is that the supreme reality is the
Whitehead’s remarkable saying “Every creature tran-
only reality: what may seem to us nonsupreme, ordinary real-
scends God” I take to mean that the becoming of the creature
ities are only appearances of the supreme reality, appearances
is not divinely determined and that, until the becoming is
that we in ignorance wrongly take as realities. To the ques-
accomplished, the creature is not yet prehended by, and thus
tions “To whom do the appearances appear?” and “Who
taken into, the divine consciousness, thereby enriching the
wrongly takes them as more than mere appearances?” the
latter.
reply of some seems to be that the questions, too, are wrong
or ignorant. Really, there are no wrongly thinking realities,
I have tried to draw out, clarify, and systematize the en-
only the one utterly good and real absolute, or brahman. This
tire development as sketched above. Whitehead was some-
is the extreme version of Hinduistic monism, called Advaita
what aware of the partial Platonic precedent, but he may
Veda¯nta (advaita means “nondual”; Veda¯nta refers to the
have had little or no knowledge of some of the others. Be-
Vedas, ancient hymns and other sacred documents of Hin-
sides using Krause’s panentheism for my view, I also call it
duism.) Its greatest formulator was S´an˙kara (788–820).
neoclassical theism. I give many arguments for this form of
theism, including six theistic proofs, arguments that are con-
That the doctrine makes sense is more than most West-
vincing for those who accept the premises on which they are
erners can see and also more than many Hindus—Ra¯ma¯nuja
based.
(eleventh century) and Aurobindo Ghose (1872–1950), for
example—can or could see. But it has had countless adher-
Paul Weiss (b. 1901) seems a panentheist of some kind,
ents. The Bhagavadg¯ıta¯ is indefinite or ambiguous on the re-
since he affirms human freedom and says that, in prayer,
lationship between advaita (also called “acosmism,” imply-
both God and the worshiper are transformed. He implies
ing the unreality of the cosmos) and pantheism or
that deity is a unity somehow inclusive of all things so far
panentheism. Together with Robert Whittemore, a contem-
as they are good. He does not say that God is wholly neces-
porary American philosopher who went to India to inquire
sary or that the world is wholly contingent. John Findlay (b.
into the matter, I consider that the Bhagavadg¯ıta¯ can equally
1903) is similarly heretical from the classical standpoint. W.
well be interpreted panentheistically as acosmically.
P. Montague (1873–1963) and J. E. Boodin (1869–1950)
are among the recent American nonclassical theists more or
Medieval Islam was classically theistic, with an even
less close to panentheism.
greater tendency to deny or belittle creaturely freedom. Yet
a great poet in what is now Pakistan, Muhammad Iqbal
The old issues have been partly left behind. The mere
(1877–1938), a disciple of Henri Bergson, accepted the ideas
contrasts—necessary versus contingent, infinite versus finite,
of a divine becoming and of creaturely freedom.
absolute versus relative, or even eternal versus temporal—no
longer serve to define deity. Divine love must be sensitive to
One branch of Hinduism, the Bengali school, may, ac-
the weal and woe of the creatures and far from a purely inde-
cording to some of its representatives, be close to the neoclas-
pendent, self-sufficient, unrelative, mere absolute. Paul Til-
sical view. For example, it has been reported that a disciple
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6965
of the school’s founder, Jiva Goswami, said, “God, although
BIBLIOGRAPHY
perfect in love, [yet] grows without ceasing.” There seems to
For historical examples of the doctrines discussed, see William L.
be no sharp contradiction between this Indian view and
Reese’s and my Philosophers Speak of God (1953; reprint,
Whiteheadian or (in many respects, at least, the same) Hart-
Chicago, 1976). In Alfred North Whitehead’s Process and
Reality
(1929; corr. ed., New York, 1978), part 5 should be
shornean theology.
consulted, as should the index references under God. I have
Buddhism appears superficially to be entirely nontheis-
presented my view in The Divine Relativity: A Social Concep-
tic. It is certainly not classically theistic, with realities outside
tion of God (1948; reprint, New Haven, 1982) and in chap-
the supreme reality. In certain forms of Mahayana Buddhism
ters 11–14 of Creative Synthesis and Philosophic Method
(1970; reprint, Lanham, Md., 1983). Also recommended are
in China, there is some movement toward classical panthe-
The Reality of God, and Other Essays (New York, 1966) by
ism (the Hua-yen tradition of Fa-tsang, 643–712). In Thera-
Schubert Ogden, Hartshorne and Neoclassical Metaphysics
vada Buddhism (in Burma, Sri Lanka, and Thailand), there
(Lincoln, Nebr., 1970) by Eugene H. Peters, and Process
is nothing like theism, although the tendency to deify the
Theology: An Introductory Exposition (Philadelphia, 1976) by
Buddha seems to haunt all Buddhism. Whitehead spoke of
John B. Cobb, Jr., and David R. Griffin. About Whitehead’s
“the diffuse God of Buddhism,” but the standard theism of
theism, there are many books. For an able discussion of my
the medieval or Renaissance West is simply not to be found
reasons for believing as I do about God, see Charles Hart-
in Buddhism.
shorne and the Existence of God (Albany, N.Y., 1984) by Don-
ald W. Viney.
Confucianism was vaguely theistic but hardly further
See also, in Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th ed. (Chicago, 1982),
classifiable in Western terms. To relate Taoism to pantheism
the article “Pantheism and Panentheism” and, in the Dictio-
or panentheism would be even more difficult.
nary of Philosophy and Religion: Eastern and Western Thought
(Atlantic Highlands, N.J., 1980), edited by William L. Reese
A sharply formulated doctrine of determinism, theologi-
and others, the articles on Cournot, Fechner, Iqbal, Krause,
cal or otherwise, is a largely Western affair. (The idea of kar-
Lequier, Plato, Plotinus, and Whitehead (secs. 16–21).
man suggests it, but vaguely.) So is a sharply formulated doc-
New Sources
trine of timeless omniscience, as in classical theism. Plato and
Christ, Carol P. She Who Changes. Re-Imagining the Divine in the
Aristotle did not have it. Classical theism (which many schol-
World. New York and Basingstoke, England, 2003.
ars say is not biblical) is a largely Western (or Near Eastern)
Janssens, David. “The Problem of the Enlightenment: Strauss, Ja-
invention of the first Christian centuries. Perhaps Madhva
cobi, and the Pantheism Controversy.” Review of Metaphys-
(1197–1276) in India most nearly resembles scholastic
ics, 56 (March 2003): 605–632.
theology.
Levine, Michael P. Pantheism: A Non-Theistic Concept of Deity.
New York, 1994.
So far, almost nothing has been said about the saying
“God is love.” Whitehead says that God “prehends” the crea-
Levine, Michael P. “Pantheism, Theism, and the Problem of
Evil.” International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 35 (June
tures; since he defines prehension (so far as the prehended
1994): 129–152.
entity is concrete) as “feeling of feeling” and also as “empa-
Melamed, Yitzhak. “Solomon Maimon and the Rise of Spinozism
thy,” which can be taken as the universal kernel of love, he
in German Idealism.” Journal of the History of Philosophy 42
is saying that God (in “perfect” or unsurpassable fashion)
(January 2004): 67–97.
feels the feelings of all. What is that but to say that God (in
Thomson, Curtis L. “From Presupposing Pantheism’s Power to
the best possible sense) loves all? Precisely this is the final
Potentiating Panentheism’s Personality: Seeking Parallels be-
meaning of neoclassical theism. The idea of divine love is
tween Kierkegaard’s and Martensen’s Theological Anthro-
biblical for Jews and Christians, is far from unknown to
pologies. ” Journal of Religion 82 (April 2002): 225–252.
Muslims and Hindus, and is, perhaps, not so alien to Bud-
Zoetmulder, P. S. M. C. Ricklefs, ed. and trans. Pantheism and
dhists as some may think.
Monism in Javanese Suluk Literature: Islamic and Indian Mys-
ticism in an Indonesian Setting
. Leiden, 1995.
The long reign of classical theism and the considerable
appeal (for shorter periods of time and to more limited
CHARLES HARTSHORNE (1987)
Revised Bibliography
groups) of classical pantheism have, perhaps, not been ade-
quately explained in this essay. Many arguments for one or
another of these views have been omitted, partly because of
space limitations and partly, no doubt, from bias, as have
PAPACY. The papacy is the central governing institution
some objections that partisans of other views could make to
of the Roman Catholic church under the leadership of the
neoclassical theism, or, as it is called by some, “process the-
pope, the bishop of Rome. The word papacy (Lat., papatus)
ism.” But then, many arguments for the neoclassical and
is medieval in origin and derives from the Latin papa, an af-
against the classical views have also been omitted. For these
fectionate term for “father.”
deficiencies, further research by the reader is the only
THE EARLY PERIOD. This era, extending from the biblical
remedy.
origins of Christianity to the fifth century, was marked by
the ever-increasing power and prestige of the bishop of Rome
SEE ALSO Attributes of God; Monism; Theism.
within the universal church and the Roman empire.
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6966
PAPACY
Scriptural foundation. Traditional Roman Catholic
inth to settle a dispute over the removal of several church of-
teaching holds that Jesus Christ directly bestowed upon the
ficials. Victor I (c. 189–c. 198) sought, under threat of ex-
apostle Peter the fullness of ruling and teaching authority.
communication, to impose on the churches of Asia Minor
He made Peter the first holder of supreme power in the uni-
the Roman custom for the celebration of Easter. Finally, Ste-
versal church, a power passed on to his successors, the bish-
phen I (254–257) reinstated two Spanish bishops who had
ops of Rome. (See table 1.) Two biblical texts are cited to
been deposed by their colleagues and also decided, contrary
substantiate this claim. In Matthew 16:18 there is the prom-
to the custom in Syria and North Africa, that repentant here-
ise of Jesus: “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my
tics did not have to be rebaptized. Although Cyprian, bishop
church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
of Carthage (d. 258), objected to Stephen’s decisions, he was
In John 21:15–16, this promise is fulfilled in the admonition
able to call Rome the “principal church” (letter 59, addressed
of Jesus to Peter: “Feed my lambs. . . . Look after my
to Cornelius, bishop of Rome) and to insist that for bishops
sheep.” Modern Roman Catholic biblical scholars affirm the
to be legitimate they must be in communion with Rome.
genuine authority of Peter among the Twelve but make the
The bishops of Rome in the third century claimed a uni-
following observations: there is no New Testament evidence
versal primacy, even though it would be another 150 years
that Peter was ever a bishop or local administrator of any
before this idea was doctrinally formulated. Rome attracted
church (including Rome and Antioch); there is no direct bib-
both orthodox and heterodox teachers—some to have their
lical proof that Jesus established the papacy as a permanent
views heard, others to seek confirmation. More and more,
office within the church; but there is other cogent evidence
the bishop of Rome, either on his own initiative or by re-
that Peter arrived in Rome late in his life and was martyred
quest, settled doctrinal and disciplinary disputes in other
and buried there.
churches. Roman influence was felt as far away as Spain,
Catholic scholars insist, however, that even though the
Gaul, North Africa, and Asia Minor. The see of Peter was
idea of an abiding Petrine ministry is not explicitly found in
looked upon as the guarantor of doctrinal purity even by
scripture, it is not contrary to the biblical tradition and in-
those who found fault with its leadership.
deed is implicitly rooted in it. Peter had a preeminent role
Fourth and fifth centuries. With the Edict of Milan
in the New Testament, where he is described as the most
(313) the empire granted toleration of all religions and al-
prominent apostolic witness and missionary among the
lowed Christians to worship freely. This policy ended the era
Twelve. He is the model of the shepherd-pastor, the receiver
of persecution, increased the number of Christians, and
of a special revelation, and the teacher of the true faith. Grad-
shaped the institutional development of the papacy. Once
ually Christians, through the providential direction of the
Emperor Constantine decided to move the seat of the empire
Holy Spirit, recognized the papacy, the office of headship in
to Constantinople in 324, the papacy began to play a larger
the church, to be the continuation of that ministry given by
role in the West. By the time Christianity became the official
Christ to Peter and exercised through the historic Roman
religion of the empire in 381, several popes were already af-
episcopate. Although other Christian scholars would accept
firming papal primatial authority. The critical period in the
many of these conclusions, they would generally deny the
doctrinal systematization of Roman primacy took place in
Roman Catholic belief that the papacy is an absolutely essen-
the years between Damasus I (366–384) and Leo I (440–
tial element of the church.
461). In that period, the popes explicitly claimed that the
First three centuries. The early Christian churches
bishop of Rome was the head of the entire church and that
were not organized internationally. Yet Rome, almost from
his authority derived from Peter.
the beginning, was accorded a unique position, and under-
Damasus I, the first pope to call Rome the apostolic see,
standably so: Rome was the only apostolic see in the West;
made Latin the principal liturgical language in Rome and
it was the place where Peter and Paul were martyred; and it
commissioned Jerome to revise the old Latin version of the
was the capital of the empire. Ignatius of Antioch, in his let-
New Testament. At the Council of Rome (382), he declared
ter to the Romans (c. 110), called the Roman church the
that the primacy of the bishop of Rome is based on continu-
church “presiding in love” (4.3), and Irenaeus, in his Against
ity with Peter. He deposed several Arian bishops. His succes-
Heresies (c. 180), referred to its “more imposing foundation”
sor, Siricius (384–399), whose decretal letters are the earliest
(3.3.2). Although these controverted texts may not be a
extant, promoted Rome’s primatial position and imposed his
proof of Roman primacy, they at least indicate the lofty stat-
decisions on many bishops outside Italy.
ure of the see of Rome.
It was Leo I, the first of three popes to be called the
The exact structure of the very early Roman church is
Great, who laid the theoretical foundation of papal primacy.
not known, but it seems that by the middle of the second
Leo took the title Pontifex Maximus, which the emperors no
century monepiscopacy (the rule of one bishop) was well es-
longer used, and claimed to possess the fullness of power
tablished. The memory of Peter was kept alive in Rome, and
(plenitudo potestatis). Governing the church through a tu-
its bishops were often involved in the affairs of churches out-
multuous period of barbarian invasions and internal dis-
side their own area. Clement I (c. 90–c. 99), for example,
putes, he relentlessly defended the rights of the Roman see.
sent a letter from the church of Rome to the church of Cor-
He rejected Canon 28 of the Council of Chalcedon (451),
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6967
which gave the bishop of New Rome (Constantinople) privi-
ered him their protector. Gregory was respectful of the rights
leges equal to those of the bishop of Old Rome and a rank
of individual bishops, but he insisted, nevertheless, that all
second only to that of the pope. A favorite theme for Leo was
churches, including Constantinople, were subject to the ap-
the relationship between Peter and the pope. This idea had
ostolic see of Rome. He realized that direct confrontation
been advanced by earlier popes, but Leo elaborated it, in his
with the emperor would be futile, and so he concentrated on
sermons calling himself “Peter in Peter’s see” (2.2) and his
developing the church in territories outside imperial jurisdic-
“unworthy heir” (3.4). Thus, as he noted, a particular pope
tion. He established links with the Frankish monarchs that
may be sinful, but the papacy as such still retains its Petrine
proved to be of great significance in the later Middle Ages;
character. The Leonine distinction between person and of-
he also sent forty missionaries to Britain. The break with the
fice has proved to be of immense value and has helped the
East began when Gregory II (715–731) condemned the
papacy survive unsuitable popes. Leo believed that Peter’s
iconoclastic decrees of Emperor Leo I, who had prohibited
successors have “the care of all the churches” (Sermons 3.4),
the use of images in liturgical ceremonies. The gap widened
and he exercised his authority over Christian churches in
when Stephen II (752–757), the first pope to cross the Alps,
Italy, Africa, and Gaul. The Western Roman empire ended
met with Pépin, king of the Franks. Pépin agreed to defend
in 476. The successors of Leo, especially Felix III (483–492)
the pope against the invading Lombards and apparently
and Gelasius I (492–496), applied his principles, but the im-
promised him sovereignty over large areas in central Italy.
perial government in Constantinople exerted continual pres-
The Donation of Pépin was an epoch-making event; it
sure on the papacy.
marked the beginning of the Papal States, in existence until
For centuries the popes did not change their names. The
1870. Stephen became the first of a long line of popes to
first name change occurred when a Roman called Mercury,
claim temporal rule. Through his alliance with the Frankish
having been elected pope, chose the more suitable appella-
kingdom, Stephen was virtually able to free the papacy from
tion of John II (533–535). From the time of Sergius IV
the domination of Constantinople. The last step in the divi-
(1009–1012)—his name had been Peter Buccaporca (Peter
sion of Rome from the Eastern Empire was when Pope Leo
Pigmouth)—the taking of a new name has continued to the
III (795–816) crowned Charlemagne emperor of the West
present, with two exceptions: Adrian VI (1522–1523) and
at Saint Peter’s Basilica in 800. As a result of their new status,
Marcellus II (1555). The most popular papal names have
the popes minted their own coins, and they no longer dated
been John, Gregory, Benedict, Clement, Innocent, Leo, and
papal documents according to imperial years. The primatial
Pius. There has never been a Peter II or a John XX. John Paul
prominence of Rome increased when the Muslim conquests
I was the first pope to select a double name. The legend that
destroyed the church in North Africa and ended the strong
a woman pope—Pope Joan—reigned between Leo IV (847–
influence of Rome’s great rivals: the patriarchates of Alexan-
855) and Benedict III (855–858) has long been rejected by
dria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. By the middle of the ninth cen-
historians.
tury, Nicholas I, the Great (858–867), was able to act as the
supreme judge and lawmaker for the entire church. He resist-
The accompanying list is based generally on the catalog
ed Carolingian interference and dealt severely with recalci-
of popes given in the Annuario pontificio, the official Vatican
trant archbishops, deposing several and overruling the deci-
yearbook, with some changes dictated by recent scholarly re-
sions of others. In his relations with the Byzantine church
search. It should be noted that the legitimacy of certain
he was less successful because he failed to resolve adequately
popes—for example, Dioscorus (530), Leo VIII (963–965),
the dispute with Photios, the patriarch of Constantinople.
Benedict V (964), Gregory VI (1045–1046), and Clement
The assertion of primatial claims by John VIII (872–882)
II (1046–1047)—is still controverted. Although Stephen
also met Byzantine opposition. The tenth century was a
(752) is mentioned in the list, he died three days after his
bleak one for the papacy. After the Carolingian rulers lost
election without being consecrated a bishop.
power, the papacy was scandalously dominated, first by the
THE MEDIEVAL PAPACY. The eventful period from the sixth
Roman nobility and then by the German emperors Otto I
to the fifteenth century demonstrated the unusual adaptabili-
and his successors. The so-called Ottonian privilege restrict-
ty of the papal office. Successive popes opposed imperial con-
ed the freedom of papal electors and allowed the emperor the
trol, attempted to reform the papacy and the church, and
right of ratification. There were some two dozen popes and
brought papal authority to its peak in the twelfth and thir-
antipopes during this period, many of low moral caliber. De-
teenth centuries. A severe decline followed.
positions and impositions of popes became commonplace.
Clearly, then, by the beginning of the eleventh century, the
The struggle for independence. The popes of the sixth
need for radical reform was urgent.
and seventh centuries resisted excessive encroachments but
were still subservient to the power of the emperor. The most
The reform movement. Advocates of reform found a
notable pope at this time was Gregory I, the Great (590–
dedicated leader in Leo IX (1049–1054). He traveled exten-
604), a deeply spiritual man who called himself “the servant
sively throughout Italy, France, and Germany, presiding over
of the servants of God.” A skilled negotiator, he was able to
synods that issued strong decrees dealing with clerical mar-
conclude a peace treaty with the Lombards, who threatened
riage, simony, and episcopal elections. Only six months of
Rome; the people of Rome and the adjacent regions consid-
his entire pontificate were spent in Rome. Further reforms
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

6968
PAPACY
Name
Date
Name (continued)
Date
St. Peter
?-64/7
Boniface II
22 Sep. 530-17 Oct. 532
St. Linus
64/7-79?
[Dioscorus]
[22 Sep.-14 Oct. 530]
St. Anacletus (Cletus)
79?-90/2
John II
2 Jan. 533-8 May 535
St. Clement I
90/2-99/101
St. Agapitus I
13 May 535-22 Apr. 536
St. Evaristus
99/101-107?
St. Silverius
1 Jun. 536-11 Nov. 537
St. Alexander I
107?-116?
Vigilius
29 Mar. 537-7 Jun. 555
St. Sixtus I
116?-125?
Pelagius I
16 Apt. 556-4 Mar. 561
St. Telesphorus
125?-136?
John III
17 Jul. 561-13 Jul. 574
St. Hyginus
136?-140/2
Benedict I
2 Jun. 575-30 Jul. 579
St. Pius I
140/2-154/5
Pelagius II
26 Nov. 579-7 Feb. 590
St. Anicetus
154/5-166?
St. Gregory I, the Great
3 Sep. 590-12 Mar. 604
St. Soter
166?-174?
Sabinian
13 Sep. 604-22 Feb. 606
St. Eleutherius
174?-189?
Boniface III
19 Feb.-12 Nov. 607
St. Victor I
189?-198?
St. Boniface IV
25 Aug. 608-8 May 615
St. Zephyrinus
198?-217?
St. Deusdedit (Adeodatus I)
19 Oct. 615-8 Nov. 618
St. Callistus I
217?-222
Boniface V
23 Dec. 619-25 Oct. 625
[St. Hippolytus]
[217?-235]
Honorius I
27 Oct. 625-12 Oct. 638
St. Urban
I 222-230
Severinus
28 May-7 Aug. 640
St. Pontian
21 Jul. 230-28 Sep. 235
John IV
24 Dec. 640-12 Oct. 642
St. Anterus
21 Nov. 235-3 Jan. 236
Theodore I
24 Nov. 642-14 May 649
St. Fabian
10 Jan. 236-20 Jan. 250
St. Martin I
July 649-16 Sep. 655
St. Cornelius
Mar. 251-Jun. 253
St. Eugene I
10 Aug. 654-2 Jun. 657
[Novatian]
[251-258?]
St. Vitalian
30 Jul. 657-27 Jan. 672
St. Lucius I
25 Jun. 253-5 Mar. 254
Adeodatus II
11 Apr. 672-17 Jun. 676
St. Stephen I
12 May 254-2 Aug. 257
Donus
2 Nov. 676-11 Apr. 678
St. Sixtus II
30 Aug. 257-6 Aug. 258
St. Agatho
27 Jun. 678-10 Jan. 681
St. Dionysius
22 Jul. 259-26 Dec. 268
St. Leo II
17 Aug. 682-3 Jul. 683
St. Felix I
5 Jan. 269-30 Dec. 274
St. Benedict II
26 Jun. 684-8 May 685
St. Eutychian
4 Jan. 275-7 Dec. 283
John V
23 Jul. 685-2 Aug. 686
St. Gaius (Caius)
17 Dec. 283-22 Apr. 296
Conon
21 Oct. 686-21 Sep. 687
St. Marcellinus
30 Jun. 296-25 Oct. 304
[Theodore]
[687]
St. Marcellus I
27 May 308-16 Jan. 309
[Paschal]
[687]
St. Eusebius
18 Apr.-17 Aug. 309
St. Sergius I
15 Dec. 687-8 Sep. 701
St. Miltiades 2
Jul. 311-11 Jan. 314
John VI
30 Oct. 701-11 Jan. 705
St. Sylvester I
31 Jan. 314-31 Dec. 335
John VII
1 Mar. 705-18 Oct. 707
St. Mark
18 Jan.-7 Oct. 336
Sisinnius
15 Jan.-4 Feb. 708
St. Julius I
6 Feb. 337-12 Apr. 352
Constantine
25 Mar. 708-9 Apr. 715
Liberius
17 May 352-24 Sep. 366
St. Gregory II
19 May 715-11 Feb. 731
[Felix II]
[355-22 Nov. 365]
St. Gregory III
18 Mar. 731-Nov. 741
St. Damasus I
1 Oct. 366-11 Dec. 384
St. Zachary
10 Dec. 741-22 Mar. 752
[Ursinus]
[366-367]
Stephen (II)
23-25 Mar. 752
St. Siricius
15 Dec. 384-26 Nov. 399
Stephen II (III)
26 Mar. 752-26 Apt. 757
St. Anastasius I
27 Nov. 399-19 Dec. 401
St. Paul I
29 May 757-28 Jun. 767
St. Innocent I
22 Dec. 401-12 Mar. 417
[Constantine II]
[28 Jun. 767-769]
St. Zosimus
18 Mar. 417-26 Dec. 418
[Philip]
[31 Jul. 768]
St. Boniface I
28 Dec. 418-4 Sep. 422
Stephen III
(IV) 7 Aug. 768-24 Jan. 772
[Eulalius]
[27 Dec. 418-419]
Adrian I
1 Feb. 772-25 Dec. 795
St. Celestine I
10 Sep. 422-27 Jul. 432
St. Leo III
26 Dec. 795-12 Jun. 816
St. Sixtus III
31 Jul. 432-19 Aug. 440
Stephen IV
(V) 22 Jun. 816-24 Jan. 817
St. Leo I, the Great
29 Sep. 440-10 Nov. 461
St. Paschal I
25 Jan. 817-11 Feb. 824
St. Hilary
19 Nov. 461-29 Feb. 468
Eugene II
Feb. 824-Aug. 827
St. Simplicius
3 Mar. 468-10 Mar. 483
Valentine
Aug.-Sep. 827
St. Felix III (II)
13 Mar. 483-1 Mar. 492
Gregory IV
827-Jan. 844
St. Gelasius I
1 Mar. 492-21 Nov. 496
[John]
[Jan. 844]
Anastasius II
24 Nov. 496-19 Nov. 498
Sergius II
Jan. 844-27 Jan. 847
St. Symmachus
22 Nov. 498-19 Jul. 514
St. Leo IV
Jan. 847-17 Jul. 855
[Lawrence]
[498; 501-505]
Benedict III
Jul. 855-17 Apr. 858
St. Hormisdas
20 Jul. 514-6 Aug. 523
[Anastasius]
[Aug.-Sep. 855]
St. John I
13 Aug. 523-18 May 526
(continued)
St. Felix IV (III)
12 Jul. 526-22 Sep. 530
T ABLE 1 . The Popes. A Roman numeral in parentheses after a pope’s name indicates differences in the historical sources. The names
of the antipopes and their dates are given in brackets. The first date for each pope refers to his election; the second date refers to his
death, deposition, or resignation. Dates for the first two hundred years are uncertain. Abbreviations: Bl. = Blessed; St. = Saint.
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

PAPACY
6969
Name (continued)
Date
Name (continued)
Date
St. Nicholas I, the Great
24 Apt. 858-13 Nov. 867
St. Gregory VII
22 Apt. 1073-25 May 1085
Adrian II
14 Dec. 867-14 Dec. 872
[Clement III]
[26 Jun. 1080-8 Sep. 1100]
John VIII
14 Dec. 872-16 Dec. 882
Bl. Victor III
24 May 1086-16 Sep. 1087
Marinus I
16 Dec. 882-15 May 884
Bl. Urban II
12 Mar. 1088-29 Jul. 1099
St. Adrian IIl
17 May 884-Sep. 885
Paschal II
13 Aug. 1099-21 Jan. 1118
Stephen V (VI)
Sep. 885-14 Sep. 891
[Theodoric]
[1100]
Formosus 6
Oct. 891-4 Apr. 896
[Albert]
[1102]
Boniface VI
Apr. 896
[Sylvester IV]
[18 Nov. 1105-1111]
Stephen VI (VII)
May 896-Aug. 897
Gelasius II
24 Jan. 1118-28 Jan. 1119
Romanus Aug.-Nov.
897
[Gregory VIII]
[8 Mar. 1118-1121]
Theodore II
Dec. 897
Callistus II
2 Feb. 1119-13 Dec. 1124
John IX
Jan. 898-Jan. 900
Honorius II
5 Dec. 1124-13 Feb. 1130
Benedict IV
Jan. 900-Jul. 903
[Celestine II]
[Dec. 1124]
Leo V
Jul.-Sep. 903
Innocent II
14 Feb. 1130-24 Sep. 1143
[Christopher]
[Jul. 903-Jan. 904]
[Anacletus II]
[14 Feb. 1130-25 Jan. 1138]
Sergius III
29 Jan. 904-14 Apr. 911
[Victor IV]
[Mar.-29 May 1138]
Anastasius III
Apt. 911-Jun. 913
Celestine II
26 Sep. 1143-8 Mar. 1144
Lando
Jul. 913-Feb. 914
Lucius II
2 Mar. 1144-15 Feb. 1145
John X
Mar. 914-May 928
Bl. Eugene III
15 Feb. 1145-8 Jul. 1153
Leo VI
May-Dec. 928
Anastasius IV
12 Jul. 1153-3 Dec. 1154
Stephen VII (VIII)
Dec. 928-Feb. 931
Adrian IV
4 Dec. 1154-1 Sep. 1159
John XI
Feb. 931-Dec. 935
Alexander III
7 Sep. 1159-30 Aug. 1181
Leo VII 3
an. 936-13 Jul. 939
[Victor IV]
[7 Sep. 1159-20 Apt. 1164]
Stephen VIII (IX)
14 Jul. 939-Oct. 942
[Paschal III]
[26 Apt. 1164-20 Sep. 1168]
Marinus II
30 Oct. 942-May 946
[Callistus III]
[Sep. 1168-29 Aug. 1178]
Agapetus II
10 May 946-Dec. 955
[Innocent III]
[29 Sep. 1179-1180]
John XII
16 Dec. 955-14 May 964
Lucius III
1 Sep. 1181-25 Sep. 1185
Leo VIII
4 Dec. 963-1 Mar. 965
Urban III
25 Nov. 1185-20 Oct. 1187
Benedict V
22 May-23 Jun. 964
Gregory VIII
21 Oct.-17 Dec. 1187
Clement III
19 Dec. 1187-Mar. 1191
John XIII
1 Oct. 965-6 Sep. 972
Celestine III
30 Mar. 1191-8 Jan. 1198
Benedict VI
19 Jan. 973-Jun. 974
Innocent III
8 Jan. 1198-16 Jul. 1216
[Boniface VII]
[Jun.-Jul. 974;
Honorius III
18 Jul. 1216-18 Mar. 1227
Aug. 984-Jul. 985]
Gregory IX
19 Mar. 1227-22 Aug. 1241
Benedict VII
Oct. 974-10 Jul. 983
Celestine IV
25 Oct.-10 Nov. 1241
John XIV
Dec. 983-20 Aug.'984
Innocent IV
25 Jun. 1243-7 Dec. 1254
John XV
Aug. 985-Mar. 996
Alexander IV
12 Dec. 1254-25 May 1261
Gregory V
3 May 996-18 Feb. 999
Urban IV
29 Aug. 1261-2 Oct. 1264
[John XVI]
[Apr. 997-Feb. 998]
Clement IV
5 Feb. 1265-29 Nov. 1268
Sylvester II
2 Apr. 999-12 May 1003
Bl. Gregory X
1 Sep. 1271-10 Jan. 1276
John XVII
Jun.-Dec. 1003
Bl. Innocent V
21 Jan.-22 Jun. 1276
John XVIII
Jan. 1004-Jul. 1009
Adrian V
11 Jul.-18 Aug. 1276
Sergius IV
31 Jul. 1009-12 May 1012
John XXI
8 Sep. 1276-20 May 1277
Benedict VIII
18 May 1012-9 Apr. 1024
Nicholas III
25 Nov. 1277-22 Aug. 1280
[Gregory]
[1012]
Martin IV
22 Feb. 1281-28 Mar. 1285
John XIX
Apt. 1024-1032
Honorius IV
2 Apt. 1285-3 Apt. 1287
Benedict IX
(first time) 1032-1044
Nicholas IV
22 Feb. 1288-4 Apt. 1292
Sylvester IIl
20 Jan.-10 Feb. 1045
St. Celestine V
5 Jul.-13 Dec. 1294
Benedict IX
(second time) 10 Apt.-1 May 1045
Boniface VIII
24 Dec. 1294-11 Oct. 1303
Gregory VI
May 1045-20 Dec. 1046
Bl. Benedict XI
22 Oct. 1303-7 Jul. 1304
Clement II
24 Dec. 1046-9 Oct. 1047
Clement V
5 Jun. 1305-20 Apr. 1314
Benedict IX
(third time) 8 Nov. 1047-17 Jul. 1048
John XXII
7 Aug. 1316-4 Dec. 1334
Damasus II
17 Jul.-9 Aug. 1048
[Nicholas V]
[12 May 1328-25 Aug. 1330]
St. Leo IX
12 Feb. 1049-19 Apr. 1054
Benedict XII
20 Dec. 1334-25 Apt. 1342
Victor II
16 Apt. 1055-28 Jul. 1057
Clement VI
7 May 1342-6 Dec. 1352
Stephen IX (X)
3 Aug. 1057-29 Mar. 1058
Innocent VI
18 Dec. 1352-12 Sep. 1362
[Benedict X]
[5 Apt. 1058-24 Jan. 1059]
Bl. Urban V
28 Sep. 1362-19 Dec. 1370
Nicholas II
24 Jan. 1059-27 Jul. 1061
Gregory XI
30 Dec. 1370-26 Mar. 1378
Alexander II
1 Oct. 1061-21 Apr. 1073
Urban VI
8 Apt. 1378-15 Oct. 1389
[Honorius II]
[28 Oct. 1061-1072]
(continued)
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

6970
PAPACY
Name (continued)
Date
Name (continued)
Date
Boniface IX
2 Nov. 1389- 1 Oct. 1404
Clement VIII
30 Jan. 1592-3 Mar. 1605
Innocent VII
17 Oct. 1404-6 Nov. 1406
Leo XI
1 Apt.-27 Apt. 1605
Gregory XII
30 Nov. 1406-4 Jul. 1415
Paul V
16 May 1605-28 Jan. 1621
[Clement VII, Avignon]
[20 Sep. 1378-16 Sep. 1394]
Gregory XV
9 Feb. 1621-8 Jul. 1623
[Benedict XIII, Avignon]
[28 Sep. 1394-23 May 1423]
Urban VIII
6 Aug. 1623-29 Jul. 1644
[Clement VIII, Avignon]
[10 Jun. 1423-26 Jul. 1429]
Innocent X
15 Sep. 1644-7 Jan. 1655
[Benedict XIV, Avignon]
[12 Nov. 1425-1430]
Alexander VII
7 Apt. 1655-22 May 1667
[Alexander V, Pisa]
[26 Jun. 1409-3 May 1410]
Clement IX
20 Jun. 1667-9 Dec. 1669
[John XXIII, Pisa]
[17 May 1410-29 May 1415]
Clement X
29 Apt. 1670-22 Jul. 1676
Martin V
11 Nov. 1417-20 Feb. 1431
Bl. Innocent XI
21 Sep. 1676-12 Aug. 1689
Eugene IV
3 Mar. 1431-23 Feb. 1447
Alexander VIII
6 Oct. 1689-1 Feb. 1691
[Felix V]
[5 Nov. 1439-7 Apr. 1449]
Innocent XII
12 Jul. 1691-27 Sep. 1700
Nicholas V
6 Mar. 1447-24 Mar. 1455
Clement XI
23 Nov. 1700-19 Mar. 1721
Callistus III
8 Apt. 1455-6 Aug. 1458
Innocent XIII
8 May 1721-7 Mar. 1724
Plus II
19 Aug. 1458-15 Aug. 1464
Benedict XIII
29 May 1724-21 Feb. 1730
Paul II
30 Aug. 1464-26 Jul. 1471
Clement XII
12 Jul. 1730-6 Feb. 1740
Sixtus IV
9 Aug. 1471-12 Aug. 1484
Benedict XIV
17 Aug. 1740-3 May 1758
Innocent VIII
29 Aug. 1484-25 Jul. 1492
Clement XIII
6 Jul. 1758-2 Feb. 1769
Alexander VI
11 Aug. 1492-18 Aug. 1503
Clement XIV
19 May 1769-22 Sep. 1774
Pius III
22 Sep.-18 Oct. 1503
Pius VI
15 Feb. 1775-29 Aug. 1799
Julius II
31 Oct. 1503-21 Feb. 1513
Pius VII
14 Mar. 1800-20 Aug. 1823
Leo X
9 Mar. 1513-1 Dec. 1521
Leo XII
28 Sep. 1823-10 Feb. 1829
Adrian VI
9 Jan. 1522-14 Sep. 1523
Pius VIII
31 Mar. 1829-30 Nov. 1830
Clement VII
19 Nov. 1523-25 Sep. 1534
Gregory XVI
2 Feb. 1831-1 Jun. 1846
Paul III
13 Oct. 1534-10 Nov. 1549
Pius IX
16 Jun. 1846-7 Feb. 1878
Julius III
7 Feb. 1550-23 Mar. 1555
Leo XIII
20 Feb. 1878-20 Jul. 1903
Marcellus II
9 Apt.-1 May 1555
St. Pius X
4 Aug. 1903-20 Aug. 1914
Paul IV
23 May 1555-18 Aug. 1559
Benedict XV
3 Sep. 1914-22 Jan. 1922
Plus IV
25 Dec. 1559-9 Dec. 1565
Pius XI
6 Feb. 1922-10 Feb. 1939
St. Pius V
7 Jan. 1566-1 May 1572
Pius XII
2 Mar. 1939-9 Oct. 1958
Gregory XIII
13 May 1572-10 Apr. 1585
John XXIII
28 Oct. 1958-3 Jun. 1963
Sixtus V
24 Apr. 1585-27 Aug. 1590
Paul VI
21 Jun. 1963-6 Aug. 1978
Urban VII
15 Sep.-27 Sep. 1590
John Paul I
26 Aug.-28 Sep. 1978
Gregory XIV
5 Dec. 1590-16 Oct. 1591
John Paul II
16 Oct. 1978-
Innocent IX
29 Oct.-30 Dec. 1591
were made under Nicholas II (1059–1061), whose corona-
three areas. The first task was to restore prestige to the papa-
tion, perhaps the first ever, was rich in monarchical symbol-
cy, to resurrect it from the sorry state to which it had de-
ism. His decree on papal elections (1059), which made cardi-
scended in the previous two centuries. In his letters and espe-
nal bishops the sole electors, had a twofold purpose: to
cially in his Dictates of the Pope, Gregory, like Leo I before
safeguard the reformed papacy through free and peaceful
him, identified himself with Peter; claimed universal authori-
elections and to eliminate coercion by the empire or the aris-
ty over bishops, clerics, and councils; and asserted his right
tocracy. By not granting the emperor the right of confirma-
to make law, to render judgments that allow no appeal, and
tion, he directly opposed the Ottonian privilege. Nicholas
even to depose emperors. The second area of reform was di-
also introduced feudalism into the papacy when he enfeoffed
rected against clerical corruption, particularly simony and in-
the Normans; the papacy invested them with the lands they
continence. The third area concerned lay investiture—a
had conquered and received the oath of fealty. This feudal
practice whereby feudal lords, princes, and emperors be-
contract—actually made to the apostle Peter through the
stowed spiritual office through the selection of pastors, ab-
pope—was the first of many. By the twelfth century, the pa-
bots, and bishops. Gregory’s determination to root out this
pacy had more feudal vassals than any other European
evil brought him into direct conflict with Emperor Henry
power.
IV, whom he consequently excommunicated (and later ab-
solved in the famous winter scene at Canossa in 1077). The
The most famous of the reform popes was Gregory VII
Gregorian reform movement met fierce resistance and
(1073–1085), surnamed Hildebrand. Endowed with great
achieved only limited success, but it was an important mile-
gifts, he had learned much about the papacy from his years
stone in papal history. For the first time the extensive theo-
of service under Leo IX, Nicholas II, and Alexander II
retical principles of papal power were tested in practice.
(1061–1073). His ambitious program of reform focused on
Henceforth, the papacy exercised a new style of leadership:
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

PAPACY
6971
The pope emerged not only as the undisputed head of the
tions, as they are known today, were only in the process of
church but also as the unifying force in medieval western
formation. It was a turbulent time. Yet in the Middle Ages,
Europe.
the papacy was the only institution in the West with the au-
thority and stability to provide law and order. At times it
The height of papal authority. The papacy reached its
went to excess, but medieval Europe owed it a considerable
zenith in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Six general
debt.
councils between 1123 and 1274 issued many doctrinal and
disciplinary decrees aimed at reform and left no doubt that
In 1308, Clement V (1305–1314) moved the papal resi-
the popes were firmly in control of church policy. During
dence to Avignon, which then belonged to the king of Na-
the pontificate of Innocent III (1198–1216), one of the most
ples, a vassal of the pope. Several factors prompted this deci-
brilliant of all the popes, the papacy reached the summit of
sion: the upcoming general council of Vienne (1311–1312);
its universal power and supervised the religious, social, and
the tension between the pope and the king of France; and
political life of the West. Some of the greatest popes at this
the unsafe and chaotic political situation in Rome and Italy.
time were canonists who proclaimed a pontifical world hege-
The popes remained in Avignon for seventy years. During
mony. Under Innocent III, the first official collection of
their so-called Babylonian Captivity, the popes were French,
canon law was published (1209), and the kingdoms of Bul-
but the papacy was not a puppet of the French rulers. Cen-
garia, Portugal, and England were made papal fiefs. Honori-
tralization and administrative complexity increased, especial-
us III (1216–1227) further centralized papal administration
ly under John XXII (1316–1334). The cardinals assumed
and finances and approved the establishment of the Francis-
greater power that at times bordered on oligarchy. They in-
can and Dominican orders. In theory, papal authority ex-
troduced the practice of capitulation—an agreement made
tended also to non-Christians. Innocent IV (1243–1254) be-
by electors of the pope to limit the authority of the person
lieved that every creature is subject to the pope—even
chosen to be pope—and thus tried to restrict papal primacy.
infidels, Christ’s sheep by creation though not members of
The Avignon popes worked to reform the clergy and reli-
the church. This idea of a world theocracy under the popes
gious orders; they also promoted missionary activity in
was to be part of the theological and political justification for
China, India, and Persia.
the Crusades.
No sooner had Gregory XI (1370–1378) returned to
The medieval popes took stringent action against such
Rome in 1377 than the papacy faced another crisis, the great
heretics as the Waldensians and the Cathari. Gregory IX
Western schism. The election of Urban VI (1378–1389) was
(1227–1241) made the Inquisition a permanent tribunal to
later disputed by some of the cardinals, who claimed coer-
combat heresy, selecting Dominicans and Franciscans to
cion. Five months after Urban’s election, they rejected him
serve as inquisitors, or judges. Heresy was considered not
and elected Clement VII (1378–1394), who went back to
only a grave sin but also a crime against the state. Thus Inno-
Avignon. The two popes had their own cardinals, curial
cent IV approved the use of torture by the state to force here-
staffs, and adherents among the faithful. A council was held
tics to confess.
at Pisa in 1409 to resolve the problem, but instead still an-
Two significant changes were made in the procedures
other pope was elected, Alexander V, who in less than a year
for papal elections. At the Third Lateran Council (1179), Al-
was succeeded by John XXIII (1410–1415). The general
exander III (1159–1181) decreed that all cardinals—not just
council of Constance (1414–1418) confronted the scandal
cardinal bishops—could vote and that a two-thirds majority
of three would-be popes and pledged to reform the church
was required. The Second Council of Lyons (1274), under
in head and members. Unity was restored with the election
Gregory X (1271–1276), established the law of the conclave,
of Martin V (1417–1431). The council deposed both Bene-
whereby the cardinal electors had to assemble in the papal
dict XIII (1394–1423) of Avignon and John XXIII of Pisa;
palace and remain in a locked room until the election was
Gregory XII (1406–1415) of the Roman line abdicated.
completed.
What makes the Council of Constance important in the his-
tory of the papacy is the theological principle that dictated
Decline of the papacy. The death of Boniface VIII
its actions, namely conciliarism, enunciated in the council’s
(1294–1303) marked the end of the grandiose idea of a theo-
decree Haec sancta, the dogmatic validity of which is still de-
cratic world order with all power, spiritual and temporal, em-
bated. The theory of conciliarism, that a general council is
anating from the pope. Several factors contributed to the de-
the supreme organ of government in the church, was later
cline of the papacy: high taxation, the inappropriate
condemned by several popes, but it did not die. It resurfaced
conferral and control of benefices, corruption in the Roman
again in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in the form
bureaucracy, and, above all, the failure of the popes to foresee
of Gallicanism and Febronianism.
the effect of nationalism on church-state relations. The effort
to construct a Christian commonwealth under papal leader-
FROM THE RENAISSANCE TO THE ENLIGHTENMENT. Papal
ship was unsuccessful, but it must be judged in context. The
authority was severely challenged between the fifteenth and
popes struggled to protect the independence of the church,
eighteenth centuries. It had to face the massive religious and
but their temporal involvements complicated the situation.
societal repercussions brought about by the Renaissance, the
Europe at that time was a mosaic of feudal territories; na-
Protestant Reformation, and the Enlightenment.
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The Renaissance. Martin V tried to fulfill the provi-
tors, coupled with deep-seated religious, social, and econom-
sions of the decree Frequens (1417) that emanated from the
ic unrest in Europe, set the stage for the Protestant Reforma-
Council of Constance, which mandated that a general coun-
tion. Martin Luther’s challenge in 1517 caught the papacy
cil should be held in five years, another seven years later, and
unprepared. Leo X (1513–1521) and his successors badly
then one regularly every ten years. He convened a council
underestimated the extent and intensity of antipapal senti-
at Siena that later moved to Pavia (1423–1424), but the
ment in Europe. The popes neither adequately comprehend-
plague forced its dissolution. Seven years later another coun-
ed the religious intentions of Luther nor understood the ap-
cil was held, meeting first at Basel and later at Ferrara and
peal that the reformers’ ideas had for many who were
Florence (1431–1445), under Eugene IV (1431–1447).
outraged at both the policies and the conduct of church lead-
Greek and Latin prelates attended, and they were able to
ers. What began in the Reformation as a movement to re-
agree on several thorny doctrinal issues including the prima-
store genuine apostolic integrity to the church of Rome
cy of the pope. The decree Laetentur caeli (1439), the first
ended with the creation of a separate church. Luther, Calvin,
dogmatic definition of papal primacy by a council, stated:
and Zwingli eventually repudiated all papal claims. By the
“We define that the holy apostolic see and the Roman Pon-
time of Clement VII (1523–1534), millions of Catholics in
tiff have primacy over the whole world, and that the same
Germany, Scandinavia, the Low Countries, Switzerland, and
Roman Pontiff is the successor of Saint Peter, prince of the
Britain had departed from the Roman communion. A new
Apostles, the true vicar of Christ, the head of the church.”
era in church history had dawned.
Unfortunately, the union between the Greeks and Rome was
short-lived.
The rapid rise of Protestantism had a sobering effect on
the papacy: It forced the popes to concentrate on church af-
Nicholas V (1447–1455) and his successors made Rome
fairs. Paul III (1534–1549), for example, appointed compe-
a center of the arts and scholarship. Humanistic concerns
tent cardinals to administrative posts, authorized the estab-
and involvement in Italian politics dominated their pontifi-
lishment of the Society of Jesus (1540), and reformed the
cates. Pius II (1458–1464), one of the most notable examples
Roman Inquisition (1542). The church’s most wide-ranging
of papal humanism, in the bull Exsecrabilis (1460) prohibited
answer to the Protestant Reformation was the Council of
any appeals to future general councils, thus striking at concil-
Trent (1545–1563), convoked by Paul III and concluded by
iarism. The same oligarchic spirit of the earlier Avignon car-
Pius IV (1559–1565). In its twenty-five sessions, the council
dinals appeared again at the election of Paul II (1464–1471).
discussed the authority of scripture and of tradition, original
The cardinals drew up a capitulation requiring consultation
sin and justification, the sacraments, and specific reform leg-
with them before any major papal appointment, but after his
islation. It did not, strangely enough, treat explicitly the the-
election Paul promptly rejected this limitation. Sixtus IV
ology of the church or the papacy. The council refused to
(1471–1484) concerned himself mostly with the restoration
accept demands for a married clergy, Communion under
of Rome and the expansion of the Papal States; he is respon-
both species, and a vernacular liturgy. The principles of con-
sible for building the magnificent Sistine Chapel in the Vati-
ciliarism did not affect the Council of Trent, at which the
can. The Borgian pope, Alexander VI (1492–1503), has
reigning popes were in control of the proceedings.
gone down in history as one of the most notorious of the Re-
naissance popes although his exploits have been exaggerated.
One of the effects of the Tridentine reform was a reorga-
The papacy, moreover, was engaged in almost continual war-
nization of the church’s central administrative system. The
fare. The most famous of the warrior popes was Julius II
Curia Romana, which had existed, at least functionally, since
(1503–1513), known as Il Terribile. A capable and energetic
the first century, was plagued by nepotism, greed, and abuse
leader, Julius became the patron of Michelangelo, Raphael,
of authority. Sixtus V (1585–1590), who was committed to
and Bramante; he commissioned the construction of the new
a reform of the Curia, established fifteen congregations of
basilica of Saint Peter’s. Adrian VI (1522–1523) was an ex-
cardinals to carry out church administration. The popes en-
ception among the Renaissance popes; in his short pontifi-
deavored to consider moral character and ability in selecting
cate he tried to introduce reform measures, but these met
cardinals, whose number was set at seventy in 1588. Under
persistent opposition from both civil rulers and highly placed
Gregory XIII (1572–1585), papal nuncios to Catholic coun-
ecclesiastics. In sum, the Renaissance popes were generally
tries proved most valuable in implementing the ideals of
more interested in politics, the arts, and the ostentatious dis-
Trent and in supervising the activities of the local bishops.
play of wealth than in providing genuine religious leadership.
For forty years after Trent, zealous popes strengthened papal
Their artistic achievements were outstanding, their neglect
authority and prestige. They increased centralization, man-
of spiritual concerns tragic.
dated uniformity in liturgical ritual, and renewed priestly life
and seminary training. The bishops of dioceses, who now
The Reformation and Counter-Reformation. By the
had to submit regular reports to Rome and visit it at specified
beginning of the sixteenth century the papacy was severely
intervals, became much less independent. The success of the
weakened by internal decay and a loss of supernatural vision.
Counter-Reformation resulted from sound papal governance
The faithful throughout Europe were asked to contribute
and the extraordinary contributions of the Jesuits and other
alms to the extravagant building projects in Rome. These fac-
religious orders. Yet union with the Protestants was not ac-
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6973
complished; the Christian church in the West had a divided
tianity. Benedict XIV condemned this practice and required
membership.
the missionaries to take an oath rejecting the rites. The oath
remained in force until the pontificate of Pius XII (1939–
Seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The papacy
1958).
had to face new problems caused by radical shifts in the polit-
ical and intellectual climate of Europe during the seven-
In the theological area, Innocent X repudiated five
teenth and eighteenth centuries. Skepticism, rationalism,
propositions on the theology of grace found in the writings
and secularism became pervasive during the Enlightenment,
of the Flemish bishop Cornelis Jansen; Alexander VII
and many intellectuals were violently opposed to the Catho-
(1655–1667) rejected laxism as a moral system; and Alexan-
lic church and the papacy. As a result, the popes were often
der VIII (1689–1691) acted similarly against rigorism. The
on the defensive. In actions reminiscent of the medieval pa-
spiritual teaching of Quietism also received papal disapprov-
pacy, Paul V (1605–1621) in 1605, in the wake of the Gun-
al, when Innocent XII proscribed the views of Miguel de
powder Plot, forbade Catholics to take a loyalty oath to the
Molinos. The most dramatic papal action of the eighteenth
king of England, and in 1607 he put Venice under inter-
century occurred when Clement XIV (1769–1774), bending
dict—a penalty largely ignored. The lengthy and often acri-
to pressure from the Bourbon monarchies and fearing possi-
monious debate between Dominicans and Jesuits over grace
ble schism in France and Spain, suppressed the Society of
and free will, a question not settled at Trent, was terminated
Jesus in 1773.
during Paul’s reign. In 1597 Clement VIII (1592–1605) had
established a special papal commission (the Congregatio de
THE MODERN PERIOD. Dramatic shifts in the prestige and
Auxiliis) to examine the orthodoxy of the two views. Paul re-
authority of the papacy have occurred between the era of the
ceived the final report, and in 1607 he declared that both or-
French Revolution and the twentieth century. The popes of
ders could defend their positions, that neither side should
this period, faced with the demanding challenges of a new
censure the opposite opinion, and that all should await the
age, have attempted to restore their spiritual authority.
final decision of the Holy See. This decision has not yet been
Revolution and restoration. The French Revolution,
made.
which began in 1789, and the subsequent actions of Napo-
The Thirty Years War (1618–1648), a series of religious
leon created a new political order in Europe that adversely
and dynastic wars that involved most of Europe, embroiled
affected the Roman Catholic church. With nationalistic fer-
the papacy in conflict. Paul V and Gregory XV (1621–1623)
vor, France’s new revolutionary government became an in-
had little influence on the conduct of Catholic rulers. Inno-
strument of dechristianization, secularization, and anticleri-
cent X (1644–1655) protested, albeit futilely, against the
calism. Pius VI (1775–1799), who had little sympathy with
Peace of Westphalia (1648), because he felt that Catholics
the ideals of the revolution, was unable to deal effectively
were treated unjustly. This war and its aftermath showed
with such vehement defiance of the Holy See and such mas-
how ineffective the papacy had become in European politics.
sive threats to the very existence of religion. At times it
The spirit of patriotism contributed to the problem. Further-
seemed as if the papacy itself would be destroyed. The octo-
more, conciliarism revived in France in the form of Gallican-
genarian and infirm Pius was taken prisoner by Napoleon
ism, in Germany in the form of Febronianism, and in Austria
and died in exile on his way to Paris. Resistance to Napoleon-
in the form of Josephism. Although each of these movements
ic aggression continued during the pontificate of Pius VII
had its own particular characteristics, all had two things in
(1800–1823). The Concordat of 1801 with Napoleon,
common: a strong nationalistic feeling and an antipapal bias.
which for over a century regulated the relationship between
All reflected resentment of Roman centralism, urged greater
France and the church, revealed that Pius was willing to
autonomy for national churches, and advocated state control
make concessions for the sake of peace. Yet in 1809 Napo-
of ecclesiastical matters. The Holy See had also to contend
leon captured Rome, annexed the Papal States, and arrested
with the absolutist ambitions of Louis XIV of France. Inno-
the pope and held him prisoner until 1814. The Catholic
cent XI (1676–1689) engaged in a protracted struggle with
restoration began after the defeat of Napoleon: the Congress
Louis over the king’s claim to the right of revenues from va-
of Vienna (1814–1815) returned most of the papal territory
cant benefices (the régale) and over royal support of Gallican-
to the church, and in 1814 Pius restored the Society of Jesus.
ism. Innocent’s major achievement was his diplomatic role
in preventing the fall of Vienna to the Turks in 1683, thus
The fall of the monarchy in France and its impact on
halting Muslim expansion into Europe.
the rest of Europe weakened Gallicanism, Febronianism, and
Josephism. Ultramontanism—a propapal movement that
During the following decades the popes were active in
began early in the nineteenth century—advocated greater
many areas. Innocent XII (1691–1700) forbade nepotism
centralization of church government and a vigorous exercise
and Clement XII (1730–1740) condemned Freemasonry.
of papal primacy. It gained strength under Gregory XVI
Benedict XIV (1740–1758) finally ended the so-called Chi-
(1831–1846), who opposed all revolutionary movements
nese and Malabar rites controversy, which had lasted nearly
and defended papal primacy, infallibility, and the indepen-
two centuries. Jesuit missionaries in China and South India
dence of the church from the state. A great missionary pope,
had adapted certain indigenous customs and rites to Chris-
Gregory fully controlled Catholic mission work.
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The thirty-two-year pontificate of Pius IX (1846–
diplomatic corps. The movement toward uniformity in the-
1878), the longest in history, was significant. Initially hailed
ology, liturgy, and law discouraged particularism. Third, the
as a liberal, he soon showed his advocacy of ultramontanism.
papal office actively promoted missionary endeavors; newly
Pius believed that rationalism and secularism eroded both
converted Catholics and immigrants to North America dis-
the faith and human society, and he considered a constitu-
played great loyalty to the Holy See. Fourth, the popes, at
tional government for the Papal States to be a threat to the
times reluctantly and unsuccessfully, tried to respond to the
independence of the Holy See. Although many of his ideas
demands of a changing world. They sought amicable rela-
isolated the church from the world, he gave the Roman
tions with secular governments, especially through concor-
Catholic faithful, with whom he was immensely popular, a
dats, and worked devotedly for social justice and peace.
new sense of spiritual identity. He restored the Catholic hier-
The popes of this period continued the ultramontanist
archies of England (1850) and the Netherlands (1853),
policies of the nineteenth century, but with a difference. Leo
began a renewal of Marian devotion by his definition of the
Immaculate Conception of Mary (1854), and supported ex-
XIII (1878–1903), for example, was more open to the posi-
tensive missionary activity. His greatest disappointment was
tive aspects of modernity. Although he denied the validity
the loss of the Papal States in 1870, which ended a millenni-
of Anglican priestly orders in 1896, he was a pioneer in
um of temporal sovereignty. The popes became voluntary
ecumenism. He supported the revival of Thomism (Aeterni
prisoners in the Vatican for the next sixty years. Pius’s great-
patris, 1879), encouraged Catholic biblical studies (Providen-
est triumph was the First Vatican Council (1869–1870),
tissimus Deus, 1893), and presented the church’s position on
which ended abruptly when Italian troops occupied Rome.
labor (Rerum novarum, 1891). His successor, Pius X (1903–
It produced two constitutions: Dei filius, a reaffirmation of
1914), desired to renew the interior life of the church, as is
the centrality of revelation, and Pastor aeternus, a definition
shown by his teachings on the Eucharist, the liturgy, and
of papal primacy and infallibility.
seminary education. The most serious crisis he faced was
modernism—a complex movement supported by Catholic
Vatican I and modernity. The most formal and de-
thinkers in France, England, Germany, and Italy who sought
tailed exposition of papal prerogatives is found in Pastor ae-
to adapt Catholic doctrine to contemporary intellectual
ternus. In regard to primacy it taught that Jesus conferred
trends. Calling modernism “the synthesis of all heresies,”
upon Peter a primacy of both honor and jurisdiction; that
Pius condemned it in Pascendi (1907). During World War
by divine right Peter has perpetual successors in primacy over
I, the complete impartiality of Benedict XV (1914–1922)
the universal church; that the Roman pontiff is the successor
brought criticism from all sides. In 1917 he promulgated the
of Peter and has supreme, ordinary (not delegated), and im-
first Code of Canon Law. The pope of the interwar years was
mediate power and jurisdiction over the church and its mem-
Pius XI (1922–1939), noted for his encyclicals on marriage
bers; and that the Roman pontiff is the supreme judge who
(Casti connubii, 1930) and social thought (Quadragesimo
is not subject to review by anyone. In regard to infallibility,
anno, 1931), for his promotion of missionary work, and
Vatican I taught that by divine assistance the pope is immune
most importantly, for concluding the Lateran Pacts (1929).
from error when he speaks ex cathedra—that is, when “by vir-
Under these pacts Italy recognized the temporal sovereignty
tue of his supreme apostolic authority he defines a doctrine
of the pope over Vatican City. Finally, Pius XII (1939–
concerning faith or morals to be held by the universal
1958), a trained diplomat with broad interests, addressed al-
church.” Such definitions are “irreformable of themselves
most every aspect of church life, and in a prodigious number
and not from the consent of the church.” This last phrase
of pronouncements applied Catholic doctrine to contempo-
is directed against Gallicanism, even though by 1870 it was
rary problems. In Humani generis (1950), Pius XII gave a
no longer a major problem. The formidable conception of
wide-ranging critique of the theology that followed World
the papacy at Vatican I was a victory for ultramontanism.
War II. Although he encouraged theological speculation, he
Using juridical and monarchical language, it asserted the
reaffirmed, for example, the traditional Catholic interpreta-
universal spiritual authority of the pope. The council, how-
tion of creation, original sin, and transubstantiation and
ever, did not, because of its premature termination, present
warned against the relativizing of dogma, the neglect of the
the papacy within the full context of the theology of the
teaching authority of the church (magisterium), and scriptur-
church, and it failed to discuss the relationship between the
al exegesis that ignored the tradition of the church. Under
pope and the bishops.
Pius, the modern papacy reached an unprecedented level of
respect.
The popes between Vatican I and Vatican II, individu-
als of superior quality, had much in common. First, they
Vatican II and postconciliar developments. John
were all committed to the spiritual restoration of Catholi-
XXIII (1958–1963), elected when he was nearly seventy-
cism, using their magisterial and jurisdictional authority to
seven, began a new era for Roman Catholicism. His open
that end. A profusion of encyclical letters, addresses, and
style of papal leadership, enhanced by his appealing personal-
disciplinary decrees helped shape Catholic thought. Second,
ity, was warmly welcomed by Catholics and non-Catholics
the popes continued to centralize church administration in
alike. Although he is well known for his efforts in promoting
Rome by increasing the power of the Roman Curia and the
ecumenism and world peace (Pacem in terris, 1963), the
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6975
pope’s greatest accomplishment was the unexpected convo-
VI’s prohibition against artificial birth control in Humanae
cation of the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). John
vitae (1968) caused acute pastoral problems and raised seri-
designed the council to foster reform and reunion, believing
ous questions about the credibility of the papal office.
that a contemporary reformulation of the Christian tradition
In 1978 two popes died and two were elected. The pon-
would revitalize the Catholic church and ultimately benefit
tificate of John Paul I, the successor of Paul VI, lasted only
all humankind. Paul VI (1963–1978) skillfully maintained
thirty-three days. Breaking a tradition that had endured for
the council’s pastoral orientation. To implement its pro-
more than nine hundred years, John Paul I was not installed
gram, he established the Synod of Bishops, internationalized
by a rite of coronation or enthronement. He rejected the ob-
and increased the number of cardinals, reformed the Curia,
vious symbols of temporal and monarchical authority and
and promoted liturgical reform. He made nine trips outside
was inaugurated at a solemn mass. Instead of the tiara, he
Italy.
was given the pallium, a white woolen stole symbolizing his
Vatican II supplied what was lacking in Vatican I. Its
spiritual and pastoral ministry. His successor, John Paul II,
doctrine of collegiality described the relationship between
became the first non-Italian pope in 456 years, the first Pol-
the pope and the bishops. The Constitution on the Church
ish pope, and the first pope from a Communist country. The
(Lumen gentium) stated: “Together with its head, the Roman
most-traveled pope in history, John Paul II earned huge pop-
Pontiff, and never without this head, the episcopal order is
ular appeal with his international pastoral visits. As of May
the subject of supreme and full power in relation to the uni-
2003, he had made ninty-nine trips outside of Italy. He per-
versal church. But this power can be exercised only with the
sonalized the papal office to an extent never before attempt-
consent of the Roman Pontiff” (Article 22). The college of
ed. He had also written fourteen encyclicals, three of which
bishops, then, exists only under the leadership of the pope,
were devoted to social justice and peace, major themes in his
himself a bishop. The pope is not the executor of the bishops’
teaching: Laboren exercens (1981); Sollicitudo rei socialis
wishes (Gallicanism), nor are the bishops vicars of the pope
(1987), and Centesimus annus (1991). One of the main goals
(papal absolutism). Both the papacy and the episcopacy have
of his pontificate has been the restoration of traditional
their own legitimate authority, and the purpose of collegiali-
Roman Catholicism and the promotion of Christian unity.
ty is to unite the bishops with the pope. Yet there remains
Uneasy with theological dissent (he has censured some theo-
the difficult theological problem of reconciling papal prima-
logians), moral laxity, and arbitraty innovations, John Paul
cy with episcopal authority. Many theologians argue that
II has taken forceful steps to invigorate the Catholic Church.
there is only one subject of supreme authority in the
In 1983 he promulgated the revised Code of Canon Law. In
church—the college of bishops—and that it can operate in
an effort to encourage collegiality, he has presided over twen-
two ways: through a collegial action or through a personal
ty-one international Synods of Bishops. In October 2003 at
act of the pope as head of the college. Thus every primatial
the age of eighty-three he celebrated the twenty-fifth anni-
action of the pope is always collegial. The council did not
versary of his election to the papacy. He has survived two as-
establish any legal norms that would require the pope to con-
sasination attempts and has become severly affected by Par-
sult with the bishops, but nevertheless it posed the moral
kinson’s disease. John Paul II will undoubtably be judged as
ideal of cooperation and collaboration that should govern the
one of the most illustrious holders of the Chair of Peter.
relationship between the pope and the bishops.
The papacy has had a complex but intriguing history.
The theory of collegiality has altered the style of papal
For nearly two millennia, showing remarkable resiliency, it
leadership, making it far less monarchical. The closer rela-
has continued through times of growth and decline, glory
tionship between the pope and the bishops is best exempli-
and shame, internal and external conflicts, and radical social
fied by the Synod of Bishops, a consultative body that meets
upheavals. In an age of widespread unbelief and unsettling
once every three years. Collegiality has made the papacy less
technological change, the papacy can work to rekindle the
objectionable to other Christians since it fosters the idea of
spiritual aspirations of humanity.
authority as service and not domination. This aspect has
SEE ALSO Canon; Church; Councils, article on Christian
been noted in the fifth dialogue of the Lutheran-Roman
Councils; Crusades, article on Christian Perspective; Ecu-
Catholic discussions (1974) and in the Final Report of the
menical Movement; Gallicanism; Inquisition, The; Modern-
Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission
ism, article on Christian Modernism; Reformation; Schism,
(1982). Both groups recognized the value of a universal Pe-
article on Christian Schism; Trent, Council of; Ultramon-
trine ministry of unity in the Christian church and foresaw
tanism; Vatican Councils.
the possibility of the bishop of Rome exercising that function
for all Christians in the future.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Vatican II significantly changed the Catholic Church.
Historical Works
Along with progressive reforms, however, there were also re-
Two standard works on papal history are Johannes Haller’s Das
actions that resulted in doctrinal and disciplinary confusion.
Papsttum: Idee und Wirklichkeit, 5 vols. (1950–1953; reprint,
Thousands of priests and nuns left the active ministry, and
Esslingen am Neckar, 1962), and Franz Xaver Seppelt’s
some misguided experiments occurred. Dissent over Paul
Geschichte der Päpste von den Anfängen bis zur Mitte des zwan-
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PARABLES AND PROVERBS
zigsten Jahrhunderts, 5 vols. (Munich, 1954–1959). Dated in
PARABLES AND PROVERBS. Proverbs are brief,
some respects but still very useful are two monumental
memorable sayings that offer ethical direction in specific sit-
studies: Horace K. Mann’s The Lives of the Popes in the Early
uations from generation to generation. They are a feature of
Middle Ages, 18 vols. in 19, 2d ed. (London, 1925–1969),
almost all cultures, historically, as well as today. The proverb
which covers the period from 590 to 1304; and Ludwig von
is tailor-made for primary oral cultures where, with no sys-
Pastor’s The History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle
tem of inscription, what cannot be remembered is lost, but
Ages, 40 vols. (London, 1891–1953), which concerns the
even in contemporary literary cultures new sayings continue
years from 1305 to 1799. Walter Ullmann’s A Short History
of the Papacy in the Middle Ages
(London, 1972) and Guil-
to be coined. A parable is a more expansive cousin to the
laume Mollat’s The Popes at Avignon, 1305–1378, translated
proverb. It is a short narrative fiction that expresses a moral
from the 9th French edition by Janet Love (London, 1963),
or religious lesson. Like the proverb, parables are memorable
can be recommended. The papacy in the eighteenth, nine-
and inspire listener participation: applying the parable to sit-
teenth, and twentieth centuries is discussed in Owen Chad-
uations in one’s daily life.
wick’s The Popes and European Revolution (Oxford, 1981);
KEY FEATURES OF PROVERBS. Proverbs arise out of the expe-
Roger Aubert’s Le pontificat de Pie IX, 1846–1878, 2d ed.
rience and observation of repeated patterns in daily life. A
(Paris, 1964); and J. Derek Holmes’s The Papacy in the Mod-
famous definition attributed to Miguel de Cervantes holds
ern World, 1914–1978 (New York, 1981). More recent his-
that “a proverb is a short sentence founded upon long experi-
tories of the papacy and of the popes include: J. N. D. Kelly,
ence.” Proverbs are useful in contexts outside of their time
The Oxford Dictionary of Popes (Oxford, N.Y., 1986); Eamon
Duffy, Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes (New Haven,
and place of origin, most often serving to inculcate tradition-
Conn., 1997); Richard P. McBrien, Lives of the Popes: The
al values of self-control, hard work, and cautious speech.
Pontiffs from St. Peter to John Paul II (New York, 1997); and
They are, however, also capable of subverting traditional wis-
Bruno Steiner and Michael G. Parkers, eds., Dictionary of
dom. A proverb which, though of rather recent coinage, re-
Popes and the Papcy (New York, 2001). General histories of
flects traditional values, “Life is short, play hard,” is subvert-
the church contain much information on the papal office.
ed by “Life is short, pray hard.”
One of the most comprehensive and reliable is Histoire de
A key quality of a proverb is that it is able to transcend
l’Église depuis les origines jusqu’à nos jours, 21 vols. (Paris,
1934–1964), edited by Augustin Fliche et al. There is valu-
the situation of its origins to illuminate situations in the lives
able material on papal documentation in Carl Mirbt’s Quel-
of contemporary hearers. This ability is ascribable to several
len zur Geschichte des Papsttums und des Rö-mischen Katholiz-
linguistic features. They include brevity, generalized syntax,
ismus, 5th ed. (1895; reprint, Tübingen, 1934), and James
and vivid imagery. Many proverbs employ metaphor and im-
T. Shotwell and Louise R. Loomis’s The See of Peter (New
agery: “A city set on a hill cannot be hid.” Nonmetaphorical
York, 1927).
proverbs are often called maxims (“What can’t be cured must
be endured”), whereas widely known sayings whose author
Theological Works
we know are called aphorisms.
An analysis of the biblical evidence is found in Raymond E.
Brown et al., Peter in the New Testament (Minneapolis,
Proverbs are context-transcending on account of their
1973). For a detailed study of the theology of the papacy see
inclusion of several memorable features of oral communica-
my two works, The Papacy in Transition (Garden City,
tion. These include repetition (“All’s well that ends well”),
N. Y., 1980), and The Church Limits of the Papacy: Authority
alliteration and rhyming (“Haste makes waste”), use of oppo-
and Autonomy in the Church (New York, 1987). Both books
sites, (“What goes up must come down”), and use of the
contain full bibliographies. Various theological points are
present tense. From this context-transcending quality comes
discussed in Papal Primacy in the Church, Concilium, vol. 64
the eloquent anonymous definition of the proverb as “a
(New York, 1971), edited by Hans Küng; in Karl Rahner
winged word, outliving the fleeting moment.”
and Joseph Ratzinger’s The Episcopate and the Primacy (New
York, 1962); in Gustave Thils’s La primauté pontificale
Nonetheless, proverbs express only a partial truth ap-
(Gembloux, 1972); and in Jean-Marie R. Tillard’s The Bish-
propriate for certain situations and not for others. As prov-
op of Rome (Wilmington, Del., 1983). For a discussion of the
erbs scholar Alan Dundes points out in Folklore Matters
ecumenical dimension of the papacy, see Das Papstamt:
(1989), proverbs are a genre that expresses the worldviews
Dienst oder Hindernis für die Ökumene? (Regensburg, 1985),
of the social group from which they come. Paremiologist
by Vasilios von Aristi et al. Excellent articles on the same
(collector and analyst of proverbs) Wolfgang Mieder, in his
topic are contained in the following: Papal Primacy and the
extensive research on American proverbs, has explored the
Universal Church (Minneapolis, 1974), edited by Paul C.
ways in which sayings like “The grass is always greener on
Empie and T. Austin Murphy; Teaching Authority and Infal-
the other side,” “Money talks,” and “There’s more where
libility in the Church (Minneapolis, 1980), edited by Paul C.
that came from” convey much about, respectively, American
Empie et al.; The Anglican-Roman Catholic International
discontent, the tendency to reduce everything to its mone-
Commission: The Final Report, Windsor, Sept. 1981 (London,
1982); and John Meyendorff et al., The Primacy of Peter
tary value, and the belief in limitless abundance. In the Unit-
(London, 1963).
ed States, proverbs often express and inculcate the secular
gospel that initiative and self-reliance lead to the good life,
PATRICK GRANFIELD (1987 AND 2005)
defined narrowly as financial prosperity: “Do unto others be-
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fore they do unto you”; “It’s no sin to be rich”; “If you need
nineteenth centuries. They expressed trust in God the Cre-
a helping hand, look on the end of your arm.” In any culture,
ator, who gives the people strength to cope with their suffer-
proverbs, though brief, are by no means innocuous. They
ing. Many of these sayings persist in African American com-
both reflect and shape how we experience our world.
munities today. For example, the goodness of God and
creation is expressed in the proverb, “Well, I wouldn’t take
AFRICAN PROVERBS. More than a thousand languages are
nothing for my journey now.” The omnipotence of God is
spoken in Africa, and proverbs have been found in every Af-
expressed in the saying, “My God is so high, you can’t git
rican language studied so far. African proverbs often employ
over him; He’s so low, you can’t git under him; He’s so wide,
animal metaphors and point out the foibles of human con-
you can’t git around him” (Mitchell and Cooper-Lewter,
duct: “The higher the ape climbs the more he shows his tail”
1986, p. 44). Such proverbial wisdom informs the autobio-
(Yoruba proverb). Historically, proverbs have been the most
graphical reflections of contemporary poet and novelist
important expression of human wisdom and knowledge of
Maya Angelou.
nature, psychology, and reality for the traditional cultures of
Africa. They cover topics such as family relationships, luck,
NATIVE AMERICAN PROVERBS. Native American proverbs
and survival by one’s wits in a harsh environment. They are
reflect reverence for the earth, concern the gifts and expecta-
used for teaching and correcting the young and for consoling
tions of the Great Spirit, and outline the types of conduct
the suffering.
that should be avoided or embraced: “It is easy to be brave
from a distance” (Omaha); “We will be known forever by
Jan Knappert, in The A–Z of African Proverbs (1989),
the tracks we leave” (Dakota); “Each person is his own
points out that, even among the literate peoples of Africa,
judge” (Shawnee); “The Great Spirit is always angry with
such as the Zulus, the Yorubas, the Swahili, and the North
those who shed innocent blood” (Iowa); “Dreams count, the
African Arabs, proverbs are a vital part of conversation in ev-
Spirits have pitied us and guided us” (Cree); “The Rainbow
eryday life, conveying the condensed experience of past gen-
is a sign of Him who is in all things” (Hopi); “God gives us
erations. The function of proverbs in some African societies
each a song” (Ute). The worldview constructed by Native
is so fundamental that no negotiations can take place without
American proverbs is one in which personal and communal
them (Knappert, 1989, p. 6).
harmony is achieved when individuals live in harmony with
In his book Swahili Proverbs (1997), Knappert points
the Great Spirit. That plays itself out in words and actions
out that religious proverbs are especially prevalent among the
that evince a respect for the sacredness of nature, animals,
Swahili. Many of their proverbs refer to the rituals and phi-
and other human beings. Such a manner of living is under-
losophy of Islam: “God does not forget the hour” (meaning
girded by the realization that one is responsible for one’s ac-
the hour of death, prayers, or other duties that people tend
tions in the present that form one’s legacy for the future.
to forget); “Mortal man cannot erase what has been written,”
PROVERBS AND PARABLES IN WORLD RELIGIONS. Proverbial
meaning that God has written down our fate and destiny in
discourse characterizes the sacred writings of a broad spec-
a secret Book in Heaven. The Swahili view this life as a prep-
trum of world religions, including Baha¯D¯ı, Buddhism, Con-
aration for the next: “Happiness is obeying God’s will, for
fucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Christianity,
following His law will open the gates of Paradise.” Many
Shintoism, Sikhism, Sufism, and Daoism (see Griffin, 1991,
Swahili proverbs stress the importance of avoiding dangerous
for a broad sampling of religious proverbs). Major religious
habits and the value of trusting in God (Knappert, 1997,
texts in which proverbs play an essential part include the An-
p.21).
alects (Confucianism), the Dhammapada (Buddhism), the
Religious proverbs are widely found among other Afri-
QurDa¯n (Islam), the Upanis:ads (Hinduism), Ibn EAt:a¯E Alla¯h’s
can peoples as well. They emphasize the sovereignty of God:
The Book of Wisdom (Sufism), the Hebrew Scriptures and
“There is no appeal against an act of God” (Kenya); “Plan-
Talmud (Judaism), the Dao de jing (Daoism), the Nihongi
ning is man’s, doing is God’s” (Yoruba); “God does not
(Shintoism), the Guru¯ Granth Sa¯hib and the songs of Kab¯ır
sleep” (Congo). Another theme is God’s care for the helpless:
(Sikhism), and the Old and New Testaments (Christianity).
“God will prevent flies from stinging the tailless cow” (Yoru-
The proverbs embedded in these sacred writings com-
ba); “God does not put a brave man to shame” (Somali). Yet
mend attitudes and actions that align one’s life with the pres-
another is the need for human action and our accountability
ence of the divine and lead to individual and communal har-
for what we do: “God gave us the seed of every plant, but
mony. On some topics, their advice sounds remarkably
we must sow it” (Zande); “God will not save the man who
similar. For example, a compilation of proverbs from various
breaks the ties of brotherhood and friendship” (Guinea)
world religions lists twenty-four versions of the Golden Rule
(Knappert, 1989, pp. 52–53).
(“Treat others as you would like to be treated”) (Griffin,
1991, pp. 67–69).
Henry H. Mitchell and Nicholas C. Cooper-Lewter, in
their book Soul Theology (1986), point out that brief sayings
Likewise parables are a form found across the board in
and lines from scripture, hymns, and spirituals were used
various religions of the world. They are often reported as
proverbially in the religion of the slave quarters among Afri-
having been uttered by the religion’s founder. Like proverbs,
cans transported to America during the fifteenth through
they express aspects of the worldview of that particular reli-
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PARABLES AND PROVERBS
gion and offer guidance to individuals wishing to become
The Book of Proverbs, traditionally ascribed to Solomon,
disciples.
is a collection of wisdom sayings culled from hundreds of
C
years of Jewish experience. Proverbs represents the wisdom
ONFUCIAN PROVERBS. Buddhism, both in India and Japan,
featured proverbs that spark questions rather than provide
passed down by the older and wiser to the young, and em-
answers: “When you reach the top, keep climbing”; “When
phasize attitudes and behaviors that make for communal har-
you are ready to learn, a teacher will appear.” However, no
mony and order. Such proverbs are often antithetical in their
religion has given a more central role to proverbs than Con-
form—that is, they oppose wise and foolish behavior in the
fucianism. Confucius, born in China in 551
sharpest of terms: “A wise child makes a glad father, but the
BCE, taught
moral ideals through sayings and anecdotes in an attempt to
foolish despise their mothers” (Prov. 15:20). They may also
redress the ill effects of the social anarchy that plagued his
express the superiority of wisdom to folly: “Better is a dry
country: “Human beings are by nature good”; “What you
morsel with quiet, that a house full of feasting with strife”
do not wish done to yourself, do not do to others”; “Do not
(Prov. 17:1). They may also come in the form of rhetorical
wish for quick results, nor look for small advantages.” Con-
questions that beg an obvious answer: “Can fire be carried
fucius’s sayings commend a mature respect for others: “Mea-
in the bosom without burning one’s clothes?” (Prov. 6:27).
sure the feelings of others by one’s own”; “Approach others
Yet another form is that of the beatitude, or statement of
not asking ‘What can I get from you?’ But ‘How can I ac-
blessing. It affirms that wise activities bestow on the doer a
commodate you?’.” They also encourage the honorable ful-
condition of spiritual blessing: “Happy [or blessed] is the one
fillment of one’s social roles, moderation in personal habits
who is never without fear, but one who is hard-hearted will
(“nothing to excess”), and respecting others in familial rela-
fall into calamity” (Prov. 24:18).
tionships, especially the aged (“The duty of children to their
Wise behavior includes measured speech, control of
parents is the fountain from which all virtues spring”). Con-
one’s temper and appetites for food, drink, and sex, kindness
fucius and his followers believed that a society could thrive
to the poor, and avoidance of foolish companions: “A soft
peaceably if it abided by these guidelines. Their teachings de-
answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger”
veloped an intellectual, philosophical, and spiritual founda-
(Prov. 15:1); “Can one walk on hot coals without scorching
tion for familial and social dealings. Generations of Chinese
the feet?” (Prov. 6:28); “One who is slow to anger is better
school children have memorized his sayings and stories (see
than the mighty, and one whose temper is controlled than
Smith, 1994, pp. 102–111). Half a century after Confucius’s
one who captures a city” (Prov. 16:32).
death, his disciples compiled dialogues between the Master
and his disciples in the Analects (Lunyu).
The parable is a narrative variation on the mashal theme,
sharing the proverb’s rootedness in daily life and its evocative
PROVERBS AND PARABLES OF THE HEBREW PEOPLE. The
language. No mashal in the Hebrew Bible, however, not even
Hebrew people were by no means the only Ancient Near
Ezekiel’s tale of the eagle (Ezek. 17:3–10) or Nathan’s warn-
Eastern people to cherish proverbs. In fact, scholars have
ing to David (2 Sam. 12:1–6), offers an exact parallel, in
long noted the evident debt Proverbs 22:17–24:22 owes to
terms of its narrative structure and purpose, to the parables
the Instruction of Amenemope, an Egyptian wisdom collection
of the New Testament Jesus.
(Murphy, 1990, p. 23).
RABBINIC PARABLES. In the literary work of the rabbis (sec-
Proverbs occur most frequently in what is known as the
ond through fourth centuries CE), parables take center stage.
wisdom literature of the Hebrew Bible, a genre whose focus
They are narratives, usually told in the first person, that focus
is on practical strategies for daily living in the present. In the
on the action of a main character and describe a general situa-
last quarter of the twentieth century, biblical scholars of both
tion, not a specific past event. These vivid narratives were
the Old and New Testaments began to pay more attention
usually told to illuminate a particular verse in Scriptures.
to wisdom genres.
They do not normally include elements of paradox and hy-
perbole. The term midrash describes the body of exegesis of
Hebrew biblical wisdom literature is primarily identi-
scriptural texts as well as the activity of interpretation as it
fied with the books of Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes. Proverbs
was practiced during the third and fourth centuries CE.
and parables in the Hebrew Scriptures are a subset of a wis-
dom genre that comes under the heading of the Hebrew
Medieval Jewish philosophers employed the parable,
noun mashal, the root of which (m-sh-l) means “to be like”
most notably Moses Maimonides (1135/8–1204) in his
(Scott, 1989, p. 9). This term is used in the Hebrew Scrip-
“Parable of the Palace” (Stern, 1991, p. 226).
tures to refer to a number of literary forms that arise from
The literature of Qabbalah, Jewish mysticism as it devel-
the close observation of daily life and are characterized by
oped in Spain in the thirteenth century, employed parables
vivid, evocative language. These forms include similitudes,
that mimicked earlier rabbinic parables in form, but were
popular sayings, literary aphorisms, taunt songs, bywords,
mystical and esoteric in content.
riddles, allegories, and short narrative fictions or parables.
The proverb, a wisdom sentence based on observation of ex-
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Eastern Eu-
perience, is the most common form of mashal in the Hebrew
ropean rabbis continued the rabbinic parabolic tradition.
Bible. It is far more common there than the parable.
Three names associated with this tradition are Eliyyahu ben
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PARABLES AND PROVERBS
6979
Shelomoh Zalman (Vilna Gaon; 1720–1797), Maggid of
agree that parables are better described as narratives with
Dubno (1740/41–1804), and Rabbi Nah:man of Bratslav
metaphorical qualities. In his Parables of the Kingdom (1935),
(1772–1810) (see Naveh, 2000, pp. 107ff).
biblical scholar C. H. Dodd defined a parable as “ a meta-
THE PROVERBS AND PARABLES OF JESUS. Jesus as a teacher
phor or simile drawn from nature or common life, arresting
of proverbs and parables is particularly emphasized in the
the hearer by its vividness or strangeness, and leaving the
Gospel of Matthew. Together, the Synoptic Gospels (Mat-
mind in sufficient doubt about its precise application to tease
thew, Mark, and Luke) contain over 102 proverbial sayings
it into active thought” ([1935] 1961, p. 5).
and 40 parables (see Carlston, 1980, pp. 87–105).
Dodd’s definition expresses the force of the New Testa-
The proverbs. Jesus’ proverbs do not counsel modera-
ment parables: they are realistic, yet strange, metaphorical,
tion or advocate seeking security. They eschew negative as-
paradoxical, challenging, and open-ended. The paradox in
sessments of women as sources of temptation and trouble in
Jesus’ parables lies in their strange twists, often an equation
life, to be avoided by the wise man. Jesus’ most distinctive
of something we normally think of as odd or negative with
use of proverbs seems to be the way in which he infuses the
something positive—something, in fact, that points to an as-
traditional proverbial form with paradox and hyperbole.
pect of God’s presence and power in the world: someone
Sometimes he points to a dramatic future reversal of human
looked down on and despised is the one who acts as the
conditions: “Many are first that will be last, and the last will
neighbor (Luke 10:30–35); a wily steward’s dubious business
be first” (Mark 10:31; Matt. 19:30; 20:16; Luke 13:30);
practices are commended to those who would enter the king-
“Whoever would be great among you must be your servant,
dom of God (Luke 16:18a); workers who work for one hour
and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all”
are paid the same as those who have worked all day (Matt.
(Mark 19:43–44; Luke 22:26; Matt. 20:26–27).
20:1–15).
PROVERBS AND PARABLES IN THE MODERN ERA. Philoso-
Jesus’ distinctive wisdom voice seems to come through
pher and theologian So
most clearly when he takes an antithesis or oppositional say-
⁄ ren Kierkegaard (1813–1855) consid-
ered parabolic communication an integral part of his philo-
ing and intensifies it to the point that it equates opposites.
sophic method, which held that the truth is to be found in
The result is a paradox, a form (interestingly, absent from
the process of reflection and appropriation of insights that
Proverbs) that goes to extremes to make a point: “Those who
arise from experience. His parables are intended to increase
want to save their life will lose, and those who lose their life
the reader’s capacity for self-examination, leading in turn to
will save it” (Luke 17:33; Mark 8:35; John 12:25); “To those
increased moral sensitivity and intensified spirituality (Oden,
who have will more be given, but to those who have not,
1978, p. xv). He ranks among the best of the great parabolists
even what they have will be taken away” (Luke 8; 18; 12:48b;
of the Western tradition.
Matt. 13:12; Mark 4:25); “What is prized by humans is an
abomination in the sight of God” (Luke 16:15b).
Many poets, philosophers, and religious thinkers in
modern Western culture have attached great importance to
Jesus’ beatitudes (Matt. 5:1–11; Luke 6:20–26) contin-
proverbial thinking. They include Blaise Pascal (1623–
ue the pattern of pairing what is viewed as negative by con-
1662), Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–1799), Jean
ventional wisdom (being poor, mourning, being persecuted,
Paul (Jean Paul Friedrich Richter; 1763–1825), Friedrich
being hungry and thirsty) with a state of blessedness. Jesus’
Nietzsche (1844–1900), Oscar Wilde (1854–1900), Franz
versions of Old Testament admonitions are extreme, vivid,
Kafka (1883–1924), Karl Kraus (1874–1936), Paul Valéry
and specific, portraying a specific scene and making a com-
(1871–1945), and Stanislaw Jerzy Lec (1909–1966). A de-
mand relative to it. In Matthew’s sermon on the mount
liberately proverbial style informs the work of Martin Buber
(chapters 5–7) such admonitions concerns judging others
(1878–1965), Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907–1972), and
(Matt. 7:3–5), inward motives and outward behavior (Matt.
Norman O. Brown (1913–2002) (Williams, 1981,
5:21–26; 5:27–30), retaliation (Matt. 5:39–42), and private
pp. 13–14).
piety and public opinion (Matt. 6:1–7).
Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931), the Lebanese philosopher,
Jesus also employs what some scholars have called “im-
artist, and poet, expressed his insights in parables, most nota-
possible questions” as part of his proverbial repertoire:
bly in the volume The Madman: His Parables and Poems
“Which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his
(1918). Other recent parabolists include Argentinean novel-
span of life?” (Matt. 6:27; Luke 12:25); “What does it profit
ist Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986), Italian novelist and short
a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?” (Mark
story writer Italo Calvino (1923–1985), and Israeli novelist
8:35; Matt. 16:26; Luke 9:25).
S. Y Agnon (1888–1970).
The parables. Jesus’ parables, like his aphorisms, sub-
In the twentieth century Franz Kafka, through his para-
vert traditional wisdom by the use of paradox and hyperbole
bles, expressed the radical estrangement of human kind from
and make metaphorical connections between everyday life
the divine. One of his most famous parables is a story entitled
and a new reality, the kingdom of God (Scott, 1989, p. 14).
“An Imperial Message,” in which a message from a dying em-
While parables can be allegories, stories in which every-
peror symbolically represents his own impossible quest for
thing stands for something else, recent parables scholars
knowledge (Naveh, 2000, p. 150).
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PARACELSUS
Proverbs continue to be important bearers and shapers
Feldman, Reynold, and Cynthia Voelke, eds. A World Treasury of
of meaning in more recent times. New proverbs, sometimes
Folk Wisdom. New York, 1992.
subversive versions of existing proverbs, are continually being
Herzog, William R., II. The Parables as Subversive Speech: Jesus as
coined. “A woman’s place is in the home” has recently been
Pedagogue of the Oppressed. Louisville, Ky., 1994.
subverted by “A woman’s place is in the House and in the
Murphy, Roland. The Tree of Life: An Exploration of Biblical Wis-
Senate!” The value of both proverbs and parables for the in-
dom Literature. New York, 1990.
struction of children and youth is appreciated across a spec-
Naveh, Gila Safran. Biblical Parables and Their Modern Re-
trum of faiths and cultures. The continuing vitality of prov-
Creations. Albany, N.Y., 2000.
erbs and parables in contemporary religions and cultures is
a tribute to their pithy, poetic, participatory qualities.
Oden, Thomas C., ed. Parables of Kierkegaard. Princeton, N.J.,
1978.
SEE ALSO African Religions; Jesus; Kierkegaard, So⁄ren; Lit-
Outcalt, Todd. Candles in the Dark: A Treasury of the World’s Most
erature, article on Literature and Religion; Rabbinic Judaism
Inspiring Parables. New York, 2002.
in Late Antiquity.
Scott, Bernard Brandon. Hear Then the Parable: A Commentary
on the Parables of Jesus. Minneapolis, 1989.
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his own dynamic theory of diseases as specific entities attack-
Buttrick, David. Speaking Parables: A Homiletic Guide. Louisville,
Ky., 2000.
ing specific organs.
Dodd, C. H. Parables of the Kingdom. London, 1935; rev. 2d ed.,
Paracelsus was an idealist and a visionary who consid-
New York, 1961.
ered chemistry the key to the universe. In his view, God was
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the divine alchemist who created the world by calcinating,
point that classification became impossible and causality
congealing, distilling, and sublimating the elements of chaos.
meaningless.
The alchemist had only to read the reactions in his laboratory
With his penchant for oracular and aphoristic state-
on a grand scale to fathom the mysteries of creation. By turn-
ments, Paracelsus was more a prophet than a scientist. His
ing alchemy away from gold-making, Paracelsus and his fol-
most vociferous critic, Thomas Lüber (Thomas Erastus), de-
lowers transformed it into a universal science of matter con-
nounced him as a gnostic heretic. Paracelsus did believe he
cerned with every aspect of material change.
was divinely inspired. In this sense, he was the “spiritual
Paracelsus’s thought was shaped by both the Renais-
man” or “knowing one” who had achieved gno¯sis.
sance and the Reformation. Although he rejected the aesthet-
S
ics and classicism of Renaissance humanists, he shared their
EE ALSO Occultism; Rosicrucians.
anthropocentric and individualistic outlook. As Walter Pagel
(1958, p. 36) has pointed out, there was a decentralizing ten-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
dency throughout Paracelsus’s work. An enormous variety of
The critical standard edition of Paracelsus’s Sämtliche Werke, 15
noncorporeal forces (vital spirits, demons, subhumans, su-
vols., edited by Karl Sudoff and Wilhelm Mattiessen (Mu-
perhumans) work below the surface of the Paracelsian uni-
nich, 1922–1933), includes copious annotations and biblio-
graphic references. Walter Pagel’s Paracelsus: An Introduction
verse. Paracelsus drew his vitalist and pantheist ideas from
to Philosophical Medicine in the Era of the Renaissance (New
the occult philosophies and sciences revived by Renaissance
York, 1958) has an excellent bibliography and provides a
scholars—Neoplatonism, Gnosticism, Qabbalah, magic, al-
thorough discussion of Paracelsus’s sources. In his The
chemy, and astrology. The analogy between the macrocosm
Chemical Philosophy: Paracelsian Science and Medicine in the
and the microcosm characteristic of these philosophies
Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, 2 vols. (New York,
shaped Paracelsus’s theory of knowledge. He rejected scho-
1977), Allen G. Debus discusses Paracelsus’s legacy and in-
lastic rationalism in favor of a kind of psychological empiri-
fluence on later scientists. English translations of selected
cism. Because humans are the microcosm they contain with-
treatises can be found in Arthur Edward Waite’s The Hermet-
in themselves all the elements of the greater world, or
ic and Alchemical Writings of Aureolus Philippus Theophrastus
macrocosm. Knowledge therefore consists in an intuitive act
Bombast, called Paracelsus the Great, 2 vols. (1894; reprint,
New Hyde Park, N. Y., 1967); Henry Sigerist’s Four Trea-
of recognition, in which the knower and the known become
tises of Theophrastus von Hohenheim (Baltimore, 1941); and
one.
Jolande Jacobi’s Paracelsus: Selected Writings (New York,
Because Paracelsus’s theory of knowledge approximates
1951).
Luther’s doctrine of the “inner light,” the two men have been
ALLISON COUDERT (1987)
compared. Each attacked established ideologies and institu-
tions, wrote in the vernacular, and was a master of scurrilous
invective. Both enjoyed theatrics: Luther burned the papal
bull excommunicating him; Paracelsus burned the works of
PARADISE. The word paradise originated from Old Per-
Galen and Ibn Sina (Avicenna). The comparison between
sian pairidaeza, which meant “walled enclosure, pleasure
the two men is, however, superficial. Luther preached the
park, garden.” Pairidaeza came into Hebrew, Aramaic, and
bondage of the human will, while Paracelsus was an ardent
Greek retaining its original meanings. It appears three times
advocate of free will; Luther made grace the prerequisite of
in the Hebrew scriptures (Neh. 2:8, Eccl. 2:5, Sg. 4:13) and
salvation, while Paracelsus emphasized charitable acts; Lu-
also in later rabbinic literature. In the Septuagint, the He-
ther sided with sovereigns, while Paracelsus’s sympathies re-
brew word for “garden” was usually translated by the Greek
mained with the people. Although Paracelsus was in contact
paradeisos. In Genesis 2–3 paradeisos refers to the original
with many reformers, sharing their criticism of church
Garden of Eden (lit., “delight”).
abuses, he eventually became disillusioned and charged that
The earliest known description of a paradisial garden
the reformers were as autocratic as their Catholic counter-
appears on a cuneiform tablet from protoliterate Sumer. It
parts. Paracelsus’s religious ideas were more compatible with
begins with a eulogy of Dilmun, a place that is pure, clean,
nondogmatic reformers such as Hans Denck (1495?–1527)
and bright, a land of the living who do not know sickness,
and Sebastian Franck (1499?–1542?).
violence, or aging. It lacks one thing only: fresh water. This,
Religion and philosophy provided the sources for both
however, is soon supplied by the sun god Utu at the com-
the progressive and the obscurantist aspect of Paracelsus’s
mand of the Sumerian water god Enki. Dilmun is thereby
thought. His repudiation of reason led him to embrace em-
transformed into a garden with fruit trees, edible plants, and
piricism; it also made much of his writing incomprehensible.
green meadows. Dilmun is a garden of the gods, not for hu-
On the basis of his vitalist philosophy, he rejected mechani-
mans, although one learns that Ziusudra, the Sumerian
cal explanations of biological processes in favor of an organic,
Noah, was exceptionally admitted to the divine paradise.
holistic approach that allowed for psychological factors. The
THE GARDEN OF EDEN. According to the mythical narrative
same vitalism taken to extremes, however, resulted in prolif-
in Genesis 2–3, God planted a garden in Eden and therein
eration of the number of active, independent forces to the
placed man to till and keep it. God also caused trees to grow
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PARADISE
in the garden. The Edenic paradise was mainly arboreal,
The first human habitat was, according to the narrative
thereby providing food for man. The original human diet
of Eden, a fertile, well-watered garden or orchard that sup-
seems to have been vegetarian. According to Genesis 9, it was
plied all things required by its inhabitants for nutrition and
only later—after the Flood—that the descendants of Adam
ease. The garden was a veritable oasis, perhaps to be contrast-
(Noah and his family) were permitted to eat flesh. A dietary
ed with the desert or the wilderness, as it was in Jewish,
restriction remained, however, for flesh containing blood was
Christian, and Islamic thought (see, e.g., Williams, 1962).
not to be eaten (Gn. 9:4).
The taking of life was not necessary for human sustenance.
The animals and birds of Eden, while under the mastery of
The garden was the source of the world’s sweet waters.
humans, seem to have lived in more or less peaceful and har-
A river not only watered the garden but flowed out of it to
monious relationship with them and one another. Similarly,
become four rivers (Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates),
the relationship between man and woman seems to have
apparently to water the four directions or quarters of the
been harmonious. Sexual tension had not yet appeared. The
world (Gn. 2:10–14).
original nudity of the pair and the lack of shame signified
The myth recognizes a deficiency in man’s life in Eden:
paradisial innocence. In general, the conditions of life were
He is alone. This solitariness is soon relieved, for God forms
ideal.
beasts and birds. These living creatures are brought to man
The significance of the serpent is not clear. It has been
to be named. The naming signifies his mastery of the ani-
suggested that the serpent hoped through Adam and Eve to
mals. Still, it is said, man does not have a suitable compan-
discover the Tree of Life and thus secure immortality for
ion. The account of the creation of woman (Eve) follows.
himself. In many interpretations of the Genesis narrative the
She is said to have been created from the rib (bone) of Adam,
serpent is given a negative valuation as the tempter and de-
perhaps reflecting an archaic religious identification of the
ceiver of women. In some other religious traditions (e.g.,
essence of life with bone (rather than with blood, as in Gene-
Hinduism), the serpent is associated with the very things
sis 9). Adam and Eve become “one flesh.”
symbolized by the two special trees of paradise: wisdom and
One of the creatures of God, the serpent, approaches
immortality.
Eve and inquires whether God has placed any limits on the
The turning point of the narrative is the act of disobedi-
trees from which the couple may eat. Earlier in the narrative
ence. It has serious consequences. That Adam and Eve
(2:9), there is reference to the Tree of Life and the Tree of
should recognize their nakedness is indicative of their loss of
the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and the warning to hu-
innocence. Also, the divine-human communication possible
mans that they will die if he eats of the latter (2:17). When
when God walks in the garden and converses with humans
Eve reveals the prohibition, the serpent denies that death will
becomes problematic. The consequences of disobedience are
result and insists instead that eating the fruit will result in
profound changes in the conditions of human life: Pain, toil,
likeness to God in that humans will then know good and
and mortality are specifically mentioned (Gn. 3:16–19). It
evil. Both Eve and Adam eat the forbidden fruit, popularly
is the loss of paradise that gives the narrative its poignancy.
thought to have been an apple. The knowledge they obtain
However one may interpret the details, the essential meaning
is of their own nakedness; in shame they fashion simple
of the myth of the Garden of Eden is that, in the beginning,
garments.
life was paradisial but something happened that changed it
At the sound of God walking in the garden, the couple
into what it has been since that time.
hide among the trees. When discovered and questioned, they
The lost paradise of Eden has sometimes been thought
reveal that they have violated the divine prohibition. Sen-
actually to have existed somewhere on earth. Because the
tence is passed on them as well as the serpent. Henceforth,
Bible nowhere indicates its destruction, some people have as-
Eve will experience pain in childbirth and subordination to
sumed that the garden, or traces of it, could be discovered.
her husband. Adam is condemned to till the soil under diffi-
Thus it has been imagined to exist at the headwaters of the
cult conditions and ultimately to return to the soil or dust
Tigris and Euphrates rivers. It has also been “discovered” far
from which he originally came, that is, to die.
from the Middle East. Christopher Columbus, for example,
The concluding verses of the narrative refer to the sec-
believed that the freshwater currents he detected in the Gulf
ond of the trees—the Tree of Life—which is earlier said to
of Paria between Trinidad and the South American coast had
be in the midst (center?) of the garden. The deity appears
their source in the four rivers flowing out of the biblical
concerned that humans, if allowed to remain in the garden,
Eden. The luxuriant vegetation and the mild climate as well
will eat also of the Tree of Life and live forever. It may be
as the scents of tropical flowers seemed proof enough to con-
that the myth intends to say that the Tree of Life was hidden
firm his speculations. Paradise has also been “found” in the
among the many trees of the garden and that humans, having
most improbable places, as, for example, the Arctic Pole (see
eaten of the Tree of Knowledge, might find it. At any rate,
William F. Warren, Paradise Found: The Cradle of the
Adam and Eve are driven from the garden, and an angel and
Human Race at the North Pole, 1885).
a flaming sword are placed at the entrance to guard the way
THE PRIMORDIALITY OF PARADISE. The Edenic paradise was
to the Tree of Life.
primordial. Paradise is frequently thought to have been
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primordial, that is, to have existed in the fabulous time of
would be both limited and reductive. More significant than
beginnings.
wishes, although they may be present, is the nostalgia, the
haunting sense of loss and the powerful desire for recovery.
Hermann Baumann (1936) has called attention to Afri-
The nostalgia for paradise is among the powerful nostalgias
can myths concerning a primordial paradise. In these myths,
that seem to haunt human beings. It may be the most power-
human beings understand the language of animals and are
ful and persistent of all. A certain longing for paradise is evi-
at peace with them. They have no need to work, and food
denced at every level of religious life.
is plentiful at hand. Disease and death are unknown. Howev-
er, an event occurs that terminates these paradisial conditions
An unusually well documented example of an actual
and makes human life what it is today.
quest for paradise is provided by the Guaraní Indians of Bra-
zil. For more than four centuries, the Guaraní have engaged
Myths of primordial paradise, broadly conceived, in-
in a series of migrations in search of the “land without evil.”
clude the large number of myths in which, in the beginning,
It is thought actually to exist in this world but to be well hid-
Heaven and Earth are in close proximity and, also, myths ac-
den. Mircea Eliade has suggested that the paradisial images
cording to which Heaven is easily accessible by a concrete
used by shamans in recounting their dreams and ecstasies
means such as a tree, ladder, vine, or mountain that can be
have helped to keep alive the centuries-old quest (The Quest,
climbed. As the result of the separation of Heaven and Earth
1969).
or the removal of the link between them, easy communica-
tion is lost. A rupture occurs. It signifies the end of paradise
RECURRING PARADISES. Paradises are found in cosmically
and entry into the ordinary human condition.
oriented as well as historically oriented religions, that is, in
religions in which time is cyclical as well as in those in which
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PRIMORDIAL PARADISE. Among
it is linear and historical. In the former, paradise is not only
the marks or characteristics of the primordial paradise are
lost but recurs, from time to time, in step with the ever-
perfection, purity, plenitude, freedom, spontaneity, peace,
turning wheel of time.
pleasure, beatitude, and immortality. Each contrasts with the
characteristics of ordinary, postparadisial human life. To this
The most impressive example in the history of religion
list could appropriately be added harmony and friendship
is the Hindu doctrine of the world ages (yugas). It is cast in
with the animals, including knowledge of their language,
mythical terms by relating the ages of the life of the god
and, as well, ease of communication with the gods and the
Brahma¯. Briefly, each world cycle is subdivided into four
world above.
world ages. They are comparable to the four ages of Greco-
Roman tradition. That tradition used the names of metals—
Unlike a Darwinian view with its stress on rudimentary,
gold, silver, bronze, and iron—to designate the successive
imperfect beginnings, the myths of primordial paradise envi-
ages. Hinduism uses the four throws of the Indian game of
sion the perfection of beginnings. Moreover, the original pu-
dice: kr:ta (4), treta¯ (3), dva¯para (2), and kali (1). Decline and
rity of all things is preserved. Myths of primordial paradise
deterioration proceed as age follows age.
affirm plenitude, often in terms of extraordinary abundance.
Freedom and spontaneity are expressed by the absence or
Kr:tayuga is the perfect age, the age of four (the winning
minimalization of constraints; there are few if any laws in
throw in the dice game). The number four is a frequent sym-
paradise. As for peace, the typical scenario creates an atmo-
bol of totality, plenitude, and perfection in Hinduism. The
sphere of ease, rest, tranquillity, the absence of tension and
age is known also as the satya (“real, true, authentic”) yuga.
conflict. As noted above, human beings and animals live
During the kr:ta age dharma (the fundamental universal
peaceably, sexual tension has not yet appeared, and labor is
moral order) is observed totally and spontaneously. It is the
unnecessary. Indeed, things seem to be in easy equilibrium,
golden age, the age of truth, justice, prosperity, and human
perhaps even static. Pleasure abounds, whether described in
fulfillment. In other words, it is equivalent to the primordial,
sensual terms or as spiritual satisfactions. Beatitude, consum-
paradisial age of other religious traditions.
mate bliss, is the happy lot of all the inhabitants of paradise.
Unfortunately, the kr:tayuga inevitably ends and is fol-
Paradise is outside ordinary, historical time. Hence there can
lowed by the three ages of increasing decline, culminating in
be no aging or death. Humans are immortal, for death has
the kaliyuga, the dark age, in which only one-quarter of dhar-
not yet appeared. Nor has sickness or disease or sin or injus-
ma remains. In the dice game kali is the losing throw. In the
tice or any of the ills that postparadisial man is heir to.
kali age the nadir is reached. The world and humans are at
N
their worst. Also unfortunately, today’s world is now in the
OSTALGIA FOR PARADISE. Although the primordial para-
dise has been lost, it has not been forgotten. One finds ex-
kaliyuga, which, according to one reckoning, will last
pressions of the desire to recover the essential condition, the
432,000 human years. Even so, it will eventually come to an
condition that would still obtain if all had gone as it should.
end and will be followed by the return of the kr:tayuga, the
The image of a place and time of perfect and endless peace
perfect, golden age. In other words, paradise will reappear.
and plenty has the power to make historical existence signifi-
In the meanwhile, it exists as an image, a powerful image of
cant and bearable and its transitoriness acceptable. A Freud-
perfection, plenitude, and prosperity.
ian interpretation would speak of wish fulfillment and the
Buddhism adopted essentially the Hindu cyclical view
desire to return to the womb, but such an interpretation
of ages, relating it to the Buddhas and bodhisattvas. Here,
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PARADISE
too, paradisial motifs appear, as in Maha¯ya¯na texts describing
The New Testament contains three specific references
the world at the time of the birth of the expected next Bud-
to paradise (2 Cor. 12:3, Lk. 23:43, Rv. 2:7). These indicate
dha, Maitreya, in this world system. In the
experiential and eschatological conceptions of paradise. In 2
Maitreyavya¯karan:a the world—more specifically, India—is
Corinthians 12:3 a man is said to have been caught up into
described as remarkably different at the time of Maitreya’s
paradise, which in the preceding verse is identified with the
appearing. Its innumerable inhabitants will commit no
third heaven. Paradise appears to be thought of as a celestial
crimes or evil deeds and will delight in doing good. People
or heavenly level entered through ecstasy. Paradise may also
will be without blemishes. They will be strong, large, and
be entered by privileged persons (for example, martyrs and
joyful, and few will be the illnesses among them. The soil will
the “good thief” of Luke 23:43). The third reference to para-
be free of thorns, covered with green grass, and will produce
dise is Revelation 2:7, addressed to the church in Ephesus.
rice without any work. Into this paradisial, or near-paradisial,
The promise is given that one who conquers will be granted
world, Maitreya will come to proclaim the true Dharma.
to eat of the tree of life in God’s paradise. It is said in the
Hesiod in the Theogony writes of five ages, inserting an
context of a call for patient endurance and appears to link
age of heroes after the bronze age in the usual Greco-Roman
an eschatological paradise with the primordial, earthly Eden.
sequence of gold, silver, bronze, and iron ages. He describes
In the Islamic religion the Arabic word for “garden”—
the golden age in paradisial terms. Men live like gods. They
janna—is used to refer to the Garden of Eden and, as well,
do not work or experience sorrow. Neither do they grow old.
to the heavenly Paradise in which the God-fearing will dwell.
Though they are mortal, death comes as sleep. The fertile
In the QurDa¯n it more commonly refers to the latter. As in
land is fruitful. Men are at peace and have every want sup-
the Jewish religion, there is a contrasting pair of terms: gar-
plied. They are succeeded, however, by a lesser, silver race
den (janna) and Gehenna (Jahannam). In su¯rah 2:25 those
of men.
who believe and do works of righteousness are promised gar-
Plato in the Politicus (269c ff.) speaks of cyclical return
dens with flowing rivers and abundant fruit, therein to dwell
that includes times of regeneration. The time comes when
forever. Su¯rah 47:15 promises the God-fearing a garden not
ordinary processes are reversed. Thus human beings begin to
only with rivers of water but rivers of milk, wine, and honey
grow younger rather than older, returning to infancy and fi-
as well as every kind of fruit. The garden is a luxuriant oasis,
nally ceasing to be. There appears then the age of Kronos in
an appealing image to any desert-dwelling people such as the
which a new race (“Sons of Earth”) is born. Human beings
first hearers of the QurDa¯n. “Gardens of delight” are prom-
rise out of the earth. Trees provide them with fruits in abun-
ised in su¯rah 56. The inhabitants will recline on couches
dance. They sleep naked (in paradisial nudity) on the soil.
where they will be served from a pure spring by immortal
The seasons are mild, and all animals are tame and peaceable.
youths. They will eat as they desire of fruit and the flesh of
P
fowl. With them will be the h:u¯r¯ıs, described (56:36f.) as
ARADISE AS THE ABODE OF THE RIGHTEOUS. The biblical
chastely amorous virgins.
conception of paradise is not limited to the primordial Gar-
den of Eden. With the emergence of Jewish belief in the res-
REPRESENTATIONS OF PARADISE. Paradise is susceptible to
urrection of the dead, perhaps around 200 BCE, paradise
a variety of specific representations. Something that belongs
could be taken to refer not only to the original Garden of
to the actual world is used to refer to an ideal world.
Eden but also to the eternal abode of the righteous. That is,
the righteous dead could expect to have the Garden of Eden,
Garden. The garden is the most common representa-
or paradise, as their postresurrection abode (rather than Ge-
tion of paradise. This representation is not limited to reli-
henna, the fiery place of punishment of the wicked). Thus
gions originating in the Middle East. There is, for example,
Garden and Gehenna constituted a contrasting pair. More-
a Maha¯ya¯na Buddhist paradise, Sukha¯vat¯ı, the “pure land”
over, the garden of paradise could refer as well to the inter-
of the Buddha Amita¯bha. In the Sukha¯vativyu¯ha, the para-
mediate abode of the righteous until their resurrection.
dise of Amita¯bha is described as fertile, rich, comfortable,
and delightful. It is filled with a great variety of flowers and
The location of the paradisial abode of the righteous,
fruits. Many deep, broad rivers flow through it. Birds sing
whether before or after the resurrection, could still be taken
pleasantly. Calm and peace pervade this garden paradise.
as earthly, as it was by some, but the tendency was to locate
it above, either in heaven or in one of the multiple heavens
In Greek mythology one finds the garden, or orchard,
(e.g., the third heaven).
of Hesperides, located in the far west, not far from the Isles
of the Blessed. It is renowned for its golden apples. A guard
In the New Testament, the myth of the Garden of Eden
stands at the entrance. There are, as well, the Elysian Fields,
is interpreted as the account of the “fall” of humans through
where, according to Homer’s Odyssey (4.564ff.), the climate
willful disobedience, thus emphasizing the need for and ap-
is wonderfully mild, as there is no winter. The ocean pro-
propriateness of a savior who effects the restoration of fallen
vides refreshing breezes for mortals. Their lives are said to be
humans. In this regard, characteristically Christian interpre-
the easiest.
tations of the myth of Eden have differed from Jewish inter-
pretations. The former have emphasized estrangement from
The association of garden with paradise has been persis-
the divine and “original sin.” The latter have not.
tent, as shown by Elizabeth Moynihan in Paradise as a Gar-
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den: In Persia and Mughal India (1979). She demonstrates
land or a mountain. These several representations are some-
the continuity of the tradition and symbolic topography of
times combined, as in a gardenlike island paradise. Such is
the paradise garden. She points especially to the relationship
the case with the Pacific Ocean island paradises of novels
between water, the central and most essential element in the
and the lush, vividly colored island paradises of Gauguin’s
Persian garden, and trees, symbolizing regeneration or im-
paintings.
mortality and the possibility of ascension. The blissful Para-
The Isles of the Blessed in Greek mythology are well
dise—the reward in the afterlife—was the model for the Per-
known. They are an insular counterpart to Olympus, the
sian garden. The latter, with its trees reaching symbolically
mountain of the gods. One finds parallels in Celtic mytholo-
upward and its rippling water and fragrant flowers, never be-
gy, where isle as well as garden is used as an image of para-
came entirely secular.
dise. Moreover, the myth of the submerged world, compara-
A rather different kind of example is found in the sym-
ble to Plato’s Atlantis, is also found. Here one has the motif
bolization of America as a garden paradise. Charles L. San-
of a more or less paradisial world in which something went
ford has studied the depth of the search for paradise in Amer-
wrong, resulting in its disappearance beneath the waves.
ican civilization in The Quest for Paradise (1961). It is well
known that the early explorers and settlers of the New World
Perhaps even more effectively than the garden, the is-
spoke of it in terms of Eden. Its virgin forests, fertile soil,
land symbolizes a world. Its limits and contours are in sharp
abundant game, aboriginal inhabitants, and freedom from
relief in the midst of the sea, and its microcosmic nature is
the restraints of the Old World encouraged this identifica-
evident.
tion. Here humankind, having left behind the Old World
An island suggests isolation. It can readily symbolize the
of Europe, could make a new beginning, as R. W. B. Lewis
remoteness and difficulty of access of paradise. Often a river
makes clear in The American Adam (1955). Moreover, partic-
or an ocean has to be traversed. Paradise cannot easily be
ular parts of America were identified with Eden, illustrating
found, entered, recovered. In this context the motif of jour-
the possibility of a multiplicity of paradises. Thus George
ney, especially of difficult or perilous journey, appears.
Alsop identified Maryland as the terrestrial paradise, saying
Mountain. The mountain is also sometimes associated
that its trees, plants, flowers, fruits, and even its roots were
with paradise, as, for example, in connection with Jerusalem
signs of Adam’s realm, special evidence of its innocence.
(Mount Zion) in its paradisial dimensions, or with Mount
John Smith believed he had discovered Eve in the Powhatan
Meru of Hindu mythology. John Milton in book 4 of Para-
tribe and that he had chanced on a land that was as God
dise Lost describes paradise as a mountain. In fact, Milton
made it, a place where heaven and earth best agreed as a land
brings together several images, for in his description the
for human habitation. In a 1609 farewell sermon given for
paradisial mountain is also a garden and the origin of the four
Virginia adventurers by Daniel Price, Virginia was described
rivers that course down its sides.
as the garden of the world, a land flowing with milk and
honey. When the frontierspeople crossed the mountains
The distinctive characteristic of the mountain is its
through the Cumberland Gap into Kentucky, they saw it not
height. It towers above the earth and therefore can readily
only as “the dark and bloody ground” but, paradoxically, as
symbolize transcendence. Thus when paradise is thought of
a veritable Eden, rich in forests and game and fertile in soil.
as a transcendental realm, the mountain is an appropriate
The same sort of thing was happening in Puritan New En-
image.
gland, though often in terms of future expectations. Thus
ESCHATOLOGICAL PARADISES. While paradise is usually
Edward Johnson considered Massachusetts a place where a
thought of as in the past, it also figures in some eschatologies.
new heaven and a new earth will be created by the Lord.
In the Book of Revelation there is envisioned a new heaven
Later, Jonathan Edwards could speak of the Great Awaken-
and a new earth and, as well, a new Jerusalem, which will
ing as a glorious work that would make New England a heav-
come down from God (Rv. 21:1ff.). God will then dwell
en on earth.
among humans, and henceforth mourning, crying, pain, and
It is not difficult to understand why the garden has often
death will be no more. In Jewish messianism the coming age
provided the setting for the primordial paradise and, as well,
is frequently described in terms strongly reminiscent of
the paradise of the dead. Whether cultivated (as it was after
paradisial existence (e.g., Is. 11:6–8, Ez. 47:1–12). Norman
the discovery of agriculture) or provided by nature, a garden
Cohn in The Pursuit of the Millennium (1957) found paradi-
is a striking phenomenon. Typically, it is in evident contrast
sial elements in his study of revolutionary messianism in me-
with the surrounding territory, sometimes dramatically. It
dieval and Reformation Europe.
seems to constitute another world, different from the ordi-
In modern times “cargo cults” of Melanesia and Micro-
nary one, a world in which seed, soil, and water combine in
nesia have been especially generative of paradisial motifs.
evident manifestation of fertility, vitality, and abundance.
Briefly, these cults are typically based on myths that prophesy
For humans it provides refreshment as well as nourishment,
that soon an ancestor-bearing ship will arrive with a wonder-
and signalizes an alluring mode of human existence.
ful cargo to be received by those who have expected and pre-
Island. Gardens are not the sole representations of para-
pared for its arrival. The return of the ancestors and the arriv-
dise. It is also represented in other ways, frequently as an is-
al of cargo signal profound changes. Not only will poverty
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6986
PARADOX AND RIDDLES
be abolished but all that belongs to the old world will be de-
Sylvia Mary, Sr. Nostalgia for Paradise. London, 1965. A some-
stroyed. A series of reversals will take place: Servants will be-
what comparative study of the longing for paradise done
come masters, the old will become young, yams will grow
from a Christian religious and theological perspective.
on trees, and coconuts will grow in the ground. After all that
Williams, George H. Wilderness and Paradise in Christian
belongs to the old world has been changed or destroyed, a
Thought. New York, 1962. The ambivalent meanings of
new world will appear. In this world there will be freedom
wilderness, garden, and desert in the Bible and subsequent
from laws, traditions, work, poverty, disease, ageing, and
appearances of these themes in Christian thought and
death. In other words, this radical transformation or renewal
literature.
of the world signifies paradise.
New Sources
SECULAR PARADISES. Most of the paradises referred to have
Bernheim, Pierre-Antoine. Paradis, Paradis. Paris, 1991.
been explicitly religious. However, paradisial motifs and nos-
Bockmuehl, Markus. “Strawberries, the Food of Paradise: A Study
talgias for paradise have appeared, especially in the modern
in Christian Symbolism.” Crux 27/3 (1991): 9–21.
world, in other guises. Utopias, some of which, but not all,
Brockway, Robert W. “The Eden Myth: Archetypal Vision of Par-
are explicitly religious, typically have some of the characteris-
adise.” Faith and Freedom: A Journal of Progressive Religion
tics of paradise, often to a lesser degree and with some con-
44 (1991): 33–34; 39–42.
cessions to actuality. It could be said that utopias are efforts
Buck, Christopher. Paradise and Paradigm: Key Symbols in Persian
to actualize the image of paradise, under the conditions of
Christianity and the Bahái Faith. Albany, N.Y., 1999.
this world.
Heinberg, Richard. Memories and Visions of Paradise: Exploring the
The strong interest in communes in recent decades, es-
Universal Myth of a Lost Golden Age. Los Angeles, 1989.
pecially among the young, may be understood as a quest for
Luttikhuizen, Gerard P., ed. Paradise Interpreted: Interpretations of
a secular paradise, as may the more pervasive and continuing
Biblical Paradise in Judaism and Christianity. Leiden and
interest in returning to the land, evidenced first by the cre-
Boston, 1999.
ation of suburbia but extending subsequently to the truly
Miller, James E. Western Paradise: Greek and Hebrew Traditions.
rural countryside.
San Francisco, 1997.
SEE ALSO Bones; Cargo Cults; Fall, The; Gardens, overview
Zaleski, Carol. “When I Get to Heaven: Picturing Paradise.”
article; Heaven and Hell; Mountains; Utopia.
Christian Century 120, no. 7 (2003): 22–31.
HARRY B. PARTIN (1987)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Revised Bibliography
Armstrong, John H. S. The Paradise Myth. London, 1969. Seeks
an alternative to the Genesis paradise myth in elements of Su-
merian and Greek myths and in themes in Renaissance litera-
ture and art.
PARADOX AND RIDDLES. Although paradoxes
Baumann, Hermann. Schöpfung und Urzeit des Menschen im
can seem enigmatic and riddles paradoxical, they are funda-
Mythus der afrikanischer Völker. Berlin, 1936. Myths of be-
mentally different realities. Riddles are mainly instrumental
ginning and end in Africa.
and performance-oriented, whether used in sacred or secular
Cohn, Norman. The Pursuit of the Millennium. 3d ed. New York,
contexts, whereas paradoxes are rooted in the heart of being
1970. Revolutionary messianism in medieval and Refor-
and language, touching on the crux of experience and expres-
mation Europe and its bearing on modern totalitarian
sion. Riddles are to be solved; a paradox is to be transcended,
movements.
or, rather, lived.
Lewis, R. W. B. The American Adam. Chicago, 1955. The new
RIDDLES. A riddle was called griphos (lit., “fishing creel,” or
Adam in American literature of the nineteenth century as an
something intricate) or ainigma (“dark saying”) in Greek and
expression of a native American mythology.
aenigma (“problem”) in Latin. The modern meaning of enig-
Lincoln, Andrew T. Paradise Now and Not Yet. Cambridge, U.K.,
ma, “that which is unknown and remains obscure,” reflects
1981. Paradise in Saint Paul’s eschatology.
this ancestry. Riddles may or may not have solutions. As the
Moynihan, Elizabeth B. Paradise as a Garden: In Persia and Mug-
English saying “It remains a riddle” indicates, what cannot
hal India. New York, 1979. The oldest surviving garden tra-
be known remains a mystery. In Greek, must¯erion meant
dition. Richly illustrated.
something beyond the comprehension of human intelli-
Sanford, Charles L. The Quest for Paradise. Urbana, Ill., 1961. Or-
gence.
igins and meaning of “the Garden of America” and its broad-
er applications to aspects of American civilization.
Riddles have been known since antiquity and through-
Smith, Henry Nash. Virgin Land. Cambridge, Mass., 1950. The
out the world. The oldest recorded riddles are found in Bab-
American West as myth and symbol.
ylonian school textbooks, in which one finds such riddles as:
Stevens, Henry Bailey. The Recovery of Culture. New York, 1949.
“Who becomes pregnant without conceiving, who gets fat
Argues that humans once lived in a horticultural paradise be-
without eating?” The answer, not given in the textbook, is
fore the “fall” into hunting and the subsequent sacrifice-
probably a “rain cloud.” (Taylor, 1948, pp. 12–13) The
linked agricultural period.
Greek poet Pindar called the Sphinx’s question a riddle
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(ainigma); Plato alludes to the punning riddles common in
so on (Schechter, 1891, pp. 354–356). Riddles were “most
his time (Republic 5.479). Riddles may be both playful and
characteristic of Jewish table-amusements in the middle
serious—playful as a humorous diversion or pastime, or seri-
ages” that “great Hebrew poets of the middle ages composed
ous as in the riddle of the Sphinx, failure to solve which
acrostics and enigmas of considerable merit” (Abrahams,
would cost a person’s life. German philologists referred to
1896, pp. 384–387, 133).
such a riddle as a Halsrätsel (capital riddle). By the same
Riddles were actively employed in Christian missionary
token, Yudhis:t:hira in the Indian epic of Maha¯bha¯rata re-
activities during the middle ages. It was in this context that
stored his brothers to life by successfully solving the riddles
the bishop Boniface (ca. 675–754) chose ten virtues and ten
posed by a yaks:a, a demi-god (chapter 41, “The Enchanted
vices as a theme for riddles (Taylor, 1948, pp. 63–64). Bibli-
Pool”). Although of modern creation, Bilbo Baggins’s inter-
cal passages often provided allegorical riddles (ibid.,
action with Gollum in The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien pre-
pp. 61–65).
serves the life-staking seriousness of the riddles as a perform-
ing act (see ch. 5, “Riddles in the Dark”).
KO¯AN. K’an (Chin., gong Dan, “public document, authorita-
tive statute”) are a series of questions that Zen masters give
In Vedic India, riddles were posed as part of such rituals
to their students as an aid to their meditation practice. Ko¯an
as the ra¯jasu¯ya (coronation of a king) and the a´svamedha
are still actively utilized to train students in the Japanese Rin-
(horse sacrifice). The exchange of questions and answers be-
zai lineage of Zen tradition, which belongs to Maha¯ya¯na
tween the sacrificial priests was highly formalized, as in this
Buddhism. The popularized version of ko¯an, such as “What
pair: “What is it that walketh singly?” “It is yonder sun,
is the sound of one hand clapping?” or “What was your origi-
doubtless, that walks singly, and he is spiritual luster”
nal face before your parents were born?”, may initially appear
(S´atapatha Bra¯hman:a 8.2.6.9ff.). Brahmans competed in
to be riddle-like, but they are actually not riddles and have
ja¯tavidya¯ (knowledge of the origins) and brahmodya (theo-
a distinct function to free the mind from its conventional
logical or philosophical discussion about brahman). Cosmo-
habits beset by the subject-object dichotomy.
logical questions were often the topics of riddles, as in the
R:gveda: “I ask you about the furthest limit of earth. Where,
The practice of ko¯an became widespread among the dis-
I ask, is the center of the world? I ask you about the Stallion’s
ciples of the Chinese Chan (Jpn., Zen) master Dahui Zong-
prolific seed; I ask you about high heaven where abides the
gao (Jpn., Daie So¯ko¯; 1089–1163). The ko¯ans often consist
Word” (1.164.34). This suggests that philosophical inquiry
of questions and answers (known as mondo¯ in Japanese) ex-
developed in the form of posing riddles (see R:gveda
changed between masters and students during the Tang and
1.164.46; 10.129; Atharvaveda 9.9–10; 10.7). A verse in the
early Song periods in China, as well as questions put forward
Atharvaveda asks: “How does the wind not cease to blow?
by teachers and anecdotes of famous masters.
How does the mind take no repose? Why do the waters, seek-
The ko¯an traditionally given to the beginners is known
ing to reach truth, never at any time cease to flow?” (10.7.37;
as “Zhaozhu and the dog,” which is a dialogue between a
cited in Bloomfield, 1969, pp. 210–218; Huizinga, 1949,
monk and the master Zhaozhu (Jpn., Jo¯shu¯). A monk asked
pp. 105–107).
Master Zhaozhu: “Does the dog have a Buddha nature?” The
Master replied: “No.” A variation of this ko¯an continues: on
Dealing with the mystery of existence and the universe,
another occasion, another monk asked Master Zhaozhu:
riddles were often considered to have a special power. The
“Does the dog have a Buddha nature?” The Master replied:
possession of esoteric knowledge meant the possession of
“Yes.” Baffling it may be, this particular ko¯an is not about
power (Huizinga, 1949, p. 108). Moreover, a magical power
the concept of emptiness or nothingness, nor does it deal
was associated with riddles: the idea that a spoken word has
with the opposition of existence and non-existence (Izutsu,
a direct influence on the world order is at the heart of the
p. 176). Ko¯ans point beyond the discursive level of yes and
ritualistic use of riddles, such as those used at the time of rice
no to the very reality of the world in which all beings are vi-
planting and growing (but that were strictly forbidden be-
tally interrelated.
tween harvest and the laying out of new fields), and those
used on certain occasions such as funerals.
D. T. Suzuki notes that ko¯ans are intended as themes
for meditation, as “the means for opening one’s mind to the
To the authors of the Hebrew scriptures, riddles were
truth of Zen”; and further: “ko¯an and zazen [seated medita-
closely connected with wisdom, which the Lord conferred as
tion] are the two handmaids of Zen; the first is the eye and
a blessing (see Samson’s riddle in Judges 14:13–18; on the
the second is the foot.” Thus without thorough training in
Lord’s blessing, see Judges 13:24). Solomon’s wisdom, which
seated meditation, Zen students will not attain spiritual
“God had put in his heart” (1 Kgs. 10:24), was challenged
awakening (Suzuki, 1964, pp. 101–102).
by the queen of Sheba with “hard questions” (1 Kgs. 10:1–
13; 2 Chr. 9:1–12). The authors of medieval midrashim elab-
Zen teaching may appear to deny discursive thinking,
orated on such questions in detail, as for instance: “Who
but it actually brings the practitioners face to face with the
were the three that ate and drank on the earth, yet were not
primordial reality that is prior to conceptualization. The fol-
born of male and female?” “The three angels who revealed
lowing statement by a Chinese master Qingyuan (Jpn., Sei-
themselves to our father Abraham, peace be unto him,” and
gen) illustrates the inner dynamics of Zen/Chan training:
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Thirty years ago, before this aged monk got into Chan
barber shaves everyone who does not shave himself; does the
training, I used to see a mountain as a mountain and
barber shave himself? If the barber does not shave himself,
a river as a river. Thereafter I had the chance to meet
he must shave himself, and if he does shave himself, he can-
enlightened masters and, under their guidance, I could
not shave himself. Some other logical paradoxes are consid-
attain enlightenment to some extent. At this stage,
ered antinomies, and still others are mind-twisters. Evalua-
when I saw a mountain: lo! it was not a mountain.
tions as to the kinds of paradoxes are by no means uniform.
When I saw a river: lo! it was not a river. But in these
days I have settled down to a position of final tranquili-
For instance, Quine considers the paradox by Eubulides of
ty. As I used to do in my first years, now I see a moun-
Epimenides the Cretan, who said “All Cretans are liars,” un-
tain just as a mountain and a river just as a river. (Izut-
tidy and therefore solvable, while Poundstone considers it to
su, p. 208)
be a genuine paradox (Quine, p. 86; Poundstone, p. 18).
The first stage is characteristic of the ordinary way of looking
Visual paradoxes, such as the picture that presents a
at the world: the knower (subject) and the known (object)
duck from one view and a rabbit from another, have come
are separated, and the mountain is perceived as a thing stand-
to be regarded more in relation to the psychology of repre-
ing out there. The second stage is the experience of the one-
sentation (Gombrich, 1960). The rhetorical paradox as a lit-
ness of the knower and the known. The third stage is the rec-
erary genre was extremely popular during the Renaissance.
ognition of the world as is, based on the experience of the
The Praise of Folly (1509) by Erasmus set the tone; the genre
oneness (second stage) and overcoming the subject-object di-
was also practiced by the poet John Donne, the satirist Jo-
chotomy (first stage) of the knower and the known (Izutsu,
seph Hall, among others.
pp. 208–209). Riddle-like statements often found in Zen/
Functions of paradox. Fundamentally connected with
Chan literature thus have an epistemological foundation.
the problem of language and being, paradoxes function vari-
PARADOX. The original Greek meaning of para doxa, “con-
ously. Paradoxes in mathematics or physical science are puz-
trary to received opinion or expectation,” cuts through vari-
zles to be solved by “putting the conceptual framework in
ous meanings of paradox. In classical Greek, paradoxia meant
a new perspective,” so that “the limitations of the old concept
“marvelousness” and paradoxologeo¯, “to tell marvels.” Thus,
are revealed” (Rapoport, p. 56). Challenging the limits of
paradox was more than just a contradiction; paradoxos meant
reason, paradoxes may function as gateways to a new and
“incredible”—contrary to one’s expectation or a generally
more comprehensive paradigm of reality. Indeed, “paradoxes
held notion (doxa). This was the sense of the word retained
have played a dramatic part in intellectual history, often fore-
in the New Testament passage about Jesus healing a palsied
shadowing revolutionary developments in science, mathe-
man: people were “all amazed, and they glorified God, and
matics and logic” (Rapoport, p. 50). In the field of logic and
were filled with fear, saying, we have seen strange things
mathematics the confrontation with paradoxes—such as
[paradoxa] today” (Lk. 5:26). In this particular passage, para-
Russell’s paradoxes—greatly stimulated studies of the foun-
doxos thus means “miraculous.”
dations of mathematics (Quine, p. 84). Contradictions are
Definitions of paradox. The word paradox has been
regarded as a fertile soil for the development of theories in
understood variously as a logical contradiction, absurdity,
physical science. A. N. Whitehead holds that “in the formal
enigma, or seeming contradiction. Hamlet said, “This was
logic, a contradiction is the signal of a defeat: but in the evo-
sometime a paradox, but now the time gives it proof” (Ham-
lution of real knowledge it marks the first step in progress
let 3.1.114–115). Some define paradox as a unique form of
towards a victory” (p. 260).
thinking, “a dynamic, bi-polar thought which bespeaks a
Some consider paradox as a higher form of expression
vital tension involving both the opposition and reciprocation
of truth that defies a logical or linear mode of description as
of ideas” (Slaatte, p. 132). Others see paradox, “playing with
it involves a contradictory juxtaposition of images rather
human understanding,” as “primarily a figure of thought, in
than of logical ideas (Slater, p. 115). Just as metaphor and
which the various suitable figures of speech are inextricably
images point beyond words, so do paradoxes point beyond
impacted” (Colie, pp. 7, 22). Kierkegaard, on the other
a logical linguistic construct, and open up the domain of ex-
hand, asserted that the paradox, arising from the “relation
perience itself. They make accessible religious experiences,
between an existing cognitive spirit and eternal truth . . .
poetic intuitions, artistic creativities, and much of everyday
is not a concession but a category, an ontological definition”
experience.
(ed. Bretall, p. 153).
Paradox and religious discourse. Heraclitus described
Kinds of paradox. There are logical, visual, psychologi-
God as “day night, winter summer, war peace, satiety hun-
cal, rhetorical, and other types of paradoxes, such as episte-
ger” (frag. 67). And the Japanese Zen master Daito¯ described
mological and existential. Logical paradox has preoccupied
religious truth as “Separated by an eternity, yet not separated
logicians and mathematicians since olden times. The para-
even an instant; face to face the whole day, yet not face to
doxes associated with Zeno of Elea go back to the fifth centu-
face even an instant.” Paradoxical statements are often oxy-
ry BCE. Many logical paradoxes are considered solvable by ap-
moronic in style, combining contradictions. Descriptions of
plying different conceptual frameworks as for instance
the religious reality and religious experience are frequently
Russell’s “barber paradox,” which runs: in a certain town the
dressed in contradictory language such as plenum/nihilum,
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personal/impersonal, immanent/transcendent, affirmation/
Coincidentia oppositorum, a paradoxical logic. The
negation, sin/redemption. Out of the tension between these
expression coincidentia oppositorum or “coincidence of oppo-
terms emerges a meaning that is characteristic of religious ex-
sites” explains why paradoxical descriptions of themselves be-
periences. Rudolf Otto described the dimension of numi-
long to the nature of ultimate reality. Although this idea of
nous as “mysterium tremendum et fascinosum,” and consid-
coincidence of opposites goes back to Proclus and even Hera-
ered that “these two qualities, the daunting and the
clitus, it is today generally associated with Nicholas of Cusa
fascinating, now combine in a strange harmony of contrasts,
(1401–1464), the German churchman, scholar, philosopher,
and the resultant dual character of the numinous conscious-
and astronomer. He observed in De docta ignorantia (On
ness, to which the entire religious development bears witness,
Learned Ignorance):
at any rate from the level of the ‘daemonic dread’ onwards,
For whatsoever things are apprehended by the senses,
is at once the strangest and most noteworthy phenomenon
by reason, or by intellect both within themselves and in
in the whole history of religion” (Otto, p. 31).
relation to one another—[differ] in such way that there
is no precise equality among them. Therefore, Maxi-
There is a correlation between types of experience and
mum Equality, which is neither other than nor different
types of expression. “Between logical contradiction (or seem-
from anything, surpasses all understanding. Hence,
ing contradiction) and certain forms of religious feeling there
since the absolute Maximum is all that which can be,
is a close relation,” observes Arthur Lovejoy (p. 279). Some
it is altogether actual. And just as there cannot be a
consider paradox to be a more suitable, if not essential, form
greater, so for the same reason there cannot be a lesser,
of expression of religious experience (see Calhoun; Stace). To
since it is all that which can be. But the Minimum is
say God is immanent/transcendent is more than just a simple
that than which there cannot be a lesser. And since the
placing of these two qualities side by side; rather it describes
Maximum is also such, it is evident that the Minimum
the character of religious experience itself.
coincides with the Maximum. (1.4; trans. Hopkins,
p. 53)
In the Christian mystical tradition or in the Zen tradi-
The logic of coincidentia oppositorum presupposes a unifying
tion, linguistic expressions are regarded with suspicion, be-
ground of the many, that is, equality. “Therefore, opposing
cause of the basic assumption of the limitation of language—
features belong only to those things which can be compara-
or at least of certain forms of statement—and the hierarchy
tively greater or lesser” (ibid.), that is, to the relative world
of intelligibility, which is not confined to logical thinking.
of plurality of things.
But all the same the need for affirming the reality beyond
human thoughts and language remains strong.
Maha¯ya¯na Buddhism also deals with coincidentia opposi-
torum and maintains the unity of the one and the many. In
Chinese Chan master Wumen (Jpn., Mumon), whose
unity there is multiplicity, and in multiplicity there is unity.
collection of gong’an (ko¯an) is known as The Gateless Barrier
A favorite simile is that of the ocean water (the one) and in-
(Chin., Wumenguan, Jpn., Mumonkan, 1228), made full use
numerable waves (the many). Paradoxical is the character of
of paradoxical language, as the title of his collection indi-
the ultimate. The Heart Sutra, the summation of the
cates. He wrote in his preface: “The Buddha Mind is the
Prajña¯pa¯ramita¯ corpus, proclaims “all the phenomenal world
basis, and gateless is the Dharma Gate. If it is gateless, how
of experience is empty, and empty is the whole phenomenal
can you pass through it?” And again: “to cling to words and
world of experience.” Suzuki, in discussing this kind of logic
phrases and thus try to achieve understanding is like trying
of simultaneous negation and affirmation, calls it sokuhi no
to strike the moon with a stick, or scratching a shoe because
ronri, or “the logic of prajña¯” (Suzuki, 1951, p. 18). Con-
there is an itchy spot on the foot” (Shibayama, p. 9).
trasting prajña¯ (“intuition”) with the workings of vijña¯na
(“reason”), he notes: “Paradoxical statements are characteris-
Ninian Smart considers “paradoxical pronouncements”
tic of prajña¯-intuition. As it transcends vijña¯na or logic it
to “fulfill such a number of functions that by understanding
does not mind contradicting itself; it knows that a contradic-
the gist of them one can penetrate to the heart of the philoso-
tion is the outcome of differentiation, which is the work of
phy of religion” (Smart, 1958, p. 20). Citing a passage “It
vijña¯na. Prajña¯ negates what it asserted before, and converse-
is far, and It is near. It is within all this, And It is outside
ly; it has its own way of dealing with this world of dualities”
of all this” (¯I´sa¯ Upanis:ad 5) as a case in point, Smart notes
(ibid., p. 24). Such insight into the paradoxical character of
that the objective, transcendent, numinous, far, brahman,
reality marks the Japanese Kyoto School of philosophy, of
and “wholly other” belong to the strand of worship, whereas
which Nishida Kitaro¯ (1870–1945) was the formative pres-
the subjective, immanent, mystical, near, a¯tman, and “with-
ence.
in” belong to the strand of mystical experience. Moreover,
these two are woven together in a way characteristic of reli-
Docta ignorantia: The paradoxical knowledge of the
gious experience, as shown by the exhilarating yet self-
ultimate. The Socratic tradition of knowledge is a paradoxi-
effacing experience of the mystic (Smart, 1958; see also Aus-
cal mode of knowing: I know that I do not know. Again,
tin). Paradoxical expressions may also be considered as rhe-
“We desire to know that we do not know,” wrote Nicholas
torical devices or “therapeutic paradoxes” (Ramsey and
of Cusa in De docta ignorantia. “If we can fully attain unto
Smart, 1959, p. 220).
this [knowledge of our ignorance], we will attain unto
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learned ignorance” (1.1). By examining the mode of inquiry
thought or consideration will cover it up” (frag. 30). The fa-
and observing that it proceeds by means of a comparative re-
mous beginning of the Dao de jing echoes this tradition:
lation and “hence the infinite qua infinite is unknown, for
“The Way that can be spoken of is not an eternal way.” In
it escapes all comparative relation” (1.1), he concluded that
the Upanis:adic tradition, a¯tman is “not this, not that [neti,
“reason cannot leap beyond contradictories.” Moreover, “as
neti]. It is unseizable, for it is not seized. It is indestructible,
regards the movement of reason, plurality or multiplicity is
for it is not destroyed. It is unattached, for it does not attach
opposed to oneness” (1.24). To recognize reason in this way
itself. It is unbound. It does not tremble. It is not injured”
is to attain “learned ignorance” or “sacred ignorance,” which
(Br:hada¯ran:yaka Upanis:ad 3.9.26, 4.2.4, 4.4.22, 4.5.15).
knows that “the precise truth shines incomprehensibly with-
in the darkness of our ignorance” (1.26). Learned ignorance
The via negativa, or apophatic path, is in fact a paradox-
takes people beyond the apprehension of plurality of things,
ical method of affirming the ultimate, which is considered
and they also see in their self-knowledge “that there is precise
a superlogical reality. Aquinas pointed out the contradiction
truth which we cannot comprehend” (2, prologue). One also
inherent in this method: “The meaning of a negation always
reads in the Kena Upanis:ad: “it is not understood by those
is found in an affirmation, as appears from the fact that every
who understand it. It is understood by those who understand
negative proposition is proved by an affirmative one; conse-
it not” (11).
quently, unless the human understanding knew something
of God affirmatively, it could deny nothing of God; and such
Christian mystics also fondly cherished this intuition.
would be the case if nothing of what it says of God could
John of the Cross held that if it is not by way of reason, then
be verified affirmatively” (De potentia Dei 7.5). The ap-
it is by way of non-knowing that one may arrive at what one
proach of mystical theology, however, has a paradoxical rath-
knows not (The Ascent of Mount Carmel 1.14). In his poem,
er than a logical interest. Dionysius the Areopagite conclud-
“I Entered I Knew Not Where,” the reader encounters such
ed his Mystical Theology thus: “We can neither affirm nor
lines:
deny Him [God], inasmuch as the all-perfect and unique
I entered I knew not where
Cause of all things transcends all affirmation, and the simple
and remained without knowing,
preeminence of His absolute nature is outside of every nega-
transcending all knowledge . . .
tion—free from every limitation and beyond them all.” One
is thus left with the docta ignorantia—one knows that one
I did not know where I entered,
does not know the divine reality.
but when I saw myself there,
not knowing where I was
The paradox of faith. Referring to the Book of Job, “the
I understood great things . . .
paradox of the best man in the worst fortune,” G. K. Ches-
terton wrote that human beings are “most comforted by par-
The higher one rose,
adoxes” (p. 237). A. O. Lovejoy explored the psychological
the less was understood,
need for paradoxical expression in relation to religious salva-
for it was the dark cloud
tion in his essay on felix culpa, “the fortunate fall.” He argues
that illuminated the night. . . .
that Adam’s sin was fortunate and as such constitutes the
(Krabbenhoft, pp. 25–29)
conditio sine qua non of the Christian redemptive drama.
The idea of learned ignorance or recognition of the inability
This theme “had its own emotional appeal to many religious
of reason to comprehend the ultimate reality has not been
minds—partly, no doubt, because its very paradoxicality, its
foreign to many Western thinkers. Pascal said, “There is
transcendence of the simple logic of common thought, gave
nothing so consistent with reason as this denial of reason”
it a kind of mystical sublimity” (p. 279). His study reveals
(Pensées 182), or, again, “Reason’s last step is the recognition
that this theme in Milton’s Paradise Lost actually goes back
that there are an infinite number of things which are beyond
to du Bartas, Francis of Sales, Gregory the Great, Leo the
it. It is merely feeble if it does not go as far as to realize that.
Great, and Ambrose (pp. 294–295; see also Weisinger,
If natural things are beyond it, what are we to say about su-
1953).
pernatural things?” (Pensées 188). And Kierkegaard held that
The paradox of sin and redemption deeply marks the
“it is the duty of the human understanding to understand
thinking of religious figures. Luther held that “God conceals
that there are things which it cannot understand, and what
his eternal mercy and loving-kindness beneath eternal wrath,
those things are” (ed. Bretall, p. 153).
his righteousness beneath unrighteousness” (Althaus,
The paradox and the via negativa. Dionysius the Are-
p. 279). Again, “If sin is abolished, then Christ has also been
opagite noted that the ultimate reality, the Deity, was be-
done away with for there would no longer be any need for
yond human thought and therefore could only be approxi-
him” (ibid., p. 258). Shinran, the founder of the Japanese
mated by negative predication. The medieval German mystic
True Pure Land school, said: “If the good are saved, how
Meister Eckhart, a faithful adherent of this method, wrote:
much more the wicked” (Tannisho¯ 3). The paradox of re-
“It is God’s nature to be without a nature. To think of his
demption is sustained by faith. The Christian doctrine of the
goodness, or wisdom, or power is to hide the essence of him,
incarnation was for Kierkegaard the paradox par excellence:
to obscure it with thoughts about him. Even one single
it is, he wrote, “the ‘absolute Paradox,’ the paradox of God
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PARADOX AND RIDDLES
6991
in time. If one is to believe this paradox, God himself must
hams’s Between the Living and the Dead (Helsinki, 1980).
give him the condition for doing so by giving him ‘a new
Johan Huizinga’s Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element
organ’ of apprehension—that of Faith” (ed. Bretall, p. 154).
in Culture (London, 1949) offers a perceptive account of
The presence of paradox in religious writings can be under-
riddles.
stood as an integral part of the time-honored question of
For the Jewish and Arab fondness for riddles during the middle
faith and reason.
ages, see Israel Abrahams’s Jewish Life in the Middle Ages
(New York, 1896). Solomon Schechter’s “The Riddles of
Paradox, riddles, and enigma. Both paradox and rid-
Solomon in Rabbinic Literature,” Folklore 1 (September
dles grapple with the enigma of the universe, of human exis-
1891): 349–358, gives a full account of fifteenth-century
tence. If something remains a riddle to human intelligence,
midrash on the Solomon Riddle. Volumes 3, 7, and 9 of
it remains mysterious or else is understood only paradoxi-
James G. Frazer’s The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and
cally.
Religion, 3d ed. rev. & enl. (London, 1911–1915), contain
accounts of riddles. On Vedic riddles, see Maurice Bloom-
The mystery of existence, the paradox of life, took a
field’s The Religion of the Veda (New York, 1969),
concrete expression in an ancient Chinese story. There was
pp. 210–218. For the R:gveda and other Hindu texts, see Rai-
an old man living with his son and a very mangy horse near
mon (var. Raimundo) Panikkar’s The Vedic Experience
a fortress in a remote border region. One day this horse, the
(Berkeley, 1977).
family’s only possession, ran away. The villagers all sympa-
On religion and paradox, see I. T. Ramsey and Ninian Smart’s
thized with the old man for his loss, but he was not a bit per-
“Paradox in Religion,” Aristotelian Society Supplementary Vol-
turbed, saying, “This could be a blessing in disguise.” The
ume 33 (1959): 195–232. See also Smart’s Reasons and Faiths
following spring the horse came back with a mare, and they
(London, 1958). William H. Austin’s Waves, Particles and
gave the old man many foals. The villagers now congratulat-
Paradoxes (Houston, 1967) applies the principle of comple-
ed him, but he remained unperturbed. His son broke his leg
mentarity to explaining theological discourse. For the idea of
the numinous, see Rudolf Otto’s The Idea of the Holy (Ox-
while riding one of the horses. A war broke out, and nine
ford, 1928). W. T. Stace’s Mysticism and Philosophy (Phila-
out of ten men fighting the battle were killed, but his son
delphia, 1960) has an extensive section on religious discourse
was spared because he was lame. This Daoist story from the
and paradox. Religious language and paradox are discussed
collection of Huainanzi, illustrates the inscrutability of what
in Robert L. Calhoun’s “The Language of Religion,” in The
any event may lead to. This practical wisdom sees a comple-
Unity of Knowledge, edited by Lewis Leary (Garden City,
mentary, dynamic interflow of the positive and the negative.
N.Y., 1955), pp. 248–262. For Heraclitus’s writings, see The
It takes the enigma of existence and articulates it in a para-
Cosmic Fragments, edited by G. S. Kirk (Cambridge, 1954).
doxical way: It “conceptualizes” it in a “spherical” language.
For a translation of Nicholas of Cusa’s De docta ignorantia,
Paradox can be seen as one of the ways in which the human
see Jasper Hopkins’s On Learned Ignorance (Minneapolis,
mind rationalizes the nonrational, the inscrutable, the un-
1981). On John of the Cross, see Kin Krabbenhoft, trans.,
The Poems of St. John of the Cross (New York, San Diego,
known.
London, 1999) (the translation was slightly altered in the
Paradoxes are baffling, striking, surprising, or nonsensi-
text). Pascal’s Pensées have been translated by, among others,
cal to linear thinking. But they are also free, creative, and
A. J. Krailsheimer (Harmondsworth, 1966).
playful, a form of expression conducive to a “spherical think-
On the ko¯an, see The Ko¯an: Texts and Contexts in Zen Buddhism,
ing” that expands and contracts freely “across terminal and
Steven Heine and Dale Wright, ed. (Oxford and New York,
categorical boundaries” (Colie, p. 7). A host of thinkers have
2000); The World of Zen, edited by Nancy W. Ross (New
directly or indirectly recognized paradox as an integral aspect
York, 1960); and Daisetz T. Suzuki’s An Introduction to Zen
of reality. From Heraclitus, Socrates, Plato, ancient sages,
Buddhism (New York, 1964). On the Mumonkan (Wumeng-
uan
) text, see Shibayama Zenkei’s Zen Comments on the Mu-
numerous mystics, to thinkers such as Pascal, Kierkegaard,
monkan, trans. by Sumiko Kudo (New York, 1974). Toshi-
Whitehead, Nishida, and Suzuki, the list encompasses semi-
hiko Izutsu’s Toward a Philosophy of Zen Buddhism (Tehran,
nal thinkers.
1977) provides a philosophical exposition of ko¯an.
S
On Buddhism and paradox, see D. T. Suzuki’s “Reason and Intu-
EE ALSO Nishida Kitaro
¯; Transcendence and Immanence;
ition in Buddhist Philosophy,” in Essays in East-West Philoso-
Via Negativa.
phy, edited by Charles A. Moore (Honolulu, 1951),
pp. 17–48; see also Suzuki’s “Basic Thoughts Underlying
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Eastern Ethical and Social Practice,” in Philosophy and Cul-
For a comprehensive exposition of riddles, see James A. Kelso’s
ture: East and West, edited by Charles A. Moore (Honolulu,
“Riddle,” in the Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, edited
1962), pp. 428–447. For representative works of the Kyoto
by James Hastings, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1918). For close to
School, see Nishida Kitaro¯, An Inquiry into the Good (New
nine hundred bibliographical entries on riddles, see Archer
Haven, Conn. 1990) and “The Logic of Topos and the Reli-
Taylor’s A Bibliography of Riddles (Helsinki, 1939). Taylor’s
gious Worldview,” trans. by Michiko Yusa, Eastern Buddhist,
The Literary Riddle before 1600 (Berkeley, 1948) is an invalu-
19.2 (1986), 1–29 and 20.1 (1987), 81–119, and Nishitani
able cross-cultural study of riddles with an excellent bibliog-
Keiji, Religion and Nothingness (Berkeley, 1982). Robert Sla-
raphy on this subject. For an overview of riddles, see
ter’s Paradox and Nirvana (Chicago, 1951) is a study on the
Mathilde Hain’s Rätsel (Stuttgart, 1966) and Roger D. Abra-
religious ultimate with reference to Burmese Buddhism.
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6992
PARAMA¯RTHA
The philosophy of paradox is extensively discussed in Howard A.
Fleeing to the coastal provinces, Parama¯rtha wandered
Slaatte’s The Pertinence of the Paradox (New York, 1968). For
about translating and teaching and for a year or so enjoyed
an accessible coverage of paradox, see William Poundstone,
the patronage of Lu Yuanzhe, the governor of Fuchun in the
Labyrinths of Reason, Paradox, Puzzles, and the Frailty of
Fuyang district of Zhejiang. In 552 he was recalled to the
Knowledge (New York, London, Toronto, Sydney, Auck-
capital by a victorious Hou Jing. After only 120 days on the
land, 1988). On paradox and faith, see The Book of Job, ed-
throne, Hou jing was overthrown by Xiao I (Emperor Yuan),
ited by G. K. Chesterton (London, 1916), an introduction
to which may be found in The Dimensions of Job, edited by
during whose three-year reign Parama¯rtha enjoyed imperial
Nahum N. Glatzer (New York, 1969), pp. 228–238. For
support and resided at the Zhenguan temple in Nanking,
Kierkegaard’s writings, see A Kierkegaard Anthology, edited
translating the Suvarn:aprabha¯sa Su¯tra (Jinguangming jing).
by Robert W. Bretall (Princeton, 1946). Luther’s ideas are
After three years in Nanjing, Parama¯rtha was forced by the
studied in Paul Althaus’s The Theology of Martin Luther
unsettled political situation to resume the life of a wanderer,
(Philadelphia, 1966). On the idea of felix culpa, see Arthur
which, however, did not inhibit his prodigious translation
O. Lovejoy’s “Milton and the Paradox of the Fortunate Fall,”
activities. Yet despite such apparent energy he was depressed
in his Essays in the History of Ideas (Westport, Conn., 1978),
by his unstable circumstances, was constantly nostalgic for
pp. 277–295. See also Herbert Weisinger’s Tragedy and the
India, and repeatedly attempted to return home, only to be
Paradox of the Fortunate Fall (London, 1953).
dissuaded each time by disciples and friends.
For logical paradox, see John van Heijenoort’s “Logical Paradox-
es,” in The Encyclopedia of Philosophy (New York, 1967).
One of the more fateful of these attempts occurred in
W. V. O. Quine gives a cogent exposition of the topic in
562, when he managed to board a ship and journey the open
“Paradox,” Scientific American 206 (April 1962): 84–96. An-
sea for two months before a storm blew the boat into Can-
atol Rapoport’s “Escape from Paradox,” Scientific American
ton. Ouyang Wei, the governor there, and his son Ouyang
217 (July 1967): 50–56, offers another excellent view of the
Ho, old acquaintances from Parama¯rtha’s previous days in
subject, especially in relation to decision theory. Augustus
Canton, came to his aid and soon became his disciples.
De Morgan’s A Budget of Paradoxes, 2d ed., 2 vols. (Chicago,
Under their patronage he translated many texts, including
1915), presents extensive materials on “paradoxers.”
the Maha¯ya¯nasam:graha (Compendium of the Maha¯ya¯na;
On science and paradox, see Alfred North Whitehead’s Science
Chin., Shedasheng lun), that were central to the development
and the Modern World (New York, 1925). Thomas S. Kuhn’s
of uniquely Chinese traditions in Buddhism. The comple-
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 2d ed., rev. (Chicago,
tion of these works brought him evident satisfaction, but
1970), deals with the shift of conceptual scheme in the sci-
nevertheless he lapsed into depression again, and his disciples
ences. Bernard Bolzano’s Paradoxes of the Infinite (1851;
had to thwart a suicide attempt in 568.
London, 1950) is one of the classical studies on the topic. On
the nature of knowing and paradoxes, see Elizabeth H. Wol-
Hoping to brighten his outlook, his followers planned
gast’s Paradoxes of Knowledge (Ithaca, N. Y., 1977).
to return him to the capital, but the monks already en-
On the paradoxical tradition of the Renaissance, see Rosalie Littell
trenched there, fearing that Parama¯rtha might threaten their
Colie’s Paradoxia Epidemica (Princeton, 1966). Nicholas
status, convinced the emperor of the newly founded Chen
Falletta’s The Paradoxicon (Garden City, N. Y., 1983) gives
dynasty that his doctrines were a threat to the government.
a concise account while presenting wide-ranging examples of
Parama¯rtha therefore stayed on in Canton until he suc-
paradoxes with an extensive bibliography. On art and para-
cumbed to illness at the age of seventy.
dox, see Ernst H. Gombrich’s Art and Illusion (New York,
1960).
A number of Parama¯rtha’s translations proved influen-
M
tial in the development of indigenous Chinese Buddhist tra-
ICHIKO YUSA (1987 AND 2005)
ditions during the Sui (581–618) and Tang (618–907) peri-
ods. These include the Abhidharmako´sa (Epidamozhushe lun,
Treasury of the Abhidharma), Madhya¯ntavibha¯ga (Zhongbi-
PARAMA¯RTHA was the religious name of Kulana¯tha
an fenbie lun, On distinguishing the extremes from the mid-
(499–569), an Indian monk and translator of Sanskrit texts.
dle), Vim:´satika¯, and Trim:´sika¯, by Vasubandhu; the
Parama¯rtha was a central figure in the introduction of the
Maha¯ya¯nasam:graha, the Saptada´sabhu¯mika´sa¯stra (Youjia
Buddhist Yoga¯ca¯ra, or Vijña¯nava¯da (idealist), doctrines to
shidi lun qishi lun) portion of the Yoga¯ca¯rabhu¯mi; and Vasu-
China. Born in Ujjain, India, Parama¯rtha traveled widely as
bandhu’s treatise on Asan˙ga’s Maha¯ya¯nasam:graha, the
a Buddhist missionary and was probably living in Cambodia
Maha¯ya¯nasam:graha-bha¯s:ya. The last text provided the foun-
prior to arriving in Canton, baggage full of su¯tras, in 546.
dation for Parama¯rtha’s own Shelun school, which came to
Two years later he reached the Liang capital at Jiankang,
be patronized during the Sui by Emperor Wen, and was
present Nanjing, and was summoned to audience by Emper-
championed and modified during the Tang by the monk
or Wu, a great patron of Buddhism. Impressed by both the
Xuanzang. Parama¯rtha’s work was the point of departure for
knowledge and volume of su¯tras Parama¯rtha possessed, the
Zhiyi (538–597) and Fazang (738?–838?), the principal
emperor had decided to appoint him director of an ambi-
masters of the Tiantai and Huayan schools, respectively. His
tious translation project when the Hou Jing rebellion forced
thought was also important to the development of the Faxi-
him to abandon his plan.
ang and Chan (Zen) schools of the Tang dynasty.
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PA¯RAMITA¯S
6993
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Sanskrit and Pali noun pa¯ramita¯ is derived from the
An important source for information on the life and thought of
adjective parama, meaning “high, complete, perfect.” The
Parama¯rtha is Ui Hakuju’s Shindai sanzo¯den no kenkyu¯, vol-
Therva¯da has consistently understood the term in this way
ume 6 of Indo tetsugaku kenkyu¯ (Tokyo, 1965). For a superb
and has commonly used another derivative, pa¯ram¯ı, as a syn-
review of Parama¯rtha’s influence on the development of Chi-
onym. In contrast, the Maha¯ya¯na tradition has analyzed the
nese Buddhism, including a complete bibliography of mod-
term as consisting of two words, pa¯ram ita, meaning “gone
ern critical studies, see Diana Y. Paul’s Philosophy of Mind in
Sixth Century China: Parama¯rtha’s “Evolution of Conscious-

to the beyond,” indicating its character as a scheme of spiri-
ness” (Stanford, Calif., 1984).
tual progress. The Chinese and Tibetan translations of the
term pa¯ramita¯ (tu and pha rol tu phyin pa, respectively) reflect
MIYAKAWA HISAYUKI (1987)
this latter understanding of its meaning.
These interpretations may differ along sectarian lines,
PA¯RAMITA¯S. The term pa¯ramita¯, Sanskrit and Pali for
but the applications they suggest are found in each of the
“perfection,” refers to the virtues that must be fully devel-
Buddhist schools. In the Therava¯da, the perfections afford
oped by anyone aspiring to become a Buddha, that is, by a
the practitioner one way of celebrating the significance and
bodhisattva. The practice of the pa¯ramita¯s makes the career
superiority of the Buddha, whose fulfillment of them is often
of a bodhisattva exceedingly long, but their fulfillment trans-
said to be incomparable. Similarly, Maha¯ya¯na devotees focus
forms the enlightenment process from one that benefits only
their reverence on the enormous toils of great bodhisattvas
the individual to one that is, in the words of the Visuddhi-
such as Avalokite´svara, who are engaged in practicing the
magga, “for the welfare and benefit of the whole world.”
perfections.
The idea of the pa¯ramita¯s as a group is not found in the
The pa¯ramita¯s also provide a set of norms to structure
oldest Buddhist literature. Such a notion developed in the
the reading of the Ja¯takas, the collection of stories about the
general expansion of Buddhist thought and practice before
Buddha’s previous lives. These tales, often non-Buddhist in
the beginning of the common era, which movement gave
origin and obscure in meaning, assume a Buddhist character
new recognition to types of religion other than renunciation.
when read with the pa¯ramita¯s as guidelines. The
The pa¯ramita¯s provided an alternative scheme of religious
Cariya¯pit:aka, the Buddhavam:sa, and later Therava¯da works
practice more in tune with newly developed conceptions of
(e.g., the Nida¯nakatha¯, the fifth-century introduction to the
the Buddha and the nature of a bodhisattva than were the
Ja¯taka collection) group and order some of the stories accord-
older schemes of morality, meditation, and wisdom (´s¯ıla,
ing to the practice and attainment of each perfection. We
sama¯dhi, prajña¯) and the Noble Eightfold Path.
also see this template for reading in Maha¯ya¯na works such
When the pa¯ramita¯s appear as a group, their number
as the Maha¯prajña¯pa¯ramita¯ S´a¯stra.
varies; six and ten occur most often, but lists of five and seven
The same pattern guides the illustrations of Ja¯takas as
are also found. It is sometimes suggested that six may have
evidenced by such Buddhist art forms as the friezes on reli-
been the original number, because of an apparent progres-
gious monuments of ancient India and the paintings decorat-
sion in difficulty in such enumerations. The six are “giving”
ing temples in modern Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. In
(da¯na), “morality” (´s¯ıla), “patience” (ks:a¯nti), “vigor” (v¯ırya),
short, the pa¯ramita¯s transformed the Ja¯takas into effective
“contemplation” (dhya¯na), and “wisdom” (prajña¯). Such lists
and popular sources for didactic art and literature. As Rich-
are found in early Maha¯ya¯na texts (e.g., the Saddharma-
ard Gombrich observed in his study of Buddhism in modern
pun:d:ar¯ıka Su¯tra and the Prajña¯pa¯ramita¯ literature) and in
Sri Lanka, Precept and Practice (Oxford, 1971), “There is a
the Maha¯vastu of the Maha¯sam:ghika school. The lists of ten,
general tendency for those Ja¯takas which are canonically as-
which include the additional virtues of “skill-in-means”
sociated with the Bodhisattva’s acquisition of a particular
(upa¯ya or upa¯yakau´salya), “resolution” (pran:idha¯na),
perfection to be more widely known” (p. 93).
“strength” (bala), and “knowledge” (jña¯na), occur in later
texts, for example, the Da´sabhu¯mika Su¯tra (fourth century).
The superposition of the pa¯ramita¯s on the Ja¯takas, in
In such texts, the pa¯ramita¯s are correlated with the ten stages
turn, altered the perception of the perfections themselves. As
(bhu¯mi) of a bodhisattva’s career.
gradations of the virtues became apparent, it proved practical
to subdivide the ten perfections into thirty. Each pa¯ramita¯
Other independent and relatively early enumerations of
was divided into three degrees: an ordinary perfection
the perfections are found in the Cariya¯pit:aka and the
(pa¯ram¯ı), an inferior perfection (upapa¯ram¯ı), and a superior
Buddhavam:sa, both written in Pali and considered canonical
perfection (paramatthapa¯ram¯ı). For example, in the
by the Therava¯da school. While the Cariya¯pit:aka lists seven
Therava¯da, the ordinary perfection of giving is “sacrifice of
perfections, the Buddhavam:sa gives ten. These have become
limbs,” the inferior perfection is “sacrifice of external goods
standard in the Therava¯da traditions: “giving” (da¯na), “mo-
or property,” and the superior perfection is “sacrifice of life.”
rality” (´s¯ıla), “renunciation” (nekkhamma), “wisdom”
(pañña¯), “vigor” (viriya), “patience” (khanti), “truthfulness”
The Ja¯takas also provide models for practicing the
(sacca), “determination” (adhit:t:ha¯na), “loving kindness”
pa¯ramita¯s. Through these stories about the Bodhisattva’s—
(metta¯), and “equanimity” (upekkha¯).
and thus, the Buddha’s—involvement in the world, the vir-
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6994
PARENTALIA
tues represented by the perfections are inculcated and come
aspires to enter the path to enlightenment. Its importance
to be highly valued as qualities in individuals.
as a preparation for enlightenment is amply attested by the
Vi´svantara (Vessantara) Ja¯taka, in which the future Buddha
As the Maha¯ya¯na analysis of the term suggests, these vir-
perfects da¯na in his penultimate birth.
tues are not merely a random assortment but are an ordered
group leading to a goal. When the Maha¯ya¯na replaced the
SEE ALSO Avalokite´svara; Bodhisattva Path; Eightfold Path;
notion of the arhat with the idea of the bodhisattva as the reli-
Prajña¯.
gious ideal to which all should aspire, the pa¯ramita¯s provided
a practical program that could be followed by new aspirants.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
This replacement altered some of the basic assumptions of
A survey of the pa¯ramita¯s in Maha¯ya¯na literature may be found
spiritual progress. Under this new dispensation, as the arhat
in Har Dayal’s The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhist Sanskrit
follows the Noble Eightfold Path he destroys the defilements
Literature (London, 1932; reprint, Delhi, 1975). It provides
that perpetuate rebirth but becomes enlightened only to the
detailed interpretations of each of the perfections and relates
degree necessary to obtain release from rebirth. The bodhi-
them to other aspects of Buddhist thought. A beautiful ac-
sattva, in contrast, renounces the enlightment of the arhat
count of the pa¯ramita¯s and their place in the career of a bo-
dhisattva
, as understood by the Indian Ma¯dhyamika tradi-
in order to pursue what is perceived as the higher and more
tion, is S´antideva’s Bodhicarya¯vata¯ra, translated by Marion
complete enlightenment attained by Buddhas. The bodhi-
Matics as Entering the Path of Enlightenment (New York,
sattva prepares himself for this attainment by practicing the
1970). The Cariya¯pit:aka and the Buddhavam:sa have been
perfections, which represent a program of positive moral de-
translated by both B. C. Law (Oxford, 1938) and I. B.
velopment for the benefit of others. The Maha¯ya¯na devotees
Horner (London, 1975) in volumes 11 and 31, respectively,
negatively assess the practice of the arhats, claiming that it
of the “Sacred Books of the Buddhists” series. Dhammapa¯la’s
is based on restraint and removal and is without overt altru-
“Treatise on the Pa¯ram¯ıs,” from the Cariya¯pit:aka commen-
ism. The perfections project the attainment of the goal into
tary is available in translation in The Discourse on the All-
an inconceivable future and displace the sense of urgency and
Embracing Net of Views: The Brahmaja¯la Sutta and Its Com-
immediacy that motivates the arhat’s quest. As a result, vir-
mentarial Exegesis, translated by Bhikkhu Bodhi (Kandy,
tues such as patience, resolution, strength, and determina-
1978). A summa of Buddhist thought on the perfections is
the Maha¯prajña¯pa¯ramita¯ S´a¯stra, attributed to Na¯ga¯rjuna and
tion, which had a small place in early Buddhism, became
translated from the Chinese by Étienne Lamotte as Le traité
prominent as pa¯ramita¯s. Vigor, for instance, which had com-
de la grande vertu de sagesse (Louvain, 1944–1980). This is
plemented the urgency felt by the disciple following the
an indispensable source for the study of the pa¯ramita¯s. La-
Eightfold Path, became an antidote to fatigue and despair
motte’s annotations themselves are a mine of information for
during the bodhisattva’s long career.
literacy references to the pa¯ramita¯s and for references to the
many publications that treat their iconography.
The idea of the perfections as a graduated soteriological
path was developed and emphasized in the Maha¯ya¯na, but
New Sources
it had a place in the Therava¯da as well. This can be seen in
Aitken, Robert. The Practice of Perfection: The Paramitas from a
a lengthy discussion in the Cariya¯pit:aka commentary by
Zen Buddhist Perspective. New York, 1994.
Dhammapa¯la, the sixth-century Pali commentator, where
Sanam Richen, Geshe. The Six Perfections: An Oral Teaching.
the perfections are treated as a spiritual path accessible to all.
Translated and edited by Ruth Sonam. Ithaca, N.Y., 1998.
Some of the perfections (e.g., renunciation and equanimity)
CHARLES HALLISEY (1987)
reinforce the basic assumptions of the arhat program, which
Revised Bibliography
the Therava¯da never rejected.
To function as a progressive scheme leading to the final
goal of enlightenment all of the perfections must be fulfilled.
PARENTALIA. The term Parentalia designates the peri-
We can see, however, that certain perfections have assumed
od of nine days during which Roman families would visit the
a greater importance. Doctrinally, wisdom (prajña¯), the last
tombs of the dead to honor them. This novena, private in
of the six perfections, is often given pride of place in
character, began on February13 and ended with the public
Maha¯ya¯na writings. The Bodhicarya¯vata¯ra says that “the
feast of the Feralia on February 21. This cycle of days re-
Buddha taught that this multitude of virtues is all for the sake
ceived its most extended comment from the Roman poet
of wisdom”(Matics, 1970, p. 211). Prajña¯ is said to be great-
Ovid. He interchangeably calls them the parentales dies (Fasti
er than all the other virtues and to be that perfection that
2.548) or the ferales dies (Fasti 2.34). The word Feralia gave
makes all others effective. Practically, the perfection of giving
the ancients occasion to coin etymological puns. The word
(da¯na) has great importance. Emotive stories of the practice
could stem either “from the action of bringing food” (a
of this perfection (e.g., the Ja¯taka stories of King S´ibi and
ferendis epulis) or “from the action of sacrificing animals” (a
Prince Vi´svantara) are enormously popular throughout the
feriendis pecudibus; Paulus-Festus, ed. Lindsay, 1913, p. 75
Buddhist world and have been favorite subjects for Buddhist
L.). The scholar M. Terentius (Varro, De lingua Latina 6.13)
art and literature. As the first and easiest of the pa¯ramita¯s,
preferred to compare the term Feralia to both inferi and ferre,
da¯na is accessible to the humblest Buddhist when he or she
adding, “because the ones having the right to parentare bring
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PARMENIDES
6995
then some food to the tomb” (“quod ferunt tum epulas ad
Littlewood, R. J. “Ovid among the Family Dead.” Latomus 60
sepulcrum quibus ius ibi parentare”).
(2001): 916–935.
Parentare, “to celebrate the Parentalia,” consisted in
Radke, Gerhardt. “Anmerkungen zu den ersten fünf Feriae Publi-
honoring the di parentes, or dead, with offerings. Ovid (Fasti
cae der römischen Fasten.” In Religio graeco-romana. Fest-
2.537–539) was glad to list such offerings: garlands, grains
schrift für Walter Pötscher, ed. by Joachim Dalfen, Gerhard
of wheat, salt, bread softened with wine, a few violets. These
Petersmann and Franz Ferdinand Schwarz, pp. 177–193.
Horn, 1993.
modest offerings were appropriate for the manes, the shades
or spirits of the dead.
Rüpke, Jörg. “Wann feierte Ovid die Feralia.” Museum Helveticum
51 (1994): 97–102.
One may note the variations in vocabulary used by the
various authors to refer to the dead: inferi (Varro, De lingua
Scheid, John. “Die Parentalien für die verstorbenen Caesaren als
Latina 6.13); dis manibus (Festus, op. cit., p. 75 L.); manes
Modell für den römischen Totenkult.” Klio 75 (1993): 188–
(Ovid, Fasti 2.534). Manes or di manes is very likely ex-
201.
plained as a euphemism: “the inferi are called di manes, that
ROBERT SCHILLING (1987)
is, ”good ones“ with whom one should be reconciled out of
Translated from French by Paul C. Duggan
fear of death” (Festus, op. cit., p. 132 L.). Use of the term
Revised Bibliography
corresponds to a later usage (first century BCE) that substitut-
ed for the ancient expression di parentes or di parentum, as
had appeared already (specifically, in the form divis paren-
PARMENIDES. A Greek philosopher who lived be-
tum; Festus, op. cit., p. 260 L.) in a “royal” law. A deceased
tween the second half of the sixth century BCE and the first
person was regarded as having joined the collectivity of the
half of the fifth century BCE, Parmenides was born in and
di parentes (in the funerary inscriptions, it is written in
lived in Elea, an Ionic colony on the coast of Campania, in
the dative or the genitive along with the collective term). The
an area then inhabited by the Lucani, who called the city
formulation of Cornelia’s letter to her son Gaius Sempronius
Velia. He was a pupil of Xenophanes as well as a Pythagore-
Gracchus gives evidence of the link between the verb paren-
an. Charged with the governance of the city, he gave Elea
tare and the corresponding noun: “Ubi mortua ero, parenta-
a long-lasting constitution regarded as the principal reason
bis mihi et invocabis deum parentem” (“When I am dead,
for its power. He also founded a philosophical school, which
you will honor me at the Parentalia and call on the parental
was monist and has become known historically as the Eleatic
shade”). By this pietas—the expression is Ovid’s (Fasti
school. His closest followers were Zeno and Melissus. Par-
2.535)—toward the dead, the Parentalia were differentiated
menides wrote a long poem in hexameters titled On Nature,
from the Lemuria of May 9, 11, and 13, which consisted of
a difficult text even for his contemporaries. The work was
rites in which evil spirits were expelled (ibid., 5.429–444).
lost in the early Middle Ages, and about twenty fragments
On February 22, the day after the Feralia, which commemo-
of around 150 to 160 verses survive. Thus modern interpre-
rated a family’s dead, there followed the Caristia or Cara
tation of his work is even more controversial. Parmenidean
Cognatio, which united the living members of the family in
doctrine denies the real existence of diversity and change and
a banquet (ibid., 2.677).
asserts the unity of being. This doctrine has been regarded
from time to time as the foundation of metaphysics, of logic,
BIBLIOGRAPHY
and of the theory of predication and as the methodology of
Bömer, Franz. Ahnenkult und Ahnenglaube im alten Rom. Bonn,
scientific research based upon the principle of correspon-
1943.
dence, that is, of “invariance.”
Dumézil, Georges. Archaic Roman Religion. 2 vols. Translated by
Philip Krapp. Chicago, 1970.
Whatever the intention, it is a passionate espousal of
Schilling, Robert. Rites, cults, dieux de Rome. Paris, 1979. See
l’esprit de géométrie, a radical departure from the normal
pages 11–15 for a discussion of Feralia and Lemuria.
manner of ethical or political discourse, despite the signifi-
Wagenvoort, Hendrik. Studies in Roman Literature, Culture and
cant political role played by Parmenides in his native city.
Religion. Leiden, 1956. Pages 290–297 treat the parentatio
It is particularly revealing that, all this notwithstanding, Par-
in honor of Romulus.
menides’s discourse is set out in clear theological and reli-
Wissowa, Georg. Religion und Kultus der Römer. 2d ed. Munich,
gious terms from various related perspectives.
1912. See pages 232–235.
The doctrine is presented in the proem as the “revela-
New Sources
tion” of a goddess, in fact of the Goddess, probably Perseph-
Gessel, Wilhelm. “Reform von Märtyrenkult und Totengedächt-
nis. Die Bemühungen des Presbyters Augustinus gegen die
one, the titular goddess of the celebrated mystery cult of De-
laetitia und parentalia vom J. 395.” In Reformatio Ecclesiae.
meter at Elea. Parmenides tells of a fantastic journey in a
Beiträge zu kirchlichen Reformbemühungen von der alten Kir-
horse-drawn chariot, guided by the Heliades, the daughters
che bis zur Neuzeit. Festgabe Erwin Iserloh, edited by Remigi-
of Helios, the Sun, who guide it to the Gate of Night and
us Bäumer, pp. 61–73. Paderborn, 1980.
Day. When they reach there, they ask the gatekeeper, Dike,
Lejeune, Michel. “Capoue: iovilas de terre cuite et iovilas de tufi.”
Justice, to open up and allow their charge to pass through.
Latomus 49 (1990): 785–791.
The poet thus manages to enter into the presence of the
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6996
PARMENIDES
Goddess, who welcomes him and invites him to listen to her
identified by Parmenides as one and the same star, is “the
explain both “the unshakeable heart of well-rounded Truth”
goddess who controls all things,” especially regarding sexual
and “the opinions of mortals, in which there is no certainty
congress, the source of life, thus a supreme goddess, probably
at all”
Aphrodite. Eros also plays an important role. It is clear that
the doctrine of divine intelligence and astral influences has
In terms of the conventions particular to archaic Greece,
already made its appearance.
the image of the chariot in the proem is a clear metaphor for
poetry, often guided by the Muses, who steer the poet in the
There is no doubt that the pantheon of Parmenides is
“right” direction. For Parmenides the chariot symbolizes po-
predominantly feminine. In particular the two principal di-
etic wisdom, sophia, encompassing as it does the tension re-
vinities, the inspired revelatrix of the proem and the omnipo-
garding the Truth and the absolute poetic skill necessary to
tent one in the center of the heavens, are goddesses. Being,
express this. The route here is “the way of the goddess,”
in Greek, Eon, single unchanging matter, which has no space
which takes the “wise man” in the direction of the “Ultimate
in which to move, is neuter gender. The masculine, theologi-
Truth.” The chariot is not guided by the Muses, the daugh-
cally speaking, is of marginal importance. This causes a diffi-
ters of Memory, but by the Heliades, goddesses related to the
culty of interpretation that is impossible to resolve because
light of the Sun, because Parmenides was not attempting to
of the scarcity of available information. Some see the survival
set out a mythical tale, like any other poet, but rather a scien-
or reemergence in Parmenides of an ancient pre-Greek Med-
tific account. The motif of the gate is made still more com-
iterranean religion with a matriarchal basis (Untersteiner,
plex because it is a specific gate that had always played a cen-
1958).
tral part in the sphere of myth and cosmology, that is, the
SEE ALSO Empedocles; Metaphysics; Monism; Muses; Plato;
Gate of Day and Night, also called the Gate of the Sun, and
Pythagoras; Xenophanes.
is identified with the Gate of Hades. It towered in the ex-
treme west, far from the region inhabited by humankind. Be-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
yond this, just as in Parmenides, yawned the abyss, in Greek
Burkert, Walter. “Das Proömium des Parmenides und die Kataba-
berethron, chaos, (chasma), in other words the world of the
sis des Pythagoras.” Phronesis 14 (1969): 1–30.
dead, the realm of Hades and Persephone, the god and god-
Cerri, Giovanni. “Cosmologia dell’Ade in Omero, Esiodo e Par-
dess of the netherworld, but also, according to Hesiod, the
menide.” Parola del passato 50 (1995): 437–467.
cosmic location in which were gathered the first principles
Cerri, Giovanni. Poema sulla natura, Parmenide di Elea: Introduz-
of everything, the “roots,” the “sources,” the “limits,” that
ione, testo, traduzione, e note. Milan, 1999.
is, the elements of matter.
Couloubaritsis, Lambros. Mythe et philosophie chez Parménide.
After the proem, throughout the poem every abstract
Brussels, 1990.
concept, every natural entity is represented in divine terms.
Coxon, A. H. The Fragments of Parmenides: A Critical Text with
Physical law becomes Justice (Dike) or Themis, the goddess
Introduction, Translation, the Ancient Testimonia, and a Com-
of justice regarded by the Greeks as older and with greater
mentary. Assen, Netherlands, 1986.
authority than Dike, or Necessity (Ananke), the goddess of
Diels, Hermann, and Walther Kranz. Die Fragmente der Vorsokra-
Homer and Hesiod, who ruled over the most powerful gods,
tiker, vol. 1. Berlin, 1951. See pp. 217–246. Reference
or Moira (Fate), the ancient goddess of birth, life, and death.
edition.
The abstract luminance was Truth (Aletheia), the epic god-
Frère, Jean. “Aurore, Eros, et Ananke: Autour des dieux parméni-
dess of truthfulness. Being itself was represented in the like-
diennes.” Études philosophiques 60 (1985): 459–470.
ness of an imprisoned god in shackles, a obvious allusion to
Jaeger, Werner Wilhelm. Theology of the Early Greek Philosophers.
Prometheus in chains. In Parmenides, in complete form, the
Oxford, 1947. See chap. 6.
unique union that was to be characteristic of subsequent
Kingsley, Peter. In the Dark Places of Wisdom. Inverness, Calif.,
Greek cultural development is evident, a synthesis of abso-
1999.
lute intellectual rationalism and the religious symbolism of
Pellikaan-Engel, Maja E. Hesiod and Parmenides: A New View on
the polytheistic tradition.
Their Cosmologies and on Parmenides’ Proem. Amsterdam,
1974.
The astronomical section of the poem, following in the
footsteps of Anaximander, sets out a map of the heavens in
Pugliese Carratelli, Giovanni. “La Theà di Parmenide.” Parola del
the form of spherical concentric bands on which individual
passato 43 (1988): 337–346.
stars were set out. These, or at least some of these, were clear-
Tarán, Leonardo. Parmenides: A Text with Translation, Commen-
ly divine in form. The outer surface, the farthest away, in-
tary, and Critical Essays. Princeton, N.J., 1965.
cluding all the bands in order nearest to the earth, which was
Untersteiner, Mario. Parmenide:, Testimonianze e frammenti: Int-
located in the center, was called in lay terms ouranos, “heav-
roduzione, traduzione, e commento. Florence, 1958.
en,” but also theologically Olympus eschatos, “the final Olym-
West, Martin L. Early Greek Philosophy and the Orient. Oxford,
pus.” This alludes to the mountain on the summit of which,
1971.
myth said, was situated the abode of the gods. In the center
GIOVANNI CERRI (2005)
band, perhaps the heaven of Hesperus-Lucifer, correctly
Translated from Italian by Paul Ellis
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PARSIS
6997
PARSIS (Pa¯rsis, also rendered as Parsees), “Persians,” or
the Zoroastrians and the Hindu barring the former from
Zoroastrians, from Iran who settled in the Indian subconti-
proselytizing their faith.
nent during the tenth century CE, and their descendents.
SETTLEMENT PATTERNS. The Parsis founded the town of
O
Sanjan. About five years after their arrival, the Parsis conse-
RIGINS. Zoroastrians in Iran had contact with people in the
Indian subcontinent from at least the fifth century
crated an a¯tash bahra¯m—a “victory fire,” the highest level of
BCE
through overland and maritime trade. After the Arab Muslim
ritual fire—named Ira¯n Sha¯h (king of Iran), which remained
conquest of Iran in the seventh century
their main flame for more than eight hundred years. Most
CE, there were many
small, poorly documented migrations by Zoroastrians away
religious rituals were performed using da¯dga¯h (hearth) fires.
from that country over both land and sea. The one relocation
During the first three hundred years after the arrival in Guja-
that gained a historiography probably occurred in the tenth
rat, as the community prospered and its population in-
century and produced the Parsi community in India. That
creased, some Parsis moved to Navsari on the banks of the
particular migration is recorded as the Parsi community’s
Varoli River in 1142. They also spread to the towns of Surat,
founding legend, known as the Qessa-e Sanja¯n (Story of San-
Anklesar, Cambay, and Broach. In each of those towns they
jan), a New Persian narrative poem based upon an older oral
worked as farmers, toddy brewers, carpenters, weavers, and
merchants. Magi continued to dress in white robes and tur-
tradition, composed in 1600 CE. It forms the basis—
bans as they had in Iran. Parsi laymen adopted Indian dress
idealized and augmented—for much of the Parsis’ early his-
but wore white on ritual occasions. Parsi women wore the
tory. According to the text, during the reign of the Samanid
Indian sari, with minor variations in the manner of wrapping
kings (892–1005) many Zoroastrians from the northeastern
it around the body that became distinctive to Zoroastrians.
Iranian province of Khorasan relocated overland via the
mountains of Kuhestan to the Persian Gulf port of Hormuz,
Clusters of families had their spiritual needs tended to
then by ship via the Persian Gulf and the Indian island of
by an individual magus, and those devotional clusters came
Diu to Gujarat in western India. Their date of arrival at Gu-
to be known as the priest’s panthak. In time, this association
jarat is assigned by tradition to 992 Vikram Samvat (an Indi-
of particular lay or behdin families with a specific magian or
an calendar begun in 58 BCE equivalent to 936 CE). Owing
atho¯rna¯n priest and his descendants as panthaki became he-
to uncertainty resulting from parallels between the local
reditary. Around 1290 the Parsi magi divided Gujarat into
script and Devanagari numbers, the date came to be read as
five panths (ecclesiastic groups) based on location: the
772 Vikram Samvat or 716 CE—an inaccuracy still accepted
Sanja¯nas at Sanjan, the Bhagarias serving Navsari, the Go-
by some Parsis and scholars. Yet the maritime migration to
davras based at Anklesar, the Bharuchas controlling rites in
Gujarat and relocation there along the coastal region does
Broach, and the Khambattas of Cambay. Each panth regulat-
not explain adequately accounts by Muslim travelers during
ed its own clergy, laity, and religious matters through an an-
the tenth century CE of groups that they referred to as gabr
joman (association). At many locales over the centuries,
(hollow or empty, hence “one lacking faith, infidel”), a de-
under the direction of priests and lay patrons, an ateshgah
rogatory designation by Muslims for Zoroastrians, living in
(fire precinct) was established for rituals by the living, as was
the hinterland of north India. The number and size of such
a dakhma (funerary tower) for exposure of the dead.
inland communities suggest strongly that other Zoroastrians
DOCTRINES AND RITES IN MEDIEVAL TIMES. The jizya (poll
must have entered India via land routes from the northwest
tax) was imposed on non-Muslims in 1297 when the Delhi
and, in time, fallen under the rubric of Parsis.
Muslim sultanate conquered Gujarat. Economic hardship
The Qessa-e Sanja¯n goes on to claim that a local raja or
created by payment of the jizya, plus the stigma of designa-
ruler named Ja¯di Ra¯na¯ (Vajjardevrai or Vajjadadeva) of the
tion as a dhimm¯ı (protected religious minority) resulted in
Silhara dynasty agreed to grant the Zoroastrians safe haven
conversion of portions of the Parsi population to Islam. Yet
in Gujarat on the condition that the newcomers explain their
the community persisted in its beliefs and praxes, so that
beliefs to the Hindus, adopt the Gujarati language, refrain
early European travelers in the region began to encounter
from bearing weapons, perform weddings only at night, and
them; in 1350, for example, the Dominican friar Jordanus
ensure that their women blend with Hindu counterparts by
commented on the exposure of Parsi corpses. In 1741, after
wearing the local garb, the sari. Gujarat, as a result, became
a few previous relocations, the Ira¯n Sha¯h a¯tash bahra¯m was
the region in India where most Zoroastrians settled. A com-
brought to the city of Udwada, where it continued to burn
plementary folk tale claims that the raja had shown the new-
at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The Bhagarias
comers a pitcher full of milk to signify that India was already
consecrated their own a¯tash bahra¯m at Navsari in 1765.
Thereafter, six other fires of the a¯tash bahra¯m ritual level
heavily populated, with little room for new settlers, but that
were established—two at Surat in 1823 and four at Bombay
a magus who was present deposited something worthwhile
(later Mumbai) in 1783, 1830, 1845, and 1897.
into the milk—sugar, a coin, or a ring, depending on the ver-
sion—to indicate that Zoroastrians would coexist harmoni-
As they assimilated into Indian society, pressure from
ously with Indians, become Indianized, and enhance Indian
Hindus compelled the Parsis to accept certain socioreligious
society. Interestingly, neither the Qessa-e Sanja¯n nor the early
transformations. For example, the ritual slaughter of cattle
folk tales mention any agreement or understanding between
had to be discontinued gradually in accordance with Hindu
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6998
PARSIS
veneration for that animal, although goats and sheep contin-
1859) in shipbuilding and the opium and cotton trades be-
ued to be offered, with a portion of their bodies or fat being
tween India, England, and China. Parsis also established
deposited in holy fires. As Parsis settled in parts of the Indian
themselves quickly in textile manufacture and the bank-
subcontinent where their numbers were insufficient to main-
ingindustry. Steadily, Parsis became the mercantile arm of
tain funerary towers, they began adopting the custom of
the British in India, serving in that capacity for over two
burial in an a¯ramga¯h (place of repose, cemetery, graveyard).
hundred years. Members of the community then went on to
Perhaps most important in terms of socioreligious change
play central roles in establishing the industrial base of mod-
was that, over time, Parsis came to be regarded as a caste
ern India. Pioneers included Jamshedji N. Tata (1839–
within Hindu society. So, despite accepting some converts
1904), who founded the iron and steel industries, early hy-
from among Hindus who had close contact through friend-
droelectric power plants in India, and the Indian Institute
ship or work, the religion slowly became hereditary in an In-
of Science, and Homi J. Bhabha (1909–1966), who pio-
dian context, with no converts being accepted. Parsis also
neered research in atomic energy. Others, such as Lieutenant
had to mingle with members of other faiths in India and to
General Sam H. F. J. Manekshaw (1914–), led India’s post-
explain their doctrines and praxes. For instance, in 1578 the
independence military during the late twentieth century.
emperor Akbar summoned a Bhagaria priest named Meherji
Ra¯na to the Mogul court for a symposium. That contact
Socioeconomic success would transform the communi-
proved beneficial to the Parsis, as the jizya on them was lifted
ty in many different ways. The Parsi Pancha¯yat, initially a
a few years later.
council of elders, was established in 1728 to regulate com-
munity affairs. It did so not through law but through edicts
In 1746 a disagreement relating to the calendar caused
and codes of conduct that were enforced by communal pres-
division of the community into Kadm¯ıs, who accept the
sure. Since the question of religious freedom in Iran occu-
qad¯ım¯ı (ancient) Iranian calendar, and the Shensha¯ıs, or
pied the thoughts of Parsis, in 1854 they sent an emissary
Rasim¯ıs (traditionalists), who maintain the original Parsi cal-
named Manekji Limji Hataria (1813–1890) to Iran. Hataria
endar. Since 1906 another group, the Fasal¯ıs, or Fasl¯ıs, have
lived in Iran for four decades, married an Irani Zoroastrian
formed, and its members utilize a fasl (seasonal) calendar for
woman, and even visited the Qajar court to intercede on be-
rituals. The majority of Parsis remain Shensha¯ı, but calendri-
half of Zoroastrians. Hataria’s mission, coupled with pres-
cal preferences have maintained those communal divisions
sure on the Qajar dynasty from the British Raj on behalf of
and have produced minor variations in liturgies and rites.
prominent Parsis like Dadabhai Naoroji (1825–1917), suc-
Contact between Zoroastrians in India and Iran—the
ceeded in having the jizya abolished in Iran in 1882. Wealthy
Parsis and the Iranis—gained momentum in the thirteenth
Parsis also began to look after the secular needs of their core-
century. Several religious texts were sent from Iran to India
ligionists in Iran by building schools, hospitals, orphanages,
for safekeeping, and as a result, most of the oldest extant cop-
and retirement homes, in addition to renovating several
ies of Zoroastrian scripture and exegesis remained in India
a¯tashkada (fire temples) and dakhma and a¯ramga¯h funerary
until the eighteenth century onward, when some of those
sites there.
documents were obtained by Western museums and univer-
Secular education, in particular, fundamentally reori-
sities. Just as important, Parsis began seeking religious advice
ented the Parsis. In the nineteenth century, Parsis founded
from magi in Iran. A collection of treatises on religious obser-
English-style schools, libraries, and educational trusts for
vances, sent from Iran to India between 1478 and 1773 and
their sons and daughters. Following mores that were emerg-
known collectively as the Persian Reva¯yats, attests to the close
ing in Europe at the time, the Parsis began encouraging edu-
ties that were developing as Parsi emissaries were welcomed,
cated men and women to take up careers in public, multi-
lived among, and educated by their Iranian coreligionists be-
communal, workplaces. This development played a major
fore returning to India.
role in fueling a demographic shift among Parsis—away
TRANSFORMATION IN PREMODERN AND MODERN TIMES.
from the coastal villages and orchards of Gujarat to large cit-
Contact between the Parsis and Europeans grew with the es-
ies like Bombay, Delhi, Calcutta, Karachi, and Colombo.
tablishment of trading posts in the seventeenth century.
Rapid urbanization began in the 1900s, reaching 94 percent
European eyewitness accounts note that at first the Parsis en-
by 1961 among Parsis (compared to 27 percent for Muslims,
forced their own customs, with violators being excommuni-
23 percent for Christians, and 16 percent for Hindus) on the
cated or even, occasionally, executed. But as trade increased,
Indian subcontinent. Parsi Zoroastrians, consequently, be-
so did the Parsi community’s economic and social diversity.
came a highly urbanized middle and upper class. As part of
The port of Surat grew into a settlement of over 100,000
westernization and urbanization, the ritual slaughter of ani-
Parsi Zoroastrians between the seventeenth and eighteenth
mals was slowly phased out by the late 1930s, as was the
centuries. Then, in 1661, the port of Bombay came under
a¯tash-zo¯hr (offering to fire) of animal flesh, fat, and butter.
the British East India Company’s administration and Parsis
Likewise, marriages arranged by relatives declined in fre-
moved there to trade. Parsis flourished in Bombay, led by the
quency after the 1920s as women exercised their greater free-
commercial successes of individuals such as Lowji Nassar-
dom to select their own spouses. At the same time, educated
wanji Wadia (1702–1744) and Sir Jamsetji Jijibhai (1783–
women in the community began to choose careers over mar-
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PARSIS
6999
riage, family, and domesticity—close to 25 percent of Parsi
to overall Zoroastrian communities in each country.) Smaller
women remained unmarried after the 1970s, and the com-
communities live in New Zealand (200 in 2000), Hong
munity’s birthrate declined drastically. Moreover, by the end
Kong (190 in 2000), Singapore (150 in 2000), Bahrain (130
of the twentieth century, women’s expectations had begun
in 1996), Democratic Republic of the Congo (100 in 2000),
to exceed the reality represented by potential male partners
South Africa (70 in 2000), and Sri Lanka (63 in 2001). The
within the community—again reinforcing the trend in de-
communities in Pakistan, Sri Lanka (then Ceylon), Singa-
clining marital and reproductive rates.
pore, and Hong Kong date from British colonial times as a
legacy of trade. Even smaller groups are found in countries
Parsis began entering politics, with Naoroji, an architect
as diverse as Japan, China, Malaysia, Myanmar, Yemen, Sey-
of Indian independence, becoming the first president of the
chelles, Bermuda, and Venezuela. In most of those countries,
Indian National Congress in 1885. Other Parsis closely asso-
there are other Zoroastrians as well.
ciated with the Indian nationalist movement were Sir
Pherozeshah Mehta (1845–1915), Sir Dinshaw Wacha
In most countries where Parsi diasporas exist, each com-
(1844–1936), and Madam Bhikaji Cama (1861–1936). In
munity has at least one fire temple of the da¯dga¯h ritual level,
England, several Parsis have held elected office at various le-
a community hall associated with the temple, and a grave-
vels of government, starting with three members of the Brit-
yard to bury the dead (although cremation by electricity is
ish Parliament—Naoroji of the Liberal Party mentioned pre-
becoming popular as a means of avoiding long-term ritual
viously, Sir Muncherji Bhownagree (1851–1933) of the
pollution of earth and fire), expect in India and in the Paki-
Conservative Party, and Shapurji Saklatvala (1874–1936),
stani city of Karachi, where the funerary towers—now com-
who was a Communist. This trend in political involvement
monly called “towers of silence”—are still utilized amidst on-
continues among Parsis globally. In Sri Lanka, Kairshasp
going debate about how to ensure swift desiccation and
Choksy (1932–) became minister of constitutional and state
decomposition of corpses placed therein. The communities
affairs and subsequently minister of finance. Jamsheed Mark-
have religious classes for children, and ceremonies of navjote
er (1922–) became a prominent diplomat, first for Pakistan
(initiation) are conducted regularly for them. However, a low
and then for the United Nations. Loyalty and service to the
birthrate as individuals defer marriage in favor of professional
countries and cultures in which they reside have emerged as
careers, a widespread prohibition of the acceptance of con-
important attitudes among Parsis.
verts, and a discouraging level of intermarriage with mem-
bers of other sectarian groups have contributed to a gradual
INTERNATIONAL DISPERSAL AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. Dur-
overall decline in numbers.
ing the time of the British Empire, Parsis began traveling to
England for commerce and education, especially after the
On the other hand, following a pattern common to
mid-nineteenth century. By 1861 a Zoroastrian Association
many minorities, the international diasporas have been eco-
had been founded there. However, a major international dis-
nomically and socially successful in professions such as law,
persion of Parsis from India occurred for a variety of socio-
medicine, and academia, and in entrepreneurial endeavors
economic reasons only after the early 1950s. A few left India
from computer programming to watch manufacture. The
to join the descendants of relatives who had immigrated ear-
arts, too, have caught the attention of a number of Parsis,
lier to England. Some departed India, Pakistan, and Sri
including the American conductor Zubin Mehta (1936–),
Lanka to avoid rising nationalism and religious fundamental-
born in Bombay; the English rock musician Freddy Mercury
ism in those countries. Others went to Australia, Hong
(1946–1991), born in Zanzibar as Farrokh Bulsara; and the
Kong, and countries in sub-Saharan Africa seeking economic
Canadian writer Rohinton Mistry (1952–), born in Bombay.
opportunities. From the 1960s, migration has been for edu-
As a direct result of westernization and secularization, edu-
cation and employment in the United States and Canada.
cated women have come to wield leadership positions within
Nonetheless, Parsis still dwell in most major cities of India,
Parsi diasporas, including editorial positions at widely read
particularly Bombay (subsequently Mumbai), Delhi, and
Zoroastrian newsletters, such as the FEZANA Journal in
Calcutta.
North America and Parsiana in South Asia, wherein issues
of societal change are hotly debated.
Largely English-speaking, with many older Parsis still
bilingual in English and Gujarati, Parsis number approxi-
OTHER MAJOR CONTEMPORARY ISSUES. During the eigh-
mately 69,200 in India (in 2001), 10,000 in the United
teenth and nineteenth centuries, European scholars conclud-
States (in 2000), 6,000 in Canada (in 2000), 4,000 in En-
ed that the founder of the Parsis’ religion, Zarathushtra, or
gland and Scotland (in 2000), 3,000 in the European Union
Zoroaster, had preached a monotheistic faith that was de-
(in 2002), 2,200 in Pakistan (in 2003), 2,000 in Australia
based by his followers. This viewpoint gained the acceptance
(in 2000), and 1,000 in the United Arab Emirates (in 2000).
of many Parsis, who sought to structure their religion into
(Zoroastrian communities in each country consist of two
its allegedly pristine form based on the Ga¯tha¯s (Devotional
broad groups: the Iranis, or Iranian Zoroastrians, and mem-
poems) ascribed to Zarathushtra. Zoroastrians who follow
bers of that group who have settled in many countries, and
the teachings of Minocher Pundol (1908–1975) combine
the Parsis, or Indian Zoroastrians, who are discussed in this
such trends with mysticism. The introduction of theosophy
entry. The demographic numbers refer to the Parsis only, not
further attenuated doctrinal unity among the Parsis. Lack of
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

7000
PARSIS
doctrinal concord and a concomitant decline in theological
SEE ALSO Ateshgah; Gender and Religion, article on Gender
education continue in the twenty-first century.
and Zoroastrianism; Zoroastrianism.
Poor wages, substandard living conditions, and the lure
BIBLIOGRAPHY
of secular professional careers have steadily sapped enroll-
Axelrod, Paul. “A Social and Demographic Comparison of Parsis,
ment in the two madrasahs (seminaries)—the Athornan
Saraswat Brahmins, and Jains in Bombay.” Ph.D. diss., Uni-
Boarding Madrasa at Dadar and the M. F. Cama Athornan
versity of North Carolina, 1974.
Institute at Andheri—where Zoroastrian priests are trained
Axelrod, Paul. “Myth and Identity in the Indian Zoroastrian
in India. Thus, the number of priests available to perform
Community.” Journal of Mithraic Studies 3, nos. 1–2 (1980):
rituals continues to decline. Therefore, rites in many in-
150–165.
stances have been abbreviated and in certain locales are re-
Choksy, Jamsheed K. Purity and Pollution in Zoroastrianism: Tri-
stricted to the basic ones of passage—initiation, marriage,
umph over Evil. Austin, Tex., 1989.
and death—and to jashan (thanksgiving) services. Likewise,
Choksy, Jamsheed K. Evil, Good, and Gender: Facets of the Femi-
the number of women who weave the kust¯ı (holy cord) has
nine in Zoroastrian Religious History. New York, 2002.
also diminished as their priestly families take up secular occu-
Daryaee, Touraj. “The Persian Gulf Trade in Late Antiquity.”
pations.
Journal of World History 14, no. 1 (2003): 1–16.
Other, interrelated topics of much debate worldwide
Desai, Sapur F. History of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet, 1860–
within Parsi communities include the issues of who the Parsis
1960. Bombay, 1977.
are, whether intermarriage with non-Zoroastrians should be
Hinnells, John R. “Parsis and the British.” Journal of the K. R.
recognized, and whether converts can be accepted. As the
Cama Oriental Institute 46 (1978): 1–92.
Parsis became a de facto caste within Indian society, they di-
Hinnells, John R. Zoroastrians in Britain. Oxford, 1996.
verged from their Iranian coreligionists by abjuring conver-
Hinnells, John R. Zoroastrian and Parsi Studies: Selected Works of
sion to the faith. By the nineteenth century, magi who initi-
John R. Hinnells. Aldershot, U.K., 2000.
ated as Zoroastrians the children of non-Parsi fathers or the
Hodivala, Shahpurshah H. Studies in Parsi History. Bombay,
adopted children (from non-Zoroastrian parents) of Parsis
1920.
were subjected to censure by their clerical anjomans. Eventu-
Kennedy, Robert E., Jr. “The Protestant Ethic and the Parsis.”
ally, guidelines were set in India by that country’s civil judi-
American Journal of Sociology 68, no. 1 (1962): 11–20.
ciary in 1909 and 1925 as the result of court cases seeking
Kreyenbroek, Philip G., and Shehnaz N. Munshi. Living Zoroas-
to exclude non-Parsi wives from fire temples and community
trianism: Urban Parsis Speak about Their Religion. Rich-
institutions. Through those legal decisions, the civil courts
mond, U.K., 2001.
upheld the community’s restriction of its properties to the
Kulke, Eckehard. The Parsees in India: A Minority as Agent of So-
children of Parsi and Irani Zoroastrians plus duly initiated
cial Change. Delhi, 1974.
children of Parsi fathers by non-Zoroastrian wives. So in
Langstaff, Hilary A. Indian Parsis in the Twentieth Century. Kara-
India and, as a result of colonial rule, in Pakistan and Sri
chi, Pakistan, 1987.
Lanka, a Parsi Zoroastrian—male or female—is defined as
Luhrmann, Tanya M. The Good Parsi: The Fate of a Colonial Elite
a person whose father was or is a Parsi Zoroastrian. Converts
in a Postcolonial Society. Cambridge, Mass., 1996.
are not accepted. The children of a Parsi woman who is mar-
Maneck, Susan S. The Death of Ahriman: Culture, Identity, and
ried to a non-Zoroastrian are regarded as neither Parsis or
Theological Change among the Parsis of India. Bombay, 1997.
Zoroastrians. They cannot enter fire temples, benefit from
Menant, Delphine. The Parsis. Edited and translated by M. M.
communal funds, or even have Zoroastrian last rites. Not all
Murzban and A. D. Mango. 3 vols. Bombay, 1994–1996.
priests and laity accept that position, however, either in
Mistree, Khojeste P. “The Breakdown of the Zoroastrian Tradi-
South Asia or elsewhere. For example, during the late twenti-
tion as Viewed from a Contemporary Perspective.” In Irano-
eth in the United States (as previously in India), there were
Judaica, vol. 2, edited by S. Shaked and A. Netzer,
occasional instances when individuals who wished to join
pp. 227–254. Jerusalem, 1990.
Zoroastrianism were initiated by Parsi priests. Moreover, en-
Palsetia, Jesse S. The Parsis of India: Preservation of Identity in
hanced contact between Zoroastrians and members of other
Bombay City. Leiden, 2001.
faiths, especially in Europe, North America, and Australia,
Rose, Jennifer. “The Traditional Role of Women in the Iranian
has led to an increase in the frequency of marriage across con-
and Indian (Parsi) Zoroastrian Communities from the Nine-
fessional boundaries. On this issue, the diaspora communi-
teenth to the Twentieth Century.” Journal of the K. R. Cama
ties in the West have increasingly diverged from the Parsis
Oriental Institute 56 (1989): 1–103.
on the Indian subcontinent by permitting non-Zoroastrian
Seervai, Khurshedji N., and Bomanji B. Patel. “Gujarat Parsis
spouses to attend rituals at fire temples and cemeteries and
from Their Earliest Settlement to the Present Time (A.D.
to participate fully in community activities and governance.
1898).” Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency 9, no. 2 (1899):
In so doing, Parsis living in the West have come closer to the
183–254.
long-standing position of Iranian Zoroastrians and Irani Zo-
Taraporevala, Sooni. Parsis, the Zoroastrians of India: A Photo-
roastrian immigrants to the West on those issues.
graphic Journey. Mumbai, India, 2000.
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

PASCAL, BLAISE
7001
Whitehouse, David, and Andrew Williamson. “Sasanian Mari-
laxity, dangerous self-confidence, and “easy devotion.” Jan-
time Trade.” Iran 11 (1973): 29–49.
senius, following Augustine, emphasized the deep corruption
Whitehurst, James E. “The Zoroastrian Response to Westerniza-
of human nature, its inability both to know God and to help
tion: A Case Study of the Parsis of Bombay.” Journal of the
us in obeying his commandments; he praised the omnipo-
American Academy of Religion 37, no. 3 (1969): 224–236.
tence of divine grace, which is presented in his writings as
Writer, Rashna. Contemporary Zoroastrians: An Unstructured Na-
the condition, not only necessary but sufficient as well, of
tion. Lanham, Md., 1994.
salvation. In 1643, Arnauld published his treatise on the Eu-
“The Zarathushti Odyssey.” FEZANA Journal (Winter 2000).
charist, De la fréquente communion, which became a kind of
Jansenist manifesto. The battle between the two camps was
JAMSHEED K. CHOKSY (2005)
carried on with ferocity in the 1650s. As a result of pressure
by the Jesuits, Innocent X, in his bull Cum occasione (1653),
condemned five of Jansenius’s statements in which the
PARTHEV, SAHAK SEE SAHAK PARTHEV
Molinists detected the Calvinist heresy; Jansenius was ac-
cused of saying that some divine commandments are for hu-
mans impracticable, that Jesus Christ sacrificed himself for
PA¯RVAT¯I SEE GODDESS WORSHIP, ARTICLE ON
the elect only and not for all people, and that divine grace
THE HINDU GODDESS
works irresistibly. The Jansenists argued that the condemned
statements could not be found in Augustinus and that the
pope was not infallible in the matter-of-fact question of
whether or not a given book included a certain theological
PASCAL, BLAISE (1623–1662), French mathemati-
doctrine. In 1656, Alexander VII renewed the condemnation
cian, religious thinker, and philosopher, was one of the great-
in a separate constitution and asserted that the heretical state-
est minds in modern intellectual history. He was educated
ments were in fact in the book; earlier Arnauld had been con-
at home by his father, Étienne, who, when living in Paris
demned by the Sorbonne for theological and factual errors.
from 1631 to 1639, belonged to the society of scientists orga-
Pascal intervened in the battle by publishing pseudony-
nized by Mersenne. A precocious genius, Pascal in 1639
mously, from January 1656 until March 1657, eighteen suc-
wrote a mathematical work of which a part, Essai sur les con-
cessive writings known collectively as the Lettres provinciales,
iques, has been preserved and published. From 1642 to 1644,
a literary masterpiece which, notwithstanding its listing in
when in Normandy with his father, he constructed a calcu-
the Index of Forbidden Books, was to become a classic of
lating machine. His mathematical and physical works in-
French literature. In this pamphlet Pascal attacked the Jesu-
clude a treatise, based on experiments, disproving the theory
its’ moral doctrine, as it was taught in the works of known
of the impossibility of vacuum, as well as works on cycloids
writers (Le Moine, Escobar, and Bauny, among others), as
and on the theory of probability.
well as the theory of grace on which Jesuit “laxism” and
JANSENISM. In Normandy Pascal was in touch with priests
moral permissiveness were supposedly based. The letters dis-
who were disciples of the Abbé of Saint-Cyran, and in 1646
play to some extent the influence of Cartesianism, an influ-
he went through a religious conversion, but he neither aban-
ence not unusual among Jansenists, insofar as they imply the
doned his scientific work nor renounced mundane life.
separation of faith from secular reason and assert the latter’s
However, in November 1654, he experienced a second con-
autonomy; they denounce Jesuit casuistry and educational
version, a kind of violent shock about which he wrote a short
technique, claiming that through it all kinds of sins and vices
and remarkable memoir; he kept this reminder of his experi-
could be exculpated easily or turned into virtues; they attack
ence on his person to the end of his days. For some years be-
the Molinist teaching that sufficient grace has been given to
fore his conversion Pascal had been under Jansenist influ-
all, and thus, by virtue of a free decision, anyone can make
ence, in particular in Port-Royal. There Pascal became
it efficient and perfectly fulfill the divine law.
acquainted with the main figures of Jansenism—Antoine Ar-
PENSÉES. In the 1650s, apart from producing a number of
nauld, Pierre Nicole, Le Maistre de Saci—and became him-
short theological, philosophical, and scientific texts, all of
self one of the leading writers and polemicists of this political
them published posthumously (Préface d’un traité du vide,
as well as religious movement.
Entretien avec M. de Saci, Comparaison des chrétiens des pre-
Cornelius Jansen, also called Jansenius (1585–1638), in
miers temps avec ceux d’aujourd’hui, De l’esprit géométrique,
his posthumously published Augustinus (1640), elaborated a
De l’art de persuader, Écrits sur la grâce, Histoire de la roulette),
theory of grace that was antagonistic to the Jesuit soteriology
Pascal worked on Apologie de la religion chrétienne. This
known as Molinism, after the Jesuit theologian Luis de Moli-
major apologetical work was to be addressed to libertines,
na (1535–1600), and which contributed to the reform of the
probably of the kind he knew well personally: people who
church in the spirit of moral rigorism and theocentric piety.
were religiously indifferent, skeptical, or incredulous, rather
The Molinists were attacked for making the efficacy of divine
than committed atheists; the apology was to convince them
grace dependent on human free choice and thus falling into
of the truth of Christianity. He did not complete this work,
Pelagian or semi-Pelagian heresy and for encouraging moral
and the first edition (1670) of the fragments he left was in-
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7002
PASCAL, BLAISE
complete and arbitrarily ordered. In a number of subsequent
in the little light we can throw on it, in our indifference re-
printings, the editors of Pensées, as the work came to be
garding knowledge of it.”
known, arranged the text according to its logical order as
Although, as Pascal argues both in Pensées and in De
they saw it. The edition of Brunschwig (1897) was used for
l’esprit géométrique, human reason cannot achieve any certi-
several decades as a standard text, yet Louis Lafuma proved
tude, there is a separate power, the heart, which has “reasons
that the text left by Pascal was less chaotic and better ar-
of its own, unknown to reason” and which is a practical,
ranged than had been previously assumed; since 1952 his
rather than intellectual, faculty whereby a choice between
edition has been considered superior to all others in exis-
equally valid arguments for and against Christianity can be
tence.
made. In the famous passage on the wager (pari), Pascal ap-
Pensées is beyond doubt one of the major texts in the
peals to a kind of practical reasoning in order to compel the
history of philosophical and religious ideas. This extremely
libertine to admit that he cannot avoid the choice between
rich and challenging work can be read as the depiction of the
religion and irreligion. It is impossible to suspend the ques-
ambiguity of human destiny in the face of God, who is both
tion of immortality and of our eternal destiny: our happiness
hidden and manifest, and in the face of our own corruption
is at stake, and the search for happiness is an aspect of our
and frailty. To Pascal, nature does not lead us to God unam-
nature. God being infinite and therefore inaccessible to our
biguously: “Why, do not you say yourself that the sky and
reason, one cannot rationally affirm or deny his existence,
the birds prove God?—No—Does your religion not say
but neither can one suspend judgment. One has to bet, as
so?—No. For though it is true to some souls whom God has
in a game of chance: If one bets on God having even the
enlightened in this way, yet it is untrue for the majority.”
slightest chance of existence, one may gain an eternal life of
There are no “proofs” of faith, which is God’s gift. “Our reli-
happiness, whereas only one’s finite life on earth is at stake;
gion is wise and foolish: wise because it is the most learned
betting against God one risks the loss of eternal life, and the
possible gain is finite; it is therefore practically rational to opt
and most strongly based on miracles, prophecies, etc., fool-
for God.
ish, because it is not all this which makes people belong to
it. This is a good enough reason for condemning those who
It needs stressing that the wager is a way to persuade
do not belong, but not for making those who do belong be-
skeptics that they ought to bet on God, however uncertain
lieve. What makes them believe is the Cross.”
of God’s existence they might be; it is neither the expression
of Pascal’s own uncertainty nor another “proof” of a theolog-
Reason is not to be condemned—a person’s entire dig-
ical truth. It is practical advice, and Pascal is aware that by
nity consists in thinking—but it ought to be looked upon
itself it cannot produce genuine faith. He wants to show lib-
with suspicion, and it is crucial that it knows its limitations.
ertines that they ought to behave as if God were real, and
Pascal was the reader of Epictetus and Montaigne; the former
this means taming their passions and even “stultifying”
stressed the strength of human nature, the latter its weakness
themselves by complying, without real faith, with external
and fragility. Both are right in part, but to take only one side
Christian rules. The new way of life eventually will make
amounts to falling either into hubris and dogmatic self-
them realize that they have lost nothing in abandoning their
confidence or into despair. “We have an incapacity for prov-
sinful habits, and they will be converted to a true Christian
ing anything which no amount of dogmatism can overcome.
faith.
We have an idea of truth which no amount of skepticism can
overcome.” It is proper that God should be hidden in part
By the standards of human nature, religion is uncertain,
and revealed in part, and it is proper that we should know
and humanity cannot get rid of its nature. A tension between
both God and our misery. Therefore to know Jesus Christ
the attraction of the world and participation in the eternal
is essential, as it is in him that we find both God and our
is unavoidable. Human history and social life do not offer
misery. Indeed, our greatness consists in being aware of our
any solution; history is the prey of insignificant accidents
misery. The position of man as a creature located between
(“Cleopatra’s nose: if it had been shorter the whole face of
angels and animals by no means gives us, in Pascal’s eyes, a
the earth would have been different”); social reality has no
quiet abode in our natural place; being “in the middle,” we
intrinsic value and cannot be improved. Therefore Pascal, on
are torn between incompatible desires, and our natural state
the one hand, sneers at all titles and ranks, reduces laws and
is the most opposed to our higher inclinations. It is the im-
justice to pure conventions and property to a superstition,
mobility of tension, rather than of satisfaction, that distin-
and, on the other hand, recommends a conservative accep-
guishes us; we are incomprehensible to ourselves, our reason
tance of social hierarchy and external respect for monarchy,
and our senses deceive us, no certainty is accessible to us.
rank, and wealth. His worldview is essentially nonhistorical.
Christianity, with all its “foolishness,” is the only way the
Pascal, not surprisingly, was attacked by the eighteenth-
human condition can become intelligible and meaningful.
century philosophes Voltaire, Diderot, and Condorcet; his
Indeed, the mystery of original sin, the core of the Christian
skeptical view of science, to which he (unlike his critics)
worldview, according to Pascal, is an outrage to reason, and
made very serious contributions, his belief in the naturally
yet without this mystery we cannot understand ourselves.
incurable corruption of human nature, his pessimistic assess-
“Acknowledge then the truth of religion in its very obscurity,
ment of the human quest for happiness, were, of course, un-
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PASSOVER
7003
acceptable to the prophets of the Enlightenment. He has re-
found is gathered together and removed from the house dur-
mained one of the main figures in the history of conflict
ing the morning of 14 Nisan. This is based on the biblical
between Christianity and modernity, and his analyses sound
injunction that not only is it forbidden to eat leaven, but no
astonishingly fresh in the present time.
leaven may remain in the house (Ex. 12:15, 12:19). On Pass-
over, observant Jews do not employ utensils used during the
B
rest of the year for food that contains leaven. Either they have
IBLIOGRAPHY
special Passover utensils or they remove the leaven in the
Works by Pascal
walls of their regular utensils by firing or boiling them in hot
Œuvres complètes. Edited by Louis Lafuma. With a preface by
water. Only food products completely free from even the
Henri Gouhier. New York and Paris, 1963.
smallest particle of leaven are eaten. In many communities,
Pensées. Translated into English by A. J. Krailsheimer. Harmonds-
rabbis supervise the manufacture of packaged Passover foods
worth, 1966.
to verify that they are completely free from leaven, after
Works about Pascal
which they attach their seal of fitness to the product. There
Blaise Pascal, l’homme et l’œuvre. Cahiers de Royaumont, Philoso-
was at first considerable rabbinical opposition to machine-
phie, no. 1. Paris, 1956.
made matsah on the grounds that pieces of dough might be
Brunschvicg, Léon. Le génie de Pascal. Paris, 1924.
left in the machine and become leaven. Nowadays, with vast-
Brunschvicg, Léon. Descartes et Pascal, lecteurs de Montaigne. Paris,
ly improved methods of production, the majority of Jews see
1944.
no objection to machine-made matsah.
Goldmann, Lucien. Le dieu caché. Paris, 1955. Translated by Phil-
The biblical reason given for eating unleavened bread
ip Thody as The Hidden God (New York, 1964).
(matsah) and refraining from eating leaven (h:amets) is that
Jovy, Ernest. Études pascaliennes. 9 vols. Paris, 1927–1936.
during the Exodus the Israelites, having left Egypt in haste,
Laporte, Jean. Le cœur et la raison selon Pascal. Paris, 1950.
were obliged to eat unleavened bread because their dough
had had insufficient time to rise (Ex. 12:39). Matsah is there-
Mesnard, Jean. Pascal, l’homme et l’œuvre. Paris, 1951. Translated
by G. S. Fraser as Pascal, His Life and Works (London, 1952).
fore the symbol of freedom. A later idea is that leaven—bread
that has risen and become fermented—represents pride and
Russier, Jeanne. La foi selon Pascal. Paris, 1949.
corruption, whereas unleavened bread represents humility
Strowski, Fortunat. Pascal et son temps. 3 vols. Paris, 1907–1922.
and purity.
LESZEK KOLAKOWSKI (1987)
Great care is consequently taken when baking matsah
for Passover. The process is speeded up so that no time is al-
lowed for the dough to rise before it is baked. The resulting
matsah is a flat bread with small perforations (an extra pre-
PASSOVER is the joyous Jewish festival of freedom that
caution against the dough’s rising). Some Jews prefer to eat
celebrates the Exodus of the Jews from their bondage in
only round matsah, because a circle is unbounded, represent-
Egypt. Beginning on the fifteenth day of the spring month
ing the unlimited need to strive for freedom.
of Nisan, the festival lasts for seven days (eight days for Jews
outside Israel). The Hebrew name for Passover, Pesah:, refers
SYNAGOGUE SERVICE. The synagogue liturgy for Passover
to the paschal lamb offered as a family sacrifice in Temple
contains additional prayers and hymns suffused with the
times (Ex. 12:1–28, 12:43–49; Dt. 16:1–8), and the festival
themes of freedom and renewal. On the first day there is a
is so called because God “passed over” (pasah:) the houses of
prayer for dew; the rainy season now over, supplication is
the Israelites when he slew the Egyptian firstborn (Ex.
made for the more gentle dew to assist the growth of the pro-
12:23). The annual event is called H:ag ha-Pesah:, the Feast
duce in the fields. The scriptural readings are from passages
of the Passover, in the Bible (Ex. 34:25). Another biblical
dealing with Passover. On the seventh day, the anniversary
name for it is H:ag ha-Matsot or the Feast of the Unleavened
of the parting of the sea (Ex. 14:17–15:26), the relevant pas-
Bread, after the command to eat unleavened bread and to
sage is read; some Jews perform a symbolic reenactment to
refrain from eating leaven (Ex. 23:15, Lv. 23:6, Dt. 16:16).
further dramatize the event. On the Sabbath in the middle
The critical view is that the two names are for two originally
of Passover, the Prophetic reading is Ezekiel’s vision of the
separate festivals, which were later combined. H:ag ha-Pesah:
dry bones (Ez. 37:1–14). On this Sabbath, too, there is a
was a pastoral festival, whereas H:ag ha-Matsot was an agri-
reading of the Song of Songs (interpreted by the rabbis as
cultural festival. In any event, the paschal lamb ceased to be
a dialogue between God and his people), in which there is
offered when the Temple was destroyed in 70 CE, and al-
a reference to the spring (2:11–13) and to the Exodus (1:9).
though the name Passover is still used, the holiday is now
THE SEDER AND THE HAGGADAH. The Seder, celebrated in
chiefly marked by the laws concerning leaven and, especially,
the home on the first night of Passover (outside Israel, also
by the home celebration held on the first night—the Seder
on the second night), is a festive meal during which various
(“order, arrangement”).
rituals are carried out and the Haggadah is read or chanted.
PROHIBITION ON LEAVENING. On the night before the festi-
The Haggadah (“telling”) is the traditional collection of
val the house is searched thoroughly for leavened bread. Any
hymns, stories, and poems recited in obedience to the com-
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PASSOVER
mand for parents to tell their children of God’s mighty deeds
The celebrants then partake of the meal proper. Grace
in delivering the people from Egyptian bondage (Ex. 13:8).
before Meals is recited over two of the three matsot and a
The main features of the Haggadah are already found in out-
benediction is recited: “Blessed art thou, O Lord our God,
line in the Mishnah (Pes. 10) with some of the material going
who has sanctified us with thy commandments and com-
back to Temple times. It assumed its present form in the
manded us to eat matsah.” The bitter herbs (horseradish is
Middle Ages, with a few more recent additions. The empha-
generally used) are then dipped in the h:aroset and eaten.
sis in the Haggadah is on God alone as the deliverer from
There is a tradition that in Second Temple times the famous
bondage. It is he and no other, neither messenger nor angel,
sage Hillel would eat matsah, bitter herbs, and the paschal
who brings his people out from Egypt. Even Moses is men-
lamb together. In honor of Hillel’s practice, a sandwich is
tioned by name only once in the Haggadah, and then only
made of the third matsah and the bitter herbs. In many places
incidentally, at the end of a verse quoted for other purposes.
the first course is a hard-boiled egg in salt water, a further
symbol of the tears of the slaves in Egypt and their hard
A special dish is placed on the Seder table upon which
bondage.
rest the symbolic foods required for the rituals. These are
three matsot, covered with a cloth; maror, bitter herbs that
At the end of the meal the afiqoman is eaten, and the
serve as a reminder of the way the Egyptian taskmasters em-
Grace after Meals is recited over the third cup of wine. The
Hallel (consisting of Psalms 113–118) and other hymns of
bittered the lives of their slaves (Ex. 1:14); h:aroset, a paste
thanksgiving are then recited over the fourth cup of wine.
made of almonds, apples, and wine, symbolic of the mortar
Before the recital of Hallel, a cup is filled for the prophet Eli-
the slaves used as well as of the sweetness of redemption; a
jah, the herald of the Messiah, who is said to visit every Jew-
bowl of salt water, symbolic of the tears of the oppressed;
ish home on this night. The door of the house is opened to
parsley or other vegetables for a symbolic dipping in the salt
let Elijah in, and the children watch eagerly to see if they can
water; a roasted bone as a reminder of the paschal lamb; and
notice any diminution in Elijah’s cup as the prophet quickly
a roasted egg as a reminder of the animal sacrifice, the
sips the wine and speeds on his way to visit all the other
h:agigah offered in Temple times on Passover, ShavuEot, and
homes. At this stage there is a custom dating from the Mid-
Sukkot. During the Seder, four cups of wine are partaken of
dle Ages of reciting a number of imprecations against those
by all the celebrants, representing the four different expres-
who oppressed the Jews and laid the Temple waste. Nowa-
sions used for redemption in the narrative of the Exodus.
days, many Jews either do not recite these verses or substitute
Since in ancient times the aristocratic custom was to eat and
prayers more relevant to the contemporary situation, such as
drink while reclining, the food and drink are partaken of in
prayers for freedom to be established for all people.
this way as a symbol of the mode of eating of free people.
Some medieval authorities held that since people no longer
The Seder concludes with the cheerful singing of table
recline at meals, there is no longer any point in the symbolic
hymns, most of them jingles for the delight of the children
gesture, but their view was not adopted.
present, such as H:ad GadyaD (One kid), constructed on the
same lines as This Is the House That Jack Built, the cat devour-
The Seder begins with the Qiddush, the festival bene-
ing the kid, the dog devouring the cat, and so on until the
diction over the first cup of wine. The middle matsah is then
Angel of Death devours the final slaughterer and then God
broken in two, one piece being set aside to be eaten as the
slays the Angel of Death. Commentators to the Haggadah
afiqoman (“dessert”), the last thing eaten before the Grace
have read into this theme various mystical ideas about the
after Meals, so that the taste of the matsah of freedom might
survival of Israel and the ultimate overcoming of death itself
linger in the mouth. It is customary for the grown-ups to
in eternal life. All join in singing these songs, for which there
hide the afiqoman, rewarding the lucky child who finds it
are many traditional melodies. This night is said to be one
with a present. The parsley is first dipped in the salt water
of God’s special protection so that the usual night prayers
and then eaten. The youngest child present asks the Four
on retiring to bed, supplicating God for his protection, are
Questions, a standard formula beginning with “Why is this
not recited since that protection is granted in any event.
night different from all other nights?” The differences are
noted in four instances, such as, “On all other nights we eat
SEE ALSO Leaven.
either leaven or unleaven, whereas on this night we eat only
unleaven.” The head of the house and the other adults then
BIBLIOGRAPHY
proceed to reply to the Four Questions by reading the Hag-
J. B. Segal’s The Hebrew Passover: From the Earliest Times to A.D.
gadah, in which the answers are provided in terms of God’s
70 (London, 1963), with a comprehensive bibliography,
deliverances. When they reach the section that tells of the ten
deals with the history and development of the festival
plagues, a little wine from the second cup is poured out to
through the Temple period and surveys the various critical
theories on the origins of the festival. For the later period the
denote that it is inappropriate to drink a full cup of joy at
best work is Chaim Raphael’s A Feast of History: Passover
the delivery, since in the process the enemy was killed. This
through the Ages as a Key to Jewish Experience (New York,
section of the Haggadah concludes with a benediction in
1972). This book also attractively presents one of the very
which God is thanked for his mercies, and the second cup
many editions of the Haggadah. Isaac Levy’s little book A
of wine is drunk while reclining.
Guide to Passover (London, 1958) provides a useful summary
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PATAÑJALI THE GRAMMARIAN
7005
of the traditional laws and customs of the festival. An anthol-
Upanis:adic periods; this was reflected in speech by a growing
ogy of teachings with a comprehensive bibliography is Philip
irregularity of feminine forms and endings that all but elimi-
Goodman’s The Passover Anthology (Philadelphia, 1961). For
nated the feminine honorific. Patañjali observed that the
an insightful look at the history of the printed Haggadah one
grammar of Pa¯n:ini was by now being retained almost artifi-
may consult Yosef H. Yerushalmi’s Haggadah and History
cially; when he observed that even some of the most respect-
(Philadelphia, 1975).
ed pandits, while meticulous in religious recitation, would
New Sources
resort to an occasional apa´sabda term in their ordinary
Anisfield, Sharon Cohen, Tara Mohr, and Catherine Spector, eds.
speech, he realized that certain modifications were in order.
The Women’s Passover Companion: Women’s Reflections on the
Patañjali thus became the first Indian grammarian to address
Festival of Freedom. Woodstock, Vt., 2003.
the difference between laukikabha¯s:ya (“empirical language”)
Bergant, Dianne. “An Anthropological Approach to Biblical In-
and ´sa¯str¯ıyabha¯s:ya (“sacred language”).
terpretation: The Passover Supper in Exodus 12:1–20 as a
Patañjali’s intent was not to reflect in grammar every
Case Study.” Semeia 67 (1994): 43–62.
form of imperfect speech, but rather to incorporate some of
Parnes, Stephan O., ed. The Art of Passover. New York, 1994.
the changes that were occurring in spoken Sanskrit so that
Prosic, Tamara. “Origin of Passover.” SJOT 13 (1999): 78–94.
the language could thereby be preserved in a viable form. He
Safran, Eliyahu. Kos Eliyahu: Insights on the Haggadah and Pesach.
chose to revalidate Pa¯n:ini’s dictums and expand them where
Hoboken, N.J., 1993.
necessary. If, for example, Pa¯n:ini allowed that three classes
of nouns conformed to a certain rule, Patañjali might revise
LOUIS JACOBS (1987)
the rule to incorporate an additional class. In Pa¯n:ini’s time
Revised Bibliography
the Vedic r: and l: were still commonly used vocalically. With-
in a few centuries the two letters had shifted, with very few
exceptions, to the status of consonants; this was another type
PATAÑJALI THE GRAMMARIAN (fl. c. 140
of change that Patañjali accommodated.
BCE) was a Sanskrit grammarian and author of the
Patañjali believed that the grammarian should stay in
Maha¯bha¯s:ya, the major commentary on Pa¯n:ini’s As:t:a¯dhya¯y¯ı.
touch with the contemporary language and provide for rea-
Patañjali’s bha¯s:ya (“commentary”) focuses on Pa¯n:ini’s work
sonable changes, adhering as closely as possible to the classi-
both directly and indirectly, for it evaluates both Pa¯n:ini’s
cal rules. In this way the populace would continue to turn
verses and those of Ka¯tya¯yana’s Va¯rttika, the first notable
to the grammarians for guidance in all matters of speech.
commentary on the As:t:a¯dhya¯y¯ı. Pa¯n:ini, Ka¯tya¯yana, and Pa-
When Pa¯n:ini composed his grammar he was more con-
tañjali have often been grouped together in a kind of gram-
cerned with the forms of words (padas) than with syntax and
matical lineage; Pa¯n:ini and Patañjali, however, remain by far
sentence meaning. By Patañjali’s time, Mima¯m:sa¯ and other
the foremost authorities on the Sanskrit language.
philosophical schools had introduced a shift in emphasis
Scholars vary in opinion as to Patañjali’s purpose in
whereby speech (va¯kya) and the complete thought expressed
composing his Maha¯bha¯s:ya. Most agree, however, that the
in a sentence represented the true basis of language. Patañ-
very fact that Patañjali chose to fashion his observations not
jali’s contact with these other views influenced his expansion
in an independent grammar but in a commentary on
of Pa¯n:ini’s grammar, and he thus introduced the concept of
Pa¯n:ini’s work indicates great deference to the original gram-
va¯kyasphota, that is, the concept that the eternal element of
marian; it was not Patañjali’s purpose to attempt to surpass
sounds and words, and the true vehicle of an idea, flash on
him or disprove his authority. In his work Patañjali mentions
the mind when a sound is uttered. This indicates an inherent
directly his indebtedness to the maha¯ca¯rya (“great teacher”).
nityatva (“infinitude”) in ´sabda (“correct grammatical
speech”); even apa´sabda (“incorrect speech”) can partake of
Many social changes were occurring in India during Pa-
this in varying degrees.
tañjali’s time. There was an influx of different peoples from
bordering lands; intellectual, commercial, and political con-
By incorporating the notion of nityatva into vya¯karan:a
tact with regions as far as Greece was common; and class
(“grammar”), Patañjali helped to elevate the status of the sci-
structure was undergoing substantial transitions. Social
ence of grammar. Pa¯n:ini’s As:t:a¯dhya¯y¯ı, revered as it was for
change was reflected in language: The use of classical Sanskrit
its insurmountable contributions to the preservation of the
(i.e., the sam:skr:ta or “perfected” language of Pa¯n:ini) became
sacred Vedic speech and classical Sanskrit, did not belong to
restricted more and more to the social and literary elite, while
any particular category of Sanskrit literature before Patañ-
the rest of the population spoke one of the many Prakrits
jali’s time. It was variously considered Dharma´sa¯stra, smr:ti,
(i.e., the prakr:ta, or “natural, unpolished” languages and dia-
A¯gama, or, occasionally, Veda¯n˙ga (“limb of the Veda”). Pa-
lects) that were rapidly developing.
tañjali’s observations and syntheses, in addition to his fre-
quent reiteration that the study of vya¯karan:a is a religious
Even spoken Sanskrit was beginning to include
duty, served to elevate Pa¯n:ini’s As:t:a¯dhya¯y¯ı permanently to
apa´sabda, “vulgar, imperfect speech.” For example, social
the sacred status of Veda¯n˙ga.
stratification had reduced women to a much lower status
than that which they had enjoyed during the Vedic and early
SEE ALSO Veda¯n˙gas.
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PATRIARCHATE
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Patriarchate undoubtedly achieved new heights of
Patañjali’s Maha¯bha¯s:ya is available in English translation in Patañ-
prestige and authority in the days of Rabbi Judah I (often
jali’s Vya¯karan:a-maha¯bha¯s:ya, 8 vols., translated and edited
referred to as “the Prince,” or simply “Rabbi”). Under the
by S. D. Joshi and J. A. F. Roodbergen (Poona, 1968–1980);
sympathetic Severan dynasty (193–235), he garnered a great
the edition also offers a valuable introductory section. Useful
deal of economic wealth and political influence that, when
secondary works include K. Madhava Krishna Sarma’s
Pa¯n:ini, Ka¯tya¯yana, and Patañjali (Delhi, 1968) and Franz
combined with his intellectual and religious stature, all but
Kielhorn’s Ka¯tya¯yana and Patañjali: Their Relation to Each
guaranteed him an undisputed position of leadership. His
Other and to Pa¯n:ini (1876; 2d ed., Varanasi, 1963).
close relations with one Antoninus, possibly the emperor
New Sources
Caracalla (r. 211–217) himself, contributed to his accrued
Benson, James W. Patañjali’s Remarks on Anga. Oxford University
influence and means, and this in turn propelled the Patri-
South Asian studies series. Delhi and New York, 1990.
archate to an entirely new plane of power and responsibility.
Coward, Harold G., and K. Kunjunni Raja, eds. Encyclopedia of
The testimony of Origen, who lived in Caesarea only a few
Indian Philosophies, vol. 5: The Philosophy of the Grammari-
years later, is rather dramatic; according to him, the Jewish
ans. Princeton, N.J., 1990.
ethnarch (another term for patriarch) functioned almost like
Filliozat, Pierre-Sylvain. An Introduction to Commentaries on Pa-
a king, enjoying, inter alia, the power of capital punishment.
tañjali’s Mahabhasya. Poona, 1991.
Additional powers attributed to the third-century patriarchs
C
in rabbinic literature include judicial appointments, some
ONSTANTINA BAILLY (1987)
Revised Bibliography
sort of control over educational institutions, and collecting
taxes.
Given this enhanced status, and in line with the policy
PATRIARCHATE, or NesiDut, was the leading Jewish
adopted by the Romans themselves throughout the East, the
communal office in the Late Roman and Byzantine Empires,
patriarch began to forge new alliances, the most important
emerging soon after the destruction of the city and Temple
of which was with the wealthy Jewish urban aristocracies of
of Jerusalem in 70 CE and disappearing in the first part of
Tiberias and Sepphoris. The need and desire of patriarchs to
the fifth century. At its peak, the Patriarchate, a hereditary
cultivate ties with those who were in a position to help them
office passing from father to son, wielded authority through-
implement their policies were natural. These ties, however,
out Roman-Byzantine Palestine as well as the Roman
often came at the expense of the sages. Time and again, the
diaspora.
latter complained that the wealthy received judicial appoint-
Our knowledge of the Patriarchate is relatively exten-
ments in their stead and that the patriarchal taxation system
sive. Rabbinic sources are especially rich in this regard, as the
affected them adversely.
patriarch was an integral part of rabbinic circles from the late
first century until the mid-third century. A number of ar-
The rabbis, for the most part, kept their distance from
chaeological sites from the third through the fifth centuries
the patriarch as well, critiquing his policies, judgments, and
relate to this office: the Bet SheEarim necropolis; the Ham-
decisions. The number of references to the patriarch drops
mat Tiberias synagogue; and diaspora inscriptions from
precipitously in rabbinic sources after the early third century.
Stobi (Macedonia), Venosa, Sicily, and Argos. A number of
Whereas Rabbi Judah I is mentioned some twelve hundred
Church Fathers take note of the Patriarchate as well, though
times, his grandson Judah II (c. 250 CE) is noted only fifty
usually in a negative vein; several, however, are quite infor-
times, and the latter’s grandson, Judah III (c. 300 CE), but
mative. Finally, Roman sources—Julian, Libanius, and espe-
twenty times. Fourth-century patriarchs are rarely men-
cially the Theodosian Code—are of cardinal importance for
tioned in rabbinic sources.
understanding the office during the fourth and early fifth
The patriarch cultivated his own “rabbinic” circles,
centuries, and perhaps even earlier.
whose counsel he sought and on whom he relied to formulate
Although there is some dispute as to when this office
and implement his policies. Those close to the patriarch were
first crystallized, with the minimalists claiming that it
often buried in Bet SheEarim, a central necropolis famous for
emerged as late as Rabbi Judah I at the turn of the third cen-
its association with this office, but practically no sages men-
tury and the maximalists as early as Hillel several centuries
tioned in rabbinic literature were interred there. As a result
earlier, the general consensus dates its origin to the late first
of this growing dichotomy, both the Patriarchate and sages
century and the figure of Rabban Gamaliel II. He appears
became more and more peripheral to each other’s agenda.
to have maintained ongoing relations with Roman officials,
Fourth-century non-Jewish sources clearly indicate that
as there are records of a number of trips he took to Rome
the Patriarchate enjoyed extensive prestige and recognition.
and Antioch, and rabbinic sources refer on occasion to his
The Theodosian Code is particularly revealing in this regard.
relations with imperial authorities. However, Gamaliel’s son,
One decree, issued by the emperors Arcadius and Honorius
Rabbi Simeon, functioned after the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–
in 397, stipulates that:
135) and seems to have operated in a void. There is no evi-
dence of any contact with Rome, and his authority and influ-
those who are subject to the rule of the Illustrious Patri-
ence in Jewish society of his time appear severely limited.
archs, that is the archisynagogues, the patriarchs (sic!),
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PATRIARCHY AND MATRIARCHY
7007
the presbyters and the others who are occupied in the
a detailed treatment of the relationships between the third-
rite of that religion, shall persevere in keeping the same
century patriarchs and contemporary sages.
privileges that are reverently bestowed on the first cler-
Levine, Lee I. “The Status of the Patriarch in the Third and
ics of the venerable Christian Law. For this was decreed
Fourth Centuries: Sources and Methodology.” Journal of
in divine order also by the divine Emperors Constan-
Jewish Studies 47 (1996): 1–32. Levine provides a method-
tine and Constantius, Valentinian and Valens. Let them
ological study of the various sources regarding the patriarchs
therefore be exempt even from the curial liturgies, and
and a suggested reconstruction of their status in the third to
obey their laws. (Theodosian Code 16, 8, 13, in Linder,
fifth centuries.
The Jews in Roman Imperial Legislation, no. 27)
Linder, Amnon. The Jews in Roman Imperial Legislation. Detroit,
This decree clearly spells out the dominance of the patriarch
1987. This is a collection of Roman-Byzantine laws relating
in a wide range of synagogue affairs: he stood at the head of
to the Jews. Each law is accompanied by an introduction,
a network of officials, including archisynagogues, patriarchs,
text, translation, and commentary.
presbyters, and others who were in charge of the religious di-
Schwartz, Seth. “The Patriarchs and the Diaspora” Journal of Jew-
mension of the synagogue, all of whom had privileges on a
ish Studies 50 (1999): 208–222. Focusing on the fourth cen-
par with the Christian clergy. Moreover, this arrangement is
tury, Schwartz claims that the patriarch was primarily a dias-
said to date from the time of Constantine, over sixty years
pora-related institution with regard to whom it served and
earlier. When added to other areas of authority noted in ear-
where it found support.
lier rabbinic literature, such as calendrical decisions (deter-
Stern, Sacha. “Rabbi and the Origins of the Patriarchate,” Journal
mining the time of a new month and when to add an addi-
of Jewish Studies 54 (2003): 193–215. The article presents a
tional month to the year), declaring public fast days, and
somewhat radical proposal that the Patriarchate was created
issuing bans, then the prominence of this office in Jewish
under Rabbi Judah I, who hailed from the Galilean aristocra-
communal and religious life becomes quite evident.
cy. Rabbi Judah, Stern maintains, was unrelated to any previ-
ous rabbinic personality (e.g., Rabban Gamaliel).
With the Patriarchate’s demise around 425 CE (for rea-
sons unknown), the last vestige of a unifying public office
LEE I. LEVINE (2005)
for Jews living under Roman domination disappeared. Local
autonomy, which had always been an important factor
in Jewish society, now reigned supreme for a number of
PATRIARCHY AND MATRIARCHY. Patriarchy
centuries.
may be defined as the “rule of the father” that extends be-
SEE ALSO Rabbinic Judaism in Late Antiquity; Sanhedrin;
yond the confines of the family to include the governance
Talmud.
of men and the dominance of male values in society as a
whole. Patriarchal dominance, whether that of male heads
BIBLIOGRAPHY
of extended families or the andrarchy of senior men within
Cohen, Shaye J. D. “Pagan and Christian Evidence on the An-
a given political dispensation, gives men control over the fa-
cient Synagogue.” In The Synagogue in Late Antiquity, edited
milial and political economy; limits women’s freedom of sex-
by Lee I. Levine, pp. 159–181. Philadelphia, 1987. On the
ual expression and alliance; marginalizes or excludes them
basis of Roman and Christian fourth-century sources, Cohen
from political and religious leadership; and limits their edu-
asserts the growing patriarchal control of diaspora affairs, es-
cation and sometimes their freedom of movement. Specific
pecially in the latter half of the century.
phenomena associated with the patriarchal privileging of the
Goodman, Martin. “The Roman State and the Jewish Patriarch
masculine include female economic disadvantage, the co-
in the Third Century.” In The Galilee in Late Antiquity, ed-
ited by Lee I. Levine, pp. 127–139. New York, 1992. This
erced genital mutilation experienced by an estimated two
study argues that the Nasi D was a religious leader in third-
million girls a year, the sex selection practices and female in-
century Galilee who wielded certain secular powers as well.
fanticide in parts of India and China, and the preferential
He was recognized as such by Rome and for the most part
care of boys in developing or underdeveloped countries lead-
fit Roman provincial patterns of rule.
ing to a higher mortality rate for girls.
Jacobs, Martin. Die Institution des jüdischen Patriarchen. Tübing-
Since the mid-nineteenth century, first and then second
en, Germany, 1995. Jacobs presents all primary sources relat-
wave feminisms have sharply challenged patriarchy as a pri-
ing to the Patriarchate, together with an extensive commen-
mary injustice to be remedied by women’s educational, pro-
tary and a suggested reconstruction of the history of this
institution.
fessional, and political emancipation from the familial
sphere. By the end of the 1970s patriarchy had been judged
Levine, Lee I. “The Jewish Patriarch (Nasi) in Third Century Pal-
estine.” In Aufstieg und niedergang der römischen Welt
not only the primary and general cause of female suffering,
(ANRW) II, 19.2, edited by Hildegard Temporini and Wolf-
but the appropriation, accumulation, and consumption of all
gang Haase. pp. 649–688. Berlin and New York, 1979. The
bodily and natural territory and resources (often cast as fe-
article focuses on the areas of authority, religious and secular,
male) by male elites in the consolidation and expansion of
of the third-century patriarchs.
their own power. Second wave radical feminism launched
Levine, Lee I. The Rabbinic Class of Roman Palestine in Late Antiq-
the most uncompromising critique of patriarchy. Kate Mil-
uity. Jerusalem and New York, 1989. The volume includes
lett’s Sexual Politics (New York, 1970) argued that patriar-
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PATRIARCHY AND MATRIARCHY
chy, with “God on its side,” ideologically exaggerates male
Ecology (1991), was to insist that the male God’s transcen-
and female difference in the interests of maintaining roles
dent power was the source of all female disempowerment.
that produce male dominance and female subordination.
The possibility of female authenticity, vitality, or “lust” was
Marilyn French, in Beyond Power: On Women, Men, and
to be predicated on women’s exodus from patriarchal reli-
Morals (New York, 1985), also cast patriarchy as the paradig-
gious practice and consciousness with its derogation of the
matic social oppression that produces all others.
natural and emphasis on “female” reproductivity. Christian
feminists also argued that the patriarchal model of God as
However, a postmodern unease with cumbersome
King, Lord, Father, and Husband of the Church and of the
“grand narratives” and absolute moral dualities (even when
people of Israel founds and symbolizes a hierarchical sacred
conceived by feminists) has seen a number of feminist theo-
order whose political power sanctions the marginalization or
rists either relinquish the universalizing term patriarchy, or
exclusion of women and of the distinctively female experi-
relativize it by using it in the plural to theorize the relation
ence, however socially and historically diverse that might be.
between different social, historical, geographic, economic,
and ethnic hierarchies. It is now recognized that patriarchies
Patriarchy has been, and remains, a psychological, spiri-
vary and that they intersect with complex factors of class and
tual, and political impediment to emotional reciprocity and
race. It is clear that not all women suffer equally (if at all)
mutuality. Scripture, theology, and religious rituals not only
under patriarchy since it can reward cooperative women
often discriminate against women but can also sanction con-
closely associated with powerful men through marriage or
tempt for and violence against women. Patriarchal religion
birth. As black women have pointed out, not all women are
characteristically valorizes feminine spiritualities of self-
powerless: black women have been oppressed not only by
sacrifice, submission, and silence; its ascetic dimension typi-
men but by white women as well. It is also clear that while
cally devalues or repudiates female sexuality as a locus and
political and religious structures traditionally serve male in-
occasion of cultic and moral impurity or chaos and blames
terests, not all men personally oppress women, and some
women for their subordination.
men feel less than comfortable with the heterosexism and
machismo pervasive in patriarchal cultures.
Feminist scholars of religion therefore interpret religious
phenomena with a critical “hermeneutic of suspicion.” This
For these reasons, recent feminist scholarship has pro-
need not amount to a repudiation of religion: religious femi-
posed a new terminology by which to account for the norma-
nism stands in moral judgment on patriarchy as the defini-
tivity and privileging of the masculine. In her book But She
tive or “original” sin while also recognizing that religion can
Said (1992) Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza coined the term
countermand its own patriarchy. By the early 1990s feminist
kyriarchy to denote the rule of the emperor, lord, master, and
scholarship had conceded that patriarchal religion can both
husband over all their subordinates, including women, in
protect and limit women’s rights; it is both liberative and op-
order to demonstrate that not all men have the same sort of
pressive. Feminist literature, historiography, and ethics dem-
power over all women, and that elite men exercise power over
onstrate that women may be the victims of patriarchy but
nonelite men. Other commentators prefer the term
can also be the agents of their own spiritual and practical re-
masculinist to patriarchal since the former suggests that cer-
sistance. In short, the term patriarchy remains central to the
tain practices, categories, and values defer to the masculine
feminist interpretation and, more, to the feminist-prophetic
but that men as such are not essentially culpable for all social
criticism of religion, even though the latter’s generalization
ills. More typical of French feminist theory is the term phal-
of religion is no longer academically or intellectually entirely
locentric. Here, feminism rejects the Freudian phallocentrism
persuasive.
in which power and agency is signified by the phallus, there-
M
by casting the female as the merely receptive or as that which
ATRIARCHY. Contemporary anthropologists agree that
lacks the active procreative agency of the male. In opposition
there is no known matriarchal society in which women were
to the patriarchal preoccupation with mortality, Grace Jant-
or are accorded political power or hierarchical dominance
zen borrows the term natalist from Hannah Arendt to de-
over men by virtue of being female. Admittedly, some cul-
scribe how feminist values demonstrate an active commit-
tures—especially those of South America—offer myths of
ment to the nurturing of life.
prehistorical female dominance, and instances may be found
of matrilinearity (where name, inheritance, and other sta-
Despite the introduction of a more nuanced and con-
tuses pass through the maternal line) and matrilocality
textualized terminology, most religious feminists would still
(where men reside in their wives’ or mothers’ homes). This
want to claim that patriarchal religious traditions, that is al-
does not, however, amount to conclusive evidence for matri-
most the whole of the world’s religious traditions, are
archy. Belief in the replacement of matriarchy by patriarchy
founded, interpreted, represented, and mediated by men and
belongs rather to a nineteenth-century progressivist account
from the perspective of the male subject. Religious feminist
of cultural evolution in which the instinctive “primitive”
scholars have been unanimous in their view of the world’s
veneration of female generative power was gradually suc-
religions as the engines and regulators of patriarchal societies.
ceeded by the rational knowledge of the role of male paterni-
It was the radical, post-Christian feminist Mary Daly who,
ty. Since Johann Jakob Bachofen published his Das Mutter-
in her early books Beyond God the Father (1985) and Gyn/
recht (Mother-right) in 1861, arguing that women enjoyed
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PATRICK
7009
social power in prehistorical societies because only a woman
Lerner, Gerda. Women and History. Vol. 1: The Creation of Patri-
is demonstrably the parent of her child, anthropologists and
archy. New York, 1986.
feminists have, for different political reasons, sought to dem-
Raphael, Melissa. “Is Patriarchal Theology Still Patriarchal? Read-
onstrate the possibility of an original or surviving society
ing Theologies of the Holocaust from a Jewish Feminist Per-
dominated or governed by women.
spective.” Journal of Feminist Studies of Religion 18 (2002):
105–113.
While matriarchal theory has since become profoundly
unfashionable, some spiritual feminists persist in its promo-
Ruether, Rosemary Radford. “Patriarchy.” In An A to Z of Femi-
tion. The feminist archaeologist Marija Gimbutas is the best
nist Theology, edited by Lisa Isherwood and Dorothea Mc-
known of those who have presented (hotly contested) archae-
Ewan, pp. 173–174. Sheffield, U.K., 1996.
ological evidence that women enjoyed socioreligious preemi-
Sanday, Peggy Reeves. Female Power and Male Dominance: On the
nence in peaceable prehistoric Goddess-worshiping cultures
Origins of Sexual Inequality. Cambridge, U.K., 1981.
prior to their destruction between the fifth and third centu-
Schüssler Fiorenza, Elisabeth. But She Said: Feminist Practices of
ries BCE by the military and agricultural technologies and pa-
Biblical Interpretation. Boston, 1992.
triarchal religious systems of invading warrior horsemen.
Sered, Susan Starr. Priestess, Mother, Sacred Sister: Religions Domi-
While it is evident that the worship of goddesses in vari-
nated by Women. New York, 1994.
ous of the world’s religions does not necessarily or usually
Sjöö, Monica, and Barbara Mor. The Great Cosmic Mother: Redis-
entail the social ascendancy of feminine values, some con-
covering the Religion of the Earth. 2d ed. New York, 1991.
temporary post-Christian feminists, especially Wiccan femi-
MELISSA RAPHAEL (2005)
nists, associate matriarchy with the worship of the Great
Goddess. Inspired by the existence of a very few small,
women-led, primal religions (see Sered, 1994), these spiritual
feminists have sought to recover the power of a female divine
PATRICK (c. 390–c. 460), called the “apostle of the
principle in the conviction that it is this which will underpin
Irish,” was a Christian Briton sent by his church as a mission-
the possibility of female social power and the decline of patri-
ary bishop to Ireland. During thirty years of evangelistic and
archy. Nonetheless, it should be noted that very few religious
pastoral work, Patrick laid foundations for the Roman
feminists have used the term matriarchy to denote a simple
church in Ireland and for the wide influence it later came to
reversal of power from men to women. Some post-Christian
have in Europe.
feminists have preferred the less hierarchical term matrifocal
Apart from numerous traditions and legends about Pat-
to symbolize religious practice inspired by the practical au-
rick, historians are dependent on two documents, his Confes-
thority of mothers as opposed to fathers, but not as a bid for
sion and Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus. Scholars agree that
social dominance.
these are authentic but have differed as to their implications.
SEE ALSO Androcentrism; Gender and Religion, overview
Patrick was evidently born and raised in Roman Britain. His
article and article on History of Study; Gender Roles; God-
father, Calpornius, a Roman citizen, a well-to-do landholder,
dess Worship, overview article; Gynocentrism; Women’s
and a member of a district council, was responsible for col-
Studies.
lecting taxes in his area. From childhood Patrick spoke two
languages, British (a Celtic language) and a commercial, un-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
scholarly form of Latin. Behind him were at least two genera-
Bamberger, Joan. “The Myth of Matriarchy: Why Men Rule in
tions of Christians: His paternal grandfather was a presbyter,
Primitive Society.” In Women, Culture, and Society, edited by
or priest, and his father was a deacon. Yet, during his child-
Michelle Zimbalist Rosaldo and Louise Lamphere,
hood, Patrick’s own faith seems to have been only nominal.
pp. 263–280. Stanford, Calif., 1974.
During the fourth century the invading Anglo-Saxons
Brown, Donald E. Human Universals. Philadelphia, 1991.
had pushed the Britons into the western part of England and
Eller, Cynthia. “The Rise and Fall of Women’s Power.” In her
into Wales. For generations the Irish tribes had raided the
Living in the Lap of the Goddess: The Feminist Spirituality
west coast of Britain for slaves. With Roman protection
Movement in America. New York, 1993.
growing weaker toward the end of the fourth century, these
Gage, Matilda Joslyn. Woman, Church, and State: A Historical Ac-
raids became more frequent. About 406, when Patrick was
count of the Status of Woman through the Christian Ages, with
sixteen years old, the raiders descended on the estate of Pat-
Reminiscences of the Matriarchate. Chicago, 1983; reprint,
rick’s father. Along with hundreds of others, Patrick was car-
Amherst, N.Y., 2002.
ried off to the west coast of Ireland to work as a herdsman.
Gimbutas, Marija. The Language of the Goddess: Unearthing the
For one accustomed to the culture of Roman civilization and
Hidden Symbols of Western Civilization. New York, 1989.
the privileges of rural aristocracy, the hardship of enslave-
Jantzen, Grace M. Becoming Divine: Towards a Feminist Philoso-
ment by an uncouth people was a traumatic experience. Yet
phy of Religion. Manchester, U.K., 1998.
it kindled Patrick’s faith such that it grew into a warm piety
Juschka, Darlene, ed. Feminism in the Study of Religion. New York,
with a vivid awareness of the presence and friendship of God.
2001.
He wrote, “In a single day I would say as many as a hundred
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

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PAUCK, WILHELM
prayers, and almost as many at night.” After six years of cap-
evangelist, a “fisher of men.” He was a vigorous defender of
tivity, when he was about twenty-two, Patrick fled his cap-
his flock. He once wrote to “the Soldiers of Coroticus,” a
tors and made his way back to his family in Britain. The next
group of his own British people, Christians and Roman citi-
years were probably spent in one of the monasteries of Brit-
zens, to rebuke them for raiding an Irish settlement and car-
ain. Some scholars have held that these years, or part of them,
rying away newly baptized youths. His ministry in Ireland
were spent in France, but from his ideas and practices and
seems to have lasted about thirty years, until his death,
the quality of his Latin, recent scholarship has concluded that
around 460. Details of Patrick’s travels and work in Ireland
Patrick was a thoroughgoing representative of British Chris-
are not available, but legends about him attest to the love and
tianity. If he spent any time in Gaul, it was probably brief.
respect he must have received. Later the Irish church that he
helped found contributed substantially to the evangelization
Sometime in the 420s Patrick dreamed that his former
of Scotland, northern England, and western Europe.
Irish captors were calling him back: “We ask thee, boy, come
and walk among us once more” (Confession 23). During his
slave days he had learned the Irish language (a Celtic lan-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The best of the older biographies is John B. Bury’s The Life of
guage akin to British) and now felt drawn by God to return.
Saint Patrick and His Place in History (New York, 1905). A
His monastic years had provided him neither higher educa-
useful translation of Patrick’s writings is in Ludwig Bieler’s
tion nor fluency in Latin, but there was much evidence of
The Works of Saint Patrick by Saint Secundinus (Westminster,
his Christian dedication and ability as a leader. The British
Md., 1953). The scholarly debates, with a convincing contri-
church had already sent at least one mission to a neighboring
bution on the dates, places, and movements in the life of Pat-
territory (led by Ninian). So they concurred with Patrick’s
rick, are in Richard P. C. Hanson’s Saint Patrick: His Origins
call, appointed him bishop, and around 431 sent him and
and Career (Oxford, 1968). An attractive collection of maps,
some assistants to Ireland. He was then about forty years old.
photographs, and drawings with a very readable text is Tom
He traveled to the northeast of Ireland, was welcomed by the
Corfe’s Saint Patrick and Irish Christianity (Cambridge,
regional king, and probably made his headquarters at Ar-
1973).
magh, near the king’s estate.
H. MCKENNIE GOODPASTURE (1987)
Other Christians had preceded Patrick to Ireland. The
slave raids, the Irish settlers returned from Britain, and com-
merce with Christian tribes had brought Christian influence
PAUCK, WILHELM (1901–1981), was a German-
to the country. But the Christian presence was scattered. A
American historian and theologian. Born in Westphalia,
year or so before Patrick’s trip, Rome had sent a bishop, Pal-
Germany, on January 31, 1901, Pauck was reared in Berlin,
ladius, to southern Ireland. His work may have overlapped
where his father taught physics. He studied at the universities
that of Patrick; in any event, it was cut short by his early
of Berlin and Göttingen, taking his licentiate in theology at
death. Patrick was thus the pioneer missionary in the area.
Berlin in 1925 with a dissertation on Martin Bucer. The de-
Amid the traditional religion of the druids and among
cisive influences on his intellectual development were two
the unlettered Irish, Patrick’s work was typical of a fifth-
Berlin professors of renown, Ernst Troeltsch and Karl Holl.
century missionary bishop. He made friends, preached, bap-
It was Troeltsch who first turned him to the study of theolo-
tized, confirmed, celebrated the Eucharist, encouraged the
gy and impressed upon him the nature of Christianity as a
formation of monasteries, and prepared and ordained clergy.
historical movement that must be interpreted by means of
This meant that he developed a written language and taught
the historical method. From Holl he received magisterial in-
his ordinands to read and write. He excommunicated where
struction in Reformation history and theology, above all in
he felt it necessary and assumed that a bishop’s authority was
studies of Martin Luther. He also heard lectures by two other
paramount in the church (later influence on the Celtic
giants of modern Protestant thought: Adolf von Harnack (at
church shifted authority to the monasteries and the abbots).
Berlin) and Karl Barth (at Göttingen).
Patrick distributed relief goods supplied by the British
Pauck came to the United States in 1925, was ordained
church. He was not an academic theologian but an activist
to the ministry of the Congregational Church in 1928, and
bishop.
became an American citizen in 1937. His teaching career,
Inevitably opposition arose from the druids and at times
which bore remarkable fruit, spanned fifty years: at the Chi-
from within the Irish and British churches. In later years Pat-
cago Theological Seminary and, chiefly, at the divinity
rick wrote his Confession to explain his activities. Some of his
school and history department of the University of Chicago
personality and message are reflected in his two writings.
(1926–1953); at Union Theological Seminary, New York
One finds a disarming honesty and modesty, a deep pastoral
City (1953–1967); at Vanderbilt University (until 1972);
concern, frequent quotations from the Bible, a sense of un-
and as professor emeritus at Stanford University (until
worthiness, and gratitude toward a merciful and sovereign
1976). He died in Palo Alto, California, on September 3,
God, who cares for people and wants their responding faith
1981.
and a behavior that is just and merciful. His theology was
Pauck’s thought has been aptly described as an ellipse
orthodox trinitarian and evangelical. He saw himself as an
with two foci, one in the Reformation interpretation of the
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PAUL VI
7011
Christian gospel and the other in the modern historical un-
praisals of his career are collected in In Memory of Wilhelm
derstanding of reality. This dual commitment led him to re-
Pauck (1901–1981), edited by me (New York, 1982).
ject two strategies that he considered equally ahistorical: ei-
Pauck’s thought, in midcareer, was considered by David
ther a simple “repristination” of Reformation theology (as
Wesley Soper in Major Voices in American Theology, vol. 2,
attempted by Protestant neoorthodoxy) or a facile “accom-
Men Who Shape Belief (Philadelphia, 1955), pp. 980–1111.
modation” of the Christian tradition to modernity (as prac-
New Sources
ticed by radical theological liberalism). His own approach to
Kingdon, Robert M. “Reformation Studies.” In Century of Church
the Reformation was at once critical and conserving—the
History, edited by Henry W. Bowden, pp. 98–118. Carbon-
latter because Reformation religion was biblical and evangeli-
dale, Ill., 1988.
cal and thus foundational to authentic Protestantism; the
Pauck, Marion Hausner. “Reinhold Niebuhr, Wilhelm Pauck,
former because the permanent truth of the Christian gospel
and Paul Tillich: Public and Private.” Union Seminary Quar-
cannot be identified with any of its temporary historical
terly Review 53, nos. 1–2 (1999): 29–45.
forms, all of which are necessarily relative to their immediate
Pauck, Marion Hausner. “Wilhelm Pauck: Church Historian and
contexts and thus must be constantly refashioned in response
Historical Theologian 1901–1981: Précis of a Memoir.”
to new historical situations. Hence Pauck maintained that
Zeitschrift für neuere Theologiegeschichte 6, no. 1 (1999):
the future of Protestantism lay with the historical-critical in-
50–68.
terpretation of Christianity articulated by such premier liber-
DAVID W. LOTZ (1987)
al theologians as Troeltsch and Harnack, rather than with the
Revised Bibliography
traditional “dogmatic” viewpoint espoused by the neo-
orthodox theologians, especially Barth.
Pauck’s writings, distinguished by the vast learning and
PAUL VI (Giovanni Battista Montini, 1897–1978), was
literary felicity evinced by them, moved with ease from the
pope of the Roman Catholic Church during most of the Sec-
Reformation era through nineteenth-century liberal Protes-
ond Vatican Council and the years immediately after it. Born
tantism to contemporary theology. Two collections of his
to influential and prosperous parents in Concesio, near Bre-
seminal essays are of special importance: The Heritage of the
scia, Italy, the sickly young Giovanni was nurtured in an en-
Reformation (2d ed., rev. and enl., 1961) and From Luther
compassing church environment and groomed for leadership
to Tillich: The Reformers and Their Heirs, edited by Marion
beginning with his seminary career. By the time he was or-
Pauck (1984). His preeminence as a Luther scholar is dis-
dained in 1920 he had already begun making friends and
played in his new edition and translation of Luther’s Lectures
adopting styles that were to be conducive to a diplomatic ca-
on Romans with a masterly general introduction (1961).
reer in the church.
Other representative publications are Das Reich Gottes auf
Pius XII wanted to name Montini a cardinal in 1953,
Erden: Utopie und Wirklichkeit (The Kingdom of God on
but he declined this honor until 1958, when John XXIII en-
earth: utopia and reality, 1928), a still valuable study of
dowed him with the title. Pius had earlier appointed the
Bucer; Karl Barth: Prophet of a New Christianity? (1931);
scholarly, diplomatic-minded cleric archbishop of Milan, a
Harnack and Troeltsch: Two Historical Theologians (1968);
key post. Yet it was his years in the Vatican Secretariat of
and, in collaboration with his wife Marion Pauck, Paul Til-
State, to which he had been related through various positions
lich: His Life and Thought (1976).
for three decades, that best prepared Montini for the papal
Pauck’s most important achievement and enduring leg-
vocation to which his colleagues in the cardinalite named
acy is that he transmitted to North America the great tradi-
him on June 21, 1963.
tion of Reformation scholarship that had emerged in his na-
The first and generally disappointing session of the Sec-
tive Germany during the first half of the twentieth century.
ond Vatican Council, called by John XXIII to effect reform
Famed as a virtuoso lecturer and a wise director of graduate
and renewal in the church, had occurred in autumn of 1962.
students, he trained, at Chicago and New York, two genera-
It now fell to Paul VI to authorize its continuation and to
tions of the leading American historical theologians and Ref-
preside over it through three more sessions. Montini’s previ-
ormation scholars. Thus, through his writings and classroom
ous reputation would have seen him acting far more in conti-
teaching, Pauck exercised an extraordinary influence on
nuity with the conservative, cautious ways of Pius XII than
American Protestantism, enabling it to recover its Reforma-
with the bold and disruptive styles of John XXIII. Yet,
tion roots in a form suited to its contemporary situation.
though he always remained conservative and cautious, he did
help create a climate in which the bishops undertook actions
BIBLIOGRAPHY
that promoted aggiornamento, the creative shaking up and re-
For additional information, see Marion Pauck’s “Wilhelm Pauck:
arrangement that John had hoped for from the council.
A Biographical Essay” and “Bibliography of the Published
Writings of Wilhelm Pauck,” in Interpreters of Luther: Essays
Through the three remaining sessions, council decrees
in Honor of Wilhelm Pauck, edited by Jaroslav Pelikan (Phila-
supported ecumenism, a more open attitude toward other re-
delphia, 1968), in which there appears also Pelikan’s “Wil-
ligions (Nostra aetate), a collegiality of a sort that implied a
helm Pauck: A Tribute.” Other tributes to Pauck and ap-
sharing of papal power with the bishops, and many internal
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PAUL VI
reforms. Paul seemed to sense more than did many of the
in a sequence of travels deftly displayed the best his church
reformers that it would not be easy to administer and lead
and he as pope had to offer. In 1964 Paul broke precedent
a church in transition to the modern world. While Paul
by embracing Patriarch Athenagoras during a trip to Israel,
shared a passion to make the church at home in this world,
a pilgrimage rich in symbolism for both Judaism and Ortho-
he also felt distanced from secular life and warned against an
dox Christianity. The papacy had long symbolized to Jews
easy embrace for contemporary value.
the focus of anti-Jewish thought and action. Paul VI made
efforts to enlarge upon the Vatican Council’s new spirit to-
Though Paul VI was instinctively reluctant to be an
ward Jews. Meanwhile, Roman Catholicism and Eastern Or-
iconoclast, his papacy did initiate many practices that assured
thodoxy, having been severed from each other for nine hun-
continuance of conciliar styles. He worked continuously to
dred years, in symbol and in spirit came closer together
reform the Curia, the network of Vatican congregations and
through the papal and patriarchal embrace in Israel than they
offices that surrounds the pope. He changed the often repres-
had at any previous time during those centuries.
sive Congregation of the Holy Office to a somewhat more
judicious Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith. He
Paul’s early travels, during which he reached out to Ju-
gave it more positive assignments than the old Holy Office,
daism and, more, to Orthodoxy, showed the thrust of his pa-
which had been associated chiefly with prohibiting suspi-
pacy: For all his cautions, he is remembered as an ecumenical
cious books through the Index of Forbidden Books (Index
pioneer. First, he encouraged “secular ecumenism” by inau-
prohibitorum librorum).
gurating a Vatican Secretariat for Nonbelievers and reached
to other faiths in 1964 by appointing a Secretariat for Rela-
More important, Paul continued renewal by establish-
tions with Non-Christian Religions. He followed up his ap-
ing a Synod of Bishops, whose second meeting in 1969 was
proach to Orthodoxy with a stop in Turkey in 1967, again
as successful as its first one in 1967 had been fumbling and
to see Athenagoras. He also visited the headquarters of the
inauspicious. Subsequent meetings of this synod occurred in
Orthodox and Protestant World Council of Churches in Ge-
1971, 1974, and 1977. At each of these the pope found
neva, Switzerland, in 1969. His words and actions showed
means to exert pressure for more change and then to counter-
that he saw great differences between Roman Catholic and
balance it, by example and injunction, to hold to tradition
other Christians, yet he would not let these hinder his efforts
where possible.
to improve relations.
Reform of the Curia and promotion of synods, his most
Second, the pilgrim pope’s travels let him indicate other
important works inside the Vatican, were less visible to the
directions he would take the church. At the council he clearly
church or to the public than other activities for which Paul
wanted to be known as the pope of the poor and, after it,
VI is remembered and through which he left an indelible
a pope of peace. To this end, in another trip without prece-
stamp on the papacy. Most visible was his personal manner.
dent, he traveled to New York to address the United Nations
The second regularly televised pope, he was the first to be
in 1965. Diplomats were constantly welcomed at the Vati-
televised throughout his entire papal career, and he was the
can, always with an interest in seeing whether Paul VI’s inter-
first pope to ride in an airplane. He was the subject of exten-
ventions might promote justice, distribution of resources,
sive media coverage because of the way Vatican II had pro-
and peace. To anyone who observed, it was clear that the pa-
jected the papacy into the center of religious and political af-
pacy henceforth would not be perceived as participating in
fairs. The pope’s image was that of a studious academic, a
world affairs only to advance its own ends. His letter Popu-
sober and often mournful figure who bore the weight of
lorum progressio in 1967 revealed his lifelong interest in social
many burdens, a leader who cautioned against reckless
justice and seemed to be such a departure from Vatican con-
change.
servatism that in America the Wall Street Journal called it
Of change there was plenty. Priests by the thousands
“warmed-over Marxism.” Needless to say, Paul was radically
were leaving the priesthood to go into secular work and often
removed from the religious or antireligious ideology of
to marry. Their move depleted the work force and symbol-
Marxism, against which he constantly cautioned.
ized decline in the older-style clerical church. Paul took these
Third, his travels allowed Paul to combine ecumenical
losses personally and warned remaining priests not to have
and internationalist issues by showing his interest in church
romantic notions that the church could live without faithful
and society in developing nations. His trips were to take him
priests or that those who left the priesthood—or the convent,
to Asia in 1964, to Colombia in 1968, to Uganda in 1969,
for that matter, since many members of religious orders of
and to a number of nations (including the Philippines, where
women were also leaving them—could accomplish as much
an assassin threatened him) in 1970. His efforts to deal with
for Christ outside their office as in them. Yet he was not able
the poor in these nations and elsewhere were compromised
to slow the exodus from the priesthood and the orders.
in the eyes of his critics by his resistance to birth control and
population planning as means of limiting hunger and misery.
Paul compensated for some of these losses by giving the
church a far more positive image in the eyes of those who
Birth control was a controversial issue also within the
had once regarded it, and especially its papal leadership, as
church. In 1968 Paul went against the advice of the majority
alien and self-enclosed. He became the “pilgrim pope,” who
of his chosen counselors on the subject and in his letter Hu-
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manae vitae upheld the tradition of his predecessors, who had
apostle and saint. A controversial missionary, Paul provoked
condemned what they called “artificial” birth control. Theo-
intense opposition both during his career and after. His let-
logians in many nations subsequently spoke out in open re-
ters, which make up a substantial portion of the New Testa-
volt. Many bishops and priests had difficulties administering
ment canon, stimulated diverse reactions and attracted prob-
the church in congruence with Humanae vitae. Polls showed
lematic adherents to his beliefs. Modern research has
that in several nations the large marjority of Roman Cathoic
uncovered the efforts of the post-Pauline church to soften his
couples did practice such birth control—a sign, to the pope,
legacy of theological radicalism.
of a disobedience that became as great a burden as did the
Some of Paul’s letters, such as 1 Corinthians and 2 Co-
defection of priests.
rinthians, were edited a generation after Paul’s death in an
Humanae vitae symbolized the efforts of Paul VI to slow
effort to mold them in directions suitable for the conservative
change in the church. In 1967 his Sacerdotalis caelibatus em-
consolidation of Christianity. Other letters, for example, 1
phatically insisted on celibacy for Latin-rite priests and
Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus, were composed in Paul’s
dashed the hopes of those who desired some change in this
name to serve the same purposes. In addition, several inter-
concept. It was clear through these letters that the pope
polations, such as 1 Corinthians 14:33b–36 and Romans
wanted to balance his ecumenical and diplomatic image as
16:17–20, skew Paul’s message in authoritarian and sexually
a flexible leader with an internal or churchly posture that
chauvinistic directions. Acts of the Apostles also presents a con-
would resist many kinds of compromise with the modern
servative picture of Paul.
world. In a disciplined way, however, he also set the church
The result is that the indisputably genuine letters (Ro-
on a fresh course, making it impossible for his successors to
mans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians,
return it to its sequestered and self-defensive pre–Vatican II
Philemon, 1 Thessalonians, and, with less unanimity, 2 Thes-
styles.
salonians) have traditionally been interpreted in light of the
later writings. This has resulted in serious confusions con-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
cerning Paul’s theology, his relations with his churches and
The collected writings and addresses of Paul VI to the midway
with other early Christian leaders, his outlook on major ethi-
point in his papacy are to be found in The Teachings of Pope
cal issues, and the chronology of his life. Scholars have tend-
Paul VI, 11 vols. (New York, 1968–1979), but a more con-
ed to be divided along ideological lines in resolving these is-
densed version of these is The Mind of Paul VI on the Church
sues, eliminating the possibility of consensus even on the
and the World, edited by James Walsh (Milwaukee, 1964),
most elemental facts about Paul’s life.
with emphasis on Montini’s religious ideas prior to his elec-
tion as pontiff. The most readable of the early biographies
Another problem is the tradition of theological abstrac-
is Corrado Pallenberg’s The Making of a Pope (New York,
tion in interpreting the Pauline letters. Because Christian
1964), which avoids hagiographical tendencies if not uncriti-
theology has been shaped so largely by Pauline thought, the
cal enthusiasms; Michael Serafian’s The Pilgrim (New York,
tendency has been to argue over every nuance, on the prem-
1964) avoids neither but provides ample detail for an under-
ise that Paul was a systematic theorist setting down doctrinal
standing of Paul’s 1964 embrace of Eastern Orthodoxy and
truth for all time. In fact, his letters are highly situational re-
the “third world” of developing nations. Insight into the
sponses to complex congregational problems. The letters
pope’s character, personality, and theological thought is pro-
vided by a series of interviews entitled The Pope Speaks: Dia-
should be interpreted in light of those social realities, requir-
logues of Paul VI with Jean Guitton, translated by Anne Fre-
ing the interpreter to reconstruct the situation largely on the
mantle and Christopher Fremantle (London, 1968). An
basis of evidence within the letters themselves. This is ren-
interesting and informative study of the administrative as-
dered more difficult by traditional scholarly biases against the
pect of Paul’s papacy and its link with previous administra-
charismatic, sectarian, apocalyptic, and mystical experiences
tions is Peter Nichols’s The Politics of the Vatican (London,
that animated Paul and his communities. Modern scholar-
1968). The best English-language source compiling contem-
ship has detected the long-standing “fallacy of idealism,” to
porary evaluations of Paul’s major contributions and/or mis-
use Bengt Holmberg’s expression in Paul and Power (Phila-
steps is Paul VI: Critical Appraisals, edited by James F. An-
delphia, 1978), by which Paul’s theological response to prob-
drews (New York, 1970). After the pontiff’s trip to New
lems arising from these sectarian communities has been
York and the United Nations, a number of pictorial essays
and journalistic accounts of the event appeared. None is out-
wrongly interpreted as if it were the structuring principle of
standing, but Bill Adler’s Pope Paul in the United States: His
those communities.
Mission for Peace on Earth, October 4, 1965 (New York,
The application of modern research techniques has al-
1965) is as good as any.
lowed the apostle Paul to emerge from the mists of later or-
MARTIN E. MARTY (1987)
thodoxy and hagiography so that the fusion of his charismat-
ic religious experience, his cooperative missionary activities,
and his dialogical theology can be grasped. In contrast to tra-
ditional preferences that still persist among interpreters,
PAUL THE APOSTLE (d. 62 CE), also called Paul of
Paul’s view of salvation was cosmic rather than individualis-
Tarsus, known to Jewish Christians as Saul, was a Christian
tic. His worldview was apocalyptic rather than bourgeois. He
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PAUL THE APOSTLE
participated along with his churches in sectarian experiences
Paul’s zeal for the law changed into its opposite: a commit-
of radical transformation, spiritual enthusiasm, and the ex-
ment to the inclusion of Gentiles in the messianic communi-
pectation of future vindication. The preaching that evoked
ty without imposing the burden of the law. Paul’s previous
those experiences is accessible only by inferences from his let-
intolerant exclusion of “heretics” was transformed into a life-
ters, while his theology was the inspired but largely im-
long commitment to messianic pluralism so offensive to zeal-
promptu response to missional and congregational impera-
ous legalists that from that moment on Paul became the tar-
tives. The vitality and profundity of Paul’s occasional
get of reprisals (1 Thes. 2:2, 14–16).
remarks in the letters led to recognition of “the genius of
Paul,” which is the title of Samuel Sandmel’s significant
In the seven to eight years after his Damascus experi-
study (Philadelphia, 1979).
ence, Paul was aligned with the Hellenistic Christians of Ara-
bia, Syria, and Cilicia who had been driven out of Jerusalem
In order to break from the framework of Acts and the
after the martyrdom of Stephen (1 Thes. 1:15, Acts 8:1–4).
later writings of the Pauline school, it is necessary to recon-
Accepting their version of Christianity, which was critical of
struct Paul’s career primarily from the authentic letters.
the Temple cult, legalistic obedience, and racial-religious
From Pharisee to Christian missionary. The evidence
zealotism, Paul became an artisan-missionary involved in
in Philippians 3:3–4 and Galatians 1:13–24 indicates that
creating charismatic communities of faith consisting of Jews
Paul came from a Hellenistic-Jewish family in the Diaspora.
and Gentiles (Gal. 1:23, 2:12–16). Troubles with political
His zeal for the law and his persecution of early Christians
authorities, which began quite early in his career (cf. 2 Cor.
in Diaspora synagogues as heretics place him close to the
11:32–33), were probably provoked by the highly charged,
school of Shammai in the Pharisee party. If he ever studied
sectarian apocalypticism that marked these radical commu-
under GamliDel the Elder as reported in Acts 22:3, he rejected
nities. For a brief period of fifteen days, he visited the apostle
his teacher’s tolerance. Because he was a complete stranger
Peter in Jerusalem (Gal. 1:18–20), but in Paul’s letters there
to residents of Judaea (Gal. 1:22), it is likely that Paul was
is no evidence of theological influence from the more conser-
educated in Tarsus rather than Jerusalem. His Roman citi-
vative branch of early Christianity. By the early 40s, Paul was
zenship and his mastery of Greek, including a sophisticated
working in cooperation with the dynamic center of Hellenis-
grasp of Greco-Roman rhetoric, indicate he came from a
tic Christianity in Antioch. Sharing their commitment to in-
prominent family that had rendered loyal service to the em-
terracial, charismatic leadership (Acts 13:1), to intense com-
pire and was in a position to offer him a classical as well as
munity life of prayer and ecstatic worship (Acts 13:2–4), and
a Hebrew education. Paul’s trade of tent making, probably
to the eucharistic meal as an expression of unity (Gal. 2:12–
learned in the family shop, allowed him thereafter a degree
16), Paul became one of the leaders in the first organized
of independence as a journeyman leatherworker, according
mission to Cyprus and southern Galatia around the years
to Ronald F. Hock in The Social Context of Paul’s Ministry
43–45 (Acts 13–14).
(Philadelphia, 1980).
Judging from Paul’s earliest references to his missionary
In the two laconic references to his conversion in 34 CE
preaching (1 Thes. 1:9–10, 2:9–13), his message centered in
(1 Cor. 15:8, Gal. 1:15–17), Paul alludes to a theophanic ex-
the apocalyptic dawn of a new age that opened salvation to
perience of encountering the risen Christ on the road to Da-
Gentiles. The “gospel of God” included an exposure of idola-
mascus. In the context of his persecution of diaspora Chris-
try and a promise of escape “from the wrath to come.” The
tians as violators of synagogal legalism, this encounter
resurrection of Jesus and the expectation of his return are
indicated that Jesus, who had been crucified for lawlessness
given prominent expression. The invitation of Gentiles to
and blasphemy, was indeed the promised Messiah. The cor-
“faith in God” (1 Thes. 1:8) without the imposition of the
rectness of Jesus’ message and the sin of his persecutors were
law implies a substantial break with Pharisaic Judaism as well
proven by his resurrection and appearance to Paul. Paul’s ro-
as with conservative Jewish Christianity in Jerusalem. Yet at
bust and confident commitment to legal obedience as the
this early stage there is no indication of a systematic critique
path to the messianic kingdom, characteristic of Phariseeism,
of the law; in fact, a positive assessment of legal holiness is
was therefore shattered and replaced by a mystical identifica-
visible as late as 50 CE in 1 Thessalonians 4:1–8, a position
tion with the Messiah (Phil. 3:4–8).
consistent with the negative view of “lawlessness” in 2 Thes-
salonians
2:3, 7, 8. The hostile reactions of Jewish zealots to
Krister Stendahl is correct in insisting that Paul’s refer-
Paul’s early preaching (1 Thes. 2:15–16; Acts 13:45, 13:50,
ences to the Damascus experience preclude any interpreta-
14:2–5, 14:19) can be understood on the grounds of the in-
tion in terms of resolving guilt concerning Paul’s previous
clusion of despised Gentiles, without assuming the abrasive
performance as a Pharisee. “There is no indication that psy-
rhetoric of Paul’s later teaching about freedom from the law.
chologically Paul had some problem of conscience,” produc-
ing a conversion along the lines of Augustine or Luther, Sten-
Beginning in approximately 46 CE, Paul entered a fully
dahl writes in Paul among Jews and Gentiles (Philadelphia,
independent phase of missionizing. While two earlier col-
1976, p. 13). Paul speaks of being “called” rather than con-
leagues traveled to Cyprus, apparently with the support of
verted, impelled by the encounter with the risen Christ to
the Antioch church, Paul, Silas, and Timothy struck off for
become a missionary to lawless Gentiles (Gal. 1:15–16).
the west (1 Thes. 1:1, Acts 16:6–12). Revisiting the churches
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PAUL THE APOSTLE
7015
of Cilicia and southern Galatia, they spent as much as a year
shaken by the unexpected violence that had forced Paul to
in the northern Galatia cities of Ancyra, Pessinus, and Germa
leave Thessalonica and thereafter resulted in the harassment
founding several churches (Gal. 1:2) of purely Gentile mem-
and death of congregational members. Having erroneously
bers of Gallo-Grecian background (Gal. 3:1) despite an ill-
concluded that the age of the spirit had released them from
ness that Paul suffered at this time (Gal. 4:13–15). A period
the risks of history, these shock waves led to the crisis ad-
of shifting plans followed, in which Paul and his colleagues
dressed by Paul’s first congregational letters composed in the
were dissuaded from traveling to the populous provinces of
spring of 50 CE.
Asia and Bithynia. They ended up in Troas, where a church
Paul’s letters were written as a substitute for his personal
was founded (Acts 16:8–10, 20:6–12) and where they were
presence, as emergency efforts to resolve congregational is-
joined by the author, traditionally identified as Luke, of the
sues that neither he nor his traveling colleagues could deal
“we-source” material in the second half of Acts.
with in person. The creativity and power of these letters are
Sailing to Europe in the spring of 48 CE, they founded
the result of his efforts to improvise responses to the unique
the important congregation in Philippi. Predominantly Gen-
and highly volatile situations that marked the sectarian con-
tile in background, this church entered into a formal arrange-
gregations he had helped to found. In the case of 1 Thessalo-
ment with Paul, forming what Paul J. Sampley has called “a
nians, the innovations are immediately apparent. Building
consensual partnership in Christ for preaching the gospel”
the argument into the most broadly extended thanksgiving
(Pauline Partnership in Christ, Philadelphia, 1980, p. 51).
in the annals of Greco-Roman or Hebrew letter-writing,
Paul thereafter received financial support from Philippi for
Paul clarified the realistic potential of the charismatic faith,
the extended activities of an increasing circle of missionary
hope, and love that the congregation had experienced (1
colleagues while continuing to work as a tent maker. Among
Thes. 1:2–3:13). Rather than eliminating the “old” age of
the male and female co-workers whose names are known to
persecution and labor for daily bread, such ecstatic experi-
us from this period are Timothy, Titus, Silas, Luke, Epaph-
ences provided the means to face life with courage and real-
roditus, Clement, Euodia, and Syntyche, along with local pa-
ism. But Paul’s confident statements of hope and his effort
trons and patronesses such as the Philippian jailor and Lydia.
to explain a traditional Judaic apocalyptic scheme to a Helle-
The charismatic, apocalyptic piety of this congregation con-
nistic audience led to the misunderstanding of the first letter,
tained some divisive tendencies (Phil. 4:2–3) and it experi-
which was taken to support the view that the end of history
enced a traumatic expulsion of heretical libertinists during
had indeed occurred (2 Thes. 2:2). Paul’s second letter to the
the founding mission (Phil. 3:17–20). The Philippian mis-
Thessalonians was apparently composed shortly thereafter to
sion came to an end in the spring or summer of 49 with a
summarize the message of the earlier letter and to squelch the
humiliating episode of mob violence followed by judicial
ecstatic understanding of eschatology.
beating and imprisonment (1 Thes. 2:2, Acts 16:19–40).
The Thessalonian crisis shows that Paul’s missionary
Continuing in a westward direction after the expulsion
success was in part the cause of the troubles that marked his
from Philippi, Paul and his traveling companions arrived in
career (see 2 Cor. 11:23–29, 6:3–10). The intense religious
Thessalonica, where a rapidly expanding ministry was cut
fervor evoked by his proclamation broke down traditional re-
short after several months by riotous opposition from the
straints to create interracial and multiclass congregations
local synagogue (Acts 17:1–9; 1 Thes. 2:14–17). A congrega-
with strong but immediately divisive charismatic leadership.
Sectarian congregations with this level of social innovation
tion marked by enthusiastic radicalism was formed out of
and a consciousness of having been redeemed from a corrupt
Jewish and Gentile converts, including a house-church pa-
environment naturally became the target of reprisals by syna-
tron by the name of Jason and several prominent women.
gogal and civil authorities as well as by neighbors and family
Because the Thessalonian letters were composed so quickly
members. This pattern of successful mission, provoking
after Paul’s departure, one gains a vivid picture of a freshly
strong local opposition, repeated itself in the short Beroean
established congregation. It was troubled by conflicts over
ministry in the early fall of 49 CE (Acts 17:10–14). After a
sexual irregularities (1 Thes. 4:1–8), the status and control
less successful effort to establish a congregation in Athens
of ecstatic forms of worship (1 Thes. 5:19–22), and tensions
(Acts 17:33–34), Paul came in the winter to Corinth, where
between leaders and followers (1 Thes. 5:12–13). A key factor
he began a ministry of eighteen months with the most forma-
in these troubles was the misunderstanding of Pauline apoca-
tive and troubled congregation in his career.
lypticism (1 Thes. 5:1–11, 2 Thes. 2:1–12), which ultimately
led to the incredible announcement by a Thessalonian ecstat-
The Corinthian ministry appears to have had a decisive
ic that “the day of the Lord has already come” (2 Thes. 2:2).
influence on the evolution of Paul’s theology. The scope of
Apparently the radicals interpreted their experience of the
this evolution can be measured by comparing the Thessalo-
spirit in a way that made them believe that history had come
nian letters, written at the beginning of the Corinthian min-
to an end. Some of these leaders had dropped out of their
istry, with the Corinthian correspondence, which was com-
daily occupations to be supported by the congregation as
posed five to six years later. The Corinthian correspondence
full-time charismatics, free from restraint (1 Thes. 5:14, 2
deals in part with conflicts between forms of apostolic teach-
Thes. 3:6–15). This highly inflated enthusiasm was severely
ing. Many of Paul’s most distinctive ideas appear to have
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PAUL THE APOSTLE
arisen out of the interaction with the Corinthians: the church
vations for the sudden interest of the Judean Christians in
as the “body of Christ”; marriage as mutual submission “in
the affairs of the Antioch church are alluded to with consid-
the body”; respect for conscience even when it is ill-
erable sarcasm in Galatians 6:12–13. Wishing to avoid perse-
informed; the theology of the cross in dialectic with human
cution “for the cross of Christ,” the Judeans wanted to “make
wisdom on the one side and human weakness on the other;
a good showing” to some unnamed third party by getting the
and the superiority of love over faith or hope.
Gentiles circumcised. The most likely explanation for the Ju-
daizer campaign was the Zealot pressure that was intensify-
The social context for Paul’s Corinthian ministry was
ing during the procuratorship of Ventidius Cumanus (48–
a series of house churches under the patronage of middle- or
52), enforcing conformity with the law and acceptance of cir-
upper-class leaders such as Prisca and Aquila, Jason, Chloe,
cumcision along with noncommunication with the
Stephanas, and Titius Justus. According to Gerd Theissen in
uncircumcised. That the Christian communities in Judaea
The Social Setting of Pauline Christianity (Philadelphia,
had experienced such violent pressures is revealed in 2 Thes-
1982), it is likely that these socially superior leaders practiced
salonians 1:14–16. The promotion of circumcision among
a kind of loving patriarchalism in their sponsorship of social-
Gentile Christians thus promised to relieve the threat of per-
ly diverse churches. Competition between house churches
secution. But Paul saw that this temporary expedient would
came to focus on their different attachments to early Chris-
shatter the hopes of a successful Gentile mission and destroy
tian missionaries who functioned alongside Paul. This helps
the inclusive quality of Christian fellowship between Jews
to explain the subsequent evolution of parties that boasted
and Gentiles. His key doctrine of justification by faith rather
the superiority of their particular traditions: “‘I belong to
than by works such as circumcision emerged out of this crisis,
Paul’ or ‘I belong to Apollos’ or ‘I belong to Cephas’ [i. e.,
providing a distinctive and radical cast to all of his later theol-
Peter] or ‘I belong to Christ’” (1 Cor. 1:12). The latter group,
ogy. While claiming in Galatians 2:15–16 that all Christians,
claiming to transcend human leaders, was most likely proto-
including Jewish Christians, “know that a man is not justi-
gnostic in outlook, providing radical challenges to Pauline
fied by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ,”
teachings and ethics. The forces dividing the Corinthians
Paul insists on the antithesis “not by works” as the essential
also included racial and cultural diversity, as well as the lack
premise of “freedom.”
of space for all the house churches to meet together regularly,
as shown by the archaeological evidence of Jerome M.
In Paul’s version of the apostolic conference, he was
O’Connor (St. Paul’s Corinth, Wilmington, Del., 1983,
supported by Barnabas, the key leader of the Antioch church,
pp. 155–158). The strategic location of Corinth as a com-
and Titus, an uncircumcised Gentile Christian, in providing
mercial and transit center and the large crowds drawn to the
an account of “the gospel which I preach among the gentiles”
biennial Isthmian Games contributed to the recruitment of
(Gal. 2:2). The leaders of the Judean churches—James,
co-workers and the establishment of churches in satellite cit-
Peter, and John—acknowledged the truth of this message
ies, for example, Cenchreae under the patronage of Phoebe
and the fact that its success among Gentiles provided divine
(see Rom. 16:1–2). The Corinthian ministry ended with a
confirmation (Gal. 2:8). They agreed on a practical division
judicial hearing of charges raised by influential members of
of the mission along cultural lines, “that we should go to the
the local synagogue. Paul was arraigned before Gallio, the
Gentiles and they to the circumcised” (Gal. 2:9), but that the
proconsul of Achaea (Acts 18:12–17) whose tenure in Cor-
Gentile churches would undertake a financial campaign to
inth provides one of the reliable dates in the reconstruction
aid the impoverished Christians in Judaea. Despite the con-
of Pauline chronology. Because Paul was free to return to
tinued opposition of a Judaizer faction, which Paul castigates
Corinth, he must have been exonerated, but he left Corinth
as “false brethren,” the integrity of the Gentile mission was
soon after the hearing to take part in the apostolic conference
preserved.
at Jerusalem, one of the crucial events in the history of first-
century Christianity.
The question of coexistence of Jews and Gentiles in the
worship life of local churches was left unresolved. Herein lay
The Judaizer crisis and its aftermath. The background
the seeds of later controversies, because Paul understood the
of the apostolic conference (51 CE) was a campaign to cir-
agreement in principle on the legitimacy of his gospel to
cumcise Gentile Christians and thus incorporate them into
mean the acceptance of equality and solidarity between Jew-
a Jewish-Christian mode of adherence to the Torah. Acts
ish and Gentile Christians. Shortly after the apostolic confer-
15:1 provides a reliable account of the origin and content of
ence this issue came to a head when a delegation sent by
this campaign: “But some men came down [to Antioch]
James prevailed on Peter not to eat with Gentile Christians
from Judaea and were teaching the brethren, ‘Unless you are
at Antioch. Paul accused Peter and the other Jewish Chris-
circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot
tians at Antioch of insincerity and inconsistency in forsaking
be saved.’” Paul’s account of the conference in Galatians 2:1–
the common meal that had been a crucial element of the in-
10 reflects the mortal threat this campaign posed against the
clusive form of the faith at Antioch. The repercussions of this
“freedom” of Gentile Christians to live without the burden
conflict are visible throughout Paul’s subsequent ministry in
of the Torah and to enjoy an inclusive fellowship with Jewish
his attempts to defend the integrity of his gospel and his
Christians despite differences in lifestyle. Some of the moti-
apostolicity against pressures ranging from political expedi-
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PAUL THE APOSTLE
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ency to violent opposition against the doctrine of freedom
ued to be a threat to Pauline congregations, as evidenced by
from the law.
the polemical warning in Paul’s next letter, the letter to the
Philippians (3:2–6), probably written from an Ephesian pris-
Paul’s letter to the Galatians, written in 53 CE, reflects
on in the winter of 54–55. A modified form of the Galatian
an intensification of the Judaizer crisis after the apostolic
argument also appears in Paul’s last extant letter, the letter
conference. A delegation of Judaizers was sent by the “false
to the Romans. The political pressures from the increasingly
brethren” in Judaea to the exclusively Gentile churches in
violent Zealot movement in the diaspora communities as
northern Galatia, arriving there shortly after Paul had revisit-
well as in Judaea also directly affected Paul’s mission. The
ed these congregations on his journey from Antioch to Ephe-
results were riots, charges of subversion, and plots against his
sus. As reconstructed from his highly polemical defense in
life (e.g., Acts 20:3, 23:12–22).
Galatians, the emissaries proposed circumcision as a means
to gain perfection and enter into the mystical promise of
The ministry in Asia. From the latter part of 52 CE
being “sons of Abraham” (Gal. 3:6–18). They advocated
through the next several years, Paul’s center of missionary ac-
conformity to Jewish festivals by sanctioning their role in ap-
tivities was Ephesus, the administrative and commercial hub
peasing the astrological powers (Gal. 4:9–10). They insinuat-
of the province of Asia. An intensification of the collegial
ed that Paul himself had previously preached such conformi-
mission during these years involved Prisca and Aquila, who
ty to the law as derived from the Jerusalem apostles, but that
had moved from Corinth to establish their business in the
he had trimmed the gospel to win quick converts (Gal. 1:10–
new location in support of the expanding activities. Other
14, 1:18–2:2, 5:11).
colleagues, such as Apollos, Archippus, Aristarchus, Demas,
Paul angrily refuted these allegations and provided a sys-
Epaenetus, Epaphras, Erastus, Jesus Justus, Luke, Mark,
tematic defense of the freedom of the gospel. He contended
Silas, Timothy, Titus, Trophimus, and Tychichus, are men-
that the charismatic experience of the Galatians proved that
tioned in the writings deriving from this period. Their activi-
salvation comes through faith in the gospel rather than by
ties account for the establishment of satellite churches in
works of the law (Gal. 3:1–5). Scripture itself reveals the cor-
such cities as Laodicea, Hierapolis, and Colossae.
rectness of this message, because Abraham’s faith “was reck-
Perhaps for the first time in his career Paul had access
oned to him as righteousness” (Gen. 15:6) and the principle
in Ephesus to a larger facility, the Hall of Tyrannus (Acts
from Habakkuk 2:4 is that the just shall live by faith (Gal.
19:9), but he appears to have maintained his regimen as a
3:6–14). Paul went on to show that the status of being “sons
self-supporting artisan. The availability of rapid communica-
of God” was conferred by faith through baptism so that a
tions between Ephesus and the cities of the Aegean Sea as
new relationship of solidarity developed among racially, eco-
well as of the hinterland brought Paul into the vortex of com-
nomically, and sexually distinct groups (Gal. 3:26–29). To
peting leaders, church conflicts, and societal pressures that
accept the law as binding for salvation was therefore to repu-
marked the first generation of Christianity. This vivid de-
diate Christ and to again become enslaved to the principali-
scription pertains to the Asian years:
ties and powers of paganism (Gal. 4:1–11).
danger from my own people, danger from gentiles, dan-
An explosive allegory concerning the two sons of Abra-
ger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea,
ham was developed to show that the slave Hagar corresponds
danger from false brethren; in toil and hardship,
to the Jerusalem of the Judaizers, bringing a flesh-bound op-
through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst,
pression against the children of the free woman, Sarah (Gal.
often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart
4:21–31). Thus the antitheses of flesh versus spirit, slavery
from other things, there is the daily pressure upon me
versus freedom, and law versus promise were related to an
of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and
ongoing political and ideological struggle in the church, now
I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indig-
seen as a conflict between “the present Jerusalem” and the
nant? (2 Cor. 11:26–29)
“Jerusalem above.” The crucial issue of freedom was then
The controversies involving the “weak” and the “falling,” as
used as the leitmotiv of the moral exhortation of Galatians
well as the threats from Jews and Gentiles, resulted in Paul’s
5:1–6:10. According to Hans Dieter Betz, the thrust of this
writing a number of letters during the Asian period, includ-
argument is that “‘freedom in Christ’ is a gift of God, but
ing those to the Galatians, the Philippians, the Colossians,
a delicate one. It is a gift, but it is not to be taken for granted.
Philemon, and the Corinthians. Philippians was drafted dur-
Freedom exists only insofar as people live in freedom. . . .
ing an incarceration that apparently followed the riot de-
Those who were liberated by the Spirit can protect their free-
scribed in 1 Corinthians 15:32 and Acts 19:23–41. It reflects
dom only by ‘walking by the Spirit’. . .” (A Commentary on
conflicts with heretical libertinists, roving Judaizers, and rival
Paul’s Letter to the Churches in Galatia, Philadelphia, 1979,
missionaries who took advantage of Paul’s imprisonment by
p. 32).
insinuating that his inflammatory gospel imperiled the fu-
Whether Paul’s powerful argument was convincing to
ture of the church. In the opening chapter, Paul gives thanks
the Galatians is an open question, in light of their nonpartici-
that the Philippians have shared in the suffering, conflicts,
pation in the Jerusalem offering and the lack of evidence
and growth of the gospel. Then on the basis of an early
about their later activities. The Judaizer movement contin-
Christian hymn cited in Philippians 2:6–11, Paul develops
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PAUL THE APOSTLE
a theology of self-emptying love and solidarity capable of re-
immortality. Paul responds to the report of these develop-
solving conflicts and enduring persecution. He requests co-
ments brought by Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus (1
operation with his emissary Epaphroditus, who is visiting
Cor. 16:17) by developing a concept of the body as the basis
Macedonia while Paul is detained.
of human identity and relationship. Against the gnostic ten-
dency to downplay the significance of bodily relations, Paul
After warning about the threat of Judaizers from outside
insists that “the body is for the Lord and the Lord is for the
the community (3:2–11) and from libertinists within Philip-
body” (1 Cor. 6:13), which means that casual sexual liaisons
pi itself (3:17–21), Paul urges local leaders Euodia and Syn-
are excluded. Bodily disciplines are therefore required by
tyche to be reconciled. The theme of apocalyptic urgency
faith (1 Cor. 9:24–27). Sacramental experiences do not re-
and joy is expressed with the memorable lines “Rejoice in the
lieve persons from such responsibilities (1 Cor. 10:1–13) be-
Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let all men know your
cause “sharing in the body of Christ” creates a unity between
forbearance. The Lord is at hand” (Phil. 4:4–5). The letter
believers and their Lord that excludes immoral relations with
ends with thanks for the financial support the Philippians
pagan prostitutes and temples (1 Cor. 10:14–22).
have provided for the activities of the Pauline mission. Resil-
ient joy in the midst of tribulation is the note struck repeat-
Gnostic skepticism about the Christian tradition of
edly in the letters of the Asian period.
bodily resurrection is countered by reiterating the early
Christian gospel, warranted by the firsthand witnesses of the
The extensive Corinthian correspondence allows one to
resurrection of Christ (1 Cor. 15:1–19). A new concept of
grasp the issues raised by that congregation as well as the
the “spiritual body” is developed to render the doctrine of
evolving shape of Paul’s theology. References in 1 Corinthi-
resurrection less vulnerable to the charge of mindless crudity.
ans 5:9 and 2 Corinthians 2:3–9 make it likely that at least
The gnostic teaching about the original spiritual Adam of
four and perhaps as many as seven separate letters are con-
Genesis 1 degenerating into the bodily Adam of Genesis 2–3
tained in the canonical 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians. Re-
is repudiated by insisting that Christ is the second Adam, the
constructions of the interaction between Paul and the con-
spiritual redeemer from heaven (1 Cor. 15:35–41). The hope
troversialists make it likely that the opening issues related to
of Christians is that “as we have borne the image of the man
shifts in sexual roles, disturbances in the celebrations of the
of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man from heav-
Lord’s Supper, and the rise of sectarian divisiveness. In 1 Co-
en,” that is, Christ (1 Cor. 15:49).
rinthians 11:2–34 Paul argues the abandonment of sexual
differentiation in the form of women adopting male hair-
Responding to reports from “Chloe’s people” (1 Cor.
styles to express their powerful new sense of equality in the
1:12) about divisions in the congregation and to a list of con-
church. Paul argues that men and women should retain cul-
troversial questions they had brought, Paul wrote the so-
turally determined indications of sexual differentiation even
called answer letter from Ephesus just prior to Pentecost in
while leading Christian worship, but he does not question
54 CE. The prideful wisdom that lay behind the competition
the right of women to play an equal part.
among house churches in Corinth was contrasted with the
word of the cross and the experience of humble hearers trans-
The problem of sacramental disorder was closely related
formed by it. “God chose what is low and despised in the
to class differences that arose in connection with the com-
world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things
mon meal. In The Social Setting of Pauline Christianity, Gerd
that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence
Theissen has related this problem to the pattern of Greco-
of God” (1 Cor. 1:28–29). The gospel of grace brought and
Roman banquets in which upper-class hosts treated guests
nurtured by various apostles aimed at creating a new, unified
“differently depending on their social status” (p. 58). Since
community animated by the spirit rather than by pride (1
poorer members of the congregation would be humiliated by
Cor. 2:1–4:7). As for the gnostic leader living in arrogant in-
such practices, Paul is indignant at the violation of the unity
cest, rather than taking pride in his capacity to transcend
of the church. The peculiar warning that those eating and
moral compunctions, the congregation should ban him in
drinking without “discerning the body” would fall under di-
the hope that he would see his error (1 Cor. 5:1–13).
vine judgment (1 Cor. 11:29) makes it likely that theological
issues were mixed with sociological factors in this instance.
Responding to questions from the Ephesian congrega-
Walter Schmithals has suggested that spiritualists critical of
tion about the preferability of platonic marriages, Paul de-
the bodily elements in the sacramental meal aimed “to sabo-
fends marriage as a permanent and mutual covenant to fulfill
tage the cultic observation and to transform it into . . . a
bodily needs (1 Cor. 7:1–24). Paul’s own gift of celibacy is
profane feast” (Gnosticism in Corinth, Nashville, 1971,
well suited to the uncertain conditions of missionizing in the
p. 255). This is rendered more likely by Paul’s assertion that
end time, but he insists that each Christian should discover
the disruptions were connected with theological factions in
the path of personal responsibility in such matters (1 Cor.
the congregation (see 1 Cor. 11:18–19).
7:25–40).
The next phase of the Corinthian controversy involved
The difficult question about whether Christians should
resistance against traditionally Judaic sexual ethics, a rejec-
eat food offered to idols is dealt with by a new doctrine of
tion of the doctrine of the bodily resurrection, and an inter-
the autonomous conscience. Paul argues that while con-
pretation of the sacrament as a kind of spiritual medicine of
science is socially conditioned, it must be followed as the
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PAUL THE APOSTLE
7019
guarantor of personal integrity. Those whose conscience al-
In contrast to the Corinthian letters, which are a jum-
lows them to eat such food are cautioned not to use their
bled composite of correspondence over a lengthy period of
freedom irresponsibly so that the weak are led into destruc-
time, Romans is a well-organized and brilliantly composed
tive violations of their integrity (1 Cor. 8:1–13, 10:23–11:1).
essay on the theme of the righteousness of God revealed
On the issue of whether glossolalia is the supreme gift or
through faith (Rom. 1:16–17). That divine righteousness is
whether it ought to be repressed, Paul develops a doctrine
impartial (Rom. 2:11) is the premise on which the status of
that “there are varieties of gifts, but the same spirit,” so that
Jew and Gentile is shown to be equal, so that Abraham be-
members of the congregation should exercise their various
comes the “father of all who have faith” (Rom. 4:11) rather
gifts in love for the sake of the common good (1 Cor. 12:4–
than merely the progenitor of circumcised Jews. Since all hu-
14:40).
mans are saved by faith rather than by works of self-
After Paul’s departure from Ephesus under conditions
justification, the baptism of Christians is described as the in-
that made it impossible for him to return, he wrote the later
auguration of a new life in which slavery to sin and the law
portions of the Corinthian correspondence. In that corre-
has been broken (Rom. 6:1–23).
spondence he dealt with the revolt stimulated by the arrival
The problem Paul finds with the Jewish law is that it
of “super-apostles” with a success-oriented theology. The hu-
lures humans into aggressive self-righteousness that produces
miliating circumstances of an Ephesian riot and imprison-
death in place of life (Rom. 7:1–25). True righteousness is
ment, the latter reflected in Philippians, may have rendered
the gift of God in Christ, inaugurating the new age of the
Paul more vulnerable to the charge that his misfortunes
spirit in which the good is accomplished not because it gains
showed the inadequacies of his gospel. Paul admits his limi-
something but because it expresses the new status of belong-
tations on the principle that the treasure of the gospel resides
ing to “Abba, Father” (Rom. 8:1–16). Yet this new life occurs
“in earthen vessels” (2 Cor. 4:7), but pleads for reconciliation
in the midst of a fallen world of decay, sin, and hostility, so
(2 Cor. 5:18–6:13, 7:2–4). He then revisited Corinth at the
faith is sustained by an eschatological hope in the triumph
height of the controversy and was summarily dismissed by
of righteousness by the ongoing experience of the love of
the congregation, thereupon writing the so-called letter of
God that death itself cannot thwart (Rom. 8:17–39). That
tears (2 Cor. 10:1–13:13), which apparently caused a soften-
the bulk of Paul’s fellow Jews had not accepted this message
ing of heart. The plans for collecting the Jerusalem offering
does not negate the power of the gospel or the freedom of
were reactivated (2 Cor. 9:1–15), and the final phase of the
God over creation (Rom. 9:1–29). Despite the zealous resis-
correspondence reflects the “comfort of Christ,” which Paul
tance of legalists, the gospel will achieve its goal of converting
experienced upon meeting Titus in Macedonia the following
first Gentiles and then Jews, unifying the human race under
year with news that the revolt was over (2 Cor. 1:3–2:13,
grace: “For God has consigned all men to disobedience, that
7:5–8:24).
he may have mercy upon all” (Rom. 11:32).
In the meantime Paul had suffered the “affliction in
Asia” (2 Cor. 1:8), probably the imprisonment reflected in
Paul’s great letter then takes up the question of ethics,
the letter to Philemon, a tactful plea for the freedom of the
arguing for the principles of responsible love and charismatic
converted slave Onesimus. During this same imprisonment,
equality derived from the shared experience of the “mercies
Paul apparently helped to plan the letter to the Colossians,
of God” (Rom. 12:1–13:14). The special problems of intoler-
which dealt with the threat of gnostic syncretism in churches
ance among the Roman house churches are dealt with by the
founded by Paul’s missionary colleagues not far from
admonition to pass on the same welcome to each other that
Ephesus.
they had already experienced in Christ (Rom. 14:1–15:7). If
that occurs, the world mission that Paul had already brought
From Corinth to Rome as diplomat and prisoner.
as far west as Illyricum would have a chance of succeeding
While wintering in Corinth and its neighboring city of
in uniting Jews and Gentiles, Greeks and barbarians from Je-
Cenchreae in 56–57, Paul developed the plan to deliver the
rusalem to Spain, the end of the Mediterranean world (Rom.
offering to Jerusalem and then to begin a mission westward
15:8–33). Paul closes his letter by greeting a wide variety of
to Rome and Spain. Working under the patronage of Phoebe
Roman house churches, leaders, and missionaries, giving
(Rom. 16:1–2), Paul undertook extensive preparations to be-
diplomatic expression to his lifelong commitment to messi-
come informed about the fragmented and suspicious church-
anic pluralism (Rom. 16:3–23).
es in Rome so as to make possible a cooperative mission in
the thoroughly gentile and nonhellenized area of Spain. The
Paul’s final journey to Jerusalem, in the spring of 57 CE,
letter to the Romans was written to elicit support for this
was undertaken against dangerous opposition in order to de-
mission, proclaiming the triumphant power of God mani-
liver the offering and thereby seal the unity of the church,
fested in the gospel, which reveals that all humans are equal
which had been fractured by tensions between Jewish and
in sin but also in unmerited grace (Rom. 1:16–3:31). Al-
Gentile Christians of various persuasions. His plan was to sail
though it proved to be Paul’s most influential theological
from there to Rome. Paul construed the offering as a sign
statement, the letter to the Romans served the practical pur-
of mutual indebtedness between Jews and Gentiles (Rom.
pose of finding a common basis in faith to further coopera-
15:27), which explains the hostile reactions of Jewish Zealots
tion between conservative and liberal factions in Rome.
who plotted his assassination. A substantial delegation of
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7020
PAUL THE APOSTLE
Gentile Christians sailed with Paul (Acts 20:4) in this diplo-
view Paul as the second founder of the Christian church, it
matic venture, but the Jerusalem church refused to accept the
is true that he remains at the center of its most vital contro-
offering without a legalistic subterfuge (Acts 21:24). The
versies.
Zealot pressure against collaboration with Gentiles expressed
itself also in a Temple riot when Paul and his delegation ar-
SEE ALSO Biblical Literature, article on New Testament;
rived, and in a subsequent plot to assassinate him before he
Biblical Temple; Israelite Law; Messianism; Persecution;
could reach the safety of the Roman garrison at Caesarea.
Pharisees; Rabbinic Judaism in Late Antiquity.
Paul suffered an imprisonment of two years duration in Cae-
sarea, at the end of which he appealed his case to the emperor
BIBLIOGRAPHY
in Rome. Thus he arrived at his desired destination in the
The best nontechnical introduction to the problem of under-
standing Paul is Leander E. Keck’s Paul and His Letters (Phil-
spring of 60 CE, but in chains. Two years later, when Nero
adelphia, 1979). An excellent supplement in more technical
restored the treason law, Paul was summarily executed.
style is available in the essays of Nils A. Dahl collected in
I
Studies in Paul: Theology for the Early Christian Mission (Min-
NFLUENCE OF PAUL. The riotous opposition that marked
the end of Paul’s life was a formative element in the final dec-
neapolis, 1977). For the sequence of Paul’s activities, see my
A Chronology of Paul’s Life (Philadelphia, 1979). A compe-
ades of the first century and in the shaping of the New Testa-
tent though somewhat dated introduction to the problem of
ment itself. Right-wing and left-wing factions vied for the
interpreting epistolographic materials is William G. Doty’s
legacy of Paul in a struggle that had many counterparts in
Letters in Primitive Christianity (Philadelphia, 1973). A sti-
later Christian history. The splits already visible within
mulating sketch of Pauline theology is available in Robin
Paul’s lifetime evolved into full-scale conflicts between gnos-
Scroggs’s Paul for a New Day (Philadelphia, 1977), while
tic and orthodox congregations, both of which called on Paul
more detailed treatments from innovative viewpoints are
as their apostle.
available in J. Christiaan Beker’s Paul the Apostle: The Tri-
umph of God in Life and Thought
(Philadelphia, 1980) and
Written in the latter decades of the first century, Acts
Daniel Patte’s Paul’s Faith and the Power of the Gospel: A
devotes about half its length to a depiction of Paul as a suc-
Structural Introduction to the Pauline Letters (Philadelphia,
cessful missionary who warned against heretics who would
1983). For a more traditional overview, see Frederick F.
later arise (Acts 20:28–30). The author of Acts includes no
Bruce’s Paul: Apostle of the Free Spirit (Exeter, Pa., 1977).
references to Paul’s controversial letters, his radical doctrines,
Ralph P. Martin explores a theme with broad implications
or his involvement in church conflicts at Corinth, Galatia,
in Reconciliation: A Study of Paul’s Theology (Atlanta, 1981).
Ephesus, Philippi, or Thessalonica. The use of Paul’s letters
Hans Hübner’s Law in Paul’s Thought (Edinburgh, 1983) is
a basic study comparable to Victor P. Furnish’s Theology and
and ideas by left-wing factions was countered by the compo-
Ethics in Paul (Nashville, 1968) and my own work Paul’s An-
sition of 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus by the Pauline
thropological Terms (Leiden, 1971). See also Halvor Moxnes’s
school toward the end of the first century. The Paul of these
Theology in Conflict: Studies in Paul’s Understanding of God
letters is authoritarian, sober, uncharismatic, and morally
in Romans (Leiden, 1980) and my Christian Tolerance: Paul’s
conformist, teaching faith as a set of beliefs to be learned
Message to the Modern Church (Philadelphia, 1982).
rather than as a revolutionary relationship based on unmerit-
Alongside works cited in the article above by Holmberg, Hock,
ed grace. Other epistles, such as Jude, James, and 2 Peter,
O’Connor, Sampley, and Theissen, basic explorations of the
were drafted to counter libertinistic and gnostic interpreta-
social context for Paul’s ministry are provided in John H.
tions of Pauline doctrine. The fact that about half the New
Schütz’s Paul and the Anatomy of Apostolic Authority (New
Testament is directly related to Paul and his story or is writ-
York, 1975) and Wayne A. Meeks’s The First Urban Chris-
ten in the epistolary form that he popularized makes it clear
tians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul (New Haven,
that his theology and example provided the raw materials of
1982). Explorations of the Hebraic setting in W. D. Davies’s
later controversies. Down to the time of the Christian gnos-
Paul and Rabbinic Judaism, 4th ed. (Philadelphia, 1981) and
tic Marcion (d. 160?) and beyond, pro- and anti-Paulinists
E. P. Sanders’s Paul and Palestinian Judaism: A Comparison
of Patterns of Religion
(Philadelphia, 1977) are matched by
vied for the domination of the Christian mind.
Helmut Koester’s Introduction to the New Testament, 2 vols.
The impact of Pauline thought on later theological rev-
(Philadelphia, 1982), which offers the best current summary
olutions is well known. Augustine, Luther, Calvin, and Wes-
of the Pauline letters in the context of Greco-Roman culture.
ley, as well as moderns like Barth, Brunner, Bonhoeffer, and
Technical articles dealing with the identification of Pauline
opponents and the later evolution of his tradition are accessi-
Bultmann, were decisively shaped by rediscovering Paul’s
ble in Paul and Paulinism: Essays in Honour of C. K. Barrett,
doctrine of grace, his analysis of the problem of the law, and
edited by M. D. Hooker and Stephen G. Wilson (London,
his revolutionary grasp of the righteousness of God. Their
1982). The struggle over the Pauline legacy is reflected in
opponents in many instances cited the same materials both
Elaine H. Pagels’s The Gnostic Paul: Gnostic Exegesis of the
within and outside the authentic Pauline corpus that tradi-
Pauline Letters (Philadelphia, 1975) and Dennis R. Mac-
tionalists in the early church had used. These conflicts leave
Donald’s The Legend and the Apostle: The Battle for Paul in
a permanent stamp on the interpretation of Pauline materi-
Story and Canon (Philadelphia, 1983).
als, as shown by Krister Stendahl in Paul among Jews and
The most significant recent commentaries on Paul’s letters are
Gentiles (Philadelphia, 1976). Although it is a mistake to
Ernst Käsemann’s Commentary on Romans (Grand Rapids,
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PEACE
7021
Mich., 1980), with bibliographies mainly in German; C. K.
The Arabic word sala¯m, meaning “peace” or “health,”
Barrett’s A Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians,
has been in general use as a greeting or salutation since the
2d ed. (London, 1971), written in nontechnical style; Victor
time of the QurDa¯n. One of its oldest chapters speaks of the
P. Furnish’s II Corinthians (Garden City, N. Y., 1984), a
coming down of the QurDa¯n on “the Night of Power” and
technical, comprehensive but readable study; Hans Dieter
concludes that “it is peace until the rising of the dawn”
Betz’s Galatians: A Commentary on Paul’s Letter to the
(97:5). God calls people to the “abode of peace” (da¯r
Churches in Galatia (Philadelphia, 1979), the definitive com-
al-sala¯m), both in this life and in the next (10:26).
mentary on Galatians; and Ralph P. Martin’s Colossians and
Philemon
(London, 1974) and Eduard Schweizer’s The Letter
It is as a salutation that the QurDa¯n has most to say about
to the Colossians: A Commentary (Minneapolis, 1981), both
sala¯m. The prophet Muh:ammad said “Peace be upon you”
standard works. Ernest Best’s The First and Second Epistles to
(al-sala¯m Ealaykum) at the beginning of a message, and this
the Thessalonians (London, 1972) and F. W. Beare’s A Com-
was reckoned to be the greeting given to the blessed when
mentary on the Epistle to the Philippians (New York, 1959)
they entered Paradise. It became the common salutation in
are the best available on those letters.
the Islamic world, and the QurDa¯n recommends its use. The
ROBERT JEWETT (1987)
sala¯m formula, thought to be used by angels, is uttered after
the names of previous prophets—Noah, Abraham, Moses,
Jesus, and the like.
PEACE.
In Islamic ritual, the prayer for the blessing of God and
In a negative sense religious traditions speak of
peace on the Prophet, the worshiper, those present, and
peace as freedom from war and unrest. Peace can also take
pious servants of God precedes the confession of faith. At the
a positive meaning of well-being and fulfillment as goals of
end of formal prayer the worshiper turns to the right and to
religious and social life. In ancient Greece the word for peace,
the left, invoking the peace and mercy of God. Liturgical use
eir¯en¯e, meant primarily the opposite of war, and even when
helped to make the peace formula characteristic of Islam, and
personified as a goddess, Eirene had no mythology and little
it is recommended to return the greeting with an additional
cult. The Roman Pax was also a vague goddess, scarcely
blessing, following the QurDanic verse “When you receive a
heard of before the age of Augustus and then taken as the
greeting, respond with a better” (4:86–88).
representation of quiet at home and abroad. The Pax Ro-
mana expressed the absence of internal strife, although Sene-
Islamic eschatology, in popular tradition, has held to the
ca remarked that whole tribes and peoples had been forced
hope of a future deliverer who would rule according to the
to change their habitats.
example of the Prophet and give stability to Islam for a short
millennium before the end of all earthly things: The Mahdi,
In ancient Hebrew thought, peace (sha¯lo¯m) was not only
“the guided one,” would descend from heaven and fill the
the absence of war but well-being if not prosperity. A famous
earth with equity and justice.
passage that appears twice in the Bible (Is. 2:2–4, Mi. 4:1–3)
describes all nations going to Jerusalem to learn the divine
In the New Testament both the Gospels and the epistles
law, beating their swords into plowshares and their spears
use the Greek word eir¯en¯e for “peace,” although Jesus must
into pruning hooks, abandoning their swords, and learning
have used the Aramaic equivalent of the Hebrew sha¯lo¯m, and
war no more. Micah adds that every man would sit under
eir¯en¯e is given the positive sense of the Hebrew. When the
his vine and fig tree, an ideal picture of a small landholder
apostles were sent out they were instructed to say “Peace be
in a tiny state between rival superpowers. In expectation of
to this house,” on entering any house, and, “If a son of peace
a better future the ideal Davidic king is called Prince of
is there, your peace shall rest upon him; but if not, it shall
Peace, and his government is described as having boundless
return to you again” (Lk. 10:6). The peacemaker was blessed,
dominion and peace (Is. 9:6–7).
and the struggling early church was exhorted to “follow after
things which make for peace, to edify one another” (Rom.
The Israelites used the Hebrew word sha¯lo¯m to refer to
14:19).
material and spiritual conditions that were joined together.
The reconciliation of Jews and Gentiles was sought
Psalm 85 envisages God speaking peace to his people, righ-
through Christ: “He is our peace, who made both one” (Eph.
teousness and peace united, and the land yielding its increase.
2:14). For those under external pressures, peace was a spiritu-
It is not only war that destroys peace but also covetousness,
al calm as well as a social benefit, as promised by Christ in
false dealing, and priests and prophets who practice abomi-
his parting words, according to John, “Peace I leave with
nations and say “Peace, peace, when there is no peace” (Jer.
you, my peace I give you, not as the world gives it” (Jn.
6:14). To the Israelites peace was a social concept; it was visi-
14.27). This led on to Paul’s view of the peace of God that
ble and produced a harmonious relationship in the family,
passes human understanding, and the “fruits of the Spirit”
in local society, and between nations. The salutation sha¯lo¯m
included peace among virtues such as patience, kindness, and
expressed the positive aim of encouraging friendly coopera-
forbearance.
tion and living together for mutual benefit, and such a greet-
ing, in use from the times of the judges and David, was later
In New Testament eschatology there is little detail of
employed by both Jews and Christians.
the future, except in the Apocalypse of John (Revelation). In-
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PEACE
stead there are general statements about the ultimate tri-
In popular Daoism the ideals of a past golden age of
umph of good, when “God shall be all in all.” Meanwhile
peace, and of one yet to come, were expressed in the Taiping
the kingdom of God is “righteousness and peace and joy in
Dao, the Way of great peace, which arose about 175 CE.
the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17).
Some of its doctrines had been stated in a lost scripture dec-
ades earlier, the Taiping jing (Classic of great peace). Its writ-
In the history of the church peace has been seen on the
er, Yu Ji, was a preacher and healer in Shantung province
one hand as calm for the soul and on the other as social and
who was executed about 197, although his followers believed
political reconciliation and the establishment of a just order.
that he had become an immortal.
This has led to doctrines of a just war or to judgments on
social change, but more general statements speak of individu-
The new movement, the Way of Great Peace, was estab-
al and communal well-being. Augustine of Hippo in his City
lished by Zhang Jue, who founded in 175 CE an organization
of God (De civitate Dei 413–426) remarks that peace is the
of which he was the “Heavenly General.” He held vast public
purpose of war between nations, for no one would seek war
ceremonies at which the sick confessed their sins and were
by peace, but as the peace of humankind is an orderly obedi-
healed by faith. What is just as important, Zhang Jue sent
ence to the eternal law of God, so the peace of God’s city
missionaries to convert people in central and eastern China
is “the perfect union of hearts, in the enjoyment of God and
to the way of peace and healing. Crowds flocked to this
of one another in God” (19.13). Peace is our final good; eter-
movement, probably because the troubled times of warfare
nity in peace, or peace in eternity, for the good of peace is
gave rise to the longing for a millenarian era reminiscent of
the greatest wish of the world and the most welcome when
the mythical golden age of peace. There was also dissatisfac-
it comes.
tion with the coldness of state Confucianism, and a yearning
The salutation Peace is frequent in the New Testament,
for a more personal religion and a more just society.
and it entered into the liturgy. In the traditional canon of
The Way of Great Peace became very popular, and eight
the Latin Mass the priest said or chanted both “Dominus vo-
provinces were converted by its missionaries. The central
biscum” (“The Lord be with you”) and “Pax Domini sit sem-
government was alarmed and prepared countermeasures.
per vobiscum” (“The Peace of the Lord be always with you”).
The Daoists were warned, and on the day that the govern-
In modern times there has been a revival of “the peace,” or
mental action began they decided to revolt. The rebels wore
“giving the peace,” in many churches. For example, the peace
yellow kerchiefs on their heads, thus giving rise to the move-
may be given throughout the congregation with the words
ment’s other name, Yellow Turbans. Zhang Jue and his
“the peace of the Lord,” and this is often accompanied by
brothers were caught and executed, but it was many years be-
the shaking of hands or even kissing in peace.
fore the rebellion was finally suppressed.
Both social and personal ideals of peace have been im-
In the nineteenth century the Taiping Rebellion swept
portant concerns of Chinese religious leaders and thinkers.
across China and almost destroyed the crumbling Manzhu
The Daoist classic Dao de jing comments that one who seeks
dynasty. It raged from 1850 to 1865 and was put down only
to help a ruler by the Dao will oppose all conquest by force
with the help of foreign powers, notably the British, and with
of arms. Not only will the Daoist be against war and weap-
a catastrophic loss of some twenty million lives. The leader
ons, but will object to imposed rules and government, even
of the rebellion, Hong Xiuquan, sought to establish the Tai-
to morality and wisdom, because the Daoist believes that in
ping, the Great Peace, under a purely Chinese dynasty, but
simplicity and fewness of desires evil would disappear.
he was inspired by both Chinese and Christian ideas. The
The Daoist should adopt a peaceful or passive attitude,
Taiping would come in the cycle of history but would resem-
“actionless activity” (wuwei), and by such wordless teaching
ble the kingdom of heaven, where all people would worship
will control all creatures, and everything will be duly regulat-
the heavenly father.
ed. Colin A. Ronan (1978) has noted that Joseph Needham
Hong proclaimed his regime the Heavenly Kingdom of
rejected the customary translation of wuwei as “inaction”
Great Peace and himself took the title Heavenly King. Nan-
(p. 98). The Daoist, he maintained, is not idle or passive, but
jing was captured in 1853 and renamed Heavenly Capital,
is natural. He or she should refrain from acting against the
but internal divisions and external attacks led to its collapse.
grain, from trying to make things perform unsuitable func-
By 1864 Hong had despaired of his cause; he took poison
tions, from exerting force when a perceptive person would
and died, and his followers were overwhelmed. Later Chinese
see that force must fail. There is support for this view in The
attempts at reform and peace through strength occurred, but
Book of Huainan (120 BCE), which criticizes those who claim
not all were inspired by Daoist ideals.
that the person who acts with wuwei does not speak or move
or will not be driven by force. No sages, it says, gave such
Indian views of peace are both personal and social, posi-
an interpretation, but the proper view of such quiet activity
tive and negative. Many sacred Hindu texts open with the
is that no personal prejudice should check the Dao, and no
sacred syllable om:, followed for invocation and meditation
desires lead the proper courses of techniques astray. Nonac-
by a threefold repetition of the Sanskrit word for peace:
tion does not mean doing nothing; it means allowing every-
´sa¯ntih:, ´sa¯ntih:, ´sa¯ntih:. (These three words appear at the end
thing to act according to its nature.
of T. S. Eliot’s famous poem The Waste Land, 1922.) The
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PEARL
7023
peace invoked in the Sanskrit texts is one of tranquillity,
olence. He argued that soul force was the only method by
quiet, calmness of mind, absence of passion, aversion of pain,
which home rule could be regained for India and that it was
and indifference to the objects of pleasure and pain.
“superior to the force of arms.” Further, in a message to Hin-
dus and Muslims on communal unity Gandhi insisted that
In the Bhagavadg¯ıta¯ the despondency of the warrior Ar-
politics should be approached in a religious spirit. He ended
juna, with which the poem opens, comes from envisaging the
his speech with these words: “I ask all lovers of communal
destruction of human beings and order (dharma) that war
peace to pray that the God of truth and love may give us both
would bring. Arjuna is moved by compassion, declares that
the right spirit and the right word, and use us for the good
he would rather be killed than kill other beings, and lays
of the dumb millions.”
down his weapons. His charioteer, the god Kr:s:n:a, gives sev-
eral answers to Arjuna’s problems, the chief one of which is
SEE ALSO Ahim:sa¯; Nonviolence; Taiping; War and War-
that a soldier may kill the body but cannot kill the soul, or
riors, overview article.
self, which is indestructible and immortal, without begin-
ning or end. This answer ignores the question of Arjuna’s
BIBLIOGRAPHY
compassion. The true yogin, whether he be a warrior or not,
Biblical teaching about peace can be found in many books, and
should be detached; he should act but remain unmoved by
useful articles are included in A Dictionary of Christian Spiri-
tuality
(London, 1983) and A Dictionary of Christian Ethics
the result of his actions. Thus he can “attain the peace that
(Philadelphia, 1967). Islamic texts are listed in the Shorter
culminates in nirva¯n:a and rests in me [i.e., God]” (6.15).
Encyclopaedia of Islam (1953; reprint, Leiden, 1974). Indian
Kindness to all beings is occasionally suggested in the G¯ıta¯,
and Chinese teachings with selections from texts are easily
but the general picture is one of peace and tranquillity un-
found in Sources of Indian Tradition and Sources of Chinese
moved by the affairs of the world.
Tradition (New York, 1958 and 1960), edited by Wm. The-
The Jains in India have been noted for their advocacy
odore de Bary and others. Daoist movements are described
by Holmes Welch in The Parting of the Way: Lao Zu and the
of nonviolence, or not killing (ahim:sa¯), and some of their
Daoist Movement (London, 1957), and informative chapters
temples today bear the inscription (in English as well as in
on Daoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism are included in
Sanskrit), “Nonviolence is the highest religion.” They teach
Colin A. Ronan’s Shorter Science and Civilisation in China
that nirva¯n:a is an indescribable and passionless state beyond
(New York, 1978), an abridgment of Joseph Needham’s text
this world, at the ceiling of the universe. The Buddhists, con-
from volumes 1 and 2 of the larger work.
temporary with the Jains, have also taught nirva¯n:a and have
GEOFFREY PARRINDER (1987)
done so in negative terms. A Buddhist compendium of
teachings, The Questions of King Milinda, agrees that nirva¯n:a
cannot be indicated in form or shape, in duration or size, by
PEARL. The making of the natural pearl commences
simile or argument. Yet it does exist: “There is nirva¯n:a”; it
when a grain of sand from the ocean or river floor works its
is lofty and exalted, inaccessible to the passions and unshak-
way into the body of a pearl-bearing mollusk. To protect it-
able, bringing joy and shedding light.
self from this alien source of agitation, the mollusk secretes
Positive social efforts for peace were illustrated in the
a substance (nacre, or mother-of-pearl) that slowly and cu-
words and actions of the most famous Indian ruler, the Bud-
mulatively coats the foreign body until it loses its abrasive
dhist emperor A´soka, in the third century BCE, as revealed
contours and becomes smooth and spherical in shape. On
by extant inscriptions on pillars and rocks. After thousands
account of its singular origin, the pearl has been a symbol
of people had been killed in his war against the Kalingas,
of sacred power since ancient times.
A´soka felt remorse, renounced war, sought reconciliation,
In many archaic cultures the marine shell, because of its
and wished that “all beings should be unharmed, self-
appearance, is associated with the female genitalia, and the
controlled, calm in mind, and gentle.” Fighting was forbid-
pearl is believed to be both the sacred product and the em-
den, as was all killing of animals for food or sacrifice. Medical
blem of the feminine generative power. The pearl thus sym-
services were provided for human beings and animals, useful
bolizes both the life that is created and the mysterious force
herbs were planted, wells were dug, and trees were planted
that begets life. One example of this reproductive symbolism
along roads to shelter people and animals. Local rulers were
is found in Beiya, a Chinese text of the eleventh century CE.
instructed to tour among their people and teach the dharma
The author of Beiya likens the pearl to a developing fetus and
of obedience to parents, generosity to priests, prohibition of
calls the oyster “the womb of the pearl.” The anthropomor-
killing, ownership of “the minimum of property.”
phic image for this sacred power is the goddess of love. In
In modern times Mohandas Gandhi (1869–1948) was
the ancient Mediterranean world, shells and pearls were
noted for teaching ahim:sa¯, but not just as a negative way to
often symbols for the great goddesses. In a manner analogous
peace and justice. He coined the term satya¯graha (literally,
to the pearl’s origin in an oyster, Aphrodite was born from
“truth insistence”), defining it as “soul force” or “the force
a marine conch, and the Syrian goddess was known as the
which is born of truth and love or nonviolence.” Gandhi
Lady of Pearls.
sought to follow the New Testament injunction to return
It is through this connection with feminine generative
good for evil as well as to follow the Jain command of nonvi-
power that the pearl becomes a symbol for regeneration and
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7024
PECHAM, JOHN
rebirth as well. As a regenerative force, the pearl is often
Especially in the East, from India to Japan, the pearl is
thought to have the power to heal or protect from harm.
often depicted in the possession of a dragon or sea monster.
Throughout the Middle Ages and into the seventeenth cen-
These mythological beings, like the serpent in the Hymn of
tury, a debate flourished among European physicians con-
the Pearl, are common symbols for chaos, that admixture of
cerning the best way to prepare a pearl for healing purposes:
forces both cosmic and spiritual that oppose the establish-
Should it be ground or dissolved? In either case, an elixir con-
ment of a meaningful and inhabitable order. Thus, the
taining a pearl was prescribed for numerous physical ail-
search for the pearl often entails a heroic confrontation with
ments. An Eastern example of the belief in the power of the
the demonic.
pearl to protect life is found in the iconography of the bodhi-
Wherever the cultivation or liberation of the soul is re-
sattva Ks:itigarbha, who is especially venerated in Japanese
garded as the goal of spiritual striving, the pearl may symbol-
Buddhism by pregnant women and young children as the
ize the soul itself. This belief may have historical roots in the
protector of all weak and suffering humanity; statues and im-
mythological thinking of the Hellenistic world, from which
ages depict Ks:itigarbha holding a pearl, his emblem, in his
has come the formula “Ho so¯ma, he¯ sarx” (“The body is the
left hand. Because of their connection with rebirth and resur-
tomb”). In this view, the subject of spiritual and eternal life
rection, pearls have been found in the tombs of rulers in
is the immortal soul that exists within an alien and perishable
lands as far apart as Egypt and the Americas. In Laos, a pearl
body. According to the Mandaeans, the pearl’s temporary
is inserted into each orifice of a corpse to effect safe passage
home within the oyster provides an allegory for the tempo-
into the next world.
rary dwelling of the soul within the body. A variation of this
imagery is found in the Coptic Kephalaia, a Manichaean text
Finding and obtaining the natural pearl is both hard
that relates how the soul is like a raindrop that falls into the
work and a hazardous undertaking. Pearl fishers are known
sea and enters the body of an oyster in order to develop into
to work in pairs: One dives deep into the sea while a partner
a pearl. So, too, the soul acquires permanent definition and
stays above to hold the other end of the fisher’s lifeline and,
individuality by enduring life in the body. The pearl as a
after a predetermined time, to haul both pearl fisher and
symbol for the actualized soul found its way into the poetry
catch to the surface. The difficulties of locating and harvest-
of the S:u¯f¯ı mystic Far¯ıd al-D¯ın EAt:t:a¯r:
ing the natural pearl give rise to a second level of symbolism:
The pearl represents the hard-won goal of spiritual striving.
Out of the ocean like rain clouds come and travel—
For example, in the parable about the merchant who found
For without traveling, you will never become a pearl!
a pearl of special value and so went to sell everything he
owned in order to purchase it, Jesus compares the kingdom
BIBLIOGRAPHY
of God to a pearl. In medieval European alchemy, one of the
Bausani, Alessandro. Persia religiosa: Da Zaratustra a Baha Dullah.
many names for the philosophers’ stone is margarita pretiosa,
Milan, 1959.
or “precious pearl.” In The Pearl, a Middle English tale by
Bausani, Alessandro. Storia della letteratura persiana. Milan, 1959.
an anonymous author, the hero laments the disappearance
Cirlot, J. E. A Dictionary of Symbols. 2d ed. New York, 1971.
of his pearl in a grassy meadow. Seeking it, he falls into an-
Eliade, Mircea. Images and Symbols: Studies in Religious Symbolism.
other world, where he experiences spiritual renewal and re-
New York, 1961. Contains a comprehensive bibliography.
gains the balance of his own inner nature. Zhuangzi, the leg-
Jonas, Hans. The Gnostic Religion: The Message of the Alien God
endary Daoist mystic, reports how the Yellow Emperor lost
and the Beginnings of Christianity. 2d ed., rev. & enl. Boston,
his “night-pearl” during an excursion to the edge of the
1963.
world. He sought for it by means of every resource at hand:
by science, by analysis, by logic. But only when, in despair,
New Sources
Donkin, R. A. Beyond Price: Pearls and Pearl-Fishing: Origins to
the emperor turned to the “emptiness” (xu) that is the
the Age of Discoveries. Philadelphia, 1998.
ground of all things was the pearl restored to him.
Hackney, Ki, and Diana Edkins. People and Pearls: The Magic En-
The search for the pearl is also the theme of the Gnostic
dures. New York, 2000.
Hymn of the Pearl, which relates how a prince leaves his heav-
Landman, Neal, Rudiger Bieler, Paula Mikkelson, and Bennet
enly home to recover a pearl that lies buried in Egypt in the
Bronson. Pearls: A Natural History. New York, 2001.
possession of a giant serpent. The prince is sent forth by his
Malaguzzi, Sylvia. The Pearl. New York, 2001.
father, mother, and brother, who watch over his journey in
a way reminiscent of the second fisherman who holds the
BEVERLY MOON (1987)
Revised Bibliography
lifeline at the surface of the sea. The prince inevitably suc-
cumbs to the spell that governs all Egypt (a Gnostic symbol
for the illusion of cosmic existence). He loses all memory of
his origins and of the pearl (i. e., he becomes spiritually igno-
PECHAM, JOHN (c. 1230–1292) was a Franciscan
rant or unconscious). But his watchful parents send forth a
theologian, scientist, and educator; a provincial minister of
message to awaken him and to remind him of his identity
the Franciscans and archbishop of Canterbury. Pecham was
and his mission to recover the pearl.
born in Sussex, in the vicinity of Lewes. Educated initially
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PELAGIANISM
7025
at the priory of Lewes and the University of Oxford, he
reaching, he has come to stand for an insufficient and errone-
joined the Franciscan order about 1250 and later in the de-
ous doctrine of grace. Some have suggested that Pelagianism
cade was sent to the University of Paris for theological
was the creation of Augustine and not Pelagius. But it was
studies, earning the doctorate in 1269. Pecham was regent
Pelagius’s views on the Christian life, his moral rigorism, his
master in theology at Paris from 1269 to 1271, lecturer in
high regard for the law, and his emphasis on discipline and
theology for the Franciscan school in Oxford from about
the human will that laid the foundation for the controversy
1272 to 1275, provincial minister of the order from 1275
that gave birth to what has come to be known as Pelagianism.
to 1277, master in theology to the papal Curia from 1277
Pelagius (d. 418), a monk from Britain, was living in
to 1279, and archbishop of Canterbury from 1279 until his
Rome at the end of the fourth century when he came in con-
death in 1292.
tact with wealthy and aristocratic Romans who had lapsed
Pecham’s theology was typically Franciscan: conserva-
into Christianity through marriage or political expedience.
tive and centered on the teachings of Augustine. Indeed,
Adopting Christianity had done little to change their lives.
Pecham became a leader in the opposition to the new—and
Baptism, which had been thought to signify a clean break
in his opinion heterodox—Aristotelian and Averroist ideas
with one’s past, was becoming a polite convention. Only the
circulating in the universities. For example, he took strong
ascetics seemed to take seriously the radical demands of the
exception to Thomas Aquinas’s views on the unity of sub-
gospel. Pelagius, however, believed that the law of the gospel
stantial form. He defended such doctrines as the divine illu-
should be imposed on all members of the church, not just
mination of the intellect, complete hylomorphism (the idea
on the monks. The word of Jesus, “Be ye perfect as your fa-
that everything is a composite of form and matter), and plu-
ther in heaven is perfect,” was addressed to all Christians;
rality of forms. Pecham also became involved in the power
thus, according to Pelagius, “since perfection is possible for
struggle between secular and mendicant clergy, writing a se-
humans, it is obligatory.”
ries of pamphlets in defense of the mendicants. As an educa-
As a moral reformer Pelagius met with success among
tor, Pecham followed Robert Grosseteste and Roger Bacon
a circle of supporters in Rome, but his notion of the church
by incorporating mathematical science into the university
as a society of pure and authentic Christians had an old-
curriculum (including the theological curriculum). He wrote
fashioned ring to it at a time when the level of commitment
two books on optics, one of which, Perspectiva communis, be-
among Christians was in decline because of a large influx into
came the standard university textbook for several centuries.
the church of merely nominal converts. He was offended
An energetic, reform-minded archbishop, Pecham fought for
when he read in Augustine’s Confessions that humans must
the preservation of ecclesiastical privileges against royal en-
necessarily and inevitably sin even after baptism. Augustine’s
croachment and campaigned against a variety of clerical
phrase “Give what you command and command what you
abuses, such as nonresidence and the holding of multiple
will” seemed to him to undermine the moral law and the
benefices.
quest for perfection, because it placed responsibility for righ-
teousness on God rather than on the human will.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
On Pecham’s ecclesiastical career, see David Knowles’s “Some As-
Pelagius did not, as is often thought, deny the necessity
pects of the Career of Archbishop Pecham,” English Histori-
of grace. Grace was to be understood as the revelation of
cal Review 57 (1942): 1–18, 178–201, and Decima Douie’s
God’s purpose and will, the wisdom by which humans are
Archbishop Pecham (Oxford, 1952). For Pecham’s philoso-
stirred to seek a life of righteousness. It was God’s way of
phy, the most succinct and convenient source is D. E.
helping humankind and was found in (1) the endowment
Sharp’s Franciscan Philosophy at Oxford in the Thirteenth
of a rational will and the capacity to choose good or evil, (2)
Century (Oxford, 1930). On Pecham’s scientific efforts see
the law of Moses, (3) the forgiveness of sins in the redemp-
two works of my own: John Pecham and the Science of Optics:
tive death of Christ, (4) the teaching of Christ, and (5) the
Perspectiva communis (Madison, Wis., 1970) and “Pecham,
example of Christ. Pelagius saw no opposition between the
John,” in the Dictionary of Scientific Biography, vol. 10 (New
York, 1974), pp. 473–476. See the latter for additional bibli-
laws of the old covenant and the gospel. He saw grace as pre-
ographic information.
cept and example, a view that led him to overestimate human
capability and thus to invite criticism.
DAVID C. LINDBERG (1987)
The controversy began in 412, at a council in Carthage,
in North Africa, with the condemnation of Celestius, a sup-
porter of Pelagius, for holding the views that (1) Adam was
PELAGIANISM. The term Pelagianism designates both
created mortal and would have died whether or not he was
the teachings of Pelagius, a fourth-century Christian monk,
a sinner; (2) Adam’s sin injured himself alone, and not the
and any teaching that minimizes the role of divine grace in
human race; (3) infants at birth are in that state in which
salvation. Few of the ideas associated with Pelagianism in the
Adam was before his sin; (4) the whole human race neither
latter sense can be directly traced to Pelagius, but because he
died on account of Adam nor rises on account of Christ; (5)
was opposed by the great North African bishop Augustine,
the law as well as the gospel admits a person to the kingdom
whose influence on Western Christian theology has been far-
of heaven; (6) before the advent of Christ there were humans
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7026
PELAGIUS
who did not sin; (7) a person can be without sin and keep
The term semi-Pelagian arose from this controversy. Al-
the divine commands. This is not Pelagianism, but Pelagius
though Pelagianism has had little direct influence on Eastern
would have agreed with some of these propositions—for ex-
Christian thought, which also never adopted Augustine’s
ample, that sinless human beings had lived before the com-
ideas, aspects of Orthodox Christian theology have been held
ing of Christ. He pointed to “gospel men before the gospel”
to possess a Pelagian tinge from the perspective of Western
such as Noah, Melchizedek, Abraham, and Job.
Christian theology.
As a result of the condemnation of Celestius, Pelagius,
SEE ALSO Augustine of Hippo; Pelagius.
who had traveled to Palestine, was forced to defend himself
in the East. His most vehement critics, however, were West-
erners such as Jerome. Significantly, at two councils in Pales-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bonner, Gerald. Augustine and Modern Research on Pelagianism.
tine in 415 he was acquitted by bishops from the East. In
Villanova, Pa., 1972.
the meantime Augustine opened up a literary campaign
against Pelagius, and this led Augustine to produce the theo-
Brown, Peter. Religion and Society in the Age of Saint Augustine.
logical works that would define Pelagianism for Western
London, 1972.
Christian theology and to formulate the objections that
Evans, Robert F. Pelagius: Inquiries and Reappraisals. New York,
would lead to Pelagius’s condemnation. Under Augustine’s
1968.
influence Pelagius was condemned by two African councils,
ROBERT L. WILKEN (1987)
and in 417 Pope Innocent I ratified the anathema.
After Pelagius’s death in 418 (or shortly thereafter) his
followers, often under much hardship, continued to defend
PELAGIUS (d. 418) was a Christian monk whose name
his teachings. One of these, the gifted and articulate bishop
has become synonymous with doctrines of human coopera-
Julian of Eclanum, a town in Apulia (southeastern Italy),
tion in salvation at the expense of divine grace. The historical
though banished from his see, traveled and wrote extensively.
figure is more complex than the teachings associated with his
He vigorously opposed the new ideas of Augustine, seeing
name. Pelagius was born in Britain in the middle of the
in them the specter of Manichaean dualism. In a modified
fourth century. Nothing is known of his background or up-
form Pelagius’s teachings were embraced by John Cassian
bringing, but he seems to have received an excellent educa-
(360–435), a monastic writer from Marseilles (France) who
tion. He was highly regarded for his exemplary life, and even
is sometimes called the founder of semi-Pelagianism, though
his great opponent, Augustine of Hippo, acknowledged that
this term only came to be used in the sixteenth century.
he was a “holy man who had made no small progress in the
Other exponents were Vincent of Lerins (d. 450) and Faus-
Christian life.” He went to live in Rome sometime toward
tus of Riez (408–490), both from southern France. The
the end of the fourth century, perhaps as early as the 380s.
focus of discussion centered on the necessity of human coop-
eration with divine grace in salvation, and since then these
Pelagius was first and foremost a monk and an ascetic,
questions have been central to the history of theology in the
a tutor to men and women seeking the life of perfection. His
West. The dispute finally ended at the Council of Orange
primary concern was moral and spiritual, not theological. He
(429), which condemned the writings of Faustus and upheld
had been influenced by earlier Christian moral and ascetic
most of the teachings of Augustine.
literature, for example Sentences of Sextus, a collection of
moral maxims from the second century, and the writings of
Only in recent years has there been a serious effort to
Origen, the great third-century Christian teacher. From
understand the historical Pelagius and the circumstances sur-
these works he learned the importance of freedom of the will,
rounding his teaching. More often Pelagianism has been
discipline, the quest for perfection, and righteousness
used as an epithet to vilify one’s foes whenever there is a sug-
through the doing of good deeds.
gestion that human efforts displace the role of grace. In the
Middle Ages Thomas Bradwardine (1290–1349), archbish-
In the world of fifth-century Rome, however, moral rig-
op of Canterbury, wrote against the “Pelagians,” meaning
orism, which had once marked the entire Christian commu-
those of his contemporaries who subverted God’s grace by
nity, was now practiced chiefly by the ascetics. Pelagius con-
stressing free will. Peter Abelard (1079–1142) has sometimes
tinued to believe that there should be no double standard
been called a Pelagian because of his view of the exemplary
and that the precepts of the gospel were applicable to all. For
as distinct from the redemptive character of Christ’s life and
a time he was successful in urging these ideas in Rome, but
death. In the sixteenth century the Protestant reformers
as his writings became known outside of Rome, in Africa,
charged their opponents with Pelagianism because of their
where Augustine lived, and in Palestine, where Jerome lived,
belief that one could prepare for grace by doing good works:
he came to be vigorously opposed.
Martin Luther called Erasmus a Pelagian. In Roman Catholi-
Pelagius left Rome in 410 with his disciple Celestius to
cism Luis de Molina, a sixteenth-century Jesuit, was sus-
travel to Africa. Celestius was condemned by a council in
pected of Pelagian convictions because he taught that God’s
Carthage in 412. In Palestine Pelagius was brought before
foreknowledge of human cooperation is itself a sign of grace.
councils in Jerusalem and Lydda in 415, but he ably defend-
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PENN, WILLIAM
7027
ed himself and was acquitted. In the West, however, through
Lavinium. According to tradition, Aeneas had brought his
the efforts of Augustine, he was condemned by a council in
own penates from Troy to Lavinium. The penates had refused
Carthage in 416 and again by Pope Innocent in 417. After
to move to Alba Longa when it was founded by Aeneas’s son
being briefly vindicated by Zosimus, Innocent’s successor, he
Ascanius. Toward the end of the fourth century BCE, the
was eventually condemned by a great council at Carthage in
Greek historian Timaeus was told that the penates of Lavini-
418 and by the pope and was banished by the Roman emper-
um were aniconic objects. As soon as they were elected,
ors. He died in 418 or sometime thereafter.
Roman consuls, dictators, and praetors went to Lavinium to
He wrote widely, but few of his works are extant in their
make sacrifices to them. Respect was still paid by Roman em-
entirety. The most important is a commentary on the epistles
perors to the Lavinium penates.
of Paul, a close verse-by-verse exposition of the text of the
The aniconic penates worshiped on the Velia acquired
letters with an eye to the Christian life. The influence of Ori-
human features in the late republic and were often identified
gen, transmitted through Latin translations, is evident in the
with the Dioscuri (Castor and Pollux), an identification ap-
commentary. His major theological works, De natura and De
parently repudiated by Varro (De lingua Latina 5.58). It is
libero arbitrio, written only after he had traveled to Palestine
doubtful whether the penates preserved at Lavinium were at
in 412 and come into contact with Jerome, are extant only
any time identified with the Dioscuri. According to Tacitus
in fragments in the writings of Augustine. Besides these
(Annals 15.41.1), penates of the Roman people were also pre-
works there are a number of shorter tractates and letters,
served in the temple of Vesta on the Palatine, but this is an
some of which have only recently been shown to be genuine.
obscure piece of information. Equally problematic is the
mention of a “priest of the di penates” (sacerdos deum penati-
SEE ALSO Pelagianism.
um) in two inscriptions of Rome (Corpus inscriptionum Lati-
narum,
Berlin, 1863, vol. 6, no. 7283).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ferguson, John. Pelagius. Cambridge, 1956.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Plinval, Georges de. Pelage: Ses écrits, sa vie et sa reforme. Lausanne,
Alföldi, András. Early Rome and the Latins. Ann Arbor, Mich.,
1943.
1965. See pages 258–271.
ROBERT L. WILKEN (1987)
Latte, Kurt. Römische Religionsgeschichte. Munich, 1960. See pages
89 and 416.
Radke, Gerhard. Die Götter Altitaliens. Münster, 1965. See pages
247–252.
PENANCE SEE REPENTANCE; SACRAMENT,
Radke, Gerhard. “Die di penates und Vesta im Rom.” In Aufstieg
ARTICLE ON CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS
und Niedergang der römischen Welt, vol. 2.17.1,
pp. 343–373. Berlin and New York, 1981. Includes bibliog-
raphy.
PENATES. In the Latin world di penates (always in the
Weinstock, Stanley. “Penates.” In Real-Encyclopädia der classischen
plural) were spirits protecting a house or a city. The etymo-
Altertumswissenschaft, vol. 19, cols. 417–447. Stuttgart,
1937.
logical connection with penus in the sense of “storing-place
of the household” raises problems. The cult of the penates
New Sources
was associated with that of Vesta; both were linked to the
Dubourdieu, Annie. Les origines et le développement du culte des Pé-
hearth. During family meals offers of food were made to
nates à Rome. Paris, 1989.
them and burned on the fireplace. Plautus speaks in Mercator
Palombi, Domenico. “Aedes Deum Penatium in Velia. Note di
(1.834) of the penates as “gods of the parents” (di penates
topografia e storia.” Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologisc-
meum parentum) and distinguishes them from the lar (singu-
hen Instituts. Römische Abteilung 104 (1997): 435–463.
lar) of the household (familia).
Poucet, Jacques. “Troie, Lavinium, Rome et les Pénates.” Antiquté
Classique 61 (1992): 260–267.
The penates were originally aniconic. In the late republi-
can period images of them were put on the table. By a further
ARNALDO MOMIGLIANO (1987)
development the notion of penates came to include all the
gods worshiped in the household, beginning with Vesta and
the lar familiaris (later also lares in general). In the first cen-
PENN, WILLIAM (1644–1718), Quaker religious
tury CE Pompeii and even Jupiter, Venus, Vulcanus, and
leader and theologian, was a proponent of religious and po-
Fortuna were counted among the penates. City penates are
litical rights, and founder of Pennsylvania. Educated at Ox-
known also outside Rome.
ford, the French Protestant academy at Saumur, and, briefly,
The peculiarity of Rome was that the penates of the city
at Lincoln’s Inn, Penn came under Dissenter influence and
were worshiped both within the city, in a temple on the Velia
renounced a life of social prominence for Quakerism in
not far from the Forum (on the site of the later Church of
1667. Intent on transforming England into a more truly
Saints Cosma and Damianus) and in the Latial city of
Christian society, he wrote many of his more than 140
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PENTATEUCH
books, pamphlets, and broadsides from 1668 to 1680, when
scripture as a comprehensive source of revelation, and corre-
he spent virtually all of his time working to organize, spread,
sponding insistence on the metaphorical and symbolic na-
and protect the Quaker movement, also known as the Soci-
ture of Christian theological formulas, such as those for the
ety of Friends. Having found England resistant to change,
Trinity and atonement, linked him with such liberal Angli-
he secured a charter for a colony he envisioned as both a
cans of his day as the Cambridge Platonists. These same ideas
haven for persecuted Friends and a model consensual society
have had many echoes in subsequent theology.
that would demonstrate to a skeptical world the fruitfulness
and practicality of Quaker principles. Pennsylvania received
SEE ALSO Quakers.
most of his time and energy from 1680 to 1685, and Penn’s
duties as proprietor were his major concern the rest of his
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Penn’s correspondence, journals, religious and political papers,
life. He remained active as a Quaker leader in England and
and business and legal records have been published in micro-
played a central role in the successful attempt to demonstrate
film form by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, The Pa-
that Quakers were sufficiently orthodox to be acceptable
pers of William Penn, 14 reels, 1975. The first two volumes
under the terms for toleration established after the Glorious
of a projected four-volume edition of the most important of
Revolution of 1688.
these materials have appeared, The Papers of William Penn,
vol. 1, 1644–1679, and vol. 2, 1680–1684, edited by Mary
Although a source of controversy at times within the
Maples Dunn and Richard S. Dunn (Philadelphia, 1981–
Quaker movement, Penn was at the center of the network
1982). A fifth volume containing a definitive annotated bib-
of Quaker leaders and was probably the most effective medi-
liography is also in preparation. The Papers of William Penn
ator between Friends and the rest of the world. He was a
do not include the published works, which are available in
close friend and collaborator of George Fox, the founder of
a two-volume edition, A Collection of the Works of William
the movement; his wife Margaret Askew Fell Fox; and Rob-
Penn, To Which Is Prefixed a Journal of His Life, edited by
ert Barclay, the movement’s major theologian. Penn traveled
Joseph Besse (London, 1726). Selections from this incom-
extensively as a preacher and organizer throughout England
plete collection with many textual problems were reprinted
in 1771, 1782, and 1825. No adequate biography exists; the
and in Ireland, Germany, and Holland and from 1672 was
most useful is William I. Hull’s William Penn: A Topical Bi-
active in the London Morning Meeting, the Quakers’ infor-
ography (New York, 1937). Penn’s religious life and thought
mal executive body. In favor of the disciplinary practices and
are comprehensively discussed in my William Penn and Early
organizational structure espoused by Fox, he was active in
Quakerism (Princeton, 1973).
upholding the authority of the central leadership against the
MELVIN B. ENDY, JR. (1987)
individualistic conception of authority favored by schismat-
ics. Penn’s unique contribution as a leader of Friends was his
injection of a prophetic activism into the movement at a time
when many first-generation leaders were settling into a more
PENTATEUCH SEE BIBLICAL LITERATURE,
quietist, sectarian posture. He helped organize the Meeting
ARTICLE ON HEBREW SCRIPTURES; TORAH
for Sufferings in 1675 as a committee for the legal and politi-
cal defense of indicted Quakers and led it into political activ-
ity in support of sympathetic candidates in parliamentary
elections. His toleration treatises of the 1670s and 1680s had
PENTECOSTAL AND CHARISMATIC
wide influence in the battle for religious liberty for all English
CHRISTIANITY. This form of Christianity centers on
Christians and effectively stated his views of mixed constitu-
the emotional, mystical, and supernatural: miracles, signs,
tional government and fundamental English rights.
wonders, and “the gifts of the Spirit” (charismata), especially
“speaking in tongues” (glossolalia), faith healing, and “cast-
Penn was one of the most prolific and theologically
ing out demons” (exorcism). Supreme importance is at-
knowledgeable exponents of Quaker thought, and he dis-
tached to the subjective religious experience of being filled
tilled the visions and experiences of Fox and the “First Pub-
with or possessed by the Holy Spirit.
lishers of Truth” into the theological language of the times.
His works include exhortatory letters, ethical treatises, refu-
The name Pentecostal derives from the account of the
tations of schismatics, historical accounts of the movement,
day of Pentecost as described in chapters 1 and 2 of the Acts
expositions of Quaker thought, and defenses against the at-
of the Apostles, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the first
tacks of Anglicans, Presbyterians, Independents, Baptists,
Christians: “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and
and spiritualists. His distinctive approach to Quaker thought
began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them ut-
was his understanding of the “inner light” or “Christ within”
terance” (Acts 2:1–4). Charismatic derives from the Greek
as an epistemological principle making divine knowledge
charism, meaning supernatural gifts of the Spirit, which are
available in a manner that bypassed the indirect sense-
most often considered those listed in 1 Corinthians 12–14.
knowledge emphasized in sacramental Roman Catholicism
BIBLICAL AND HISTORICAL BASES. Pentecostals trace the be-
and scripture-based Protestantism. His Platonic rationalism,
ginnings of their movement to the day of Pentecost described
identification of Christ with the universal Logos, critique of
in Acts. They believe that the experience of Spirit Baptism
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and the practice of the gifts of the Spirit that occurred on
SECOND WORK, OR WESLEYAN, PENTECOSTALS. Those who
that day were meant to be normative in the life of the church
held to the original three acts of grace were called “Second
and of each believer. They maintain that although the charis-
Work Pentecostals.” They were predominantly from Wesley-
mata ceased in the main body of the church soon after the
an backgrounds and were concentrated in the South. The
apostolic age, one can trace an intermittent history of charis-
largest such denominations are the Church of God in Christ,
matic practices among sectarians like the Montanists, Ana-
the Church of God (Cleveland, Tenn.), and the Pentecostal
baptists, Camisards, Shakers, Irvingites, Mormons, and vari-
Holiness Church.
ous nineteenth-century Holiness groups. The twentieth-
ONENESS, OR “JESUS ONLY,” PENTECOSTALS. From 1913
century Pentecostal and charismatic movements, therefore,
to 1916, the Finished Work group was torn asunder by a
mark the restoration of the charismata to the church.
controversy over the proper water baptismal formula and the
nature of the godhead. Advocates of the “Oneness” position
THE ORIGINS OF PENTECOSTALISM IN THE UNITED STATES.
rejected traditional Trinitarianism, maintaining that Father,
The Pentecostal movement developed within the radical,
Son, and Holy Ghost are simply different titles or offices of
separatist wing of the late nineteenth-century Holiness
the one God whose name is Jesus. A number of small One-
movement in the United States. It represented an amalgam
ness denominations were organized, the most important of
of extremist Wesleyan and Keswick views on premillennial-
which was Garfield T. Haywood’s interracial Pentecostal As-
ism, dispensationalism, faith healing, and “the Baptism in
semblies of the World. The movement consisted mostly of
the Spirit” as an enduement of miraculous powers. Charles
the very poorest Pentecostals and was strongest in the urban
Fox Parham, an independent Holiness preacher and former
centers of the upper Midwest. In 1945 most white Oneness
Methodist, is generally regarded as the founder of the mod-
Pentecostals were brought together in the United Pentecostal
ern Pentecostal movement. Speaking in tongues and other
Church.
ecstatic behavior broke out in Parham’s Bethel Bible “Col-
PENTECOSTAL REVIVAL GOES GLOBAL. Within a very few
lege” in Topeka, Kansas, in January 1901. Parham asserted
years, visitors to the Azusa Street revival carried the move-
that glossolalia was the evidence of “the true Baptism in the
ment all around the world. Thomas Ball Barratt, an English-
Spirit.” On the basis of this teaching and faith healing,
born Methodist minister and pastor of an independent free
Parham’s Apostolic Faith movement had some success in the
church in Oslo, Norway (then Kristiania), was converted to
lower Midwest. William Joseph Seymour, a black Holiness
Pentecostalism in New York City in 1906. His church, Kris-
preacher converted by Parham, carried the movement to Los
tiania Bymission, became the center of a revival in 1907 from
Angeles in 1906. Seymour’s Azusa Street Apostolic Faith
which Pentecostalism spread throughout Scandinavia. The
Mission became the center of a great revival, in which visitors
movement’s greatest appeal was to evangelical and Holiness
to the Azusa mission spread the movement across the nation
believers of the poorer classes.
and around the world in only a few years.
In the United Kingdom, the Anglican clergyman Alex-
The movement was condemned and ostracized by all
ander A. Boddy attended Thomas Barratt’s meetings in 1907
other Christian churches, and it at first consisted of a few
and then established his All Saints Church in Sunderland,
small schismatic offsprings of the Holiness sects and many
England, as a Pentecostal center from which the movement
independent congregations. The movement’s center of
spread through the British Isles. Leadership of the movement
strength lay in the region stretching from lower Appalachia
soon passed to the Welsh miners W. J. and D. P. Williams
to the Ozarks, and in the urban centers of the North and
and Stephen and George Jeffreys. Overall in the United
West. Adherents were drawn from vastly different religious,
Kingdom, Pentecostalism had only modest success until the
racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds. In time, these dif-
1950s, when many West Indian and other colonial immi-
ferences divided the movement into a bewildering array of
grants were converted to it. A Pentecostal revival in Germany
small, hostile sects that were constantly splitting and resplit-
began in Kassel-Hesse under the preaching of female evange-
ting. By 1916, the American Pentecostal movement had di-
lists from Barratt’s church in 1907. Luigi Francescon and
vided into three major doctrinal camps, and by the early
other Italian-Americans from Chicago established Pentecos-
1930s, each of these had split along racial lines.
talism in Italy in 1908, primarily among poor peasants in the
South and in the major cities. In 1910, the movement was
FINISHED WORK, OR BAPTISTIC, PENTECOSTALS. Original-
established in Brazil by Francescon and the Swedish-
ly, all Pentecostals believed in three acts of grace: conversion,
American steelworkers Daniel Berg and Gunnar Vingren,
sanctification, and Baptism in the Spirit. Beginning about
from which it spread elsewhere in South America. In Chile
1908, William H. Durham introduced his “Finished Work
in 1907, the American Willis C. Hoover’s conversion to Pen-
of Calvary” doctrine, in which conversion and sanctification
tecostalism led to his eviction from the pastorate of a Meth-
were declared a single act of grace. A majority of American
odist church in Valparaíso. Hoover then founded the Pente-
Pentecostals accepted this doctrine; it was especially strong
costal Methodist Church. Pentecostalism was brought to
among those of Baptist and Keswick backgrounds. In 1914,
Bulgaria, Romania, and Russia in the early 1920s by Ivan E.
a Finished Work denomination was organized: the Assem-
Voronaev, founder in 1919 of the First Russian Pentecostal
blies of God.
Church in New York City.
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PENTECOSTAL AND CHARISMATIC CHRISTIANITY
The Pentecostal message was brought to India in 1907
Branham and became the most prominent Pentecostal in the
by American and European missionaries. The movement
United States (he became a member of the Methodist
spread widely but had little impact before the 1940s, when
Church in 1968). Many of the leaders of the Pentecostal de-
the indigenous churches, founded in the 1920s and 1930s,
nominations turned against the healers, who formed their
began to grow rapidly. In Indonesia in the early 1920s,
own organizations and radio and television ministries.
American missionaries established the Pentecostal movement
THE CHARISMATIC REVIVAL. Many non-Pentecostals first
on the island of Bali, and German missionaries introduced
became aware of Pentecostalism through the highly publi-
it at Bandung, Java. The Pentecostal movement was brought
cized Deliverance revival. In the 1960s, a Neo-Pentecostal,
to China in 1908. The movement in Japan began in 1913
or charismatic, movement emerged in nearly all the Protes-
but had very little growth until the 1950s.
tant denominations, the Roman Catholic Church, and in
The American missionaries John G. Lake and Thomas
Eastern Orthodox communions.
Hezmalhalch, converts to Pentecostalism from John Alexan-
In 1951, Oral Roberts encouraged Demos Shakarian,
der Dowie’s Christian Catholic Apostolic Church in Zion,
a wealthy Pentecostal dairyman from California, to found
Illinois, won most of Dowie’s South African churches to the
the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship, International
new movement following a revival in 1908 in Johannesburg.
(FGBMFI) for the purpose of providing lay support for the
A former Dutch Reformed minister, Pieter Louis leRoux,
healers. Hundreds of FGBMFI luncheon and dinner meet-
emerged as the leader of the Apostolic Faith Mission of
ings were held in fashionable hotels across the nation. Many
South Africa. The segregationist policies of this and other
converts to the charismatic movement were first brought
Pentecostal mission churches led to the early loss of most of
into contact with Pentecostalism through FGBMFI, which
their black adherents. As a result, numerous schismatic “Zi-
served as a bridge from the Deliverance revival to the charis-
onist” churches arose—so-called because nearly all use the
matic revival.
word Zion in their official names. In addition, many inde-
pendent, indigenous Pentecostal churches were founded by
In 1961, Father Dennis Bennett, pastor of an Episcopal
prophets who have often been regarded as demi-gods by their
church in Van Nuys, California, announced that he had re-
followers. Missionaries from South Africa, Europe, and
ceived the Baptism in the Spirit and had spoken in tongues.
North America had established the movement throughout
Widespread media coverage followed, and a charismatic re-
most of sub-Saharan Africa by the 1920s, but it was the evan-
vival in the Protestant denominations took off, actively pro-
gelizing efforts of native preachers that account for Pentecos-
moted by the FGBMFI. Fears of denominational leaders di-
talism’s great success. The distribution of American Pente-
minished when the charismatics proved to be neither
costal literature in Nigeria led to the indigenous Aladura
schismatic nor fanatical. Their meetings were marked by re-
(praying people) movement beginning in the early 1920s,
straint, and they were careful not to challenge the established
which spread all through western Africa in the wake of a re-
doctrines and practices of their communions.
vival in 1928. The preaching of Simon Kimbangu in the
In 1967, charismatic practices emerged among Roman
lower Congo in 1921 led to his life imprisonment, but the
Catholic students and faculty at Duquesne, Notre Dame,
church founded in his name by his followers grew through-
and Michigan State universities. The movement grew rapidly
out central Africa.
by means of prayer groups and local, national, and interna-
THE “DELIVERANCE,” OR HEALING, REVIVAL. The institu-
tional conferences. It soon surpassed its Protestant counter-
tionalization of the American Pentecostal movement, togeth-
part, numbering among its adherents many religious and
er with generational changes and the rise of many into the
bishops and at least one cardinal, Leon Joseph Cardinal
middle classes, brought a decline in the fervor of Pentecostal
Suenens of Belgium.
worship, especially in the larger, white denominations. This
Protestant charismatics regard Spirit Baptism as a dis-
led to a renewal movement in the late 1940s. The New
tinct act of grace, as do all Pentecostals, but many Protestant
Order of the Latter Rain began with a revival in an indepen-
and all Roman Catholic charismatics regard it as a renewal
dent church in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, in 1948,
or actualization of the baptism in the Spirit, which all Chris-
and soon spread throughout the world. The revival placed
tians receive in water baptism or on their conversion. Some
a new emphasis on the “laying on of hands” for the reception
Protestant charismatics hold the “initial evidence” view of
of Holy Spirit Baptism, healing, and other charismata. A
glossolalia; other Protestant and all Roman Catholic charis-
group of faith-healing evangelists arose to deliver the faithful
matics reject this view.
from formalism, sickness, and demon possession. The healers
reintroduced tent revivals and attracted multitudes of non-
THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH AND WEALTH. As the healing re-
Pentecostals.
vival began to wane and many middle-class people were em-
bracing the charismatic movement, a new movement began
William Branham, a Oneness Pentecostal from an im-
in the 1970s under the leadership of Kenneth Hagin and
poverished Indiana family, was at first the most renowned
Kenneth Copeland. The “Word of Faith” teaching pro-
leader of the revival. But Oral Roberts (1918–), a Pentecostal
claimed that every true Christian believer could have health,
Holiness preacher from Oklahoma, soon overshadowed
happiness, and prosperity by simply claiming it. It was a gos-
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PENTECOSTAL AND CHARISMATIC CHRISTIANITY
7031
pel entirely congenial to upwardly mobile middle classes, not
3. Independent schismatic offspring of the mission
only in the United States, but those emerging middle classes
churches.
in some parts of Asia and Africa as well. It coincided with
4. Wholly indigenous movements growing out of tradi-
the global expansion of capitalism and consumerism, and
tional religions.
became a major trend in the Pentecostal/charismatic
movement.
The great expansion of Pentecostalism in Africa, Latin Amer-
T
ica, and Asia since the 1960s has coincided with the global
HE THIRD WAVE. This term refers to some new move-
ments in the United States in the 1980s and 1990s, but also
evangelizing campaigns of American healers and preachers of
to indigenous movements in the Third World that had been
the Prosperity Gospel. These have made many converts
developing for many decades. The unifying element is their
among the masses of people disoriented and socially disrupt-
rejection of Pentecostal/charismatic language and heritage
ed by the process of decolonization, by the penetration of
while preserving the practice of the charismata.
capitalist market relations, and by the breakdown of tradi-
tional religions, family relationships, and community ties.
In 1975, C. Peter Wagner and John Wimber, instruc-
tors at Fuller Theological Seminary, taught a course on
WORSHIP. The heart of Pentecostalism is the worship ser-
“Signs and Wonders” in which they held that the key to
vice. In the early years of the Pentecostal movement, nearly
evangelism was demonstrating the power of the gospel
every meeting was marked by speaking in tongues, prophesy-
through performing signs and wonders. They minimized
ing, healings, exorcisms, hand-clapping, uncoordinated
Spirit Baptism and glossolalia. Wimber organized the Associ-
praying aloud, running, jumping, falling, dancing “in the
ation of Vineyard Churches in 1985. A revival in the Toron-
Spirit,” crying, and shouting with great exuberance. Very
to Airport Vineyard Church began in 1994 under the leader-
quickly these practices were subjected to unwritten but clear-
ship of John Arnott. Its extreme bodily manifestations like
ly understood conventions concerning what was appropriate
dancing, laughing, and bellowing like animals earned it the
and when; however, Pentecostal services still appeared chaot-
condemnation of many, and it was evicted from the Vine-
ic to the uninitiated. In the larger, white Pentecostal denomi-
yard Association. A similar revival marked by jerking and
nations these practices have all but disappeared. Charismatics
twitching began the following year in a Brownsville church
have always maintained a high degree of decorum. The origi-
in Pensacola, Florida. Both revivals have attracted many
nal character of Pentecostal worship, however, is still much
thousands. Wagner founded the New Apostolic Church
in evidence among racial and ethnic minorities in North
movement in 1996. It emphasizes the authority of apostles
America and Europe and throughout sub-Saharan Africa,
and prophets and the loose association of entirely indepen-
Latin America, and parts of Asia.
dent congregations.
BELIEF AND PRACTICE. Experience, not doctrine, has been
The Shepherding/Discipleship movement, led by a
the principal concern of Pentecostals. There is no unanimity
group of Pentecostal preachers in Fort Lauderdale, Florida,
on doctrine, polity, or any matter whatsoever except Spirit
also began in the 1970s. It taught the submission of every
Baptism and the practice of the charismata. The early Pente-
believer to the authority of a shepherd who would direct all
costals were heirs to the evangelical faith of the late-
aspects of his or her life, including choice of spouse and man-
nineteenth-century Holiness movement. Most American
agement of finances. The movement was rejected by most
Pentecostals subscribe to the tenets of Fundamentalism.
and withered away by 1986.
Their only distinctive doctrine is that of Baptism in the Spir-
it. Many American Pentecostal denominations believe that
By far the most dramatic aspect of the Third Wave is
the “initial evidence” of Spirit Baptism is always glossolalia.
its explosive growth in Africa, Latin America, and Asia, espe-
Other Pentecostals believe that it may be evidenced by any
cially since the 1970s. These movements have taken root
one of the charismata. Speaking in tongues was originally be-
among peoples whose traditional beliefs were animistic, and
lieved to be miraculously speaking a language completely un-
therefore quite compatible with those of Pentecostals and
known to the speaker. Many Pentecostals continue to hold
charismatics. But they are not fully accepted by many more
this view, even though linguistic analysis has refuted it. Some
traditional Pentecostals and charismatics because some of
acknowledge its nonlinguistic character but continue to as-
their beliefs and practices, like ancestor worship and polygy-
sert its divine signification.
ny, are considered heretical or non-Christian. Their forms
of worship, however, are virtually indistinguishable from
The charismatics have rejected nearly all of the Holiness
those of the Pentecostals and charismatics.
and fundamentalist heritage of the Pentecostal movement.
They have concentrated on integrating the experience of
There are four types of Pentecostalism in Asia, Africa,
Spirit Baptism and the practice of the charismata into the
and Latin America:
traditional beliefs and practices of their respective traditions.
1. Mission churches established by missionaries from the
Despite differences in forms of expression, worship, for all
Pentecostal denominations of North America and Eu-
Pentecostals, is the ritual reenactment of Acts 2—the recap-
rope.
turing of awe, wonder, and joy in the immediate experience
2. charismatic movements in the mainstream non-
of the Holy Spirit, and immersion in mystery and miracle.
Pentecostal denominations.
Worship provides the believer with an opportunity for indi-
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PENTECOSTAL AND CHARISMATIC CHRISTIANITY
vidual expression, forges an emotional bond with the spiritu-
tion of social activism by the Pentecostal denominations.
al community, brings consolation and assurance, and lifts
They have always approved of individual acts of charity but
one into the sublime. The believer’s objective is “to feel the
have avoided corporate church involvement in social or po-
moving of the Spirit,” or, in psychological terms, to experi-
litical action. Pentecostals tend strongly toward conservative
ence intense arousal and discharge of emotion. The goal is
and reactionary views. They believe that society can be im-
infilling, or possession, by the Holy Spirit.
proved by the conversion and Spirit Baptism of individuals
within it, but only the Second Coming can bring the good
The Third Wavers only connection with the Pentecos-
society—and the signs of that Coming are an increase in im-
tals and charismatics is in their style of worship: the emotion-
morality, conflict, and general social chaos. Such beliefs mili-
al and physical expression of the charismata.
tate against any real social ethic.
SOCIAL CHARACTER. The Pentecostal movement originated
A few Pentecostal academics have worked to develop a
in the United States as a protest against the increasing for-
Pentecostal social ethic, a move which has been welcomed
malism, “modernism,” and middle-class character of the
by some, especially nonwhite and Third World adherents,
mainstream denominations. It was a movement of the poor,
but frowned upon by most, who are still convinced of the
the uprooted, the socially and culturally deprived, recent im-
futility of bettering the world before its imminent apocalyp-
migrants, blacks, Hispanics, and other minorities in Ameri-
tic destruction and the Second Coming of Jesus.
ca. The movement’s leaders were poor and lower-middle-
class clergy and religious workers with little advanced educa-
POLITICAL ORIENTATION. Most American Pentecostals were
tion, generally from the outermost fringes of American
hostile to any involvement in politics until the 1970s, when
Christendom. With few exceptions, the social character of
they were politicized around the New Right reaction against
the movement in all the countries to which it spread was
the social and cultural changes brought about by the 1960s
analogous, and it is still overwhelmingly so in those indige-
and 1970s protest movements. They lent support to the can-
nous movements that are most dynamic in Africa, Latin
didacy of Jimmy Carter, a self-proclaimed “born again”
America, and Asia. Pentecostalism has played a role in easing
Christian whose sister was a prominent charismatic, in 1976;
the transit of some of those who have suffered most from the
to Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984; to the prominent Pen-
transformation of preindustrial societies into modern ur-
tecostal television evangelist Pat Robertson in 1988; and to
banizing, industrializing ones. Pentecostalism has shown an
George W. Bush in 2000. After his failed bid for the Repub-
ability to incorporate elements of both traditional and mod-
lican nomination, Robertson founded the Christian Coali-
ern modes of thought and behavior into a subculture that has
tion, which eventually settled into the right wing of the Re-
served as a bridge between the two. Its pre-scientific outlook
publican Party.
gives it an affinity with many non-Christian religions. Its em-
Pentecostals and charismatics in other nations tend to
phasis on subjectivity, emotional expression, Spirit Baptism,
support or at least accommodate any government—Left,
healing, exorcism, and miracles makes it highly congenial to
Right, or Center—on the basis of the belief that “the powers
adherents of traditional religions that are characterized by an-
that be are ordained of God” and should therefore not be re-
imism, spirit possession, divination, shamanism, and
sisted. Their only concern is that they be free to practice and
prophetism. On the other hand, Pentecostalism has inculcat-
proselytize their religion. However, they do tend to be more
ed in its adherents an ethic of hard work, discipline, obedi-
favorably disposed toward conservative, authoritarian gov-
ence to authority, sobriety, thrift, and self-denial—the quali-
ernments. In Latin America, Pentecostalism has been favored
ties of the ideal proletarian in modernizing societies. These
by parties and governments who see their growth as a force
qualities have enabled some adherents to rise into the middle
to weaken the political power of the Roman Catholic
classes. It has also attracted new converts from those already
Church.
moving into the middle classes, for whom the charismatic
POLITY AND INTERCHURCH RELATIONS. The early Pentecos-
movement and the Prosperity Gospel serve as vehicles for up-
tals opposed all “man-made” organizations; they called only
ward mobility.
for spiritual unity based on Spirit Baptism. Soon, however,
MORES. The early American Pentecostals were markedly as-
they created a multitude of tight denominational structures
cetic, with prohibitions against tobacco, alcohol, dancing,
of widely differing polities. But whether episcopal, presbyte-
gambling, movies, coffee, tea, Coca-Cola, cosmetics, and
rian, congregational, or mixed in form, in practice all Pente-
jewelry. Such prohibitions are no longer typical of white,
costals have tended toward the authoritarianism of the na-
middle-class American Pentecostals, but they are typical of
tional leader(s) in denominational matters and that of the
other American Pentecostals. European Pentecostals have
pastor in congregational matters.
generally taken a more liberal position. Charismatics regard
American Pentecostal denominations were at first
all such taboos as irrelevant. Nonwhite Pentecostals often
strongly separatist in their relations with one another, as well
tend more toward asceticism.
as with non-Pentecostal churches. A break in the isolation-
SOCIAL ETHICS. The dominance of millenarianism among
ism of American Pentecostals came in 1943, when several
the early Pentecostals and their identification of the Social
Pentecostal denominations joined the National Association
Gospel with the mainstream churches led to wholesale rejec-
of Evangelicals. In 1948, the largest white Pentecostal de-
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PENTECOSTAL AND CHARISMATIC CHRISTIANITY
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nominations organized the Pentecostal Fellowship of North
Holy Spirit:100 Years of Pentecostal and Charismatic Renewal,
America, a racially segregated organization of Finished Work
1901–2001 (Nashville, Tenn., 2001). The various works of
and Second Work Pentecostals. In 1994 this was disbanded
Walter Hollenweger, who pioneered in the scholarly research
and reorganized as the racially integrated Pentecostal and
of Pentecostalism, are well worth consulting, including Pen-
charismatic Churches of North America.
tecostals after a Century: Global Perspectives on a Movement in
Transition
(Sheffield, U.K., 1999), edited in collaboration
European Pentecostals engaged in various regional and
with Alan Anderson. Much useful information and many ex-
national cooperative efforts from an early point; they held
tensive bibliographies may be found in New International
the first All-Europe Pentecostal Conference in 1939 and the
Dictionary of Pentecostal Charismatic Movements (Grand Rap-
first Pentecostal World Conference in 1947, which soon in-
ids, Mich., 2002), edited by Stanley M. Burgess and written
cluded many Pentecostal churches from around the world.
primarily by Pentecostals. The bibliographies compiled by
Charles Edwin Jones, including A Guide to the Study of the
While fellowship with other Pentecostals and evangelicals
Pentecostal Movement, 2 volumes (Metuchen, N.J., 1983),
has become common, attempts at theological agreement and
and The Charismatic Movement, 2 volumes (Metuchen, N.J.,
organizational unity have been resisted.
1995), are indispensable for the researcher. Also indispens-
Since 1961 several Pentecostal churches have joined the
able is Sherry Sherrod DuPree’s African American Holiness
World Council of Churches, though none from the United
Pentecostal Movement: An Annotated Bibliography (New York,
1996), which also includes a wealth of information on many
States. However, some American Pentecostal clergy have at-
churches and prominent leaders.
tended meetings of this organization, often against the offi-
cial positions of their churches. charismatics, in contrast to
Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies (semi-
Pentecostals, are ardently ecumenical, being active in nearly
annual, 1979–) and the Newsletter of the Society for Pentecostal
Studies
are essential for keeping up with the flood of litera-
all interchurch organizations at all levels. Adherents in Afri-
ture about Pentecostalism.
ca, Latin America, and Asia stand somewhere in between—
separatism and independency are quite strong, but several
For an eyewitness account by a leader in the Los Angeles, Califor-
denominations have joined ecumenical organizations, in-
nia, revival, see Frank Bartleman’s Azusa Street (Plainfield,
N.J., 1980). This edition has an excellent foreword by the
cluding the World Council of Churches. In 1972 the first
Pentecostal historian Vinson Synan. The complete editions
General Conference on charismatic Renewal was held in
of the Azusa Street mission’s publication, The Apostolic Faith,
Kansas City; subsequent ones have been held periodically.
have been edited by Wayne Warner as the Azusa Street Papers
The North American Congress of the Holy Spirit and Evan-
(Foley, Ala., 1997). Larry Martin is reprinting many of the
gelization has met annually since 1986.
earliest accounts of the movement in an ongoing series, titled
GLOBAL DIMENSIONS. Because of the great number of Pen-
the Complete Azusa Street Library (Joplin, Mo., 1994–),
tecostal organizations, the variety of names, and the amor-
which covers more than the title suggests. James R. Goff’s
phous character of many groups, it is impossible to accurate-
Fields White unto Harvest (Fayetteville, Ark., 1988), a biogra-
phy of Charles F. Parham, is an important study of the first
ly estimate the totals of Pentecostal/charismatic/“Third
prominent leader of the movement. The African and African
Wave” adherents. However, the World Christian Encyclope-
American influences are explored in Iain MacRobert’s The
dia (2001), edited by David B. Barrett, estimates the global
Black Roots and White Racism of Early Pentecostalism in the
total of Pentecostals of all types at 535 million, including 65
U. S. A. (New York, 1988). The origins of what is the largest
million Pentecostals, 175 million charismatics, and 295 mil-
African American Pentecostal church in America is explored
lion Third Wavers (whom Barrett calls “Neo-charismatics”).
by Ithiel C. Clemmons in Bishop C. H. Mason and the Roots
Total adherents to these three groups (in the millions) are
of the Church of God in Christ (Bakersfield, Calif., 1996).
estimated at 79.6 in North America, 37.5 in Europe, 141.4
Also important is the sociological study of Arthur E. Paris,
in Latin America, 126 in Africa, 134.8 in Asia, and 4.2 in
Black Pentecostalism: Southern Religion in an Urban World
Oceania.
(Amherst, Mass., 1982), which shows how Pentecostalism
serves the needs of rural-to-urban migrants, and the percep-
S
tive study by an insider, Cheryl J. Sanders’ Saints in Exile:
EE ALSO Charisma; ShavuEot.
The Holiness Pentecostal Experience in African American Reli-
gion and Culture
(New York, 1996). For more information
BIBLIOGRAPHY
about membership statistics for the Pentecostal/charismatic
The seminal work on the origins of the Pentecostal movement is
churches, see the World Christian Encyclopedia, edited by
Robert M. Anderson’s Vision of the Disinherited: The Making
David B. Barrett, (New York, 2d ed., 2001).
of American Pentecostalism (Oxford, 1979; Hendrickson, rev.
The development of the largest Finished Work church is percep-
ed., 1992). Anderson provides a thorough narrative, analyti-
tively related in Edith L. Blumhofer’s Restoring the Faith: The
cal, and interpretative treatment of the American movement
Assemblies of God, Pentecostalism, and American Culture (Ur-
from its origins to the 1930s. Many of the major historical,
bana, Ill., 1993). In Heaven Below: Early Pentecostals and
sociological, psychological, and theological issues involved in
American Culture (Cambridge, Mass., 2001), Grant Wacker
the study of Pentecostal Christianity as a whole are addressed
describes what it was like to be a Pentecostal in the early
in this work.
years; it is a valuable work despite its insupportable conten-
A useful overview of developments since the movement’s origins
tion that first generation Pentecostals were a “cross section
is Vinson Synan’s (editor and contributor) The Century of the
of the American population.”
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PERCUSSION AND NOISE
Mickey Crews’s The Church of God: A Social History (Knoxville,
bare the social roots of Latin American Pentecostalism, and
Tenn., 1993), Vinson Synan’s The Holiness Pentecostal Tra-
by extension, those of Pentecostalisms throughout the Third
dition (Grand Rapids, Mich., 2d. ed., 1997), and Dennis
World. Among other studies are Edward L. Cleary and Han-
Covington’s Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake Handling
nah Stewart-Gambino, eds., Power, Politics, and Pentecostals
and Redemption in Southern Appalachia (Reading, Mass.,
in Latin America (Boulder, Colo., 1998), R. Andrew Ches-
1995) are important histories of the Second Work wing. For
nut, Born Again in Brazil (New Brunswick, N.J., 1997),
the “Jesus Only” wing, see Talmadge L. French’s Our God
Frans Kamsteeg, Prophetic Pentecostalism in Chile (Lanham,
Is One: The Story of the Oneness Pentecostals (Hazelwood,
Md., 1998), Karl-Wilhelm Westmeier, Protestant Pentecos-
Mo., 2000).
talism in Latin America (Madison, N.J., and London, 1999),
The origins of the Pentecostal movement in Europe may be found
and Barbara Boudewijnse et al., eds., More than Opium: An
in Nils Bloch-Hoell’s The Pentecostal Movement (Oslo,
Anthropological Approach to Latin American and Caribbean
1964), which is best on Scandinavia. Donald Gee’s Wind
Pentecostal Praxis (Lanham, Md., 1998).
and Flame (London, 1967), on the United Kingdom, should
The mainstream Pentecostal position on Spirit Baptism and the
be supplemented by Peter D. Hocken’s Streams of Renewal
charismata is presented by the first-generation Pentecostal
(Washington, D.C., and Exeter, U.K., 1997); both treat-
Ralph M. Riggs in his work The Spirit Himself (Springfield,
ments are theological as well as historical. The life and writ-
Mo., 1949). More moderate charismatic positions are laid
ings of the founder of the movement are found in The Work
out by the Presbyterian J. Rodman Williams in The Gift of
of T. B. Barratt (New York, 1985), edited by Donald W.
the Holy Spirit Today (Plainfield, N.J., 1980), and the
Dayton.
Roman Catholic theologian Donald L. Gelpi in Pentecostal-
ism
(New York, 1971).
For the New Order of the Latter Rain movement of the 1940s,
see Richard M. Riss’s Latter Rain (Mississauga, Ontario,
The clinical psychologist John P. Kildahl, in his The Psychology of
1987). The story of the Deliverance and charismatic revivals
Speaking in Tongues (New York, 1972), presents a generally
is told with scholarship and verve in David Edwin Harrell,
favorable assessment of the mental health of glossolalists. In
Jr.’s All Things Are Possible (Bloomington, Ind., 1975), and
Speaking in Tongues (Chicago, Ill., 1972), the anthropologist
his Oral Roberts: An American Life (Bloomington, Ind.,
Felicitas D. Goodman concludes on the basis of her cross-
1985). Also important is C. Douglas Weaver’s The Healer-
cultural study that the practice involves an altered mental
Prophet: William Marion Branham (Macon, Ga., 2d ed.,
state. The sociolinguist William J. Samarin’s Tongues of Men
2000).
and Angels (New York, 1972) demonstrates the nonlinguistic
character of the phenomenon and views it as learned
Indispensable on the charismatic revival are Richard Que-
behavior.
bedeaux’s The New Charismatics II (San Francisco, Calif.,
1983) and the collection of essays edited by Russell P. Spit-
ROBERT MAPES ANDERSON (1987 AND 2005)
tler, Perspectives on the New Pentecostalism (Grand Rapids,
Mich., 1976). Historical and theological assessments of the
Catholic charismatic movement include Edward D.
O’Connor’s The Pentecostal Movement in the Catholic Church
PERCUSSION AND NOISE. The role of percus-
(Notre Dame, Ind., 1971) for the American scene, and René
sion and noise in the evolution of the human species remains
Laurentin’s Catholic Pentecostalism, (Garden City, N.Y.,
the subject of ongoing debate and speculation. That manu-
1977) for the European. The resurgence of the more extreme
factured sound commands inexhaustible fascination and en-
forms of Pentecostalism is explored in “Toronto” in Perspec-
tive
(Waynesboro, Ga., 2001), edited by David Hilborn. The
joins relentless exploration seems patent from the historical
affinity of many Pentecostal/charismatics for right-wing poli-
record. Homo sapiens is also homo “per-soni-fication”—a
tics is examined in David Edwin Harrell, Jr.’s Pat Robertson
creature summoned by and summoning “what sounds
(San Francisco, Calif., 1987).
through.” There is a dense intersection between percussion
and ritual repetition that goes by the name of religion in the
Among the many important studies of world Pentecostalism are
David Martin, Pentecostalism: The World Their Parish (Ox-
ceaseless quest of humanity to express, comprehend, control,
ford, and Malden, Mass., 2002), Simon Coleman, The Glo-
free, fecundate, and otherwise elaborate its experience of
balisation of Charismatic Christianity: Spreading the Gospel of
meaning by way of rhythm. Examples of various uses of noise
Prosperity (Cambridge, U.K., and New York, 2000), Stephen
and sound ground speculative musing on the ritual fusing of
Hunt et al., eds., Charismatic Christianity: Sociological Per-
myth, music, and dance—the body in contemplation and in
spectives (New York, 1997), Andre Corten and Ruth Mar-
motion—and the ascribed effects such sonic textures arouse
shall-Fratani, eds., Between Babel and Pentecost: Transnation-
in consciousness and community alike.
al Pentecostalism in Africa and Latin America (Bloomington,
Ind., 2001), and, from the Pentecostal perspective, Murray
Percussive sound is here understood as a rhythmic pat-
Dempster et al., eds. The Globalization of Pentecostalism (Ir-
terning of noise, a precise structure and ordering of both
vine, Calif., 1999).
pitch and timing, produced primarily by instruments of the
Latin American Pentecostalism has attracted more scholars than
idiophone and membranophone families, or indeed by the
any other region, and they have produced an impressive body
human body itself (in forms of clapping, stomping, or aspi-
of work, beginning with Emile Willems, Followers of the New
rating). Noise refers to sound that is unspecifiable in pitch
Faith (Nashville, Tenn., 1967), and Christian Lalive
and duration, from virtually any source, that nonetheless
d’Epinay, Haven of the Masses (London, 1969) who first laid
gains employment in ritual soundings of the cosmos. Fire-
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7035
crackers, vocal cries, grunts and growls and howls imitating
But there is little agreement about the exact nature of
nature, or even certain aspects of material culture, are exam-
percussive triggers (e.g., drum rhythms) for this altered con-
ples. The line between noise and percussion depends, per-
sciousness. Certainly the nearly universal congruence of ritu-
haps now more than ever, on cultural context and political
al percussion and rites of transition (like those for birth, pu-
purpose: any sound shortened enough in duration is noise;
berty, marriage, and death) is well established. But
any noise given enough time and space for repetition can be
ethnomusicology has raised issue with any easy neurobiologi-
comprehended as rhythm. In the last half of the twentieth
cal explanation of trance behavior as drum-driven. The lab
century, the introduction of electronic media quickly revolu-
experiments conducted by neurobiologists too radically alter
tionized the human probe of the soundscape as aural symbol:
the performance context, too uncritically limit alpha brain-
hip-hop scratching of records, machinelike inflections of the
wave effects to the trance music in question (nontrance
human voice by means of synthesizer, and digitalized fractur-
music can also cause the same effect), and too abstractly ig-
ing and suturing of sound into a surround of trancelike dron-
nore the cultural specificity of the psychological condition-
ing invaded world musics both secular and sacred. Postmod-
ing in evidence. At most, we can say religious experience of
ern literature and music together ask if spirit can be found
an “otherworld” sometimes seems to involve ritually mediat-
inside the machine as well as in the mosque (or in mammal
ed, drum-triggered “possession-states” that are communally
and mineral, in older belief), in the chip as well as in the
embraced and culturally interpreted in quite particular ways.
chirp or church. Industrial noise may itself emerge in hind-
What such an “otherworld” might consist of is a core
sight as a new kind of “god” (or “demon”) and Adam Smith’s
riff of human cultures. Science today makes us aware of the
“invisible hand” (guiding market choice), the animism of the
primacy of the Big Bang, the first beat, the explosion of time
modern hour.
and space in din and chaos that sets matter in motion as vi-
PERCUSSION. Percussion appears across the worldscape as a
bration. Hindus call the seed sound Nada Brahma; the Tibet-
primary modality of both experiencing and expressing ritual
an Book of the Dead speaks of the essence of reality as a “rever-
solemnity and religious intensity. Gong strikes, drumrolls,
berating like a thousand distant thunders.” Percussive
bell rings, palm beats, cymbal crashes, stick clicks, and stone
exploration—whether as a mode of taming the terror of vol-
clacks have served the religious interrogation of things invisi-
cano and thunder, titillation accompanying the rhythmic
ble around the planet. Paleolithic culture divulges mam-
“cracking” of stone tool-making, or merely observation of
moth-jaw scrapers, reindeer-antler beaters, and bone and sea-
the undulations of natural phenomena (spiders drumming
shell wrist-rattles. Skin-covered drums and musical bows
their webs, termites clicking the ground in march, waves on
were common in cultures as ancient and divergent as Neo-
beaches)—finds careful and playful elaboration in the myths
lithic Bulgaria, Bronze Age China, Babylonia-on-the-rise,
of origins of percussion instruments. The Buria people of Si-
and Buddha’s India. Bull-roarers (a bull-roarer is a piece of
beria trace the single-headed shaman’s drum to a retaliatory
bone or wood attached to a long string) swung around the
lightning strike that split the two-headed drum ridden by
head to create “vortices of sonic monstrosity” effected initia-
their chief shaman, Morgon-Kara, after successfully raiding
tion in Australia, Nigeria, Navajo Arizona, and Inuit Cana-
heaven to retrieve a soul stolen by the High God. The Dan
da. Goat-hoof rattle-belts called manjur are combined with
people of Africa track the advent of the wooden drum to a
dancing-versus-drumming battle to the death won by an or-
tin can rattles (ashukhshaykhah) in the Zar cults of Egypt, and
phan village boy avenging the death of his brother at the
springbok ears filled with pebbles and tied around the ankles
hands of the termite-mound genie who originally owned the
serve the same the need to rattle in South Africa. There is
drum. Among the Sioux, the powwow drum is thought to
perhaps no object found or manufactured that is not sooner
have been the contrivance of the Great Spirit, revealed to
or later annexed to the drive to syncopate, vibrate, resonate,
Tailfeather Woman, as an instrument to tease whites out of
or orchestrate matter into an aural augury of ultimate mys-
their wanton violence towards natives by entrancing them
tery. The land itself is drafted into the divination in some
with the secret of the powwow dance. Whatever the explana-
places: slit drums of the Lokele people of Zaire take advan-
tion, power, both terrible and tantalizing, was obviously,
tage of the acoustical properties of natural formations to
early on in human history, found in sound. Mastery of the
make river basins and valley passages speak an African tongue
mystery of producing rhythmic patterns may be one of the
like a modern telegraph. Here the drum-as-spirit-mouth of
defining capacities of human evolution.
a local place was the subject of ritual care, sheltered in a hut,
offered sacred milk daily, warmed continuously by fire, re-
But the history of the drum, in particular, also reveals
plenished in power by cattle sacrifice and beer. Indeed, this
the ambiguity of the religious valuing of sound. Based on ar-
effort at aural enchantment may even predate humanity, in-
tifactual evidence and artistic imagery dating back to at least
sofar as gorilla chest-pounds or beaver-tailed water-slaps of
2200 BCE, the drum appears to have been widely embraced
warning sought to use sharp sound to alter awareness. That
around the planet as a means of ritual concourse with the
human consciousness could be sonically shocked or “rocked”
spirit-dimension—and its use, as often as not, a realm of
into perception of an “otherworld” is one of the primordial
women’s work. In the cultural genealogy of the West, how-
intuitions of religious practice in the memory of the species.
ever, sacred drum use was increasingly replaced by new me-
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PERCUSSION AND NOISE
lodic instruments such as the trumpet, harp, lyre, and shawm
Carnival parades and ceremonies of cattle branding. The
beginning with the emergence of Sumerian civilizations in
magical sound properties of the tinya are produced by cloves
the third century BCE, and hitting a nadir with the early
of garlic and red peppers inserted in the drum body, activat-
Roman Christian evaluation of percussion as “the devil’s
ed by the zoomorphic mallet with which it is struck, and (in
music.” Whether this was an effect of an ideological shift ac-
Puno at least) reinforced by accoutrements worn by drum-
companying the suppression of agricultural-based goddess
mers that are associated with the mythical condor (Béhague,
religions by male-controlled transcendental orientations, or
1993).
some deep psychosocial antipathy to lower frequency, the
In India, the folk drum dholak (double-headed, barrel-
larger kettle and cylinder drums were gradually displaced
shaped) underwrites birth and marriage ceremonies, stimu-
from temple to battlefield, from magical power to martial.
lates devotion, and announces news of good omen from vil-
(In the breach, however, clappers, ratchets, castanets, whir-
lage to village. In the south of the country, the mrdanga
ring discs, and xylophones were all used percussively to chase
drum (similar to the dholak) aids in ordinary religious in-
away evil spirits and attract goods ones, and eventually bells
struction; North Indian k¯ırtan chanting (in praise of Kr:s:n:a),
were hung in church towers to gather believers or toll warn-
popularized by the Vaisnava Caitanya (1486–1533), is made
ings.) Only in encounters with Muslim invaders in the Mid-
accessible to everyone through use of the clay khola drum and
dle Ages, and later with indigenous cultures in the course of
the brass karatala cymbals that are affordable even by the
colonization, did the deep bass “boom” of big drum sounds
poor. Aspiring Punjabi tabla players are encouraged to make
slowly reinvest European sensibilities of the sacred. In the
three vision-quest-like chilla retreats of forty days each, se-
New World, beginning in the nineteenth century, West Afri-
questered in huts, fed little, drumming fifteen or more hours
can modalities of spirit possession articulated by rhythmic
per day, until trance-images come and the drum “talks.” In
aggression percolated up from freed-slave communities into
Chinese cultures, where preference for more subdued
the heart of American societies as a kind of return of the re-
rhythms reflects a valuing of calmness and serenity, myth
pressed—jazz, blues and gospel, samba, bomba, and mambo
tells of a maid who sought to spare her father’s life by fulfill-
exercising white fascination despite (and indeed because of)
ing an augury that the bell he was struggling to cast for the
widespread fear that rhythm leads to insurrection, or percus-
Son of Heaven would only turn out right if mingled with
sive beat to sexual heat. The thirst for trance evident in this
the blood of a maid. She cast herself into the molten metal
rhythmic revelry in contemporary Western societies may well
at the last minute, and the bell so produced ever after tolled
belie their self-naming as secular.
a sad “Ko-ngai” sounding of her name. Fritz Kuttner, a
Elsewhere, percussion has been articulated in concert
scholar of Chinese music and explorer of secret metallophone
with quite varied cultural cues as to what constitutes accept-
production techniques, tells of the Metropolitan Museum of
able clues of the sacred. Among the Mapuche of Chile and
Art’s testing of an ancient Chinese tam-tam gong, which
Argentina, the kultrún drum used by the machi medicine
when tapped only once issued a soft hum for ten seconds,
man or woman anchors a kind of cosmogram of the universe,
followed by a gradual crescendo for thirty-five seconds, until
with drawings on its sides that map good (east, south) and
a colossal triple fortissimo peak was reached after a full min-
evil (west, north). It harbors within its resonant belly the
ute, terrifying all the museum bystanders who heard it.
earth products (coins, seeds of medicinal plants, animal hair,
In Korea, two-headed drums used in shamanist practice
wheat, and corn) that augur fertility, and in its bay wood
may sport the eight primary trigrams of the Yi jing, and in
body it partakes of the sacred “world-tree” substance believed
Sri Lanka geiji bells are strung onto leather knee pads to
to project its shaman-player to the heavens (Grebe, 1973).
knock out rhythmic accompaniment in ritual dance. Huge
Drumming instruments in many South American Indian
taiko drums in Japan punctuate Zen meditation and Shinto¯
cultures are medicine as well as tocsin and prayer: together
reverence with a reverberance that reinforces the perception
with the singing voice of the shaman, they fight evil actively,
of silence. Tibetan damaru (double-headed drums, made
aid in diagnosis, serve as prophylaxis, and reinforce cure.
from halved human skulls) are power instruments said to be
Spirits are thought to echo through the throbbing skins, and
capable of rousing the dead, and gang-san gongs with human
mythologies ascribe to the instruments an origin as pristine
jawbone handles are used among the Bontoc Igorot people
as creation itself (Béhague, 1993). Pre-Columbian high Indi-
of the Philippines as part of their grief rituals. Tabl drums
an cultures throughout Meso- and South America bear simi-
in Qatar are not only sounded, but also touched in certain
lar witness. Carvings on and codices about Aztec teponaztles
dances to solicit healing, and Dubai performances of Mawlid
(slit drums) and huehuetls (upright, cylindrical drums) reveal
(the celebration of the birth and death of the prophet
instruments that were “instrumental” in giving cosmic struc-
Muh:ammad) commemorations invoke memory of a saint’s
ture to the universe from its mythic genesis to its apocalyptic
death day by means of frame drums. S:u¯f¯ı trance-seeking
end in ancient Mexico. Maya murals at the eighth-century
through dervish-dancing may involve entrainment with dar
CE Bonampak temple in Chiapas evince the ritual import of
(frame) drumming and flute playing.
drums and rattles. Incan tinya—small double-headed drums
carrying ritually activated magical powers—are honored up
Africa holds a special place in the percussive praise song,
to the present in successor Indian communities in Peru in
as homeland of the species and motherland of the polyrhyth-
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mic paradigm writ large. African peoples across the globe in-
Brazil known as axêxê (in the Nagô cult) or azeri (in the Gege
voke ancestral memory and communal vitality in the key of
cult), stick-struck calabash drums or fan-struck pottery jars,
contrastive sound. San peoples of South Africa clap and
respectively, drive the spirit of Iku (Death) away and ensure
stomp out an intricate rhythm to collectively “face the gods”
transformation of the dead initiate into the realm of ances-
and effect cure. The Minianka of Mali hoe their fields in
tors. All artifacts of the ceremony are eventually broken to
time to accompanying drumbeats. Venda adults of South Af-
signify severance of all ties between cult center and dead
rica syncopate every child’s least banging of some object with
member and become part of the carrego (load of death).
a counterrhythm designed to inculcate sensitivity to the
NOISE. By comparison, noise in ritual is often used to mark
polyrhythmic proclivities of their communal cult. The talk-
moments that call for special attention or abrupt transition.
ing drum called dundun by the Ewe of Togo and Ghana is
Firecrackers, for instance, are employed in Chinese Confu-
used to tell proverbs as well as to crack jokes by emulating
cian commemorations of ancestral dead to exorcise evil influ-
tonal qualities in the language through varying the pitch of
ence around the gravesite. In Mexican performances of the
the drumhead by squeezing its webbing as it is played. In
pre-Columbian danza de los voladores (dance of the flyers),
Yorubaland, every major orisha (ancestral spirit-persona) has
these same noisemakers signal the crossover from ascent of
its own rhythm to which it responds when drummed and
“shaman-flyers” up the sacred post (or “tree of life”) to flight
into which it plunges its human “horse” in possession-dance.
downwards as symbolic birds, bringing divine messages and
Vodou, Santería, and Candomblé—in syncretic cooperation
fertility to earth (Béhague, 1993). Similarly, during the pub-
with Catholic ritual elements—reiterate and amplify the pos-
lic ceremony of Xirê in Bahia, Brazil, the entry of the gods
session vocabularies of these spirit-dances in Haiti, Cuba,
(in the form of possessed initiates) into the main dance hall
and Brazil, respectively.
of the cult center is announced with a mixture of happiness
and awe by a sudden burst of firecrackers.
Creative adaptation under the duress of slavery led to
divergence in details of practice and belief. For instance, the
Somewhere between percussion and noise is the old
batá (double-headed, horizontally played) drums of the Yor-
practice of “tattooing” a wooden board or metal plate (called
uba Shango cult in Nigeria morphed in Cuba into a trio
a semantron or simandron in Greek, or klepalo in Slavic con-
(from largest to smallest, iya, itótele, and okónkolo) that must
texts) with sharp pulsing sounds by means of a stick or mal-
let. The urgency and solemnity of the clatter assumes an as-
be harvested together from the same tree trunk and played
pect of holy summons to prayer or, sometimes, fearful alarm
together as the sound organs of the god Aña. In the Lucumi
at the approach of some untoward event (e.g., fire, invasion).
(Cuban) context, the threesome is animated by an afóuobó-
Common to both Eastern and Western Christian traditions
secret, known to the priests of Ana alone, physically signified
before the seventh-century advent of the church bell in the
by sacred seeds, cowrie shells, and other objects placed in a
West, today the practice remains enshrined in Orthodox and
small bag inside the largest drum body, and inspirited by
Eastern church practices, especially in monasteries such as
éggüe-plants (and other objects determined by divination)
those on Mount Athos or the island of Patmos.
deposited in the drum cavity during construction that crum-
ble into a powder over time and consecrate the sound. Sacri-
Vocalized shouts and ritualized groans also can oscillate
ficial foods and blood further reinforce the potency in an an-
between noise and rhythm—punctuating the precise mo-
nual offering. Shared ideas of “drum baptism” among West
ment of possession in both Brazil and Yorubaland with the
African and Afro-Cuban and Afro-Brazilian traditions man-
cry of the arriving god, or laying down something more like
date animal sacrifice and sacred food offerings while baptiz-
a pattern of hyperventilation in “trumping” circles associated
ing the instruments into potency to call gods and provoke
with the Afro-Christian Pukkumina cults of Jamaica or the
possession. But the actual associations in each tradition are
noisy inhaling and exhaling of (non-Christian) Afro-Cuban
quite culture specific. In the Americas in particular, histori-
Ronconeo worship. In each of these latter two instances, the
cally, they shifted in reference under different plantation re-
rhythmic breathing accompanied by trunk and arm motions
gimes and racist polities that force distinct African tribal
establishes an alternating high (inspiration) and low (expira-
groups to intermingle bodies, beliefs, and practices in order
tion) pitch level, functioning like a form of “opaque, bitonal
to survive.
drumming” (Béhague, 1984; Ortiz, 1952–1954). A some-
what similar use of breathing signals the “code-switch,” ac-
West African idiophone use and understanding likewise
cording to Morton Marks (1974), when African American
bridge the Atlantic. For example, the Yoruban double bell
“gospel” preaching suddenly shifts from a European mono-
adjá, shaken before any speech by the priests of Ogún, the
tone beginning to a higher velocity, African possession-
god of war and iron, is thought to personify aspects of this
cadence known as “whooping.” Indeed, the percussive
god and indeed to “ventriloquize” his voice; in Bahia, Brazil,
breathing and body language is recognizable across religious
the same instrument, here called xerê, is shaken over initiates’
communions—for example, a Pentecostal preacher gesturing
heads to summon all the orixá (ancestral spirit-persona) and
(unconsciously) for a visiting Candomblé or Santería devotee
to facilitate response, through possession, to the varied voices
a message of Shàngó or Oshun (spirits common to the two
of the gods, articulated in each one’s particular drum
West African-derived religions) as well as articulating a word
rhythm. In Yoruba-Fon inspired Candomblé funeral rites in
of Jesus.
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7038
PERFECTIBILITY
Indian Kun:d:alin¯ı meditation traditions recognize a
Needham, Rodney. “Percussion and Transition.” Man (1967):
form of discipline called shubda yoga that works with percus-
606–614. A classic example of an attempt to relate drum
sive sound to open the knots of energy called cakra that run
sounds (i.e., percussion itself) to trance phenomena in Hai-
up the spinal column. Hard consonants in particular are vo-
tian vodou in strictly physiological terms.
calized to release “male” energies associated especially with
Ortiz, Fernando. Los instrumentos de la música afrocubana, vols. 1
the second “sexual” cakra—a practice that one Indian teacher
and 4. Havana, Cuba, 1952–1954. The most comprehensive
recently likened to certain forms of rap rhyming that work
study on Afro-Cuban organology.
the harder sounds explosively to achieve a particular kind of
Pinn, Anthony, ed. Noise and Spirit: The Religious and Spiritual
“manhood.”
Sensibilities of Rap Music. New York and London, 2003. An
anthology of articles probing lyrical developments, ritual
Handclapping is another action that works the edge be-
uses, and percussive effects of hip-hop from a broad range of
tween abrupt punctuation and patterned rhythm. In addi-
disciplines.
tion to reinforcing or embroidering upon musical instru-
Rouget, Gilbert. Music and Trance: A Theory of the Relations be-
mentation, handclaps in many cultures serve as a symbolic
tween Music and Possession. Chicago, 1985. A thorough
expression of collective emotion. In Central Africa, some
study, drawing on cross-cultural illustrations in the attempt-
peoples interpret rhythmic clapping as an exalted (and exalt-
ed formulation of a theory.
ing) modality of direct contact between the gods and the
Walker, Sheila. Ceremonial Spirit Possession in Africa and Afro-
human spirit. In Ifa divination practices common to West
America: Forms, Meanings, and Functional Significance for In-
Africa and Brazil, readings of positive signs by the babalawo
dividuals and Social Groups. Leiden, 1972. A social anthropo-
(diviner) provokes affirmation and rejoicing in the form of
logical examination of possession phenomena combining in-
exuberant clapping.
sights from ethnography, biopsychological theory, and
Finally, in African American contexts, even the percus-
sociological and cultural perspectives, and referencing mate-
sion agent par excellence, the drum itself, is sometimes shifted
rials from Balinese and Zar cult possession as well as West
out of its role of time-keeping and rhythm-patterning to
Africa and the African diaspora in the Americas.
“drop bombs” (as jazz legend Max Roach used to say) of ex-
JAMES W. PERKINSON (2005)
clamation and fury.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Béhague, Gerard. “Patterns of Candomblé Music Performance:
PERFECTIBILITY. The etymology of the word perfect
An Afro-Brazilian Religious Setting.” In Performance Prac-
indicates the centrality of the idea of perfectibility in religion.
tice: Ethnomusicological Perspectives, edited by Gerard Bé-
Derived from the Latin per facere, the English word perfect
hague, pp. 222–254. Westport, Conn., 1984. Illustrates the
implies completion or being thoroughly made. Also the
functions of drums and other percussion in an African-
Greek word teleios is translated as “perfect,” and it lends to
related religion, providing detailed information on drums’
the concept the idea of attaining a goal or end (telos). Aristot-
sacralization and drummers’ social status within the group.
le saw human perfectibility as the capacity to achieve the goal
Béhague, Gerard. “Percussion and Noise.” In Encyclopedia of Reli-
of fulfilling or realizing one’s nature. Drawing on these defi-
gion, edited by Mircea Eliade, vol. 11. New York, 1987. A
nitions, we can say that perfection as the goal of actualizing
suggestive and succinct survey of uses of percussion and noise
across the globe.
the highest human potential plays an important role in
religion.
Deva, F. Chaitanya. Musical Instruments of India: Their History
and Development. Calcutta, 1978. A very comprehensive
Anders Nygren (1960) has described the dynamic of re-
study on Indian organology relating the history of musical
ligion as fourfold. First, religion reveals the eternal, the ulti-
instruments to many other relevant sources.
mate reality, which represents perfection in the sense of
Eliade, Mircea. Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy, translat-
wholeness, completeness, and integrity. Second, this revela-
ed by Willard R. Trask. Princeton, N.J., 1964. The classic
tion of a perfect ultimate reality throws into sharp relief the
text on shamanism; encyclopedic in its discussion and exam-
imperfect nature of humanity. The human predicament be-
ples.
comes visible in its separation from the eternally perfect.
Grebe, Maria Ester. “El Kultrún mapuche: Un microcosmo sim-
Third, religion seeks to provide a means of overcoming this
bólico.” Revista musical chilena 27 (July–December 1973):
separation. Having judged human nature to be radically im-
3–42. This study presents an excellent model of integration
perfect when compared with ultimate perfection, religion
of analysis of belief systems and symbolism as encapsulated
nevertheless declares that human beings are perfectible. Ways
in a ritual object.
of purification or atonement have been made known and can
Marks, Morton. “Uncovering Ritual Structures in Afro-American
be followed by the members of the religion. This affirmation
Music.” In Religious Movements in Contemporary America,
edited by Irving I. Zaretsky and Mark P. Leone,
of human perfectibility and the provision of means to
pp. 60–134. Princeton, N.J., 1974. A probing phenomeno-
achieve it stand at the heart of religion. As Nygren writes,
logical and philosophical exploration of “code-switching” in
“A religion which did not claim to make possible the meeting
Afro-disaporic rituals, including gospel preaching and samba
between the eternal and man, a religion which did not claim
and carnival dancing.
to be the bridge over an otherwise impassable gulf, would be
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PERFECTIBILITY
7039
a monstrosity” (p. 44). Religious traditions provide for the
this demand follows Jesus’ reformulation of the major com-
bridging of this gulf to take place in two opposite directions:
mandments, in which he requires inner purity, radical obedi-
either from the human side, by human initiative, or from the
ence to the spirit of the Law over and above the letter of the
divine side. The final characteristic of religion results from
Law. When Jesus summarized all the commandments with
this mediation between the human and the divine: religion
the two love commandments (Mt. 22:37–40), he also
makes possible the union of the soul with the eternal. Vari-
summed up the essence of this demand for perfection. He
ously phrased in different religious traditions, the perfectibil-
further described perfection in the same radical fashion in his
ity of human beings is realized by identification or union
dialogue with the young man who asked what he must do
with the perfection of the ultimate reality. This dynamic of
to gain eternal life (Mt. 19:16–21). When Jesus responded
religion as a means to perfection inheres in all religions but
that he must keep the commandments, the young man, re-
may be seen clearly in the biblical traditions of the West and
plying that he had kept them, asked what more he lacked.
in the Hindu and Buddhist traditions of the East.
Jesus answered by placing before him the radical demand of
PERFECTIBILITY IN BIBLICAL RELIGIONS. For the biblical
love: “If you would be perfect, go and sell what you own and
traditions, God represents perfection, the embodiment of all
give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.”
wisdom and virtue. God possesses transcendental and meta-
Although the New Testament seems clearly to demand
physical perfection. In the Middle Ages Anselm, archbishop
perfection as the way out of the human predicament, the
of Canterbury (1093–1109), declared God to be “that than
Christian tradition has debated at length the meaning of per-
which nothing greater can be conceived.” By contrast,
fection and the question of human perfectibility. Augustine
human beings are separated from and judged by this divine
questioned the possibility of human perfection for two rea-
perfection. When Isaiah saw the Lord seated upon his
sons. First, only God has perfection in an ontological sense;
throne, his response was to say, “Woe is me! For I am lost;
human beings are far lower in being and power. Second, be-
I am a man of unclean lips” (Is. 6:5). The Hebrew scriptures
cause of original sin, human beings cannot now even will fi-
depict this understanding of God’s perfection and man’s im-
nite perfection. It is the human predicament that a person
perfection in terms of the covenant. God is righteous and de-
cannot on his own fulfill the demands stated in Matthew
sires to establish his covenant with humanity. But, as the pri-
5:48 (quoted above). The only way that progress can be
meval history (Gn. 1–11) indicates, humanity, beginning
made toward moral perfection and salvation is by God’s
with Adam and Eve, was unrighteous and violated the cove-
grace. Without grace, people experience the situation that
nantal relationship. Eternally righteous and loving, God rees-
Paul described when he said, “I do not do the good I want,
tablishes his covenant with Abraham and the patriarchs. But
but the evil that I do not want” (Rom. 7:19). Thus, Augus-
even the chosen people continually fall short of the demands
tine held that such perfectibility as humans have results from
for perfection, as the Pentateuch shows. Later, the Hebrew
the prior action of God. God predetermines who shall re-
prophets declare that only God is holy, and all human beings
ceive salvation, but this predetermination does not obviate
have turned away from God.
human free will. Salvation is possible for those who receive
The New Testament and Christianity inherited and de-
grace, but full perfection lies beyond this life even for the
veloped this understanding of human nature as fallen, sinful,
saints. This view, placing the initiative for perfection on
or imperfect. The apostle Paul set the stage for much of later
God’s side, has its parallel in the Hebrew scriptures and in
Christian theology when he described human sin as having
Jewish tradition also. In his vision, Isaiah received purifica-
come “into the world through one man,” Adam. Whether
tion from one of the seraphim who touched his mouth with
taken literally or figuratively, the fall depicts the human con-
a burning coal (Is. 6:6–7).
dition. And when this condition is compared with the per-
Pelagius, a fifth-century English lay monk, questioned
fection revealed in Christ, Christians perceive the imperfec-
Augustine’s views, however, saying that God would not have
tion that is the human predicament.
commanded anything (i.e., perfection) that was impossible
Both the Hebrew scriptures and the New Testament,
for man to achieve. He was much more sanguine about the
however, proclaim that the human predicament can be re-
human exercise of free will to achieve perfection. This com-
solved; the fallen state need not be permanent since human
monsense approach has appealed to many Christians, and as
beings are perfectible. In the Torah, God’s desire to restore
R. N. Flew observes, the history of Christianity—and of the
the covenant with the Israelites indicates the possibility of
notion of perfectibility—can be told as the swing “between
rapprochement with the divine. This covenantal relationship
the extremes of Pelagianism and the extremes of dual predes-
is not something impossible for human beings; as Deuterono-
tination” (Flew, 1968, p. 99).
my says, “This commandment is not too hard for you, nei-
Thomas Aquinas agreed theologically with Augustine,
ther is it far off. . . . But the word is near you, it is in your
although he held out much more hope for human perfect-
mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it” (30:11–14).
ibility. Absolute perfection, he said, belongs to God alone
The New Testament attributes to Jesus the straightfor-
and cannot be possessed by human beings, but a lower per-
ward demand, “You, therefore, must be perfect [te-leioi] as
fection is not only possible but incumbent upon them. This
your heavenly father is perfect” (Mt. 5:48). In its context,
“evangelical perfection” involves removing all mortal sin and
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7040
PERFECTIBILITY
cultivating the love of God. It was with regard to this kind
grace and faith by following the commandments and “taking
of perfection that the Catholic church interpreted Jesus’ dia-
up the cross daily.”
logue with the young man (cited above) to imply two stan-
PERFECTIBILITY IN INDIAN RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS. Turn-
dards of virtuous conduct. The first consists in following the
ing from the West to the East, we find that the great religious
commandments, as the young man said he had done. This
traditions of Asia that began in India have affirmed human
is the standard for ordinary virtue and salvation. Jesus’ re-
perfectibility in similiar ways. The Hindu tradition has
sponse, “If you would be perfect . . . ,” sets out a higher
taught that absolute perfection represents the nature of the
standard, a “counsel of perfection” for those who wish to en-
ultimate reality. The Hindus who composed the Upanis:ads
sure salvation by works of supererogation. The church tradi-
(c. 800 BCE) reflected on brahman, the Absolute, the source
tionally interpreted these counsels of perfection to imply the
of the universe. Brahman transcends the world and yet is also
vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.
immanent in all things in the world. The Upanisadic think-
Within Christianity, this distinction between spiritual
ers described its perfection positively by saying that it is
foot soldiers and a spiritual elite provided the constitution
higher than the “great” and higher than even the “unmani-
for the anchorite and monastic movements. Mystics and as-
fest.” Mainly, however, the Upanisadic thinkers described
cetics of various kinds have flourished in the Christian tradi-
brahman by negation, “neti neti,” saying brahman is “not
tion alongside mainstream Christianity. The quest of the
this, not this.” Because it transcends the world, it cannot be
mystics was the quest for perfection, both in the sense of free-
described by any terms—even positive ones—appropriate to
dom from sin and, even more important, in the sense of the
worldly things. Later theistic Hindus, for example the author
contemplation of and union with God. Renouncing the
of the Bhagavadg¯ıta¯, adapted this language to describe deities
body, they frequently employed severe asceticism to subdue
such as Kr:s:n:a as “unborn, beginningless” and generally
the desires of the flesh. John of the Cross, for example, wore
splendid to a degree that human beings could not com-
knotted ropes under his clothing in his quest for the vision
prehend.
of God.
The Buddhists, although they discarded the notion of
a deity, took over the idea of a transcendent absolute. This
The Reformation marked a swing of the Christian pen-
absolute can be seen as either nirva¯n:a, the blissful state of
dulum away from Pelagianism and back toward predestina-
transcendent enlightenment, or as dharma, the truth that
tion. Martin Luther developed a radically theocentric theolo-
both underlies and transcends all existence.
gy in which human salvation as well as perfection depend on
the grace of God. For Luther, free will could not be regarded
In comparison with this perfect absolute, human beings,
as a means to perfection because human beings, in their fall-
according to the Hindu and Buddhist traditions, lack perfec-
en state, had only self-will, which was alienated from God.
tion in three ways. First, they lack perfection in wisdom: they
John Calvin also regarded humanity as totally alienated from
do not comprehend the absolute and their relation to it. For
God and unable to do anything on its own to achieve perfec-
Hinduism, especially in the Vedanta tradition, this means
tion. Calvin and the other reformers, however, still believed
that individuals do not know that they too are one with brah-
that humanity reflected the image of God and was thus per-
man. Second, human beings lack perfection in action: be-
fectible by God’s grace. In this world, however, even with
cause they have a wrong perception of reality, people act in
grace, one can do no more than make progress toward perfec-
ways that are contrary to the absolute truth. The term kar-
tion, for final perfection can come only in the afterlife or in
man denotes for both the Hindu and Buddhist traditions this
the Kingdom. Modern Protestant theologians have tended
idea of action. Karman, or action, whether positive or nega-
to reaffirm these reformers’ views of perfectibility. Reinhold
tive, is based on desire and generates a causal force that must
Niebuhr, for example, wrote, “The ethical demands of Jesus
come to fruition. Finally, because of karman and its conse-
are incapable of fulfillment in the present existence of man
quences, human beings lack perfection in their existence:
. . . their final fulfillment is possible only when God trans-
they are bound up in cycles of sam:sa¯ra, or reincarnation. In
mutes the present chaos of this world into its final unity” (An
these cycles they are separated from the absolute reality.
Interpretation of Christian Ethics, 1936, p. 56).
Despite humanity’s threefold imperfection, the Indian
The most significant exception to the Protestant Refor-
traditions hold that perfectibility is possible. For the Hindus,
mation’s reluctance to accept perfectibility was pronounced
human beings are perfectible because, although they may not
by John Wesley. Preaching in eighteenth-century England,
be aware of it, ultimately they are sparks of the divine or
Wesley placed perfection at the center of his theology. He
drops of water from the infinite ocean. The human soul
based Methodism on the idea that all Christians should strive
(a¯tman) is one with the Absolute (brahman). In the Buddhist
for perfection in this life. By perfection he seems to have
tradition, human perfectibility stands as the basic presuppo-
meant primarily evangelical or ethical perfection, but, at
sition for all of the Buddha’s teachings. He told people to
times, he also described it as an absolute perfection that
“be refuges for themselves” and to “work out your liberation
unites one with the love of God. Wesley was not a Pelagian,
with diligence” (D¯ıgha Nika¯ya 2.100, 2.120). Those who did
however: he believed that perfection came only by grace
so, he proclaimed, could reach their highest human potential
through faith. But he held that Christians must seek that
just as the arhats, or Perfected Ones, had.
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7041
To bridge the gulf to perfection, the Hindu and Bud-
The Buddhist tradition also knows paths to perfection
dhist traditions set out various paths, some requiring human
and liberation that depend on extra-human grace rather than
initiative, others requiring divine action. In the Hindu tradi-
human initiative. The most striking example of this kind of
tion, human initiative is required to follow the two paths
path is found in the Pure Land sect of Maha¯ya¯na Buddhism,
called karma-ma¯rga, the path of action, and jña¯na-ma¯rga, the
with its worship of the Buddha Amida. Buddhist teachers
path of wisdom. Karma-ma¯rga, expounded and popularized
such as Ho¯nen and Shinran in Japan proclaimed that since
by the Bhagavadg¯ıta¯, requires that people perform their ac-
in this age the meditative path to purification was too diffi-
tions in life without attachment. By so doing, they will free
cult for most people, people must rely on the grace of Amida
themselves from karman and desire. Jña¯na-ma¯rga represents
Buddha. They taught people the mantra “Namu Amida
the classic Hindu path of meditation to achieve the wisdom
Butsu,” which invokes the mercy of Amida, as the only re-
that overcomes separation from the Absolute. With its coun-
quirement for salvation. As in Christianity, debates have
sels of asceticism and solitary meditation, this path resembles
raged within Pure Land Buddhism over the relationship
the way of the mystics in the biblical traditions. The early
between divine grace and human effort in the process of
Buddhists’ path follows this model of meditation.
salvation.
Buddhism, especially in its South Asian forms, divided
To sum up: human perfectibility represents an ideal
the path to perfection or purification into three stages: ´s¯ıla,
central to Asian and Western religious traditions. Perfectibil-
ethical conduct; sama¯dhi, concentration; and prajña¯ (Pali,
ity signifies the possibility of transcending the human predic-
pañña¯), wisdom. These constitute a gradual path to perfec-
ament of separation from the perfection of the ultimate reali-
tion that a person can pursue over many lifetimes. At the first
ty. In religious traditions, perfectibility involves ethical
stage, the Buddhists said, a person must develop his ethical
purification but goes beyond that to some degree of absolute
conduct by refraining from killing, stealing, and lying, as
perfection in harmony with the ultimate reality. Most Asian
well as by abstaining from wrong sexual conduct and from
and biblical traditions maintain that human beings progress
intoxicants. Further, Buddhist ethical conduct, as spelled out
gradually toward the ideal of perfection although some have
in elaborate lists of precepts incumbent upon monks, nuns,
declared that more rapid or sudden progress is possible.
and the laity, required “right livelihood”: following a way of
Many Christian theologians have held that perfection can
life that brings no harm to oneself or others. The highest
never be fully realized in this life, while Indian thinkers have
form of ethical conduct, Buddhists taught, consists in con-
viewed the process of reincarnation as the context for perfect-
trolling not only one’s outer actions but also one’s inner
ibility.
desires.
The second aspect of the Buddhist path is sama¯dhi,
SEE ALSO Arhat; Free Will and Predestination; EIs:mah;
trance, or, more properly, concentration. At this stage, the
Maha¯siddhas; Pelagianism; Sainthood; Tatha¯gata; Wala¯yah;
Zhenren.
Buddhist, having already controlled his conduct, seeks to
control and calm his mind. The mind is focused on “one
point” so that it may be trained to sever its attachments to
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Anders Nygren’s Essence of Christianity: Two Essays (London,
the world. The culmination of sama¯dhi comes in the devel-
1960) analyzes the structure of religion in a way that illumi-
opment of the dhya¯nas (Pali, jha¯nas), or higher trance states.
nates the importance of perfectibility. Two books particular-
Finally, the advanced follower reaches the stage of the devel-
ly trace the notion of perfectibility in the West: John Pass-
opment of wisdom (prajña¯) in meditation. Here, the Bud-
more’s The Perfectibility of Man (London, 1970) examines
dhist achieves perfection by overcoming ignorance and see-
the history of the idea from the Greeks to modern science,
ing the truth, dharma. The attainment of wisdom represents
while R. N. Flew’s The Idea of Perfection in Christian Theolo-
the highest human potential, and Buddhists proclaim that
gy (New York, 1968) restricts its scope to Christian theology.
the Buddha and countless arhats have achieved this state,
The history of the idea of perfectibility in Asian religions has
called nirva¯n:a. Buddhist descriptions of these perfected indi-
not been written, but two books provide a comparison of
viduals declare that they overcame such imperfections as
Asian and Western concepts: Shanta Ratnayaka’s Two Ways
of Perfection: Christian and Buddhist
(Colombo, 1978) com-
egocentricity, desire, sensuality, doubt, pride, and, finally,
pares Therava¯da Buddhist thought with the theology of John
ignorance.
Wesley, and the anthology Sainthood in World Religions, ed-
Despite an emphasis on individual initiative, the Bud-
ited by George D. Bond and Richard Kieckhefer (Berkeley,
dhist and Hindu traditions also set forth ways to perfection
1985), surveys notions of the perfected individual in the
comparable to the Christian notion of grace. Among the
major religious traditions.
Hindus, the way of bhakti, or devotion to a deity, represents
GEORGE D. BOND (1987 AND 2005)
an important example of this path to perfection and salva-
tion. In the Bhagavadg¯ıta¯, Kr:s:n:a, the divine embodiment of
perfection, declares that if a person will worship and love
him, that person will be united with him. For millions of
PERFORMANCE AND RITUAL. Theater, dance,
Hindus, devotion constitutes the most accessible and plausi-
drama, dance drama, dance theater, and similar activities
ble path to perfection.
known by other terms that vary according to language and
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PERFORMANCE AND RITUAL
historical circumstance are universal. Unless otherwise speci-
tures, dance steps, and music disappear, the scholarly empha-
fied, herein the term ritual refers to both secular and sacred
sis has been on the visual arts of these caves. But these places
rituals. Performance is an inclusive term meaning the activi-
of such difficult access and long-term use were certainly not
ties of actors, dancers, musicians, and their spectators and au-
art museums or silent ceremonial centers. In some caves,
diences. Theater, dance, and music are equivalent terms, each
footprints are found in a circular pattern indicating dancing.
referring to a specific genre of performance. Theater empha-
Also surviving are bone and ivory pieces that were probably
sizes narrative, dance emphasizes movement, and music em-
percussive musical instruments. Caves and rock shelters in
phasizes sound. Performance may also be understood as “re-
every habitable continent attest to the ancient, worldwide,
stored behavior,” the organized re-enactment of mythic or
and persistent presence of human ritual performing arts.
actual events as well as the role-playing of religious, political,
professional, familial, and social life.
These performance spaces—simultaneously theaters,
shrines, pilgrimage destinations, and temples, hidden in the
Performances have occurred among all the world’s peo-
earth and illuminated by torch—almost certainly were sites
ples from the dawn of human cultures. Dancing, singing,
for rituals concerning hunting and fertility, which have long
wearing masks and costumes; impersonating other people,
been closely associated. For example, among the hunters of
animals, or supernaturals (or being possessed by these oth-
the Kalahari Desert, traditionally when a large animal is
ers); acting stories, retelling the hunt; re-presenting alterna-
taken, a brief ritual entreats the gods to replenish the game.
tive histories; rehearsing and preparing special places and
As it is with animals, so it is also with humans. The erotic
times for these presentations—these are all coexistent with
temple sculptures at Konarak (thirteenth century, located in
the human condition. Concrete archaeological evidence of
Orissa, India) are but one example among many of the join-
performances date at least from Paleolithic times. Whether
ing together of fertility/sexuality, dancing, and music. This
to categorize these first performances as ritual or entertain-
ancient and abiding association of the performing arts with
ment is an unanswerable problem. Most likely, these perfor-
sexuality is one of the reasons churches and governments
mances functioned as both ritual and entertainment. In fact,
have tried to repress performers as the fine line between licit
all known performances incorporate both ritual and enter-
and illicit celebrations of fertility is often crossed. Perhaps the
tainment. Throughout historical time, based on archaeologi-
illicit suggests the dangerous, the concealed, the difficult of
cal as well as anthropological evidence, both secular and sa-
access. These kinds of performances would focus a group’s
cred rituals have usually involved one or more of the
material resources, employ the skills of its performance, artis-
performance genres of theater, dance, and music. These ritu-
tic, and religious specialists while also transforming, educat-
al performances are not only efficacious, but they are also
ing, and entertaining the participants.
often beautiful and pleasure-giving: Efficacy, pleasure, and
aesthetics are tightly bound to each other in performances.
The difficulty of access to many of the Paleolithic per-
formance sites indicates a secrecy surrounding the shows.
Furthermore, ritual performances have an economic as-
This practice of rationing ritual performance knowledge con-
pect and impact on the communities enacting them. In pre-
tinues in the twenty-first century. Many performance spe-
modern, as well as modern and postmodern societies, a siz-
cialists guard not only what they do but how they do it. Se-
able proportion of a community’s wealth, time, and energy
cret techniques are passed on within a family as, for example,
is dedicated to ritual performances. The performers and ar-
in Japanese No¯ (an aesthetic form of theater with roots in
rangers of rituals are paid for their services either directly or
farming rituals, Buddhism, and Shinto¯ that reached its peak
indirectly. Although some ritual performances take place in
in the fourteenth century) or the lifelong pledges of adher-
simple, even private spaces, many others are pointedly enact-
ence to the faith, guild, or tribe required before a neophyte
ed in a grand manner in spectacular venues. Erecting and
is taught the techniques and tricks of the craft or the dances
maintaining these venues is an expensive undertaking. Ritual
and songs of the community, often associated with initiation
centers are also frequently commercial centers—the market,
rites. This secrecy, which also guarantees a strong line of oral
the money-changers, and the church have long shared neigh-
transmission, may partly explain the continuity of basic per-
borhoods, each benefiting from the presence of the other.
formance conventions from Paleolithic times to the twenty-
Many ritual sites are truly multipurpose locations and con-
first century. But along with this conservatism, ritual perfor-
structions, like traditional performing arts centers. One need
mances also bring about, as the anthropologist Victor Turner
think only of the uses of such world-renowned edifices and
emphasized, individual and social change—what is conserva-
public spaces as the pyramids of Egypt or Mexico, the Boro-
tive procedurally can be radical in terms of consciousness, in-
budur temple complex of Cambodia, or the Mall of Wash-
dividual behavior, and social process and structure.
ington, D.C.
THE EFFICACY–ENTERTAINMENT DYAD. Ritual emphasizes
PALEOLITHIC PERFORMANCES. Performance and ritual were
efficacy—getting something done (e.g., a prayer answered,
conjoined at the very earliest periods of human cultures.
a god propitiated). Entertainment emphasizes the pleasur-
Dancers, musicians, shamans, actors, painters, and sculptors
able and aesthetic qualities of a performance. One can depict
used the caves of southwest Europe as long ago as thirty
the distinction between efficacious (ritual) performances and
thousand years. Because paint and stone endure, whereas ges-
entertainment (aesthetic) performances as a binary:
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PERFORMANCE AND RITUAL
7043
Efficacy–Ritual
Entertainment–Aesthetic
most important figures, both human and divine, are trans-
formed into shared living deeds by means of performance.
Human and nonhuman
audience
Human audience
The Mass is not only a source of medieval and Renaissance
European theater, but also is itself inherently theatrical. To
Audience participates
Audience observes
make a pilgrimage, to light candles, to offer food, to sing or
Audience believes
Audience appreciates
chant prayers, to “fall out” in a trance in the aisles of a
church, or to be “ridden” by a Yoruba orisha are all perfor-
Serving the divine
Serving the market
mances, as are the nearly silent meditations of Buddhist
Eternal present
Historical time
monks seated on cushions in a Kyoto temple. The participa-
tory gestures of different religions—circumambulating
Revealed truths
Invented fictions
(walking around) the KaEbah at Mecca, making the sign of
Transformation possible
Transformation unlikely
the cross, eating matzoh and bitter herb during Passover
Trance possession
Self-awareness
Seder—are each performances. Particularly among especially
African and Asian religions, the performing arts are highly
Nonrepresentational roles Character roles
regarded and enthusiastically practiced. Through perfor-
Virtuosity downplayed
Virtuosity valued
mance, superhuman beings and forces manifest themselves.
In the western hemisphere, where African religions not only
Collective creativity
Individual creativity
thrive on their own but have also fused with Christianity, a
Criticism discouraged
Criticism flourishes
vital part of religious services consists of performing: vivid
However, efficacy and entertainment are not opposites,
preaching infused with enacted storytelling, individual and
but rather they are dancing partners along a continuum con-
choral singing, trance dancing, healing by means of laying
necting each of the above qualities. Ritual performances tend
on of hands, and individual testimony.
toward the efficacy end of the continuum, and aesthetic per-
Frequently, worship, theater, dance, music, and healing
formances tend toward the entertainment end. But all ritual
overlap. Many secular performances include a sacral dimen-
performances have some aesthetic qualities, and all aesthetic
sion, and almost all sacred activities involve performing. In
performances have some ritual qualities.
India this connection is rooted in the fundamental religious–
At any given point in time, in every part of the world,
aesthetic belief that performing is an offering to the gods and
and in every culture, people were, and are, making dance,
that daily reality is itself a l¯ıla¯ (performance). While the
music, and theater. People use performances for a variety of
Hindu god S´iva dances his Tandava, the present existence
purposes, including ritual, community building, healing,
continues—the known world is S´iva’s dance. In the Vaishna-
making money, and socializing. These functions operate as
vite tradition, the incarnations of the god Vis:h:u (especially
dynamic tensions and creative interactions between efficacy
Ra¯ma and Kr:s:n:a) manifest themselves in annual theatrical
and entertainment.
performances of the Ra¯ma-l¯ıla¯s and Ras-l¯ıla¯. From ancient
V
times until the middle decades of the twentieth century,
ARIETIES OF PERFORMANCE. Performance and ritual inter-
relate in a myriad of combinations: in initiations and sha-
devada¯s¯ıs (servants of God) danced in the temples to enter-
manic healings and exorcisms; in public sacred and secular
tain the deities. On special annual occasions, gods are carried
ceremonies such as the Mass celebrated in St. Peter’s Square
through the streets where ordinary people admire and wor-
(or in any number of humbler parishes), the inauguration of
ship them. During Durga¯ Puja celebrating the goddess
the American president or the installation of a judge, the
Durga¯’s victory over the the buffalo demon Mahiasura, mil-
Hindu temple service, the daily facing to Mecca of Muslims,
lions of clay Durga¯s are created by artists and common peo-
and the raising and lowering of the national flag in Mexico
ple alike. After worshiping and parading these mu¯rtis (images
City’s Zocalo; in great cycle plays, parades, and public cele-
of the divine), they are immersed in the sacred Ganges River
brations of power; and in the daily rituals that individuals
or in the ocean where they dissolve.
perform to maintain the continuity of their individual, fami-
In West Africa and in the African diaspora, the deities—
ly, and professional roles. There are ritual performances, ritu-
loas and òrìs:à —possess, or “mount,” adepts in the trance
als in performances, the ritual frames separating performance
dances and dramatic performances of the Ge:le:de:, vodou,
reality from the ordinary, and the ritual process underlying
Camdomblé, and Umbanda. In Native American cultures,
how performances are made. There is also the conscious in-
performance and religion are also completely in harmony
vention of new rituals, a postmodern attempt to sacralize or-
with each other. Many of these traditions also fuse indige-
dinary experience.
nous and Christian practices. The Yaqui of the Sonoran De-
The ways performance permeates religious ceremony is
sert enact a yearly six-week passion play combining Native
obvious. Ritual, as Émile Durkheim (1858–1917) noted in
American and European ritual performance traditions. An-
1915, is a “doing,” and therefore inherently performative.
nually in the Jewish tradition, H:asidim mask and take to the
Universally, music, dance, storytelling, and dramatic enact-
streets to perform Purim plays (Purimshpil), which tell the
ment are at the core of observances. The acts of a religion’s
Bible story of Esther’s triumph over Haman. Examples such
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7044
PERFORMANCE AND RITUAL
as these can be drawn from all parts of the world, from every
often bitterly opposed—and in some instances, still op-
inhabited place. Obviously, ritual masking, dancing, music
pose—the visual arts and theater. The theater is especially
making, and storytelling by means of theater is a universal
distrusted because it is mimetic whereas music and dance
phenomenon. Throughout the world, rituals are made from
may not be. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam share a com-
all the varieties of aesthetic performance. Both practically
mon root in the Old Testament in which it is written that
and theoretically, it is not possible to think about ritual ex-
no one should make a graven image of god. In the West, this
cept as a category of performance.
injunction has been reinforced by a philosophical antipathy
to the visual arts and theater that goes back to Plato’s Repub-
Theater flourishes even among traditions that officially
lic, composed in Athens in the fifth century BCE at the close
reject it. The popular theater of the Middle East (Turkey and
of the first great age of Western theater. The Greek philoso-
Iran, in particular) is rich in a variety of both human and
pher wanted to chase all visual, poetic, and theatrical artists
puppet forms. Indonesia, the world’s most populous Islamic
from his ideal republic. Plato’s arguments were later elaborat-
nation, abounds with masked, live, and puppet theater and
ed and ingrained into church doctrine by Tertullian (North
dance—many of which are both rituals and entertainments.
Africa writer, c. 200 CE) and Augustine of Hippo (354–430).
The taEziyah of the Sh¯ıE¯ı Muslims is an intense religious ritu-
Their ideas, in turn, have operated, sometimes strongly and
al and passion play that reenacts in bloody detail the martyr-
sometimes more mildly, throughout Western history and, by
dom at Karbala (in Iraq) of H:usayn, the grandson of the
means of colonialism and globalization, in all areas of the
prophet Muh:ammad. So involved are taEziyah audiences that
world. Despite their condemnation of the theater, both Plato
many spectators weep and flail themselves in sympathy with
and Augustine were passionately involved in it. Plato’s dia-
H:usayn’s fate. Among Muslim mystics, the legendary danc-
logues are philosophical dramas, and Augustine the saint re-
ing of the Mevlevis (known in the west as the “whirling der-
pented Augustine the avid theatergoer.
vishes”) arose in Anatolia under the inspiration of the poetic-
religious philosophy of the thirteenth-century S:u¯f¯ı sage
Plato argued that the arts are doubly removed from ulti-
Jala¯ludd¯ın Ru¯m¯ı (known also as Mawlana). The intentions
mate truth and are mere shadows cast on the wall of the cave
and mood of Mevlevi dancing is something like that of the
of human ignorance. But underneath his philosophical argu-
Shakers, a Christian religious sect of the nineteenth and
ment, an authoritarian political and ideological program is
twentieth centuries. However, by no means are all perfor-
operating. Plato felt that the arts of representation in general,
mances in the Islamic world sacred. In Iran, alongside
and theater in particular, are dangerous because they enact
taEziyah is ru-huzi, a slapstick folk theater with connections
alternative realities that may be in conflict with those of the
to both commedia dell’arte and the popular theater of north
established political and philosophical authorities. Thus, it
India. Paradoxically, wayang kulit, the leather shadow pup-
is not only that the performing arts are dangerous, but also
petry of Indonesia, enacts stories from the Sanskrit-Hindu
that (and perhaps more important) they are extremely pow-
epics Ra¯ma¯yan:a and Maha¯bha¯rata to delighted, devout Mus-
erful persuaders of opinion and arousers of feelings. The es-
lim audiences. The dalang, the puppeteer, is both an enter-
tablished authorities wish to control these powerful media
tainer and a shaman, who is sometimes called on to perform
and employ them for their own uses. What in tribal settings
for sheer pleasure and sometimes to accompany life-cycle rit-
is the preservation of the secrecy of rites becomes in Judaism,
uals and important public events.
Christianity, and Islam—religions with historical and ideo-
logical similarities—a dedicated program of maintaining a
In India itself, the prejudice against theater voiced by
monopoly of performance techniques.
the Manusm¨ti (second century CE) is more than overcome
by the enormously influential Na¯t:ya S´a¯stra of Bha¯rata Muni
Western and Islamic religious leaders have not treated
(dates vary from second century BCE to second century CE).
the performing arts equally. They have been most uneasy
If anything, Hinduism is biased in favor of performance. The
about theater, ambivalent about dance, but friendly to
whole creation is in fact theorized as performance. Some-
music. Theater is censored because it can be subversive;
times this is expressed in the metaphor of S´iva’s tandava
dance, when not closely managed as among the Shakers, can
dance; sometimes it is worked out in the well-developed the-
be (sexually) immoral. Music, being abstract, can most easily
ory of ma¯ya¯-l¯ıla¯ (terms meaning illusion and play). In
suit the ceremony at hand and is generally accepted by West-
ma¯ya¯-l¯ıla¯, the cosmos is a theatrical event, the play of the
ern and Islamic religious authorities.
gods. In this theory, human performing arts are models of
the reality of the cosmos—plays within the larger play of ex-
Still, despite all suspicions and condemnations, Western
istence. Thus Hinduism enjoys a profusion of dance, music,
churches and branches of Islam have used theater and dance.
and theater.
A somewhat parallel example to the taEziyah are the great
cycle plays of medieval Europe, which performed a complete
The anti-theatrical prejudice. The situation in the
history of humankind from the creation and the fall in the
West and in Islam is full of irony. The reasons for this anti-
Garden of Eden to the flood, the coming of Christ and his
theatrical prejudice are many, varying according to social cir-
crucifixion, on to the Last Judgment. Beginning at dawn and
cumstances and historical period. The codifiers and inter-
going until dusk, the performances took place in the streets,
preters of Judaic, Christian, and Islamic traditions and laws
while richly detailed scenes mounted on wagons proceeded
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PERFORMANCE AND RITUAL
7045
along fixed routes. The enactments were replete with angels,
Waehma takes place everywhere in a Yaqui town: in the
devils, hellmouth, and Eden. Various cycles consisted of a
church, in the plaza, in private households, and along the
number of individual plays. For example, at York, England,
Konti Vo’o. Although the Chapayekam are successful in cap-
in 1554, fifty-seven plays were put on at twelve to sixteen
turing and killing Jesus, they are unable to impose their rule
locations. These extraordinary cycles arose out of a conflu-
permanently on the church or the people. On Holy Saturday
ence of the Mass, the Quem quaeritis trope (a tenth-century
morning, the Chapayekam and the Soldiers of Rome attempt
Easter drama), and popular entertainments that never died
to recapture Jesus, whose resurrected figure has been placed
out from Roman times and whose shamanistic origins date
on the altar. Three times they storm the church. From inside
back to prehistory. The cycles peaked in the fourteenth
the church the little angels rush forward to beat the attackers
through sixteenth centuries. Although most were extin-
with their sticks. Close by the Deer and the Matachins dance
guished by the Renaissance, some remnants persisted, not
while the Pascolas throw flower petals on the attackers. The
only in the famed performances that take place every ten
flowers, which are sacred to the Yaqui, represent both the
years in Oberammergau, Germany, but also among Native
blood of Jesus and the sacred huya aniya, the desert “flower
American and Hispanic peoples who have fused European
world” of the Yaqui. Each time the Chapayekam and the Sol-
traditions with indigenous performance practices.
diers of Rome are driven back they are further weakened by
the power of the flowers, the dancing, and the vigorous
THE YAQUI WAEHMA. The Yaqui of the Sierra Madre and
clanging of the church bell. The defense of the Yaqui village
Sonoran Desert of northwestern Mexico and the southwest-
is a complete cacophony-synthesis of Native American and
ern United States celebrate a six-week Lenten cycle play that
European cultures. Finally defeated, the Chapayekam throw
fuses native American and European elements. The Waehma
off their masks, and the Chapayekam and the Soldiers of
begins at Lent and intensifies week by week, climaxing on
Rome are transformed, liberated themselves from the awe-
Good Friday and Holy Saturday. Waehma retells the story
some holy work they have dedicated themselves to perform
of Christ’s passion in Yaqui terms. It incorporates indigenous
annually. After casting their masks on the pyre, the Yaqui
performance techniques into the religious theater brought
men rush back into the church to kneel in thanks before the
from Europe by the Jesuits in the seventeenth and eighteenth
altar. At this point, the year’s greatest fiesta commences, con-
centuries. Much of what the Yaqui of northwestern Mexico
tinuing long into Saturday night. The Deer, Pascolas, and
and the southwestern United States perform took shape dur-
Matachins dance; other native dances and entertainments are
ing the century after 1767, when the Jesuits were withdrawn
also featured. The people eat their fill. Not until Easter Sun-
from the New World.
day morning Mass does an official representative of the
Waehma consists of many episodes and observances en-
Roman Catholic Church appear.
acted over the six-week span from Lent to Easter. The story
CARNIVALS. Like Waehma, carnivals mark the Easter season.
focuses on the actions of masked figures called Chapayekam
But unlike Waehma, carnivals do not enact the passion or the
who join the Soldiers of Rome—a group of up to fifty men
resurrection directly. They collapse ritual time, as they simul-
dressed in black—in the pursuit and crucifixion of Jesus. The
taneously struggle against Lenten prohibitions and predict
Chapayekam wear helmet masks similar to those of the Zuni
Easter’s life-returning fertility. To some degree, carnivals
and other tribal peoples of the Sonoran Desert and adjoining
may be classified as antireligious religious performances, be-
areas. Their ritual practices, which includes farce and parody,
cause they could not exist without being in oppositional ref-
are similar to those of other Native American tribal nations.
erence to religious and civil authorities. But, at the same
On Good Friday, a large group of wailing women, including
time, there is much going on that is officially sanctioned,
the Marys, follow Jesus—represented by an eighteen-inch
well-organized, and tourist-friendly.
figure—around the stations of the cross, which the Yaqui call
the Konti Vo’o. At the eleventh cross, the symbolic Christ is
Carnivals are characterized by an exuberant outburst of
tied to a cross as nails are driven into the figure’s “flesh.” The
public and private masking, partying, dancing, parading,
Christ figure is then taken into the church, which is occupied
music making, and drinking. Taking over the streets during
by the Chapayekam and the Soldiers of Rome. Later that
the days before Lent, carnivals are a tumultuous acting out
night, Jesus is resurrected and the church is liberated. The
of permitted festivity, inebriation, and lewdness that, tradi-
Chapayekam and the Soldiers of Rome are infuriated. They
tionally, yield to a season of sorrow ultimately redeemed by
set out to recover Jesus and recapture the church. On Holy
the resurrection. Carnivals are celebrated primarily in Europe
Saturday morning the climatic battle takes place that pits the
and the Western Hemisphere, but their performance prac-
Chapayekam and the Soldiers of Rome against the forces of
tices in the New World and West Indian diasporic commu-
good represented by sacred Deer and Pascola (ritual clowns)
nities include elements from Africa, Asia, and Native Ameri-
dancers, Matachin dancers (a dance society of men and boys),
ca. Taken as a whole, the carnival complex is a ritual
and “little angels” (i.e., Yaqui children armed with cotton-
performance of great magnitude. Days or weeks are spent
wood switches). The Deer and Pascolas are unique to the
celebrating as the festivities take over entire cities. In Trini-
Yaqui and allied native peoples; the Matachins derive from
dad, after months of preparations in the neighborhoods, a
Europe.
large stadium is filled for several nights to witness fierce com-
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7046
PERFORMANCE AND RITUAL
petitions that award prizes for the best masks, calypsos, and
Ra¯ma-l¯ıla¯ press the feet of Ra¯ma and S¯ıta¯ and gratefully re-
steel-drum bands.
ceive blessed lotus blossoms and tulasi leaves from them.
Carnivals have multiple roots, depending on the specific
Most Ra¯ma-l¯ıla¯s are performed over a span of six to
carnival. European carnivals combine Roman, pagan, and
twenty-one daily episodes, each called a l¯ıla¯ (the play or sport
Christian elements; Western Hemispheric carnivals such as
of the gods) staged in simple locations within a local neigh-
those in Trinidad, Rio de Janeiro, and New Orleans (i.e.,
borhood. The Ramnagar Ra¯ma-l¯ıla¯ is unique because it ex-
Mardi Gras) fuse African performance traditions with Euro-
tends for thirty-one episodes that are meticulously staged in
pean and, to a lesser degree, Native American and Asian. The
full-scale environments deployed over many square miles
Trinidad carnival is also widely celebrated by members of the
and incorporating all the town of Ramnagar. On big days—
West Indian diaspora in New York, Toronto, London, and
such as when Ra¯ma wins S¯ıta¯’s hand in marriage by lifting
elsewhere. Because these diasporic carnivals are celebrated in
and then breaking S´iva’s bow, or when Ra¯ma slays his princi-
the summer, detached from the church calendar, can they
ple antagonist (the ten-headed demon king Ra¯van:a)—the
still be considered ritual performances? They do not signal
crowds at Ramnagar Ra¯ma-l¯ıla¯ swell to eighty thousand.
the onset of Lent, but in every other quality they express the
These spectators include a broad cross-section of the regional
meanings of carnival. In fact, the diasporic carnivals prove
population ranging from farmers, urban laborers, storekeep-
the non- or pre-Christian core of this kind of celebration: a
ers, and professionals to itinerant sa¯dhus (holy men) devoted
rebellion against authority resulting in a temporary triumph
to Ra¯ma and S¯ıta¯. The multitudes come for darshan of the
of excess.
swarups, a ritually beneficial view of the gods-on-earth. They
also attend to watch a drama and enjoy the mela (fair) that
The Trinidad Carnival emerged in the nineteenth cen-
arises next to the Ra¯ma-l¯ıla¯ sites. At the mela, people enjoy
tury from the celebrations of liberated African slaves em-
the many snack stands, games, and a wide variety of items
bodying African ways and values and the carnival traditions
for sale.
of Catholic Europe as carried to the Caribbean by Spanish
and French planters and slave owners. Ironically, the Trini-
The Ramnagar Ra¯ma-l¯ıla¯’s principal spectator is the
dad Carnival is a celebration of former slaves and former
Ma¯hara¯ja¯ of Banaras, who oversees the ritual drama while
masters enjoying—and to some degree satirizing—each
atop his royal elephant, riding in a black carriage drawn by
other’s cultural heritages. As the Trinidad Carnival continues
a pair of horses, or from his vintage Cadillac. The Ma¯hara¯ja¯
to develop in the twenty-first century, its cultural complexity
attends all but three of the episodes. He does not watch the
multiplies to include—and rebroadcast to the world-at-
argument between King Dasaratha and Queen Kaikeyi that
large—musical and visual performance languages that are of
leads to Ra¯ma’s exile, the kidnapping of S¯ıta¯, or the climax
an Afro-Caribbean, Euro-Caribbean, South Asian, and glob-
of the story when Ra¯ma slays the demon king Ra¯van:a. Of
al nature.
these absences, Ma¯hara¯ja¯ Vibhuti Narain Singh (1927–
2000) said, “It is only a rule, not a tradition, so I sometimes
THE RA¯MA-L¯ILA¯ OF RAMNAGAR. A rich example of the fusion
break the rule” (Schechner, 1985, 193). His son and succes-
of ritual and theater is the Ra¯ma-l¯ıla¯ of Ramnagar, Uttar Pra-
sor, Ananda Narain Singh, has continued this tradition. Re-
desh, India. Thousands of Ra¯ma-l¯ıla¯s are performed annually
garded by the people of Varanasi as an incarnation of S´iva,
throughout the Hindi language belt of north India. But the
the Maharaja enacts one principle Hindu deity worshiping
Ramnagar Ra¯ma-l¯ıla¯, sponsored and personally overseen by
another. Although the Maharaja’s role is found neither in the
the Maharaja of Banaras, is recognized by Indians to be in
Ra¯ma¯yan:a nor the Ramcaritmanas, during the final several
a class by itself because of its scale, its deeply devotional qual-
episodes, he actively participates in the Ra¯ma-l¯ıla¯ as a per-
ities, and the theatrical detail of its staging, singing, and act-
former. He enters the drama as a king and god inviting
ing. Ra¯ma-l¯ıla¯s, in some ways like the Waehma, are cycle
Ra¯ma, his queen S¯ıta¯, and his brothers Bharat, Lakshman,
plays dramatizing the life and acts of Ra¯ma, the seventh in-
and Shatrughna to a feast in the inner courtyard of the Fort,
carnation of Vis:n:u, as related first in Valmiki’s Sanskrit epic,
an enormous, if somewhat rundown, palace constructed in
the Ra¯ma¯yan:a, and in Tulasidas’ sixteenth-century Hindi re-
the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries along the banks of
daction, the Ramcaritmanas. Both the Valmiki and the Tula-
the sacred Ganges (Ganga¯) River. The honor the Ma¯hara¯ja¯
sidas poems are regarded as sacred. During the Ramnagar
shows Ra¯ma, S¯ıta¯, and the other deities is reciprocated by
Ra¯ma-l¯ıla¯ the entire Ramcaritmanas is chanted by a chorus
the presence of the gods in the Fort. Once the Ra¯ma-l¯ıla¯ is
of twelve Brahmin priests. This chanting alternates during
over, the Maharaja receives the boys playing the swarups and
the performance with samvads, spoken dialogue by a cast of
pays them each a sum of rupees—thereby reestablishing the
more than fifty actors, all Brahmin men. The principal roles
ordinary social relationship between king and subjects.
of Ra¯ma, his queen S¯ıta¯, and his brothers Bharat, Lakshman,
and Shatrughna are all played by boys whose voices have not
Particular Ra¯ma-l¯ıla¯ environments are given special
yet changed. All five of these boys are regarded as swarups,
care. Ayodhya, Ra¯ma’s birthplace, is a large walled courtyard
the actual living form of the gods they enact. However, there
right next to the Fort. Janakpur, S¯ıta¯’s birthplace, includes
is no doubt that Ra¯ma and S¯ıta¯ are the main gods being wor-
two temples sacred to the goddess and a splendid garden.
shiped during Ra¯ma-l¯ıla¯. Often persons attending the
The kshir sagar, the endless ocean of milk where Vis:n:u sleeps
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PERFORMANCE AND RITUAL
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atop Sesha, the thousand-headed cobra, is a very large pool
Ma¯hara¯ja¯’s wish to keep Ra¯ma-l¯ıla¯ purely devotional-
that is more than one-thousand feet on each side and faces
theatrical. These tensions flared in 1992 when Hindu mili-
a three-hundred-year-old Durga temple that predates Ram-
tants destroyed the 1528 Babri Mosque in Ayodhya, Ra¯ma’s
nagar Ra¯ma-l¯ıla¯. Chitrakut, Ra¯ma, S¯ıta¯, and Lakshman’s
birthplace, vowing to erect a temple to Ra¯ma in its place (ar-
first stop during their twelve-year exile is an enormous but-
chaeological evidence indicates that there once was a temple
terfly tent erected next to the kshir sagar. A small hill marks
at this site). The destruction of the mosque ignited Hindu–
Panchavati, where S¯ıta¯ is kidnapped by Ra¯van:a. The bridge
Muslim hostilities that claimed more than two thousand
from Ramesvaram, on the south Indian coast, to Lanka, hun-
lives—with deadly tensions remaining high into the twenty-
dreds of miles away, is, paradoxically, a few planks across less
first century. Many of the sa¯dhus attending Ramnagar
than ten feet of shallow, murky water. Lanka itself is a huge
Ra¯ma-l¯ıla¯ spend the rest of the year in Ayodhya. Their pres-
field triangulated by Mount Meru (where Ra¯ma’s army, led
ence at Ra¯ma-l¯ıla¯—as well as increasing Hindutva activities
by Hanuman, the monkey god, set up headquarters), the As-
(the call for a Hindu religious state in India)—injected a na-
hoka Garden where S¯ıta¯ is held prisoner, and Ra¯van:a’s earth-
tionalist edge into the Ra¯ma-l¯ıla¯.
en fort. In short, the Ra¯ma-l¯ıla¯ environments are a large-scale
OTHER RELIGIOUS CYCLE PLAYS. The medieval European
model of mythic India, from the Himalayan north to the
plays, the Yaqui Waehma, and Ramnagar Ra¯ma-l¯ıla¯ are part
Gangetic plains, on through the forests of central India and
of an historical and contemporary cluster of such works. In
on to the south and what has become the country of Sri
Irian Barat (Indonesian New Guinea) until the 1930s, the
Lanka. Throughout the thirty-one days, spectators follow the
Elema hevehe cycle of dances, festivities, and ritual obser-
action from place to place. For many, attending Ra¯ma-l¯ıla¯
vances sometimes took more than thirty years to enact and
is to take part in a pilgrimage not only to the holy city of
complete. An extreme extension of time and space—a vast
Kashi (Va¯ra¯n:as¯ı) but also to all the places that Ra¯ma-l¯ıla¯ rep-
temporal and spatial encirclement—is characteristic of ritual
resents. The logic is unassailable: If the swarups are the actual
cycles. In the late twentieth century, artists began to invent
gods-on-earth for a month, then the ground they transverse
ritual cycles. Anna Halprin started making new rituals in the
is really that of India and Lanka.
1960s. Her Planetary Dance, first performed in 1981, is an
annual ritual for global peace and healing, “moving in a wave
Ra¯ma-l¯ıla¯ of Ramnagar enacts a complexly interactive
around the globe, going west with the sun” (Halprin, 1995,
relationship among ritual, theater, religion, and politics. In
226). In 2004, hundreds of people in thirty-six countries on
the late eighteenth century, the seat of the Raja of Banaras
six continents performed the circle dance of walking, run-
(not made a Ma¯hara¯ja¯ until after the Indian uprising of
ning, and standing still in relation to the four cardinal direc-
1857) was moved by the British across the Ganges River out
tions. Since the late 1950s the visual artist Christo has been
of the city to Ramnagar. The move was a militarily and polit-
wrapping buildings, trees, and small islands in cloth, erecting
ically strategic. The fort was built at a point where troops
cloth gates, giant umbrellas, and miles-long fences in an on-
could prevent an attack from the south by Mughal forces.
going project he calls “public art.” Halprin and Christo are
By the third decade of the nineteenth century, the Ramnagar
but two examples in a widespread practice outside of orga-
Ra¯ma-l¯ıla¯ was already a grand spectacle. As the century ad-
nized religion of ritualizing and sacralizing. Their works are
vanced, the annual enactment of the religious cycle drama
contemporary versions of cathedrals and ritual dramas.
was a concrete example of a growing Hindu nationalism and
Such performances are not mimetic: They symbolize
pride expressed directly against the Muslim Mughal poten-
and actualize simultaneously. In doing so they mesh the ordi-
tates and, indirectly, against the Ma¯hara¯ja¯’s British sponsors.
nary lives of the performers with the extraordinary activities
During the struggle for Indian independence, Ra¯ma was held
of culture heroes. Far from being a “leisure activity”—as
up by Mohandas Gandhi (1869–1948) as an example of an
much modern theater and dance is—the medieval Christian
effective and just indigenous ruler—a king who would unite
cycles, the Waehma, the Ra¯ma-l¯ıla¯, the Hevehe cycle, and
Hindus and Muslims against the British colonial force. Reli-
Halprin’s and Christo’s work are obligatory as well as cele-
gion was brought into the struggle especially by Gandhi, who
bratory. They demand a big share of a community’s atten-
often framed his campaigns in religious terms. Ra¯ma-l¯ıla¯ was
tion, energy, and wealth. Such a price is paid because these
a very powerful instance of the conflation of religion, poli-
performances are the dynamic constructions of reality by
tics, and theater.
means of which a whole community knows itself.
Traditionally, in Ra¯ma-l¯ıla¯ of Ramnagar, Muslims op-
RITUAL FRAMES. All performances, sacred and secular, are
erate behind the scenes constructing all of the large effigies
ritually framed. Frames mark and modulate transformations
of gods and demons, managing the fireworks and the flares
of time, space, and consciousness, signaling that a perfor-
that illuminate the Hindu temple service that concludes each
mance is about to begin or that a return to the ordinary is
night’s l¯ıla¯, and caring for the elephants used by the
imminent. Sometimes frames are so conventional they are all
Ma¯hara¯ja¯ and his guests. Some Muslims attend the
but forgotten: the dimming of houselights, the lighting of
Ra¯ma-l¯ıla¯, but they do not make their presence publicly
candles, the final applause, the sprinkling of holy water.
known. From the 1990s onward, Ra¯ma-l¯ıla¯ of Ramnagar has
There is a continuum between religious frames and aesthetic
been caught up in Hindu–Muslim tensions despite the
ones, with many intermediate cases.
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PERFORMANCE AND RITUAL
In the È::-Gè::: performances of the Yoruba, Ogbagba
putting it away. This double framing (in the mirror room
(The Divine Mediator) and Arabi Ajigbale (The Sweeper) al-
and on the hashigakari) reminds performers and spectators
ways appear first, clearing the way for the dances and cere-
alike of the aesthetic ritual quality of No¯.
monies that will follow. The closing dance brings forward a
special mask and costume representing the community’s dei-
How different are the ritual frames of È::-Gè:::, katha-
fied ancestress. Her dancing brings blessings and concludes
kali, No¯ and other ritual theaters from what modern actors
the festival. These opening and closing figures effect a transi-
do? Konstantin Stanislavsky, the most influential of Europe-
tion from ordinary daily life to the intense spiritual world of
an actor trainers, instructed actors to prepare for their first
the festival and back again to the ordinary.
entrance on the stage while still at home. A performance day
ought to be uncluttered. When the actors arrive at the the-
In the kathakali of India, even when danced as a tourist
ater, there is to be no gossip but a quiet intensity combined
entertainment, performances begin by the lighting of the
with specific relaxation and concentration exercises. The ac-
kalivilakku, a bronze oil lamp identical to that used in Hindu
tors put aside their ordinary lives and focus on the life they
temple services. The kalivilakku burns throughout the per-
will call into existence on stage. As with the shite in the mir-
formance, reminding all that kathakali is an offering to the
ror room, the Stanislavsky-trained actor concentrates on the
gods, who are the first and most important spectators. Every
being into which he or she is transforming. These secular rit-
performance closes with the dhanasi, a short prayer-dance.
uals help modern actors separate from ordinary life and suc-
Kathakali developed in the seventeenth century from ante-
cessfully enact their roles.
cedents reaching back to the Sanskrit theater of the fifth to
S
tenth centuries. One form of Sanskrit theater, kutiyattam, is
HAMANIC AND TRANCE PERFORMANCE. Shamans cure,
prophesy, exorcise, and entertain by means of trance perfor-
still performed in temples. Kathakali’s other roots are the
mance, storytelling, dancing, singing, magic, masks, and cos-
martial art kalarippayattu and the teyyam masked folk ritual.
tumes. The word shaman is of Tungus (Siberian) origin, but
Most of a kathakali performance, which can last from less
shamanism is a phenomenon that occurs all over the world.
than an hour at a tourist hotel to all night in a Kerala village,
The similarities of the shamanism of Eurasia, South Asia,
is made of stories taken from the Sanskrit-Hindu epics,
Southeast Asia, and the Americas is not coincidental. The
Ra¯ma¯yan:a and Maha¯bha¯rata, or from the Pura¯n:as, collec-
migrations from Siberia to the Western Hemisphere and the
tions of stories and myths. During a kathakali performance
links between India, Southeast Asia, Tibet, China, Korea,
in a village, as in Ra¯ma-l¯ıla¯, people commonly rise with
and Japan are demonstrable by means of archaeology, histor-
hands clasped in front of them in the devotional pose, wor-
ical records, and similarities in performance practices, and
shipfully honoring the performer playing a god as if the per-
shamanic elements are visible in ancient Greek rituals. The
former were the god incarnate. Thus, the theater and the
exact work of any given shaman will vary from society to so-
temple meet.
ciety, for shamans enact and retain a community’s knowl-
The ritual frames of Japanese No¯ are very strong, com-
edge. They are able to separate their souls from their bodies
bining religious and aesthetic qualities. As No¯ developed in
and enlist animal or spirit helpers as they journey to nonhu-
the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, it drew on shaman-
man worlds in pursuit of demons or in search of cures. The
ism, Shinto¯, Buddhism, and sarugaku, a popular entertain-
shamanic rituals of the Kwakiutl, Bella Bella, and Haida,
ment featuring magic, songs, and dances. All these sources
who live along the Gulf of Alaska were once complex dance
continue to operate in the twenty-first century. Every pro-
theater performances employing transformation masks—at
gram alternates the solemn No¯ plays with the comic kyogen
the climax of a performance, the outer mask sprang open re-
plays. There are ritualized procedures for entering and leav-
vealing an interior mask. The recently revived hamatsa per-
ing the stage. Ghosts and spirits are summoned by the sound
formance uses transformation masks, and participants and
of the performers’ stamping feet, which is amplified by large
spectators are entertained as well as ritually cleansed.
earthen jugs placed beneath the polished wooden stage floor.
The action of many No¯ plays is an exorcism. No¯ theater ar-
Often, shamans perform in trance, and they may even
chitecture retains many qualities of a Shinto shrine.
induce trance in their patients and spectators. But what is
trance? In trance, performers are possessed by nonhuman be-
Entering the No¯ stage is a two-part process. In the ka-
ings—gods, spirits, animals, or objects. Trance performers
gami no ma (mirror room) the shite (doer) gazes at himself
enact actions not of their own devising. These actions belong
in the mirror. He simultaneously merges with his mask and
to specific cultural performance texts—specific gestures,
distances himself from it. The shite seeks an incomplete
dance steps, utterances, songs, and whole ritual patterns.
transformation, a dialectical tension between the power of
Trance occurs not only in shamanism but in a variety of
the mask and his skills as an actor. But even when the shite
other performative circumstances such as “falling out” in Af-
achieves a proper state of mind, he cannot enter the stage di-
rican American churches, being possessed by the loa of Hai-
rectly. He must first cross the hashigakari (literally, suspen-
tian vodou or the orixa of Brazilian Umbanda. Hypnotic
sion bridge) that links the mirror room to the stage. When
trance has been used both medically and as entertainment.
the play is over, the shite returns to the mirror room via the
The experience of being in trance varies. In Bali, where peo-
hashigakari, removes his mask, and carefully studies it before
ple can be possessed by ordinary things such as brooms, pot
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PERFORMANCE AND RITUAL
7049
lids, and potatoes as well as by gods and demons, trancers
and socially rather than genetically, also cluster around trou-
may remember what they do while in trance, whereas in
blesome life and social crises, such as birth, puberty, mar-
other cultures the entranced have no idea of what they have
riage, sickness, healing, and death; war; hierarchy; hunting,
done.
fertility, and food; the seasonal cycle of planting, harvest, and
fallow; rain and drought; and the predictability or unpredict-
Neurologically, the experience of trance is how one feels
ability of natural disasters and upheavals. Animal ritual is
when both hemispheres (frontal lobes) of the brain are simul-
nonideological, operating through pure action. Human ritu-
taneously stimulated. In brief, the left lobe guides logical
als, although also actions, are totally infused with thought
thought and speech; the right lobe guides spacial and tonal
and ideology. At the same time, human rituals share with an-
perceptions. Stimulating the right lobe loosens the ego, dis-
imal rituals qualities of repetition, exaggeration, condensa-
solving boundaries between the self and others; stimulating
tion, simplification, and spectacle. Human ritual perfor-
the left energizes a person. By various means, including re-
mances enact the plea, explicit or implicit, for success in
petitive rhythmic drumming and dancing, the ingestion of
living and dying. Such universal practices as singing, danc-
drugs, and sleep and food deprivation, both hemispheres are
ing, marching, mass displays, flag waving, masking, cheering,
stimulated. Usually, one or the other hemisphere is domi-
clapping, stamping, sharing of sacred foods, offering sacri-
nant—a person cannot ordinarily be tranquil and excited at
fices actually or symbolically, processions, incense burning,
the same time. But when one side of the brain is fully in play,
and bell ringing may be individually or socially constructed
it “rebounds,” bringing the other side into play also. When
and inflected while also being ethologically based.
this occurs—as it can in trance, sexual orgasm, and Zen me-
diation—a person is both excited and released simultaneous-
Ethological and neurological theories answer some very
ly. At the height of maximum bi-hemispheric arousal, people
important questions. They help explain not only the extraor-
are weightless, egoless, outside their bodies, or “oceanic”—at
dinary persistence of performance conventions and the need
one with the universe or with god. Extreme trance experience
for ritual frames to manage such powerful forces, but also the
may be the specialty of shamans and other performance ex-
apparently identical experiences of performer, audience, and
perts, but light trance is common, occurring during such ac-
participant down through many epochs and across cultures,
tivities as social dancing, marching, cheering at a sports
genres, ideologies, and religious systems. The universality of
match, or being taken over by the crowd. This experience
trance—whether associated with dancing, singing, speaking
is what Victor Turner termed “spontaneous communitas
in tongues, shamanizing, meditation, or hypnosis, and
(see Turner, 1969, pp. 96, 125–65).
whether individual or collective—is at least partly explained
by the neurological spillover theory.
ANIMAL RITUALS, HUMAN RITUALS. The evolutionary
source of human ritual in animal behavior is demonstrable.
What the ethological and neurological theories cannot
This has become increasingly clear since 1914, when Julian
explain are the unique, creative qualities of ritual perfor-
Huxley noted that in the course of phylogeny certain animal
mance. For ritual is not just a conservator of evolutionary be-
movement patterns lose their specific function and become
havior and thought, it is also a generator of new images,
symbolic. To the ethologists who came after Huxley, a ritual
ideas, and practices. Victor Turner thought that if ritual had
is a behavior sequence genetically transformed over the
a biogenetic foundation, then while meaning is passed on
course of evolutionary time. Behavior is rearranged, con-
culturally by means of learning, the creative processes that
densed, sped up or slowed down; functions change so that,
generate new cultural knowledge result from a coadaptation
for example, threat behavior becomes part of a “mating
of genetic and cultural information.
dance.” In animal ritual, as in human ritual, movements are
exaggerated or simplified, becoming rhythmical and repeti-
RITUAL PROCESS AND LIMINALITY. Victor Turner was
tive, often freezing into postures. In animals, along with be-
among the first to emphasize the generative, creative, and an-
havioral changes, conspicuous body structures develop, such
tistructural qualities of ritual by uncovering deep links
as a peacock’s feathers or a moose’s antlers. Among humans,
among ritual, theatrical, and social processes. Developing the
ornate costumes, masks, architectural structures, and other
ideas put forward by Arnold van Gennep in The Rites of Pas-
means are used to make ritual special. Despite these similari-
sage (1909), Turner explored the three phases of the ritual
ties and the clear evolutionary development of ritualized be-
process: separation, transition or liminal, and reincorpora-
havior, analogies between animal behavior and human rituals
tion. Turner was especially interested in the liminal phase in
must be put forward cautiously. The “dances” of bees are not
which people temporarily inhabit a realm “betwixt and be-
dances in the human sense. Where everything is genetically
tween” personal and social categories (Turner, 1967,
determined, there is no art.
pp. 93–111; 1969, pp. 94–130) Liminal space-times are
where and when known social structures are dissolved or put
Rituals in nonhuman animals do not occur haphazard-
aside and new identities emerge that allow for the perfor-
ly. They improve communication in situations that are con-
mance of new social structures and identities. During limi-
tested and dangerous, such as issues of territory, hierarchy,
nality, communities, artists, and even individuals liberate
mating, and access to food. Human ritual performances,
their thoughts, feelings, and creativity from ordinary social
which develop many of their particular details individually
constraints. Van Gennep felt that rituals integrate individu-
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7050
PERFORMANCE AND RITUAL
als into a set social order, whereas Turner explored ritual as
SOCIAL DRAMA. Victor Turner developed his theory of limi-
a motor for profound individual and community change.
nality into that of social drama, a four-phase sequence of
breach, crisis, redress, and reintegration (or schism). A
Two seemingly contradictory results are achieved dur-
breach is an underlying fault in social life (e.g., the Monta-
ing the liminal phase of a ritual: individuals are liberated
gue–Capulet feud in Romeo and Juliet; the mix of hatred,
from prior constraints on creativity and socially deviant be-
fear, and envy that many in the world feel for the United
haviors, and, when this period of license ends, new statuses
States); a crisis is a precipitating event that must be dealt with
or norms are established or older ones are reestablished. This
(e.g., Romeo and Juliet falling in love; the September 11,
describes perfectly the actions and importance of the Cha-
2001, attack on the United States); the redress is what is
payekam among the Yaqui. Turner saw this process as chan-
done to resolve the crisis (e.g., the lovers flight to Mantua;
neling the living magma upwelling in all human societies: a
the American “War on Terrorism”); and the reintegration or
periodic, temporary, molten creativity. It is also analogous
schism are the two outcomes of a social drama (e.g., “O
to the training, workshop, and rehearsal process of many if
brother Montague, give me thy hand;” an unending war).
not all performance genres. Through this process all the “giv-
The ritual process and liminality operate during the redress,
ens” or “ready-mades”—such as accepted texts, accepted
the third phase of a social drama. Actions taken during the
ways of using the body, and accepted feelings—are decon-
redress are often symbolic and performative—
structed or broken down into malleable bits of behavior, feel-
demonstrations or symbolic displays. They are what they are,
ing, thought, and text. These bits are later reconstructed into
but they are also more than what they are. As Turner noted,
a new order: the performance.
such actions are performed in the cultural subjunctive mood,
in the “as if,” the “might be,” and the “ought to be.” Even
In traditional genres such as kathakali, No¯, or ballet,
the bombing of a city is done to “show something” to the
neophytes begin training early in life. Training involves
inhabitants and to the onlookers—both allies and enemies—
learning new ways of speaking, gesturing, and moving, and
who are watching. On a more peaceful level, crises are often
maybe even new ways of thinking and feeling—new for the
explored and resolved by means of ritual performances of
trainee, that is, but traditional for the genre. An important
both religious and secular kinds.
feature of kathakali training is the deep massage that actually
reorients muscles and bones to the extreme turn-out and
If universality is the advantage of Turner’s theories, re-
arched back necessary to perform kathakali. A no less radical
ductivism is their weakness. Turner’s social drama theory is
reconstruction of the body is required for ballet. As in initia-
tethered to Western aesthetics’ appetite for conflict, crisis,
tion rites, the mind and body are made ready to be written
and resolution. Birth, puberty, marriage, gaining power and
on in the language of the form being learned. Training en-
losing it, familial strife, sickness, death, natural disasters, and
ables the performer to “speak” No¯, kathakali, or ballet as he
the like, are all, of course, universal events. But the ritual per-
or she is incorporated into the tradition, no longer a neo-
formances used to cope with, mark, or celebrate these events
phyte but an initiated member.
vary widely from culture to culture. What in the West is
often perceived of as a crisis (e.g., a sickness or death) may
Turner went far beyond van Gennep in suggesting that
to a Buddhist sensibility be an expected part of the life pro-
the rites of tribal, agrarian, and traditional societies are analo-
cess. The social drama and liminality models are valuable;
gous to the artworks and leisure activities of industrial and
but they are not universally applicable.
postindustrial societies. These activities Turner called
INVENTING RITUALS. Influenced by the earlier path-breaking
“liminoid” (Turner, 1982, 20–60). Liminal rites are collec-
writings of James G. Frazer, the twentieth-century Cam-
tive and obligatory; liminoid activities are individualized and
bridge anthropologists Gilbert Murray, Jane Ellen Harrison,
voluntary. Thus, the workshops of experimental theater and
and Francis Cornford and allied scholars of the ancient Med-
dance are liminoid means of psychophysical retraining.
iterranean and Middle East asserted that Greek theater and,
Whereas in liminal rites traditional behavior is inscribed, in
by inference, all theater came from ritual. The line of the
liminoid arts new behaviors are created. But on close inspec-
Cambridge theory was developed further by propounders of
tion of liminoid arts or leisure activities, most of what ap-
the theory of archetypes of C. G. Jung and Joseph Campbell.
pears to be new or original consists of ready-mades and al-
Susanne K. Langer and Northrop Frye took the Cambridge
ready-behaved behaviors, arranged in new combinations or
thesis in a parallel direction. The underlying idea is that trag-
presented in new contexts. Thus, although the avant-garde
edy and comedy show evidence of an earlier violent sacrificial
always appears to be advancing, it is in fact most often rear-
ritual of struggle, sacrifice, dismemberment, reassembling of
ranging what already exists. Taking the view from 1875 to
the body, and resurrection. In other words, Christ’s Divine
the twenty-first century, it is clear that elements of earlier
Comedy. This theory of an ur-ritual (i.e., the conquest of life
avant-garde movements are recycled. And taking the very
over death) underlying tragedy and comedy is attractively
long view—from Paleolithic times to the twenty-first centu-
comprehensive. But, if true at all, the Cambridge theory is
ry—art does not advance at all in the ways science and tech-
regional rather than universal. Over time, the theory has
nology do. Arts develop in cyclically, rather than linearly,
never been proved, and no actual ur-ritual has been dis-
progressive ways.
covered.
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PERFORMANCE AND RITUAL
7051
The Cambridge theory marches on in the generally held
Grotowski sought spontaneous communitas detached from
belief that ritual (some ritual, any ritual) is the first genre of
any specific religious practice. In his final phase, during the
human performance, that from ritual all subsequent forms
1990s, with a few adherents (primarily Thomas Richards),
have evolved. However, demonstrably the opposite is also
Grotowski developed a ritual performance work titled simply
true. New rituals are continuously being invented, and the
Action, which was performed mostly by one man, “Doer.”
source of these new rituals can be theater, dance, or music—
This work, which serves as a living ritual and is always evolv-
the aesthetic genres whose function is to entertain. Other
ing, has continued to be presented by Richards and those he
new rituals are devised for political reasons. For centuries,
teaches into the twenty-first century.
rulers, judges, and governments have invented rituals such
Anna Halprin’s example is different from Grotowski’s
as saluting the flag, singing anthems, and swearing oaths to
but parallel in its basic direction. As noted earlier, Halprin
reinforce a given order of society. Associations such as the
has been inventing rituals since the 1960s. Her goal is initia-
Masons, Kiwanis, Lions, Elks, and sororities and fraternities
tory transformation and healing—to change those who par-
also employ invented rituals during initiations and ceremo-
ticipate in her dances. Halprin believes that dance can be
nies. Corporations display emblems, enunciate slogans, en-
more than entertainment—it can be transformative ritual.
force uniform or other dress codes, and require workers to
The titles of some of Halprin’s works from the 1960s and
perform company rituals. Since at least the 1960s, many art-
1970s clearly show her intention: Ceremony of Us, Animal
ists, mostly Western but also African and Asian, have invent-
Ritual, Trance Dances, and Initiations and Transformations.
ed rituals that are practiced by large numbers of people.
Halprin explained that the “chief intention of these works
was to understand how the process of creation and perfor-
These artists work with both professional performers
mance could be used to accomplish concrete results: social
and with amateurs, and they offer both public performances
change, personal growth, physical alignment, and spiritual
and workshops. The venues for these events and encounters
attunement” (Halprin, 1995, p. 228). She often works with
vary: rooms in which participants can work in seclusion,
large groups of fifty to one hundred persons moving in circles
beaches, forests, city streets, department stores, theaters, art
and spirals. These “archetypal movements trace out the
galleries, churches, synagogues, and many other places.
forms and patterns of a larger organism, communicating
Sometimes artists transform rituals from Asia, Europe, Na-
with and being moved by a group body-mind or spirit” (Hal-
tive America, Australia, Micronesia, and Africa, drawing on
prin, 1995, p. 229) In addition to her work in ritual, Halprin
ethological and anthropological research. Sometimes they
is recognized as a seminal figure of postmodern dance.
compose new movements, songs, and spoken or sung texts.
They try to forge links between the personal and the arche-
There are many others involved in similar work, blur-
typal. Their work is linked to that of New Age shamanic and
ring the distinctions between sacred and secular, ritual and
therapeutic practices. Frequently, their works and techniques
art. A major theorist and practitioner is Allan Kaprow
(b. 1927), who since the 1980s has practiced Zen-like actions
are hybrids of new and traditional materials and techniques.
such as walking in the desert and retracing one’s footsteps.
Jerzy Grotowski (1933–1999) was an enormously influ-
This kind of activity Kaprow terms “lifelike art.” According
ential inventor of theatrical rituals. From 1959 to 1967 he
to Kaprow, lifelike art weaves “meaning-making activity with
propagated his ideas of the “holy actor”—a rigorously
any or all parts of our lives . . . embracing religious, philo-
trained artist who offers his body as a symbolic public sacri-
sophical, scientific, and social/personal exploration” (Ka-
fice, thereby performing “secular holiness.” Grotowski’s the-
prow, 1993, p. 216).
atre productions of the 1950s and early 1960s—especially
CONCLUSIONS. The varieties of ritual performances are un-
The Constant Prince, Akropolis, and Apocalypsis cum Figuris
countable, and ritual is part of the warp and woof of every
were regarded both as artworks and as ritual performances.
kind of performance, whether religious or secular. There are
In his later work, Grotowski explored a direct relationship
no universal performative themes, actions, or patterns other
between performers and audiences. There was no play per-
than the ethological and neurological processes that shape
formed, just sheer ritualized interactions. Next, Grotowski
the formal qualities and special experiences of the performer
tried to identify core “objective” gestures, movements,
and spectator. All performances are ritually framed, but what
chants, and songs that were the distilled essence of ritual per-
these frames are and what they signify varies from culture to
formance. He researched the rituals and spiritual practices of
culture, even from one performance to another. Individual
China, India, Latin America, the Caribbean, and ancient
performances do not tell universal stories so much as provide
Egypt as well as western psychology, anthropology, and the
observers with ways of understanding particular cultural and
history of religion. Grotowski and his small group of follow-
subcultural circumstances. Performers give participants a
ers explored trance, vodou, the Baul singing of Bengal, Bali-
concrete, sensuous, and sometimes overwhelmingly powerful
nese dance, and tai chi. He was also influenced by the Ameri-
experience of cultural values. The similarity of the initiation
can human potential movement. Some of the actions
and ritual process to the training, workshop, and rehearsal
Grotowski used included extended silent vigils, improvised
process makes it probable that not only will religious ritual
chanting and movement, running in total darkness through
be secularized but that aesthetic performances will be sacral-
the woods, and the passing of fire from person to person.
ized. It is a complicated but fruitful two-way system.
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PERFORMANCE AND RITUAL
What is it that makes a person human? A nexus of cir-
sions of the ritual performances of Paleolithic Europe are
cumstances: speech, bipedal locomotion, brain size and com-
found in John E. Pfeiffer, The Creative Explosion: An Inquiry
plexity, and social organization—but more as well. A perfor-
into the Origins of Art and Religion (New York, 1982); Wes-
mance of a nightmare, of yesterday’s hunt or encounter with
ton La Barre, The Ghost Dance (Garden City, N.Y., 1970);
a strange band, of a sound heard in the forest—each are sec-
and Yann Pierre Montelle, Paleoperformance: The Emergence
ond actualities that when performed well rival the first in de-
of Theatricality in the Deep Caves of the Upper Paleolithic
(Providence, R.I., 2004).
tail and presence. This second actuality has additional quali-
ties that even make it superior to the first—it can be based
The first attempt in modern times to make a comparative survey
on what is not as easily as on what is because the recalled or
of rituals, mythologies, and religions was James G. Frazer’s
restored dream, hunt, encounter, or sound may actually be
The Golden Bough, 2 vols. (London, 1890), which he eventu-
imaginary. Therefore, it can be elaborated on and improved
ally expanded to twelve volumes and a supplement. Frazer’s
work influenced Jane Ellen Harrison’s Themis, with contri-
through repetition. What counts is how well it is performed
butions by Gilbert Murray and Francis Macdonald Cornford
and how neatly it fits, or adds to, an existing or emerging
(Cambridge, UK, 1912) and Ancient Art and Ritual (Lon-
worldview. Thus, three classes of performance events are pos-
don, 1913), Gilbert Murray’s “Excursus on the Ritual Forms
sible: what was, what is imagined, and what falls between his-
Preserved in Greek Tragedy,” in Themis by Jane Ellen Harri-
tory and imagination. This third class of events, which shares
son, pp. 341–363 (Cambridge, U.K., 1912), and Francis M.
both in the authority of recollection and the creativity of the
Cornford’s The Origin of Attic Comedy (London, 1914).
imagination, is most powerful. Moreover, once such a realm
These scholars believed they had discovered a “primal ritu-
of virtual actuality is given concrete existence in perfor-
al”—a seasonal death–rebirth drama common to the ancient
mance, it can lead to a third, a fourth, and so on.
Near East. However, the existence of the primal ritual cannot
be proved, throwing into doubt any presumed relationship
In these ways performance has always and everywhere
between it and succeeding Western theater (i.e., Greek, Eliz-
stood in relation to religion. Sometimes this relationship has
abethan, modern). A convincing critique of the primal ritual
been mutually supportive and other times it has been hostile.
theory is offered by Sir Arthur Wallace Pickard-Cambridge,
There is nothing in performance that is inherently pro-
Dithyramb, Tragedy and Comedy, 2d ed., rev. (Oxford,
religious or anti-religious. Archaeological and anthropologi-
1962). Despite this, the theory remains popular among those
cal evidence indicates a coexistence of performance and reli-
who believe ritual patterns underly tragedy and comedy.
gion at least since Paleolithic times. And the ethological and
Among the most notable works of this kind are Susanne
neurological evidence suggests that, among humans, ritual
Langer’s Feeling and Form (New York, 1953) and Northrop
Frye’s Anatomy of Criticism (Princeton, N.J., 1957). A simi-
and performance are close enough to be considered identical:
lar, if not identical, trend in thinking is the theory of arche-
they are repetitive, condensed, intense, and communicative
types as propounded by Carl G. Jung and elaborated on by
displays and doings. Articulated religious beliefs, aesthetic
Joseph Campbell. See Jung’s Man and His Symbols (Garden
enjoyment and theories, and political ideologies and manip-
City, N.Y., 1964 and The Portable Jung, edited by Joseph
ulations are some of the uses people have found for ritual-
Campbell (New York, 1971); and Campbell’s The Hero with
performance behavior. As Victor Turner was fond of point-
a Thousand Faces (Princeton, N.J., 1949) and The Masks of
ing out, to make believe is to make belief.
God (4 vols.; New York, 1959–1968).
The relationship between ritual and performance has been fruit-
SEE ALSO Darw¯ısh; Ritual; Ritual Studies; Ru¯m¯ı, Jala¯l
fully investigated by anthropologists and performance theo-
al-D¯ın; Shakers; TaEziyah.
rists doing fieldwork among existing societies. Under the an-
thropological aegis the discussion shifts to eyewitness and
BIBLIOGRAPHY
even participatory accounts of actual performances. These
Aristotle was the first to propose an intimate connection between
data form the basis for theories of ritual process. Basic ritual
ritual, dance, music, and theater. In the Poetics, Aristotle ex-
theory exploring the relationships among aesthetic, religious,
pressed the opinion that Greek tragedy arose from the im-
and social performances can be found in a number of texts,
provisations of those who led the dithyrambs, while comedy
including Arnold van Gennep, The Rites of Passage (Chicago,
arose from the improvisations of those who led the phallic
1909; reprint, 1960); Emile Durkheim, The Elementary
songs. Eric R. Dodds, in The Greeks and the Irrational
Forms of Religious Life, (London, 1915; reprint, New York,
(Berkeley, Calif., 1951), investigates the relationship be-
2001); Mircea Eliade, Rites and Symbols of Initiation (New
tween shamanism and the Greeks, thereby linking the
York, 1958); Victor Turner, The Forest of Symbols (Ithaca,
sources of European culture with Asia. E. T. Kirby, in Ur-
N.Y., 1967), The Ritual Process (Chicago, 1969), Dramas,
Drama: The Origins of Theater (New York, 1975), theorizes
Fields, and Metaphors (Ithaca, N.Y., 1974), From Ritual to
that all theater is originally shamanistic. Other important
Theater (New York, 1982), and On the Edge of the Bush (Tuc-
works on shamanism include Mircea Eliade, Shamanism: Ar-
son, Ariz., 1985); Erving Goffman, The Presentation of Self
chaic Techniques of Ecstasy (New York, 1964); Sergei M.
in Everyday Life (Garden City, N.Y., 1959) and Interaction
Shirokogoroff, Psychomental Complex of the Tungus (London,
Ritual (Chicago, 1967); Edith Turner, Experiencing Ritual
1935); and Laurel Kendall, Shamans, Housewives, and Other
(Philadelphia, 1992); Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of
Restless Spirits: Women in Korean Ritual Life (Honolulu,
Cultures (New York, 1973); Richard Schechner, Between
1987). The ancient Sanskrit theory of theater is contained in
Theater and Anthropology (Philadelphia, 1985), The Future
Bharata-muni, The Natyasastra (New Delhi, 1996). Discus-
of Ritual (London, 1993), and Performance Theory (London,
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

PE¯RKONS
7053
2003); James Redmond, ed., Drama and Religion (Cam-
Yoruba (Bloomington, Ind., 1983); Margaret T. Drewal,
bridge, U.K., 1983); Sally F. Moore and Barbara G. Myerh-
Yoruba Ritual (Bloomington, Ind., 1992); Frits Staal, ed.,
off, eds., Secular Ritual (Assen, Netherlands, 1977); Cather-
Agni: The Vedic Ritual of the Fire Altar, 2 vols. (Berkeley,
ine Bell, Rituals: Perspectives and Dimensions (New York,
Calif., 1983); and Bruce Kapferer, A Celebration of Demons:
1997) and Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice (New York, 1992);
Exorcism and the Aesthetics of Healing in Sri Lanka (Bloom-
Roy A. Rappaport, Ecology, Meaning, and Religion (Berkeley,
ington, Ind., 1983).
Calif., 1979); Robert P. Armstrong, The Powers of Presence:
Consciousness, Myth, and Affecting Presence
(Philadelphia,
RICHARD SCHECHNER (1987 AND 2005)
1981); Ronald Grimes, ed., Readings in Ritual Studies (Upper
Saddle River, N.J., 1996); and John Emigh, Masked Perfor-
mance: The Play of Self and Other in Ritual and Theatre
(Phil-
adelphia, 1996).
PE¯RKONS. In Baltic languages, the proper noun P¯erkons
(Latv.) or Perku¯nas (Lith.) corresponds exactly to the com-
New or invented rituals are discussed in Anna Halprin, Moving
mon noun meaning “thunder.” There is no agreement
Toward Life (Hanover, N.H., 1995) and Dance as a Healing
among linguists about the word’s original meaning. In earlier
Art (Mendocino, Calif., 2000); Suzanne Lacy, Mapping the
Terrain: New Genre Public Art
(Seattle, 1995); Allan Ka-
research the essence of the god who bears this name was de-
prow, The Blurring of Art and Life (Berkeley, Calif., 1993);
termined purely through etymology. Consequently, three
and David H. Brown, Santeria Enthroned (Chicago, 2003).
different schools of thought emerged, each claiming a differ-
ent Indo-European root as the base.
For ethological and neurological approaches to ritual focus on the
continuities between animal and human behavior and the re-
The first school, using *perg- as the root, regarded
lation of brain structure-function to ritual action and felt ex-
Pe¯rkons as the sky god who controlled rain and storm. Typo-
perience, see Desmond Morris, Primate Ethology (Garden
logically he was then likened to the Vedic Parjanya (“rain
City, N.J., 1969); Mario von Cranach, Klaus Foppa, Wolf
cloud”). The second school, deriving the god’s name from
Lepenies, and Detlev Ploog, eds., Human Ethology (Cam-
*pergu(o), asserted that P¯erkons is linked with perkuu-s, or
bridge, U.K., 1979); and Eugene G. d’Aquili, Charles D.
ozols, meaning “oak tree.” Pe¯rkons was then considered to
Laughlin Jr., and John McManus, The Spectrum of Ritual
(New York, 1979). Also relevant in this regard are studies of
be the god of trees, in particular the oak, which was his sym-
trance, including Jane Belo, Trance in Bali (New York,
bol of power. The third school claimed that P¯erkons is related
1960), Maya Deren, Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of
to the Hittite peruaˇs, from pirua- (perua-), meaning “cliff”
Haiti (London, 1953), and Gilbert Rouget, Music and
or “mountain.” As a result Pe¯rkons was regarded as the god
Trance (Chicago, 1985).
of mountains. These various hypotheses, based only on ety-
Ritual, carnival, festival, and related performances are described
mology, did not give a clear conception of the true nature
and theorized in Victor Turner, Celebration—Studies in Fes-
of this god. From these hypotheses, however, emerged the
tivity and Ritual (Washington, D.C., 1982), John J. Ma-
definite conclusion that the name P¯erkons is derived from
cAloon, ed., Rite, Drama, Festival, Spectacle (Philadelphia,
Proto-Indo-European.
1984), Alessandro Falassi, Time Out of Time: Essays on the
An examination of the Pe¯rkons cult offers valuable in-
Festival (Albuquerque, 1987), and Milla Riggio, ed., Carni-
val: Culture in Action—The Trinidad Experience
(London,
sights. Peter von Dusburg, in a discussion of the history of
2004).
Old Prussians in the Chronicle of 1326, notes that Pe¯rkons
was worshiped. That the Latvians also recognized him as
In addition to comprehensive and intercultural works, there are
their god is demonstrated by a reference in the statutes of the
also many studies of ritual performances in individual cul-
Church Synod of 1428: “a tonitruo, quod deum suum appel-
tures. See, for example, Baldwin Spencer and F. J. Gillen,
lant” (“from the thunder, which they name their god”).
The Native Tribes of Central Australia (London, 1899); Greg-
ory Bateson, Naven, 2d ed. (Stanford, Calif., 1958); Ray-
These older sources, however, do not give more detailed in-
mond Firth, Tikopia Ritual and Belief (London, 1967); Vic-
formation about the nature of the cult itself. They merely
tor Turner, The Drums of Affliction (London, 1968);
contain standard condemnations of pagan worship of natural
Kenneth E. Read, The High Valley (New York, 1965); Rich-
phenomena, for which Innocent III had earlier criticized the
ard A. Gould, Yiwara: Foragers of the Australian Desert (New
Latvians in his papal bull of 1199. Not until the seventeenth
York, 1969); F. E. Williams, The Drama of the Orokolo (Lon-
century was a specific rite from the Pe¯rkons cult described,
don, 1940); Clifford Geertz, Negara: Theater State in Nine-
by the pastor Dionysius Fabricius in his Livonicae Historicae
teenth Century Bali (Princeton, N.J., 1980); Anuradha
Series (1611–1620):
Kapur, Actors, Pilgrims, Kings, and Gods (Calcutta, 1990);
Edward L. Schieffelin, The Sorrow of the Lonely and the Burn-
At times of great drought when there is no rain, neigh-
ing of the Dancers (New York, 1976); Simon Ottenberg,
bors gather in densely wooded hills. They slaughter a
Masked Rituals of Afikpo (Seattle, 1975); Charlotte J. Frisbie,
she-calf, a black goat, and a black rooster. In accordance
ed., Southwestern Indian Ritual Drama (Albuquerque, N.M.,
with their sacrificial rite a great number of people gather
1980); Hanay Geiogamah and Jaye T. Darby, eds., American
together and hold a communal feast. They drink to-
Indian Performance (Los Angeles, 2000); Edward Spicer, The
gether and invoke Pe¯rkons, i. e. the thunder god. After
Yaqui (Tucson, Ariz., 1980); Henry John Drewal and Mar-
filling the first cup of beer, they ecstatically march
garet T. Drewal, Gelede: Art and Female Power among the
around the bonfire three times. They then pour the beer
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7054
PERSECUTION: JEWISH EXPERIENCE
into the fire and pray to Pe¯rkons (Percuum) to send
as a guardian of justice. Such assertions lack evidence in Bal-
them rain. (Mannhardt, 1936, p. 458; author trans.)
tic sources. If these and similar aspects appear to be connect-
It should be noted, as this description of the feast clearly
ed with his function, then this can be explained as a later
shows, that this rite was openly performed long after these
modification of ancient religious tradition, or by the influ-
peoples had formally been christianized. The gathering of
ence of Christianity, which may have led to the perception
worshipers in the thick forests can be explained by the fear
of Pe¯rkons as a slayer of demons and a guardian of morality.
of reprisals from the ruling German colonial church against
BIBLIOGRAPHY
non-Christian traditions.
Balys, Jonas. Perkunas lietuviuh liaudes tikejimuose. Kaunas, 1937.
This seventeenth-century account can be supplemented
Complete folkloristic material with a critical introduction.
with another description, written 250 years later by an eye-
Biezais, Haralds. Die himmlische Götterfamilie der alten Letten.
witness who took part in the autumn threshing celebrations:
Uppsala, 1972. The only up-to-date and complete historico-
phenomenological and critical study, with an extensive bibli-
On beginning the threshing, a rooster was slain in a
ography. See especially part 3, “Der Donner,” on pages 92–
niche of the open oven and a cross was painted with the
179.
rooster’s blood on the oven. The meat was cooked and
eaten. On completing the threshing another rooster was
Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and
slain in the same spot. A vessel containing meat, bran-
Legend. New York, 1950.
dy, and bread was placed on the oven. . . . On Satur-
Ivanov, Vyacheslav, and Vladimir Toporov. Issledovania v oblosti
day evening relatives and friends were invited to a com-
slavianskih drevnostei. Moscow, 1974.
munal feast, which ended in singing and dancing.
Mannhardt, Wilhelm. Lettopreussische Götterlehre. Riga, 1936.
This description shows significant differences from the sev-
The best sourcebook on Baltic religion.
enteenth-century account in that it contains syncretistic ele-
Skardzius, Pranas. “Dievas ir Perkunas.” In Aidai, pp. 311–318.
ments; the cross, the bread, and the brandy. Nevertheless, the
Chicago, 1953. A comparative linguistic analysis.
feast is the same, even though Pe¯rkons is not mentioned by
Sˇmits, Pe¯teris. Latvieˇsu mitolog‘ija. (Latvian Mythology). R¯ıga,
name in the description.
1926.
Folk songs from the same time, however, do mention
Zica¯ns, Eduards. “Der altlettische Gott Pe¯rkons.” In In Piam
the god: “What shall we give to Pe¯rkons for last summer’s
memoriam A. von Bulmerincq, pp.189–217. Riga, 1938. A
comparative analysis of the Latvian folkloristic material.
thunder? A large quantity [laste] of rye, a large quantity
[laste] of barley, and a large quantity [birkava] of hops.” This
New Sources
text, like the previous one, refers to a sacrificial feast after the
Jones, Prudence, and Nigel Pennick. A History of Pagan Europe.
harvest. It is a feast of thanksgiving to Pe¯rkons. His cult thus
Routledge, 1995.
appears to have remained strong throughout the centuries.
Mitolog‘ijas enciklop¯edija 2. (Encyclopedia of Mythology, vol.2.)
Riga, 1994.
A bloody animal sacrifice also has a central place in the
cult. There is also mention of bread and the sacral drink of
HARALDS BIEZAIS (1987)
Revised Bibliography
the Balts, beer, which is poured into the fire. Typologically
the rite appears as a sacrificial feast shared by gods and men.
On the one hand it is associated with a supplication, asking
PERSECUTION
for assistance during hard times; on the other hand, it is a
This entry consists of the following articles:
thanksgiving for a plentiful harvest. During the thanksgiving
JEWISH EXPERIENCE
the peasant experiences ecstatic joy because he stands in a
CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE
right relation with his god and because the god, in turn, pro-
vides for him. The singing and dancing associated with the
PERSECUTION: JEWISH EXPERIENCE
feast, which lasts well into the night, even until morning, also
The related terms religious persecution and martyrdom are dif-
shows this joy. The ecstatic joy may climax in the participa-
ficult to define rigorously. The notion of religious persecu-
tion of the gods in the festivities, as expressed in the follow-
tion cannot be confined simply to assaults on religious ritual
ing folk song: “Dievs [the Baltic god of heaven] is dancing
and belief; the intertwining of religion with every facet of
with Pe¯rkons; I am dancing with my brother; Pe¯rkons has
premodern existence sometimes made attacks on religious
the whole earth in his possession; I have nine brothers.”
life an outlet for economic, social, and political grievances
The function of Pe¯rkons is clearly defined: he is a fertili-
and sometimes diverted religious antipathy into economic,
ty god. Hence, all etymologically based guesswork is super-
social, and political channels. The ambiguity of religious ani-
fluous. So also are any attempts to explain his essence and
mosity and violence complicates the definition of martyrdom
character by referring to analogical divinities in other reli-
as well, forcing religious communities to examine and reex-
gions. It is in this connection that Pe¯rkons has also been re-
amine specific claims on behalf of those reputed to have cho-
garded as a war god (he has especially been likened to Jupiter
sen death in response to religious persecution and in testimo-
Fulminans, one of the aspects of the Roman sky god) and
ny to the truth of their faith.
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PERSECUTION: JEWISH EXPERIENCE
7055
RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION IN THE HISTORY OF JUDAISM.
unique role for the Jews in the development of Islam, and
Biblical literature shows some instances of religious persecu-
the absence of any potent anti-Jewish symbolism at the core
tion, usually set in a political context. Thus the Philistine
of the religion. There was, to be sure, occasional persecution
capture of the Ark of the Covenant and the Babylonian raz-
of the Jews; sometimes this occurred at the official level, as
ing of the Jerusalem Temple both represent, in essence, polit-
with the Almohad rulers of North Africa and Spain during
ically motivated attacks on religious institutions and sym-
the mid-twelfth century, and sometimes at the popular level,
bols. The biblical Book of Daniel presents two purported
as with the uprising in Granada in 1066, triggered by popu-
incidents of more purely religious persecution. In chapter 3,
lar resentment of the Ibn Nagrela family of Jewish viziers.
King Nebuchadnezzar is alleged to have erected a golden
As the Muslim world increasingly lost the impressive vitality
statue and ordered all his officials to prostrate themselves be-
it had exhibited during the early centuries of the Middle
fore it. Three Jewish lads were reported to the king for having
Ages, the situation of its Jewish minority deteriorated, and
contravened his royal order. As punishment, they were
instances of governmental persecution and popular violence
thrown into a blazing furnace, from which they miraculously
multiplied.
emerged alive. Impressed by both their steadfastness and
It was in the medieval Christian world, however, that
their salvation, the king was supposed to have prohibited any
persecution of the Jews and Judaism was especially notable.
blasphemy of the God of the three young men. In chapter
Two factors in particular account for this prominence: (1)
6 a similar incident is told of Daniel, with the same outcome.
the central place of Jews in the Christian drama of crucifixion
During the period of Hellenistic hegemony in the Near
and resurrection, and (2) the relative newness and smallness
East, there was considerable tension between Jews and their
of the Jewish communities in most—although not all—areas
neighbors, and this expressed itself in both political and reli-
of medieval Christendom. At the official level, Judaism was
gious terms. Particularly striking is the story of the Seleucid
in theory a tolerated faith, although its practice was limited
king Antiochus IV and his prohibition of basic Jewish reli-
in order to ensure the well-being of the ruling religion. Occa-
gious practices. A group powerfully devoted to the fulfill-
sionally, concern with the impact of Judaism upon the spiri-
ment of covenantal law rose in rebellion against the effort to
tual health of Christendom could lead to persecution of the
limit Jewish religious practice and belief. Modern scholarship
Jews or could be used to justify such persecution. Thus, for
has raised serious questions concerning these alleged Antio-
example, Christian persecution of Jews emerged in the early
chene injunctions, which it has found totally at variance with
eleventh century from anxiety over the appearance of pur-
Hellenistic custom. As an alternative, some scholars have
ported heresy in northern Europe and at the end of the fif-
proposed an essentially political motive for the decrees, a par-
teenth century from dismay over the alleged backsliding of
allel to the earlier Philistine and Babylonian assaults on Juda-
New Christians in Spain to their original Jewish faith. In
ism. A similarly political attack on Judaism is reflected in the
both situations Jews were viewed as contributors to the per-
Roman burning of the Second Temple in 70 CE. By this time
ceived dangers and were forced into conversion or exile.
there was already a strong tradition of Greco-Roman animus
In medieval Christendom popular persecution was the
toward Jews and Judaism. Nonetheless, the policy of the
more common form of anti-Jewish behavior. Anti-Jewish an-
Roman authorities at the close of the Great War basically re-
imosities often developed within large-scale socioeconomic
flects a desire to suppress the political rebellion that had bro-
upheavals. During the First Crusade spiritual exhilaration
ken out in Palestine, not to deliver a death blow to the Jewish
produced powerful anti-Jewish sentiment in certain fringe
religious faith. Similar considerations motivated the Hadri-
bands of the crusading masses. The result was a set of devas-
anic decrees at the close of the Bar Kokhba Revolt of 132–
tating attacks on a number of the main centers of nascent
135 CE. Disturbed by ongoing Jewish unrest in Palestine, the
German Jewry. During the last decade of the thirteenth cen-
Romans decided to quell permanently the rebelliousness of
tury and the first decade of the fourteenth, powerful social
these Jews by attacking its seeming wellspring, Judaism.
discontent in Germany unleashed wide-ranging assaults
With the emergence of Christianity as the authoritative
against a series of Jewish communities. The hysteria occa-
religion of the Roman Empire in the fourth century and
sioned by the uncontrollable Black Death of the mid-
Islam as the ruling faith of a vast state in the seventh century,
fourteenth century once again produced massive anti-Jewish
persecution of the Jews and Judaism took a decidedly new
violence, as did social and religious ferment in Spain in 1391.
turn. Both these religions ultimately negated in theory the
During the mid-seventeenth century the popular uprising of
legitimacy of all other faiths, although each carved out a the-
Ukrainian peasants against their Polish overlords occasioned
oretical and practical status of limited tolerance for the other
repeated massacres in the Jewish communities of the area. In
monotheisms, including Judaism. In many ways the situa-
all these instances, long-nurtured stereotypes of Jewish enmi-
tion of the Jews in the Muslim world was somewhat better
ty and malevolence served as the backdrop for the explosion
than in medieval Christendom. Critical factors accounting
of popular violence. The imagery of Jewish malevolence,
for this difference included the ethnic and religious heteroge-
rooted in the New Testament account of the Crucifixion,
neity of the Muslim world, the size and antiquity of the Jew-
was embellished during the Middle Ages with notions of rit-
ish communities within the orbit of Islam, the absence of any
ual murder, Jewish use of Christian blood, Host desecration,
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PERSECUTION: JEWISH EXPERIENCE
and the poisoning of wells. At points of religious exhilaration
of qiddush ha-shem has developed as well: it has been applied
or social unrest, such imagery served alternately as the spark
in particular to those who give up their most precious posses-
or the rationale for popular persecution of the Jews.
sion—life itself—out of this sense of submission to God’s
will, and who thus serve as ringing testimony to the reality
With the breakdown of the corporate premodern soci-
and truth of their deity.
ety and with the increasing restriction of the role of religion
in modern Western civilization, the older patterns of reli-
The Hebrew Bible certainly features the importance of
gious persecution have generally given way. To be sure, there
submission to the divine will, as seen in Abraham’s response
has been little sign of diminishing anti-Jewish hostility or
to the command that he sacrifice his beloved son Isaac, in
anti-Jewish violence, but its religious nature is even more dif-
Moses’ acceptance of God’s call, and in repeated prophetic
ficult to identify than heretofore. New definitions of Jewish-
acquiescence to divinely imposed missions. Generally, how-
ness have emerged, and with them anti-Jewish activity has
ever, this steadfastness involves the suppression of internal
taken on an enhanced political, economic, social, and ethnic
psychological blocks to the divine will; only rarely does it re-
cast. The late-nineteenth-century racial definition of Jewish-
quire the overcoming of external pressures, most notably
ness produced the new term anti-Semitism for anti-Jewish at-
with the two incidents recounted in the Book of Daniel. The
titudes and behavior. Those inclined to see anti-Semitism as
Antiochene persecution, whatever its motivations may have
a new phenomenon and to remove traditional Christian
been, produced a Jewish response of martyrological resis-
thinking from association with this new phenomenon have
tance to the external threat and created a set of figures whose
coined the term anti-Judaism as a foil. Debate has raged as
deeds were subsequently retold as paradigms of heroic
to the Christian roots of anti-Semitism.
human behavior. The war of 66 to 70 CE elicited a similar
sense of martyrdom, a desire to reject uncompromisingly the
The seeming ubiquity of anti-Jewish violence has led to
reimposition of Roman rule. Perhaps out of an awareness of
the conceptualization of the Jewish past as one long sequence
the heavily political motivations on both sides, subsequent
of persecution and suffering. This perception emerged in the
Jewish sources by and large overlooked this group of militant
medieval Jewish polemical confrontation with Christianity,
resisters and relegated the heroism of Masada to a position
as Jewish polemicists insisted that Isaiah’s suffering servant
of relative neglect.
figure prefigured the travails of the Jewish people, in the pro-
cess negating Christian claims for Jesus as fulfillment of this
Entirely different was the response to the resistance
pivotal prophesy. At the close of the Middle Ages a number
against the Hadrianic persecution of the late 130s CE. Here
of Jewish authors organized narrative portraits of the Jewish
the essentials of Jewish religious life were at stake, and the
past in terms of suffering intended to lead to eventual re-
resisters were at the center of the Jewish community. The
demption. These views were secularized by the distinguished
martyrdom of EAqivaD ben Yosef and his associates was ac-
nineteenth-century Jewish historian Heinrich Graetz (1817–
corded a major place in the Jewish liturgy and undoubtedly
1891), who conceptualized the Jewish past in terms of suffer-
served to encourage succeeding generations of Jews to under-
ing and the capacity to rise above suffering through the life
take, when required, the same commitment. Jewish law
of the mind. Modern Zionist historiography accepted the
eventually codified the essentials of martyrdom by specifying
notion of suffering as the leitmotif of the Jewish past but re-
key issues on which there could be no compromise.
jected the valorization of such suffering. The young Salo
R[abbi] Yohanan said in the name of R[abbi] ShimEon
Baron (1895-1989), embarking in the 1920s on his career
ben Yehotsadaq: “By a majority vote it was resolved in
as a major historian of the Jewish people, attacked what he
the upper chambers of the house of Nithza in Lydda
called the “lachrymose conception of Jewish history,” argu-
that, for every [other] law of the Torah, if a man is com-
ing that the Jewish past constitutes a rich, variegated, and
manded: ‘Transgress and suffer not death,’ he may
creative saga. The eruption of the Holocaust did much to re-
transgress and not suffer death, excepting idolatry, in-
habilitate the earlier sense of the Jewish past as a vale of tears.
cest, and murder.” (Babylonian Talmud, Tractate San-
hedrin
74a)
MARTYRDOM IN THE HISTORY OF JUDAISM. In Jewish tradi-
This important statement limits the number of infringe-
tion the notion of martyrdom has been expressed in the com-
ments upon Jewish law for which life is to be sacrificed. At
mandment of qiddush ha-shem, the requirement to sanctify
the same time, it strongly reaffirms the basic principle of qid-
the divine name. This commandment has broad meaning,
dush ha-shem when the infringement is major.
as seen in Leviticus 22:31–33: “You shall faithfully observe
my commandments: I am the Lord. You shall not profane
The persecutions cited here all reflect an assault on Ju-
my holy name, that I might be sanctified in the midst of the
daism out of essentially political motivations. It is only with
Israelite people—I the Lord who sanctify you, I who brought
the development of Christianity and Islam and their rise to
you out of the land of Egypt to be your God, I the Lord.”
positions of political authority that the stage was set for direct
Sanctification of the divine name could be and has been in-
confrontation between militant monotheistic faiths. In this
terpreted as any noble action undertaken out of commitment
regard the Jewish martyrdoms during the First Crusade as-
to the divine will and thus reflecting glory upon the God of
sume special significance. The Crusader assaults of 1096
Israel. Not surprisingly, however, a more restricted meaning
were couched in almost purely religious terms; there were no
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PERSECUTION: CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE
7057
political aspects to this persecution, and socioeconomic is-
1952–1983); Baron’s footnotes are invaluable guides to
sues were distinctly secondary. At their core the attacks on
major topics in Jewish history. The multivolume study by
Rhineland Jewry were triggered by a radical desire to rid the
Léon Poliakov, The History of Anti-Semitism, translated by
world of all infidels. This was not, of course, the papal view
Richard Howard, 4 vols. (New York, 1965–1985). Studies
of the crusade; it was, however, the yearning that animated
of specific persecutions include, for the Antiochene persecu-
the fringe bands of German Crusaders. The Jewish commu-
tion, Victor Tcherikover, Hellenistic Civilization and the Jews
(Philadelphia, Pa., 1959); for the persecution of 1096, Rob-
nities that suddenly found themselves under assault were
ert Chazan, European Jewry and the First Crusade (Berkeley,
spiritually as intense as their attackers. The result was a re-
Calif., 1987); for that of 1391, Yitzhak F. Baer, A History of
markable Jewish willingness to perish in defiance of Chris-
the Jews in Christian Spain, 2 vols. (Philadelphia, Pa., 1961–
tian pressure and in testimony to the truth of the Jewish
1966); for that of 1648–1649, Bernard D. Weinryb, The
faith. The following utterance, imputed to the martyrs of
Jews of Poland (Philadelphia, Pa., 1972). The studies of
Mainz on the verge of their deaths, captures the intensity of
Tcherikover, Chazan, Baer, and Weinryb all analyze patterns
the period—the conviction of the absolute truth of Judaism;
of Jewish response to persecution along with their descrip-
the sense that their actions represent qiddush ha-shem, a
tions of the oppression itself. Shalom Spiegel’s The Last Trial
means of sanctifying the divine name in this world; and the
(New York, 1967) is a brilliant study of the imagery of test-
resultant certainty of rich celestial reward:
ing and submission to divine will throughout Jewish history.
Depictions of Nazi persecution and modern Jewish martyr-
Ultimately one must not question the qualities of the
dom abound. See especially Lucy S. Dawidowicz’s The War
Holy One, blessed be he, who gave us his Torah and
against the Jews, 1933–1945 (New York, 1975); Raul Hil-
commanded that we be put to death and be killed for
berg’s The Destruction of the European Jews, rev. and enl. ed.,
the unity of his sacred name. Fortunate are we if we do
3 vols. (New York, 1985); Alan Mintz’s Hurban: Responses
his will and fortunate are all who are killed and slaugh-
to Catastrophe in Hebrew Literature (New York, 1984); and
tered and die for the unity of his name. Not only do
David G. Roskies’s Against the Apocalypse (Cambridge,
they merit the world to come and sit in the quarter of
Mass., 1984).
the righteous pillars of the world, but they exchange a
world of darkness for a world of light, a world of pain
ROBERT CHAZAN (1987 AND 2005)
for a world of joy, a transitory world for an eternal
world. (Chazan, 1987, p. 237)
The martyrs of 1096 created a compelling set of symbols to
PERSECUTION: CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE
sustain themselves in the face of the terrible test imposed
The atoning and vicarious nature of Jesus’ sacrifice provides
upon them. These included a sense of identification with the
the main link between Jewish and Christian outlooks toward
great hero figures of the Jewish past, such as Abraham, Dan-
persecution and martyrdom. In Mark 10:45, a possible remi-
iel and his companions, and EAqivaD ben Yosef and his asso-
niscence from Isaiah 53:10–12, Jesus proclaims that he
ciates; recollection of the divinely ordained sacrificial system
“came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a
with the conviction that God had called upon these martyrs
ransom for many.” It is, however, in the Johannine literature
to offer themselves up as surrogate sacrifices on a new-style
that the term martyr (“witness”) moves quickest from its or-
altar; introduction of rituals of purity to underscore the sanc-
dinary secular meaning to the Christian sense of “blood-
tity of the acts they were about to undertake; and lavish de-
witness.” Numerous passages (e.g., Jn. 3:11, 5:30–33, 18:37,
scriptions of the celestial glories awaiting those who died on
and 1 Jn. 5:10) present Jesus in terms of witness to the truth
behalf of the divine name.
or to his Father, while others associate witness to Jesus with
As the medieval synthesis disintegrated, religious perse-
the Paraclete (Jn. 15:26, cf. also 14:26) standing in opposi-
cution seemingly declined, and with it the possibility of mar-
tion to the world, convincing the world of sin and judgment.
tyrdom. Whether animosity and persecution grounded in
Witness to the Crucifixion was revealed in “blood and
prior religious thinking has in fact disappeared is a matter
water,” and had in addition the missionary purpose “that you
of deep dispute. What is clear is that the victims of modern
also may believe” (Jn. 19:34–35).
anti-Semitism have not often been in a position to exercise
The association of the Holy Spirit with suffering and
choice in rejecting or accepting death. While choice seems
persecution because of witness to Christ was emphasized in
to have been a critical factor in earlier notions of martydom,
the synoptic Gospels (Mk. 13:11 and parallel Mt. 10:19). By
the martyr’s mantle has nonetheless been accorded to the vic-
the end of the first century CE, these ideas had become fused
tims of the Holocaust out of a sense that they too died as a
into a single idea of martyrdom. Martyrs conquered (Satan)
result of their Jewish identity.
“by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimo-
S
ny [marturias], for they loved not their lives even unto death”
EE ALSO Anti-Semitism; Holocaust, The, article on Histo-
ry; Marranos; Suffering.
(Rev. 12:11). Theirs was a personal witness to the truth of
Christ’s claim to be Messiah and a token of the closest possi-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ble identification with their Lord. In the early years of the
A useful general history of the Jews is Salo W. Baron, A Social and
second century, Ignatius of Antioch in his letter to the Chris-
Religious History of the Jews, 2d ed., 18 vols. (New York,
tians in Rome said that he would be truly a disciple of Christ
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PERSECUTION: CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE
when he had been found “pure bread of Christ” (chap. 4).
PERSECUTION AND TOLERATION IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE.
“It is better,” he urged, “to die in Christ Jesus than to be king
Little is known of the Christian community in Rome during
over the ends of the earth” (6.1).
Nero’s reign, but three factors seem relevant. First, Nero was
desperate to find a scapegoat for the conflagration that he
The concept of martyrdom formulated in these years
was suspected of causing. Second, official and popular opin-
proved to be long lasting. In particular, its association with
ion in Rome reprobated any threat to the majesty of the
the spirit of prophecy, opposition to the world (not only to
Roman gods by foreign cults, including Judaism. Jews were
the Roman Empire), and its connection with the coming
also suspected of misanthropy and incendiarism. Finally, by
of the end of this world can be seen in the Acta martyrum
60 CE, Jewish hostility toward Christianity had spread to
of the second and early third centuries. Thus, in 177, the
Rome.
anonymous writer of the Acta of the martyrs of Lyon under-
stood the persecution that assailed the congregation there as
Tacitus’s account of the savage repression of Christiani-
“foreshadowing the coming of Antichrist” (that would pre-
ty (Annales 15.44), written some sixty years later, may have
cede the end of this age). (See Eusebius’s Ecclesiastical Histo-
been influenced by Livy’s detailed account of the suppression
ry, hereafter cited as H.E., 5.1.5 and following.) As for the
of the Bacchanal conspiracy of 186 BE (Livy, History of Rome
martyrs, one was described in the anonymous letter as the
39.8–19). The Christian movement was also regarded as a
“Paraclete of the Christians” (5.1.9). Their witness and con-
conspiracy by adherents of a foreign “false religion” (prava
fession placed them in direct contact with Jesus himself, and
religio), one of whose aims was to set fire to Rome. In both
while not “perfected” until dead, they were able to “bind and
cases, self-confessed adherents were put to death; in particu-
loose” as partakers in Christ’s sufferings. The martyrs of
lar, the Christians were executed in a cruel and theatrical
Lyon were not followers of Montanus, whose movement,
way, their death designed as a human sacrifice to appease the
which began in Phrygia in 172, illustrated the close connec-
wrath of the gods. A generation later, the writer of 1 Clement
tion between prophecy, eschatology, and martyrdom. Their
appeared to blame this catastrophe on the “envy and jealou-
recorded outlook, however, indicates the strong undercur-
sy” of the internal enemies of the church, namely, the Jews.
rent in the same direction among orthodox communities
during this period. At the end of the century, this can be il-
Although the Neronian persecution was not extended
lustrated from the church in North Africa. Around 197, Ter-
to Italy and the provinces, it put the Christians on the wrong
tullian proclaimed in Apologeticum 50.16 that martyrdom,
side of the law. Tacitus believed that Pontius Pilate was justi-
as the baptism of blood, wiped away all postbaptismal sin.
fied in ordering Jesus’ execution, and that the “deadly super-
A decade later (c. 207), as a Montanist, he asserted in De fuga
stition” of Christianity deserved punishment. His contempo-
in persecutione, chapter 9, that it was the only form of death
rary, Suetonius, listed the repression of the Christians among
worthy of a Christian, for in that event Christ, who had suf-
Nero’s police actions of which he approved (Nero 16.2). For
fered for the Christians, might be glorified.
him the Christians were guilty of practicing black magic as
well as of introducing a “novel and dangerous religion.” Sue-
The idea of martyrdom developed against the back-
tonius did not, however, connect the persecution with the
ground of occasional severe, if local, persecutions. Jesus had
fire at Rome.
warned his followers to expect persecution (Mt. 10:17). Like
that of the prophets of Israel, his blood would be poured out.
In the second century, Melito of Sardis and Tertullian
Until the Gospels attained their final form with the passion
named Domitian (r. 81–96) as the second persecuting em-
narrative, the suffering servant of Isaiah 53:1–12 was the per-
peror. Domitian’s repressive measures, however, in 95 aimed
fect type of Christ. The earliest enemies of the Christians
at discouraging forcibly members of the Roman nobility
were the Jews, who regarded them as belonging to a danger-
from “lapsing into Jewish ways.” By this time, however, the
ous, subversive movement in their midst. The martyrdom of
authorities were distinguishing between Jews and non-Jews
Stephen in about 35 was followed by the persecution under
“who were living like Jews,” a group that must have included
Herod Agrippa around 42. Although Agrippa died in 44,
Christians, and Christianity was illegal. The Book of Revela-
over the next fifteen years Jews did everything possible to im-
tion indicates savage persecutions by Jews, the local populace,
pede the preaching of Christianity by Paul and his friends
and the authorities in the province of Asia (western Asia
among the synagogues of the Diaspora. They portrayed Paul
Minor). In 112, the correspondence between the emperor
as “a mover of sedition among the Jews throughout the
Trajan and his special commissioner (legatus pro praetore) in
world” (Acts 24:5), and first in Corinth and then in Jerusa-
the Black Sea province of Bithynia shows that Christians
lem attempted to have him executed by the Roman au-
were liable to summary execution if denounced to the au-
thorities.
thorities. Pliny reports that their obstinacy in the face of
questioning was an aggravating circumstance. Faced with
Luke and Acts show that the authorities themselves were
apostasies, Pliny asked the emperor what he was to do, giving
by no means hostile to Paul and his preaching but rather re-
his opinion that Christianity was nothing worse than a per-
garded Christianity as an internal Jewish matter that was not
verse superstition and suggesting that leniency would restore
their concern. What then was the cause of the Neronian per-
the situation. Trajan replied that while Christians were not
secution in Rome in 64 CE?
to be sought out like common criminals they were to be pun-
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PERSECUTION: CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE
7059
ished if they persisted in their refusal “to worship our gods.”
traditional values of the Roman state. He was convinced that
If they recanted, however, they were to be freed.
the Christians were responsible for the disasters that had be-
fallen his predecessor. In January 250, he ordered that the
Instructions (rescripta) issued in 124/5 by Trajan’s suc-
yearly sacrifice made to the Roman gods on the Capitoline
cessor, Hadrian (r. 117–138), directed the proconsul of Asia,
hill should be repeated throughout the empire, and almost
C. Minicius Fundanus, to condemn Christians only if found
simultaneously he had prominent Christians seized, whether
guilty of criminal offenses in a court of law. They were not
clergy or laity. On January 21, Pope Fabian was tried before
to be subjected to clamorous denunciations, and they had the
him and executed. A similar fate befell Bishop Babylas of An-
right of turning against their accusers a charge that proved
tioch; Cyprian of Carthage and Dionysius of Alexandria es-
to be false. These two decisions established the policy of the
caped only by going into hiding. This phase was followed
imperial authorities for the remainder of the century. They
by the establishment of commissions in the towns of each
had the effect of discouraging prosecutions, and Christians
province to supervise sacrifices to the gods of the empire and
enjoyed relative tranquillity until the reign of Marcus Aure-
the emperor’s genius. The process extended from February
lius (161–180). By then, however, the official reluctance to
and March in Asia Minor and North Africa to June and July
pursue Christians had begun to yield to the force of popular
in Egypt. Some forty-three libelli (certificates) given to those
suspicion of them, as reflected in charges of incest, cannibal-
who sacrificed have survived on Egyptian papyri. Few Chris-
ism, and atheism. They were also held responsible for natural
tians resisted. If Decius had been able to give his undivided
disasters that demonstrated, it was believed, the anger of the
attention to the repression, the church might have been in
gods. The result was a series of severe local persecutions, such
serious danger. The peril, however, was already over when
as the martyrdom of Polycarp of Smyrna in about 166 and
the emperor met his death at the hands of the Goths in
the “pogrom” of Lyon in 177. In about 178 an informed Pla-
June 251.
tonist writer, Celsus, without mentioning specific popular
accusations directed against the Christians, mentions mem-
Hostility was continued under the emperors Gallus and
bership in an illegal organization, lack of civic sense, and sub-
Volusian in 252 and 253, but in 257 their successor Valerian
version of traditional social structures through active prosely-
(253–260) made a massive effort to force Christians to ac-
tism as additional grounds for unpopularity and justification
knowledge and respect the Roman gods. This was the object
for oppression.
of Valerian’s first edict (summer 257), although the contrib-
In the first decade of the third century, the increase in
utory factors may have included a desire on the part of the
the number of Christians resulting from a more aggressive
authorities to lay hands on the wealth that the church was
missionary policy resulted in persecutions in Carthage, Alex-
believed to have accumulated. The church’s leaders were ar-
andria, Rome, Antioch, Corinth, and Cappadocia. In Car-
rested, interrogated, and deported. The edict also forbade
thage and Alexandria the rage of the mob seems to have been
Christians to hold services and to frequent their cemeteries,
directed against converts. Eusebius associated these persecu-
but otherwise left them alone. A year later, however, the em-
tions with the emperor Septimius Severus (r. 193–211), and
peror decided on severer measures. An imperial order
it is possible that that emperor reacted against the rising tide
reached Rome early in August 258, ordering that clergy
of mob outbreaks in some of the main cities of the em-
should be executed, that Christian senators should forfeit
pire by prohibiting conversion either to Judaism or to Chris-
their status and property, that a similar fate should befall
tianity.
highborn women, and that civil servants should be reduced
to slavery. On September 14, 258, Cyprian of Carthage was
Between 212 and 235 Christians enjoyed a further peri-
summoned from his relatively comfortable place of exile to
od of quasi toleration under the emperors of the Severan
confront the proconsul of Africa. After a brief trial he was
dynasty. The revolution that removed Alexander Severus on
condemned as the ringleader of “an unlawful association”
March 22, 235, saw the beginnings of a new policy. Severus’s
and as “an open enemy of the gods and the religion of Rome”
supplanter, Maximinus Thrax (235–238), liquidated the
(Acta proconsularia).
Christian servants and officeholders at his predecessor’s court
and struck at the Christian leadership, sending the pope,
Persecution continued through 259, but ended with
Pontian (235–236), and the antipope, Hippolytus, into exile
Valerian’s capture by the Persians near Edessa in June 260.
in Sardinia, where they both died.
His son and successor, Gallienus, sent instructions in 260
and 261 to provincial governors to restore the property of
In 238 Maximinus fell to a revolution inspired by lan-
the church and free its members from further molestation.
downing interests in North Africa. The next dozen years saw
The church, though not technically religio licita (“lawful reli-
a period of Christian expansion and prosperity that provoked
gion”), had at last achieved a recognized status.
growing antipathy on the part of the pagans. In 248 there
was a massive popular assault on the Christians in Alexan-
For more than forty years this situation continued.
dria, but the change of emperor that took place in the au-
Church and empire moved closer together. In Nicomedia,
tumn of 249 resulted in the first empire-wide persecution.
the capital of the emperor Diocletian (284–305), the cathe-
C. Quintus Messius Decius, who took the surname Trajan
dral stood in full view of the emperor’s palace. Why Diocle-
(r. 249–251), was a good general and believed firmly in the
tian decided to force the issue with the Christians nearly
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

7060
PERSECUTION: CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE
twenty years after he had seized power is not known; but the
creased his power, until in the spring of 312 he was ready
connection with the anti-Christian sentiments of his caesar,
to bid for the control of the whole of the West. He invaded
Galerius, and with his own policy of bringing uniformity in
Italy, defeated the usurper Maxentius at the battle of the
every aspect of the life of the peoples of the empire through
Milvian Bridge, just north of Rome (October 28, 312), and
the establishment of a common currency, prices, taxation,
was hailed “senior augustus” by the Senate the next day. He
and legal framework seems clear. The great nonconformists,
was already strongly influenced by Christianity and, whatev-
the Christians, could not be allowed to opt out. The Great
er the vision he saw on the day before the decisive battle, he
Persecution of 303–312 (303–305 in the West) was preced-
was determined to end the era of persecution. In February
ed by a number of repressive acts (298–302) designed to re-
313 he met his fellow augustus at Milan, and together they
move Christians from public positions. On February 23,
published the famous Edict of Milan. Christians received, to-
303, the emperor posted an edict at Nicodemia, ordering the
gether with all the other subjects of the empire, complete
surrender of all copies of the Christian scriptures for burning
freedom of religion, but they and the Summus Deus were re-
and the dismantlement of all churches. No meetings for
garded as the positive force and contrasted with “all others.”
Christian worship were to be held. Christians were also dis-
Insensibly the scales had tipped toward Christianity as the
barred from being plaintiffs in lawsuits, and lost all honors
official religion of the empire. By the time Constantine
and privileges, but there was no death penalty, for Diocletian
moved east, in 324, to challenge Licinius for control over the
wanted no more Christian martyrs. In the summer of 303
whole Roman world, the “immortal gods” of the Romans
other edicts followed, first directing that Christian clergy
had been displaced as patrons and protectors of the empire.
should be arrested and imprisoned, and then that they
The religious revolution was complete. The church’s inten-
should be forced to sacrifice and thereafter freed.
sive ramifications through town and countryside alike, cou-
pled with a firm organization and a continued underlying en-
So far only the clergy had been seriously affected, but
thusiasm for martyrdom, at least among a minority of the
in the winter of 303–304 Diocletian became incapacitated
faithful, had proved too strong for the pagan empire.
by illness following a visit to Rome to celebrate his twenty
years’ rule. Galerius took over control of the government and
PERSECUTION OF HERETICS AND DISSENTERS. Constan-
in the spring of 304 issued an edict ordering everyone to sac-
tine’s religious policy was founded on unity. The Christian
rifice to the immortal gods. This phase of the persecution
God could not be served by two or more rival groups of min-
saw numerous martyrs in North Africa, especially in Numid-
isters. Only one such group could be accepted as representing
ia, and a hardening of attitudes between Christians and pa-
the true catholic (universal) church. At the same time, how-
gans. Diocletian recovered from his illness, but was persuad-
ever, the strains and tensions resulting from the Great Perse-
ed to retire from the government, which he did on May 1,
cution had exacerbated existing divisions in the church and
305, to live another eleven years in a magnificent military
caused new ones. In the West, the North African church had
palace at Spalatum (Split) on the Adriatic coast.
been divided since 311 between factions supporting or op-
posed to the new bishop of Carthage, Caecilian. In Egypt,
The new emperors, Constantius in the West and Galeri-
there were divisions between the Melitians and adherents of
us (with Maximinus as his caesar) in the East, pursued con-
Alexander, bishop of Alexandria. Persecution directed
trasting religious policies. Persecution ceased in the West,
against opponents of the church supported by Constantine
but was restarted in the East after Easter 306. Successive
was not slow in coming.
edicts were accompanied by efforts by Maximinus to reorga-
nize the pagan cult on a hierarchical basis. However, enthusi-
Constantine and his sons saw themselves as the custodes
asm among the pagans was waning, and Galerius, struck
fidei (“guardians of the faith”) of the empire. This involved
down in the spring of 311 by a mysterious, deadly illness,
the suppression of paganism and dissenting views such as
issued an edict of toleration on April 30, a week before he
those of the Donatists in 346–347, and measures against in-
died. This “Palinode of Galerius” accepted the fact that the
dividuals, like Athanasius of Alexandria, who was exiled in
great majority of Christians could not be brought back to the
356. A generation later, after the free-for-all toleration under
worship of the Roman gods, considered it better for the em-
Julian (r. 361–363), the emperor Theodosius I in 380 pub-
pire that they should worship their own god than that they
lished the general edict Cunctos Populos, by which the
worship no god at all, and accorded them contemptuous tol-
Christian religion as adhered to by Pope Damasus and Peter
eration. “Christians may exist again, and may establish their
of Alexandria was decreed to be the sole legitimate religion
meeting houses, provided they do nothing contrary to good
of the empire.
order.” They were also asked “to pray to their god for our
good estate and their own, so that the commonwealth may
Cunctos Populos is one of the turning points in the
endure on every side unharmed.”
grim story of religious persecution. Those who did not ac-
cept that law forfeited their civil rights and were liable to
Meantime, in the West Constantius had died at York
punishment by the state. It was followed by a series of laws
on July 25, 306, and his son Constantine had been acclaimed
reiterating penalties against heretics, which reached a climax
augustus by the soldiers. Though he had to be content with
in June 392, when the emperor ordered heretical clergy to
lesser honors for the time being, Constantine gradually in-
be fined ten pounds of gold and decreed that places where
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PERSECUTION: CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE
7061
forbidden practices were occurring should be confiscated if
Camisards in the Cévennes following the revocation of the
the owner had connived. Pagans fared equally badly. In Feb-
Edict of Nantes in 1685 and the repression of Protestants in
ruary 391 a law sent from Milan to Albinus, the praetorian
the Palatinate in 1715 and in the diocese of Salzburg in 1732
prefect of the East, took up the legislation against paganism
are reminders that religious persecution did not end with the
by the emperors Constantius II and Valens by prohibiting
formal conclusion of hostilities between Protestants and
all sacrifices and fining people of high rank or official posi-
Catholics at the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. Even in World
tion who entered temples. This paved the way for a more
War II, the Ustasi government in Croatia unleashed what
comprehensive law late in 392 that banned every sort of
may be hoped to be the final spasm of religious persecution
pagan practice under very severe financial penalties. Inform-
against the Orthodox minority in Bosnia. On the other
ers were to be encouraged.
hand, Christianity itself has been the object of persecution
by the Hitlerite and Communist regimes. These persecutions
This framework of imperial legislation provided the
have so far failed in their aims, but among Christians them-
means by which leaders of the catholic church were able to
selves it is to be hoped that the growth of the ecumenical
suppress their opponents. If, in the East, church and state
movement and the decrees of Vatican II may help banish this
formed one integrated whole under the emperor, in the West
blot from history.
the “two swords” theory of the separate authority of church
and state required the church to regard the secular power as
SEE ALSO Cathari; Constantine; Constantinianism; Cult of
its protector and sword against its enemies. In his long strug-
Saints; Donatism; Heresy, article on Christian Concepts;
gle against the Donatists, which lasted from 393 to 421, Au-
Reformation.
gustine gradually built up a justification for the repression
of religious dissent by the state. In 399 he identified the
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Donatists as heretics and urged that if kings could legislate
Sources
against pagans and prisoners they could legislate against here-
The Acts of the Christian Martyrs. Translated by Herbert A. Mu-
tics. In 405 Augustine had imperial legislation against here-
surillo. Oxford, 1972. Includes useful introductions and bib-
tics applied to the Donatists. Denial of testamentary rights
liographical notes.
and floggings with lead whips were to be meted out to the
Lanata, Giuliana. Gli atti dei martiri come documenti processuali.
obdurate. In 408, Augustine confessed that he was now con-
Milan, 1973. No English translation, but contains excellent
vinced that Donatists should be coerced into the unity of
bibliographical notes and evaluation of manuscript tradi-
Christ and quoted the Lucan text “Compel them to come
tions.
in.” After the proscription of the Donatists by law in 412,
Lawlor, Hugh J., and John E. L. Oulton. Eusebius, Bishop of Cae-
Augustine added to his arguments justifying persecution the
sarea: The Ecclesiastical History and the Martyrs of Palestine
statement that coercion in this world would save the heretics
(1927–1928). 2 vols. Reprint, London, 1954. The best En-
glish text of Eusebius’s Martyrs of Palestine.
from eternal punishment in the next.
Secondary Literature
“No salvation outside the church,” a doctrine preached
Barnes, Timothy D. “Legislation against the Christians.” Journal
by Augustine in 418 in his sermon addressed to the people
of Roman Studies 58 (1968): 32–50.
of the church of Caesarea (chap. 6), implied a right to con-
Barnes, Timothy D. “Pre-Decian Acta Martyrum.” Journal of
vert forcibly or otherwise the church’s opponents. The prece-
Theological Studies, n.s. 19 (October 1968): 509–531.
dents established in the Donatist controversy by Augustine
Baynes, N. H. “The Great Persecution.” In The Imperial Crisis
passed into the armory of the catholic church through the
and Recovery, A.D. 193–324, vol. 12 of Cambridge Ancient
Middle Ages and into Reformation times. The Albigensian
History, edited by S. A. Cook et al., pp. 646–677. Cam-
crusades of 1212 and 1226–1244 witnessed terrible massa-
bridge, 1939.
cres in centers such as Béziers and Carcassonne where the
Brown, Peter R. Religion and Society in the Age of Saint Augustine.
heresy flourished. In 1244 the defenders of the last Abigen-
London, 1972. Contains important studies of Augustine’s
sian stronghold, Mont Ségur, were burned alive by their vic-
attitude toward religious coercion.
torious enemies. More than a century and a half later, in
Emery, Richard W. Heresy and Inquisition in Narbonne. New
1415, the same punishment was inflicted on Jan Hus at
York, 1941.
Prague.
Frend, W. H. C. Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church:
A Study of a Conflict from the Maccabees to Donatus. Oxford,
In the Reformation, persecution of opposing churches
1965. Includes a bibliography of works published before
was accepted by all parties. Henry VIII burned the Protes-
1964.
tants Thomas Bilney and Robert Barnes; Mary Tudor sent
Grégoire, Henri. Les persécutions dans l’Empire romain. In Mém-
some three hundred Protestants to the stake between 1555
oires de l’Académie Royale de Belgique, vol. 46, fasc. 1. Brus-
and her death in November 1558; Calvin ordered the burn-
sels, 1951. Stimulating, like everything Grégoire wrote,
ing of Servetus in 1541. Unwillingness in the Roman Catho-
though occasionally wrong-headed.
lic Church to concede that “error has any rights over truth”
Hardy, E. G. Christianity and the Roman Government: A Study in
prolonged the period of persecution of Protestants into the
Imperial Administration (1894). Reprint, London, 1925.
eighteenth century. The bloody repression of the Calvinist
Fine piece of work by a classical scholar.
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

7062
PERSEPHONE
King, Noel Q. The Emperor Theodosius and the Establishment of
PERUN was the thunder god of the heathen Slavs. A fruc-
Christianity. Philadelphia, 1960.
tifier, a purifier, and an overseer of right and order, he was
Kitts, Eustace J. Pope John the Twenty-Third and Master John Hus
the adversary of the Slavic “black god” (Chernobog, Veles).
of Bohemia. London, 1910.
His actions were perceived by the senses: he was seen in the
Knipfing, John R. “The Libelli of the Decian Persecution.” Har-
thunderbolt, he was heard in the crackling rattle of stones
vard Theological Review 16 (October 1923): 345–390.
or the thunderous bellow of the bull or he-goat, and he was
Moreau, Jacques. La persécution du christianisme dans l’Empire ro-
felt in the sharp touch of an ax blade.
main. Paris, 1956. Revised and published in German as Die
The cult of Perun among the Baltic Slavs is attested by
Christenverfolgung im römischen Reich, “Aus der Welt der Re-
the Byzantine historian Procopius in the sixth century CE. In
ligion,” n. s. 2 (Berlin, 1961). A perceptive and stimulating
statement by one of Grégoire’s pupils.
the Russian Primary Chronicle, compiled circa 1111, Perun
is invoked by name in the treaties of 945 and 971, and his
Shannon, Albert C. The Popes and Heresy in the Thirteenth Centu-
name is first in the list of gods compiled by Vladimir I in
ry. Villanova, Pa., 1949.
980. As Prone, Perun was worshiped in oak groves by West
Sherwin-White, Adrian Nicholas. “The Early Persecutions and
Slavs, and he is so named in Helmold’s Chronica Slavorum
Roman Law Again.” Journal of Theological Studies, n.s. 3
of the twelfth century. Saxo Grammaticus mentions Perun’s
(October 1952): 199–213.
son, whom he calls Porenutius, in his Gesta Danorum of the
Ste. Croix, G. E. M. de. “Why Were the Early Christians Perse-
early thirteenth century.
cuted?” Past and Present 26 (November 1963): 6–38. The
best short account of the persecutions and their causes.
The root per-/perk-, meaning “to strike, to splinter,” is
Vogt, Joseph, and Hugh Last. “Christenverfolgung: 1, Historisch”
common to Indo-European languages. Close relatives to the
and “Christenverfolgung: 2, Juristisch.” In Reallexikon für
Slavic name Perun are the Lithuanian Perku¯nas, Prussian Per-
Antike und Christentum, edited by Theodor Klauser, vol. 2.
konis, Latvian P¯erkons, Old Icelandic Fjor-gynn, and Greek
E
Stuttgart, 1954.
Zeus keraunos (from a taboo *peraunos). Common nouns de-
New Sources
rived from the same Indo-European root—Sanskrit par-
Bowerstock, Glen Warren. Martyrdom and Rome. The Wiles lec-
janyah (“cloud, thunder”), Hittite peruna (“mountaintop”),
tures at the Queen’s University at Belfast. Cambridge, U.K.,
Gothic fairguni (“oak forest”), Celtic hercynia (from silva,
and New York, 1995.
“oak forest”), and Latin quercus (from *perkus, “pine” or, ear-
Cassidy, Richard J. Paul in Chains: Roman Imprisonment and the
lier, “oak”)—suggest prehistoric ties between Indo-European
Letters of St. Paul. New York, 2001.
thunder gods and clouds (i.e., rain), oaks, oak forests, and
mountaintops. The veneration of the Slavic *pergynja (Rus-
Cavanaugh, William T. Torture and Eucharist: Theology, Politics,
and the Body of Christ.Oxford and Malden, Mass., 1998.
sian peregynia, Polish przeginia), meaning “oak forest,” is at-
tested by Russian literary sources. West Slavic and South
Ellis, Jane. The Russian Orthodox Church: A Contemporary History.
Slavic personal names and place-names with the root per- are
Bloomington, Ind., 1986.
mostly linked with “oak,” “oak forest,” and “hill”: Perun gora
Ferguson, Everett, ed. The Church and State in the Early Church.
(Serbian), Perunowa gora (Polish), and Porun, the name of
New York, 1993.
a hill in Istria. The word for “Thursday” (Thor’s day) in the
Hillar, Marian. The Case of Michael Servetus (1511–1553): The
Polabian dialect is peründan, which literally means
Turning Point in the Struggle for Freedom of Conscience. Lew-
“lightning.”
iston, N.Y., 1997.
Loades, David M., ed. John Foxe and the English Reformation. Pro-
In the Christian period, worship of Perun was gradually
ceedings of a Colloquium held July 4–6, 1995, at Magdalene
transferred to the old, white-bearded Saint Elijah (Russian,
College, Cambridge. Aldershot, U.K., and Brookfield, Vt.,
Il’ia), who traveled across the sky in a fiery chariot (as the
1997.
Lithuanian thunder god, copper-bearded Perkunas, is still
Waugh, Scott L., and Peter D. Dieh, eds. Christendom and Its Dis-
believed to do). In folk beliefs, Perun’s fructifying, life-
contents: Exclusion, Persecution, and Rebellion. Cambridge,
stimulating, and purifying functions are still performed by
U.K., and New York, 1996.
his traditional instruments: ax, bull, he-goat, dove, and cuck-
oo. Sacrifice of a bull and a communal feast on Saint Il’ia’s
W. H. C. FREND (1987)
Revised Bibliography
Day, July 20, in honor of Perun or Il’ia were last recorded
in northern Russia in 1907, when they were combined with
Christian hymns and blessings. The meat was prepared en-
tirely by men and then taken into the church and divided
PERSEPHONE SEE DEMETER AND
among the villagers (see Otto Schrader, Die Indogermanen,
PERSEPHONE
1907).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
PERSONIFICATION SEE
Darkevich, V. P. “Topor kak simvol Peruna v drevnerusskom ia-
ANTHROPOMORPHISM; HYPOSTASIS
zychestve.” Sovetskaia arkheologiia 4 (1961): 91–102.
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

PESHER
7063
Duridanov, I. “Urslav: Perun und seine Spuren in der Topo-
damental structure and exegetical method, but they vary in
nymie.” Studia Slavica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 12
technical formulae. The running pesharim on large passages
(1966): 99–102.
are found mostly in copies dated to the second half of the
Gimbutas, Marija. “Perku¯nas/Perun: The Thunder God of the
first century BCE. But a copy of pesher of Isaiah,
Balts and the Slavs.” Journal of Indo-European Studies 1
4QpIsc(4Q163) dates to the beginning of the first century
(1973): 466–478.
BCE. Also, single pesher units, embedded in different literary
Ivanov, J. “Kul’t Peruna u iuzhnykh slavian.” Izvestiia 8, no. 4
contexts, appear in the earliest works of the community, the
(1903): 140–174.
so-called Rule of the Community (1QS VIII, 13–16) and the
Damascus Document (e.g., CD VI, 3–11; VII, 14–21). More-
Rozniecki, Stan. “Perun und Thor: Ein Beitrag zur Quellenkritik
der russischen Mythologie.” Archiv für slawische Philologie
over, historical allusions in the pesharim cover a century, ap-
(Berlin) 23 (1901): 462–520.
proximately from 150 to 50 BCE. In addition, the pesher of
Habakkuk attributes this technique to the founder of the
New Sources
community, the Teacher of Righteousness, a claim that may
Yoffe, Mark, and Joseph Krafczik. Perun: The God of Thunder.
have a historical kernel (cf. below). Another piece of evidence
New York, 2003.
suggesting the antiquity of the method is provided by the
MARIJA GIMBUTAS (1987)
Apocryphon of Joshua, which produces a pesher on the curse
Revised Bibliography
of Joshua; (cf. below). So the pesher method was practiced
by the community since its inception. Perhaps certain pe-
sharim,
especially the running ones, committed much earlier
PESHER.
interpretative traditions to writing. Given the antiquity of
The Hebrew noun pesher (pl. pesharim) is an
the pesher method, the running pesharim could hardly be au-
Aramaic loanword that entered late biblical Hebrew (Qohe-
tographs as claimed because the extant specimens do not
leth 8:1) and is current in the Hebrew of the Qumran scrolls
overlap.
in the sense of “meaning, explanation, interpretation.” Since
this term is mostly employed by a particular type of Qumran
Reading contemporary circumstances into old prophe-
biblical interpretation, it came to be the nomenclature of
cies, the pesharim contain numerous allusions to real histori-
Qumran works, which in their literary character and their
cal figures and events. This is evident from many details con-
structure engaged in such interpretation. In Qumran re-
tained in the pesher comments that do not stem from the
search the term pesher has therefore four distinct usages: (1)
biblical texts or its exegetical problems and may only be ex-
as the name of the genre that contemporizes biblical prophe-
plained as references to real circumstances. Accordingly, the
cies according to the worldview of the Qumran ascetic com-
pesharim are the main source for historical data of the Qum-
munity; (2) as the name attached to individual Qumran
ran community and its history.
works or literary units containing such interpretations; (3)
2. INDIVIDUAL PESHARIM. The pesharim appear in four dis-
as a formula introducing the exposition of a given biblical
tinct forms.
text according to the said method; (4) as the name of the par-
ticular exegetical method applied in this kind of interpre-
Continuous pesharim. Thus labeled are works citing
tation.
large running prophetic texts with detailed expositions. The
citations consist of one or two phrases each, followed by a
1. THE PESHER GENRE. One of the first scrolls to be discov-
comment, usually introduced by the formula pesher hadaver
ered was a pesher of Habakkuk exhibiting a particular type
(“the interpretation of it”) or pishro (“its interpretation”).
of commentary. It consisted of reading into biblical prophe-
The available specimens of this type are the following:
cies allusions to various historical circumstances and events
contemporary with and related to the Qumran community,
1QpHab. A pesher of Habakkuk chapters 1–2, found in
often placed in the perspective of the approaching eschaton
Qumran cave 1, preserved almost intact. It offers consecutive
and the final redemption. Among the extant pesharim are in-
pesher on the first two chapters of Habakkuk, containing al-
terpretations of the prophets and other biblical passages (e.g.,
lusions to historical figures and events from the middle of
the Blessings of Bileam [Num. 24:17] in CD VII, 19 and
the second century BCE to the first third of the first century
1QM XI, 6; the Song of the Well [Num. 21:18] in CD VI,
BCE. Among the persons referred to is the Teacher of Righ-
2–11; and occasionally also legal texts; cf. discussion of pesher
teousness, known from CD (I, 10–15) to be the founder of
Melchizedek below). Also included in this group are the
the community. The pesher attributes to him a special under-
Psalms of David and the vision contained in the Book of Dan-
standing of the mysteries embedded in the prophetic mes-
iel, both viewed as prophetic (for Psalms see 11QPsa 27:11
sage, divulged by divine revelation: “And when he [i.e., Ha-
and for Daniel see 4Q174 1–3 ii 3). This selection shows that
bakkuk] says so that the reader can read it easily (Habakkuk
various biblical texts were deemed prophetic and were sub-
2:2) its interpretation concerns the Teacher of Righteousness
jected to pesher interpretation even when appearing in non-
to whom God made known all the mysteries of the words
prophetic literary contexts. Nevertheless, running pesharim
of his servants the prophets” (1QpHab VII, 3–5). The
on large textual passages are extant only for the prophets and
Teacher’s identity remains a mystery. His major political op-
Psalms. All the pesharim from Qumran display the same fun-
ponent was the Wicked Priest, who is usually identified with
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7064
PESHER
the Hasmonean Jonathan (152–142 BCE) or Simon (142–
ments only on a selection of Isaiah passages. Significant for
134 BCE). The Teacher’s ideological rival is referred to by the
understanding the community’s self-image is 4QpIsd, which
sobriquet “the Spouter of Lie” (1QpHab X, 9; cf. CD VIII,
explains the description of Jerusalem in Isaiah 54 as a symbol
13), probably identical with “the Man of Lie” (1QpHab II,
of the community and its leadership. Two texts contain a
2; V, 11; cf. CD I, 15; XX, 15) or “the Man of Mockery”
pesher of Hosea: 4QpHosa (= 4Q166), 4QHosb (= 4Q167).
(cf. CD I, 14). This person was the leader of an opponent
Of interest is the first. Expounding Hosea 2:10–14, it criti-
group (1QpHab X, 10), perhaps the one dubbed in other pe-
cizes the calendar practiced in Israel at the time (4QHosa ii
sharim “the Seekers after Smooth Things” (4QpNah 3–4 i
16), thus adding evidence to the well-known polemics on
2,7; ii 2, 4; cf. CD I, 18) or “the Men of Mockery” (4QpIsb
this issue in the Qumran writings. Other exemplars of con-
ii 6, 10; cf. CD XX, 11). All are derogatory epithets for those
tinuous pesharim are poorly preserved: two interpret Micah,
who, according to the view of the sectaries, practiced false
1QpMic (= 1Q14) and 4QpMic (= 4Q168), and two ex-
exposition of Scriptures. Most scholars identify them with
pound Zephaniah, 1Q15 and 4QZeph (= 4Q170). A pesher
the Pharisees. A different type of group is labeled by the
of Malachi may also be extant (5Q10). The Psalms seem to
pesher as “the Kittim.” In the Hebrew Bible the Kittim des-
be a favorite subject for the pesher authors. Three texts con-
ignate western peoples, from Greece or Cyprus (Gen. 10:4;
tain a pesher of Psalms: 1QpPs (= 1Q16), 4QpPsa (= 4Q171),
Isa. 23:1, 12; Ezek. 27:6–7), but in the pesharim they stand
and 4QPsb (= 4Q173). Substantial fragments of a pesher on
for the Romans. This is clear from the assertions that they
Psalm 37 are preserved in 4QPsa (4Q171), expressing the
sacrifice to their standards (1QpHab VI, 4), a well-known
sectaries’ hopes for the eschatological age, when the wicked
practice of the Roman army, and are governed by rulers ap-
will perish and the righteous will take possession of their in-
pointed by their council (1QpHab IV, 10–12), probably the
heritance. But contemporary controversies also occupy the
Roman Senate.
pesher. The opponent of the Teacher of Righteousness, the
Man of Lie, is accused of “misleading many with deceptive
4QpNahum (= 4Q169). The fragments of this running
words for they have chosen light things” (4QpPsa 1–10 i 26–
pesher of Nahum provide a typical illustration of the pesher
27), probably another reference to the Pharisees and criti-
method. One comment sees in the lion, mentioned in
cism of their method of interpreting biblical law. Various
Nahum 2:12, an allusion to the Greek king Demetrius
verses of Psalms are commented by other Qumran texts (cf.
(4QpNah 3–4 i 2), probably the Seleucid ruler Demetrius
4QFlorilegium and 4QCatena below).
III Eukerus (95–88 BCE). This pesher makes a clear distinc-
tion between the “kings of Greece” (4QpNah 3–4 i 2),
Thematic pesharim. Thematic pesharim are works
namely the Seleucids, and the “rulers of the Kittim”
containing pesher interpretations arranged around central
(4QpNah 3–4 i 3), namely the Roman rulers, perhaps their
themes rather than producing a running commentary on a
military commanders. Most scholars see in this last reference
single text. Significantly, some of them, such as the pesher of
an allusion to Pompey’s capture of Jerusalem (63 BCE), which
Melchizedek, date to the first half of the first century BCE.
marked the end of the independent Hasmonean kingdom.
So this form of pesher may have been created earlier than the
The pesher also refers to a rift within Judaism, which it reads
running pesharim.
into the prophecy of Nahum: “the lion tears victims for his
4QForilegium (4Q174). Structured around citations
cubs and strangles prey for his lionesses (Nahum 2:13a)
from 2 Samuel 7:10–14 (1 Chron. 17:9–13), Exodus 15:17–
[ . . . its interpretation] concerns the Lion of Wrath who
18, Amos 9–11, Psalms 1:1, Isaiah 8:11, Ezekiel 37:23, and
would strike his great ones and his men of counsel [ . . . and
Psalms 2:1, the work expounds various eschatological
as for what he (i.e., Nahum) said And it fills up with prey]
themes. Reflecting the Qumranites’ criticism of the contem-
its lair and its den with mangled flesh [Nahum 2:13b] its in-
porary temple, the pesher, explaining 2 Samuel 7, likens the
terpretation concerns the Lion of Wrath [ . . . who will take
reality of the Qumranites to a “Temple of Men” (mqdˇs ’dm)
ven]geance of the Seekers of Smooth Things and he would
in which “deeds of Torah,” namely practicing the Torah
hang men up alive” (4QpNah 3–4 i 4–7). The prophetic
commandments, replace animal sacrifices (4QFlor 1–2 i
verse is understood to refer to the Hasmonean king Alexan-
6–7). It expresses the hope for a future temple, established
der Jannaeus (103–76 BCE), here dubbed “the Lion of
by divine initiative (4QFlor 1–2 i 3–5).
Wrath,” who crucified eight hundred partisans of the Phari-
sees for joining the army of his enemy Demetrius Eukeros
4QCatena A (4Q177). This text dated to the mid-first
(see Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews., xiii, 389–391; Jewish
century BCE concerns the circumstances of the Qumran cove-
War, i, 92–95). Other continuous pesharim have survived,
nanters in the final redemptive age (4Q177 1–4 + 14 + 24
mostly very fragmentary. There are six pesharim of Isaiah:
+ 31 5). It strings together pesher comments on a selection
3QpIs (= 3Q4), 4QpIsa (= 4Q161), 4QpIsb (= 4Q162),
of Psalms (Ps. 6, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17), developing each exposi-
4QpIsc (= 4Q163), 4QpIsd (= 4Q164), and 4QpIse (=
tion with the help of additional allusions to other biblical
4Q165). 4QpIsc (= 4Q163) merits special attention since it
passages. It has been recently suggested that 4QFlorileguim
is not only the oldest specimen of running pesher but also
and 4QCatena A are copies of the same work (by A. Steudel).
the only one written on papyrus. It also cites other prophets
However, the absence of overlapping between the two and
(Zechariah and probably Jeremiah), and apparently com-
their different literary structure excludes this suggestion.
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PESHER
7065
11QMelchizedek (11Q13). This single manuscript,
“The Man of Mockery” or “the Men of Mockery” (occurring
dated to 75–50 BCE, takes its starting point from the Torah
in CD and 4QpIsb) alludes to Isaiah 28:14. Being intimately
laws mandating the liberation of slaves and the return of the
connected with the community’s image of its history, these
possessions in the jubilee year (Lev. 25: 10, 13; cf. Deut.
sobriquets occur only in the pesharim and in the Damascus
15:2). Linking them with additional Psalms (Ps. 82:1, 7:8–9,
Document. In this respect the Damascus Document has a spe-
82:2) and prophetic texts (Isa. 52:7, Dan. 9:25), the pesher
cial place within the library of Qumran, for its narrative text
explains it as a redemption of the righteous from the yoke
interweaves not only explicit pesher units but also numerous
of evil forces in the eschatological jubilee, under the guidance
nonexplicit pesharim, namely citations without introductory
of Melchizedek, a supernatural figure of the eschatological
formulae.
judge. This pesher provides interesting examples of pesher ex-
3. THE TERM PESHER AS INTRODUCTORY FORMULA. The
egesis applied to legal texts from Leviticus and Deuteronomy.
use of the term pesher to introduce the comment after a cita-
In the biblical books these passages are formulated as part of
tion is typical of the continuous pesharim and is also sporadi-
the speech of Moses, a prophet already by biblical statement
cally employed in the thematic pesharim. However, it appears
(Deut. 34:10), and hence apt for pesher exegesis. Of signifi-
only once in the Damascus Document (CD IV, 14). This dis-
cance is the special eschatological role of Melchizedek in this
tribution shows that this term was not constituent for the
pesher, not found in the biblical references (Gen. 14:18; Ps.
genre. In fact, in several Qumran texts of sectarian prove-
110:4) but it probably lies in the background to the Letter
nance (1Q30 1 6; 4Q180 1 1,7; 4Q252 IV 5; note also
to the Hebrews 7, where Melchizedek prefigures Jesus as the
4Q464 3 ii 7 and 4Q159 5 1, 5), the term pesher occurs in
divine and eternal high priest.
a general sense of “meaning, interpretation,” without the
specific adaptation to contemporary events known from the
Pesher units in non-pesher works. Smaller pesharim,
major pesharim. The absence of the term pesher from the ear-
of one or more sentences, are interwoven into compositions
liest exemplar of running pesher, 4QpIsc (4Q163), and from
of different literary genres. Such are the pesharim occurring
examples of pesharim in the Rule of the Community and the
in the Rule of the Community (1QS VIII 12–16 expounding
Damascus Document, suggests that the genre went through
Isa. 40:3) and the Damascus Document (e.g., the pesher of
various phases of development, still detected in the sectarian
Hos. 4:16 in CD I, 13–14, the pesher of Ezek. 44:15 in CD
works.
III, 21–IV,1–6, and the pesher of Amos 5:26–27 in CD VII,
14–18). Another example of an isolated pesher unit is provid-
4. THE PESHER EXEGETICAL METHOD. The pesher exegetical
ed by the Commentary on Genesis A (4Q252). This work con-
procedure can be summarized as follows: (1) The first step
tains commentary by various exegetical methods on a selec-
consists of equating one or more nouns of the biblical cita-
tion of passages from Genesis, but only a single comment of
tion with nonbiblical nouns connected with the communi-
the pesher type. It interprets the pericope about Judah in the
ty’s life and historical or contemporary circumstances. This
Blessing of Jacob (Gen. 49:10) as applying to the Qumranites
initial equation is usually quite arbitrary. (2) The second step
at the End of Days (4Q252 V 1–7). The Apocryphon of Josh-
is to apply all or some of the remaining words of this phrase
ua offers another significant instance. Since this work lacks
to the nonbiblical noun. (3) At times one detail is extracted
any explicit sectarian terminology, it is noteworthy that it
from the citation for additional interpretation. In thematic
contains a pesher on Joshua’s curse of the builder of Jericho
pesharim, adducing other biblical quotations that share one
(Josh. 6:26), understood as referring to contemporary histori-
element or more with the main citation often accomplishes
cal figures (4Q379 22 ii 7–15). This piece of pesher exegesis
such amplification. Since the connection between the cita-
must be quite old, since it is cited by 4QTestimonia
tion and the interpretation is not obvious, in fact, quite ob-
(4Q175), dated to around 100
scure, the writers of the pesharim followed a number of exe-
BCE.
getical procedures to bridge the gap. They modeled the
Sobriquets as allusions to Pesher. A special category
interpretation on the syntactical and lexical patterns of the
is presented by sobriquets applied to figures and groups who
citation, selected lexical synonyms of words in the citation,
played central roles in the life of the Qumran community.
made puns on words in the citation, atomized certain words
They appear in several sectarian compositions without expla-
(that is, disconnected the syntactical links), and vocalized or
nation, thus indicating that they were already known and ac-
grouped the words of the citation in a different way. Many
cepted nicknames. Yet they were not invented at random, for
of these procedures were known and applied in antiquity to
most are condensed expressions taken from particular bibli-
interpretations of dreams and dreamlike visions. The pesher
cal locutions; each epithet functions as a cryptogram for a
exegesis, which appeared so unique to Qumran manuscripts
full pesher to a given biblical paragraph. For instance, the epi-
when the first scrolls were published, cannot be considered
thet “the Teacher of Righteousness” (mentioned in CD,
the sole creation of the Qumranites. Actualizing interpreta-
1QpHab, 4QpPsa), alludes to Hosea 10:12 and Joel 2:23.
tions, reading into biblical prophecies intimations of later
The sobriquet “Spouter of Lie” (mentioned in CD,
historical events, appear in the Book of Daniel (Dan. 9:2–19,
1QpHab, 1QpMic, and 4QpPsa) refers to Micah 2:11. The
interpreting Jer. 25:11, 29:10, and Dan. 11: 30 interpreting
appellation “Seekers of Smooth Things” (appearing in CD,
Num. 24:24) and in the Gospels (e.g., Matt. 3:3, Luke 3:3–4,
4QpIsc, 4QpNah) is based on Isaiah 30:10 (cf. Dan. 11:32).
and John 1:23, commenting on Isa. 40:3; Matt. 21:4 and
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7066
PETER DAMIAN
John 12:14–15, citing Zech. 9:9). The antiquity of this meth-
a short survey of the subject. T. H. Lim, Pesharim (London
od, attested as early as Daniel (around 164 BCE), suggests that
and New York, 2002), offers a review of the pesharim and
it predates the emergence of the Qumran community, and
their study, aimed at students and the general public. Schol-
that the Qumranites, like the first Christians later, received
arly issues are often reviewed with a polemical edge.
it from older tradents and appropriated it to their own pur-
DEVORAH DIMANT (2005)
poses.
SEE ALSO Biblical Exegesis; Dead Sea Scrolls; Midrash and
PETER DAMIAN SEE DAMIAN, PETER
Aggadah.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
PETER LOMBARD (c. 1100–1160), also known as
Peter the Lombard, was a Christian theologian and teacher.
Text Editions
The first full edition of the cave 4 pesharim can be found in John
There is little precise knowledge of Peter Lombard’s origin
M. Allegro, Qumran Cave 4, I (DJD V) (Oxford, 1968). It
except that he was born in northern Italy at Lumellogno in
is to be used with the corrections and additions by J. Strug-
Novarre before 1100. Peter was a student at Bologna (or per-
nell, “Notes en marge du volume V des Discoveries in the
haps Vercelli) before he went to France to study, first in
Judaean Desert of Jordan,” Revue de Qumran 7 (1969–
Reims and then in Paris and its environs (c. 1134). While
1971): 183–186. A fresh edition of the Allegro volume is
it is believed that he returned to Italy, visiting Rome in 1154,
now being prepared by G. J. Brooke and M. Bernstein. Fresh
all of Peter Lombard’s professional life and work is associated
editions with introductions and commentaries of all the con-
with a career in northern France, especially Paris, where he
tinuous pesharim, incorporating Strugnell’s contributions
taught at the Cathedral School of Notre Dame. By 1143 his
and summarizing previous research, can be found in M. Hor-
reputation was widespread. Sometime in 1144 or 1145 he
gan’s Pesharim: Qumran Interpretations of Biblical Books
became a canon at Notre Dame, and his teaching continued
(Washington, D.C., 1979). This is the most thorough collec-
tion of its kind and with due updating is still indispensable
to influence students, among whom were Herbert of Bosham
for the study of pesharim. For fresh editions and translations
and Peter Comestor.
of all the continuous pesharim (mostly by M. Horgan; see
Peter Lombard participated in two significant ecclesias-
previous reference) and thematic pesharim, together with
tical investigations concerning the orthodoxy of the teach-
texts the editors considered related to them (not justifiably
ings of Gilbert of Poitiers; the first was held in Paris on April
in every case), see J. H. Charlesworth, ed., Pesharim, Other
21, 1147, the second at the Council of Reims on March 21,
Commentaries, and Related Documents (The Dead Sea Scrolls
1148. By 1156 Peter was archdeacon of Paris, and on June
6B) (Tübingen and Louisville, 2002). The collection takes
into account previous editions but provides no proper com-
29, 1159, he was consecrated its bishop. He died the follow-
mentaries. It includes updated bibliographies and references
ing year.
to recent discussions, which place the pesharim in context of
Today only four works attributed to Peter are consid-
the contemporary Qumran research.
ered authentic: a collection of sermons, two biblical com-
Surveys and Studies
mentaries, and the Book of Sentences. The thirty-three ser-
An updated edition of the classical study first published in 1958
mons were composed by Peter during the twenty years that
(one of the first to be published and one that can still be read
he exercised leadership in Paris (c. 1140–1160). Until re-
with profit) is F. M. Cross’s The Ancient Library of Qumran,
cently, many of these were attributed to Hildebert of La-
3d ed. (Minneapolis, 1995), pp. 88–120. For a thorough in-
vardin. Peter begins each sermon with a scriptural citation,
vestigation of 4QForilegium and its exegetical methods in
and his homilies, although clear and precise, give little evi-
the context of ancient Jewish exegesis, see G. J. Brooke, Exe-
dence of the academic interest in exegesis as a science that
gesis at Qumran (JSOT Supp 29) (Sheffield, 1985). B. Nitzan
was developing at the time. Instead, Peter’s instructions em-
has a perceptive analysis of the pesher technique and structure
phasize a moral and spiritual exposition.
contained in the introductory chapters of the Hebrew edi-
tion of the pesher of Habakkuk in “Creating Pesharim,” in
The same approach to exegesis appears to characterize
Pesher Habakkuk (Jerusalem, 1986; in Hebrew), pp. 29–79.
the Lombard’s first biblical commentary, on Psalms (Com-
For a survey of the research on the pesharim at the time of
mentarius in psalmos Davidicos), completed by 1138. Peter
publication, see D. Dimant, “Pesharim, Qumran,” in The
follows the method of the teachers at Laon (northern
Anchor Bible Dictionary, edited by D. N. Freedman, vol. 5
France), glossing the biblical word with a series of patristic
(New York, 1992), pp. 244–251. A. Steudel, Der Midrasch
teachings. The prologue to the commentary, however, does
zur Eschatologie aus der Qumran-gemeinde (4QMidrEschata,b)
include the accessus ad auctores formula (author, text, subject
(STDJ 13) (Leiden, 1994), offers a fresh, improved edition
matter, intention, and modus tractandi) that had only recent-
of 4QFlorilegium [4Q174] and 4QCatena [4Q177] with de-
tailed comments and discussion. However, the underlying
ly been appropriated to scriptural exposition in some of the
assumption that both are copies of the same work is not sup-
school works. But because this work shows no influence of
ported by evidence. S. L. Berrin, “Pesharim,” in The Encyclo-
the anonymous Summa sententiarum, which dates from circa
pedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls, edited by L. H. Schiffman and
1137–1138, it is usually seen as an early writing of the
J. C. VanderKam, vol. 6 (Oxford, 2000), pp. 644–647, has
Lombard.
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PETER THE APOSTLE
7067
Peter Lombard’s Commentary on the Pauline Epistles
the Sentences is Sententiae in IV libris distinctae, 3d ed.
(1139–1141) brings a new dynamic to his teachings. Al-
(Rome, 1971).
though composed shortly after his work on the psalter these
A comprehensive and critical study of Peter Lombard’s writings
glosses reflect the doctrine and exegetical methods from the
remains to be done. One standard reference for his life and
schools. For example, he includes a wider variety of patristic
teaching is the extensive essay by Joseph de Ghellinck,
sources; and the contemporary teachings of both the Summa
“Pierre Lombard,” in the Dictionnaire de théologie catholique
sententiarum and of Gilbert of Poitiers appear as well. In ad-
(Paris, 1903–1950). Several more recent studies have
dition, the Commentary shows some influence of the discur-
brought precision to this essay. For example, Philippe Del-
sive inquiry associated with the new theological method,
haye’s Pierre Lombard: Sa vie, ses œuvres, sa morale (Montreal,
1961) summarizes the major themes of the Lombard’s writ-
which brought questions to the text in an effort to discern
ings: human nature, grace, freedom, the theological and car-
meaning. However, Peter Lombard remained a cautious
dinal virtues, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, sin, and penance.
theologian, and although this work is more didactic than its
Ignatius Brady’s major essay “Pierre Lombard” in the Dic-
predecessor he continued to stress spiritual exegesis.
tionnaire de spiritualité (Paris, 1985) continues these scholar-
It is the Lombard’s last major work, the Book of Sen-
ly efforts. Brady’s article includes an extensive, up-to-date
bibliography. Another significant resource is the journal Pier
tences, that sets his teachings apart in the twelfth century.
Lombardo: Revista di teologia, filosofia e varia cultura (Novar-
The text provided his students with a systematic and com-
re, 1953–1962).
prehensive presentation of Christian doctrine in an orderly
and accessible format: book 1 examines the Trinity; book 2
John van Dyk’s study of the Sentences, “Thirty Years since Steg-
müller: A Bibliographic Guide to the Study of Medieval Sen-
discusses creation, grace, and sin; book 3 presents the doc-
tence Commentaries since the Publication of Stegmüller’s
trines of incarnation and redemption; and book 4 considers
Repertorium (1947),” Franciscan Studies 39 (1979): 255–
the sacraments and eschatology. Although the work is a con-
315, updates previous bibliographies and compiles the best
cise synthesis, Peter’s citations of authorities provided a vast
research on this text and its influence. Van Dyk’s study in-
range of critically selected resources on distinctions and ques-
cludes many articles in English and organizes information
tions that were pertinent and timely. Understandably, Au-
into significant categories: texts and editions; philosophy,
gustine was favored; but accepted contemporary works were
theology, history; and two indexes.
also included, such as the Glossa ordinaria, the Decretum of
EILEEN F. KEARNEY (1987)
Gratian, and the Lombard’s own scriptural commentaries.
Peter also confronted the vigorous inquiry of the school
theologians, such as Hugh of Saint-Victor, Peter Abelard,
and Gilbert of Poitiers. Peter’s responses to the issues offered
PETER THE APOSTLE (d. 64? CE) was one of the
a moderate, orthodox position and met the needs of the
twelve apostles of Jesus and, according to Roman Catholic
times more adequately than the numerous other collections
tradition, the first pope. The earliest sources of information
available. The final form of the Sentences was completed by
about Peter are such that it is not possible to draw an alto-
1157 or 1158.
gether clear distinction between those elements in the image
The significance of Peter Lombard for the development
of Peter that are derived from his role in the church prior
of theology is due to the place of the Sentences in the medieval
to his death and those that derive from the Peter of later
curriculum. What the Glossa ordinaria did for scripture, and
Christian remembrance and tradition. None of the surviving
what Gratian’s Decretum did for law, the Sentences did for
sources is primarily interested in Peter. Only a few, Galatians
Christian doctrine. Peter would, in fact, be remembered as
and 1 Corinthians, were written while Peter was still alive and
the “Master of the Sentences.” His student Peter of Poitiers
by someone who certainly knew him. Those sources that give
continued to use the Sentences for teaching his own classes
a more circumstantial account of Peter were written some
in theology, and in about 1222 Alexander of Hales officially
years, often some decades, after his death. They incorporate
incorporated the text into the course of studies at the Univer-
the story of Peter into the story of Jesus and of the early
sity of Paris. Thenceforth all students were required to com-
church in such a way as to raise questions about the historici-
ment on the Sentences for a degree in theology. In this way,
ty of some of the details. Are accounts of Peter’s prominent
all medieval theologians became disciples of the Lombard,
role among the apostles an accurate recollection of the way
and the format, method, and distinctions of the Sentences
things actually happened, or are they a retrojection into the
continued to shape theology for more than four hundred
time of Jesus’ ministry of the role that Peter would later play
years.
in the early church? No one denies that there is a substratum
of fact or event behind the New Testament descriptions of
Peter, but there is considerable disagreement about what that
BIBLIOGRAPHY
substratum is. These problems are neither so complex nor so
Critical editions of the Lombard’s writings can be found in vol-
heavy with consequences as the problems connected with
umes 191 and 192 of J.-P. Migne’s Patrologia Latina (1879–
“the historical Jesus,” but they are similar in type.
1880; reprint, Turnhout, 1975). His sermons, attributed to
Hildebert of Lavardin, are edited in volume 171 of that series
THE APOSTLE. Symeon or Simon (Hebrew and Greek
(1854; reprint, Turnhout, 1978). However, the best text of
names, respectively) was, with his brother Andrew, a fisher-
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PETER THE APOSTLE
man at the Sea of Galilee when they were both called to fol-
of the church. He is the leading preacher and wonder-worker
low Jesus of Nazareth. They may have been the first called,
(2:14–36; 3:1–10, 11–26; 9:32–43). He is the first to extend
and were to be among the closest of Jesus’ followers. Simon
the Christian mission to the Gentiles (10:1–11, 18).
was also called Kepha (or Kephas), which is Aramaic for
To judge from Paul’s letter to the Galatians, Peter was
“rock,” the Greek form of which is Petra or Petros, whence
the most important figure in the church at Jerusalem in the
the name Peter. According to both Mark 3:16 and John 4:42,
late thirties (Gal. 1:18). According to the same source he was
it was Jesus who gave Simon this additional name, but the
still one of the pillars of that church in the late forties but
fact that the two accounts are quite different has led some
now is mentioned between James and John (2:9). It is in this
to suggest that the name may have been given only subse-
same letter that Paul speaks of Peter as being raised up to
quently, in view of his work in the early church, and then
preach to the Jews as he, Paul, had been sent to the gentiles
retrojected into the time of Jesus’ ministry.
(2:7–8). Paul provides no detailed information about Peter’s
Various New Testament sources present Peter as playing
work as apostle to the Jews, but the fact that he speaks of him
a special role among the disciples during Jesus’ lifetime. He
in this way suggests that it must have been fairly extensive,
is named first among the disciples (Mk. 3:16 and parallels,
and not confined merely to his work in the church at Jerusa-
Acts 1:13). He is often presented as speaking on their behalf
lem. It is known that Peter was in Antioch (Gal. 2:11–14),
(Mk. 8:29, 10:28, 11:21, 16:7, and their parallels). Along
and it seems likely that he was in Corinth as well (1 Cor.
with James and John, he is one of an inner circle among the
1:12). The fact that somewhat later in the first century the
disciples (Mk. 5:37, 9:2ff., 14:33, and their parallels).
pseudonymous 1 Peter is addressed to Christians in Pontus,
Galatia, Asia, and Bithynia (1 Pt. 1:1) suggests that these re-
In different ways Matthew, Luke, and John all relate that
gions were associated with Peter’s ministry. Also, the fact that
Jesus entrusted to Peter some special role in the community
the letter is ostensibly sent from Rome (referred to in 1 Peter
that Jesus was to leave behind. He is the rock on which the
5:13 as “Babylon”) suggests that a Roman activity of Peter
church is to be built (Mt. 16:18). Jesus prays for him that,
was also a tradition at this time.
after having been tested himself, he may strengthen his
brethren (Lk. 22:31). Jesus takes him aside and specially
In the disputes over the obligation of gentile Christians
commissions him to feed his lambs and his sheep (Jn. 21:15–
to conform to Jewish law, Peter probably adopted a position
17). Here again there is disagreement as to whether these
somewhere between that of Paul and Paul’s opponents.
narratives report events that actually took place or are efforts
In theory he seems to have sided with Paul, but his practice
to legitimate Peter’s later role in the early church by anchor-
apparently was not always consistent with his ideas (Gal.
ing it in the actions of Jesus. A middle position is, of course,
2:11–14).
possible: that Jesus did entrust some special responsibility to
Peter’s activity at Rome would later be of great impor-
Peter, and that this was later elaborated on by the evangelists.
tance in Christian tradition, and so has attracted consider-
Peter is also the disciple whose failures are most fully de-
able attention. There is no evidence linking him with Rome
scribed in the New Testament. When he objects to Jesus’
in the documents written during his lifetime, but the tradi-
prediction of his own suffering and death, Jesus calls him
tion that he preached at Rome is widely attested in the late
Satan (Mt. 16:23, Mk. 8:33). When Jesus’ final sufferings
first and second centuries. Because at this time the matter
have already begun, Peter publicly denies any association
had not yet become important in church politics, there seems
with him (Mk. 14:66–72 and parallels). In addition, he is de-
to be no good reason to question this early tradition. Equally
scribed, not unsympathetically, as being impetuous (Jn.
early is the tradition of Peter’s martyrdom (Jn. 21:18–19)
21:7).
and of his martyrdom in Rome (1 Clement 5). Archaeological
investigation has not settled the question of Peter’s burial
Several different strands of New Testament tradition
place, but it has shown that by the middle of the second cen-
testify that Peter was the first of the apostles to see Jesus after
tury Roman Christians honored a particular place as the lo-
he was raised from the dead. Many judge 1 Corinthians 15:5
cation of Peter’s burial.
to be part of a traditional confessional formula. If this is cor-
P
rect, then well before the mid-fifties of the first century it was
ETER IN CHRISTIAN TRADITION. Peter remained promi-
nent in a variety of Christian traditions in the second and
part of Christian tradition that Jesus appeared first to
third centuries. Several writings were ascribed to him, either
Kephas. In the Lucan account it is the women who first see
directly or indirectly, and in several others he played a lead-
the risen Jesus, but then Peter is the first of the apostles to
ing role. Early in the second century it was asserted that the
see him after the women, and his seeing is clearly more im-
gospel according to Mark was a compendium of Peter’s
portant than theirs (Lk. 24:1–34). In John, Peter is the first
teaching, a view that would be generally accepted in later or-
to enter the empty tomb. Mary Magdalene is the first to see
thodoxy. A Gospel of Peter, of heretical cast according to the
Jesus, and only subsequently a group of the apostles (all but
bishop of Antioch, was in use in Syria in the second half of
Thomas) are together when they first see Jesus (Jn. 20:1–25).
the century. The Kerygma of Peter, a work with some similari-
Throughout the early chapters of Acts (chaps. 1–12),
ties to the writing of the second-century Christian apologists,
Peter plays the leading role in the formation and expansion
may have been written before midcentury. An Apocalypse of
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PETRE, MAUDE DOMINICA
7069
Peter dates from about the same time, and The Acts of Peter
tion of Petrine authority. Traditionally the East too recog-
from not much later. The gnostic library from Nag Ham-
nized a Petrine primacy within the New Testament and a
madi likewise contains several works in which Peter is fea-
kind of Roman primacy within the church universal. The na-
tured: another Apocalypse of Peter, an Acts of Peter and the
ture of this latter primacy has been the subject of much dis-
Twelve Apostles, and a Letter of Peter to Philip. These works
pute, and the East has fairly consistently refused to see it as
probably date from the third century. None of these writings
involving a Roman authority over other churches, or at least
reveals much that is likely to be historically reliable about
over the churches of the East.
Peter, but taken together they indicate the importance
Other images of Peter have also flourished over the cen-
accorded to Peter in the polymorphous Christianity of this
turies. Peter as the keeper of the keys to the kingdom of heav-
period.
en has played an important role in Christian art and folklore,
Another work, the Kerugmata Petrou, has been recon-
taking its point of departure from the same New Testament
structed by some scholars as among the earliest sources of the
text, Matthew 16:18, that has been so important in sustain-
later pseudo-Clementine literature. (Some scholars deny that
ing the image of Peter as the first pope. Similarly, the many
such a document ever existed.) This reconstructed docu-
images of Peter to be found in the New Testament—Peter
ment, of a strikingly Jewish-Christian character, describes a
as shepherd, as fisher of men, as confessor of true faith
Peter who, along with James, takes the lead in defending
against false teaching, as weak and impetuous—have all been
Christianity against such perverters of the truth as Simon
reflected at various times and places within the Christian tra-
Magus and Paul of Tarsus.
dition.
It was within what would subsequently be identified as
SEE ALSO Discipleship.
orthodox Christianity that the figure of Peter has exercised
its most widespread and long-lasting influence. Within this
B
orthodox tradition his influence has been especially impor-
IBLIOGRAPHY
The classic modern study of Peter from a conservative Protestant
tant in the West. Peter has been seen as the archetypal Chris-
perspective is Oscar Cullman’s Peter, Disciple, Apostle, Mar-
tian, as the prototype of episcopal church order, and as the
tyr: A Historical and Theological Study, 2d edition. (Philadel-
first pope. The last has been the most influential—but also
phia, 1953). Cullman gives a generally conservative reading
the most controverted—part of the Petrine tradition.
of the New Testament texts, but he rejects the idea of succes-
As early as the late first century the tradition arose that
sors to Peter. Less negative on this latter point is Rudolf
Pesch’s Simon-Petrus: Geschichte und geschichtliche Bedeutung
Peter (along with Paul) had made special provision for the
des ersten Jungers Jesu Christi (Stuttgart, 1980). A very useful
leadership in the Roman church after their departure or
survey of the roles of Peter in the New Testament and of the
death (see the authentic first letter of Clement of Rome to
methodological problems involved is given by Raymond
the Corinthians, chaps. 42 and 44). In the course of the sub-
Brown and others in Peter in the New Testament (Minneapo-
sequent controversy over gnosticism, the issue of the apostol-
lis, 1973). Eastern Christian perspectives on Peter are pres-
ic foundations of the church became very important. The
ented by John Meyendorff and others in Peter in the New
same writers who stressed the apostolic authorship of the
Testament (Minneapolis, 1973). Eastern Christian perspec-
books of the New Testament also laid great stress on the ap-
tives on Peter are presented by John Meyendorff and others
ostolic foundations of particular churches. The church at
in the Primacy of Peter (London, 1963). See especially
Rome, because of the role allegedly played there by Peter and
Meyendorff’s contribution, “St. Peter in Byzantine Theolo-
gy, ” pp. 7–29.
Paul, was singled out and came to see itself as the apostolic
church par excellence (see Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.3.1–3).
On the matter of the archeological evidence for Peter at Rome,
Gradually this tradition of the Petrine origin of the Roman
see Daniel W. O’Conner’s Peter in Rome: The Literacy, Litur-
church (Paul gradually fades from the picture) is combined
gical and Archeological Evidence (New York, 1969) and more
briefly his “Peter in Rome: A Review and Position,” in Chris-
with the New Testament image of Peter as the first and even
tianity, Judism, and Other Graeco-Roman Cults, edited by
the leader of the apostles. On this basis, the Roman church
Jacob Neusner (Leiden, 1975), pt. 2, pp. 146–160. For bibli-
is seen as the first and even the leader among the churches.
ographical information, see the section “Petrus” in the bibli-
At first, original succession ideas (in Irenaeus, for example)
ography in Archivum Historiae Pontificae (Rome, 1968–).
emphasized that the bishop was successor to the apostle-
J
founder of the particular church as preacher of the apostolic
AMES F. MCCUE (1987)
gospel. By the late fourth century (some would say earlier),
the claim is made that the bishop of Rome succeeds as well
to Peter’s apostolic primacy. It is on this basis that Rome
PETRE, MAUDE DOMINICA. Maude Dominica
claims authority over the entire church.
Petre (1863–1942) is best remembered as the biographer of
These views seem to have developed first within the
George Tyrrell, one of the main protagonists of Catholic
Roman church itself and to have spread from there only
modernism in England, a Roman Catholic reform move-
slowly throughout the West. The Christian East had a differ-
ment between 1890 and 1910. The leaders of this movement
ent tradition and never fully accepted the Roman interpreta-
tried to respond theologically and pastorally to the intellectu-
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7070
PETRE, MAUDE DOMINICA
al developments of modern culture, but they were suppressed
criticism, published some texts together, and shared their
by the Vatican. Petre was a participant in the modernist
readings, including some studies of Buddhism.
movement as well as one of its first historians and critics who
long survived its demise. As a writer, editor, and translator
When Tyrrell left the Society of Jesuits, he found refuge
of over a dozen books and more than one hundred articles
in a small cottage on Petre’s property in Storrington, Essex,
on a wide range of religious, philosophical, and literary topics
where he died in 1909. He had appointed her as his literary
(always published under the name of M. D. Petre), she was
executor, and it was in this capacity that she posthumously
a prolific theological author in her own right who has never
edited some of his writings and letters but especially his auto-
been given the full recognition and critical attention she
biographical fragment supplemented by her own account of
deserves.
his life under the title Autobiography and Life of George Tyrrell
(1912). This remains an indispensable source for Tyrrell’s
Maude Petre was born, the seventh of eleven children,
personal development, although some critics judge it as lack-
on August 4, 1863, on the Essex estate of the Petres, an old
ing in distance and objectivity. The Catholic Church soon
English Catholic family, resident there since 1539 and prom-
placed the two volumes on the Index of Forbidden Books,
inent in post-Reformation Catholic history. Her father was
causing Petre further trouble after an earlier controversy oc-
a younger son of the thirteenth Lord Petre, her mother was
casioned by her Catholicism and Independence: Being Studies
the daughter of the earl of Wicklow and a convert to Catholi-
in Spiritual Liberty (1907), published at the height of the
cism. Born on the feast of Saint Dominic, the child was given
modernist crisis. This book explored the possible conflict be-
the middle name Dominica. She grew up in the stern but
tween personal conscience and religious authority, outlining
religious atmosphere of an aristocratic environment, de-
the qualities needed for a genuine reformer of the church.
scribed in detail in her autobiography My Way of Faith
The controversies surrounding its publication made Petre
(1937). Petre received a wide education at home that includ-
decide to cut all ties with her religious congregation and
ed literature, history, philosophy, and several languages, later
work independently from then onward.
used in her extensive translation work. In 1882 both of her
parents died. Deeply religious, she was nonetheless plagued
Petre had a healthy respect for civil and religious author-
by recurrent religious doubt. In order to overcome this inse-
ity but was sharply critical of its abuse, especially in the
curity in her Catholic belief, she went to Rome in 1885 to
church. She was the only woman asked to take the antimod-
study Thomistic theology privately for a year, a decision that
ernist oath, but she refused to do so. Her modernist views
her aunt explained as having gone there “to study for the
motivated her bishop to exclude her from taking Commu-
priesthood.”
nion in her parish church, a decision she considered an un-
warranted “pseudo-excommunication,” but she got around
Hesitating between marriage and the religious life, she
this by worshiping in another diocese. After Tyrrell’s death,
decided in 1890 to enter the novitiate of the Society of the
Petre not only dealt with his literary estate but developed
Daughters of the Heart of Mary (Filles de Marie), founded
new social and political interests through her association
during the French Revolution along freer lines than tradi-
with a center of international relations in Pontigny, France,
tional women’s orders because members were free to live
and began to write about democracy, international develop-
alone rather than in community and did not wear distinctive
ments, war and peace, socialism, and fascism. Her book
dress. Petre became first a local and later a provincial superior
Modernism: Its Failures and Its Fruits (1918) is significant in
of this congregation for England and Ireland. Much involved
that it provides one of the earliest histories of this movement
with practical social work, she promoted orphanages and set-
from an insider’s perspective. Her closeness to the events and
tlement houses for the poor and instructed converts in Ca-
people gives it a lively directness without lacking critical anal-
tholicism while at the same time pursuing her own writing,
ysis and objectivity. She returned to reflections on modern-
begun in 1895 with essays on literary figures such as Thomas
ism twenty years later in her autobiography My Way of Faith,
Carlyle and Victor Hugo.
a moving account largely motivated by the need to show why
she, as a trenchant critic of the church, had remained a loyal
By 1900 Petre had met the Jesuit George Tyrrell at a
believer within it, revealing her love for the sacramental and
retreat and had begun corresponding with him and other
mystical dimensions of the Christian faith. She published
modernists, namely Henri Bremond and Baron Friedrich
further books on von Hügel and Tyrrell’s friendship and on
von Hügel. On Tyrrell’s suggestion she began to keep a
Alfred Loisy, but she died suddenly on December 16, 1942,
diary, and in these personal journals are found “not only the
in London, where she resided during the last years of her life.
intellectual turmoil of a theological movement, but the per-
Her active community involvement until the end was evi-
sonal torment of a great-hearted and deeply spiritual woman
dent from her concern for many social causes, including her
as well” (Crews, 1984, p. 11). Petre became so deeply at-
volunteer nursing and her work as a nighttime fire warden
tached to Tyrrell that an intimate personal friendship and
during World War II in London, just as she had nursed sol-
correspondence developed and changed the course of her life.
diers in France during World War I.
Tyrrell was impressed by the freedom of mind expressed in
her writings, and their growing friendship led to closer col-
Assessing Maude Petre’s full significance remains a
laboration. They exchanged their manuscripts for mutual
scholarly task to be undertaken. With her books out of print
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PETR MOGHILA
7071
and no longer widely read, she is a largely forgotten figure.
tuality of Maude Petre (Lanham, Md., New York, and Lon-
Yet she was a remarkable, courageous woman of faith and
don, 1991), but a comprehensive critical analysis of Petre’s
a productive essayist and writer for a wider public, rather
significance within a larger framework of gender history and
than a scholar. She took an active role in the modernist crisis
feminist theology is still outstanding.
and wrote on the burning issues of her day, whether reli-
Only a few of Petre’s writings can be listed here, beginning with
gious, social, or political, a Christian believer who saw herself
her first book on the work of the seventeenth-century Jesuit
as both passionately religious and innately skeptical, offering
Peter Claver among African slaves in South America,
limited obedience in the face of ecclesiastical pressure. Petre
Aethiopum Servus: A Study in Christian Altruism (London,
was not only deeply involved with modernism as a force of
1896). A significant publication during the height of the
modernist crisis was her controversial book Catholicism and
change in her church, but she responded to the dynamic pat-
Independence: Being Studies in Spiritual Liberty (London,
terns of a changing society by addressing questions on the
1907), followed more than ten years later by one of the earli-
changing views of women and on contemporary politics and
est critical analyses of this movement, Modernism: Its Failure
ideology. Her writings on a broad range of topics from phi-
and Its Fruits (London, 1918). As her own life and works
losophy to theology, spirituality, history, and politics make
have been little studied, her reputation rests primarily on
her difficult to categorize. She wrestled with the great themes
what she wrote on other modernists, especially the two-
of the church in its relationship to modern culture, including
volume Autobiography and Life of George Tyrrrell (London,
questions of spirituality, asceticism, mission, and reform, and
1912), the account Von Hügel and Tyrrell: The Story of a
ultimately she judged the problems that modernism had
Friendship (London, 1937), and the posthumously published
tried to address as fundamentally challenges of spirituality
Alfred Loisy: His Religious Significance (Cambridge, U.K.,
and pastoral care that had not yet been met. She saw the need
1944). However, Alec R. Vidler’s A Variety of Catholic Mod-
ernists
(Cambridge, U.K., 1970) lists Petre as a modernist in
for a fuller and more spiritual Christianity, for a Copernican
her own right, and readers can judge this for themselves by
revolution in religion.
studying Petre’s autobiography My Way of Faith (London,
Petre also insisted on the spiritual independence of each
1937) and her unpublished journals from 1900 to 1942 (see
person, and she had a deep respect for pluralism. In some
Maude Petre Papers, Add. MSS 52372–79, British Library,
ways she anticipated the emphases on reform and renewal
London).
proclaimed by the Second Vatican Council, of an ecclesia
Helpful introductory surveys are in Charles J. Healey, “Maude
semper reformanda, but also a church “subservient to the reli-
Petre: Her Life and Significance,” Recusant History 15, no.
gious and spiritual needs of humanity” (Petre, 1918, p. 67).
1 (May 1979): 23–42; and Clyde F. Crews, “Maude Petre’s
Ellen Leonard (1991) has rightly seen Petre’s theology and
Modernism,” America 144, no. 19 (May 16, 1981): 403–
406. J. J. Kelly has published The Letters of Baron Friedrich
spirituality as deeply rooted in her own experience, that of
von Hügel and Maude D. Petre (Louvain, Belgium, 2003).
a passionate faith in God, of her involvement in the world,
and of the consciousness of herself as a woman. Petre said
URSULA KING (2005)
it had been her ambition when young to become a saint, a
philosopher, and a martyr. She became a loyal critic, rebel,
and pioneer instead, perhaps even a prophet. She considered
PETR MOGHILA (1596–1646), also known as Petr
religious experience as primary, believed in the separation of
Mohyla, or Movila, was an Orthodox metropolitan of Kiev.
faith from certainty, the autonomous realms of secular
As head of the Orthodox church in the Ukraine, at that time
knowledge, allegiance to the church as largely a matter of
under Polish rule, Petr Moghila was chiefly responsible for
choice, and the possibility of salvation and revelation outside
the revival of Orthodoxy in southwestern Russia following
the Catholic Church. She even spoke of the possible coming
the Union of Brest-Litovsk (1596), at which a large part of
of a new religion and believed fervently in the spiritual unity
the Orthodox population submitted to Rome. Although
of humanity, still in search of its social and political embodi-
willing to consider possible schemes for union with Rome,
ment. The rich legacy of her writings invites further scrutiny
Moghila devoted his energies to strengthening the position
and study.
of the Orthodox who chose to remain independent of the
SEE ALSO Hügel, Friedrich von; Loisy, Alfred; Modernism,
papacy.
article on Christian Modernism; Tyrrell, George.
Of Romanian princely descent, Moghila was born in
Moldavia and educated at the Orthodox school in Lwów. He
BIBLIOGRAPHY
may have continued his studies in the West, possibly at the
Maude Petre’s publications date from 1885 to 1944 and cover a
University of Paris. Widely read in classical Latin literature
wide range of topics.
and scholastic theology, dynamic and authoritarian by na-
An extensive, though incomplete, list of her published and unpub-
ture, Moghila became abbot of the important Monastery of
lished writings is in the first major study on Petre, Clyde F.
the Caves at Kiev in 1627 and was made metropolitan of
Crews, English Catholic Modernism: Maude Petre’s Way of
Kiev in 1633, a position he held until his death.
Faith (Notre Dame, Ind., 1984). Ellen Leonard has made a
start in examining Petre from a contemporary woman’s per-
The thirteen years of Moghila’s episcopate constitute a
spective in Unresting Transformation: The Theology and Spiri-
decisive cultural turning point for Orthodoxy in southwest-
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7072
PETTAZZONI, RAFFAELE
ern Russia. In the schools that he opened for Orthodox cler-
also the new edition by J. J. Overbeck and James N. W. B.
gy and laity, the teaching was based on Western models and
Robertson (London, 1898).
was given predominantly in Latin, not in Greek or Slavonic.
Works about Petr Moghila
Western secular and religious writings were studied together
On the cultural and educational aspects of his career, see William
with modern science. The college that Moghila established
K. Medlin and Christos G. Patrinelis’s Renaissance Influences
at Kiev reached a standard of excellence unequaled elsewhere
and Religious Reforms in Russia: Western and Post-Byzantine
in the Orthodox world of the time and continued to play a
Impacts on Culture and Education, Sixteenth-Seventeenth Cen-
turies
(Geneva, 1971), pp. 124–149; on his theological posi-
formative role throughout the seventeenth century; many of
tion, see part 1 of Georges Florovsky’s Ways of Russian Theol-
the Russians who collaborated closely with Peter the Great
ogy, volume 5 of his Collected Works, edited by Richard S.
had been educated there. Seeking to create an “Occidental
Haugh (Belmont, Mass., 1979), pp. 64–78. Earlier studies
Orthodoxy,” Moghila opened Little Russia to Western influ-
include S. I. Golubev’s classic work, Kievskii Mitropolit Petr
ences half a century before this happened in Great Russia.
Mogila i ego spodvizhniki (Kiev, 1883–1898); Émile Picot’s
“Pierre Movila (Mogila),” in Bibliographie hellénique, ou De-
Moghila’s latinizing approach is evident in the wide-
scription raisonnée des ouvrages publiés par des Grecs au dix-
ranging liturgical reforms that he imposed, for example in
septième siècle, vol. 4, edited by Émile Legrand (Paris, 1896),
the Sacrament of Confession, where he replaced the depreca-
pp. 104–159; and Téofil Ionesco’s La vie et l’œuvre de Pierre
tive formula used at absolution in the Greek manuals (“May
Movila, métropolite de Kiev (Paris, 1944).
God forgive you . . .”) with an indicative formula taken di-
KALLISTOS WARE (1987)
rectly from the Roman Catholic ritual (“I absolve you . . .”).
The Orthodox Confession of Faith that he composed in 1639–
1640 was based on Latin catechisms by Peter Canisius and
PETTAZZONI, RAFFAELE (1883–1959), an Ital-
others. Here Moghila not only employed the term transub-
ian historian of religions, was “one of the very few historians
stantiation but taught explicitly that the moment of consecra-
of religion who took seriously the dimensions of his disci-
tion in the Eucharist occurs at the Words of Institution, not
pline: as a matter of fact, he attempted to master the entire
at the Epiclesis of the Holy Spirit; and when discussing the
field of allgemeine Religionswissenschaft” (Eliade, 1963,
state of the departed he virtually adopted the Latin doctrine
pp. 104–105). He founded and promoted historical religious
of purgatory. After extensive alterations had been made in
studies in Italy in the first half of the twentieth century and
the Orthodox Confession by the Greek theologian Meletios
presided over the International Association for the History
Syrigos, it was approved by the Council of Jassy (1642) and
of Religions from 1950 to his death.
by the four Eastern patriarchs (1643). Moghila himself was
displeased by these changes. In his Little Catechism (1645)
LIFE. Pettazzoni was born in San Giovanni in Persiceto (Bo-
he continued to affirm consecration by Words of Institution,
logna) on February 3, 1883. He attended high school and
although he was more guarded on the question of purgatory.
university in Bologna, and during those years, under the in-
fluence of a positivist and Carduccian cultural background,
The Orthodox Confession represents the high-water mark
he lost his Catholic faith. But he kept his love for religion
of Roman Catholic theological influence upon the Christian
and felt a vocation for the history of religions, a discipline
East. But the extent of Moghila’s Latinisms should not be
absent in Italian universities at that time and in which he
exaggerated, for on questions such as the filioque and the
trained by himself, subordinating his philological, archaeo-
papal claims, he adheres to the traditional Orthodox view-
logical, and ethnological studies to it.
point, although he expresses this viewpoint in a moderate
At the university in Bologna, Pettazzoni received useful
form.
suggestions for the study of myths and religions from Vit-
torio Puntoni, a Greek scholar also skilled in Oriental lan-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
guages and literatures. Pettazzoni addressed problems of my-
Works by Petr Moghila
thology and the history of religions in his M.A. degree thesis
in Greek literature, “Le origini dei Kabiri nelle isole del Mar
The original Latin version of the Orthodox Confession, as drawn
up by Moghila in 1640, is now lost; an intermediate Latin
Tracio.”After he received his degree (June 1905), he attended
version, embodying many of the changes made by Meletios
the Italian School of Archaeology of Rome (1905–1908). He
Syrigos in 1642 but sometimes adhering to the 1640 text, has
then earned a general certificate of education in archaeologi-
been edited by Antoine Malvy and Marcel Viller, La Confes-
cal studies and subsequently worked as an inspector at the
sion Orthodoxe de Pierre Moghila métro-polite de Kiev, 1633–
Prehistorical and Ethnographical Museum in Rome from
1646, “Orientalia Christiana,” vol. 10 (Rome, 1927). For
August 1909 to October 1914, five years that were decisive
the Greek text, as revised by Syrigos and adopted at Jassy, see
for his scholar training. During that time he completed his
part 1 of Ernest Julius Kimmel’s Monumental Fidei Ecclesiae
classical education with the study of primitive civilizations,
Orientalis (Jena, 1850), pp. 56–324; see also Ioannis N. Kar-
going from archaeology to paleoethnology, to ethnology, to
miris’s Ta dogmatika kai sumbolika mnemeia tes Orthodoxou
the history of religions.
Katholikes Ekklesias, vol. 2 (Athens, 1953), pp. 593–686,
translated into English as The Orthodox Confession of the
Pettazzoni took his first steps in the new discipline in
Catholic and Apostolic Eastern Church (London, 1762); see
an unfavorable political and cultural situation. Whereas in
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PETTAZZONI, RAFFAELE
7073
other European countries the scientific study of religions was
He explained his position about the matter in the preface to
flourishing, in Italy, after the abolition of theological depart-
the volume of 1912, later in essays, and in his opening lecture
ments in state universities (1873), there had been only spo-
of January 17, 1924. He advocated the historical-compara-
radic official teaching of religious studies. At the beginning
tive method by which religious phenomena are not com-
of the twentieth century the traditional indifference toward
pared in themselves but in their historical, dynamic develop-
this subject was broken by the Catholic modernists’ move-
ment; “a history embracing both inferior and superior reli-
ment, which wanted to be a sound reaction against the su-
gions, dead and living, primitive and contemporary,
premacy of old ideas but which had “its own particular con-
including Christianity, for also the history of Christianity as
genital deficiency: modernism, for its religious Catholic
religious history, cannot be understood if it is not placed in-
origins, for the very essence of its general aspirations, was fa-
side the whole religious history” (Pettazzoni, Svolgimento e
tally obliged to be much more interested in some religious
carattere della storia delle religioni, 1924, p. 14).
problems than in others; the philosophy of religion particu-
In his works of that period and in his methodologic es-
larly gained modernists’ attention; in the history of religions
says Pettazzoni’s historiographic inclination is clear. In his
first of all and above all they saw the history of Christianity”
writings he often returned to the foundations of his method,
(Pettazzoni, 1912, p. viii). The hostility of the Catholic
which he brought to maturity through his scientific work.
Church not only to modernistic ferments but also to the
For example, in a lecture to the Seventh International Con-
study of religious events using independent criteria along
gress on the History of Religions he clearly explained his
with the lack of understanding, or the opposition, of an im-
method of comparison:
portant representative of Italian culture, Benedetto Croce,
denied autonomous value to religion and thereby also denied
But comparison must neither be made following the
its own autonomy to the historical-religious discipline.
method of the old comparative mythology (Max Mül-
ler), which compared only what was comparable from a
In 1912 Pettazzoni published La religione primitiva in
linguistic point of view, nor following the one of the an-
Sardegna about the primitive religion in Sardinia, the first
thropological school (E. B. Tylor), which compared all
monograph of a series he dedicated to single religions. In the
that appeared morphologically alike, even if only exter-
same year, for the first time, he attended the Fourth Interna-
nally and superficially. Only what is historically compa-
tional Congress on the History of Religions in Leiden, Neth-
rable can be rightly compared. From a historical point
of view, in principle we can compare culturally homo-
erlands. The following year he qualified to teach the history
geneous facts, that is belonging to similar historical-
of religions at the university in Rome. (Before him only one
cultural situations. The religion of a rural civilization
other scholar, Uberto Pestalozza, had qualified in 1911. He
can only be radically different from the religion of a no-
qualified for the university in Milan, which established the
madic one. (Pettazzoni, “Le due fonti della religione
conditions for the creation of another center for research on
greca,” 1951, pp. 123–124)
religions, the so-called Scuola mediterranea.)
To the history of the comparative method and to his own
In 1913–1914 Pettazzoni taught a free course at the
comparative method, Pettazzoni dedicated the last article of
university in Rome. He then taught with a temporary ap-
his life, “Il metodo comparativo,” published in Numen
pointment at the university in Bologna until 1923, with an
(1959).
interruption for military service during World War I. At the
His historicist ideas did not prevent him from appreciat-
end of 1923, after competitive examination, he became a full
ing some positive aspects of the phenomenology of religion.
professor of the history of religions in Rome, the first such
In the 1920s and 1930s, reviewing Gerardus van der Leeuw’s
position for the subject founded in Italy, and he held this
works, Pettazzoni criticized the abstract nature and the classi-
chair for thirty years, until 1953. In Rome from January
fying character of the typological methodology, but in the
1937 to December 1939 he taught ethnology and so intro-
success of this school, from Rudolf Otto to the Dutch schol-
duced this discipline into the faculties of letters and philoso-
ar, he saw the remarkable symptom of the need, more and
phy. Ethnology as historical science separated from anthro-
more perceived by the history of religions, of overcoming the
pology and joined the history of religions. For Pettazzoni this
crisis of atomism and of collecting in a unifying synthesis.
union was a fundamental need, “since between the so-called
historical civilizations (both ancient and modern) and the
In the 1950s Pettazzoni developed a personal relation-
civilisations on an ethnologic level there is neither break nor
ship with Mircea Eliade (the first exchange of letters is dated
substantial heterogeneity: but there is continuity and adhe-
1926). Eliade favored Pettazzoni’s approach to phenomeno-
sion, in a dynamic development that goes from the most ar-
logical positions.
chaic forms of civilization to the most modern ones, with no
In systematic terms, it means to overcome the unilateral
solution of continuity” (Lanternari, 1959, p. 286). Pettaz-
positions of phenomenology and of historicism inte-
zoni gave concrete expression to this unity, founding the In-
grating them mutually, that is strengthening the reli-
stitute for Primitive Civilization at the university in 1942.
gious phenomenology with the historicist idea of devel-
opment and the historicist historiograhy with the
From 1910 to 1924 Pettazzoni also faced problems con-
phenomenological requirement of the autonomous
nected with the methodology used in the study of religions.
value of religion, so defining phenomenology in history
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7074
PETTAZZONI, RAFFAELE
and at the same time recognizing the character of quali-
opment and at the same time the starting point of a further
fied historical science to the religious history. (Pettaz-
one. Several years later he wrote: “History ignores revela-
zoni, “Il metodo comparativo,” 1959, p. 14)
tions; she only knows formations. Every phainómenon is a
Instead, until his last days he maintained a strong opposition
genómenon for history” (Pettazzoni, “Les deux sources de la
to the fundamentally antihistoricist currents and to the irra-
religion grecque,” 1951, p. 2).
tionalistic conceptions of religion.
In addition to directing the two collections, Pettazzoni
After 1945 Pettazzoni also expressed his political and so-
founded the School of Historical-Religious Studies and the
cial thoughts. For example, he stood up for the defense of
review Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni, which he ed-
freedom of culture, of religious freedom and toleration, and
ited from the first year (1925) to the double volume of
of laic principles. In the 1950s he worked for the advance-
1953–1954. The programmed line of the review is on the
ment of religious-historical studies on a worldwide scale. In
second page of every issue: “Studies and Materials of History
1950 the International Association for the Study of the His-
of Religions pursue scientific and cultural aims in their spe-
tory of Religions (later the International Association for the
cific field. They give a contribution to the historical science
History of Religions) was founded, and in the same year,
as they consider religion in its development as a subject of
after van der Leeuw’s death, Pettazzoni became its president.
history. They open larger horizons to culture promoting Ital-
He helped found the review Numen and the series Studies in
ian thinkers’ greater knowledge of less recent and less known
the History of Religions (Supplements to Numen) in 1954.
forms and events.”
Also in 1954, during his presidency, the International Bibli-
Pettazzoni accepted contributions from Italian and for-
ography of the History of Religions began to be published under
eign scholars who specialized in civilizations and occasionally
the supervision of C. J. Bleeker. Pettazzoni organized the
studied the associated religions. “So, from the very beginning
Eighth International Congress on the History of Religions
the review had assumed a twice as hybrid character, just as
in Rome in April 1955. In the summer of 1958 he attended
the other few periodicals of history of religions, then existing
the congress in Tokyo, the first outside Europe.
in the world, had: on the one hand, accepting articles of
comparatists (‘historians of religions’), of historians of single
Pettazzoni’s last works worsened his already weak
religions and of scholars of single civilisation in general; on
health, and he died in Rome on December 8, 1959. During
the other hand accepting very different, if not often opposite
the last months of his life some scholars, either trained at his
methodological trends in each of these classes of contribu-
school or in touch with it, held the chairs of history of reli-
tors”; all this in order “to make events and problems of his
gions in Rome (Angelo Brelich), in Cagliari (Ernesto de Mar-
discipline known in their largest variety, since he considered
tino), and in Messina (Ugo Bianchi), and some years later
his discipline of the greatest importance; to arouse interest
another pupil of his, Vittorio Lanternari, held a chair of eth-
in it, and somehow to get its recognition in Italy, not only
nology, a discipline Pettazzoni strongly fought to have
officially” (Brelich, 1969, pp. 6–7).
included in university faculties. In the early twenty-first
century many more scholars refer to Pettazzoni’s teaching,
In 1910 Pettazzoni planned to develop Dio: Formazione
even if with different individual positions and different ap-
e sviluppo del monoteismo nella storia delle religioni in three
proaches.
parts: the first part regarding the beings of the sky in primi-
W
tive peoples’ beliefs, the second part about the supreme gods
ORK. After he published the volume about the primitive
of the polytheistic religions, the third part on the gods of the
religion in Sardinia (1912), Pettazzoni in the 1920s pub-
monotheistic religions. He finished only the first part, which
lished other works dedicated to single religions, studied in
was not published until 1922 because of World War I.
their historical-cultural backgrounds. His book on the reli-
gion of Zarathushtra in the religious history of Iran (1920)
The problem of the Supreme Beings and of the origin
was the first volume of the series Storia delle religioni, which
of the idea of God was particularly discussed in the first half
Pettazzoni founded and directed. This collection, fourteen
of the twentieth century. Andrew Lang’s thesis, declaring
volumes in all, including three other works by Pettazzoni and
that the first form of religiousness had been a rudimentary
works by other authors, was published between 1920 and
monotheism based on the faith in a Supreme Being con-
1940. Pettazzoni also published a monograph on the religion
ceived as “All-Father” and as creator, was asserted again by
of ancient Greece, La religione nella Grecia antica fino ad Al-
the ethnologist Wilhelm Schmidt, who, in the first volume
essandro (1921); an essay on mysteries, I Misteri (1924); and
of his monumental work Der Ursprung der Gottesidee (1912),
a small book on Japanese mythology, La Mitologia giapponese
“emphasized the exceptionally high character of the belief in
secondo il I libro del Kojiki (1929), the first of the second se-
the supreme being and, at the same time, its absolute primi-
ries he founded and directed, Testi e documenti per la storia
tivity and priority in comparison with any other belief, and
delle religioni, seven volumes published between 1929 and
therefore also its uniqueness” (Pettazzoni, 1922, p. 51). Pet-
1937. In these monographs Pettazzoni based his research on
tazzoni, on the basis of this extensive work to verify ethno-
the principle, expressed in his opening lecture in 1924, that
graphic materials referring to uncultured peoples’ religious
every single religious event is a forming and, as such, is the
beliefs, asserted that the claimed Urmonotheismus (primitive
ending—and therefore the indication—of a precious devel-
monotheism) could be reduced “to the more modest propor-
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PETTAZZONI, RAFFAELE
7075
tions of belief in a heavenly being, perceived as a personal
articles and books were the fruit of this ten-year research. In
figure of the sky, according to the forms of the mythical
a few pages in the essay “La confessione dei peccati: Metodo
thought that is over to any form of primitive religiousness”
e risultati,” published in Scientia (1937), Pettazzoni ex-
(Pettazzoni, 1922, p. xvi).
plained the method followed in the research and the results
obtained. These results, expressed either in final form or as
The controversy between the two scholars continued
a temporary hypothesis, can be summarized so:
into the 1950s. In Pettazzoni’s opinion this belief in a being
of uranic nature could be “seen also in the religions of most
The confession of sins appeared to him as a cathartic
ancient peoples as the idea of a real God, and more precisely
rite, essentially similar to the eliminating practices that
of a supreme God, according to the generally polytheistic
usually accompany it. The elimination of the sin is ob-
character of the old religions.” Moreover he asserted “that
tained by evoking it orally, considering this, in the orig-
this universal belief in a celestial being was also of the greatest
inal phase, as a magic operation (the magic of the
word). Nor did he see solution of continuity between
importance, later, in the historical development of the true
the primitive magic operation and the confessional rite
monotheism” (Pettazzoni, 1922, p. xvi). In his works at the
of the superior religions, giving both the elementary re-
beginning of the 1920s he considered monotheism histori-
deeming function: liberation from the miasma linked
cally characterized as a revolution against polytheism: “Logi-
to the sin, first, and liberation from the repentance of
cally monotheism is the negation of polytheism, just as histor-
the sin (or from the condition of sinner with regard to
ically it presupposes a polytheism from which it derived as
a god, or to God) later (Sabbatucci, 1963, p. 22).
negation, that is as revolution” (Pettazzoni, 1923, p. 200).
The work on the confession of sins, as generally all the other
Pettazzoni’s research about the idea of God in his histor-
works, received gratifying judgments from several scholars.
ical development advanced in a different way in comparison
The abundance and the clear exposition of the data collected
to the theory expressed in his 1922 volume. His attention
were appreciated also by Adolfo Omodeo, who, however, de-
increasingly concentrated on the Supreme Being’s attributes,
nied any historical value to their interpretation, repeating his
particularly on all-seeingness and omniscience. The study
criticism, already expressed in other situations, to the posi-
“Allwissende höchste Wesen bei primitivsten Völkern,” pub-
tion of the “science of religions,” because “in it is possible
lished in Archiv für Religionswissenschaft (1931), is about the
only a process of generical synthesis of sociologic type, in-
omniscient Supreme Beings of primitive peoples. The re-
stead of the historical synthesis following an organized pro-
search was later enlarged to divine omniscience in different
cess of development” (Omodeo, 1937, p. 368). Pettazzoni
religions, a work that took up the author’s time in the 1930s
replied to his colleague’s criticism some years later, confirm-
and 1940s and that was crowned with the systematic treat-
ing his historicist position and the validity of historical-
ment published in Italian in 1955 and in English in 1956.
religious studies as historical science (Pettazzoni, 1946,
Pettazzoni modified the thesis of the identity and unicity of
pp. xvi–xvii).
the (uranic) nature of supreme beings, considering their na-
“Pettazzoni is the scientist of great works,” wrote Eliade
ture conditioned by the cultural environment in which each
(Eliade, 1938, p. 226). After the enormous research on the
supreme being was formed; hence the need for their own
confession of sins, Pettazzoni undertook another important
typology:
work that he had been planning since 1931: a wide antholo-
The primitive notion of the Supreme Being is no ab-
gy of the myths and legends of the peoples who did not know
stract a priori idea but rises in men’s thoughts from the
writing in order to divulge the voices of a primitive humani-
very conditions of human existence; and since these
ty. He worked on it in the first half of the 1940s and contin-
conditions vary in the different phases and forms of
ued in the following years with the collaboration of Tullio
primitive culture, the form of the Supreme Being varies
Tentori (vol. 4, 1959) and Vittorio Lanternari, who com-
accordingly within these phases. As in farming cultures
pleted it, supervising and finishing the second volume
the Supreme Being is Mother Earth, because man’s sus-
(1963).
tenance comes from the earth, and as in pastoral com-
munities he is Father Sky, since it is from the sky that
This work persuaded Pettazzoni to return to a subject
there comes the rain to make the grass, which is needful
that had interested him during his youth: the interpretation
for the pasture of the cattle and therefore for human
of myth, the relation between myth and religion. In the pref-
life, spring up and grow, so in a hunting-culture the Su-
ace of the first volume of Miti e leggende (1948) and in suc-
preme Being is the Lord of animals, because on him de-
cessive essays he expressed his idea of the “truth of myth”:
pends the capture of game and the result of the hunt,
which is of vital consequence for man. (Pettazzoni,
It is thus evident that the myth is not pure fiction; it
1956, p. 445)
is not fable but history, a “true story” and not a “false”
one. It is a true story because of its contents, which are
The project of another work of phenomenological character
an account of events that really took place, starting from
dates back to 1914; Pettazzoni realized this project in the de-
those impressive happenings which belong to the begin-
cade 1925–1935, studying the confessional practice in non-
nings of things, the origin of the world and of mankind,
Christian religions (but Christianity was not excluded from
that of life and death, of the animal and vegetable spe-
the plan) in a systematic way for the first time. Numerous
cies, of hunting and of tilling the soil, of worship, of ini-
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

7076
PETTAZZONI, RAFFAELE
tiation-rites, of the associations of medicine-men and of
torio Lanternari, Oceania (Turin, Italy, 1963), vol. 3, Ameri-
their powers of healing. All these events are far removed
ca settentrionale (Turin, Italy, 1953), vol. 4, with Tullio Ten-
in time, and from them our present life had its begin-
tori, America centrale e meridionale (Turin, Italy, 1959); “Le
ning and its foundation, from them came the present
due fonti della religione greca,” in Proceedings of the Seventh
structure of society, which still depends on them. The
Congress on the History of Religions, Amsterdam, 4th–9th Sep-
divine or other superhuman persons who play their
tember 1950 (Amsterdam, 1951), pp. 123–124; “Les deux
parts in the myth, their remarkable exploits and surpris-
sources de la religion grecque,” Mnemosyne 4, no. 4 (1951):
ing adventures, all this world of wonders is a transcen-
1–8; Italia religiosa (Bari, Italy, 1952); Essays on the History
dent reality which may not be doubted, because it is the
of Religions, translated by H. J. Rose (Leiden, 1954);
antecedent, the sine qua non of present reality. Myth is
L’onniscienza di Dio (Turin, Italy, 1955; English translations,
true history because it is sacred history, not only by rea-
London, 1956, New York, 1978; Polish translation, Warsaw,
son of its contents but also because of the concrete sa-
1967); L’essere supremo nelle religioni primitive (L’onniscienza
cral forces which it sets going. The recital of myths of
di Dio) (Turin, Italy, 1957; German translation Frankfurt
beginnings is incorporated in cult because it is cult itself
am Main and Hamburg, 1960); Letture religiose (Florence,
and contributes to the ends for which cult is celebrated,
Italy, 1959); “Il metodo comparativo,” Numen 6 (1959):
these being the preservation and increase of life. (Pettaz-
1–14; and Religione e società, edited by Mario Gandini (Bolo-
zoni, 1954, p. 15)
gna, Italy, 1966), reprints of the most significant essays of the
years 1948–1959.
In his works of the 1950s Pettazzoni’s methodological idea
came to complete maturity. For example, in his writings
For a bibliography of Pettazzoni’s writings and a list of writings
about divine omniscience, compared to the volume on the
on him and on religious-historical studies in Italy up to
celestial being, he “articulates his interpretation to the differ-
1969, see Mario Gandini, “Nota bibliografica degli scritti di
Raffaele Pettazzoni,” Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni
ent cultural situations considered in their heterogeneous con-
31 (1960): 3–21, and “Il contributo di Raffaele Pettazzoni
texts, with coherently appropriate and different meanings.”
agli studi storico-religiosi,” Strada maestra 2 (1969): 1–48.
And in his introduction to the new edition of the book about
Other bibliographic supplements are in Gandini, “Presenza
the Greek religion “for the first time the historicist planning,
di Pettazzoni,” Strada maestra 3 (1970): 1–69. These biblio-
that links the religious history to the social-economic history,
graphic lists are reprinted in Jacques Waardenburg, Classical
appears in articulated terms” (Lanternari, 1997, p. 16).
Approaches to the Study of Religion, vol. 2, Bibliography (The
Hague and Paris, 1973), pp. 209–215.
SEE ALSO Historiography, overview article; Monotheism;
For detailed and documented notes on Pettazzoni’s life, his pub-
Schmidt, Wilhelm; Study of Religion, overview article; Su-
lished and unpublished writings, his scientific and teaching
preme Beings.
activities, the critical valuation of his works, his relations
with Italian and foreign scholars up to 1940, see the eighteen
B
instalments (over 1,800 pages) of Mario Gandini, “Raffaele
IBLIOGRAPHY
A rich and important collection of bibliographic and documentary
Pettazzoni. Materiali per una biografia,” Strada maestra 27
literature about Pettazzoni’s life and work is Mario Gandini,
(1989)–55 (2003). On Pettazzoni’s thought and work see
“Il Fondo Pettazzoni della Biblioteca comunale ’G. C. Croce’
disciples’ writings: Vittorio Lanternari, Rivista di An-
di San Giovanni in Persiceto (Bologna),” Archaeus 7 (2003).
tropologia 46 (1959): 283–286; Angelo Brelich, Studi e
Pettazzoni’s main publications include “Le origini dei Kabiri
Materiali di Storia delle Religioni 31 (1960): 23–28, 191–
nelle isole del Mar Tracio,” Memorie della R. Accademia na-
202; Dario Sabbatucci, Numen 10 (1963): 1–41; and Ugo
zionale dei Lincei: Classe di scienze morali, vol. 12 (Rome,
Bianchi, The History of Religions (Leiden, 1975),
1909), pp. 635–740; La religione primitiva in Sardegna (Pia-
pp. 199–200, and “Between Positivism and Historicism:
cenza, Italy, 1912); La religione di Zarathustra nella storia re-
The Position of R. Pettazzoni,” in Religionswissenschaft und
ligiosa dell’Iran (Bologna, Italy, 1920); La religione nella Gre-
Kulturkritik, edited by Hans G. Kippenberg and Brigitte Lu-
cia antica fino ad Alessandro (Bologna, Italy, 1921; new ed.,
chesi (Marburg, Germany, 1991), pp. 259–263.
Turin, Italy, 1953; French translation, Paris, 1953); Dio:
See also Delio Cantimori, Nuova rivista storica 44 (1960):
Formazione e sviluppo del monoteismo nella storia delle reli-
179–187; Alphonse Dupront, La Table Ronde 154 (1960):
gioni, vol. 1, L’essere celeste nelle credenze dei popoli primitivi
129–133; Charles Picard, Revue de l’Histoire des Religions 79,
(Rome, 1922); “La formation du monothéisme,” Revue de
no. 157 (1960): 260–266; Ugo Bianchi, Claas Jouco
l’Histoire des Religions 44, no. 88 (1923): 193–229; I Misteri:
Bleeker, and Alessandro Bausani, eds., Problems and Methods
Saggio di una teoria storico-religiosa (Bologna, Italy, 1924);
of the History of Religions (Leiden, 1972), especially Geo Wi-
Svolgimento e carattere della storia delle religioni (Bari, Italy,
dengren, “La méthode comparative: Entre philologie et
1924); La mitologia giapponese secondo il I libro del Kojiki
phénomenologie,” pp. 5–14, in which the Swedish scholar
(Bologna, Italy, 1929); La confessione dei peccati, 3 vols. (Bo-
expresses a number of reservations about Pettazzoni’s histori-
logna, Italy, 1929, 1935, 1936; French edition of vol. 1,
cal-comparative method; Eric J. Sharpe, Comparative Reli-
Paris, 1931–1932); “Allwissende höchste Wesen bei primi-
gion: A History (London, 1975), pp. 184–185; Ugo Cas-
tivsten Völkern,” Archiv für Religionswissenschaft 29 (1931):
alegno, Dio, Esseri Supremi, Monoteismo nell’itinerario
108–129, 209–243; “La confessione dei peccati: Metodo e
scientifico di Raffaele Pettazzoni (Turin, Italy, 1979); Olof
risultati,” Scientia 31, no. 61 (1937): 226–232; Saggi di storia
Pettersson and Hans A˚keberg, Interpreting Religious Phenom-
delle religioni e di mitologia (Rome, 1946); Miti e leggende,
ena: Studies with Reference to the Phenomenology of Religion
vol. 1, Africa, Australia (Turin, Italy, 1948), vol. 2, with Vit-
(Stockholm, 1981), pp. 46–49; Studi e Materiali di Storia
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N

PHALLUS AND VAGINA
7077
delle Religioni 49 (1983): 1; Nicola Gasbarro and Paola Pisi,
understood. This situation, however, has changed dramati-
Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni 56 (1990): 1; Frank
cally since the 1960s. As women and female perspectives
Whaling, “Comparative Approaches,” in Contemporary Ap-
have increasingly entered the center of the study of religion
proaches to the Study of Religion, vol. 1, edited by Frank
and enriched, deepened, and complicated our understand-
Whaling (Berlin and New York, 1983–1984), pp. 262–264;
ings, the phallus has, in one sense, only become more impor-
Sonia Giusti, Storia e mitologia (Rome, 1988); Mircea Eliade
tant—though in ways that depart considerably from the ear-
and Raffaele Pettazzoni, L’Histoire des Religions a-t-elle un
sens? Correspondance 1926–1959
, edited by Natale Spineto
lier male views and positions—within a broad critical
(Paris, 1994); Walter H. Capps, Religious Studies: The Mak-
discourse that Jan Campbell has humorously but quite accu-
ing of a Discipline (Minneapolis, 1995), pp. 89–93; Natale
rately called “arguing with the phallus.” At the same time,
Spineto, “Raffaele Pettazzoni e la verità del mito,” Rivista di
the vagina has entered more and more into both the discus-
storia della storiografia moderna 17 (1996): 59–65, and “Raff-
sion and the historical analyses, particularly through the
aele Pettazzoni e la comparazione, fra storicismo e feno-
foundational philosophical work of Luce Irigaray and other
menologia,” Storiografia 6 (2002): 27–48; Riccardo Nanini,
French and Anglo-American feminist writers, enriching fur-
“Raffaele Pettazzoni e la fenomenologia della religione,”
ther and correcting what has long been a very one-sided and
Studia Patavina 50 (2003): 377–413; Mircea Eliade, Zal-
inadequate sexual perspective on the history of religions.
moxis 1 (1938): 226, and “The History of Religions in Retro-
spect 1912–1962,” Journal of Bible and Religion 31, no. 2
Since most of the scholarship has in fact focused on the phal-
(1963): 98–109, 104–105; Angelo Brelich, “Premessa,”
lus, the relative coverage of the phallus and the vagina in the
Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni 40 (1969): 3–26;
present entry will replicate this unevenness, but with the im-
Angelo Brelich, ed., “Gli ultimi appunti di Raffaele Pettaz-
portant caveat that this state of things is neither intellectually
zoni,” Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni 31 (1960):
desirable nor historically faithful to the realities of roughly
23–55; and Adolfo Omodeo, La Critica 35 (1937):
half the planet’s past and present human inhabitants.
367–371.
For an explanation of religious anthropology in Italy, see Vittorio
Before writing a history of the phallus and the vagina
Lanternari, “La parole des exclus de l’histoire: Débuts de
in the world’s religions, however, it would be helpful to dis-
l’anthropologie religieuse en Italie,” Ethnologie française
tinguish between what might be called implicit and explicit
(1994): 497–513, and Antropologia religiosa: Etnologia, storia,
histories. This distinction takes us immediately into the
folklore (Bari, Italy, 1997), pp. 7–71. See also Gianfranco
realm of contemporary theory, an inevitable step, since there
Bertagni, Lo studio comparato delle religioni: Mircea Eliade e
are no adequate sexual histories without developed sexual
la Scuola italiana (Bologna, Italy, 2002); and Giuseppe Mi-
theories. Implicit sexual phenomena include all those com-
helcic, Una religione di libertà: Raffaele Pettazzoni e la scuola
mon symbols or institutions of religion that imply the phal-
romana di storia delle religioni (Rome, 2003). For a review of
lus or vagina but do not actually display them as such. Ex-
contemporary studies, see Natale Spineto, “Storici delle reli-
plicit sexual phenomena include all those that do. To take
gioni italiani del ’900: Notizie e osservazioni sugli studi re-
centi (1995–2000),” Storiografia 3, special issue (1999):
a few very simple examples, the Jewish and Islamic practices
63–82.
of circumcision (the ritual cutting of the foreskin to signal
God’s covenant with the community), the Hindu lin˙ga-yoni
MARIO GANDINI (2005)
(an iconic representation of the divine phallus and vagina in
union), and the Christian language about those who have
willingly “castrated themselves for the kingdom of heaven”
PEUHL RELIGION SEE FULBE RELIGION
(Matt. 19:11–12) all focus explicitly and obviously on the
sexual organs as central to the religious meanings of the act,
figure, or saying, even if these same sexual meanings have
PEYOTE CULTS SEE PSYCHEDELIC DRUGS
been suppressed or euphemistically reinterpreted at different
points by the traditions themselves. On the other hand, any
prayer, devotional sigh, scriptural text, or sacred story that
understands the divine as a “father” is an implicitly phallic
PHALLUS AND VAGINA. The historical religious
expression, since, biologically speaking, it is the phallus that
traditions and the modern critical study of religion share at
constitutes a father as a father, that is, as a procreative parent
least one thing in common: they both display an abiding fas-
of a child (“father” and “phallus,” of course, imply both
cination with the sexual organs and their power to shape reli-
“mother” and “vagina,” but the latter have traditionally been
gious language, social life, human thought, and the experi-
erased in religious language and consciousness, particularly
ence of the sacred itself. Historically speaking, both this
in the monotheistic West, where the One God can have no
history and this modern study have been controlled largely
consort or spouse).
by male actors, that is, by human beings with penises, and
so these discourses have tended to be phallic discourses that
The point is a simple but important one: the semiotic
implicitly or explicitly erase, ignore, or simply deny the vagi-
reach of the vagina and the phallus in the history of religions
na, whose internal and external anatomy, sexual function,
is far greater than the casual reader or common wisdom
and means of arousal male actors have seldom, if ever, really
might first suppose. Once both implicit and explicit sexual
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PHALLUS AND VAGINA
phenomena and their relationships are recognized, it is re-
family line from one generation to the next. Male anxieties
markably easy to see how central the sexual organs are to the
over female (but seldom male) virginity, the actual control
history of religions. Indeed, from the innumerable creation
of women and their physical movement or location, the mar-
myths of antiquity that employ the trope of human sexuality
riage of young women or girls shortly after or even before
to express cosmic origins to the moral debates surrounding
puberty—all of these common cultural practices are designed
genetic engineering and human cloning (that is, conception
to ensure paternity; that is, to guarantee that the owner of
outside the female womb), from the first recorded crisis in
the “field,” and only the owner of the field, sows his “seed”
early Christian churches over the necessity of circumcising
there.
Gentiles (that is, ritually cutting their adult penises) to the
most recent Christian debates about the ordination of
Behind both of these broad cultural patterns, moreover,
women (who lack the penis that Jesus had) or gay men (who
lies a material and political economy that understands female
have one but allegedly use it wrongly), the history of religions
sexuality to be a kind of male possession in need of control
is, on one level at least, a history of the phallus, the vagina,
and protection and capable of being traded among other
and their (dis)unions. The case is overstated here for the sake
male social actors—hence that immense swath of cultural
of illumination, as there are other factors clearly at work in
practices from the institutions of prostitution, in which (pri-
all of these examples, from communal identity and purity
marily female) sexual acts are literally bought and sold, and
sensibilities surrounding menstruation, birth, and anal inter-
the multiple practices of dowry, or bride price, in which a
course to philosophical understandings of “nature” and “the
marriage arranged by male actors is accompanied by a negoti-
natural,” but the point remains: the history of religions has
ated exchange of economic goods, to the modern Western
been deeply informed by basic sexual physiology.
practices of the father “giving away the bride” and the bride
taking on the surname of the groom’s family line. Once these
THE SEXUAL IGNORANCE OF THE RELIGIONS. This same his-
two broad metaphorical discourses are in place—the male
tory, it turns out, is also a relatively ignorant one, for when
seed and both the female farm and its fruit as male sexual
it comes to the actual biological workings of the vagina and
possessions—much of the traditional religious systems devel-
the phallus, the history of religions is defined by at least two
op, almost logically, around them.
forms of sexual ignorance. The first involves the wildly incor-
rect agricultural metaphor of “seed and soil” that implicitly
Much, but by no means all. In actual historical fact, the
identifies the male as the sower of the person or soul and the
phallus and the vagina have not been restricted to procreative
owner of the field, and likewise likens the female role to a
symbolism in the history of religions, and so the agricultural
kind of passive dirt (so that if there is infertitlity in a couple
frame of reference, although indeed often central, is hardly
it is ascribed to the woman, who is said to be “barren”).
the only one to consider. For strictly procreative purposes,
Within this same broad agricultural complex appears the as-
the phallus may physiologically imply the vagina and vice
tonishingly common pattern of likening the male or mascu-
versa, but one would be seriously mistaken to reduce all reli-
line to spirit, soul, seed, and culture and the female or femi-
gious sexual symbolism or activity to procreative meanings
nine to the body, sexuality, soil, nature, and death. Biological
and heterosexual patterns. In actual historical fact, vaginas
knowledge of the mathematically even (23/23) genetic con-
and phalluses come to express multiple meanings in the his-
tribution of male and female chromosomal material via the
tory of religions, and many, perhaps even most, of these have
event of ovum fertilization and subsequent cell division is en-
little, if anything, to do with physical procreation or, for that
tirely modern and would likely weaken the legitimacy and
matter, heterosexuality. Indeed, in many cases, it is some
meaningfulness of both the symbolism of seed and soil and
form of homosexual expression or homoerotic symbolism
its dramatic asymmetrical gender implications, were these ge-
that is implicitly or explicitly normative. Moreover, and per-
netic facts fully understood and appropriated. They, of
haps even more importantly, aggression and submission are
course, have not been, but the point remains: the sexual-
often more primary than any literal sexual code; that is, like
agricultural symbolism of religious history rests on a serious
their primate cousins, human beings use penile and posterior
biological error that has had profound, and profoundly
displays to express both social and religious power.
asymmetrical, gender implications for religious con-
In writing a dual history of the vagina and the phallus,
sciousness.
then, it is important to learn to see these highly coded semio-
The second form of sexual ignorance involves the practi-
tic organs as physiologically related on at least two levels (via
cal impossibility, again until very recently, of guaranteeing
heterosexual intercourse and the sexological fact that the
correct paternity and, therefore, a definite lineage or flow of
penis and the clitoris are biological transformations of one
inheritance (pater semper incertus est, “the father is always un-
another), but also as quite independent and perfectly capable
certain,” as one Latin proverb had it; or, in a more modern
of multiple and diverse pairings, erotic directions, and ex-
south Chicago version, “mama’s baby, papa’s maybe”). This
pressive acts. As in documented human sexual behavior, the
particular inability to know the identity of the father has in
vagina of religious symbolism does not always imply the
turn produced any number of purity code systems and other,
phallus, nor the phallus the vagina. With one’s perspective
often extreme, cultural measures designed to guarantee pa-
shifted toward this kind of complementarity and indepen-
ternity and so control the smooth flow of inheritance and
dence, the history of religions becomes a remarkably dramat-
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7079
ic expression of erotic diversity constituted by sexual expres-
this truth or, more concretely, lock its painted ceramic evi-
sions, repressions, aggressions, sublimations, cuts, castra-
dence away in secret museum cabinets or behind euphemis-
tions, and orgasmic states of altered consciousness that peo-
tic translations and obfuscating readings.
ple have only begun to admit and identify, much less under-
stand, analyze, and evaluate.
It seems difficult to argue with Keuls’s point. This, after
all, was a male culture that created an elaborate system of
PREHISTORY. Much ink has been spilled discussing just what
prostitution, legally understood women and slaves as sexual
prehistoric communities knew or did not know about the de-
possessions, developed a pottery tradition portraying almost
tails of sexual reproduction. Many writers, particularly with-
every sexual act imaginable (including vaginal, intercrural,
in popular feminist circles since the 1970s, have inferred
anal, same-sex, pederastic, and via dildos), and encouraged
from the impressive consistency of the female genitalia and
pederastic sexual intercourse with the sons of each other’s so-
the exaggerated breasts and hips of the Paleolithic “Venus
cial peers as a means of organizing social life and its elaborate
figurines” found in Europe that prehistoric peoples wor-
sexual-social hierarchies. They commonly and proudly dis-
shiped women as fertility goddesses and did not yet under-
played their genitals in public—to the amazement (and
stand the role of the male and the phallus in human procre-
laughing ridicule) of foreigners—and studded their cities
ation. Beginning with Johann Jakob Bachofen’s Das
with “Herms,” those abstract stone representatives of the god
Mutterrecht (1861), some have even gone so far as to suggest
Hermes that marked boundaries and doorways—much like
an early matriarchal culture that preceded a later patriarchal
the Japanese Shinto¯ phallic stones used to mark boundaries
revolution, with each successive evolutionary stage defined
or the Yoruba phallic images of the god Legba established be-
by a respective sexual organ; that is, the primordial vagina
fore every house—and boasted only two detailed characteris-
and the later, secondary phallus. As numerous anthropolo-
tics: a bearded head and an erect phallus (the head and the
gists and historians of religions have pointed out, however,
phallus are thus iconically connected very early). Moreover,
there simply is no solid evidence for any such matriarchal
as Keuls points out, the entire Dionysiac religion, and along
culture. As Cynthia Eller has powerfully pointed out, no
with it the Western origins of both tragedy and comedy,
such society is known of, anywhere or at any time; much of
sprang out of the “systematic veneration of the male genera-
the Paleolithic evidence can be read in other ways, including
tive principle” (1985, p. 78). Nor can such historical read-
explicitly phallic and even pornographic ways (some of the
ings be safely fended off as functions of our own modern ob-
figurines and drawings do vaguely resemble sexual positions
sessions, as if every Greek “phallic symbol” were really
used to this day in pornographic contexts); and both the an-
nothing but our own anachronistic Freudian projection.
thropological evidence and the findings of primate studies
What to do, after all, with all those playful Greek representa-
strongly suggest quite the opposite. Primate communities,
tions of birds, horses, and plants that commonly sport ana-
for example, which cultural historians inclined toward evolu-
tomically accurate penises in place of their heads? What to
tionary models would presumably identify as “older” than
do when the head or bird (compare the English “cock”) is
any human cultures, display very strong patterns of male
not a phallic symbol but an actual phallus? The Greek joke,
dominance. Moreover, as Sherry Ortner has shown in a clas-
it appears, is very much still Freud’s.
sic essay, “Is Female to Male as Nature Is to Culture?,”
human cultures across the globe have shown a remarkably
But all was not humor. There was violence as well, real
consistent tendency to analogize maleness to culture and fe-
violence, hence the cultural resonance of the Amazono-
maleness to nature—and consequently to subordinate and
machia, the “battle of the sexes” enacted between Greek
devalue women (see Ortner, 1996).
males and Amazon women so obsessively dwelt on by Greek
writers and artists. In pottery illustrations of these battles, the
In any case, it remains generally true that Paleolithic art
phallus is a kind of weapon, with the male swords and spears
found on the European continent displays the vagina and
held in obviously phallic positions and aimed at women’s
phallus and what sometimes appear to be their symbolic
genitals or breasts. In this same context, Keuls also sees re-
equivalents, in ways that suggest strong cultural interest in,
flected the elaborate mythologies of rape (with Zeus playing
if not an overriding obsession with, these same sexual organs.
the central rapist), Attic warmongering, and the misogynistic
myth of Pandora’s “box”: whereas the phallus is displayed
ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME. In what is arguably the defini-
and openly celebrated in myth and ritual, the vagina is my-
tive study of the phallus in ancient Greek culture to date, Eva
thologized here as the primordial source of all evil and suffer-
Keuls has pointed out that classicists teaching Aristophanes
ing. The phallus too carries a real ambivalence in Greek cul-
routinely tell their students that if they cannot detect an ob-
ture and in the general history of religions, alternating
scenity in any particular phrase, they are probably not under-
consistently between the two poles of sexuality and aggres-
standing the passage properly, and that a previous German
sion, that is, as organ of fertility, ecstasy, and life, and as
encyclopedia entry on “Phallos,” which did not even ap-
weapon of anger, domination, threat, and violence.
proach completeness, covered sixty-eight pages of dense col-
umns. No culture, she suggests, has been more imbued with
It was Hermes’s son, the half-man, half-goat shepherd
phallic meanings than the Greek world, even if much of
Pan, who, like the Greek satyrs, was associated with natural
modern classicist scholarship has striven mightily to subdue
fertility, along with Priapus, who later becomes so popular
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PHALLUS AND VAGINA
with the Romans as the god of the garden, despite (or be-
in the passive soil of the womb, the latter owned by the male,
cause of) what the Greeks considered his exaggerated and
like a farm; the horror of infertility, always, it appears, lik-
quite ugly phallus (as Keuls has pointed out, the Greeks liked
ened to barren soil and blamed on the woman; the radical
theirs small and dainty). It is worth noting that Pan is partic-
sexual ploys sometimes used to ensure a proper male heir; the
ularly important for the later history of religions, primarily
cultural concern over female sexual activity as a male posses-
through his morphing into the Christian devil, himself often
sion to be controlled and contained; the prohibition of any
connected, implicitly or explicitly, to sexuality, the initiatory
sexual activity that might either confuse family lines and the
insemination of witches, and the antinomian counter-
smooth flow of inheritance (such as incest or adultery) or
structures of sexual magic from medieval witchcraft trials to
prevent the production of a male heir (such as sexual inter-
Aleister Crowley. Not surprisingly, then, when the English
course with a menstruating woman or male same-sex activi-
poet William Blake wanted to celebrate the transgressive sa-
ty); and the law of Levi, which ruled that if a man died before
crality and poetic potency of sexuality, he did so through
producing a male heir his younger brother was required to
what he called “the voice of the Devil.” That is, after all, what
copulate with the deceased man’s widow, to ensure a proper
the religious phallus of antiquity (Hermes, Dionysius, Pan,
male heir for the older brother’s family line. Such a list could
and Priapus) had become in the Christian imagination. In
be expanded indefinitely, but the point is made: there is no
the Christian demonization of sexuality and the phallus one
way to understand ancient Judaism and its scriptural texts
can perhaps hear psychosexual echoes of earlier castration
without understanding the centrality of the religious phallus
motifs (witches were said to collect penises) that are found
and vagina, and their respective control.
in such abundance in the mythologies of the Egyptian Osiris
The same point is only radicalized further through con-
(whose dismembered body gathered together by his wife/
sideration of the biblical visionary patterns that Howard Eil-
sister Isis lacked only the penis), the Greek Ouranos (violent-
berg-Schwartz has studied in God’s Phallus. In ancient Israel,
ly castrated by his children in Hesiod’s Theogony), and the
he points out, God is male, Israel is his bride, and therefore
Greek and Roman Attis (the gentle lover self-castrated in sor-
any male representative of that corporate bride (rabbi,
row for his unfaithfulness to the mother goddess Cybele).
prophet, priest, or visionary) is necessarily cast in what
JUDAISM. All three Western monotheistic traditions (Juda-
amounts to a homoerotic relationship with God:
ism, Christianity, and Islam) locate the origin point of their
The primary relationships in Israelite imagination were
faith communities in a religious event explicitly focused on
between a male God and individual male Israelites, such
the phallus—God’s covenant with Abraham that was to be
as Moses, the patriarchs, and the prophets. . . . Men
“marked” or “cut” on the procreative penis. This was no tan-
were encouraged to imagine themselves as married to
gential or accidental sign that just happened to be located on
and hence in a loving relationship with God. A homo-
the male sexual organ, a curiously anxious choice indeed if
erotic dilemma was thus generated, inadvertently and
the covenant could have just as easily been cut into the ear,
to some degree unconsciously, by the superimposition
nose, or forearm. No, the circumcised (literally “cut
of heterosexual images on the relationship between
around”) penis was the symbol or sign that marked a man
human and divine males. (Eilberg-Schwartz, 1994,
as a member of the covenant community, and lacking such
p. 99)
a marked penis could be quite literally deadly: God tries to
Hence the well-known biblical prohibition against seeing
kill Moses in Exodus 4:24–26 for just such a lack.
God’s body, particularly his front side (that is, his exposed
Most likely originally an adult fertility ritual—thought
penis). Similar homoerotic patterns are developed further by
to increase male fertility by exposing the penis, rather like a
Elliot Wolfson, who uncovers striking phallic patterns in me-
pruned plant—practiced before weddings in the ancient
dieval Jewish Qabbalah in such mystical tropes as the cir-
Near Eastern world (see Eilberg-Schwartz, 1990), the sym-
cumcised penis as organ of vision, the crowned corona/head
bolic act of circumcision was adopted by the Hebrew com-
of the qabbalist, the phallic rainbow, the ritual arousal of the
munity to capture the essence of God’s dual promise to them
divine phallus via the sexual union of the qabbalist and his
recorded in Genesis 17, the promise of land (always deeply
wife, and the vaginal amorphousness of the shekhinah, that
connected to human fertility in the ancient Hebrew imagina-
“speculum that does not shine.” Indeed, in what certainly
tion) and offspring, who were thought to come, as seed,
must count as one of the most provocative and radical of
through this same fertile organ. Both concerns—land and
contemporary insights, Wolfson demonstrates that what the
progeny—were absolutely central to ancient Judaism, and
qabbalist envisions with his phallic vision through the sexual
many of its ritual practices and purity codes, and particularly
crevices of this feminine shekhinah is not the internal myster-
those that were concerned with the acts of the phallus, were
ies of the divine womb but the divine phallus hidden within
designed explicitly to ensure certain and acceptable lines of
and at the very top of the sefirotic pleroma. Phallic vision
descent and inheritance—that is, how the land, wealth, and
thus encounters the phallic pleroma within a striking homo-
family heritage were passed on from generation to genera-
erotic metaphysics that Wolfson has described as a kind of
tion. Hence the overwhelming cultural preference for a male
mystical ocular phallocentrism.
child as heir; the agricultural symbolism of the male “seed,”
Finally, it also seems important to mention that much
believed to contain the essence of the person and “planted”
of ancient Jewish, and all of early Christian, understandings
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PHALLUS AND VAGINA
7081
developed largely within cultural matrices that these religions
including controversy about sexual matters, was central to
did not create or control. That is to say, they were minority
the gospel traditions from the very beginning.
traditions within a broad cultural world defined by the re-
Elements of Christian theology, moreover, can easily be
gional politics of the time, in this case controlled largely by
read in vaginal and phallic terms. The early doctrine of the
the Persian, Greek, and Roman Empires. This fact had pro-
virgin birth, for example, represents a clear attempt to re-
found consequences for the early Jewish communities, and
move the human phallus (but, curiously, not the human va-
often these political differences were focused precisely on the
gina) entirely from the central event of Christian salvation
circumcised penis, that mark or sign that so clearly distin-
history (the conception and birth of Jesus). This doctrine is
guished a Jew from a non-Jew, and so prevented full assimila-
entirely absent in Mark and John and most likely represents
tion into the broader Gentile culture. This became a particu-
a transformation of an earlier illegitimacy motif, seduction
larly potent problem under Greek rule when the Greek
or rape narrative, or biblical dual-parentage trope (with the
gymnasium and its nude male social bathing (gymnos means
divine inspiring or participating in the usual sexual means of
“naked”) became a source of debate among the Jewish com-
procreation) (see Schaberg, 1990). As the same doctrine de-
munity. Once again, it was the cut penis that marked a man
veloped, its original focus on an inspired conception, or even
as a member of the Jewish community.
virgin birth, was radicalized further to an assumption of
CHRISTIANITY. These phallic identity problems were only
Mary’s perpetual virginity (despite surprisingly clear biblical
further exacerbated with the rise of early Christianity, which
references to Jesus’ siblings) and eventually to theological
originated very much as a Jewish sect but eventually split
speculations about a miraculously unbroken hymen. In other
from Judaism, largely through the early Pauline rejection of
words, as Mariology developed, the Virgin’s vagina became
the purity codes that had separated Jews from non-Jews for
more and more protected from any kind of phallic penetra-
centuries. Foremost among Christian concerns was the cen-
tion. This same sexual complex also had the long-range effect
tral issue of whether converts to the new faith were required
of helping to privilege virginity and celibacy over active sexu-
to be circumcised. In other words, in the early Christian
ality as the surest mark of Christian holiness, thus essentially
communities, just as today, one of the most contentious de-
reversing the Jewish practice of circumcision, which focused
bates involved the penis. Largely under the influence of Paul,
on human fertility.
the Jerusalem Council, as described in the Acts of the Apostles
Similar patterns of elaborate sexual symbolism and ex-
15, determined that circumcision would not be required.
treme asceticism appear in the Gnostic communities of the
The tradition thus effectively broke with its own Jewish ori-
first few centuries of the common era. Hence the famous
gins and, with it, the literal requirements of physical proge-
“bridal chamber” ritual of the Nag Hammadi texts, the pre-
ny, inheritance, and land.
cise nature of which scholars are still divided over; the seem-
Such a move was both a radical break from and a devel-
ing obsession with “virginal” male spirits and entities; the
opment of the teachings of Jesus, at least as they were re-
outrageous stories of Simon Magus and his harlot-consort-
corded in the canonical gospels. Jesus certainly never spoke
goddess Helen; the radical acosmic dualisms of the texts
of abrogating the requirements of circumcision and under-
(which seemed to have led to both ascetic and libertine prac-
stood himself and his mission as thoroughly Jewish, but both
tices); and the heresiological rumors of the Gnostic use of
his recorded acts and teachings were often aimed at a radical
sexual fluids as sacramental substances. It also seems relevant
here that the image of the “seed” (spora or sperma) is omni-
rejection of traditional notions of holiness defined by purity,
present in the Gnostic texts, particularly within that branch
especially sexual purity. Hence an unclean menstruating
scholars dub Sethian Gnosticism, with its notion of the “seed
woman is cured by touching him, Jesus socializes with
of Seth” as a kind of mystical substance that carries divinity
known prostitutes and sinners, the despised eunuch (a cas-
across the generations, from Adam to Jesus to the Sethian
trated man associated in the Mediterranean world with phys-
Gnostics themselves. What we have in this latter case is es-
ical deformation, passive homosexuality, sexual license, and
sentially a cult of mystical semen that, once again, locates re-
imperial administration) is made the model disciple of the
ligious identity in the seed instead of the soil.
kingdom of heaven both in Matthew and in later Christian
tradition, a centurion’s slave and probable male lover is
Such sexual themes hardly end with the Gnostics after
healed, and, perhaps most striking of all, Jesus himself ap-
their suppression, although they do clearly morph into other,
pears to have a male lover both in the Gospel of John, as Theo-
more homoerotic, patterns. Indeed, it is a fascinating mark
dore Jennings has recently argued, and in an early Gnostic
of later Christian mysticism, particularly in its more erotic
fragment, as Morton Smith suggested in the 1970s. Such
modes that derive from the Hebrew Song of Songs and its
readings, of course, are hardly universal, and other scholars
Christian commentaries from Origen to John of the Cross,
have advanced counter, conservative readings that seek to
that only one man can have a functioning phallus and em-
question, if not deny, the sexual radicalism of the gospels,
ploy it as an organ of mystical communion: Christ himself.
particularly with reference to homosexual practice (see espe-
Every other mystic, by theological necessity (since God is
cially Gagnon)—but this modern debate itself is instructive,
overwhelmingly imagined as male), is either biologically a
since it only underscores the fact that intense controversy,
woman or must become one in the religious imagination.
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PHALLUS AND VAGINA
For Christian male mystics, then, a rich homoeroticism de-
within the Christian imagination, the result of sin. The
velops, disguised in the orthodox heteroerotic code of bridal
Christian phallus, then, is a symbol of anti-death, but in a
mysticism. Indeed, in the context of normative Christian
different key than that of Dionysius and the Greek phallus
mysticism, male heterosexuality, at least any acted on or ex-
of fertility and life.
pressed toward the divine, is both symbolically impossible
As with classicists embarrassed by Greek ceramics and
and theologically heretical (see Kripal, 2001). One, after all,
phallic texts, Christian post-Renaissance culture would be-
would need a goddess for this, and there can be no true god-
come ashamed of this redemptive shamelessness and would
dess in orthodox Christianity, at least not one who would be
paint or sculpt tunics over the god-man’s penis or simply
interested in the phallus. Every orthodox Christian mystic
lock the images away. Once again, the male member could
that chose to employ sexual language to express his or her
not be mentioned, much less openly depicted in public art.
love for God, then, was essentially seeking a divine phallus
A certain Bowdlerism ensued, perhaps most dramatically dis-
and acting within a vaginal mode. Hence Don Cupitt’s mis-
played by Pope Paul IV, who “castrated” the antique statues
chievous observation in Mysticism and Modernity that male
of Rome by literally chopping off their penises.
Christian mystical union with God “is described exactly as
ISLAM. In its various approaches to the phallus and the vagi-
if it were female orgasm, by people who are not merely of
na, Islam seems much closer to Judaism than to Christianity.
the wrong sex, but not supposed to have any personal experi-
Its elaborate concern over ritual and sexual (particularly fe-
ence of such things anyway” (1998, p. 25). The French psy-
male) purity, its ritual treatment of menstruation as a purity
choanalytic and feminist category of jouissance—defined as
and religious issue, its continued practice of circumcision, its
pleasure, mystical rapture, or (female) orgasm—that is so evi-
qualified acceptance of polygamy, its overwhelming concern
dent in the works of such thinkers as Jacques Lacan and
with law (shar¯ı Eah) and a legal approach to religious and so-
Catherine Clément is also worth mentioning in this context.
cial life, and its general rejection of celibacy (with the impor-
One of the more remarkable sexual developments with-
tant exceptions of some S:u¯f¯ı communities) all suggest very
in Christianity occurred in Renaissance art as it grappled
close connections to the ancient Jewish traditions to which
with the theological implications of the Incarnation, which
the religion seems particularly indebted, even as it no doubt
it symbolically expressed through the penis, as against the
changed and transformed these ancient sexual and social cus-
Gnostic tendency to deny the carnal flesh and the real suffer-
toms for its own cultural milieus and theological purposes.
ing of Christ. As Leo Steinberg puts it in his classic study of
There are, however, real variations and alternative sexual
this phenomenon, The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art
traditions within Islam, as many scholars and cultural ob-
and Modern Oblivion, “the genuineness of the Incarnation
servers have noted. For example, the homoerotic patterns so
is put to proof in the sexual member” (1983, p. 58). Com-
evident in ancient Jewish biblical tradition and medieval
menting on over one hundred images out of nearly a thou-
Christian bridal mysticism have been studied in Islamic tra-
sand available to him, Steinberg demonstrates an elaborate
ditions as well, but it remains true that such phallic phenom-
ostentatio genitalium or ritual “display of the genitals”
ena have been both marginal and heretical in the context of
through artistic renditions of women playing with the child’s
orthodox Islam. The heterosexual “seed and soil” symbol-
penis, the god-baby masturbating, the Virgin touching or
isms we noted above seem to have been far more determina-
pointing to her infant son’s organ, the magi staring at it, the
tive of both actual gender relations and general Islamic reli-
dead Christ reaching for his penis, and the risen Christ dis-
gious understandings of the phallus/plow and vagina/field.
playing a clear erection under the folds of his tunic or sugges-
INDIA. Keuls’s humorous point about obscene Greek texts
tively sitting on a bull with its horned head emerging from
and unseeing classicist translators carries over into Indology
between his legs. Here we even see the “blood-hyphen,” a
as well, where Sanskritists working on ancient Indian materi-
concept invented by the Church Fathers and developed fur-
als sometimes share the joke that any Sanskrit word can refer
ther by artists that linked the blood of Christ’s circumcision
to at least three things: its literal meaning, some aspect of sex-
to that of His passion: “Christ’s redemptive Passion, which
ual intercourse, and some part of an elephant. The joke, like
culminates on the cross in the blood of the sacred heart, be-
many jokes, is clearly an exaggeration, but also a very instruc-
gins in the blood of the penis” (1983, p. 58).
tive one, pointing as it does to the omnipresent tendency of
The displayed adult penis, so evident in the work of Mi-
ancient Indian culture to load the meaning of words with
chelangelo, for example, is also a sign of redemption here,
sexual connotations long before Freud taught us to look for
for if the sin of Adam resulted in the shame of the genitals
such things.
(pudendum was a traditional term for the female genitals and
Unlike their orthodox Jewish or Muslim counterparts,
meant literally “to be ashamed of”), then Christ’s redemp-
who tended to use the phallus as a literally “cut” marker of
tion must have removed that same shame and returned hu-
communal and religious identity, Indian thinkers were in-
manity to the sexual innocence before the fall. Unlike the Di-
clined to see the phallus as transformer of consciousness and
onysian phallus as organ of fertility, however, Christ’s penis
connected the profundities of sexual pleasure with religious
is controlled and continent, since there is no longer any need
rapture and contemplative accomplishment very early, pri-
of procreation after his victory over death, the latter being,
marily through the Sanskrit category of a¯nanda or “bliss,” as
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it is usually euphemistically translated. In an important essay,
then, we can speak of a kind of incomplete “historical subli-
“Orgasmic Rapture and Divine Ecstasy: The Semantic His-
mation,” a historical process that gradually disassociated the
tory of A¯nanda,” Patrick Olivelle has demonstrated that
categories of a¯nanda, lin˙gam, and yoni from the physiological
there exists in the ancient Sanskrit texts an “explicit and un-
organs they were originally linked to, the phallus and the va-
ambiguous connection between a¯nanda as orgasmic rapture
gina. Their meanings (and no doubt their experiential corre-
and a¯nanda as the experience of brahman/a¯tman” (1997,
lates) were progressively spiritualized into yantras or abstract
p. 154). The Upanis:ads, for example, clearly identify the
geometric shapes (such as up-turned and down-turned equi-
organ of a¯nanda as the penis: precisely as the eye is identified
lateral triangles), until the latter often presupposed the re-
as the organ of sight and the ear the organ of hearing, the
nunciation or denial of the very physicality that originally
penis is identified as the organ of a¯nanda. Similarly, a¯nanda
created, as it were, the categories in the first place—that is,
is equated with nocturnal experiences of divine sexual inter-
the experience of male and female intercourse, orgasm, and
course, the ejaculation of semen, and the production of male
ejaculation.
offspring. Hence Olivelle’s glossing of the term as “orgasmic
rapture” and the swoon of ejaculation—that petit mort that
But the repressed always returns, and the return of the
somehow participates in and signals, as a kind of sacrament,
repressed in Hindu and Buddhist cultures is best represented
the even more extreme phenomenology of mystical ecstasy.
by the efflorescence of Tantric traditions starting around the
Because Being (sat) is essentially blissful, one of the best ways
sixth century CE and continuing throughout the medieval
to come to know it is through that preeminent organ of
and early modern periods, up until their gradual, if ineffec-
(male) bliss, the aroused phallus. Such meanings, however,
tive, suppression during the colonial and postcolonial eras.
would not survive unchallenged and were eventually ignored,
Certainly both the vagina and the phallus were central to
suppressed, or simply lost in many of the later Indic textual
many Tantric traditions. Each, for example, received exten-
traditions. In the process, male celibacy became a sine qua
sive ritual attention, both in their actual physiological forms
non of the monastic traditions that would come to control
and as abstract triangular yantras (the famous S´r¯ıvidya¯ yan-
the production and interpretation of many of these same
tra) or abstract iconic forms (the lin˙ga-yoni). Indeed, we have
philosophical texts, including those dealing with the a¯nanda
at least one entire text dedicated to the worship of the vagina,
of brahman. Not surprisingly, a¯nanda as an expressed “orgas-
the Yoni Tantra, and numerous others treating the mytholo-
mic rapture” was no longer commonly seen as a sexual sacra-
gy and cultural meanings of the phallus (O’Flaherty’s S´iva:
ment of Being.
The Erotic Ascetic and Bhattacharya’s S´aivism and the Phallic
World
constitute treasuries of these). Moreover, as David
This same profound cultural ambivalence over the phal-
Gordon White has argued in Kiss of the Yogin¯ı, early medi-
lus as both site of erotic a¯nanda and something to renounce
eval Kaula Tantra appears to have been organized around the
is particularly evident in the mythology of S´iva, the great lord
production, distribution, and oral ingestion of real sexual flu-
of yoga and paradigm of virile power. In Wendy Doniger
ids within Tantric clans. White suggests that such sexual rit-
O’Flaherty’s memorable phrase, S´iva is “the erotic ascetic”
uals were designed to produce semen, which was then fed to
whose mythology alternates between seeming paradoxical cy-
the clan goddess or yogin¯ı through the upper or lower
cles of eroticism and asceticism that never quite resolve the
“mouths” (a kind of ancient upward displacement of the va-
cultural dilemma but, in the process, express the profound
gina in Tantric symbolism). Similarly, female sexual fluids,
metaphysical and psychological connections that appear to
including menstrual blood, were used in elaborate ritual con-
exist between sexual and ascetic energies. Certainly the
texts to transfer mystical energies (´sakti) from the
mythological origins of S´iva’s lin˙gam, or iconic phallus, are
goddess/yogin¯ı to the yogin (Irigaray’s rich meditations on
located in some explicitly phallic behavior and in a dramatic
the morphology of female lips, the kiss, and the one who
castration. After S´iva seduces their wives, the forest sages
“thinks through mucous” seem especially apt here [An Ethics,
curse his phallus and cause it to fall off. As it falls to the earth,
1993, p. 110]). Moreover, in numerous medieval Siddha al-
the lin˙gam threatens to destroy all in its flames until the for-
chemical contexts, the “power substances” of both semen
est sages promise to restore peace by worshiping it.
and female sexual fluids, along with any number of symbolic
or chemical equivalents (especially semen as rasa/mercury
And indeed it is worshiped to this day in millions of
and menstrual blood or sexual emissions as sulfur/mica/red
shrines and stone images across India, often in the form of
arsenic), were used to transubstantiate or sublimate mundane
the lin˙ga-yoni, the dual icon of S´iva’s phallus (lin˙ga) set in
forms of consciousness and metals into ecstatic and divine
the vagina or womb (yoni) of his consort-goddess. Condi-
ones (see White, 1996). On a side note, such rich material
tioned by over two centuries of colonial criticism, imported
should give serious pause to historians of Gnosticism who
Victorian sensibilities, and subsequent Hindu reform move-
wish to read accounts of similar practices in early Christian
ments (not to mention the original and quite ancient ambiv-
history simply as pure heresiological rumor.
alences expressed in the origin myth of the forest sages’ curse
and subsequent forced worship), many might deny the sexual
Finally, before we leave ancient India, it also seems nec-
connotations of such popular ritual expressions, but the
essary to at least mention here the Jain traditions that placed
mythological and historical records are clear enough. Here,
such an enormous religious weight on male nudity as a sign
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PHALLUS AND VAGINA
of asceticism and renunciation. Certainly, neither Jain ico-
gender-bending within an individual life (“I really am a man
nography nor Jain theology dwelt on the swollen phallus,
in a woman’s body”).
since sexual desire was understood to entrap one further in
In some very literal fashion, the boundaries of the Bud-
the karmic webs of sam:sa¯ra, but it nevertheless remains true
dhist monastery are drawn with the vagina and the phallus—
that the ritual and iconic display of the t¯ırtham:kara’s penis
by what they do, or, more precisely, do not do. Serinity
was and remains central to the tradition, not as a phallus per
Young, for example, has explored some of the gender impli-
se, but as an almost casual sign of the male monk’s indiffer-
cations of the early biographies of the Buddha and their
ence to social custom and victory over the psychological and
claims that the Buddha was encased in a bejeweled box inside
physical webs of attachment and action (karma). Significant-
his mother’s womb to avoid pollution; that he was born
ly, just as early Christianity broke with Judaism over the
through her side instead of through the impure vaginal canal;
phallic question of the circumcised penis, early Jainism split
and that his mother had to die seven days after he was born,
into two separate traditions (the Digambaras or “sky-clad”
since it is inappropriate for the mother of a Buddha to ever
[that is, naked] and S´veta¯mbaras or “white-clad”), largely
have sex again (we are reminded here of similar themes in
over the implicit phallic questions of ascetic (male) nudity,
early Christian Mariology and its fixation on Mary’s perpetu-
which of course involves the ritual display of the penis, and
al virginity). As Faure has pointed out, although later devel-
of the ability of women (that is, people without penises) to
opments would certainly bring to the fore the rhetorics of
achieve salvation. Significantly, whereas the S´veta¯mbaras de-
purity and pollution that were omnipresent in ancient India,
fended the possibility of female salvation on the grounds that
Vinaya regulations generally approached the phallic penetra-
such salvation is an internal state not to be measured by the
tion of the vagina and its psychophysical effects (the presence
external criterion of clothes, both sects agreed that women
or absence of pleasure was very much part of the discourse
could not practice ritual nudity—that, in other words, the
and helped determine the act’s legal ramifications), not as a
vagina could not be publicly displayed like the penis (see
dangerous loss of spiritual energy, as we find in Brahmanic
Jaini).
Hinduism, Daoism, and later Tantrism, but as a serious
B
breach of the social integrity of the monastic community. In-
UDDHIST AND DAOIST ASIA. Bernard Faure has written of
what he calls the “red thread” of human sexuality that binds
deed, the slightest insertion of the penis into the vagina,
individuals to the family and the concerns of lineage, repro-
“even to a sesame seed,” resulted in expulsion. The commu-
duction, and inheritance. Strikingly, whereas in Judaism and
nity and its boundaries are thus largely determined by the
Islam the penis is cut to sacralize these lineage markers and
(in)actions of the sexual organs. Other sexual acts (solitary
in Brahmanism various sexual rituals are instituted for the
male or female masturbation, anal or oral sex, the use of dil-
same ends, within the Buddhist Vinaya (monastic regula-
dos, etc.) were also treated in great detail but were generally
tions) the penis and vagina early on become veritable battle-
not judged as harshly as heterosexual intercourse. Little won-
der, then, that in Japanese Buddhist culture a punning ety-
grounds for the attempted cutting of this “red thread”—even
mology links the terms for penis (mara), obstacle (ma¯ra), and
if later, within Maha¯ya¯na and Buddhist Tantra, they become
the lord of Death himself (Ma¯ra) (Faure, 1998, p. 22), or
mystical organs for this same thread’s intimate weaving into
that the Buddha named his first and only son Ra¯hula, or
the very natures of enlightenment, emptiness, and nirva¯n:a.
“Obstacle.” Here too we might consider the famous “cryp-
The discourses and semiotic patterns of what might be called
torchidy” of the Buddha—the belief that the Buddha’s penis
the Buddhist phallus and vagina, in other words, are by no
was hidden in a sheath.
means singular or simple, and there are clearly many mytho-
logical and philosophical resources (the central doctrine of
Much of this would be challenged by later philosophical
´su¯nyata¯, or emptiness, foremost among them) for the decon-
developments, particularly within the Maha¯ya¯na and
struction of gender and patriarchy. Still, these discourses, at
Vajraya¯na turnings of the wheel, in which radical forms of
least in their more normative forms, do seem to move within
nondualism would identify nirva¯n:a and sam:sa¯ra and, conse-
what many Buddhologists have identified as a profoundly
quently, the passions and awakening. Young, for example,
androcentric, if not actually misogynistic, structure that
has pointed out that during the Kushan dynasty the genitals
identifies the female body as the paradigmatic example of im-
of both male and female figures were clearly displayed in the
permanence, disgust, and suffering (see Wilson); that sees he-
art, and that male figures from the same period “emphasize
terosexuality as the clearest threat to the stability and sanctity
the penis under the folds of their lower garments, even stat-
of the monastic community (homosexuality is quite another
ues of the Buddha and the future Buddha Maitreya” (Young,
matter, as it can support and even strengthen monastic ties);
30). In many Tantric forms, moreover, the traditions would
and that even defines Tantric transgression itself as a domi-
go even further to assert that the powerful energies of the pas-
nantly male domain. Hence the Chinese Buddhist debates
sions are in fact necessary for awakening, or that orgasm itself
about whether one can be enlightened as a woman—that is,
is a subtle mental state compatible with reason and inducive
as a human being possessing a vagina or, perhaps more accu-
of profound mystical states of consciousness (see Hopkins,
rately, not possessing a penis. In some cases, at least, reincar-
1998).
nation was invoked as the preferred means of gender switch-
In China, Korea, and Japan, moreover, these develop-
ing over multiple lives, or, alternately, as an explanation for
ments were often synthesized with Daoist alchemical prac-
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tices and symbolisms, particularly the famous yin-yang icon
in the diaries of the great Swedish mystic Emanuel Sweden-
that was often read in sexual terms—with the “stem of yang”
borg, who believed that there was an actual pathway or nerve
(yang xing), or penis, representing semen, hardness, light,
connecting the two protruding organs. And, it turns out,
mountain heights, and the masculine, and the “path of yin”
there actually is. Cognitive science has established that differ-
(yin dao), or vagina, representing the womb, softness, dark-
ent body parts are mapped onto different parts of the brain,
ness, valley lows, and the feminine.
and that when a specific body part is amputated an adjacent
neural system will often take over. It turns out, moreover,
SEXUAL SYMBOLS IN “MODERN OBLIVION.” In his own al-
that the feet and the genitals occupy adjacent neural systems,
ways eloquent terms, the art historian Leo Steinberg explored
and there is at least one documented case of a man with an
the phallic dimensions of Christian theology and art “before
amputated lower leg who reported immense orgasms in his
everybody was educated into incomprehension.” The result
phantom foot when he had sex (Ramachandran and Blakes-
of the latter process he dubbed “modern oblivion” (1983,
lee, 1998). It is certainly true that Freud’s psychoanalysis has
p. 108). Steinberg’s expression connotes a certain tendency
helped us immeasurably to admit, come to terms with, and
of modern thought to see sexuality as an entirely natural or
better understand these remarkable and remarkably ambiva-
biological affair and, consequently, to banish it from the sa-
lent histories, but nothing could be further from the truth
cred, or, in the reverse of the same move, to reduce all forms
than the assumption that vaginal and phallic readings of reli-
of religious eroticism to simple sexuality. Here a pious amne-
gious phenomena begin (or end) with Sigmund Freud.
sia or prudish censorship easily beds down with modern
Moreover, to the extent that psychoanalysis encourages the
Freudian reductionism to render a category like a resurrected
reading of phallic symbols in purely biological or materialis-
erection, a ritually worshiped phallus-in-a-vagina, or an en-
tic terms, classical psychoanalytic hermeneutics can only
lightening orgasm impossible, offensive, embarrassing, or, at
serve to obfuscate and prevent a deeper understanding of
the very least, simply in bad taste. However briefly and inad-
these same religious and sexual phenomena. The Hindu
equately sketched, the comparative history of the religious
lin˙gam or yoni and the Buddhist Tantric vajra (jewel, light-
vagina and phallus should make one very wary of both this
ning bolt, or phallus) and padma (lotus or vagina), after all,
embarrassment and this “modern oblivion.”
are not simply penises and vaginas; they are also mystical or-
It is often assumed that the act of reading sexual mean-
gans capable of radically altering human consciousness and
ings into religious or cultural symbols originates with Freud.
producing non-ontological bliss. Similarly, the circumcised
Indeed, the history of the religious vagina or phallus often
Jewish or Muslim penis is not an arbitrary sign on an arbi-
reads like a Freudian textbook, with the hole, box, house, tri-
trary organ: it is a cut phallus intended to be used and so pass
angle, cave, or garden commonly evoking the vagina, and the
on, quite literally, particular religious, social, political, and
snake, bird, head, nose, plow, pillar, thigh, spear, knife,
economic resources. So too with the Virgin’s vagina: it mat-
arrow, foot, stalk, and flute all standing in for the omnipres-
ters a great deal to the celibate structures of Roman Catholi-
ent but not quite present phallus (one needs to be careful
cism whether a human phallus ever penetrated its depths,
here, though, for there are many “reversals,” such as the Indic
just as it is a matter of great theological and moral import
serpent, which is often coded female).
to contemporary Christians whether Jesus ever actually used
his phallus (and, if so, with whom). Until we can read such
Consider, for example, the alleged “Freudian” reading
classical religious phenomena and modern debates as carriers
of the foot as a symbolic phallus. A modern Freudian inven-
of both biological and deep religious meanings, as phenome-
tion? Hardly. Already in the eighteenth century, specifically
na “both natural and mysterial,” as Steinberg put it so well,
erotic hermeneutics were being developed in Europe to inter-
we have failed to grasp their full range and have only repro-
pret religious phenomena. Sir William Hamilton, for exam-
duced our own modern assumptions, our own modern obliv-
ple, tried to visit a church near Mount Vesuvius where the
ion, be it social-scientifically or spiritually defined. To close
faithful were bringing wax voti of the male organ to their
with Steinberg again, “[t]reated as illustrations of what is al-
churches for the women to kiss (for fertility?), only to learn
ready scripted,” that is, as purely spiritual or as purely sexual
that the local bishop had since suppressed the practice. Ham-
phenomena, the religious phallus and vagina can only “with-
ilton left the district with some of the waxen phalli, eu-
hold their secrets” (1983, p. 108).
phemistically dubbed “big toes.” Similarly, Marsha Keith
Schuchard notes that Richard Payne Knight’s 1786 Treatise
SEE ALSO Atum; Castration; Circumcision; Dionysos; Mas-
on the Worship of Priapus and Its Connexion with the Mystic
culine Sacrality; Osiris; Pan; Priapus; Sexuality, overview ar-
Theology of the Ancients describes the phallus as the “Great
ticles; S´iva; Yoni.
Toe,” that both Jewish Qabbalah and the Bible have long
employed the foot as a euphemism for the phallus (the two
most oft-cited biblical expressions are Isaiah 6:2, where four
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Mircea Eliade (1907–1986), and Jacques Waardenburg (b.
religious reality-in-itself, which is beyond phenomenology,
1935), identify the phenomenology of religion as a specific
is found in the “descriptive phenomenologies” of many phe-
branch, discipline, or method within Religionswissenschaft.
nomenologists of religion.
This is where the most significant contributions of the phe-
Of all the uses of phenomenology by philosophers before
nomenology of religion to the study of religion have been
the twentieth-century phenomenological movement, the
made.
term is most frequently identified with the German philoso-
Fourth, there are scholars whose phenomenology of reli-
pher G. W. F. Hegel (1770–1831) and especially with his
gion is influenced by philosophical phenomenology. A few
Phenomenology of Spirit (1807). Hegel is determined to over-
scholars, such as Max Scheler (1874–1928) and Paul Ricoeur
come Kant’s phenomena-noumena bifurcation. Phenomena
(b. 1913), explicitly identify much of their work with philo-
are actual stages of knowledge—manifestations in the devel-
sophical phenomenology. Others, such as Rudolf Otto
opment of Spirit—evolving from undeveloped consciousness
(1869–1937), van der Leeuw, and Eliade, use a phenomeno-
of mere sense experience and culminating in forms of abso-
logical method and are influenced, at least partially, by phe-
lute knowledge. Phenomenology is the science by which the
nomenological philosophy. There are also influential theo-
mind becomes aware of the development of Spirit and comes
logical approaches, as seen in the works of Friedrich
to know its essence—that is, Spirit as it is in itself—through
Schleiermacher (1768–1834), Paul Tillich (1886–1965),
a study of its appearances and manifestations.
Edward Farley (b. 1929), and Jean-Luc Marion (b. 1946),
During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a
that utilize phenomenology of religion as a stage in the for-
number of philosophers used phenomenology to indicate a
mulation of theology.
merely descriptive study of a subject matter. Thus William
The terms phenomenon and phenomenology are derived
Hamilton (1788–1856), in his Lectures on Metaphysics
from the Greek word phainomenon (that which shows itself,
(1858), used phenomenology to refer to a descriptive phase
or that which appears). As Herbert Spiegelberg (1904–1990)
of empirical psychology; Eduard von Hartmann (1842–
establishes in the first volume of The Phenomenological Move-
1906) formulated several phenomenologies, including a de-
ment: A Historical Introduction (1982), the term phenomenol-
scriptive “phenomenology of moral consciousness”; and the
ogy has both philosophical and nonphilosophical roots.
American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914)
used phenomenology to refer to a descriptive study of what-
One encounters nonphilosophical phenomenologies in
ever appears before the mind, whether real or illusory.
the natural sciences, especially in the field of physics. With
the term phenomenology, scientists usually want to emphasize
As Richard Schmitt points out in his entry on “Phe-
the descriptive, as contrasted with the explanatory, concep-
nomenology” in The Encyclopedia of Philosophy (1967), the
tion of their science. (In the phenomenology of religion, a
philosophical background led to two distinct senses of phe-
similar emphasis will be seen, as phenomenologists submit
nomenology. There is the older, wider sense of the term as any
that their approach describes, but does not explain, the na-
descriptive study of a given subject matter or as a discipline
ture of religious phenomena.)
describing observable phenomena. There is also a narrower
twentieth-century sense of the term as a philosophical ap-
A second nonphilosophical use of phenomenology ap-
proach utilizing a phenomenological method. It is to the lat-
pears in the descriptive, systematic, comparative study of reli-
ter sense that this entry now turns.
gions in which scholars assemble groups of religious phe-
PHILOSOPHICAL PHENOMENOLOGY. As one of the major
nomena in order to disclose their major aspects and to
schools, movements, or approaches in modern philosophy,
formulate their typologies. This phenomenology-as-
phenomenology takes many forms. One can distinguish, for
comparative-religion has roots independent of philosophical
example, the “transcendental phenomenology” of Edmund
phenomenology.
Husserl (1859–1938), the “existential phenomenology” of
The first documented philosophical use of the term phe-
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980) and Maurice Merleau-Ponty
nomenology is by the German philosopher Johann Heinrich
(1908–1961), and the “hermeneutic phenomenology” of
Lambert (1728–1777) in his Neues Organon (1764). In a use
Martin Heidegger (1889–1976) and Paul Ricoeur. Since
unrelated to later philosophical phenomenology and to the
phenomenology is so complex and diverse, every phenome-
phenomenology of religion, Lambert defines the term as “the
nologist does not accept all that follows.
theory of illusion.”
The phenomenological movement. The primary aim
In the late eighteenth century, the German philosopher
of philosophical phenomenology is to investigate and be-
Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) devoted considerable analysis
come directly aware of phenomena that appear in immediate
to “phenomena” as the data of experience, things that appear
experience, and thereby to allow the phenomenologist to de-
to and are constructed by human minds. Such phenomena,
scribe the essential structures of these phenomena. In doing
which Kant distinguishes from “noumena,” or “things-in-
so, phenomenology attempts to free itself from unexamined
themselves” independent of our knowing minds, can be
presuppositions, to avoid causal and other explanations, to
studied rationally, scientifically, and objectively. A similar
utilize a method that allows it to describe that which appears,
distinction between religious phenomena as appearances and
and to intuit or decipher essential meanings.
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An early formulation of the phenomenological move-
tions that prevent them from becoming aware of the specific-
ment appears as a statement in the Jahrbuch für Philosophie
ity and diversity of phenomena, thus allowing them to
und phänomenologische Forschung, published from 1913 to
broaden and deepen immediate experience and provide more
1930 with Edmund Husserl as editor in chief. Coeditors in-
accurate descriptions of this experience. Husserl attacked
cluded leading phenomenologists Moritz Geiger (1880–
various forms of reductionism, such as “psychologism,”
1937), Alexander Pfänder (1870–1941), Adolf Reinach
which attempts to derive the laws of logic from psychological
(1883–1917), Max Scheler, and, later, Martin Heidegger
laws and, more broadly, to reduce all phenomena to psycho-
and Oskar Becker (1889–1964).
logical phenomena. In opposing the oversimplifications of
traditional empiricism and other forms of reductionism,
Husserl is usually identified as the founder and most in-
phenomenologists aim to deal faithfully with phenomena as
fluential philosopher of the phenomenological movement.
phenomena and to become aware of what phenomena reveal
The earliest phenomenologists worked at several German
in their full intentionality.
universities, especially at Göttingen and Munich. Outside of
Husserl’s predominant influence on phenomenology, the
Intentionality. A subject always “intends” an object, and
most significant phenomenologists are Scheler, an indepen-
intentionality refers to the property of all consciousness as
dent and creative thinker in his own right, and Heidegger,
consciousness of something. All acts of consciousness are di-
who emerged as one of the major twentieth-century philos-
rected toward the experience of something, the intentional
ophers.
object. For Husserl, who took the term from his teacher
Franz Brentano (1838–1917), intentionality was a way of
The initial flourishing of the phenomenological move-
describing how consciousness constitutes phenomena. In
ment is identified with the “Göttingen Circle” and the “Mu-
order to identify, describe, and interpret the meaning of phe-
nich Circle” during the period leading up to World War I,
nomena, phenomenologists must be attentive to the inten-
and phenomenology remained an overwhelmingly German
tional structures of their data; to the intentional structures
philosophy until the 1930s when the center of the movement
of consciousness with their intended referents and meanings.
begins to shift to France. Through the works of Sartre, Mer-
leau-Ponty, Gabriel Marcel (1889–1973), Ricoeur, and oth-
Bracketing. For many phenomenologists, the antireduc-
ers, French phenomenology established itself as the leading
tionist insistence on the irreducibility of the intentional im-
development in phenomenological philosophy, beginning in
mediate experience entails the adoption of a “phenomeno-
the 1930s and continuing at least until the 1960s. Particular-
logical epoché.” This Greek term literally means “abstention”
ly noteworthy was the French attempt to integrate the con-
or “suspension of judgment” and is often defined as a meth-
cerns and insights of phenomenology with those of existen-
od of “bracketing.” It is only by bracketing the uncritically
tialism.
accepted “natural world,” by suspending beliefs and judg-
ments based on an unexamined “natural standpoint,” that
Characteristics of philosophical phenomenology.
the phenomenologist can become aware of the phenomena
One may delineate five characteristics of philosophical phe-
of immediate experience and can gain insight into their es-
nomenology that have particular relevance for the phenome-
sential structures. Sometimes the epoché is formulated in
nology for religion.
terms of the goal of a completely presuppositionless science
Descriptive nature. Phenomenology aims to be a rigor-
or philosophy, but most phenomenologists have interpreted
ous, descriptive science, discipline, or approach. The phe-
such bracketing as the goal of freeing the phenomenologist
nomenological slogan “Zu den Sachen!” (“To the things
from unexamined presuppositions, or of rendering explicit
themselves!”) expresses the determination to turn away from
and clarifying such presuppositions, rather than completely
philosophical theories and concepts toward the direct intu-
denying their existence. The phenomenological epoché,
ition and description of phenomena as they appear in imme-
whether as the technical Husserlian “transcendental reduc-
diate experience. Phenomenology attempts to describe the
tion” or in its other variations, is not simply “performed” by
nature of phenomena, the way appearances manifest them-
phenomenologists; it must involve some method of self-
selves, and the essential structures at the foundation of
criticism and intersubjective testing allowing insight into
human experience. As contrasted with most schools of phi-
structures and meanings.
losophy, which have assumed that the rational alone is real
Eidetic vision. The intuition of essences, often described
and which have a philosophical preoccupation with the ratio-
as “eidetic vision” or “eidetic reduction,” is related to the
nal faculties and with conceptual analysis, phenomenology
Greek term eidos, which Husserl adopted from its Platonic
focuses on accurately describing the totality of phenomenal
meaning to designate “universal essences.” Such essences ex-
manifestations in human experience. A descriptive phenom-
press the “whatness” of things, the necessary and invariant
enology, attempting to avoid reductionism and often insist-
features of phenomena that allow us to recognize phenomena
ing on the phenomenological epoché (see below), describes
as phenomena of a certain kind.
the diversity, complexity, and richness of experience.
For all of their differences, the overwhelming majority
Antireductionism. Phenomenological antireductionism
of phenomenologists have upheld a descriptive phenomenol-
is concerned with freeing people from uncritical preconcep-
ogy that is antireductionist, involves phenomenological
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bracketing, focuses on intentionality, and aims at insight into
in this discipline was F. Max Müller (1823–1900). Müller
essential structures and meanings. The following is a brief
intended Religionswissenschaft to be a descriptive, objective
formulation of a general phenomenological procedure for
science free from the normative nature of theological and
gaining insight into such essential structures and meanings
philosophical studies of religion.
with application to the phenomena of religious experience.
The German term Religionswissenschaft has been given
In the “intuition of essences” (Wesensschau), the phe-
no adequate English equivalent, although the International
nomenologist attempts to disengage essential structures em-
Association for the History of Religions has adopted the term
bodied in particular phenomena. One begins with particular
history of religions as synonymous with the term general sci-
data: specific phenomena as expressions of intentional expe-
ence of religions. Thus history of religions is intended to desig-
riences. The central aim of the phenomenological method
nate a field of studies with many specialized disciplines utiliz-
is to disclose the essential structure embodied in the particu-
ing different approaches.
lar data.
P. D. Chantepie de la Saussaye is sometimes considered
One gains insight into meaning by the method of “free
the founder of phenomenology of religion as a special disci-
variation.” After assembling a variety of particular phenome-
pline of classification. Phenomenology of religion occupied
na, the phenomenologist searches for the invariant core that
an intermediary position for him between history and philos-
constitutes the essential meaning of the phenomena. The
ophy and is a descriptive, comparative approach involving
phenomena, subjected to a process of free variation, assume
“the collecting and grouping of various religious phenome-
certain forms that are considered to be accidental or inessen-
na.” One of the founders of Religionswissenschaft, the Dutch
tial in the sense that the phenomenologist can go beyond the
historian C. P. Tiele (1830–1902), considered phenomenol-
limits imposed by such forms without destroying the basic
ogy to be the first stage of the philosophical part of the sci-
character or intentionality of one’s data. For example, the
ence of religion.
variation of a great variety of religious phenomena may dis-
Scholars of religion point to the phenomenology of reli-
close that the unique structures of monotheism do not con-
gion’s sense of generality, with its approach invariably char-
stitute the essential core or universal structure of all religious
acterized as systematic. For Widengren, the phenomenology
experience.
of religion aims at “a coherent account of all the various phe-
The phenomenologist gradually sees that phenomena
nomena of religion, and is thus the systematic complement
assume forms that are regarded as essential in the sense that
of the history of religion” (1945, p. 9). The historical ap-
one cannot go beyond or remove such structures without de-
proach provides a historical analysis of the development of
stroying the basic “whatness” or intentionality of the data.
separate religions; phenomenology provides “the systematic
For example, free variation might reveal that certain inten-
synthesis.”
tional structures of “transcendence” constitute an invariant
The Italian historian of religions Raffaele Pettazzoni
core of religious experience. When the universal essence is
(1883–1959) attempted to formulate the diverse method-
grasped, the phenomenologist achieves the eidetic intuition
ological tendencies and tensions, defining Religionswissen-
or the fulfilled Wesensschau.
schaft in terms of these two complementary aspects: the his-
Husserl proposed that all phenomena are constituted by
torical and the phenomenological. On the one hand, the
consciousness and that, in the intuition of essences, we can
history of religions attempts to uncover “precisely what hap-
eliminate the particular, actual given datum and move on to
pened and how the facts came to be,” but it does not provide
the plane of “pure possibility.” Most phenomenologists who
the deeper understanding of the meaning of what happened,
have used a method of Wesensschau have proposed that his-
nor “the sense of the religious”: these come from phenome-
torical phenomena have a kind of priority, that one must
nology. On the other hand, phenomenology cannot do with-
substitute for Husserl’s imaginary variation an actual varia-
out ethnology, philology, and other historical disciplines.
tion of historical data, and that the particular phenomena are
Therefore, according to Pettazzoni, phenomenology and his-
not constituted by an individual but are the source of one’s
tory are two complementary aspects of the integral science
constitution and judgment.
of religion.
Though relatively few philosophical phenomenologists
MAJOR PHENOMENOLOGISTS OF RELIGION. What follows
had much interest in religious phenomena during most of
are brief formulations of the approaches and contributions
the twentieth century, some of the vocabulary of philosophi-
of eight influential phenomenologists of religion: Max
cal phenomenology and, in several cases, some of its method-
Scheler, W. Brede Kristensen, Rudolf Otto, Gerardus van
ology have influenced the phenomenology of religion.
der Leeuw, Friedrich Heiler, C. Jouco Bleeker, Mircea
Eliade, and Ninian Smart. Included are criticisms of perhaps
PHENOMENOLOGY OF RELIGION AS PART OF HISTORY OF
the three most influential phenomenologists of religion with-
RELIGIONS (RELIGIOUS STUDIES). The modern scholarly
in religious studies: Otto, van der Leeuw, and Eliade.
study of religion probably had its beginnings in the late eigh-
teenth century, largely as a product of the rational and scien-
Max Scheler. Of the major philosophers who founded
tific attitude of the Enlightenment, but the first major figure
and developed philosophical phenomenology, Max Scheler
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had the greatest focus on religion. After Husserl, he may have
of the facts with phenomenological “empathy” and “feeling”
been the most influential philosophical phenomenologist
for the data in order to grasp the “inner meaning” and reli-
during the 1920s. In many ways, he can be considered the
gious values in various texts.
most significant early phenomenologist of religion. Influ-
The phenomenologist must accept the faith of the be-
enced by Brentano, Husserl, Kant, Nietzsche, Dilthey, and
lievers as the sole “religious reality.” In order to achieve phe-
Bergson, among others, Scheler developed his own original
nomenological understanding, scholars must avoid imposing
phenomenological approach. Among his books, Vom Ewigen
their own value judgments on the experiences of believers
im Menschen (1921, translated as On the Eternal in Man,
and must assume that the believers are completely right. In
1960) and Der Formalismus in der Ethik und die materiale
other words, the primary focus of phenomenology is the de-
Wertethik (2 vols., 1913–1916, translated as Formalism in
scription of how believers understand their own faith. One
Ethics and Non-Formal Ethics of Values, 1973) bring out his
must respect the absolute value that believers ascribe to their
phenomenological method, his description and analysis of
faith. An understanding of this religious reality is always ap-
sympathy, love, and other values, and key characteristics of
proximate or relative, since one can never experience the reli-
his phenomenology of religion.
gion of others exactly as the believers experience it. After de-
Although Scheler’s detailed epistemology, ethics and ax-
scribing the “belief of the believers,” the scholar may classify
iology, metaphysics, and philosophical anthropology are very
the phenomena according to essential types and make com-
complex and his phenomenology of religion goes through
parative evaluations. But all investigations into the essence
several radical changes, it is possible to delineate a few influ-
and evaluations of phenomena entail value judgments by the
ential characteristics of his phenomenological approach to re-
interpreter and are beyond the limits of a descriptive phe-
ligion. Reminiscent of Schleiermacher and Otto, Scheler fo-
nomenology.
cused on a phenomenological description and analysis of
Rudolf Otto. Two interdependent methodological
human experience: the unique religious human mode of ex-
contributions made by Rudolf Otto deserve emphasis: his ex-
perience and feeling; the being of the human being for whom
periential approach, which involves the phenomenological
structures and essences of religious values are presented to
description of the universal, essential structure of religious
consciousness. Within the phenomenology of religion, phe-
experience, and his antireductionism, which respects the
nomenological disclosure, focusing on what is “given” to
unique, irreducible, “numinous” quality of all religious expe-
consciousness as the Absolute, the Divine Person, or God,
rience.
is not achieved through reason but only through the love of
God as orienting one toward experiential realization of the
In Das Heilige (1917, translated as The Idea of the Holy,
Holy.
1923), Otto presents what is probably the best-known phe-
nomenological account of religious experience. In attempt-
Philosophical phenomenologists of religion are greatly
ing to uncover the essential structure and meaning of all reli-
indebted to Scheler, although it is not clear the extent to
gious experience, Otto describes the universal “numinous”
which scholars within religious studies have been influenced
element as a unique a priori category of meaning and value.
by him, even if some of their approaches can be related to
By numen and numinous, Otto means the concept of “the
his phenomenological analysis. The turn to religion in some
holy” minus its moral and rational aspects. With such an em-
of philosophical phenomenology and other forms of conti-
phasis on this nonmoral, nonrational aspect of religion, he
nental philosophy at the end of the twentieth century often
attempts to isolate the “overplus of meaning,” beyond the ra-
exhibited characteristics similar to Scheler’s phenomenologi-
tional and conceptual, which constitutes the universal es-
cal orientation.
sence of the religious experience. Since such a unique nonra-
W. Brede Kristensen. From Chantepie de la Saussaye
tional experience cannot be defined or conceptualized, the
and Tiele, through van der Leeuw and the Norwegian expa-
symbolic and analogical descriptions are meant to evoke
triate Kristensen, and up to the writings of Bleeker and oth-
within the reader the experience of the holy. The religious
ers, much of the field has been dominated by a Dutch tradi-
experience of the numinous, as an a priori structure of con-
tion of phenomenology of religion. Sometimes this is
sciousness, can be reawakened or recognized by means of our
broadened to encompass a Dutch-Scandinavian tradition in
innate sense of the numinous, that is, our capacity for this
order to include phenomenologists such as Nathan Söder-
a priori knowledge of the holy.
blom (1866–1931).
In this regard, Otto formulates a universal phenomeno-
W. Brede Kristensen, a specialist in Egyptian and an-
logical structure of religious experience in which the phe-
cient historical religions, illustrates an extreme formulation
nomenologist can distinguish autonomous religious phe-
of the descriptive approach within phenomenology. As a
nomena by their numinous aspect and can organize and
subdivision of the general science of religion, phenomenolo-
analyze specific religious manifestations. He points to our
gy is, according to Kristensen, a systematic and comparative
“creature feeling” of absolute dependence in the experiential
approach that is descriptive and not normative. In opposing
presence of the holy. This sui generis religious experience is
the widespread positivist and evolutionist approaches to reli-
described as the experience of the “wholly other” (ganz An-
gion, Kristensen attempted to integrate historical knowledge
dere), which is qualitatively unique and transcendent.
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This insistence on the unique a priori quality of the reli-
logical method as “an ‘experiential’ method to guide intu-
gious experience points to Otto’s antireductionism. Otto re-
ition and to arrive at immediate understanding” and as the
jects the one-sidedly intellectualistic and rationalistic bias of
“classification of religious phenomena by means of ideal
most interpretations and the reduction of religious phenom-
types which are constituted by a psychological technique of
ena to the interpretive schema of linguistic analysis, anthro-
re-experiencing religious meanings” (p. 57).
pology, sociology, psychology, and various historicist ap-
According to van der Leeuw, phenomenology must be
proaches. This emphasis on the autonomy of religion, with
combined with historical research, which precedes phenome-
the need for a unique, autonomous phenomenological ap-
nological understanding and provides the phenomenologist
proach that is commensurate with interpreting the meaning
with sufficient data. Phenomenology must be open to “per-
of the irreducibly religious phenomena, is generally accepted
petual correction by the most conscientious philological and
by major phenomenologists of religion.
archaeological research,” and “it becomes pure art or empty
Various interpreters have criticized Otto’s phenomeno-
fancy” (van der Leeuw, 1963, vol. 2, p. 677) when it removes
logical approach for being too narrowly conceived. Accord-
itself from such historical control. Special note may be taken
ing to these critics, Otto’s approach focuses on nonrational
of van der Leeuw’s emphasis on the religious aspect of
aspects of certain mystical and other “extreme” experiences,
“power” as the basis of every religious form and as defining
but it is not sufficiently comprehensive to interpret the diver-
that which is religious. “Phenomenology describes how man
sity and complexity of religious data, nor is it sufficiently
conducts himself in his relation to Power” (1963, vol. 1,
concerned with the specific historical and cultural forms of
p. 191). The terms holy, sanctus, taboo, and so on, taken to-
religious phenomena. Critics also object to the a priori na-
gether, describe what occurs in all religious experience: “a
ture of Otto’s project and influences of personal, Christian,
strange, ‘Wholly Other,’ Power obtrudes into life” (1963,
theological, and apologetic intentions on his phenomenolo-
vol. 2, p. 681).
gy. Van der Leeuw, while agreeing with Otto’s antireduc-
tionism, attempts to broaden his phenomenology by investi-
Influences from van der Leeuw’s own Christian point
gating and systematizing a tremendous diversity of religious
of view are often central to his analysis of the phenomenolog-
phenomena.
ical method for gaining understanding of religious structures
and meanings. For example, he claims that “faith and intel-
Gerardus van der Leeuw. In his Comparative Religion,
lectual suspense (the epoché) do not exclude each other,” and
Eric J. Sharpe writes that “between 1925 and 1950, the phe-
“all understanding rests upon self-surrendering love” (1963,
nomenology of religion was associated almost exclusively
vol. 2, pp. 683–684). Indeed, van der Leeuw above all con-
with the name of the Dutch scholar Gerardus van der Leeuw,
sidered himself a theologian, positing that phenomenology
and with his book Phänomenologie der Religion” (1986,
of religion leads to both anthropology and theology. Numer-
pp. 229–230). Especially notable among the many influ-
ous scholars have concluded that much of his phenomenolo-
ences on his phenomenology acknowledged by van der
gy of religion must be interpreted in theological terms.
Leeuw are the writings of the German philosopher Wilhelm
Dilthey (1833–1911) on hermeneutics and the concept of
Critics, while often expressing admiration for Religion
“understanding” (Verstehen).
in Essence and Manifestation as an extraordinary collection of
religious data, offer many objections to van der Leeuw’s phe-
In several writings, especially the epilogue of Phäno-
nomenology of religion: his phenomenological approach is
menologie der Religion (1933, translated as Religion in Essence
based on numerous theological and metaphysical assump-
and Manifestation, 2d ed., 1963), which contains the chap-
tions and value judgments; it is often too subjective and
ters “Phenomenon and Phenomenology” and “The Phenom-
highly speculative; and it neglects the historical and cultural
enology of Religion,” van der Leeuw defines the assump-
context of religious phenomena and is of little value for em-
tions, concepts, and stages of his phenomenological
pirically based research.
approach. According to van der Leeuw, the phenomenologist
must respect the specific intentionality of religious phenome-
Friedrich Heiler. Born in Munich, Friedrich Heiler
na and simply describe the phenomenon as “what appears
(1892–1967) is known for his studies on prayer, great reli-
into view.” The phenomenon is given in the mutual relations
gious personalities, ecumenism, the unity of all religion, and
between subject and object; that is, its “entire essence” is
a kind of global phenomenology of religion.
given in its appearance to someone.
According to Heiler, the phenomenological method
Van der Leeuw proposed a subtle and complex phenom-
proceeds from the externals to the essence of religion. Al-
enological method with which the phenomenologist goes far
though every approach has presuppositions, the phenome-
beyond a descriptive phenomenology. His method involves
nology of religion must avoid every philosophical a priori
systematic introspection—“the interpolation of the phenom-
and utilize only those presuppositions that are consistent
enon into our lives”—as necessary for understanding reli-
with an inductive method. Heiler’s phenomenology of reli-
gious phenomena. In the first volume of his Classical Ap-
gion, which is theologically oriented, emphasizes the indis-
proaches to the Study of Religion (1973–1974), Jacques
pensable value of “empathy”: the phenomenologist must ex-
Waardenburg describes this phenomenological-psycho-
ercise respect, tolerance, and sympathetic understanding for
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all religious experience and the religious truth expressed in
Bleeker wants to stress that religion is not static but is “an
the data. Indeed, the phenomenologist’s personal religious
invincible, creative and self-regenerating force.” The phe-
experience is a precondition for an empathic understanding
nomenologist of religion must work closely with the histori-
of the totality of religious phenomena.
an of religions in studying the dynamics of phenomena and
the development of religions (Bleeker, 1963, pp. 14, 16–24).
C. Jouco Bleeker. Bleeker distinguished three types of
phenomenology of religion: the descriptive phenomenology
Mircea Eliade. According to the Romanian scholar
that restricts itself to the systematization of religious phe-
Mircea Eliade, one of the major interpreters of religious sym-
nomena, the typological phenomenology that formulates the
bol and myth, religion “refers to the experience of the sa-
different types of religion, and the specific sense of phenome-
cred.” The phenomenologist works with historical docu-
nology that investigates the essential structures and meanings
ments expressing hierophanies, or manifestations of the
of religious phenomena. In terms of this more specific sense,
sacred, and attempts to decipher the existential situation and
phenomenology of religion has a double meaning: it is an in-
religious meaning expressed through the data. The sacred
dependent science that creates monographs and handbooks,
and the profane express “two modes of being in the world,”
such as van der Leeuw’s Religion in Essence and Manifestation
and religion always entails the attempt of homo religiosus to
and Eliade’s Patterns in Comparative Religion (1958), but it
transcend the relative, historical-temporal, profane world by
is also a scholarly method that utilizes such principles as the
experiencing a “superhuman” sacred world of transcendent
phenomenological epoché and eidetic vision. Although
values.
Bleeker frequently used such technical terms in gaining in-
In Bleeker’s first sense of phenomenology of religion as
sight into religious structures and acknowledged that these
an independent discipline that creates monographs that de-
terms were borrowed from the philosophical phenomenolo-
scribe and classify essential structures and meanings, one may
gy of Husserl and his school, he claimed that they were used
note Eliade’s many morphological studies of different kinds
by the phenomenology of religion in only a figurative sense.
of religious symbolism; his interpretations of the structure
According to Bleeker, the phenomenology of religion
and function of myth, with the cosmogonic myth and other
combines a critical attitude and concern for accurate descrip-
creation myths functioning as exemplary models; his treat-
tions with a sense of empathy for the phenomena. It is an
ment of rituals, such as those of initiation, as reenacting sa-
empirical science without philosophical aspirations, and it
cred mythic models; his structural analysis of sacred space,
should distinguish its activities from those of philosophical
sacred time, and sacred history; and his studies of different
phenomenology and of anthropology. He warned that histo-
types of religious experience, such as yoga, shamanism, alche-
rians and phenomenologists of religion should not dabble in
my, and other “archaic” phenomena.
philosophical speculations on matters of method, stating that
In Bleeker’s second sense of phenomenology of religion
“phenomenology of religion is not a philosophical discipline,
as a specific method, there are three key methodological prin-
but a systematization of historical fact with the intent to un-
ciples underlying Eliade’s approach: his assumption of the
derstand their religious meaning” (Bleeker, in Bianchi et al.,
“irreducibility of the sacred,” his emphasis on the “dialectic
1972, pp. 39–41, 51).
of the sacred” as the universal structure of sacralization, and
Probably the best-known formulation in Bleeker’s re-
his uncovering of the structural systems of religious symbols
flections on phenomenology is his analysis of the task of phe-
that constitute the hermeneutical framework in terms of
nomenology of religion as an inquiry into three dimensions
which he interprets religious meaning.
of religious phenomena: theoria, logos, and entelecheia.
The assumption of the irreducibility of the religious is
The theoria of phenomena “discloses the essence and
a form of phenomenological epoché. In attempting to under-
significance of the facts.” It has an empirical basis and leads
stand and describe the meaning of religious phenomena, the
to an understanding of the implications of various aspects of
phenomenologist must utilize an antireductionist method
religion. The Logos of phenomena “penetrates into the struc-
commensurate with the nature of the data. Only a religious
ture of different forms of religious life.” This provides a sense
frame of reference or “scale” of interpretation does not dis-
of objectivity by showing that hidden structures “are built
tort the specific, irreducible religious intentionality expressed
up according to strict inner laws,” and that religion “always
in the data.
possesses a certain structure with an inner logic” (Bleeker,
The universal structure of the dialectic of the sacred pro-
1963, pp. 14, 17).
vides Eliade with essential criteria for distinguishing religious
Most original is Bleeker’s position that the entelecheia
from nonreligious phenomena. There is always a sacred-
of phenomena “reveals itself in the dynamics, the develop-
profane dichotomy and the separation of the hierophanic ob-
ment which is visible in the religious life of mankind,” or in
ject, such as a particular mountain or tree or person, since
“the course of events in which the essence is realized by its
this is the medium through which the sacred is manifested;
manifestations.” Phenomenology, it is frequently stated, ab-
the sacred, which expresses transcendent structures and
stracts from historical change and presents a rather static
meanings, paradoxically limits itself by incarnating itself in
view of essential structures and meanings. By the entelecheia,
something ordinarily finite, temporal, historical, and pro-
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fane; the sacred, in its dialectical movement of disclosure and
manistic approach that upholds the value of pluralism and
revelation, always conceals and camouflages itself; and the re-
diversity. In Smart’s phenomenological approach, one recog-
ligious person, in resolving existential crises, evaluates and
nizes that religion expresses many dimensions of human
chooses the sacred as powerful, ultimate, normative, and
experience. Such an approach is “polymethodic,” multiper-
meaningful.
spectival, comparative, and cross-cultural. The phenomenol-
ogist of religion needs to take seriously the contextual nature
The central position of symbolism, with the focus on
of diverse religious phenomena; to ask questions, engage in
coherent systems of symbolic structures, establishes the phe-
critical dialogue, and maintain an open-ended investigation
nomenological grounds for Eliade’s structural hermeneutics.
of religion; and to recognize that religions express complex,
Among the characteristics of symbols are: (1) their “logic,”
multidimensional, interconnected worldviews. This focus on
which allows various symbols to fit together to form coherent
religions in terms of worldview analysis leads to the contem-
symbolic systems; (2) their “multivalence,” through which
porary interest in the globalization of religion and global plu-
they express simultaneously a number of structurally coher-
ralism.
ent meanings not evident on the level of immediate experi-
ence; and (3) their “function of unification,” by which they
CHARACTERISTICS OF PHENOMENOLOGY OF RELIGION. The
integrate heterogeneous phenomena into a whole or a sys-
following features, some of which have already been men-
tem. These autonomous, universal, coherent systems of sym-
tioned, are characteristic of much of the phenomenology of
bols usually provide the phenomenological framework for
religion: its identification as a comparative, systematic, em-
Eliade’s interpretation of religious meaning. For example, he
pirical, historical, descriptive discipline and approach; its an-
interprets the meaning of a religious phenomenon associated
tireductionist claims and its autonomous nature; its adoption
with the sun or moon by reintegrating it within its solar or
of philosophical phenomenological notions of intentionality
lunar structural system of symbolic associations.
and epoché; its insistence on the value of empathy, sympa-
thetic understanding, and religious commitment; and its
Although Eliade was extremely influential, many schol-
claim to provide insight into essential structures and mean-
ars ignore or are hostile to his history and phenomenology
ings. Several of these characteristics are associated primarily
of religion. The most frequent criticism is that Eliade is
with the phenomenology of religion; others, while accepted
methodologically uncritical, often presenting sweeping, arbi-
by most phenomenologists of religion, are shared by other
trary, subjective generalizations not based upon specific his-
historians of religions.
torical and empirical data. Critics also charge that his ap-
proach is influenced by various normative judgments and an
Comparative and systematic approach. As previously
assumed ontological position that is partial to a religious, an-
noted, there is widespread agreement that the phenomenolo-
tihistorical mode of being and to certain Eastern and archaic
gy of religion is a very general approach concerned with clas-
phenomena.
sifying and systematizing religious phenomena. There is also
widespread agreement that this discipline uses a comparative
Ninian Smart. Smart (1927–2001), who was born in
approach. Various phenomenologists simply define their
Cambridge, England, to Scottish parents, had a major im-
phenomenology of religion as equivalent to comparative reli-
pact on the field of religious studies. He was committed to
gion. But even those scholars who reject such a simple identi-
phenomenology as the best way to study religion. His phe-
fication maintain that phenomenologists are able to gain in-
nomenology of religion avoids what were two dominant ap-
sight into essential structures and meanings only after
proaches to religion: (1) ethnocentric, normative, especially
comparing a large number of documents expressing a great
Christian, theological approaches in the study of religion;
diversity of religious phenomena.
and (2) normative philosophical approaches with their exclu-
sive focus on belief and conceptual analysis to the exclusion
Empirical approach. Bleeker, Eliade, and most phe-
of other dimensions of religious phenomena. Smart was ca-
nomenologists of religion insist that they use an empirical
pable of technical scholarly analysis, as seen in his Doctrine
approach that is free from a priori assumptions and judg-
and Argument in Indian Philosophy (1964), but he is probably
ments. Such an empirical approach, which is often described
better known as a popularizer in his study of religion, as seen
as “scientific” and “objective,” begins by collecting religious
in The Religious Experience of Mankind (1969). He be-
documents and then goes on to decipher the religious phe-
lieved that profound insights can be presented in simple un-
nomena by describing just what the empirical data reveal.
derstandable language and ordinary phenomenological cate-
Phenomenologists usually maintain that their discoveries of
gories.
essential typologies and universal structures are based on em-
pirical, inductive generalizations.
Smart emphasized many points that became easily rec-
ognizable and widely accepted in the phenomenology of reli-
One of the most frequent attacks on the phenomenolo-
gion and other approaches to religious phenomena during
gy of religion is that it is not empirically based and that it
the last decades of the twentieth century. He emphasized sus-
is therefore arbitrary, subjective, and unscientific. Critics
pension of one’s own value judgments and the need for phe-
charge that the universal structures and meanings are not
nomenological empathy in understanding and describing the
found in the empirical data and that the phenomenological
religious phenomena of others. He endorsed a liberal hu-
discoveries are not subject to empirical tests of verification.
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Historical approach. Phenomenologists of religion
of sociology, psychology, or economics. Such reductionisms,
usually maintain not only that their approach must cooper-
it is argued, destroy the specificity, complexity, and irreduc-
ate with and complement historical research but also that
ible intentionality of religious phenomena. In attempting
phenomenology of religion is profoundly historical. All reli-
sympathetically to understand the experience of the other,
gious data are historical; no phenomena may be understood
the phenomenologist must respect the “original” religious in-
outside their history. The phenomenologist must be aware
tentionality expressed in the data.
of the specific historical, cultural, and socioeconomic con-
Autonomy. Directly related to the antireductionist
texts within which religious phenomena appear.
claim of the irreducibility of the religious is the identification
Critics, however, charge that not only is the phenome-
of phenomenology of religion as an autonomous discipline
nology of religion not historical, it is even antihistorical, both
and approach. If there are certain irreducible modes by
in terms of a phenomenological method that neglects the
which religious phenomena are given, then one must utilize
specific historical and cultural context and with regard to the
a specific method of understanding that is commensurate
primacy—methodologically and even ontologically—it
with the religious nature of the subject matter, and one must
grants to nonhistorical and nontemporal universal structures.
provide irreducibly religious interpretations of religious phe-
nomena.
Descriptive approach. Unlike Müller, who intends the
modern scholarly study of religion (Religionswissenschaft) to
The phenomenology of religion is autonomous but not
be a descriptive science attaining the autonomy and objectiv-
self-sufficient. It depends heavily on historical research and
ity of the descriptive natural sciences, and Kristensen, who
on data supplied by philology, ethnology, psychology, sociol-
conceives of phenomenology of religion as “purely descrip-
ogy, and other approaches. But it must always integrate the
tive,” almost all phenomenologists of religion today do not
contributions of other approaches within its own unique
restrict themselves to mere description of religious phenome-
phenomenological perspective.
na. While cognizant of Kristensen’s concerns about the sub-
Intentionality. Phenomenology analyzes acts of con-
jective nature of much past scholarship in which interpreters
sciousness as consciousness of something and claims that
filtered data through their own assumptions and value judg-
meaning is given in the intentionality of the structure. In
ments, phenomenologists go far beyond the severe method-
order to identify, describe, and interpret the meaning of reli-
ological restrictions of his descriptive phenomenology.
gious phenomena, scholars must be attentive to the inten-
And yet these same phenomenologists invariably classify
tional structure of their data. For Otto, the a priori structure
their discipline and approach as a descriptive phenomenolo-
of religious consciousness is consciousness of its intended
gy of religion; at the minimum, it is “essentially descriptive,”
“numinous object.” Van der Leeuw’s phenomenological-
and sometimes it is presented as “purely descriptive.” They
psychological technique and Eliade’s dialectic of the sacred
claim to utilize a descriptive approach and see their classifica-
are methods for capturing the intentional characteristics of
tions, typologies, and structures as descriptive. Sometimes
religious manifestations. The major criticism made by phe-
phenomenologists of religion distinguish the collection and
nomenologists of religion of reductionist approaches in-
description of religious data, which is objective and scientific,
volves the latter’s negation of the unique intentionality of re-
from the interpretation of meaning, which is at least partially
ligious phenomena.
subjective and normative.
Religious experiences reveal structures of transcendence
Antireductionism. Philosophical phenomenology, in
in which human beings intend a transcendent referent, a su-
defining itself as a radically descriptive philosophy, opposes
pernatural metaempirical sacred meaning. Such intentionali-
various kinds of reductionism. Phenomenologists oppose re-
ty is always historically, culturally, and linguistically situated.
ductionism, which imposes uncritical preconceptions and
Religious language points beyond itself to intended sacred
unexamined judgments on phenomena, in order to deal with
structures and meanings that transcend normal spatial, tem-
phenomena simply as phenomena and to provide more accu-
poral, historical, and conceptual categories and analysis. That
rate descriptions of just what the phenomena reveal.
is why religious expressions are highly symbolic, analogical,
metaphorical, mythic, and allegorical. Reductive explana-
More than any other approach within the modern study
tions tend to destroy the intentional structure of religious
of religion, phenomenology of religion insists that investiga-
meaning, invariably pointing to the transcendent sacred.
tors approach religious data as phenomena that are funda-
mentally and irreducibly religious. Otto, Eliade, and other
At the same time, no intentional referent and meaning
phenomenologists of religion often defend their strong an-
is unmediated. For meaningful religious experience and
tireductionism by criticizing past reductionist approaches.
communication, the intended transcendent referent must be
Many of these reductionist interpretations, for example, are
mediated and brought into an integral human relation with
based on “positivist” and “rationalist” norms and force reli-
our limited spatial, temporal, historical, cultural world with
gious data into preconceived unilinear, evolutionary explana-
its intended objects and meanings. This is why symbolism,
tory frameworks. Phenomenologists criticize the reductions
in its complex and diverse structures and functions, is essen-
of religious data to fit nonreligious perspectives, such as those
tial for revealing, constituting, and communicating religious
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intentional meaning. Religious symbolic expressions serve as
the need for a critical scholarly approach with rigorous
indispensable mediating bridges. On the one hand, they al-
criteria of interpretation. This phenomenological orientation
ways point beyond themselves to intended transcendent
may be contrasted with the ideal of detached, impersonal sci-
meanings. On the other hand, by necessarily using symbolic
entific objectivity that characterizes almost all nineteenth-
language drawn from the spatial, temporal, natural, historical
century approaches within the scholarly study of religion and
world of experience, they mediate the transcendent referent,
that continues to define many approaches today.
limit and incarnate the sacred, allow the disclosure of the
In assuming a sympathetic attitude, the phenomenolo-
transcendent as imminent, and render sacred meanings
gist is not claiming that religious phenomena are not “illuso-
humanly accessible and relevant to particular existential
ry” and that the intentional object is “real.” (As a matter of
situations.
fact, many phenomenologists make such theological and
This specific religious intentionality ensures that the
metaphysical assumptions and judgments, but these usually
structures of religious experience, as well as interpretations
violate the self-defined limits of their phenomenological per-
and understandings, will remain open-ended with no possi-
spectives.) The phenomenological bracketing entails the sus-
ble closure. The necessary structural conditions for religious
pension of all such value judgments regarding whether or not
experience, the construction of religious texts, and the for-
the holy or sacred is actually an experience of ultimate reality.
mulation of scholarly interpretations ensure that meaningful
human understandings necessarily reveal limited intentional
With a few exceptions, it seems that phenomenologists
perspectives. And such relative, situated, intentional, reli-
of religion, while generally upholding an epoché or similar
gious perspectives always point beyond themselves to struc-
values, have not subjected such concepts to a rigorous analy-
tures of transcendence; to inexhaustible possibilities for reva-
sis. Often they give little more than vague appeals to abstain
lorizing symbolic expressions, for bursting open self-imposed
from value judgments and to exercise a personal capacity for
perspectival closures, and for new, creative, self-transcending
empathetic participation, but without scholarly criteria for
experiences, interpretations, and understandings.
verifying whether such sympathetic understanding has been
achieved.
Epoché, empathy, and sympathetic understanding.
Most philosophical phenomenologists present the phenome-
Many phenomenologists argue for the necessity of reli-
nological epoché as a means of bracketing beliefs and precon-
gious commitment, a personal religious faith, or at least per-
ceptions normally imposed on phenomena. It is important
sonal religious experience in order for a scholar to be capable
to clarify that Husserl and other philosophers who formulate
of empathy, participation, and sympathetic understanding.
a “phenomenological reduction” as epoché do not intend a
Other phenomenologists argue that such personal religious
narrowing of perspective and negation of the complexity and
commitments generally produce biased descriptions that
specificity of phenomena. The phenomenological reduction
rarely do justice to the religious experience of others. It seems
is intended to achieve the very opposite of reductionism: by
that a particular faith or theological commitment is not a
suspending one’s unexamined assumptions and ordinary pre-
precondition for accurate phenomenological descriptions.
conceptions and judgments, it allows one to become atten-
Rather it is a commitment to religious phenomena, mani-
tive to a much fuller disclosure of what manifests itself and
fested in terms of intellectual curiosity, sensitivity, and re-
how it manifests itself in experience; it allows for greater
spect, that is indispensable for participation and understand-
awareness of phenomena experienced on prereflective, emo-
ing. Such a commitment may be shared by believers and
tive, imaginative, nonconceptual levels of intentional experi-
nonbelievers alike.
ence, thus leading to new insights into the specific intention-
Insight into essential structures and meanings. No
ality and concrete richness of experience.
subject matter is more central to philosophical phenomenol-
The phenomenological epoché, with an emphasis on em-
ogy than analyses of the eidetic reduction and eidetic vision,
pathy and sympathetic understanding, is related to method-
the intuition of essences, the method of free variation, and
ological antireductionism. If the phenomenologist is to de-
other techniques for gaining insight into the essential struc-
scribe the meaning of religious phenomena as they appear in
tures and meanings of phenomena. By contrast, the phenom-
the lives of religious persons, she or he must suspend all per-
enology of religion, even in the specific sense of an approach
sonal preconceptions as to what is “real” and attempt to em-
concerned with describing essential structures and meanings,
pathize with and imaginatively reenact these religious ap-
tends to avoid such methodological formulations. There are,
pearances. By insisting on the irreducibility of the religious,
of course, notable exceptions, as evidenced in the works of
phenomenologists attempt sympathetically to place them-
Max Scheler, Paul Ricoeur, and a relatively small number of
selves within the religious “life-world” of others and to grasp
other philosophers who incorporate phenomenology of reli-
the religious meaning of the experienced phenomena.
gion as part of their philosophical phenomenology.
There are, of course, limitations to this personal partici-
One generally finds, however, that most phenomenolo-
pation, since the other always remains to some extent the
gists of religion accept both Bleeker’s qualification that such
“other.” Phenomenologists insist that empathy, a sympathet-
terms as eidetic vision are used only in a figurative sense and
ic attitude, and personal participation in no way undermine
his warning that phenomenology of religion should avoid
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PHENOMENOLOGY OF RELIGION
philosophical speculations and not meddle in difficult philo-
regarding the investigation and “pure” description of uncon-
sophical questions of methodology. The result is that one is
structed, uninterpreted, objective “facts.”
frequently presented with phenomenological typologies,
Much of recent philosophy, however, challenges this ab-
“universal structures,” and “essential meanings” of religious
solute dichotomy. What is taken as objective and scientific
phenomena that lack a rigorous analysis of just how the phe-
is historically, culturally, and socially situated, based on pre-
nomenologist arrived at or verified these discoveries. In
suppositions, and constructed in terms of implicit and ex-
short, in its claims concerning insight into essential struc-
plicit value judgments. For example, how does one even
tures and meanings, much of the phenomenology of religion
begin the investigation? What facts should be collected as re-
appears to be methodologically uncritical.
ligious facts? One’s very principles of selectivity are never
Phenomenologists aim at intuiting, interpreting, and
completely value-free. Indeed, philosophical phenomenolo-
describing the essence of religious phenomena, but there is
gists have never accepted this sharp dichotomy, since the en-
considerable disagreement as to what constitutes an essential
tire phenomenological project is founded on the possibilities
structure. For some phenomenologists, an “essential struc-
of describing meanings. The challenge to the phenomenolo-
ture” seems to be the result of an empirical inductive general-
gy of religion is to formulate a phenomenological method
ization, expressing a property that different phenomena have
and framework for interpretation that allows the description
in common. For others, “essential structures” refer to types
of essential structures and meanings with some sense of ob-
of religious phenomena, and there is debate concerning the
jectivity.
relationship between historical types and phenomenological
Understanding versus explanation claims. Often re-
types. In the sense closest to philosophical phenomenology,
lated to controversies arising from the sharp descriptive-
essence refers to deep or hidden structures, which are not ap-
normative dichotomy are controversial issues involving the
parent on the level of immediate experience and must be un-
sharp understanding-explanation dichotomy. Phenomenolo-
covered and decoded or interpreted through the phenome-
gy often claims that it aims at understanding, which involves
nological method. These structures express the necessary
describing meanings, and avoids explanation, which involves
invariant features allowing us to distinguish religious phe-
uncovering historical, psychological, and other causal rela-
nomena and to grasp religious phenomena as phenomena of
tionships. Phenomenologists describe what appears and how
a certain kind.
it appears, and they interpret the meaning of such phenome-
CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES. The examination of the major phe-
na, but they do not provide causal explanations of the phe-
nomenologists of religion and the major characteristics of the
nomena. This “understanding” often has the sense of Verste-
phenomenology of religion has raised many controversial is-
hen as formulated by Dilthey and others as the method and
sues. This section elaborates on several of these controversial
goal of hermeneutics. Phenomenologists aim at interpreting
issues and introduces a few others.
meaning and understanding the nature of religious and other
“human” phenomena—as opposed to scientific, reductionis-
Descriptive versus normative claims. There are many
tic approaches that give causal and other explanations and
controversial issues regarding the claim that the phenome-
do not grasp the irreducibly human and irreducibly religious
nology of religion is a descriptive discipline with a descriptive
dimension of the phenomena they investigate.
method, especially since almost all phenomenologists go far
beyond a mere description of the data, offering comparisons
Critics challenge such methods and goals as unscholarly
and evaluations of phenomena, universal structures, and es-
and unscientific, and many scholars question whether phe-
sential meanings.
nomenological understanding and nonphenomenological
explaining can be so completely separated. Explanatory ap-
Many of these issues arise from the acceptance of a rath-
proaches always involve understanding, and understanding
er traditional descriptive-normative distinction. The adop-
is not possible without critical explanatory reflection. For ex-
tion by many phenomenologists of religion of a radical, at
ample, even in terms of phenomenological understanding,
times absolute, descriptive-normative dichotomy has been
the expressions of the religious other are not the final word,
consistent with the classical empiricism of such philosophers
absolute and inviolable. The other may have a limited under-
as David Hume (1711–1776), with the Kantian philosophi-
standing of phenomena shaping her or his religious life-
cal framework, and with most nineteenth- and twentieth-
world, provide false explanations, talk nonsense, and engage
century approaches in the history of religions.
in blatantly unethical behavior. Phenomenology of religion
necessarily involves critical reflection, including contextual
Even those phenomenologists of religion who go far be-
awareness and scholarly interpretations, understandings, and
yond Kristensen’s descriptive restrictions frequently adopt a
explanations that go beyond describing the expressed posi-
clear distinction between the collection and description of re-
tion of the religious other.
ligious data, which is seen as objective and scientific, and the
interpretation of meaning, which is at least partially subjec-
This in no way denies the value of phenomenological
tive and normative. Despite its rejection of earlier models of
approaches that are self-critical in rendering explicit one’s
positivism, it may be that the phenomenology of religion has
own presuppositions, that suspend one’s own value judg-
unintentionally retained some of the positivistic assumptions
ments, that empathize and hear the voices of the religious
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other, and that describe as accurately as possible the religious
icism, it employs a critique of traditional empiricism adopted
phenomena and intended meanings of the religious other.
by most of the history of religions.
Such phenomenology of religion aims at finding ways to
Controversies arise from criticisms that phenomenology
allow other voices to be heard and is informed by a history
of religion is highly normative and subjective because it
of dominant, critical, normative approaches and reductionis-
makes nonempirical, nonhistorical, a priori, theological, and
tic explanations that ignore, silence, and misinterpret the re-
other normative assumptions, and because it grants an onto-
ligious phenomena of others.
logically privileged status to religious phenomena and to spe-
Antireductionist claims. Many critics attack phenome-
cific kinds of religious experience. Thus, critics charge that
nology of religion’s antireductionism, arguing that it is meth-
Kristensen, Otto, van der Leeuw, Heiler, Eliade, and others
odologically confused and unjustified and that it arises from
have nonempirical and nonhistorical, extraphenomenologi-
the theological intention of defending religion against secular
cal, theological, and other normative assumptions, inten-
analysis. The most general criticism of this antireductionism
tions, and goals that define much of their phenomenological
is based on the argument that all methodological approaches
projects, taking them beyond the domain of a descriptive
are perspectival, limiting, and necessarily reductionistic. The
phenomenology and any rigorous scientific approach.
assumption of the irreducibility of the religious is itself re-
The status granted to essential religious structures and
ductionistic, since it limits what phenomena will be investi-
meanings is also controversial insofar as they exhibit the pe-
gated, what aspects of the phenomena will be described, and
culiarity of being empirical—that is, based on investigating
what meanings will be interpreted. Phenomenologists of reli-
a limited sample of historical data—and, at the same time,
gion cannot argue that other reductionistic approaches are
universal. These structures are therefore empirically contin-
necessarily false and that their approach does justice to all di-
gent and yet also the essential necessary features of religious
mensions of religious phenomena.
phenomena.
The phenomenology of religion must show that its reli-
Finally, there is controversy regarding the insistence by
gious antireductionism is not methodologically confused,
many phenomenologists of religion that they proceed by
does not beg serious scholarly questions, does not simply
some kind of empirical inductive inference that is not unlike
avoid serious scholarly challenges, and may even be granted
the classical formulations of induction developed by John
a certain methodological primacy on the basis of such key
Stuart Mill (1806–1873) and others. Critics charge that they
notions as intentionality and insight into essential structures
cannot repeat this inductive inference, that the phenomeno-
and meanings. It must show, in terms of a rigorous method
logical structures do not appear in the empirical data, and
with procedures for verification, that its particular perspec-
that phenomenologists read into their data all kinds of essen-
tive is essential in shedding light on such religious structures
tial meanings.
and meanings.
One response by phenomenologists, as expressed in
Empirical and historical claims. Critics often claim
Guilford Dudley’s Religion on Trial (1977), is to give up
that the phenomenology of religion starts with a priori non-
their empirical and historical claims and turn to a nonempir-
empirical assumptions, utilizes a method that is not empiri-
ical, nonhistorical, rationalist, deductive approach. A differ-
cally based, and detaches religious structures and meanings
ent response, as expressed in Douglas Allen’s Structure and
from their specific historical and cultural contexts. Such crit-
Creativity in Religion (1978), is to formulate a method of
ics often assume a clear-cut dichotomy between an empirical,
“phenomenological induction” different from classical em-
inductive, historical approach and a nonempirical, often ra-
pirical induction, in which essential structures and meaning
tionalist, deductive, antihistorical approach. They identify
are based on, but not found fully in, the empirical data. This
their approaches with the former and the phenomenology of
response involves a process of imaginative construction and
religion with versions of the latter. They conclude that the
idealization by phenomenologists, and the essential struc-
phenomenology of religion cannot meet minimal empirical,
tures must then be rigorously tested in terms of the light that
historical, inductive criteria for a scientific approach, such as
they shed on the empirical-historical data.
rigorous criteria for verification and falsification. (It may be
simply noted that much of recent philosophy has been di-
Questions of verification. As has been repeatedly
rected not only at critiquing classical empiricism but also at
noted, there are many different criticisms of the phenome-
undermining this absolute dichotomy.)
nology of religion for being methodologically uncritical. The
phenomenology of religion cannot continue to avoid basic
Much of philosophical phenomenology is conceived in
methodological questions raised by philosophical phenome-
opposition to traditional empiricism. Husserl called for a
nology and other disciplines if it is to overcome these criti-
“phenomenological reduction” in which the phenomenolo-
cisms. Many of these criticisms involve questions of verifica-
gist “suspends” the “natural standpoint” and its empirical
tion. Phenomenological “intuition” does not free one from
world in order to become more attentive to phenomena and
the responsibility of ascertaining which interpretation of a
to intuit the deeper phenomenological essences. Although
given phenomenon is most adequate nor of substantiating
such a phenomenology has been described as a radical empir-
why this is so. Fueling this controversy is the observation that
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PHENOMENOLOGY OF RELIGION
different phenomenologists, while investigating the same
share the general phenomenological orientation defined by
phenomena and claiming to utilize the phenomenological
the major characteristics previously delineated. The phenom-
method, continually present different eidetic intuitions.
enology of religion has also been successful to the extent that
How does one resolve this contingency introduced into phe-
many other scholars, who do not consider themselves phe-
nomenological insights? How does one verify specific inter-
nomenologists, adopt a phenomenological approach during
pretations and decide between different interpretations?
early stages of their scholarly investigations because it has
great value in allowing them to assemble data and do justice
Such questions pose specific difficulties for a phenome-
to the religious perspectives of religious persons.
nological method of epoché and intuition of essences. A phe-
nomenological method often suspends the usual criteria of
At the same time, phenomenology of religion, as has
“objectivity” that allow scholars to verify interpretations and
been noted, is sometimes described as being in a state of cri-
choose between alternative accounts. Does this leave the phe-
sis. There are no contemporary phenomenologists of religion
nomenology of religion with a large number of very personal,
who enjoy the status and influence once enjoyed by a van
extremely subjective, hopelessly fragmented interpretations
der Leeuw or an Eliade. Some scholars, doing phenomenolo-
of universal structures and meanings, each relativistic inter-
gy of religion, are uncomfortable with the term since it car-
pretation determined by the particular temperament, situa-
ries so much past baggage from Husserlian philosophical
tion, and orientation of the individual phenomenologist?
foundations and from Eliadean and other phenomenology
of religion they consider outdated. In general, contemporary
The phenomenologist of religion can argue that past
phenomenologists of religion within religious studies at-
criteria for verification are inadequate and result in a false
tempt to be more contextually sensitive and more modest in
sense of objectivity, but phenomenology of religion must
their phenomenological claims.
also overcome the charges of complete subjectivity and rela-
tivism by struggling with questions of verification. It must
Recent challenges. Most of the scholarly challenges to
formulate rigorous procedures for testing its claims of essen-
the phenomenology of religion continue the major criticisms
tial structures and meanings, and these procedures must in-
previously described. Robert Segal and other leading scholars
volve criteria for intersubjective verification.
of religion, usually identified with social scientific and reduc-
tionist approaches, repeatedly criticize the phenomenology
Response to controversial issues. Many writers de-
of religion for being unscientific, highly subjective, and lack-
scribe the phenomenology of religion as being in a state of
ing scholarly rigor. Scholars identifying with reductionistic
crisis. They usually minimize the invaluable contributions
cognitive science and claiming that this is the only rigorous
made by phenomenology to the study of religion, such as the
method and model for gaining objective knowledge provide
impressive systematization of so much religious data and the
a recent illustration of such challenges.
raising of fundamental questions of meaning often ignored
by other approaches.
There are also a tremendous variety of other challenges
to the phenomenology of religion that are often classified as
If the phenomenology of religion is to deal adequately
postmodernist and narrativist. In many ways, they offer op-
with its controversial issues, the following are several of its
posite challenges from the above social scientific reductionist
future tasks. First, it must become more aware of historical,
approaches. They criticize the phenomenology of religion’s
philological, and other specialized approaches to, and differ-
claim to uncover universal structures and essences as being
ent aspects of, its religious data. Second, it must critique vari-
too reductionistic in denying the diversity and plurality of
ous approaches of its critics, thus showing that its phenome-
religious phenomena. Included here are a tremendous variety
nological method is not obliged to meet such inadequate
of approaches often described by such terms as postmodern-
criteria for objectivity. And most importantly, it must reflect
ist, deconstructionist, post-structuralist, narrativist, pragma-
more critically on questions of methodology so that phe-
tist, feminist, and relativist.
nomenology of religion can formulate a more rigorous meth-
od, allowing for the description of phenomena, the interpre-
For example, in Beyond Phenomenology: Rethinking the
tation of their structures and meanings, and the verification
Study of Religion (1999), Gavin Flood argues that the inade-
of its findings.
quate presuppositions, central concepts, and models of
philosophical phenomenology, an impact identified almost
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN PHENOMENOLOGY OF RELI-
exclusively with Husserl’s transcendental phenomenology,
GION. Developments within the phenomenology of religion
have dominated the study of religion. By way of extreme
during the last decades of the twentieth century and the early
contrast, Flood, influenced primarily by Mikhail Bakhtin’s
years of the twenty-first century convey a very mixed and
dialogical analysis and Paul Ricoeur’s hermeneutical analysis,
confusing picture about the present status and future pros-
proposes a dialogical, narrativist, interactional, dynamic
pects for the field.
model for rethinking the study of religion. This model in-
Within religious studies. Phenomenology of religion
cludes: recognition of signs and language as a starting point;
continues as a major discipline and approach within the gen-
rejection of essentializing hegemonic approaches with their
eral scholarly study of religion. Phenomenologists of religion
universalizing claims to objectivity; recognition that self or
are influenced by earlier major phenomenologists, and they
subject is always embodied and embedded, relational and in-
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PHENOMENOLOGY OF RELIGION
7099
teractive, contextualized, constituted and constituting sub-
which can be viewed as a rejection of philosophical phenom-
ject; recognition of the complex narrativist situatedness of
enology and traditional philosophy. Starting in the late
both investigator and subject matter with dialogical, mutual-
1990s, Derrida increasingly turned his focus to religion. His
ly interactive relations between the two perspectives; and af-
works may be described as a hermeneutic of the desire for
firmation of open-ended, perspectival nature of all knowl-
God, deeply shaped by a return to Husserl but more of a
edge with emphasis on nonclosure of interpretations and
postphenomenological critique of presence with an affirma-
explanations.
tion of the religious other.
In response, one can submit that Flood greatly exagger-
There are several other influential philosophers who are
ates the impact that Husserlian transcendental phenomenol-
more easily classified under the renewed interest in the philo-
ogy has had on the study of religion, and that most of the
sophical phenomenology of religion. Special mention may
critiques of phenomenology and the antiphenomenological
be made of Michel Henry, with such books as The Essence
features he formulates can be found within later develop-
of Manifestation (1973), Incarnation (2000), and I Am the
ments of philosophical phenomenology and phenomenology
Truth (2003); and Jean-Luc Marion, with deep roots in
of religion.
Husserl, who is the most influential figure within the recent
religious turn in the “new phenomenology,” with such books
PHILOSOPHICAL PHENOMENOLOGY OF RELIGION. The em-
as God without Being (1991), Reduction and Givenness
phasis in this entry has been on phenomenology of religion
(1998), and Being Given (2002).
as a discipline and method within Religionswissenschaft (the
general history of religions or religious studies). The empha-
In the late twentieth century, significant developments
sis has not been on philosophical phenomenology with its
in continental philosophy, usually influenced by Husserl and
limited focus on religion and its limited influence on phe-
philosophical phenomenology, increasingly focused on reli-
nomenology of religion within religious studies.
gion. It is not yet clear whether such philosophical develop-
ments will have a significant influence on the phenomenolo-
However, there has been a remarkable development, be-
gy of religion within religious studies.
ginning in the last part of the twentieth century: continental
philosophy, frequently identified with phenomenology and
Several recent contributions. Finally, there are three
hermeneutics, has often taken a religious turn. It is not al-
interrelated contributions to the phenomenology of religion
ways clear whether to classify such developments under “the
that often contrast with earlier dominant characteristics: the
phenomenology of religion.” Most of these key philosophers
focus on the “other,” givenness, and contextualization.
are deeply influenced by Husserl’s phenomenology, but they
From their very beginnings, philosophical phenomenol-
often seem to transgress phenomenology’s boundaries and
ogy and phenomenology of religion have emphasized the
express ambiguous relations to phenomenology. They are
need to become aware of one’s presuppositions, suspend
sometimes classified under the “new phenomenology” or
one’s value judgments, and accurately describe and interpret
under postphenomenological variations.
the meaning of phenomena as phenomena. Past philosophy,
Special mention may be made of several of the most in-
theology, and other normative approaches have been cri-
fluential European philosophers of the twentieth century.
tiqued for ignoring or distorting the intentional structures
Emmanuel Levinas (1906–1995), a student of Husserl with
and meanings of the religious phenomena of the “other.”
deep roots in phenomenology, became one of the dominant
More recent phenomenologists recognize that earlier phe-
continental philosophers in the late twentieth century. With
nomenology, with its essentializing projects and universaliz-
his major focus on ethics, spirituality, and Jewish philoso-
ing claims, often does not pay sufficient attention to the di-
phy, Levinas emphasized radical alterity and the primacy of
verse experiences and meanings of the other. One sometimes
the “other,” thus reversing earlier phenomenological self–
learns more about the scholar’s phenomenological theory of
other emphasis on the privileged status of the epistemic con-
religion than about the particular religious phenomena of the
stituting self or ego. Paul Ricoeur, also with deep roots in
other. Recent phenomenology has been much more sensitive
Husserl and phenomenology, has made invaluable contribu-
to providing a methodological and hermeneutical framework
tions to our understanding of religious phenomena with his
for becoming attentive to the tremendous diversity of the re-
analysis of philosophy as the hermeneutical interpretation of
ligious voices of others.
meaning and with his focus on religious language, symbol-
Related to this is the focus on givenness. Philosophical
ism, and narrative.
phenomenology and phenomenology of religion emphasize
Two of the most influential European philosophers are
the need to become attentive to what is given in experience.
Martin Heidegger and Jacques Derrida (1930–2004). Hei-
Phenomenological reflection involves an active openness and
degger’s writings on “phenomenology of religion,” based on
deeper kind of attentiveness to how religious phenomena ap-
lectures and courses he gave in 1920 and 1921, were pub-
pear or are given to us in experience. Over the decades, phe-
lished in German in the 1990s and translated as Phenomenol-
nomenology of religion has become much broader, more
ogy of Religious Life (2004). Derrida, whose early work is on
self-critical, and much more sophisticated in recognizing the
Husserl, is the major figure of deconstructionist philosophy,
complexity, ambiguity, and depth of our diverse modes of
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PHENOMENOLOGY OF RELIGION
givenness. For example, in their very dynamic of givenness,
There is no major comprehensive survey of the phenomenology
religious phenomena both reveal and conceal structures and
of religion. Jacques Waardenburg’s Classical Approaches to the
meanings; are multidimensional and given meaning through
Study of Religion: Aims, Methods, and Theories of Research, 2
pre-understandings, the pre-reflective, the emotive, and the
vols. (The Hague, 1973–1974), provides a general introduc-
imaginative, as well as rational and conceptual analysis; are
tion to scholars identified with the modern study of religion,
including selections from the leading phenomenologists of
not disclosed as bare givens but as highly complex, inexhaust-
religion and fairly extensive bibliographies of their works. A
ible, constituted, self-transcending givens; and are given in
number of books have a chapter or section surveying the phe-
ways that affirm the open-ended perspectival nature of all
nomenology of religion, including Eric J. Sharpe’s Compara-
knowledge and the nonclosure of descriptions, interpreta-
tive Religion: A History (London, 1975; 2d ed. La Salle, Ill.,
tions, and explanations.
1986) and John Macquarrie’s Twentieth-Century Religious
Finally, phenomenologists of religion are much more
Thought, 4th ed. (London and New York, 1988). See also
Ursula King, “Historical and Phenomenological Approaches
sensitive to the complex, mediated, interactive, contextual si-
to the Study of Religion,” in Contemporary Approaches to the
tuatedness of their phenomenological tasks. Unlike the earli-
Study of Religion, edited by Frank Whaling, 2 vols. (Berlin
er emphasis on doing justice to experiential givenness and the
and New York, 1983–1984), and Experience of the Sacred:
phenomena of the other, philosophical phenomenology and
Readings in the Phenomenology of Religion, edited by Summer
phenomenology of religion are continually criticized for
B. Twiss and Walter H. Conser (Hanover, N.H., 1992).
claiming to uncover nonhistorical, nontemporal, essential
The following are selected works by the major phenomenologists
structures and meanings largely detached from their specific
of religion considered in this entry. As the first major philo-
contexts within which religious phenomena have been ex-
sophical phenomenologist with a focus on religion, Max
pressed.
Scheler’s important translated works include On the Eternal
More recent phenomenologists of religion tend to be
in Man, translated by Bernard Noble (London, 1960), and
more sensitive to the perspectival and contextual constraints
Formalism in Ethics and Non-Formal Ethics of Values, 5th ed.,
of their approach and more modest in their claims. There is
translated by Manfred S. Frings and Roger L. Funk (Evans-
ton, Ill., 1973). William Brede Kristensen’s The Meaning of
value in uncovering religious essences and structures, but as
Religion: Lectures in the Phenomenology of Religion, translated
embodied and contextualized, not as fixed, absolute, ahi-
by John B. Carman (The Hague, 1960), illustrates a very re-
storical, eternal truths and meanings.
stricted descriptive phenomenology. Rudolf Otto’s The Idea
In this regard, a more self-critical and modest phenome-
of the Holy: An Inquiry into the Non-Rational Factor in the
nology of religion may have much to contribute to the study
Idea of the Divine and Its Relation to the Rational, 2d English
of religion, including an awareness of its presuppositions, its
ed., translated by John W. Harvey (Oxford, 1950), is the
best-known account of religious experience. Gerardus van
historical and contextualized situatedness, and its limited
der Leeuw’s Religion in Essence and Manifestation: A Study in
perspectival knowledge claims, while also not completely
Phenomenology, 2 vols., 2d ed., translated by J. E. Turner
abandoning concerns about the commonality of human be-
(New York, 1963), is often considered the classic work in
ings and the value of unity, as well as differences. Such a self-
phenomenology of religion. Friedrich Heiler’s Prayer: A
critical and modest phenomenology of religion may attempt
Study in the History and Psychology of Religion (Oxford,
to formulate essential structures and meanings through rigor-
1932), is available in English in a translation by Samuel Mc-
ous phenomenological methods, including intersubjective
Comb, but the complete edition of his Erscheinungsformen
confirmation of knowledge claims, while also attempting to
und Wesen der Religion (Stuttgart, 1961) has not been trans-
formulate new, dynamic, contextually sensitive projects in-
lated. Of C. Jouco Bleeker’s many writings on the phenome-
volving creative encounter, contradiction, and synthesis.
nology of religion, one may cite Problems and Methods of the
History of Religions
, edited by Ugo Bianchi, C. Jouco Bleeker,
S
and Alessandro Bausani (Leiden, 1972), which contains
EE ALSO Comparative Religion; Study of Religion, over-
view article; World Religions.
Bleeker’s essay, “The Contribution of the Phenomenology of
Religion to the Study of the History of Religions.” as well
as Bleeker’s The Sacred Bridge: Researches into the Nature and
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Structure of Religion (Leiden, 1963), which contains the es-
The most comprehensive general introduction to philosophical
says “The Phenomenological Method” and “Some Remarks
phenomenology remains Herbert Spiegelberg’s The Phenom-
on the ‘Entelecheia’ of Religious Phenomena.”
enological Movement: A Historical Introduction, 2 vols., 3d ed.
(The Hague, 1982). Richard Schmitt’s “Phenomenology” in
Of more than thirty books by Mircea Eliade available in English,
The Encyclopedia of Philosophy (New York, 1967), vol. 5,
Patterns in Comparative Religion, translated by Rosemary
pp. 133–151, provides another introduction, although it
Sheed (New York, 1958), is his systematic morphological
tends to be formulated primarily on the basis of Husserl’s ap-
work that best illustrates his hermeneutical framework of
proach and often is more of a critical philosophical essay
symbolic systems necessary for interpreting religious mean-
rather than a survey of the field. Of the anthologies of phe-
ing. The Quest: History and Meaning in Religion (Chicago,
nomenological philosophers and their different philosophical
1969), a collection of Eliade’s important essays, provides in-
approaches, Phenomenology and Existentialism, edited by
sight into his phenomenological method and discipline. Of
Robert C. Solomon (Washington, D.C., 1972), is highly rec-
Ninian Smart’s many books, The Phenomenon of Religion
ommended.
(London, 1973), The Science of Religion and the Sociology of
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PHILISTINE RELIGION
7101
Knowledge: Some Methodological Questions (1973), and Di-
Than Being or Beyond Essence, translated by Lingis (The
mensions of the Sacred: An Anatomy of the World’s Beliefs
Hague, 1981).
(Berkeley, 1996) provide a good background on his phenom-
There has been a turn toward religion in much of continental phi-
enological approach.
losophy. Some of this has been shaped by phenomenology,
The following are a wide variety of books focusing on the phe-
whether it remains within the phenomenology of religion or
nomenology of religion. Jacques Waardenburg’s Reflections
goes beyond the boundaries of phenomenology. See Phenom-
on the Study of Religion (The Hague, 1978) includes an essay
enology and the “Theological Turn”: The French Debate (New
on the work of van der Leeuw and two other essays on the
York, 2000) with essays by Dominique Janicaud, Jean-
phenomenology of religion. Science of Religion: Studies in
François Courtine, Paul Ricoeur, Jean-Louis Chrétien, Jean-
Methodology, edited by Lauri Honko (The Hague, 1979), in-
Luc Marion, and Michel Henry. Another volume, focusing
cludes essays under the title “The Future of the Phenomenol-
on Derrida-Marion debates, with some discussion on phe-
ogy of Religion.” Douglas Allen’s Structure and Creativity in
nomenology in this religious turn, is God, the Gift, and Post-
Religion: Hermeneutics in Mircea Eliade’s Phenomenology and
modernism, edited by John D. Caputo and Michael J. Scan-
New Directions (The Hague, 1978), written from a perspec-
lon (Bloomington, Ind., 1999). Two influential French
tive informed by philosophical phenomenology, surveys ap-
scholars deeply influenced by phenomenology are Michel
proaches in the phenomenology of religion and argues that
Henry and Jean-Luc Marion. See Henry’s The Essence of
Eliade has a sophisticated phenomenological method. Two
Manifestation, translated by Girard Etzkorn (The Hague,
works, written from perspectives often quite critical of the
1973), and I Am the Truth: Toward a Philosophy of Christian-
phenomenology of religion, are Olof Pettersson and Hans
ity, translated by Susan Emanuel (Stanford, Calif., 2003);
Akerberg’s Interpreting Religious Phenomena: Studies with Ref-
and Marion’s Reduction and Givenness: Investigations of
erence to the Phenomenology of Religion (Atlantic Highlands,
Husserl, Heidegger, and Phenomenology, translated by Thomas
N.J., 1981) and António Barbosa da Silva’s The Phenomenol-
Carlson (Evanston, Ill., 1998), and Being Given: Toward a
ogy of Religion as a Philosophical Problem (Uppsala, Sweden,
Phenomenology of Givenness, translated by Jeffrey Kosky
1982). See also Henry Duméry, Phenomenology and Religion;
(Stanford, Calif., 2002).
Structures of the Christian Institution (Berkeley, 1975), and
DOUGLAS ALLEN (1987 AND 2005)
Thomas Ryba, The Essence of Phenomenology and Its Meaning
for the Scientific Study of Religion
(New York, 1991).
Raffaele Pettazzoni and Geo Widengren write about the comple-
PHILARET OF MOSCOW SEE FILARET OF
mentary nature of the history and phenomenology of reli-
MOSCOW
gion. See Pettazzoni’s “The Supreme Being: Phenomenologi-
cal Structure and Historical Development,” in The History
of Religions: Essays in Methodology
, edited by Mircea Eliade
and Joseph M. Kitagawa (Chicago, 1959) and Widengren’s
Religionens värld (Stockholm, 1945) and German transla-
PHILISTINE RELIGION. The original arrival of the
tion: Religionsphänomenologie (Berlin, 1969).
Philistines to the Near East seems to have occurred during
the end of the thirteenth century BCE as the waves of the “Sea
Numerous works by critics of phenomenology of religion, claim-
Peoples”—so called in Egyptian texts—appeared in the east-
ing that it is unscientific, lacks methodological rigor, and is
ern Mediterranean and spread throughout the whole area.
subjective, include important studies by such scholars as
Robert Segal, Hans Penner, and Donald Wiebe. See, for ex-
For instance, the inscriptions accompanying the battle reliefs
ample, Religion and Reductionism: Essays on Eliade, Segal, and
of the great mortuary temple of Medinet Habu at Thebes
the Challenge of the Social Sciences for the Study of Religion, ed-
mention six different foreign peoples that tried to invade
ited by Thomas A. Idinopulos and Edward A. Yonan (Lei-
Egypt during the eighth year of the reign of Ramses III
den, 1994), which includes Segal’s essay “In Defense of Re-
(twelfth century BCE): the Peleset (prst or plst); the Tjeker
ductionism.” Other challenges to philosophical
(tkr); the Shekelesh (ˇskrˇs or ˇsklˇs); the Danuna (dnjn); the
phenomenology and phenomenology of religion have been
Sherden (ˇsrdn); and the Weshesh (wˇsˇs). Some of these eth-
offered by scholars identified with postmodernist, poststruc-
nonyms, along with a few additional ones (e.g., Lukka or
turalist, deconstructionist, feminist, pragmatist, narrativist,
Rwkw, probably connected to Lycia), occur in other Egyp-
and relativist approaches. See, for example, Gavin Flood, Be-
tian documents, such as the Great Papyrus Harris (from the
yond Phenomenology: Rethinking the Study of Religion (Lon-
reign of Ramses III), and earlier, at the end of the Late
don and New York, 1999).
Bronze Age, in the Merneptah inscription at Karnak (late
Paul Ricoeur and Emmanuel Levinas are extremely influential
thirteenth century). Many of these peoples are mentioned
continental philosophers, deeply rooted in phenomenology
also in Hittite and Ugaritic texts and Akkadian letters found
and with a major focus on religion, even if the relation of
in Amarna, all from the end of the Late Bronze Age. All these
many of their works to phenomenology is often ambiguous.
peoples seem to have had their roots in Anatolia and the Ae-
See, for example, Ricoeur’s Husserl: An Analysis of His Phe-
nomenology
, translated by Edward G. Ballard and Lester E.
gean. The Weshesh probably came from western Anatolia,
Embree (Evanston, 1967), and The Symbolism of Evil, trans-
like another group of the “Sea Peoples,” the Tursha or
lated by Emerson Buchanan (New York, 1967); and
Teresh (trˇs), cited in an inscription from Deir el-Medinah
Levinas’s Totality and Infinity: An Essay on Exteriority, trans-
(Egypt) and identified with the Turs¯enoí in Greek texts (per-
lated by Alphonso Lingis (Pittsburgh, 1969) and Otherwise
haps the ancestors of the Etruscans). The island of Sardinia
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may owe its name to the Sherden or Shardanu. The Danuna
Both etymologies present problems. Nonetheless, the
are frequently identified with the Danuniyim mentioned in
Anatolian (albeit not necessarily Indo-European) connection
Phoenician inscriptions and with the Danaoi of Greek texts.
seems a recurrent theme in what is known about the Philis-
Sicily may have been named after the Shekelesh or Sicels.
tines. The case of the name of the champion of the Philis-
The Tjeker or Zakkala eventually settled south of Carmel,
tines in the Davidic narratives (1 Sm. 17; 21–22; 2 Sm.
and Dor was their capital. Finally, the Peleset or Purasti must
21:19; 1 Chr. 20:5), Goliath (golya¯t), is even more complicat-
be identified with the Philistines.
ed. It has been suggested that Goliath’s name is somehow re-
lated to the name of the Lydian king Alyattes (ca. 610–560
Centuries after Ramses III and as part of the originally
Yahwistic materials eventually added to the Priestly genealo-
BCE), the grandson of Gyges (Greek Gúg¯es, Assyrian Gugu).
Gyges may be the historical figure behind the legendary
gy (tôledôt) known as the “Table of the Nations” in Genesis
northern king Gog (gôg) in Ez. 38–39 (cf. Ap. 20:7, whose
10, the Philistines are mentioned as originating from Kaph-
kingdom is called Magog (ma¯gôg, the name Gog with a prefix
tor (Gn. 10:14: “and the Kaphtorim, from whom the Philis-
for place-names). In the Qur Da¯n (18:94, 21:96), Gog (Ya¯ju¯j)
tines came,” cf. Am. 9:7; Jer. 47:4; Dt. 2:23)—Hebrew
and Magog (Ma¯ju¯j) are both reinterpreted as tribal names,
Kaphtor (kaptôr, Egyptian kftjw, Akkadian kaptaru) is usual-
and later Islamic sources (such as the H:ad¯ıth corpus) identi-
ly identified with Crete. The people labeled in the Hebrew
fied them either with two branches of Turks or with the
Bible as Philistines (p˘eliˇstîm) occupied a rather larger territo-
Scythians. In spite of this complicated tapestry of relations,
ry (Jos. 13:2–3) that included a Pentapolis: Gaza, Ashqelon,
a connection between Goliath and Alyattes (even if only ty-
Ashdod, Eqron, and Gath. Along with this Pentapolis, the
pological) poses serious linguistic problems.
Bible mentions other smaller Philistine settlements, called
“villages” (h:a˘s:¯erîm) or “daughters” (banôt), such as Ziklag,
THE PHILISTINE PANTHEON. The main god of the biblical
Timna, and Jabneh. Furthermore, there were other impor-
Philistines was Dagon (Da¯gôn). There were temples dedicat-
tant cities identified as Philistine in some biblical passages,
ed to him in Ashdod (1 Sm. 5:1–7; 1 Mc. 10: 83–84; 11:4),
such as Gerar in the Yahwistic story of Isaac’s encounter with
Gaza (Jgs. 16), and probably Beth-Shan (1 Chr. 10:10; 1 Sm.
Abimelek, king of the Philistines (Gn. 26)—but in the Elo-
31:10). The toponym Beth-Dagon (Bêt Da¯gôn, “The House
histic story of Abraham (Gn. 20), Gerar is not associated
of Dagon”) may imply the presence of temples dedicated to
with the Philistines. In terms of material culture, it is impor-
Dagon in the two homonymous towns, one in the Shephelah
tant to point out that the early (twelfth century BCE, Iron Age
(lowlands) of Judah, near Lakhish (Jos 15:41), and another
I) strata of some of these Philistine sites (Eqron, Ashdod)
on the southern border of the tribal area of Asher (Jos.
have yielded a sizeable amount of mostly locally produced
19:27). Beth-Dagon is mentioned among the cities captured
Mycenaean pottery (specifically, type Mycenaean IIIC.1b).
by the Neo-Assyrian king Sennacherib (704–681) during his
second campaign (Chicago Prism II 69: B¯ıt-Daganna, and
Almost everything the Bible tells us about the Philistines
appears also in Egyptian (bt-jdqn, byt-jdqn), Phoenician (bt
is likely to refer to later groups (Carians, Ionians, Lydians,
dgn), and perhaps even Greek texts (B¯etago¯n)—the Greek
and probably Cretans), rather than to any possible original
form seems misinterpreted as a deity in the gloss in the Ety-
Iron-Age-II descendants of a particular branch of the Late-
mologicum magnum (Kallierges [Venice, 1499] 196.52: ho
Bronze and Iron-Age-I “Sea Peoples.” Nevertheless, the bib-
Krónos hupò Phoiníko¯n, “Kronos by the Phoenicians”). The
lical traditions constitute the main source of information
identification of this Beth-Dagon in Assyrian, Egyptian,
(even if anachronistic) about the Philistines. According to
Phoenican, and Greek sources with one of the two biblical
the Bible (Jos. 13:3; Jgs. 3:3; 16; 1 Sm. 5–7; 29; 1 Chr. 12:20;
Beth-Dagons (in Judah and in Asher) remains problematic.
Sir. 46:18), the ruler of a Philistine city was called *seren (a
As in the case of other terms associated with the Philistines,
word attested only in plural, s˘era¯nîm). Two different propos-
Dagon may have an Indo-European etymology (related to
als have been put forward in order to explain this term.
the word for earth, *dhehom). However, this god (Dagon/
First, *seren would be related to Greek túrannos and per-
Dagan) was worshiped in Syria in the second half of the third
haps to the Neo-Hittite word for ruler in Hieroglyphic Luwi-
millennium already, a fact that can hardly find a place in the
an, tarwani-; but this does not point to a direct Indo-
web of alleged connections between the Philistines and the
European connection, as early Greek words concerning au-
Anatolian and Aegean worlds. Moreover, in spite of their di-
thority positions (túrannos, wánax/ánax, basileús), even if
rect and prominent association with the cult of Dagon, it is
attested already in Linear B (wa-na-ka, qa-si-re-u), have no
quite likely that the Philistines limited themselves to taking
good Indo-European etymologies.
over the preexisting worship of a deity that was already popu-
lar in Syria and the Levant for over two thousand years.
Second, *seren would come from the Anatolian root
*sar-/*ser- meaning “above, superior.” The root appears in
It is clear that the Philistines did not introduce the cult
some Anatolian substantives: Hittite ˇsarli- [sarli-] “outstand-
of Dagon/Dagan to the Levant. In fact, the name of a prince
ing”; Luwian ˇsarlaimi- [sarlaimi-] “lofty”; Lydian serli-/selli-
in Late Bronze Age southern Palestine occurring in two let-
“authority.” A suffix -¯en is present in designations of political
ters from the archive of international diplomatic correspon-
authorities in Anatolian languages: Phrygian ball¯en, “king”;
dence found in Amarna (Egypt) is Dagan-takala (Knudtzon,
Lycian ess¯en, “king” and pal¯en, “chief.”
EA 317, 318). This theophoric name implies the presence
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PHILISTINE RELIGION
7103
of the cult of Dagan in the area long before the arrival of the
( Eaˇsta¯rôt), the latter being usually interpreted as a plural of
Philistines. Nonetheless, the cult of Dagon would seem cen-
Ashtoret. In 1 Samuel 31:10, the armor of Saul is said to be
tral in the Philistine pantheon. According to 1 Samuel 5:1–7,
hung on the walls of the temple of Astarte (or perhaps “the
the Philistines brought the Ark of the Covenant into the
temple of the Astartes”): “they deposited his armor in the
temple of Dagon at Ashdod. This was intended to signal sub-
house of Astarte (bêt Eaˇsta¯rôt), his corpse they nailed to the
mission to the Philistine god. However, in a typical theo-
wall of Beth-Shan.” In the retelling of this episode in 1
political twist to show the superiority of Israel’s national god,
Chronicles 10:10, “the house of Astarte” becomes “the house
the move backfired, and apparently the statue of Dagon fell
of their gods” (bêt D˘elo¯hêhem). Moreover, Herodotus (I
down—that is, Dagon prostrated himself in the presence of
105.2) mentions the sanctuary of Aphrodite Ourania (tês
the Ark—and broke into pieces. In Judges 16:23, the Philis-
ouraní¯es Aphrodít¯es tò hirón) in Ashqelon (a Philistine city),
tine rulers (sarnê P˘eliˇstîm, the s˘era¯nîm of the Philistines)
a goddess frequently assimilated to Astarte (see also Herodo-
gathered in what seems to be a temple of Dagon in Gaza,
tus 1.131.3). This may be the same goddess Ctesias (Jacoby,
in order to offer a thanksgiving sacrifice (“a great sacrifice,”
FGrH 688 F I (4) 2-3) connected with Hierapolis and equat-
zebah: ga¯dôl) to Dagon for the capture of Samson. Likewise,
ed with Atargatis as a Phoenician goddess: Derceto (Derketo¯);
according to 1 Chronicles 10:10, the head of Saul was dis-
see also De dea syria 14; Strabo, Geography 16.4.27; Dio-
played by the Philistines as a war trophy in a temple of
dorus, History 2.4. Nevertheless, the use of Ashtarot in the
Dagon, probably at Beth-Shan (1 Sm. 31:10). During the
Hebrew Bible is to be regarded most of the time as a generic
Second Temple period, the cult of Dagon seems to have sur-
label for goddesses, whose worship and worshipers were
vived. In 1 Maccabees 10:83–84, the high priest Jonathan
fiercely attacked by the eventually monotheistic layers of Is-
burns down the temple of Dagon in Azotus (i.e., Ashdod),
raelite mainstream religion. The biblical emphasis on the de-
which was providing shelter to the cavalry of Apollonius, the
monization of all these deities worshiped by the Philistines
Seleucid governor of Koile Syria.
and other peoples in the area should not be regarded as part
of an ethnic or political antagonism. The theo-political dis-
The other two deities linked with the Philistines in the
course of the official and centralized cult anathematized most
Hebrew Bible are Baal Zebub and Ashtoret. Baal Zebub, or
manifestations of popular and peripheral religion in ancient
Baalzebub (ba Eal z˘ebûb), is attested only four times in the
Israel.
Hebrew Bible, all in 2 Kings 1:2–16, a section that describes
THE INSCRIPTION FROM EQRON. New light on Philistine re-
how Ahaziah, the king of Israel, consulted the oracle of Baal
ligion and history has been shed by an inscription that was
Zebub, god of Eqron (ba Eal z˘ebûb D˘elohê Eeqrôn). The appar-
found in the cella of the Late Iron Age II temple at Tel
ent meaning of the name Baab Zebub is “lord of the flies,”
Miqne (Hirbet al-MuqannaE, ancient EEqrôn) in 1996. The
but this may be the result of a folk etymology that ended up
˘
temple was most likely built after Sennacherib’s campaign in
transforming the name itself. The spelling in the Hebrew text
Palestine (towards the very end of the eighth century), and
does match the interpretation contained in the Greek trans-
the inscription probably dates to the seventh century. This
lation of the Hebrew Bible known as the Septuagint (Baal
Phoenician inscription contains what seems to be a mention
muîa “Baal the fly”), the interpretation by the Hellenistic
of mysterious deity, for whom a temple (bt) was build by the
Jewish historian Flavius Josephus (Jewish Antiquities 9.2.1),
prince or lord of Eqron (ˇsr Eqrn), Akayuˇs, son of Padi (Dkyˇs.
and the Latin transliteration in the Vulgate (Beelzebub).
bn. pdy): “for PTGYH, his lady” (lptgy.h. Ddth). Akayuˇs and
However, a fragmentarily preserved Greek translation of the
Padi are mentioned in several Assyrian historical accounts as
Hebrew Bible by Symmachus uses Beezeboul, and the manu-
i-ka-ú-su and pa-di-i (or pa-de-e). The same Akayuˇs, king of
scripts of the New Testament use Beelzeboul (Mt. 10:25;
Eqrôn, is mentioned in the Bible ( Da¯kîˇs, 1 Sm. 21:11; 1 Kgs.
12:24, 27; Mk. 3:22; Lk. 11:15, 18–19). Moreover, the
2:39–40). It has been suggested that the name
name is accompanied by the epithet “head of the demons”
Akayuˇs/Akayu´s ( Dkyˇs) may be related to Akhaios, meaning
(árkho¯n tôn daimonío¯n) in several New Testament passages
“the Achaean,” “the Greek.” Although written in Phoeni-
(Mt. 12:24; Mk. 3:22; Lk. 11:15). Symmachus and the New
cian, the Tel Miqne inscription seems historically and cultur-
Testament are likely to preserve an oral tradition. Further-
ally Philistine. In fact, this is somehow the first Philistine in-
more, second-millennium BCE texts from Ugarit (Ras Sham-
scription ever recovered, although there is a small fragment
ra, in Syria) exhibit two common titles of the god Ba Elu (lit-
of a seventh-century Phoenician inscription found in Gua-
erally “lord”): zbl b El (“prince BaElu”) and zbl b El Dars: (“prince
dalhorce (Málaga, Spain), which may contain the toponym
Ba Elu/Lord of the earth”). Thus, Baal Zebub is most likely
Eqron ( Eqrn). Among several proposals concerning the inter-
the result of a folk etymology (“lord of the flies”), as the origi-
pretation of the theonym Ptgyh, three deserve particular at-
nal Baal Zebul (“Prince Baal/Lord”) seemed to contain a
tention:
word that was rather uncommon in Hebrew (z˘ebûl “domin-
ion, lordship”).
1. Pidrayu, as in Ugaritic pdry, daughter of BaElu, probably
due to a scribal mistake or the like (so, one would have
The Semitic goddess Astarte appears in the Hebrew
to read ptryh). This may be connected to Ugaritic pdr,
Bible as Ashtoret ( Eaˇsto¯ret). In fact, Ashtoret may be the
which, depending on the context, may be an epithet of
Phoenician form corresponding to Hebrew Ashtarot
BaElu or simply another form of pdry. Nonetheless, both
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PHILISTINE RELIGION
Ugaritic names have been connected with Ugaritic pdr
Canaan before the Iron Age (but were also common in Cy-
(town, city), which may have a Hurro-Urartian origin.
prus and the Aegean during Mycenaean times). Likewise, at
The existence of some irregular correspondences be-
Tell Qasile, a building near the earliest temple (Stratum XII,
tween the various Semitic cognates (Syriac pdora¯, Arabic
end of the twelfth century BCE) also included a hearth and
baðr) supports the idea that this word may be ultimately
two pillars, which resembled those in Building 350 at Eqron.
Hurro-Urartian. The Mycenaean Greek form po-to-ri-jo
is probably unrelated and corresponds to /*p(t)ólis/ >
The Aegean connections of Philistine material culture
Greek polis (city). According to this, Ptgyh would be ei-
and sites are reinforced by the presence of seemingly cult-
ther a scribal mistake for Pdryh, or the result of a com-
related objects, such as the famous “Ashdoda,” a ceramic fig-
plex and unlikely chain of phonetic changes.
urine found in Ashdod, which is a hybrid of a chair or a
throne and most likely a goddess (the top of the chair’s back
2. Potnia (Greek pótnia “lady, mistress,” Mycenaean po-ti-
continues into an elongated neck ending in a head and other
ni-ja), which requires assuming a scribal mistake and
body parts are painted or embedded in the surface of the
emending the phrase to lptnyh Ddth. Thus, the scribe
chair). Fragments of “Ashdoda”-like figurines have been
would have started an n, but left it unfinished as a g —in
found in Eqron and Tell Qasile as well. This seems to be a
this Phoenician script, an n resembles a g, but with a
local version of the Mycenaean female figurines seated on a
longer vertical stroke.
throne and sometimes holding a child. At Ashdod, Eqron,
3. Pythogaia (*putho-gaia Putho¯ + Gaîa), an unattested
Gezer, and Megiddo, locally produced kernoi have been
form reconstructed on the basis of Greek (already Myce-
found. A kernos is an originally Aegean cultic libation vessel,
naean) words, “(in) Pytho (i.e., Delphi, as in a synecdo-
consisting of a hollow ceramic ring on which the potter
che) the goddess Gaia.”
placed figurines of animals (such as birds, rams’ or bulls’
heads), pomegranates, and the like. On the other side, the
Although option three, Pythogaia, is particularly interesting,
Philistines had also their own style of cult vessel: a kind of
no interpretation of this name on the Tel Miqne inscription
lion-headed rhyton with one handle, of which examples have
seems convincing enough. Furthermore, one could connect
been uncovered in Eqron, Megiddo, Tell Qasile, and other
the final -yh element in this theonym with the -yh found in
sites. Moreover, there is also textual information about some
seemingly non-Semitic anthroponyms in two ostraca from
cultic objects. Although they do not seem to correspond to
Tell Jemmeh, dated to the period of Assyrian occupation in
any materials excavated to date, the biblical story of the re-
Iron Age II (qsryh, brs:yh).
turn of the Ark (1 Sm. 6:4–16) refers to the compensation
PHILISTINE TEMPLES AND CULTIC OBJECTS. Besides the
or fine ( Da¯ˇsa¯m) the Philistines had to pay to the god of Israel:
aforementioned sanctuaries, alluded to in several Biblical
images or figurines of tumors (h:a˘miˇsˇsa¯h Eˇepolê za¯ha¯b, “five
passages, there is direct archaeological information concern-
golden tumors”; s:almê Eˇepolêkem, “images of your tumors”)
ing the Philistines and their religious life. The main sources
and figurines of mice (h:a˘miˇsˇsa¯h Eakberê za¯ha¯b, “five golden
of evidence for Philistine material culture are the excavations
mice”; s:almê Eakb˘erêkem hammaˇsh:îtim Det-ha¯Da¯res:, “images of
at Ashdod, Eqron, and Tell Qasile (on the northern fringe
your mice that are wasting the land”).
of modern Tel Aviv). The apsidal structure with adjacent
It is obvious that the archaeological remains found at
rooms and a courtyard found at Ashdod may have fulfilled
the Philistine sites abound in connections with Aegean mate-
a religious function, but this is rather speculative. At Tell Qa-
rial culture and that the scarce linguistic items linked to the
sile, an original temple was twice rebuilt and enlarged, so
Philistines seem to all point to Anatolia and the Aegean (the
generating three superimposed temples that were excavated
world of the “Sea Peoples”). However, with the exception of
within the sacred precinct: Stratum XII (end of the twelfth
the recently discovered Phoenician inscription from Eqron,
century BCE), Stratum XI (eleventh century), and Stratum X
the Philistine pantheon and the general setting of its worship
(beginning of the tenth century). These successively built
(such as the use of mud-brick altars) are essentially local,
sanctuaries at Tell Qasile included raised mud-brick plat-
rooted in Canaanite religious traditions. In this respect and
forms, pillars, mud-brick benches, and small chambers at
aside from the specific narratives of the legends of Saul
their back, which could have been used as treasuries or were
and David, the theo-political biblical discourse antagonizing
perhaps a holy-of-holies.
and demonizing the Philistines is not specific to this ethnic
At Eqron (Tel Miqne), a monumental building (Build-
group. Similar intellectual constructs targeted diverse (other-
ing 350) that may have been a palace with shrines was un-
wise autochthonous) groups, such as the Edomites, the Mo-
earthed in the center of the city. These shrines were not sim-
abites, and the bulk of the rural population of ancient Israel,
ple palace rooms as they contain mud-brick altars as well as
who were all engaged in traditional Canaanite religious prac-
a few bronze, iron, and ivory objects, possibly for cultic use.
tices long after the centralization and monopolization of an
The shrines opened onto a hall in which there was a circular
exclusive and monotheistic cult in Jerusalem. This theologi-
hearth with two pillar bases on each side. Hearths like this
cal elaboration contrasts with many details in the Davidic
played an essential role in the structure of the megaron in
narratives. For instance, the name of David’s special merce-
the Aegean and Cyprus, whereas mud-brick altars existed in
nary units (his “Praetorian guard” of sorts) is Kerethites
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7105
(kˇeretîm, e.g., 2 Sm. 8:18, 1 Chr. 18:17), which should be
gious thought and Greek philosophy. Although the church
connected with Kaphtor (see above) and therefore under-
fathers know him as Philo Judaeus (Jerome, De viris illustri-
stood as “Cretans.” In fact, these troops of David were equat-
bus 11), modern scholars often designate him Philo of Alex-
ed with the Philistines by some prophets (Ez. 25:16; Zep.
andria, to distinguish him from various pagan Greek authors
2:5). To a great extent, the deep religious and ethnic rivalry
of the same name. Philo’s work marks the climax of a long
injected into the Davidic narratives did not have its roots in
chain of Hellenistic Jewish writings. His mildly atticized
a historical setting of interaction between Philistines and Is-
Greek, which is marked by a strong Platonic coloring, is un-
raelites, but rather in the subsequent articulation of a politi-
exceptionable; his encyclopedic knowledge of Greek litera-
cal theology justifying the later status quo.
ture and rhetoric is impressive. Disdaining a philosophically
systematic exposition of his reinterpretation of Judaism,
SEE ALSO Astarte; Dagan.
Philo assumed instead the role of scriptural exegete. He may
have believed that the success of his entire enterprise was
BIBLIOGRAPHY
largely dependent on his ability to convince his readers that
On the Philistines and the “Sea Peoples,” see Trude Dothan and
the mystical Platonism through which his Jewish under-
Moshe Dothan, People of the Sea: The Search for the Philistines
standing was refracted was no arbitrary construct imposed on
(New York, 1992); Gösta W. Ahlström, The History of An-
the Mosaic text, but could readily be deduced from every one
cient Palestine (Minneapolis, Minn.,1993), pp. 288–333;
Donald B. Redford, Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient
of its verses.
Times (Princeton, N.J., 1992), pp. 241–280; Carl S. Ehrlich,
Although fully acquainted with the Greek philosophical
The Philistines in Transition: A History from ca. 1000–730
texts firsthand and in no way restricted to manuals or digests,
BCE (Leiden, the Netherlands, 1996); Symour Gitin, et al.
Philo is clearly not to be regarded as an original philosopher.
(eds.), Mediterranean Peoples in Transition: Thirteenth to
Early Tenth Centuries

He saw his task more modestly, as that of the great reconciler
BCE (Jerusalem, 1998); Israel Finkel-
stein, “The Philistines in the Bible: A Late-Monarchic per-
who would bridge two apparently disparate traditions. Al-
spective,” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 27
though there is still no consensus, the view is gaining ground
(2002): 131–167. For citations of Ctesias, see F. Jacoby, Die
that the apparent eclecticism of his thought is in fact repre-
Fragmente der griechischen Historiker (Leiden, the Nether-
sentative of the Middle Platonic tradition (stretching from
lands, 1923–1958). The Amarna letters are quoted according
c. 80 BCE to c. 220 CE), a highly stoicized form of Platonism,
to J. A. Knudtzon, Die El-Amarna-Tafeln (Leipzig, 1915).
streaked with Neo-Pythagorean concerns, which included a
On Philistine seren, see Franco Pintore, “Seren, tarwanis, tyran-
large dose of arithmology, or number symbolism.
nos,” in Studi orientalistici in ricordo di Franco Pintore, edited
by Onofrio Carruba, and others, (Pavia, Italy, 1983),
LIFE AND WORKS. Philo belonged to a wealthy, aristocratic
pp. 285–322; Giovanni Garbini, “The Hebrew-Philistine
Jewish family (of priestly descent, if Jerome is to be credited)
Word Seren,” in Semitic Studies in Honor of Wolf Leslau, ed-
that was readily attracted by the glitter of the Hellenistic
ited by A. S. Kaye, (Wiesbaden, 1991), vol. 1, pp. 516–519.
world. His brother Alexander was an alabarch (usually equat-
On the new inscription from Eqron, see Seymour Gittin, and oth-
ed with arabarch), or customs agent, for the collection of
ers, “A Royal Dedicatory Inscription from Eqron,” Israel Ex-
dues on all goods imported into Egypt from the East, and
ploration Journal 47 (1997): 1–16; Aaron Demsky, “The
his wealth was such that he could grant Agrippa, the grand-
Name of the Goddess of Ekron: A New Reading,” Journal
son of Herod the Great, a loan of two hundred thousand
of the Ancient Near Eastern Society 25 (1997): 1–5; Reinhard
drachmas (equivalent to fifty-four thousand dollars); thus
G. Lehmann, “Studien zur Formgeschicte der
was established a connection that ultimately led to the be-
EEqron-Inschrift des DKSˇY und den phönizischen Dedika-
trothal of Agrippa’s daughter Berenice to Alexander’s son
tionstexten aus Byblos,” Ugarit-Forschungen 31 (1999): 255–
Marcus. His great wealth is further attested by his provision
306; Christa Schäfer-Lichtenberger, “The Goddess of Ekron
of silver and gold plates for nine gates of the Jerusalem Tem-
and the Religious-Cultural Background of the Philistines,”
ple. His other son, Tiberius Julius Alexander, to whom Philo
Israel Exploration Journal 50 (2000): 82–91; Ryan Byrne,
“Philistine Semitics and Dynastic History at Ekron,” Ugarit-
addressed his dialogue On Providence and who was described
Forschungen 34 (2002): 1–23.
by Josephus Flavius as “not remaining true to his ancestral
practices,” served as procurator of the province of Judaea
On the Tell Jemmeh names, see Joseph Naveh, “Writing and
Scripts in Seventh-Century
(46–48 CE) and as prefect of Egypt under Nero.
BCE Philistia: The New Evidence
from Tell Jemmeh,” Israel Exploration Journal 35 (1985):
Of Philo himself, aside from the fact that he headed the
8–21; Aharon Kempinski, “Some Philistine Names from the
embassy to (Gaius) Caligula in 39–40 CE and visited the Je-
Kingdom of Gaza,” Israel Exploration Journal 37 (1987):
rusalem Temple, very little is known. Though silent with re-
20–24.
gard to his Jewish education, he speaks enthusiastically of his
GONZALO RUBIO (2005)
Greek training and with engaging melancholy of his having
been torn at some point from his “heavenly lookout,” where
he had consorted with divine principles and doctrines, to be
PHILO JUDAEUS (c. 20 BCE–50 CE), Hellenistic Jew-
hurled into a vast sea of civil cares. His constant use of athlet-
ish thinker, author of an elaborate synthesis of Jewish reli-
ic imagery, including references to specific athletic and theat-
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PHILO JUDAEUS
rical events that he himself had attended and a triple refer-
that their common source was the Stoic exegesis of the last
ence to God as the “president of the games,” shows him to
two centuries BCE, especially that by Crates of Mallus and
have been an aficionado of the sports world. When this trait
Herodicus of Babylon. Thomas H. Tobin pointed out in
is coupled with his passionate devotion to speculative philos-
1983 that Stoic and Middle Platonic allegory did not include
ophy, one recognizes the presence of a Diaspora Jewish intel-
the recognition of different levels of interpretation: the alle-
lectual of a type utterly foreign to his Palestinian counterpart.
gorical interpretations involved either a rejection of the literal
The Philonic corpus may be divided into three groups:
or complete obliviousness to it. Philo is the earliest extant ex-
historical or apologetic, philosophical (comprising four trea-
ample of a writer who tries to maintain the validity of both
tises, two of which are in dialogue form and preserved only
levels; thus he involved himself in a controversy with other
in Armenian and some Greek fragments), and exegetical.
Jewish allegorists.
The last is subdivided into three Pentateuchal commentaries:
A novice in the use of Hebrew texts, Philo relied on the
the Allegory of the Law or those treatises which begin with
Septuagint, which he happily considered inspired. D. W.
a scriptural passage; the Exposition of the Law or those trea-
Gooding has demonstrated that Philo shows no awareness
tises whose structure is shaped by a broad theme indicated
of the Hebrew underlying the Greek translation of the He-
in their title; and Questions and Answers on Genesis and Ex-
brew Bible, for he uniformly cites the Septuagint, which,
odus. There are also references in Philo to a number of his
given its frequent inadequacy, he would surely not have done
treatises that are no longer extant. The question of the chro-
without explanation had he known the underlying Hebrew,
nology of Philo’s works remains problematic but the earlier
and he occasionally offers expositions of the Greek that the
tendency to assign his philosophical works to a youthful peri-
Hebrew would have forbidden (see David Winston and John
od is no longer accepted.
Dillon, Two Treatises of Philo of Alexandria, Chico, 1983,
EXEGETICAL TECHNIQUE. Philo’s attempt to read Greek phi-
pp. 119–125).
losophy into Mosaic scripture was no innovation on his part.
He was fully aware of the earlier and less ambitious attempts
THOUGHT AND INFLUENCE. Philo’s understanding of bibli-
by Pseudo-Aristeas (c. 130 BCE) and Aristobulus (c. 175
cal thought is rooted in his abiding confidence in the exis-
BCE), though he was also undoubtedly heir to a rich body of
tence of God as a supremely transcendent being, one abso-
scholastic tradition that has vanished but to which he fre-
lutely without quality, whose pervasive immanence rules and
quently makes allusion. He was also fully alert to the tech-
directs all. The first half of this seemingly paradoxical con-
niques employed by many Middle Platonists in their attempt
cept of transcendent immanence has its source in the Old
to foist post-Pythagorean doctrines, including even their
and Middle Academies, apparently going back to Plato’s suc-
own, on Pythagoras (fifth century BCE) himself. Following
cessor Speusippus (d. 339/8 BCE), and was more fully elabo-
in their footsteps, Philo put Moses forward as the greatest
rated by some of the Neo-Pythagoreans as well as by the
authority of all, as the teacher of Pythagoras and, indeed, of
Middle Platonist Eudorus of Alexandria (fl. 25 BCE), who
all Greek philosophers and lawgivers.
postulated a supranoetic First Principle above a pair of oppo-
The main exegetical technique for Philo’s vast enter-
sites, the Monad and the Dyad. The second half derives from
prise, however, was provided by the Greek allegorical tradi-
a central emphasis of Stoic teaching, which envisions the om-
tion, which had been initiated by Theagenes of Rhegium
nipresent vitality of an all-traversing Logos whose highest
(sixth century
terrestrial manifestation is the human intellect, which is
BCE) in order to defend Homer against the de-
tractors of his theology; the gods’ names were made to refer
identified by both Philo and the Stoics as an inseparable por-
to various dispositions of the soul, and their internecine
tion of the divine mind. Humans are thus akin to the divine
struggles to the opposition between the natural elements.
and has unbroken access to it from within.
The Stoics expanded the Cynics’ employment of Homeric
Philo defines two paths that lead to a knowledge of
allegory in the interests of a philosophical system and made
God’s existence. In On Rewards and Punishments 41 he
much use of the etymologizing of names (of the gods, though
speaks of those who have apprehended God through his
not of the heroes), a procedure that had much appeal for
works as advancing on a sort of heavenly ladder and conjec-
Philo. For an important reassessment of Stoic allegorizing,
turing his existence through plausible inference. The true
see A. A. Long, “Stoic Readings of Homer,” in Homer’s An-
friends of God, however, “are those who have apprehended
cient Readers, ed. Robert Lamberton and John J. Keaney
him through himself without the cooperation of reasoned in-
(Princeton, 1992) 41–66. Moreover, his preoccupation with
ference, as light is seen by light” (ibid.), a formula later used
the “allegory of the soul” is very similar to the later Neopla-
by Plotinus. Although there is no consensus concerning the
tonic allegories clustering around Odysseus, which detect in
precise significance of Philo’s second way to God, it is very
his adventures the mystical history of the soul on its way to
likely based on his notion of humanity’s direct access to God
its homeland.
from within and may perhaps be viewed as an early form of
John Dillon in 1977 noted the essential unity in the tra-
the ontological argument. A similar argument for God’s exis-
dition of commentary that Philo’s exegetical works and the
tence seems to be found in both the works of the Stoics and
Neoplatonic commentaries exemplify and has concluded
in Plotinus.
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PHILO JUDAEUS
7107
Philo’s theory of creation is based on Plato’s Timaeus
recognition of its nothingness and of its need to go out of
as interpreted by Middle Platonism. God created the uni-
itself; attachment to God; the realization that it is God alone
verse out of a relatively nonexistent and qualityless primordi-
who acts; a preference for contemplative prayer; a timeless
al matter that contains nothing lovely and is utterly passive
union with the All and the resulting serenity; the suddenness
and lifeless. All things were created simultaneously, and the
with which the vision appears; the experience of sober intoxi-
sequential account of creation in Genesis is only meant to
cation; and, finally, the ebb and flow of mystical experience.
indicate the logical order in God’s design.
Philo was thus, at the very least, an intellectual, if not a prac-
ticing, mystic.
Although the human soul, as a fragment of the Logos,
might be thought to have a natural claim on immortality, the
Philo never had a major impact on Jewish thought. His
latter can be forfeited if the soul is not properly assimilated
name appears nowhere in rabbinic literature, and were it not
into its divine source. From Philo’s Platonist perspective, the
for the preservation of his works by the church, they would
body is a corpse entombing the soul, which at its death re-
surely have perished. In the Middle Ages Jews had access at
turns to its own proper life. The gradual removal of the psy-
best to an Arabic or Syriac translation of a small portion of
che from the sensible realm and its ascent to a life of perfec-
his works. It was not until the sixteenth century that Philo
tion is represented for Philo by two triads of biblical figures:
was rediscovered, by EAzaryah dei Rossi, who read his work
Enoch, Enosh, and Noah; Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The
in a Latin translation and outlined a number of his character-
Abraham of Philo’s allegory is a mystical philosopher who,
istic doctrines in his Me’or Eeinayim (Mantua, 1573). His at-
after having mastered the encyclical or general studies (sym-
titude toward Philo, however, though appreciative, is at best
bolized by Hagar), in which stage all he could produce was
ambivalent. Yosef Shelomoh Delmedigo (1591–1655) read
sophistry (Ishmael), abandoned the realm of sense (symbol-
Philo in the original Greek and made a Hebrew translation
ized in his parting with Lot) for the brighter regions of intel-
of excerpts from his writing, which unfortunately was stolen
ligible reality and, despite his initial flirtation with Chaldean
from him and never recovered. Simone Luzzatto, in his Ital-
pantheism, has attained to the highest vision of deity, result-
ian Discorso (1638) on the Jews of Venice, admired Philo,
ing in his transformation into a perfect embodiment of natu-
whom he cited from a Latin version, and believed that his
ral law.
motive for allegorizing the scriptures was to attract his pagan
audience. Finally, Nahman Krochmal (1785–1840) includes
In a 1965 work, Pagan and Christian in an Age of Anxi-
in his Moreh nevukhei ha-zeman (Guide for the Perplexed of
ety, E. R. Dodds has correctly noted that the ecstatic form
the Time, 1851) a Hebrew translation of the account of
of prophecy as defined by Philo is not a description of mysti-
Philo by J. A. W. Neander (1789–1850, née David Mendel),
cal union but a state of temporary possession (p. 71f.). Philo,
a baptized Jew who was a professor of church history in
however, speaks also of another form of prophecy, which
Berlin.
may be designated “hermeneutical” and is mediated not
through ecstatic possession but through the divine voice.
SEE ALSO Logos.
Whereas in the state of possession the prophet’s sovereign
B
mind is entirely preempted, it is clear from Philo’s analysis
IBLIOGRAPHY
The older literature on Philo is fully detailed in Erwin R. Goode-
of the giving of the Decalogue, the paradigm of hermeneuti-
nough’s The Politics of Philo Judaeus (1938; reprint, Hildes-
cal, or divine-voice, prophecy, that in the latter the inspired
heim, 1967), pp. 127–348. An excellent annotated bibliog-
mind is extraordinarily quickened. Since ecstatic possession
raphy for the years 1937–1962 is provided by Louis H.
is employed by Philo for the explanation of predictive proph-
Feldman in Scholarship on Philo and Josephus, 1937–1962
ecy alone, whereas the core of the Mosaic prophecy, the spe-
(New York, 1963). Earle Hilgert’s “Bibliographia Philoni-
cial laws, is delivered by him in his role of hermeneutical
ana, 1935–1975” appears in volume 2.21.1 of Aufstieg und
prophet, it is in this form of prophecy that one must locate
Niedergang der römischen Welt (Berlin and New York, 1984)
Philo’s conception of mystical union. In his allegorical inter-
a volume completely devoted to Philo.
pretation of the divine voice as the projection of a special “ra-
Exhaustive bibliographies of Philo with annotation are provided
tional soul full of clearness and distinctness” making un-
by Roberto Radice and David T. Runia, Philo of Alexandria:
An Annotated Bibliography 1937–1986
(Leiden, 1988); and
mediated contact with the inspired mind that “makes the
David T. Runia, Philo of Alexandria: An Annotated Bibliogra-
first advance,” it is not difficult to discern a reference to the
phy 1987–1996 (Leiden, 2000). These two annotated bibli-
activation of human intuitive intellect (On the Decalogue 33,
ographies of Philo are continued in The Studia Philonica An-
35). In Philo’s hermeneutical prophecy, then, one may de-
nual ed. by D. T. Runia and Gregory E. Sterling (1989–).
tect the union of the human mind with the divine mind, or,
Günter Mayer’s Index Philoneus (Berlin, 1974), and Peder
in Dodd’s terms, a psychic ascent rather than a supernatural
Borgen et al., The Philo Index: A Complete Greek Word Index
descent.
to the Writings of Philo of Alexandria (Grand Rapids, 2d ed.,
2000)] supplement Hans Leisegang’s index (vol. 7) of the
Philo’s mystical passages contain most of the character-
Editio maior of Philo, 7 vols. in 4, edited by Leopold Cohn
istic earmarks of mystical experience: knowledge of God as
and Paul Wendland (Berlin, 1896–1930).
humanity’s supreme bliss and separation from him as the
For German, French, and English translations of Philo, with very
greatest of evils; the soul’s intense yearning for the divine; its
useful notes, see Die Werke Philos von Alexandria, 7 vols., ed-
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7108
PHILOSOPHY: AN OVERVIEW
ited by Leopold Cohn et al. (Breslau, 1909–1964); Les œuvres
dria (Tübingen, 2001); and Maren R. Niehoff, Philo on Jew-
de Philon d’Alexandrie, 36 vols., edited by Roger Arnaldez et
ish Identity and Culture (Tübingen, 2001). For a study of
al. (Paris, 1961–); and Philo, with an English translation by
Philo’s mysticism, see E. R. Goodenough, By Light Light:
F. H. Colson and G. H. Whitaker, “Loeb Classical Library”
The Mystic Gospel of Hellenistic Judaism (New Haven, 1935;
(Cambridge, Mass., 1929–1962), plus two supplementary
reprint by Philo Press, Amsterdam, 1969), which is very sti-
volumes translated by Ralph Marcus (Cambridge, Mass.,
mulating but highly speculative; my book Logos and Mystical
1953). Fully annotated editions of Philo’s works include In
Theology in Philo of Alexandria (Cincinnati, 1985); and
flaccum, by Herbert Box (Oxford, 1939); Legatio ad Gaium,
Christian Noak, Gottesbewusstsein (Tübingen, 2000).
by E. Mary Smallwood (Leiden, 1961); De animalibus, by
For Philo’s theory of Mosaic prophecy, see the excellent study of
Abraham Terian (Chico, Calif., 1981); De gigantibus and
Helmut Burkhardt, Die Inspiration heiliger Schriften bei Philo
Quod Deus sit immutabilis, by David Winston and John Dil-
von Alexandrien (Giessen, 1988); D. Winston, “Two Types
lon (Chico, Calif., 1983); and David T. Runia, Philo of Alex-
of Mosaic Prophecy According to Philo,” Journal for the
andria: On the Creation of the Cosmos according to Moses, In-
Study of the Pseudepigrapha 4 (1989): 49–67; “Philo and the
troduction, Translation and Commentary (Leiden, 2001),
Wisdom of Solomon on Creation, Revelation, and Provi-
which has become the definitive commentary of this work.
dence,” in James L. Kugel, Shem in the Tents of Japhet: Essays
A useful anthology of Philo’s writings, translated by the au-
on the Encounter of Judaism and Hellenism (Leiden, 2002)
thor of this entry, is Philo of Alexandria: The Contemplative
109–130, esp. 116–127. For Philo’s views of sex, see Doro-
Life, Giants, and Selections (New York, 1981).
thy Sly, Philo’s Perception of Women (Atlanta, 1990); Gregory
The most balanced general book on Philo is Émile Bréhier’s Les
E. Sterling, ed., The Ancestral; Philosophy in Second Temple
idées philosophiques et religieuses de Philon d’Alexandrie, 2d
Judaism: Collected Essays of David Winston (Providence,
ed., rev. (Paris, 1925). The large monographs by Walther
2001) 199–219. For Philo’s rhetoric, see T. M. Conley,
Völker, Fortschritt und Vollendung bei Philo von Alexandrien
“Philo of Alexandria,” in A Handbook of Classical Rhetoric in
(Leipzig, 1938), and Harry A. Wolfson, Philo: Foundations
the Hellenistic Period, ed. S. E. Porter (Leiden, 1997); and
of Religious Philosophy in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, 2
Manuel Alexandre, Jr., Rhetorical Argumentation in Philo of
vols., rev. ed. (Cambridge, Mass., 1962), are indispensable
Alexandre (Atlanta, 1999). For the role of the encyclical
for their very rich presentations of data but are somewhat
studies in Philo, see the good study by Alan Mendelson, Sec-
one-sided in their interpretations. Philon d’Alexandrie: Col-
ular Education in Philo of Alexandria (Cincinnati, 1982), and
loque, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, Lyon,
for Philo and the Sophists, see Bruce W. Winter, Philo and
11–15 septembre 1966 (Paris, 1967) offers a splendid series
Paul Among the Sophists (2d ed.,Grand Rapids, Mich., 2002).
of articles on Philo.
A good account of Philo’s doctrine of divine providence is
Valentin Nikiprowetzky’s Le commentaire de l’écriture chez Philon
Peter Frick, Divine Providence in Philo of Alexandria (Tü-
d’Alexandrie (Leiden, 1977) is a rich study of Philo’s exegeti-
bingen, 1999). A very useful account of Philo’s works and
cal approach. It is now supplemented by David T. Runia,
the manuscript tradition is that of Jenny Morris in Emil
Exegesis and Philosophy (Variorum, 1990); Peder Borgen,
Schürer, The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Christ
Philo of Alexandria: An Exegete for His Time (Leiden, 1997);
(Edinburgh, 1987), revised and edited by Geza Vermes, Fer-
David M. Hay, ed., Both Literal and Allegorical: Studies in
gus Millar, and Martin Goodman, vol. 3.2, pp. 809–870.
Philo of Alexandria’s Questions and Answers on Genesis and Ex-
DAVID WINSTON (1987 AND 2005)
odus (Atlanta, 1991); John P. Kenney, The School of Moses:
Studies in Philo snd Hellenistic Religion In Memory of H. R.
Moehring
(Atlanta, 1995); and A. Kamesar, “The Literary
Genres of the Pentateuch as Seen from the Greek Perspec-
PHILOSOPHY
This entry consists of the following articles:
tive: The Testimony of Philo of Alexandria,” in The Studia
Philonica Annual
9 (1997) 143–189. For Philo’s etymologiz-
AN OVERVIEW
PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION
ing of biblical names, see Lester L. Grabbe’s thoroughgoing
PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION
study Etymology in Early Jewish Interpretation: The Hebrew
Names in Philo
(Atlanta, 1988). Excellent accounts of Philo’s
Platonism are John Dillon’s The Middle Platonists (London,
PHILOSOPHY: AN OVERVIEW
1977), pp. 139–183, and David T. Runia’s Philo of Alexan-
One of the questions most intriguing to the philosopher is
dria and the Timaeus of Plato (Leiden, 1986). A very sti-
the question “What is philosophy?” Perhaps no other disci-
mulating study of the exegetical sources of Philo’s cosmologi-
pline has quite so much difficulty explaining what it is about,
cal exegesis is Thomas H. Tobin’s The Creation of Man: Philo
and in no other discipline is the question of what it is so ger-
and the History of Interpretation (Washington, D.C., 1983).
mane to the discipline itself. Some sort of answer to this
Important studies of Philo’s relationship to Judaism are Isaak
question lies close at hand in the case of the natural and
Heinemann’s Philons griechische und jüdische Bildung (1929;
human sciences: Biology is the study of life, anthropology
reprint, Hildesheim, 1962); Yehoshua Amir, Die hellenistis-
the study of human beings, psychology the study of the psy-
che Gestalt des Judentums bei Philon von Alexandrien (Neukir-
chen-Vluyn, 1983); Ellen Birnbaum, The Place of Judaim in
che. Granted that these answers are not very satisfactory or
Philo’s Thought: Israel, Jews, and Proselytes (Atlanta, 1996);
edifying, they at least provide us with a point of departure;
Naomi G. Cohen, Philo Judaeus: His Universe of Discourse
they state the specific area or realm being studied. Philosophy
(Frankfurt am Main, 1995); Alan Mendelsson, Philo’s Jewish
lacks even this point of departure, because it has no special
Identity; Jutta Leonhardt, Jewish Worship in Philo of Alexan-
area or realm as its subject matter.
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PHILOSOPHY: AN OVERVIEW
7109
Etymologically, philosophy means “the love of wisdom.”
Having found the question “What is philosophy?” im-
Wisdom is some sort of knowledge, although it might well
pervious to instant answers, one might pose the question
take some time and thought before one could say what kind
“Who is the philosopher?” In a broad sense, everybody is.
of knowledge it constitutes. Perhaps one can begin by stating
Every thinking human being asks certain fundamental ques-
three things about wisdom that are quite simple and uncon-
tions: What am I doing in the world? Wow did I get here?
troversial. (1) Wisdom does not primarily have to do with
What am I supposed to be doing? What is going to happen
specific facts or information. (2) Wisdom is not usually to
to me? What does it all mean? Some ask themselves more ab-
be found in a very young person; it presupposes a good deal
stract questions, such as whether the world has a beginning
of experience and, above all, the ability to learn from experi-
or not. The philosopher is the person who thinks and asks;
ence. (3) Wisdom must have something to do with the man-
he does not necessarily write books. Three of the greatest
ner of living one’s life; it must include praxis.
thinkers of history, Socrates, Buddha, and Jesus, wrote noth-
ing. One could cite many more.
The gathering of facts or information does not automat-
ically produce wisdom or make a person wise. Someone who
In a less general sense, the philosopher is the one who
reads newspapers and listens to news reports will at best be
asks what is real. This question led the Greeks, with whom
well-informed (depending on the sources), but will not on
philosophy as is known today began, to inquire into the na-
that account be wise. At the other end of the scale, individu-
ture of change and the relation of being (what does not
als who study logic and the rules of critical thinking will not
change) to becoming. At least three of the most philosophical
automatically become wise either. They will be able to argue
questions of all were staked out by the Greeks: the relation
well; their thinking will be coherent and well-organized; they
of (1) being to becoming; (2) reality to appearance; and
will be able to pick out flaws in the arguments of others.
(3) being to thinking. This leads to a brief look at the history
These are fine and necessary tools, but not wisdom. It has
of philosophy.
been pointed out that logic has no content. It is like a sausage
HISTORY. There are some philosophers who say that philoso-
grinder; one gets out of it what is put into it, only in a better,
phy is a specifically Western (Greek) phenomenon and that
more palatable form.
the East does not have “philosophy” in the strict sense of that
term. This seems too biased a view; Eastern thought will be
As Aristotle pointed out in his Nicomachean Ethics, eth-
briefly discussed in this article. However, Western philoso-
ics and politics are not suitable studies for the young, be they
phy does have its roots in the Greeks, and this article turns
young in years or in character. Understood in Aristotle’s
now to a consideration of them.
original sense of how best to govern a city, ethics and politics
require the observation of human nature and the formulation
Western philosophy began with the pre-Socratics, so
of general, flexible principles. Above all, it is necessary to rec-
called because they lived before Socrates. These thinkers,
ognize the fact that these sciences can never be exact in the
often erroneously thought to be somewhat “primitive,”
way that the natural sciences are; to expect the kind of preci-
searched for the first principle (arch¯e) in things. Thales, for
sion possible in natural science merely betrays false expecta-
instance, found that principle in water, Anaximander in the
tions and a lack of understanding of the subject matter.
boundless (apeiron), Heraclitus in the logos, Parmenides in
being. The simplicity and profundity of their vision is splen-
Finally, one would probably expect of someone who is
did and their influence on the two greatest of Greek thinkers,
wise that he would lead a certain kind of life. This is meant
Plato and Aristotle, extensive. Thus began the tradition of
not exclusively or, for that matter, even primarily in a moral
the history of philosophy, of thinkers learning from each
sense, but rather in the sense of practical knowledge, of un-
other, often disagreeing and being stimulated to formulate
derstanding. A wise person would have judgment without
their own ideas. It is not the case, as has been alleged, that
being judgmental. There are many great, dramatic figures in
philosophers never come up with any definitive answers be-
history whom one would probably not wish to call wise. In
cause they all disagree with one another, canceling one an-
fact, Plato was most likely right: The best and wisest life is
other out, so to speak, so the end result is nothing at all. Each
the unpretentious and undramatic life of an ordinary citizen.
thinker learns from his predecessors; without Socrates there
would never have been a Plato; without Plato, no Aristotle.
One of the most illuminating statements about the na-
Thus, the history of philosophy can be viewed as a long criti-
ture of philosophy was made by Immanuel Kant when he
cal dialogue tracing shifting conceptions of reality.
said that there were three fundamental questions of concern
to human beings: (1) What can I know? (2) What ought I
Socrates was the true model of a philosopher. Contrast-
to do? (3) What may I hope? These questions, taken togeth-
ing himself with the Sophists, who claimed to have knowl-
er, add up to a final question: What is humanity? Kant at-
edge and the ability to teach it and who took money for their
tempted to answer them in his three main works: the ques-
services, Socrates said that he knew that he knew nothing,
tion of knowledge in the Critique of Pure Reason, the
and he therefore also taught nothing. In Plato’s dialogue
question of ethics in the Critique of Practical Reason, and the
Theatetus, Socrates compares himself to a midwife who is
question of what may be hoped for in the Critique of Judg-
herself barren but who helps others to give birth. The Soph-
ment.
ists were the natural enemies of Socrates (and Plato). They
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PHILOSOPHY: AN OVERVIEW
taught a kind of empty rhetoric that enabled their pupils to
ly unethical, even if their concern is solely for their own in-
sound impressive and win arguments, but the real philosoph-
terests, this view still constitutes their ethic, their idea of the
ical issues and questions were lost to them.
best way to go through life. The question of this “unethical”
ethic is discussed in detail by Plato in his Republic: Is the un-
These issues and questions eventually led Plato to for-
just person better off than the just one? Plato concludes that
mulate his famous theory of Forms, or Ideas (idea, eidos). A
the height of justice is to appear unjust but to be just; the
just person becomes just by imitating or participating in the
height of injustice is to appear just but to be unjust. Justice
perfect, eternal, changeless reality of justice itself. Justice it-
is a matter of inner balance and harmony; it has nothing to
self is by no means a mere mental concept; it is what is really
do with gain, riches, or power.
real. This, in a nutshell, is what is generally meant by the
term Platonism. Reality lies in the Form, or Idea, which can
Epistemology and logic are more specialized and techni-
be known only by the mind, not the senses. Reality is not
cal branches of philosophy. They deal with theories of how
in the mind, but it is accessible only to the mind.
one knows things and the laws of thought. Finally, although
the term aesthetics (philosophy of art) was coined by Alexan-
If one accepts Whitehead’s somewhat oversimplified,
der Baumgarten only in the eighteenth century, Western in-
dramatic statement that “the whole history of philosophy is
quiry into the nature of art goes back as far as Plato and Aris-
nothing but a series of footnotes on Plato,” this thumbnail
totle. Aesthetics and the philosophy of art reached a
sketch may suffice to indicate the direction that the history
culmination as the meeting place of nature and spirit in the
of philosophy was to take. Two major periods followed the
philosophy of Kant, Schiller, and the other German Idealists.
Greek one: the medieval, when philosophy came together
The work of art, they believed, is nature transformed by
with the Judeo-Christian tradition, and the modern, begin-
spirit.
ning with Descartes. In the medieval period, philosophy
went hand in hand with theology and was employed in
Perhaps the most intelligible way to order terms unfa-
working out proofs of God’s existence or in clarifying the sta-
miliar to the nonphilosopher such as metaphysics and ontology
tus of the Platonic Forms, then known as “universals.”
is initially to adopt the classification set forth by Christian
Wolff (1679–1754). Metaphysics generally refers to that
With his well-known dictum “Cogito, ergo sum” (“I
which goes beyond (meta) the physical, although Aristotle’s
think, therefore I am”), Descartes opened up what is called
book of that name is so titled simply because he wrote it after
the modern period of philosophy. The term modern, in this
the Physics; the two books, the Physics and the Metaphysics,
case, indicates the belief that the unshakable foundation of
have roughly the same (metaphysical) subject matter. To put
all knowledge lies in the thinking subject. By isolating the
it briefly, metaphysics is supposed to deal with what is
subject as what alone is real, Descartes ushered in the era of
ultimate.
subjectivism, with its concomitant dualisms of mind-body,
mind-matter, and subject-object—dualisms that contempo-
Wolff divided metaphysics into two branches: general
rary philosophers are still struggling to overcome and that
metaphysics (metaphysica generalis) and special metaphysics
permeate everyday language and life.
(metaphysica specialis). General metaphysics is equivalent to
AREAS OF PHILOSOPHY. Having stated that philosophy has
ontology, the study of being, or what is (in Greek, to on) in
no specifiable subject matter peculiar to it, this article will
its generic traits. Special metaphysics consists of three parts:
take a look at some of the areas it prefers to deal with. These
rational psychology (study of the soul), rational cosmology
areas are articulated into what might be called different
(study of the cosmos or world), and rational theology (study
branches of philosophy. It would be well to preface this dis-
of God). Immanuel Kant called these three parts the Ideas
cussion with the remark that the phrase “philosophy of” can
of Pure Reason. By this he meant that these were the ultimate
precede almost anything. “The philosophy of sport” and “the
ideas that reason arrived at in its inherent attempt to unify
philosophy of fashion” impart a special perspective on an in-
the manifold (synthesize).
dependent subject matter.
PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION. Whereas in the East the rela-
tion of philosophy and religion is generally so unproblematic
As primary branches of philosophy, one might cite eth-
that there is often no clear-cut distinction between the two,
ics, epistemology, logic, aesthetics, metaphysics, and ontolo-
the situation in the West is not so simple. The mainstream
gy; on a secondary level, philosophy of law, philosophy of
of Western philosophy was closely involved with religious
politics, philosophy of science, philosophy of language, and
questions until the late nineteenth century; there was certain-
philosophy of religion. With the exception of philosophy of
ly never a question of major conflict. The Greeks in general
religion, this article shall not discuss these secondary
and Plato in particular pursued questions that are usually
branches.
taken to be religious (e.g., the immortality of the soul, trans-
The primary branches are as old as philosophy itself—
migration and the possibility of a future life or lives, the exis-
they go back to Plato. The first four are easily delineated; the
tence of the godlike), although there was no emphasis on the
last two are more problematic. An ethic is something that
human relation to a personal deity. When philosophy joined
every human being has; it is an idea of how they want to live
hands with the Judeo-Christian tradition in late antiquity,
their lives. Even if some have ethics that one would call high-
it became almost indissolubly linked to theology. With that
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PHILOSOPHY: AN OVERVIEW
7111
union arose the problem of reconciling philosophical
ridiculous attempt to escape the urgency of ultimately insa-
thought with established dogma. For example the eternity of
tiable appetites. This view posits one’s animality, one’s body,
the world and transmigration of souls are incompatible with
as the very basis of one’s being and renders one’s spiritual side
Christian dogma. When Descartes laid the foundation for
superfluous, not to say suspect. In this view, humans cannot
knowledge in the thinking subject (in reason as opposed to
be defined as Aristotle’s rational animal; they are the
faith), the possibility was created for the eventual parting of
botched-up animal. Animals do not suffer from doubts, de-
ways between philosophy and religion.
spair, depression; they are totally what they are. They are “in-
nocent.” But man is “the disease of nature” (Nietzsche). “He
This parting took place in the nineteenth century with
is not what he is and is what he is not”; he is “a useless pas-
such thinkers as Feuerbach, Marx, and, especially, Nietzsche,
sion” (Sartre). His so-called spirituality serves only to es-
with his pronouncement that God is dead. Since that time,
trange him from himself. Certainly, if individuals cannot
philosophers may or may not have religious concerns. For
achieve a certain transcendence, not just of their bodies, but
example, the twentieth-century movement labeled existen-
of themselves, their spirituality will only disturb the comforts
tialism can be divided into two camps: a theistic one (Marcel,
of animal existence. The plays of Samuel Beckett are among
Maritain) and an atheistic one (Sartre, Camus). Then there
the most powerful presentations of what human life utterly
are those thinkers whom one could call religious but who
lacking in transcendence is like.
have nothing to do with explicitly theological questions;
their religious sense provides a background for their philoso-
DIVERSE PHILOSOPHICAL POSITIONS. Some mention must
phizing (Heidegger, Wittgenstein). Finally, there are think-
be made of the diversity of philosophical positions with re-
ers who believe that religious questions are not the business
gard to the nature of reality. These positions lie between the
of philosophy, the main function of which is to develop criti-
two opposite poles of idealism and empiricism, between
cal argument (Russell, Moore). A twentieth-century thinker
stressing the importance of reason and of the senses. Humans
and theologian who sought to mediate between philosophy
seem to have two main accesses to the nature of the world
and religion, Paul Tillich, defines humankind in terms of its
and reality: their senses, which tell them about colors,
ultimate concern, which is a truly religious, but not a theo-
sounds, and so forth, and reason, which tells them about
logical, definition. Instead of defining the human being as
concepts such as mathematical truths and the existence of
the animal with reason (zoon logon echon), as Aristotle and
God. Those philosophers who feel that the senses are the
virtually everyone after him did, Tillich defines the human
most important access to reality tend to downplay the activi-
being in terms of his or her link to something ultimate or
ty of the mind, restricting it to combining and relating sense
divine. In a similar vein, Heidegger speaks of humanity in
impressions. The most influential exponent of this view was
terms of its relation to being.
the empiricist John Locke. At the other end of the scale, there
It was, however, chiefly theology, as distinct from reli-
is the rationalist or idealist who mistrusts the senses because
gion, that joined with philosophy, by using such concepts
they are often deceptive and who looks to reason or the mind
as Plato’s Good (agathon) and Aristotle’s Unmoved Mover
for the foundation of knowledge. Plato was the first to articu-
to interpret theological ideas. Religion would appear to be a
late fully this view, which has had a long and varied history.
broader and less sharply defined term than theology. The ety-
Many gradations exist between these two extremes of
mological root of the word religion is the same as that of yoga;
empiricism and rationalism. Some philosophers combine
the root means “to join or link,” and yoga comes to mean
them in various ways; for example, Berkeley, who is both em-
“to join (man to something transcending him).”
pirical and idealist (he is the philosopher who denied the ex-
Thus, perhaps the main question with regard to the rela-
istence of matter), or Kant, who insisted that one needs both
tion of philosophy to religion is whether humans are con-
sense experience and the understanding in order to have
ceived as a self-contained and self-sufficient physical beings
knowledge. More recently, there have been such movements
whose essences coincide with their material existence or as
as pragmatism and phenomenology, which seek to overcome
spiritual beings whose existence points beyond themselves
the duality—pragmatism by turning its attention away from
and the “human-all-too-human.” In the latter case, philoso-
such purely theoretical questions to more practical ones (if
phy and religion coalesce; in the former, they diverge.
it works, it is “true”), and phenomenology by looking at the
“things themselves” as they show themselves prior to any
Not only is the question of belief in a divine being or
such division. In any case, these “isms” never exhaust the phi-
some kind of transcendence at stake in the question of reli-
losopher’s thought; they are convenient labels that can help
gion, but also the question of the nature of humanity. If the
individuals to orient themselves initially; more they cannot
human being is conceived purely as a natural being, there
and should not be intended to do.
seems to be no need or perhaps no room for anything god-
like. One can draw a certain parallel between religion and
EASTERN PERSPECTIVES. The time is approaching when
art here. One can conceive of art, as did Freud, as a surrogate
Western philosophers will no longer be able to neglect East-
for more basic (more real) sexual drives. This conception
ern thought with impunity. Hinduism and Buddhism in
makes a mockery of any kind of transcendence; transcen-
India, Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism in China, to
dence is utterly fabricated, a futile, self-deluding, and mildly
name just two cultures, form a vast tradition from which the
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West can learn. But because these traditions are so vast, it
Marx and Freud is still evident in an emphasis on the human
will take time to get all the material translated, make it avail-
being as a natural being and a sexual being. If there is one
able, and assimilate it. The following brief comments are
trend that is dominant today, it is that philosophers are pre-
broad and sweeping.
occupied with the question of language, though in the most
diverse ways imaginable. From Wittgenstein’s philosophy of
In general, Eastern thought does not separate philoso-
ordinary language to Heidegger’s poetic, noncalculative
phy and religion. The main concern of its philosophy as well
thinking to the intricacies of the French schools, philoso-
as its religion can be said to be soteriological, focusing on
phers are taking a hard look at the way people use and struc-
some kind of salvation of the individual. Salvation means lit-
ture language or the way it structures them. These are prob-
erally “to make whole.” In India, salvation can be conceived
lems that religious thinkers have long been aware of in their
as union of the self (a¯tman) with the Absolute (brahman) in
own province. Their particular formulation of the problem
Hinduism or as the attainment of nirva¯n:a (liberation, en-
asks how one can use finite language, the language naming
lightenment) in Buddhism. In both of these religions, salva-
finite things (there is no other), to speak about something
tion means the cessation of rebirths and release from sam:sa¯ra,
neither finite nor a thing.
the round of birth and death perpetuated by the individual’s
craving or ignorance. The Indian philosophical tradition is
It is to be hoped that the philosophers will not encapsu-
richly speculative, and many rather elaborate metaphysical
late themselves in technical areas of academic specialization,
systems have been developed. In particular, Indian theories
but will be able to face and grapple with the issues looming
of consciousness are intriguingly elaborate and subtle, far
today. The gloomiest of the existentialists seem to have
outstripping anything of this sort the West has produced.
played themselves out without having found much solace for
For example, certain Buddhist schools enumerate as many
the predicaments they delineated, but the force of what they
as one hundred elements of consciousness.
expressed still continues in literature, drama, and art in a
more vivid, aesthetic form.
As Buddhism gradually lost ground in India, it moved
on to China, where it was assimilated to the indigenous reli-
If philosophy stays aloof from the existential concerns
gions of Daoism and Confucianism. Chinese thought mani-
of the human being, as it did and does in movements so vast-
fests a more practical and concrete temperament than the In-
ly different as Scholasticism and logical positivism, it loses
dian, and much of the Buddhist metaphysical speculation
its original (Platonic) sense of a quest for something tran-
was discarded. This tendency continued as Buddhism was
scending humanity. Aristotle said that philosophy begins in
later transmitted to Japan.
wonder. Perhaps in times of spiritual destitution such as the
present, wonder could be the beginning of the end of
Thus far, Eastern influence on Western thinkers has
thoughtlessness. As Heidegger, quoting his favorite German
been minimal. Leibniz (1646) was probably one of the first
poet, Hölderlin, says: Where the danger grows, there also
philosophers to show an interest in China. This is no mere
grows the saving power. The philosopher must strive to
coincidence; there are truly remarkable affinities between his
avoid the extremes of petulant pessimism and mindless
Monadology and Huayan Buddhism. In the nineteenth cen-
optimism.
tury, Hegel referred to Eastern thought in his History of Phi-
losophy,
but his thoroughly Western bias resulted in a rather
SEE ALSO Aesthetics; Apologetics; Cosmology; Henotheism;
condescending treatment. Schopenhauer made use of both
Knowledge and Ignorance; Morality and Religion; Panthe-
Hindu and Buddhist ideas, weaving them into a remarkable
ism and Panentheism; Religious Experience; Revelation; So-
fabric with Platonism and Kantianism. And Nietzsche, in his
teriology; Soul; Theism; Theodicy; Transcendence and Im-
manence; Truth.
attack on traditional philosophy and religion, lumped Bud-
dhism together with Christianity, pronouncing them both
BIBLIOGRAPHY
“religions of exhaustion.” A serious, fruitful dialogue has yet
The following works, given in chronological order, represent clas-
to take place.
sics in the development of Western philosophical thought.
CURRENT TRENDS. In conclusion, one might well raise the
Plato. Collected Dialogues. Edited by Edith Hamilton and Hun-
timely questions of where philosophers are heading now and
tington Cairns. New York, 1963.
what sorts of issues attract their attention. The answers will,
Aristotle. The Basic Works of Aristotle. Edited by Richard McKeon.
of course, vary with different countries and areas of special-
New York, 1941.
ization. But a few general, tentative observations can be
Augustine. The Confessions of St. Augustine. Translated by Edward
made.
B. Pusey. New York, 1961.
The interest in metaphysics seems to be definitely on the
Thomas Aquinas. Concerning Being and Essence. Translated by
wane. With the great figures of German Idealism (Fichte,
George G. Leckie. New York, 1965.
Hegel, Schelling) and their British counterparts, metaphysics
Descartes, René. Meditations on First Philosophy. Translated by
may have exhausted its possibilities. The era of systems and
Donald A. Cress. Indianapolis, 1979.
of the dominance of reason and rationality would appear to
Spinoza, Barukh. Ethics. Translated by William Hale White, re-
lie in the past. A lingering and self-perpetuating interest in
vised by Amelia Hutchinson Stirling. New York, 1949.
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PHILOSOPHY: PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION
7113
Leibniz, G. W. Discourse on Metaphysics, Correspondence with Ar-
preting the basic beliefs of Christianity concerning God,
nauld, and Monadology. Translated by George R. Montgom-
Christ, human beings, and the world in terms of the insights
ery. Chicago, 1962.
of the Neoplatonic philosophy current in their time. More
Locke, John. An Essay concerning Human Understanding. Edited
than a century earlier, the Jewish philosopher Philo Judaeus
by Peter H. Nidditch. Corr. ed. Oxford, 1979.
(d. 45–50 CE) carried out much the same enterprise for the
Berkeley, George. Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous.
Hebraic tradition, drawing chiefly on the thought of the
Edited by Colin M. Turbayne. New York, 1954.
Greek philosopher Plato (c. 429–347 BCE), and the Pythago-
Hume, David. A Treatise on Human Nature. 3 vols. London,
rean and Stoic schools. This type of interpreting—or dia-
1739.
logue, if you will—involving the use of the Greco-Roman
Kant, Immanuel. Critique of Pure Reason. Translated by Norman
philosophical systems for formulating the ideas and elucidat-
Kemp Smith. New York, 1929.
ing the religious insights of the biblical tradition, continued
Hegel, G. W. F. Phenomenology of Spirit. Translated by A. V. Mil-
throughout the Middle Ages and lasted until the end of the
ler. Oxford, 1977.
Renaissance.
Heidegger, Martin. Being and Time. Translated by John Macquar-
Despite the fact that the historical interactions between
rie and Edward Robinson. New York, 1962.
religion and philosophy must always be concrete—because
Wittgenstein, Ludwig. Tractatus logico philosophicus. Translated
it is the thought of a particular philosopher or school of phi-
by C. K. Ogden. London, 1958.
losophy that is interacting with a specific religious tradi-
New Sources
tion—both are themselves enduring forms to be found in
Bourdieu, Pierre. Practical Reason. Translated by Randal Johnson.
every culture, and they are marked by general features that
Stanford, Calif., 1998.
serve to distinguish one from the other. It is on this account
Bourgeois, Patrick L. Philosophy at the Boundary of Reason: Ethics
that one not only can but must come to some theoretical un-
and Postmodernity. Albany, 2001.
derstanding of how religious faith and philosophical reflec-
Coetzee, P.H., and A.P.J. Roux. The African Philosophy Reader.
tion are related not only as a matter of historical fact but as
2nd ed. New York, 2003.
one of principle. To speak of principle means to approach
the task of reaching down to the roots of these two spiritual
Lakoff, George, and Mark Johnson. Philosophy in the Flesh: The
Embodied Mind and Its Challenge to Western Thought. New
forms, universal in the experience of humankind, in an at-
York, 1999.
tempt to grasp what they essentially are and to determine
how they should be related to each other. That the task is
Lloyd, Genevieve. Feminism and the History of Philosophy. New
York, 2002.
not easy should be obvious in view of the enormous variety
of religious experiences and of philosophical outlooks re-
Mohanty, Jitendra Nath. Reason and Tradition in Indian Thought:
corded in human history. The task is, nevertheless, inescap-
An Essay on the Nature of Indian Philosophical Thinking. Ox-
able if one is to understand one’s self, and therefore one must
ford, 1992.
not be dissuaded by the knowledge that no one characteriza-
Nichol, Lee, ed. The Essential David Bohm. New York, 2003.
tion of either religion or philosophy can capture everything
Rorty, Richard. Philosophy and Social Hope. New York, 1999.
or satisfy everybody.
JOAN STAMBAUGH (1987)
The American philosopher and psychologist William
Revised Bibliography
James (1842–1910), in his epoch-making study The Varieties
of Religious Experience
(1902), quite rightly described religion
as concerned chiefly with a strategy for redemption calling
PHILOSOPHY: PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION
all human beings away from the snares and illusions of natu-
The two enduring forms of spiritual expression designated
ral existence and back to their true selves. That such a strate-
by the terms religion and philosophy quite obviously never
gy is needed follows from the fact, not always sufficiently rec-
confront each other as such; they enter into relations with
ognized, that every religion offers a diagnosis of the human
one another only in historical and specific terms. It is in the
predicament, a judgment focusing attention on some flaw or
visions of individual philosophers as they intersect with the
defect in natural existence that stands as an obstacle between
beliefs and the practices of particular religious traditions
one’s self and the ideal life envisioned by the particular reli-
that one finds the living relations between religion and phi-
gion in question. Redemption, in short, means being deliv-
losophy.
ered from that flaw through a divine power capable of over-
THE NATURE OF RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY AND THEIR
coming it. And the nature of the deliverance is determined
RELATION TO EACH OTHER. A fine example of the interac-
in every religious faith by the character of the flaw envisaged.
tion between religion and philosophy is found in the thought
Both the diagnosis and the strategy of redemption derive
of Clement (150?–215?) and Origen (c. 185–c. 254), usually
from the lives and insights of the founders, sages, and proph-
known as the Christian Platonists of Alexandria because their
ets upon which the religious tradition rests. The articulated
school was located in that ancient center of Hellenistic cul-
beliefs and practices that define a particular religious tradi-
ture. As this appellation implies, they were engaged in inter-
tion are transmitted from age to age through historical com-
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PHILOSOPHY: PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION
munities of faith. Individuals owe their life to the tradition
but such schools do not perform the same functions as a reli-
in which they stand, but the tradition owes its life to the con-
gious community. The latter exists to bring together many
tinuing community sustained by the spiritual bonds existing
individuals in a spiritual unity that transfigures life; schools
between the members.
of thought are primarily focal points of understanding and
a place for the meeting of minds.
Philosophy, on the other hand, has as its chief concern
the attainment of a comprehensive theoretical understanding
Much of the foregoing analysis has, of course, been
of the many types and levels of being in the universe and
based entirely on the situation in the West, where the three
their relations to each other, including a conception of the
major faiths—Judaism, Islam, and Christianity—found
place to be assigned in the cosmic scheme to human beings
themselves confronted with the autonomous philosophical
and their experience. As far as Western philosophy is con-
systems developed in the classical world. These systems were
cerned, two different lines of inquiry manifested themselves
autonomous in the sense that they were not developed under
in the earliest stages of development. On one side curiosity
the special aegis of religious belief, even if they were some-
was directed toward the discovery of the most pervasive or
times influenced by religious ideas. They represent the reflec-
universal traits exhibited by everything that is. Such features
tions of individual minds attempting to articulate a compre-
as unity and plurality, identity and difference, spatial and
hensive vision of what there truly is above and beyond
temporal location, acting and being acted upon were singled
appearances and mere opinions. The case of Aristotle, al-
out as constituting the universal order holding sway through-
though in some respects unique, provides a clear illustration.
out the universe. This line of inquiry can be called the quest
His thought, ranging as it does over the entire spectrum of
for the categories ingredient in both the world and the struc-
experience and existence, embraces a profound conception
ture of human thought and knowledge about it. Without
of God as, among other things, the Unmoved Mover. There
pushing the identification too far, one may say that this side
is, as has often been pointed out, no essential connection be-
of philosophy is one that it shares with science. The affinity
tween this conception of God and religion. In fact the
is nicely illustrated by the fact that what is called science
thought of Aristotle on this point has often been described
today went by the name of “natural philosophy” in the sev-
as the paradigm of conceptions of God without religion.
enteenth and eighteenth centuries, as can be seen from the
full title of the famous treatise written by the English physi-
It is necessary to emphasize the autonomous nature of
cist Isaac Newton (1642–1727), Principia mathematica
the classical philosophical systems for at least two reasons.
philosophiae naturalis (1687).
One is the tension resulting from the fact that these philoso-
phies, while useful in providing the concepts and principles
On its other side, philosophy meant a bolder and more
through which primary religious experience and insight
speculative inquiry prompted by wonder about the being of
could be precisely expressed, stood at the same time as rival
things. Wonder in the face of the fact that there is anything
interpretations of reality to which the biblically based reli-
at all and wonder about what there might be about things
gions had to come to terms. To appeal to Aristotle again for
that sustains them and causes them to stand out against
an illustration, his conception of the world as eternal, or as
nothingness and the void. This concern for what came to be
not having come into being in time, posed a serious problem
called metaphysics in one of its senses has expressed itself in
with regard to so central a doctrine of biblical religion as that
the quest for a ground not only of the being of things but
of creation. Religious thinkers, therefore, could not avail
of human being as well; the latter concern led to the inclu-
themselves of his thought as a framework for theology with-
sion of speculative insight about the good and ideal human
out first reinterpreting it at crucial points. It is noteworthy
existence within the scope of philosophy. Understood in this
that the tension thus introduced, plus the fear of distorting
sense, philosophy shows its affinity with the concerns of reli-
the religious message by expressing it in philosophical terms,
gion, an overlap of interest that has in the past occasioned
led some thinkers, especially representatives of early Latin
both fruitful cooperation as well as conflict between them.
Christianity, to reject philosophy as an alien medium and to
The two, however, remain distinct by virtue of their different
declare, with Tertullian (160?–225?), that “Jerusalem has
aims and approaches. This difference may be summed up in
nothing to do with Athens.” This negative attitude, however,
a way that is symbolic for both: The reality of the divine,
did not prevail, and the subsequent course of Western reli-
however conceived, is always the initial conviction of the reli-
gious thought, at least until the Reformation, was marked by
gious outlook, while for philosophy that reality remains the
a continuous interaction between philosophical and religious
final or ultimate problem.
ideas.
There is yet another difference between religion and
The second reason for dwelling on the autonomy of the
philosophy, and its meaning becomes clear when one takes
philosophies that figured so largely in the religious thought
into account what was said previously about the role of the
of the West is that it opens to view a most important contrast
religious community. Philosophical analyses and visions are
with much Eastern thought. It is generally admitted that
the products of solitary thinkers whose doctrines have indeed
there is not to be found in the Hindu and Buddhist tradi-
formed the basis of traditions and schools of thought, witness
tions, for example, any sharp and clear distinction between
Plato and the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384–322 BCE),
religion and philosophy. The two are closely interwoven, and
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7115
there is no clear historical counterpart in the history of these
have been characterized by attempts on the part of religious
traditions to the situation in the West, where more or less
thinkers to deal with what came to be known as the empiri-
clearly defined religions encountered distinctive and already
cist criterion of meaning.
formed philosophies. It must, of course, be borne in mind
that this is speaking in very general terms; one cannot say
Three strategies have been proposed for overcoming the
dogmatically that no distinction whatever was drawn be-
obstacles that arose and impeded a continuation of the classi-
tween religion and philosophy in the Eastern cultures, espe-
cal dialogue between religious insight and philosophical re-
cially in view of some difficult cases such as Confucianism
flection. The first is represented by those religious thinkers
and Daoism. The former is often described not as a religion
who accepted the Kantian thesis that knowledge extends no
but as a philosophical system of ethics, and the latter seems
further than mathematics and what he called the general sci-
to have had its roots primarily in philosophical reflections
ence of nature, so that metaphysics, and especially the classi-
that in time assumed religious form. Contemporary histori-
cal proofs for the existence of God, become invalid, because
cal scholars, moreover, in rewriting the history of Indian
they transcend the limits of what the human understanding
thought, for example, are putting more emphasis, possibly
can know. Because these thinkers were committed to up-
under Western influence, on the strictly philosophical theo-
holding the validity of religion, their task was to find some
ries represented by the classical systems of thought and dis-
new basis for it other than metaphysics and philosophy. The
tinguishing them from “salvation doctrines” said to be repre-
second strategy found expression in those who accepted the
sentative of religion. Be this as it may, the important point
theory of one criterion of meaning and who, insofar as they
is that the problems faced by Western thinkers in relating re-
were concerned with religion at all, identified it with emo-
ligion and philosophy were quite different from those con-
tion, feeling, and attitudes, all of which were said to be de-
fronting their counterparts in the East. It is one thing to at-
void of cognitive significance. This was the position of posi-
tempt to relate two forms of insight to each other starting
tivism or logical empiricism. Finally, there was the
within a historical situation in which they meet each other
alternative associated chiefly with the name of the Austrian
as quite distinct, and another to confront the problem of
philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951), who saw
their interconnections in cultures where the two were never
the limitations of the empiricist criterion of meaning and the
clearly separated from the outset.
difficulties involved in justifying it. Consequently, he pro-
posed instead to focus attention not on meaning but on the
IMPACT OF KANT’S PHILOSOPHY AND THE EMPIRICIST CRI-
use of language in different contexts of experience—
TERION OF MEANING. Concentrating on Western civiliza-
aesthetic, economic, religious, moral, and so forth. These dif-
tion, where the interaction between religious faith and philo-
ferent uses of language were called “language games,” and he
sophical inquiry has so largely determined the history of
described the language of religion as distinctive because it ex-
both, it is necessary to understand the impact of two decisive
presses what he called a “form of life.” Just as in the preced-
developments that greatly disrupted the sort of exchange that
ing alternative, however, no cognitive status can be claimed
had resulted in the monumental philosophico-religious syn-
for religious utterance, although it must be admitted that in
theses represented by such thinkers as Augustine of Hippo
shifting from meaning to use Wittgenstein intended to criti-
(354–430); Anselm of Canterbury (1033–1109); Philo Ju-
cize positivism for having gone too far.
daeus; Moses Maimonides, the medieval Jewish philosopher
(1135–1204); Bonaventure, the scholastic theologian and
It should be evident that each of these alternatives repre-
philosopher (1217–1274); Duns Scotus, Scottish philoso-
sents a response to the Kantian philosophy, with its restric-
pher and theologian (1265?–1308); and Thomas Aquinas,
tion of reason to the bounds of sense and of knowledge to
author of the monumental Summa theologiae (1226–1274);
science. The proponents of all three alternatives basically ac-
as well as such Muslim thinkers as Ibn Rushd (Averroës,
cepted Kant’s analysis as valid, but with important differ-
1126–1198) and Ibn Sina (Avicenna, 980–1037), who sus-
ences. Those who adopted the first strategy had the strongest
tained for Islamic religion the same kind of dialogue with Ar-
concern for preserving religion, and they consequently
istotle carried on for Christianity by Albertus Magnus, the
sought to find new foundations for it, while at the same time
German scholastic philosopher (1200–1280) and Thomas
leaving Kant’s position intact. The positivists, on the whole,
Aquinas. The first of these developments was the attack by
regarded religion as outmoded and its utterances as without
the German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) on
meaning; in this they went beyond Kant in abolishing his
the traditional metaphysics that had so long served as a medi-
distinction between what can be meaningfully thought and
um of expression for religious belief; the second was the
what can be known. Kant, that is to say, held that individuals
claim, stemming from the philosophies of empiricism, that
can validly think the idea of God, because reason demands
there is a single criterion for determining the meaning and
that they do, but that knowledge of the reality meant is not
truth value of all statements, and that this criterion is found
possible. In identifying meaning with the possibility of verifi-
in sense experience and the knowledge represented by sci-
cation in sense experience, the positivists had to deny that
ence. Relations between philosophy and religion had been
the idea of God is meaningful in any sense. Wittgenstein,
determined since the beginning of the nineteenth century by
though not alone in his criticism, had, nevertheless, the most
the response to Kant and since early in the twentieth century
influential voice in turning back the positivist approach. He
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claimed, in effect, that the use of language in theoretical sci-
Ritschl found the basis of theology not in metaphysics but
ence is not its only use; account must be taken as well of the
in a value judgment expressing the practical significance of
functions of language in other contexts of experience, includ-
a divine reality, the value judgment in question is of a com-
ing the religious. Thus, he argued, instead of stopping inqui-
plex sort. Jesus, the object in human experience possessing
ry before it begins by invoking the positivist criterion of
the value of Godhead, is the occasion upon which individu-
meaning and declaring religious expression meaningless, the
als apprehend him as the bearer of grace, the one who reveals
task is to understand the grammar and the logic of the lan-
God as love. Insofar as individuals experience and evaluate
guage and forms of expression actually used by the members
the action of Jesus in revealing God, they see him as God.
of religious communities. One very significant consequence
According to Ritschl, however, it is not through command
of this approach was the discovery that “religious language”
or authority that Jesus is effective, but only through his
embraces a considerable variety of types of expression and
moral teachings. In realizing God’s goal, Jesus also realizes
that careful distinctions are necessary if each type is to be un-
one’s own goal, which is the fulfillment of one’s purpose in
derstood in terms proper to itself. The devotional language
life. Ritschl saw in this fundamental evaluation the justifica-
of worship, for example, differs in important respects from
tion whereby individuals gain admission to the kingdom of
the conceptual language needed for theology, which in turn
God through Jesus in the church. In making the moral di-
differs from the languages represented by myth, parable, ex-
mension central, Ritschl was able to retain a theology unaf-
hortation, and prophetic insight.
fected by Kant’s elimination of classical metaphysics.
Invaluable as this sort of clarification has been in foster-
This proposed solution of the relation between philoso-
ing a better understanding of what religion is and means, it
phy and religion is not, however, without difficulties. Grant-
does not engage the problem of validity in religion, nor does
ed that Ritschl’s position involves something more than a
it go very far in relating religion to other dimensions of expe-
simple reduction of the religious to the moral, the fact re-
rience. In fact the language-game approach in the hands of
mains that the latter is too limited in scope to do justice to
Wittgenstein and his followers has tended to encapsulate reli-
the religious concern. Morality is concerned primarily with
gion in a sphere of sheer faith—fideism—cut off from all
what a person is to do, while religion aims at what a person
forms of knowledge. So great a gap between reason and faith
is to be, and the problem of being presents itself at this point
has been brought about that Wittgenstein could find no way
in the form of the need to find a basis for the unity and integ-
of overcoming it. On the contrary, he even claimed that if
rity of the person, something not to be resolved within the
there were a single scrap of “empirical” evidence to support
confines of morality and values. There is, in addition, the fact
what is intended to be a religious statement, it would thereby
that the biblical message involves other theological concepts
cease to be “religious.” The major difficulty with such a posi-
requiring an articulation that takes one beyond the resources
tion is that it fails to deal with the most important fact about
of morality and valuation.
religious belief, which is that those who adhere to it do so
with the firm conviction that it is true, that reality is in ac-
A second, and far more influential, attempt to resolve
cord with it, even if they are unable to give an account of
the problem was made by the brilliant Danish thinker So⁄ren
what this precisely means in philosophical terms.
Kierkegaard (1813–1855). Using the philosophy of Absolute
Spirit set forth by the German philosopher G. W. F. Hegel
Enough has been said about the second and third alter-
(1770–1831) as both a foil and the focal point of his attack,
natives to indicate that they are not ultimately satisfactory.
and declaring that “Kant is my philosopher,” Kierkegaard in-
This author should now like to return to the first alternative
sisted that Christianity is concerned primarily with the rela-
and mention briefly a number of the proposals that have
tion of faith between God and human beings and that on
been made to find a new basis for religion without violating
this account it stands over against speculative philosophy and
the limits imposed by Kant. It shall be suggested that each
all efforts to make Christian doctrine “rational.” According
of these proposals expresses something important, but that
to Kierkegaard, the central Christian claim that the eternal
no one of them achieves a satisfactory relation between reli-
has entered time is the “absolute paradox,” defying all media-
gion and philosophy. Finally, this article will propse a fourth
tion and rational explanation; God confronts human pride
alternative that is actually a new version of the ancient dia-
and refusal to acknowledge his status as a creature, so that
logue between religion and philosophy.
religion is and must always appear as an “offense.” If it does
One of the most important religious responses to Kant
not, says Kierkegaard, then it is inauthentic and conventional
was the thought of the German theologian Albrecht Ritschl
for having been made “palatable” or consonant with human
(1822–1889) and his school, which made its appearance at
reason. From this perspective, rooted in the primacy of exis-
the middle of the nineteenth century. He sought to free the-
tence—that is, the individual who finds himself “there” in a
ology from dependence on metaphysics by stressing the es-
time and place confronting the problem of salvation—
sentially moral meaning of religious conceptions. Following
attempts like that of Hegel to use speculative reason to break
Kant in stressing the primacy of practical reason, Ritschl en-
through the mystery of the eternal entering time succeed
visaged Christianity as a faith aimed at the realization of a
only in distorting the essential religious message, for, Kierke-
practical ideal of human life. While it is correct to say that
gaard insisted, this message is simply “absurd” when consid-
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PHILOSOPHY: PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION
7117
ered from the standpoint of human reason. Although not
contrast, was marked not only by a powerful sense of the real-
without philosophical acumen of his own, Kierkegaard de-
ity of time and a linear history, but by the belief that histori-
voted himself, through his genius for irony, wit, paradox,
cal development is itself the medium through which the na-
and profound psychological insight, to the confounding of
ture, and especially the will, of God is revealed.
philosophy, thus opening a wide gap between reason and re-
Numerous attempts have been made, going back to the
ligion. Kierkegaard could well afford to accept the strictures
German theologians Wilhelm Herrmann (1846–1922) and
on theoretical reason dictated by Kant’s philosophy, because
Ernst Troeltsch (1865–1923), to establish the primacy of
he was firmly convinced that Christianity neither can nor
history as the medium for understanding and interpreting re-
need be made “rational.”
ligion; no brief discussion, however, could possibly do justice
For all of its undoubted insights into the human condi-
to all the shades of opinion and differences of emphasis that
tion and the meaning of God and faith, Kierkegaard’s posi-
have been expressed. If these attempts, and those represented
tion is ultimately unstable. In the face of Hegel’s massive ra-
more recently by the thought of such theologians as H. Rich-
tionalism, Kierkegaard was undoubtedly right in seeking to
ard Niebuhr (1894–1962), Rudolf Bultmann (1884–1976),
discover the reality of the individual and the need to appro-
Friedrich Gogarten (1887–1967), and John Macquarrie have
priate Christian faith in a personal commitment, something
anything in common, it is the belief that not philosophy but
that does not happen by understanding alone. But in equat-
historical experience and the course of history provide both
ing thought with possibility, so that it necessarily abstracts
the foundation of Christian faith and the interpretative
from existing (the individual’s being and situation), Kierke-
framework within which it is to be understood. It is, of
gaard not only lost the basis upon which thought can be said
course, true that this approach has deep roots in the biblical
to penetrate and illuminate human life, but he was forced
tradition; Christianity followed the faith of the Hebrew
as well to turn existence into a “surd” element—“what
scriptures (Old Testament) in recognizing the unique con-
thought cannot think.” As subsequent developments proved,
ception of a linear history in and through which the will of
the step from the “surd” to the “absurd” is quite short and
God becomes manifest. Wolfhart Pannenberg, the contem-
contains a pitfall. The withdrawal of reflective thought from
porary German theologian, writes, “Indeed, if it is at all pos-
existence led ultimately to the declaration that religion is illu-
sible . . . to compress [the] biblical understanding of reality
sory because human existence itself is absurd. That is to say,
into a single word, that word would certainly be ‘history’”
existence came to be thought absurd, not in the ironic and
(Faith and Reality, Philadelphia, 1977, p. 10). The strength
paradoxical Kierkegaardian sense, but rather in the sense es-
of this position is found in what it positively accomplishes
tablished by the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–
in highlighting the essential contribution of the temporal
1980), according to which religion is abolished and no
and historical—the incarnation as the disclosure of God in
meaning attaches to human existence in itself but is found
history—as opposed to all static conceptions of reality,
only in what individuals, through the heroic human will, can
wherein no provision is made either for history as a medium
succeed in creating for themselves. Kierkegaard, to be sure,
of revelation or for the novel and creative increment repre-
is not to be held accountable for this later development, but
sented by the course of history itself. If, however, whether
in his insistence on the irreconcilability of religion and phi-
under the influence of an exaggerated contrast between the
losophy, he left religion open to dissolution by those who
Hebraic and Greek views of the historical, or in an effort to
could see no rationality in it and were unpersuaded by his
remain within the limits of Kant’s philosophy alone, propo-
modern version of the ancient proclamation, “I believe be-
nents of the history-as-medium view hope to replace philoso-
cause it is absurd.”
phy with history, serious problems arise. For, on the one
hand, there is the philosophical problem of understanding
Yet another alternative framework for the articulation
the nature of historical events, the relation between interpret-
of religious insight took the form of an appeal to “sacred his-
ing and explaining them and, consequently, of having some
tory,” or the history of divine redemption. From this stand-
theory about the connections between history, nature, and
point, theology has to do not with the classical doctrine of
God. These are essentially philosophical concerns not to be
God expressed, as in the case of the medieval theologians,
resolved on the basis of the historical dimension alone.
through philosophical categories, but with the activity of
Moreover, there is no avoiding the theological issue posed
God, discernible through the eyes of faith, in accomplishing
by the mediating function history is to perform, for it is not
the redemption of the whole creation through history. This
only the so-called brute historical datum that is involved, but
position finds strong support in the undoubtedly valid, even
the all-important fact that this datum—especially the histo-
if sometimes exaggerated, distinction between the funda-
ricity of Jesus—must mean or point to God. This fact leads
mental patterns exhibited by Hebraic and Greek thought.
directly to the vexing problems stemming from the need to
The latter, stressing form and the timelessness attached to
appeal to a “sacred” history that bears the religious meaning
being and truth, found itself, insofar as attention was focused
without thereby losing the historicity assumed to belong ipso
on history at all, interpreting the course of human events in
facto to the “secular” account of the events in question. Once
essentially cyclical terms after the fashion of the continual re-
again, an attempt to respect what the Swiss theologian Karl
currence of forms in the natural world. Hebraic thought, by
Barth (1886–1968) has called the “Kantian terms for peace”
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in the relations between philosophy and religion, and to find
appropriate medium for expressing what they take to be rele-
a medium for religious thought other than metaphysics,
vant in religious belief for dealing with these concerns. A fine
turns, after the fashion of Hegel’s logic, into its opposite, so
example of this trend of thought is found in what has come
that new philosophical and theological problems arise in the
to be called “liberation theology,” which focuses attention on
effort to establish this medium as the successor of meta-
the concerns of the oppressed. There is no doubt that this
physics.
development has been playing an important role in bringing
religious faith into the arena of social, economic, and politi-
Other religious thinkers, sometimes called the “theolo-
cal problems of the utmost urgency. In the context of the
gians of encounter,” have maintained that religion finds its
present discussion, however, it is necessary to call attention
foundation neither in metaphysics, history, nor morality, but
to a basic problem. A liberation theology must be, whatever
in an immediate encounter establishing a relation with a di-
else it is, a theology, which is to say that it must remain in
vine Thou, somewhat analogous to the situation in which
touch with both religious and philosophical thought con-
two persons are related to each other through intimate bonds
cerning God, because the social sciences themselves do not
of love, compassion, and concern. Central to this outlook is
provide this content.
a contrast similar to that between meeting and being ac-
quainted with a person in direct encounter and “knowing
The most radical position as regards the relation be-
about” that person indirectly through abstract concepts.
tween religion and philosophy finds expression in the claim
The small classic written by the Jewish philosopher
that religion is exclusively a matter of revelation—the word
Martin Buber (1878–1965), I and Thou, gave moving ex-
of God—and stands in no need of mediation through secular
pression to this way of understanding the relation between
knowledge, including philosophy. The theology of neoor-
humankind and God and exerted a powerful influence on
thodoxy, as it was called, represented chiefly by the massive
Jewish and Christian thought alike. Buber, by no means a
work of Barth, is based on the proposition that there is no
foe of philosophy, did, however, under the influence of Kant,
“point of contact” between reason and revealed truth; every
draw a sharp distinction between the theoretical, conceptual
philosophical position is equally distant from and thus equal-
knowledge of objects—what he called the “it-world”—and
ly irrelevant to the theological articulation of religious faith.
the experienced relations between persons who meet and ac-
To take but one example, a secular philosopher discussing
knowledge each other as such—the world of the “thou.” Ac-
the meaning of nothingness, according to Barth, could, ipso
cordingly, Buber interpreted religion as the special relation
facto, not be referring to the same nothing from which, in
established between the “I” and the divine “Thou.” Theoreti-
the biblical account, the creation was called forth. The rup-
cal knowing Buber saw as nullifying the “I-thou” relations
ture is complete; philosophy and religion must dwell in two
precisely because it objectifies its content and leaves the
separate and noncommunicating spheres.
world of persons out of account.
The responses to Kant do not exhaust the interplay be-
The approach to God through encounter has had its
tween religion and philosophy in the period under consider-
representatives among Christian theologians as well, with, of
ation. One must take into account as well the impact on reli-
course, certain transformations necessary to accommodate
gion of logic-analytic philosophies, as represented by Rudolf
that tradition. The Divine-Human Encounter, by the Swiss
Carnap (1891–1970) and the proponents of logical empiri-
theologian Emil Brunner (1889–1966), is a paradigm of the
cism, and A. J. Ayer, whose Language, Truth and Logic had
view that human meets God in a faith that is essentially an
serious repercussions not only for religious thought, but for
“answering” acceptance of the divine word, something that
metaphysics, ethics, and aesthetic theory as well. In fairness
is neither a thinking “about” God nor the communication
to Ayer, it should be noted that he no longer holds the views
of information. H. H. Farmer has expressed a similar idea
expressed in his epoch-making book; on the other hand, one
in The World and God, where he declares that the experience
cannot afford to ignore the sort of positivism expressed there
of divine encounter “must be self-authenticating and able to
because it was those ideas that, so to speak, did the work.
shine in its own light, independently of the abstract reflec-
Central to the thought of both Carnap and Ayer is what
tions of philosophy. . . .” Barth, although his theological
has been called the empiricist criterion of meaning, or the
system is far too complex to be subsumed under the encoun-
thesis that the meaningfulness of any utterance is to be deter-
ter thesis, nevertheless insists that God remains forever a sub-
mined solely by verification (or verifiability) in sense experi-
ject, and that through the incarnation in Christ he makes
ence, where experience is understood according to the con-
himself available to be apprehended in the personal knowl-
ception of experience made classic by the Scottish
edge of encounter.
philosopher David Hume (1711–1776). This view conflates
Some contemporary religious thinkers, influenced by
meaning and truth in such a way that, in the absence of the
the concerns of developing nations, of minorities and the dis-
sense datum that would verify an utterance, its constituent
inherited, by new and more permissive attitudes in morality,
terms are said to be without meaning. By implication, the
and by conflicts in social relations, have turned away com-
position includes the further thesis that with regard to any
pletely from traditional philosophical approaches to God and
utterance it is necessary to specify what datum would count
religion and have looked instead to the social sciences as the
against its supposed truth, or, in short, would falsify it.
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It is not difficult to envision what the consequences of
end, and historical report. Each has a distinctive function,
applying this monolithic criterion to religious statements
and only confusion can result from a failure to understand
would be. Basic theological concepts such as God, atone-
what each purports to express. To take but one typical exam-
ment, sin, salvation, and faith, along with metaphysical con-
ple, when confronted with parabolic speech, it is a gross mis-
cepts like being, reality, necessary existence, personality, and
understanding to seek the so-called literal meaning of such
creativity would all be deprived of cognitive meaning, so that
expressions, because their intent is of a quite different sort.
statements involving these and similar terms could not even
A parable is a vivid and engaging story drawing on familiar
be called false, because they are supposed to be, quite literal-
experiences and things—putting a new patch on an old gar-
ly, nonsense. Those who accepted the full authority of the
ment, a widow losing her last coin, tares among the wheat—
one-meaning criterion for all utterances, insofar as they at-
for the purpose of dramatizing some religious or moral in-
tended to religious utterances at all, had no alternative but
sight. Expressing the point prosaically or “literally” can never
to identify religion wholly with emotion, feeling, or attitudes
have the same effect. Important as this source of clarification
of a certain kind, with the clear understanding that these
may be, however, it does not go far enough, because it does
have no cognitive significance. It should be obvious that no
not engage those theological questions that stand at the inter-
positive or creative interaction between religion and philoso-
face of philosophy and religion, nor does a purely critical
phy is possible from this point of view, because it reduces re-
philosophy provide any basis for determining the relation be-
ligion to an emotive level at which no articulation of religious
tween religion and cultural life. What limits all critical phi-
ideas is possible. The underlying assumption determining
losophies in this regard is the absence of any but the most
this outcome was that the only knowledge people possess de-
implicit (and sometimes hidden) metaphysics, or general
rives from science. The interesting fact, however, is that sub-
theory of reality and experience, in accordance with which
sequent discussion of the empiricist criterion of meaning led
the various dimensions of life can be related to each other.
to its erosion when it became clear that positivism is itself
As is learned from history, a truly fruitful interplay between
philosophy and cannot appropriate the credentials of science.
religion and philosophy takes place when philosophy is rep-
The credit for resolving this situation in a way that al-
resented, not by critical methods and analytic programs, but
lowed both for a mode of interpreting religious insight and
by a substantive vision of reality such as one finds in Hegel
the preservation of the linguistic approach to philosophy
or Whitehead.
must go to Wittgenstein. He interpreted religion primarily
There remains yet another alternative different from all
in practical terms as the legitimate expression of a “form of
the preceding, and it is suggested by the point just made
life,” but religious language carries with it no cognitive claim.
about metaphysics. An attempt must be made to recover the
For this reason religion had to become a matter of sheer
classical interaction between religion and philosophy in such
faith—fideism—with the consequence that no religious ut-
a way that the former will once again be intelligible despite
terance can be construed as making any assertion purporting
the skepticism of the age, and the latter will find its way back
to be true or false about any realities whatever. The position
to those speculative questions that human beings will never
is a singular one indeed. Wittgenstein was, on the one hand,
cease to raise. The rationale for such a recovery can be given
rightly aware of the difference between the type of signifi-
by showing the adverse consequences that follow for both re-
cance—purpose, value, aim—embodied in religious lan-
ligion and philosophy from their separation and loss of com-
guage and the theoretical assertions and explanatory theories
munication. First, however, it is necessary to challenge a
of science that provided the model for the empiricist criteri-
number of philosophical assumptions, assumptions that have
on of meaning. Hence the shift from meaning to use. On
been in force for a century and have served to bring about
the other hand, this shift was made with the meaning criteri-
the present unsatisfactory situation. It is an error to suppose
on still hovering in the background, so that in the end it re-
that Kant’s critical philosophy must be accepted as the final
mained the determining factor in defining the sphere of the
word about the capacity of reason and the possibility of
“cognitive,” and religion was excluded.
metaphysics while attempts are made to insert religion and
RECOVERY OF THE DIALOGUE BETWEEN RELIGION AND
theology into what Barth has called the “gaps” in Kant’s
PHILOSOPHY. Nevertheless, as was noted earlier on, the lin-
thought. A more radical approach is called for, which means
guistic analysis of religious language proposed by Wittgen-
adopting a far more critical stance to the critical philosophy
stein made one important contribution to current under-
itself. As Hegel saw so well, Kant’s ultimate conclusion is
standing. It served to call attention to the fact that “religious
dogmatic in the precise sense that he simply opted for the
language,” though it purports to express a distinctive dimen-
priority of understanding over reason, and in so doing he
sion of experience, is by no means to be regarded as a single,
employed mathematics and physics as the criterion of knowl-
homogeneous form of discourse. The literature of the world’s
edge, thus judging the validity of metaphysics in accordance
religions manifests a plurality of “uses,” or types of expres-
with an alien standard.
sion, and great care must be exercised in distinguishing them.
The language of devotion and liturgy, for example, must be
The underlying issue is an ancient one, going back to
distinguished from that of theology, and likewise from the
the difference of opinion expressed in the thought of Plato
languages of parable, exhortation, lamentation, myth, leg-
and Aristotle: Is there, as Plato held, one universal method
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and criterion governing all thought, or, is it not the case, as
as to the believer’s plea for guidance, must engender in the
Aristotle claimed, that method and standards of judgment
religious thinker a measure of humility and circumspection
must follow the particular subject matter in question? It is
not to be reconciled with the fanatic posture, which, as Wil-
only the latter position that makes it possible to do justice
liam James was so well aware, is the greatest evil perpetrated
to the many different spheres of meaning and dimensions of
by religion wherever it exists. The great ages of faith in West-
experience that actually exist, and at the same time to devel-
ern religion have been those in which faith and intelligence
op standards appropriate to a given type of thought. Specula-
went hand in hand. That religion and philosophy should be
tive philosophy is not a special science, like physics or geolo-
separated must be, for religion, the greatest of disasters.
gy, and its aims and criteria of adequacy must not be thought
of and judged in terms appropriate for experimental inqui-
Consider now the consequences of the separation from
ries. The same is true of religion and theology; any attempt
the side of philosophy. The presence of the religious ques-
to understand either is bound to fail if no attention is paid
tions—the problem of God and transcendence, the place of
to the special sort of meaning both purport to express. Clear-
humanity in the cosmic order and its final destiny, the issue
ly what is called for is a broader conception of reason, one
of freedom and responsibility, the problem of evil—has re-
that is not modeled on the most abstract patterns of thought,
peatedly served as a goad to philosophy, orienting the think-
which, essential though they are, must exclude the most con-
ing of philosophers in the direction of speculative themes.
crete and important human concerns. A reason, in short, that
As has been seen, especially in the twentieth century, philos-
extends no further than the spheres of formal logic and em-
ophers motivated by the desire to be scientific and to show
pirical science forces beyond the bounds of rationality not
that philosophy makes progress have worked to reduce the
only philosophy but religion and morality as well.
subject to purely critical proportions, with major emphasis
falling on technical issues concerning method, knowledge,
Earlier on, it was suggested that the rationale for seeking
logic, and language. Speculative questions were often ignored
to recover a positive and fruitful interplay between religion
as either without significance or beyond human intellectual
and philosophy is to be found in the unfortunate conse-
capacities. Without the goad of religion (unfortunately not
quences for both that come as the result of their separation
very powerful in the period under consideration), philosophy
from each other. Consider, first, the impact on religion that
runs the risk of formalizing itself and of abandoning its con-
follows from this separation. Without the benefit of careful,
structive task in treating the most important human con-
conceptual articulation and the discipline of critical reflec-
cerns. Concentration on technique alone has little value
tion—whether in the form of a philosophical theology or a
when philosophers fail to confront these concerns. A recov-
philosophy of religion—religion is in danger of becoming
ery of the dialogue between religion and philosophy would
obscurantist or fanatical in its basic orientation. While the
serve the double purpose of bringing philosophy back to the
central religious insights that define a tradition must be pre-
task of constructive metaphysics and of keeping religious
served and transmitted in each historical period, the culture
thought within the scope of rationality, thus guarding it
in which the tradition finds itself and the people to whom
from the evils of dogmatism and obscurantism.
it speaks are constantly changing. New knowledge is forth-
coming, novel patterns of thought and behavior emerge, so-
That such a recovery is a real possibility finds support
cial and political conditions arise that are very different from
in two developments of recent decades whose importance
those prevailing when the religion was first established. The
must not be overlooked or discounted. The first was the
world in which Augustine proclaimed the Christian message,
philosophical theology of Tillich, with its method of corre-
for example, has little in common with the situation in which
lating philosophical questions and theological resolutions;
that same message was set forth by such thinkers as the Ger-
the second was the process philosophy of the English philos-
man theologian Paul Tillich (1886–1965) or Barth in the
opher Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947), who emigrat-
twentieth century. A living religion must come to terms with
ed to America in 1924, and the several types of theologies
this all-important fact and not seek to preserve itself either
inspired by it. Tillich’s theological method not only called
by refusing to confront the problems posed by the intellectu-
for a creative exchange with metaphysical thought, but it was
al climate of the time or by retreating into an inner sanctuary
accompanied as well by a substantive metaphysical position
untouched by secular thought and experience. It has, more-
in the classical mode of correlating the concepts of being and
over, been persuasively argued that it is precisely through a
God. While Tillich’s thought was marked by an undoubted
dialogue engaging the entire spectrum of a culture that a reli-
originality, its appropriation was somewhat hampered be-
gious tradition comes to realize previously undiscovered im-
cause of its dependence on the philosophy of the German
plications of its basic faith that further illuminate and help
contemporary of Hegel, F. W. Schelling (1775–1854)—by
to transform human life. The need to relate the enduring in-
far the least known on the American scene of the exponents
sights of religion to new historical situations and to new gen-
of German Idealism. Despite this handicap, however, Tillich
erations of people who confront them presents a salutary
was a major force in sustaining a theologico-philosophical di-
challenge not only to obscurantism and disdain for intelli-
alogue, and he did much to counteract the powerful an-
gence in religion but to fanaticism as well. Having to respond
tiphilosophical bias within Protestantism that had its origins
seriously to the critic’s question or the skeptic’s doubt, as well
in the dogmatic theology of Barth.
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Like Tillich, Whitehead had a well-developed meta-
cussing three representative thinkers—Hume, Kant, and
physical scheme, including a network of categories for inter-
Hegel—in the succeeding century and a half, the situation
preting the many dimensions of experience. In Whitehead
was to change radically.
one can see how, on the one hand, religious experience and
James Alfred Martin, Jr.’s The New Dialogue between Philosophy
insight were brought into relation to current patterns of
and Theology (New York, 1966), a clear, well-informed, and
thought, scientific as well as philosophical, and how, on the
perceptive study, is the best overall account of the response
other, these insights were incorporated into his metaphysics
by religious thinkers both in America and Britain to analytic
as part of the evidence that must be taken into account by
and linguistic philosophy and to the orientation of the later
a speculative scheme intended to be relevant for understand-
Wittgenstein. Martin does not only expose the error of iden-
ing everything that happens. The fruitfulness of the interplay
tifying analytic philosophy with logical positivism; he skill-
fully shows how the twentieth-century dialogue between an-
between philosophy and religion in this particular case is all
alytic philosophy and theology is connected with the
the more striking because it coincided with the recovery
historical dialogue within Christendom that started with Or-
within the biblical tradition of an emphasis upon time, life,
igen and Tertullian and continued through the centuries into
and history in the conception of God, features which had
the discussions of Tillich, Barth, and Heidegger. In addition
been eclipsed by the great stress previously placed on God
to critical accounts of the major writers, religious and philo-
as absolute, that is, unrelated to the cosmic process, and as
sophical, the book contains a useful bibliography.
“pure actuality,” or a perfection to which the novel incre-
Ian T. Ramsey’s Religious Language: An Empirical Placing of Theo-
ment of history could make no difference.
logical Phrases (London, 1957) begins with an account of
On the basis of the foregoing analysis, one must con-
what situations can legitimately be called “religious” and
considers how some traditional phrases in theology—“first
clude that the proper and most satisfactory relation between
cause,” “infinitely wise,” “infinitely good”—can be given a
religion and philosophy is that of dialogical exchange, an ex-
logical structure appropriate to these religious situations.
change of a sort that existed for centuries until it was inter-
Echoing the idea that “religious language” is multiple in
rupted by the critical philosophy of Kant and the authority
character, Ramsey distinguishes the language of the Bible
of the empiricist criterion of meaning. But, as has been seen,
from the language of Christian doctrine, describing each in
Kant’s reduction of reason to the limits of understanding
terms of its functions and aims. In this way he hopes to avoid
need not be the last word on the matter, nor should anyone
the many confusions resulting from lumping together under
continue to think that it is possible to accept Kant’s position
the rubric of “religious language” such diverse forms of ex-
while at the same time attempting to find some loophole
pression as that of devotion, on the one hand, and that of
through which religion can pass. The monolithic criterion
theological conceptualization, on the other.
of meaning also need not be accepted, because it so clearly
John Macquarrie’s God-Talk: An Examination of the Language and
fails to do justice to dimensions of meaning not to be fitted
Logic of Theology (New York, 1967), in addition to an ap-
into the pattern of thought exemplified by natural science.
praisal of the impact of logical empiricism on theological dis-
With these obstacles surmounted, the way is clear for the re-
course, includes illuminating chapters on different types of
newal of the mutual exchange between religion and meta-
such discourse based on case-study analyses of a classical
theological text—Athanasius’s On Incarnation—and of Hei-
physics that has borne fruit in the past.
degger’s philosophical theory of interpretation. The result is
the delineation in theology of a plurality of meaning devices,
SEE ALSO Analytic Philosophy; Aristotelianism; Deism; Em-
including mythology, symbolism, analogy, indirect language,
piricism; Enlightenment, The; Existentialism; Humanism;
existential discourse, ontological discourse, the language of
Idealism; Logical Positivism; Materialism; Naturalism; Neo-
authority, appeal to direct experience, and, finally, the lan-
platonism; Nominalism; Platonism; Positivism; Scholasti-
guage of paradox.
cism; Skeptics and Skepticism.
John Hick’s Faith and Knowledge, 2d ed. (Ithaca, N.Y., 1966), is
concerned primarily with problems of religious knowledge,
BIBLIOGRAPHY
the distinction between belief and knowledge, and the rela-
This bibliographic essay focuses on some books dealing with posi-
tion of both to different conceptions of faith. It is representa-
tions and trends noted in the foregoing article. No effort is
tive of a general trend, which is the attempt to combine an
made to include such thinkers as Kant, Kierkegaard, Hegel,
analytically oriented philosophy with a neoorthodox ap-
James, Barth, Tillich, and Whitehead, because they are the
proach to religion generally and to Christianity in particular.
subjects of separate articles.
E. L. Mascall’s The Secularization of Christianity (New York,
James Collins’s The Emergence of Philosophy of Religion (New
1965) offers an extraordinarily thorough and acute analysis
Haven, Conn., 1967), both in its historical treatment and its
of J. A. T. Robinson’s Honest to God (Philadelphia, 1963)
systematic focus on underlying issues, serves to set the stage
and Paul Van Buren’s The Secular Meaning of the Gospel
for the modern discussion concerning the intersection of phi-
(New York, 1963) in an attempt to show that, while it is es-
losophy and religion. Collins takes note of the important fact
sential that Christianity be presented in terms that are both
that prior to the eighteenth century, philosophical reflection
intelligible and relevant to the present day, it is not necessary
on religious and theological topics took place for the most
to jettison centuries of accumulated Christian wisdom for
part within the ambit of the Judeo-Christian tradition and
the purpose of communicating what in fact may prove to be
its fundamental doctrines. As Collins shows, however, by dis-
merely a substitute for Christian doctrine. Whether one
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PHILOSOPHY: PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION
agrees or not with Mascall’s conclusions, it is unquestionable
and Actuality: Conversations with Charles Hartshorne, edited
that no better account of the topic is to be found.
by John B. Cobb, Jr., and Franklin I. Gamwell (Chicago,
1984).
Ninian Smart’s The Science of Religion and the Sociology of Knowl-
edge (Princeton, 1973) surveys the broad theme of the rela-
Experience, Reason and God, edited by Eugene T. Long (Washing-
tion of religion to rationality in light of phenomenology, his-
ton, D.C., 1980), provides a broad spectrum of opinion by
tory, sociology, and anthropology. The author notes, quite
twelve authors concerning the intersection of philosophy and
rightly, the difference between theology as the systematic ex-
religion on the contemporary scene.
pression of the faith of a religious community and various
New Sources
ways of studying religion as a phenomenon involved in the
Alston, William. Perceiving God: The Epistemology of Religious Ex-
total pattern of life and culture throughout the world. Al-
perience. Ithaca, 1991.
though too short for an extended treatment, the discussion
ranges over a very wide body of material, including references
Brooke, John Hedley. Science and Religion: Some Historical Per-
to Weber, Lévy-Bruhl, Otto, Wach, Kierkegaard, Tillich,
spectives. New York, 1991.
Barth, Marx, Freud, Eliade, Berger, Jayatilleke, and Wilfred
Bunge, Mario. Finding Philosophy in Social Science. New Haven,
Cantwell Smith.
1996.
H. D. Lewis’s Our Experience of God (London, 1959) decries the
Faulconer, James. Transcendence in Philosophy and Religion.
idea that it is the task of philosophy to construct some form
Bloomington, Ind., 2003.
of philosophical substitute for religion, or to provide proofs
Kunin, Seth. Religion: The Modern Theories. Baltimore, 2003.
for religious beliefs supposedly held on inadequate grounds.
Pals, Daniel. Seven Theories of Religion. New York, 1996.
The positive role of philosophy in relation to religion is to
make clearer the meaning and status of religious beliefs actu-
Schiffer, Stephen. The Things We Mean. New York, 2003.
ally held and at the same time to show their relation to the
Store, David. The Plato Cult, and Other Philosophical Follies. Mal-
larger experiential setting in which they occur.
den, Mass., 1991.
In The Person God Is (London, 1970), Peter Bertocci, a chief rep-
Swinburne, Richard. The Evolution of the Soul (1997). Reprint,
resentative of the philosophy and theology of personalism,
New York, 2003.
carries on the tradition of interpreting religious insight in
Thagard, Paul. Conceptual Revolutions. Princeton, N.J., 1992.
philosophical terms by viewing God, the cosmic person, as
the creator of “co-creators.” The author considers whether
Ward, Graham. Theology and Contemporary Critical Theory. New
the goodness of God can be empirically grounded, whether
York, 2000.
grace can be discovered in freedom, and whether religion it-
Warner, Martin, ed. Religion and Philosophy. Philosophy and Reli-
self can be understood in terms of the pursuit of creativity.
gion series. New York, 1992.
In the works of Charles Hartshorne, including Man’s Vision of
JOHN E. SMITH (1987)
God, and the Logic of Theism (New York, 1941), The Divine
Revised Bibliography
Relativity: A Social Conception of God (New Haven, Conn.,
1948), The Logic of Perfection (La Salle, Ill., 1962), Anselm’s
Discovery
(La Salle, Ill., 1965), and Omnipotence and Other
Theological Mistakes
(Albany, N.Y., 1984), the critical inter-
PHILOSOPHY: PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION
change on philosophical and theological issues is sustained.
The idea of a philosophy of religion is a recent one, and it
Hartshorne’s thought may be understood as concentrating
assumes a differentiation between philosophy and religion
on two distinct but closely related focal points. The first is
that has emerged chiefly in the modern West. Much that is
his “neoclassical” theism based on what he calls the “princi-
included under that rubric, however, dates back to ancient
ple of Dual Transcendence,” according to which God con-
philosophical analysis and speculation. Philosophy of reli-
trasts with creatures not as an abstract infinite against the fi-
gion is the philosophical scrutiny of religion, but the mean-
nite, but as a concrete “infinite-and-finite,” each aspect of
ing of those terms and the proper method and content of the
which contrasts with fragmentary creatures who are neither
field are subject to considerable dispute. Current work in the
relative nor absolute in themselves. In short, Hartshorne
finds that despite the great emphasis placed by the biblical
field can be divided into two types: (1) assessment of the ra-
tradition on time, individuality, personal responsibility, and
tionality of religious beliefs, with attention to their coherence
historical development, much classical theology neglected
and to the cogency of arguments for their justification; and
these features by conceiving of God, not as living, but as al-
(2) descriptive analysis and elucidation of religious language,
ready complete or perfect. The other focus in Hartshorne’s
belief, and practice with particular attention to the rules by
writing is restatement and reassessment of the ontological ar-
which they are governed and to their context in the religious
gument as first proposed by Anselm. Here he reoriented the
life. The boundary between these two types is not always
centuries-long discussion of this oft “refuted” argument, not
clear, but they can be illumined by considering their origins
by concentrating on the usual question of whether “existence
and some paradigmatic arguments from each.
is a predicate,” but by directing attention to what had largely
been neglected by a host of previous thinkers, namely, what
JUSTIFICATION OF RELIGIOUS BELIEFS. The first type of phi-
is to be understood by the idea of God—the what of the mat-
losophy of religion has been concerned chiefly with theism,
ter—and its expression in Anselm’s formula. An informative
but analogues can be found in nontheistic traditions. Ratio-
commentary on Hartshorne’s work can be found in Existence
nal arguments are proposed and assessed in order to justify
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PHILOSOPHY: PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION
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or to criticize religious beliefs. Because the philosophy of reli-
The ontological argument differs from the cosmological
gion has its provenance in the West, theistic issues have dom-
and teleological arguments in that it appears to depend en-
inated the discussion, but neither type should be restricted
tirely on conceptual analysis. But the argument is embedded
to the consideration of theism.
in a prayer in which Anselm asks God for faith in order that
Most of the classical topics in the philosophy of religion
he might understand. This context has prompted some com-
are topics in philosophical theism or natural theology. Fore-
mentators to suggest that Anselm was not offering an argu-
most among these are the existence and nature of God. Anal-
ment at all, but was reflecting on a faith that was derived
yses of the concept of God, discussion of the divine nature
solely from divine revelation. The Proslogion opens, however,
and its attributes, and arguments that purport to demon-
with Anselm’s expression of joy at having discovered a single
strate the existence of God constitute the principal subject
argument that would suffice to prove that both God exists
matter of philosophical theism. Such attributes as unity, sim-
and all that is believed about the divine nature. Philosophical
plicity, omniscience, perfection, eternity, and immutability
treatments often consider the argument in isolation from its
require analysis in order to clarify their meanings, to assess
religious context and from Anselm’s claim that divine om-
their compatibility, and to consider the implications of ap-
nipotence, mercy, impassibility, simplicity, eternity, and
plying them outside of the contexts in which individuals nor-
other attributes could be derived from the same concept.
mally ascribe knowledge, power, and goodness to persons.
Recently there has been renewed interest in the ontolog-
Many of the classical issues and arguments derive from medi-
ical argument. In an influential article (1960), Norman Mal-
eval philosophy and theology.
colm claims that Kant had refuted the argument set forth in
Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) classified the arguments
the second chapter of the Proslogion, but that the following
for the existence of God as the ontological argument, the cos-
chapter and the reply to Gaunilo contain another argument
mological argument, and the teleological argument, or argu-
that has been overlooked and that is successful. This is an
ment from design. This classification has become canonical,
argument not for God’s existence but for his necessary exis-
though not everyone would agree with Kant’s claim that
tence. Malcolm contends that Anselm has demonstrated that
these three kinds of argument exhaust the logical possi-
the concept of God is such that God cannot fail to exist.
bilities.
Were he not to exist, or were his existence contingent rather
The original formulation of the ontological argument,
than necessary, he would not satisfy the human concept of
and the one that has continued to command the attention
God. Malcolm claims that Anselm was engaged in an eluci-
of philosophers, was given by Anselm of Canterbury (1033–
dation of the concept that is implicit in the religious life of
1109) in his Proslogion (1077–1078). Anselm argues that the
those in theistic traditions. He was analyzing the grammar
existence of God can be demonstrated by a proper analysis
by which that concept is governed. Alvin Plantinga (1974)
of the concept of God. He begins by claiming that what is
has employed the very different techniques of modal logic
meant by the word God is “something than which nothing
to reformulate Anselm’s argument to demonstrate the ratio-
greater can be thought.” Even one who would doubt or deny
nality of belief in the existence of God, though he holds that
the existence of God, says Anselm, understands this concept,
it cannot justify that belief.
and thus something than which nothing greater can be
The classical statement of the cosmological argument is
thought exists in his mind. But that than which no greater
found in the Summa theologiae (1268–1273) of Thomas
can be thought cannot exist in the mind alone. Were it to
Aquinas. Thomas offers five proofs of the existence of God,
exist only in the mind, it would be possible to think of it as
the first three of which are versions of the cosmological argu-
existing outside the mind as well, and that would be even
ment. Each begins with some characteristic of things in the
greater. Then that which existed in the mind alone would
world (e.g., change, causation, contingency) and argues that
not be something than which no greater could be thought.
a proper explanation of this phenomenon requires that one
Therefore, that than which no greater can be thought must
posit a first cause or something whose existence is not depen-
exist both in the mind and in reality.
dent upon anything other than itself. Thomas begins the first
The monk Gaunilo, a contemporary of Anselm, criti-
way with the observation that some things in the world are
cized the argument by claiming that it could be used to dem-
changing. He then asserts that anything that is in the process
onstrate the existence of a perfect island, or of any other
of change is being changed by something else, a controversial
thing in which the requirement of existence was embedded
premise that he defends and glosses by appeal to conceptions
in the idea of perfection or greatness. Anselm replied that the
of actuality and potentiality derived from the Aristotelian
concept of an island is already the concept of something lim-
tradition. But this other thing, he says, if in the process of
ited, and thus cannot contain unlimited greatness. In what
change, is itself being changed by something else, and so on.
has been viewed as the standard refutation, Kant argued that
Unless this potentially infinite series is halted, there will be
existence is not a property that can be added or subtracted
no first cause of the change, thus no subsequent cause, and
in order to make comparisons of worth. To say that a table
therefore no change. So there must be some first cause of
exists is not to add anything to the concept of table, but is
change not itself being changed by anything, and this is what
to say that the concept is instantiated.
everyone understands by God.
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The second of Thomas’s ways begins from the relation
be no infinite series of causes nor on his employment of Aris-
between cause and effect, and proceeds in a manner parallel
totelian science and metaphysics.
to the first. The third way takes its departure from the obser-
vation that some things in the world are contingent, and thus
The most influential statement of the argument from
might not have existed. Thomas argues that it is impossible
design comes from a critic rather than a proponent. In Dia-
for everything to be contingent, because anything that need
logues concerning Natural Religion (1779) by David Hume
not be was once nonexistent. If everything were contingent,
(1711–1776), the interlocutor Cleanthes sets forth a version
then there must have been a time at which there was nothing.
of the argument, and much of the work is an analysis of its
If that were the case there would be nothing now, for some-
weaknesses and of the resulting implications for religious be-
thing that does not exist can be brought into being only by
lief. Cleanthes argues that the order that is found in the uni-
something that already exists. But there is something now.
verse, and “the curious adaptation of means to ends,” can
So there must be something the existence of which is not
only be explained by positing some kind of mind that is anal-
contingent but necessary.
ogous to human minds. The universe is one great machine.
No such intricate pattern and order could be accounted for
Thomas’s five ways are fraught with difficulties, most
by chance. A designer must be posited, and some of his attri-
deriving from their dependence upon Aristotelian physics
butes can be inferred from the order one observes. Like the
and metaphysics. The observation that some things are
cosmological argument, this is a formalization of an aspect
changing is not a controversial one unless change is under-
of ordinary theistic belief. God is the creator, and the world
stood in Aristotelian terms. If it is understood in those terms,
shows evidence of his handiwork.
much metaphysical baggage is packed into what appears to
be an ordinary observation, and the rest of the proof turns
Hume raises a number of problems for Cleanthes’s argu-
on unpacking that baggage. If it is not understood in those
ment, chief among them the weakness of the analogy be-
terms, the argument does not succeed. The same dilemma
tween the order individuals discover in the universe and the
holds for the observation that some things are contingent.
order or design in a machine, other explanations that are as
Current theorists are aware, as Thomas was not, of the con-
or more plausible on the basis of evidence, and the religious
troversial science and metaphysics that are assumed by the
inadequacy of the God that Cleanthes’s argument permits
proofs.
him to infer. Hume is particularly persuasive in showing that
naturalistic hypotheses are as well supported by the evidence
The five ways, like Anselm’s argument, are embedded
as is the theistic hypothesis.
in a theological context. Thomas says that Christian theology
is a science that takes its principles on faith in God’s revela-
The Dialogues also contain a clear presentation of a clas-
tion. Some have argued that he intended only to elucidate
sical argument against theistic belief, the argument from evil.
a faith based on revelation, but Thomas asserts that some
Hume offers two forms of this argument, emphasizing logi-
truths about God can be known by natural reasoning and
cal and empirical problems. The logical form consists in the
are presupposed by faith. Like Anselm, he continues, after
claim that theists are committed to the inconsistent conjunc-
presenting his arguments for the existence of God, to derive
tion of three propositions: (1) God is omnipotent; (2) God
the manner of God’s existing and certain characteristics of
is wholly good; and (3) evil exists. As Hume puts it: “Epicu-
the divine nature.
rus’s old questions are yet unanswered. Is he willing to pre-
vent evil, but not able? then is he impotent. Is he able, but
Versions of the cosmological argument have been of-
not willing? then he is malevolent. Is he both able and will-
fered by Jewish, Christian, and Islamic philosophers, and the
ing? whence then is evil?” The claim is that theism is incoher-
belief that the world cannot be accounted for without refer-
ent. Consistency can be restored by giving up any one of the
ence to the existence and activity of God seems to be a part
three beliefs, and examples can be found for each of these
of the religious life of any theist. Doctrines of God as creator
alternatives. The traditional solutions, however, have been
and preserver, which are central to each of these traditions,
are closely connected with the cosmological argument.
either to deny that there really is evil when viewed from a
proper perspective, or to offer what has become known as
Recently, renewed attention has been given to an eigh-
the free will defense. The first is a denial of (3) on the
teenth-century version of the cosmological argument offered
grounds that what seems from one’s parochial perspective to
by Samuel Clarke (1675–1729). Clarke argued that Thomas
be evil can be seen from the divine viewpoint as contributing
incorrectly assumed that there must be a first cause to ac-
to the greater good. The free will defense is a clarification of
count for change, causation, or contingent being. There
the meaning and limits of (1). Free will defenders argue that
could be an infinite series of causes. But Clarke held that
it was better for God to have created a world in which some
such a series would still require an explanation. In order to
creatures have free will than one in which their actions are
account for the existence of this series rather than another
totally determined, that evil results from human free will,
or none at all, one must posit a cause for the series as a whole.
and that if God creates such a world there are certain out-
Clarke’s argument has stimulated interest because it seems
comes that he cannot control, but that this fact does not
to depend neither on Thomas’s assumption that there can
compromise his omnipotence.
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The second form of the argument from evil is not a mat-
Though there are precursors, philosophical reflection on
ter of logical compatibility. Unlike the first form, it arises
religion began in earnest in the eighteenth century. Hume
from the inference articulated in the design argument. Hume
distinguished two kinds of inquiry about religion, the first
says that even though one might be able to demonstrate the
concerning its foundation in reason, and the second its origin
consistency of theism, the evil and suffering one finds in the
in human nature. The first of these questions was addressed
world blocks any inference to an all-powerful and benevolent
in the Dialogues, and the second in The Natural History of
designer. While the logical form of the problem of evil has
Religion (1777), in which he sketched a naturalistic account
dominated the discussion, those whose theism is grounded
of the origin of religious belief and practice. Speculation
upon an inference from the world to a benevolent creator
about the origin of religion and its relation to other aspects
must consider how the evil and suffering in the world affects
of culture flourished in the eighteenth century.
that inference.
The agenda for much subsequent philosophy of religion
Some contributors to this first type of philosophy of re-
was set by Kant and by responses to his work. Kant held that
traditional arguments purporting to demonstrate or to refute
ligion have employed the techniques of modal logic (Plantin-
the existence of God were flawed. More important, however,
ga, 1974) and confirmation theory (Swinburne, 1977, 1979,
he held that such arguments were bound to fail. They were
1981) to address classical questions of the coherence and ra-
illegitimate extensions beyond experience of categories and
tionality of theistic belief and the arguments for and against
forms of judgment that are valid only within the bounds of
that belief.
experience. Philosophical debate about such issues is futile,
DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS OF RELIGIOUS LANGUAGE,
leads to antinomies, and can never be resolved. The tradi-
PRACTICE, AND BELIEF. Those who constructed arguments
tional topics of philosophical theism are ill-formed, and any
for or against the existence of God did not suppose that reli-
semblance of progress is an illusion.
gious faith is adopted or discarded for these reasons. Anselm
Kant argued that the task of the philosopher is not to
wrote of his task as faith seeking understanding. These were
contribute to the substance of science, morals, art, or reli-
attempts to employ reason to understand and to justify or
gion, but to reflect critically on the kinds of judgments that
criticize beliefs that had been received from tradition. While
are employed in each of these areas, to map the limits of their
work on the coherence of theism and arguments for the exis-
proper application, to describe the problems that result from
tence of God continue, new interpretations of the classical
exceeding those limits, and to offer an account of how such
texts have been offered that challenge the assumption that
judgments are possible. The moral philosopher, for instance,
the authors of those texts were seeking to justify religious be-
cannot add to or detract from the sense of moral obligation
lief. Malcolm takes Anselm to be elucidating the faith of a
that is accessible to all rational beings, but he can describe
believer rather than proposing an argument that is meant to
that obligation and the structure of moral judgments. The
convince the nonbeliever. Victor Preller (1967) and David
philosopher of religion ought not to argue for or against reli-
Burrell (1979) argue that when restored to their theological
gious beliefs, but ought to restrict himself to mapping the
context the five ways of Thomas Aquinas will be seen as rela-
structure of religious concepts, beliefs, and practices, and to
tively unimportant and as displaying occasions for the appli-
offering an account of their origin in practical reason.
cation of religious grammar rather than offering proofs for
In Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone (1793),
the existence of God. Alvin Plantinga (1974) reconstructs the
Kant situated religious concepts, beliefs, and practices within
ontological argument and the free will defense in order to re-
the moral life. He argued that people schematize or represent
fute challenges by critics who argue that theism is inconsis-
in imaginative terms the experience of moral obligation. The
tent or irrational. Despite important differences, in each of
obligation to obey the moral law is viewed as if it were a duty
these cases the proper task of the philosophy of religion is
imposed by a divine lawgiver. This kind of schematism can-
viewed as the elucidation of religious belief rather than as the
not be avoided, and thus morality leads ineluctably to reli-
justification or refutation of that belief.
gion. Religious experience and practice derive from the
The second type of philosophy of religion consists of re-
moral life. Religious doctrines are not to be assessed for their
flection on the distinctive character of the religious life and
truth or falsity. That would be to misconstrue them. They
the placing of religious practice and belief with respect to
are expressions of aspects of moral experience. Kant offered
other sets of beliefs and practices, especially those of science
an account of the concept of God and of major Christian
and of morals. This conception of the task of philosophy of
doctrines as schemata of the moral law and of issues that arise
religion stems from the conviction that religious doctrine
from attempts to act in accord with it. Religious beliefs can
and beliefs should not be subject to criteria of rationality and
never conflict with scientific beliefs because they serve very
justification that derive from such other pursuits as science,
different functions. Religious beliefs cannot yield knowledge,
metaphysics, or morals. Religious practices and beliefs re-
but they are a necessary outgrowth of the moral life.
quire no justification from outside the religious life. The task
Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834) accepted Kant’s
of the philosopher is to understand them rather than to sub-
critique of metaphysics and of traditional natural theology,
ject them to heteronomous criteria.
and he agreed that religious doctrine ought not to be viewed
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PHILOSOPHY: PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION
as making scientific or metaphysical claims, but he rejected
During the nineteenth century, work in the history of
the assimilation of religion to morality. He argued that reli-
religions had been informed by Schleiermacher’s claim that
gious doctrine and practice express an autonomous and irre-
religion is an experiential matter that is expressed in doc-
ducible moment in human experience that cannot be re-
trines and practices reflecting different cultures, but that is
duced to belief or action. Piety is neither science nor morals,
universal at the core. In the early years of the twentieth cen-
but an affective moment in experience with its own integrity.
tury, William James (1842–1910) and Rudolf Otto (1869–
Philosophy of religion is reflection on this moment as it is
1937) both attempted to describe the distinctive characteris-
shaped by different traditions and cultures, and as it is ex-
tics of religious experience and to examine the implications
pressed in various doctrines and practices. Schleiermacher
for religious belief. Both drew on illustrative material from
described the religious moment as a sense of finitude or de-
other religious traditions and viewed the object of their in-
pendence. While it can be understood only by acquaintance,
quiry as religious experience considered generally, but both
it is a universal moment in human experience that is accessi-
were chiefly influenced by Christianity.
ble to all. Because religious doctrine is not a matter of belief
James held that religion is principally a matter of feeling
but an expression of this affective moment as it is shaped by
and not of belief, but that there is no distinctively religious
particular traditions, religious doctrines can never conflict
affection. Religious fear, love, awe, and joy are ordinary fear,
with the findings of science. Religious beliefs require no jus-
love, awe, and joy associated with religious objects. In The
tification because they are independently grounded in an au-
Varieties of Religious Experience (1902), James provided both
tonomous moment of experience.
a taxonomy of kinds of religious experience and astute philo-
Following Kant and Schleiermacher, representatives of
sophical analysis of such problems for the philosophy of reli-
the second type have embedded the philosophy of religion
gion as the relation between the scientific study of religion
within a broader philosophy of culture. The focus has shifted
and the assessment of its meaning, significance, or value. He
from the justification of religious beliefs to the identification
explored the implications of the identification of religion
of the distinctive character of religious experience, religious
with a feeling or sense, and, especially in his chapter on mys-
language, or religious practice. The task of the philosopher
ticism, considered the authority of such experiences for the
of religion is to describe that experience, language, and prac-
persons who have them and for those who do not. He argued
tice, to elucidate them, and to place them with respect to
that widespread testimony provides some evidence in sup-
other cultural phenomena. G. W. F. Hegel (1770–1831)
port of what he took to be the common element in religious
showed that religious concepts and beliefs are embedded in
experience, a belief or sense that there is something more be-
particular traditions of thought and practice and can be un-
yond this mundane world and that it can have a benevolent
derstood only in the light of those traditions. So
effect on the lives of individuals.
⁄ ren Kierke-
gaard (1813–1855) continued Kant’s emphasis on the will
In contrast to James, and in explicit indebtedness to
as central to the religious life but differentiated that life from
Schleiermacher, Otto argued that there is a distinctive mo-
a life characterized by aesthetic immediacy and one defined
ment in religious experience. That moment is not properly
by Kantian morality. He explored the role of religious lan-
characterized as feeling, but it is unmistakably specific and
guage both in expressing that life and in providing the occa-
peculiar. Otto described it as the nonrational and ineffable
sion for an individual to confront the absolute paradox that
moment in religious experience. He coined a special term,
he took to be the heart of the Christian gospel. Ludwig
the numinous, to refer to “the holy” minus its moral and ra-
Feuerbach (1804–1872) and Karl Marx (1818–1883) of-
tional factors. He claimed that there is a unique numinous
fered accounts of religious belief and practice as idealized
category of value and a numinous state of mind that is sui
projections of hopes, fears, and desires that originally had
generis and irreducible. The numinous moment in experi-
more palpable objects in the material and social worlds.
ence cannot be communicated but can only be known by ac-
quaintance. Otto portrays that moment as one of creaturely
Hume had located his discussion of theism within a
feeling and a sense of finitude, of awe and fascination in re-
sketch of the natural history of religion, and Hegel had
sponse to something “wholly other.” Otto later went on to
traced the development of the religious consciousness
study non-Western religious traditions, and particularly
through different cultural traditions. By the beginning of the
some strands of the religions of India, but his characteriza-
twentieth century, research in the history of religions was suf-
tion of the numinous moment in religious experience is
ficiently advanced that many philosophers of religion real-
clearly derivative from the monotheism of the Hebrew scrip-
ized that their descriptions and analyses of religious experi-
tures and of Lutheran Christianity.
ence, practice, and belief must, in principle at least, take
account of traditions beyond Christianity and even beyond
Philosophers of religion have drawn on material from
theism. Philosophy of religion could no longer be merely
the history of religions to investigate what appear to be com-
prolegomena to Christian theology. Most contemporary phi-
mon beliefs or practices. Mysticism, ritual, sacrifice, prayer,
losophers of religion would agree, but the reorientation of
and a sense of the holy or of the sacred have been subjects
the discipline implied by that recognition has yet to be
of such inquiry. James held that religious thoughts and be-
achieved in practice.
liefs vary from culture to culture, but that feelings and con-
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PHILOSOPHY: PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION
7127
duct are invariant. Many have shared this assumption and
their own peculiar grammar and are not subject to criteria
have looked to the study of mysticism, prayer, or a sense of
from outside the sphere of religious discourse. Such strategies
the sacred as a way to approach the heart of the religious life.
show that the second type of philosophy of religion, while
It has become clear, however, that one cannot identify an
allegedly concerned with description and elucidation in con-
emotion or a practice without reference to the concepts and
trast to justification, may be used for apologetic purposes as
beliefs that can be ascribed to the person who has that emo-
well. It may serve to justify religious belief and practice by
tion or engages in that practice. Attempts by Schleiermacher,
ascribing to those beliefs and practices a status that precludes
James, and Otto to characterize a core religious experience
any conflict with scientific knowledge or claims in other
that is independent of those concepts, beliefs, and practices
areas of culture.
are bound to fail. James’s assumption that beliefs vary while
Both types of philosophy of religion are represented in
feelings and actions are invariant reflects his inability to ap-
the contemporary literature. After a desultory period, there
preciate the fact that any emotion or action must be identi-
is renewed interest in philosophical theism. Chief among the
fied under a description, and that that description must be
tasks facing contemporary philosophers of religion is the
one that can be properly attributed to the subject of the emo-
need for the discipline to be sufficiently comprehensive to
tion or action.
be accountable to other religious traditions, but to avoid the
distortion that results from wrenching statements and phe-
In Anglo-American philosophy in the mid-twentieth
nomena out of their historical and cultural contexts in order
century, the focus shifted from religious experience to reli-
to serve some comparative or apologetic purpose. This task
gious language. A. J. Ayer (1936), developing his version of
is further complicated by the fact that the concept of religion
logical positivism, contended that religious statements, along
prevalent in philosophy of religion has its provenance in the
with moral statements, were incapable of verification or falsi-
modern West. Theistic assumptions are embedded in the
fication and therefore were not cognitively meaningful. They
criteria by which individuals identify an experience or a phe-
were to be understood as expressive utterances without cog-
nomenon as religious. These assumptions may be masked by
nitive content. The verifiability criterion of cognitive mean-
claims that the philosophy of religion ought to concern itself
ingfulness was soon abandoned because of problems that
with description and analysis while remaining neutral with
were independent of its application to religious statements,
respect to the justification of religious beliefs and practices.
but the inquiry into the proper status of religious language
continued. Some philosophers, drawing on the later philoso-
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to be to map the peculiar grammar governing religious uses
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James, William. The Varieties of Religious Experience. New York,
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1902.
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beliefs about the world. That strategy is continued by those
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Preller, Victor. Divine Science and the Science of God: A Reformula-
There is no reason to doubt the ancient claim that the
tion of Thomas Aquinas. Princeton, N.J., 1967.
Phoenicians were autochthonous, but before the late second
Schleiermacher, Friedrich. The Christian Faith. Edited by H. R.
millennium BCE there is little evidence for a distinctive Phoe-
Mackintosh and J. S. Stewart. Edinburgh, 1929.
nician culture in the Levant. At the beginning of the Iron
Schleiermacher, Friedrich. On Religion. Translated by John
Age (c. 1200 BCE), though, the great political and social un-
Oman, with an introduction by Rudolf Otto. New York,
rest in the Levant seems to have forced the Phoenicians into
1955.
some sort of cultural coherence. This period witnessed the
Swinburne, Richard. The Coherence of Theism. Oxford, 1977.
collapse of the Egyptian and Hittite empires and the con-
comitant demise of the Levantine city-states that had been
Swinburne, Richard. The Existence of God. Oxford, 1979.
their allies or vassals. At the same time, several invading
Swinburne, Richard. Faith and Reason. Oxford, 1981.
groups (Philistines, Arameans, Hebrews) appeared on the
Thomas Aquinas. Summa theologiae, vols. 1 and 2. Translated and
scene, ultimately to establish the nation-states that would
edited by Thomas Gilby. New York, 1964. See especially
occupy the Levant throughout most of the first mil-
questions 1–11.
lennium BCE.
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The Phoenicians found themselves confined to the
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coast, in a territory nowhere more than 60 kilometers wide,
bounded by mountains to the east and the sea to the west.
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The northern and southern borders varied considerably, but
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tionality and Myths of Religious Belief. Oxford, 1998.
basically the Phoenicians occupied the central portion of the
coastal strip, from Tartus (Antaradus) in the north to EAkko
Arrington, Robert, and Mark Addis. Wittgenstein and the Philoso-
(Acre) in the south. The most important cities in the Phoeni-
phy of Religion. New York, 2001.
cian homeland were, from north to south, Arvad (Aradus),
Bryden, Mary, ed. Deleuze and Religion. New York, 2001.
Gebal (Byblos), Beirut (Berytus), Sidon, and Sur (Tyre).
Carrette, Jeremy. Foucault and Religion: Spiritual Corporality and
Political Spirituality. New York, 2000.
Since they were generally cut off politically and geo-
graphically from the interior, the Phoenicians turned their
Faulconer, James, ed. Transcendence in Philosophy and Religion.
attention to the sea. Even within their homeland, the Medi-
Bloomington, Ind., 2003.
terranean provided them with the safest and surest path for
Gilson, Étienne. The Philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas. New York,
transportation and communications. And the Phoenician
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mastery of navigation led them to establish a series of colo-
Peterson, Michael, William Hasker, Bruce Reichenach, and David
nies, trading posts, and settlements across the Mediterranean
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to the west. These colonies, the most famous of which was
the Philosophy of Religion. 3d ed. New York, 2002.
Carthage (probably founded by Tyre in the late ninth centu-
Stump, Eleonore, ed. Reason Faith. Ithaca, N.Y., 1993.
ry), are often called “Punic” (the Latin equivalent of Phoeni-
Swinburne, Richard. The Resurrection of God Incarnate. New
cian), to distinguish them from mainland Phoenicia. The
York, 2003.
colonies generally shared the two most important virtues of
Ward, Graham. Cities of God. New York, 2000.
the mainland cities: they provided safe anchorage and they
were easily defensible. Some of the Phoenician ports (e.g.,
WAYNE PROUDFOOT (1987)
Revised Bibliography
Palermo and Cadiz) have remained continuously in use, but
most of them (e.g., Tyre and Carthage) are too small for
modern ships.
PHOENICIAN RELIGION [FIRST EDI-
Phoenician political power was at its height in the tenth
TION]. The names Phoenicia and Phoenician come from
and ninth centuries BCE, with Tyre emerging as the most im-
the Greek phoinik¯e and phoinikias, respectively. These terms
portant city. The alliance between King Hiram of Tyre and
were used by the Greeks to designate the coastal strip on the
King Solomon of Israel represents the political zenith of both
eastern shores of the Mediterranean and its hinterland, and
nations. Close relations between Phoenicia and the Israelite
the Semitic-speaking inhabitants of that territory. The terms
kingdoms, including alliance by marriage, lasted into the
may correspond etymologically to the biblical (kena Ean) and
ninth century. By the second quarter of the ninth century,
cuneiform (kinahhu) names for Canaan; both the Greek and
however, all the main Phoenician cities were paying tribute
Semitic names may derive from words that refer to a reddish-
to Assyrian overlords. Several uprisings, including one in alli-
purple dye for which the Phoenician dyeing industry was re-
ance with Egypt in the 670s, failed to overthrow the Assyrian
nowned. But there is not a precise correspondence in usage
yoke, although Tyre itself was never actually captured. After
between Phoenicia and Canaan. There is, moreover, no clear
Assyria fell to the Babylonians in 612, the Babylonians
evidence for what the people in question called themselves;
moved into the Levant; they captured Jerusalem in 587/6,
affiliation by individual city was more likely than any perva-
and defeated Tyre thirteen years later. Nebuchadrezzar’s
sive national consciousness.
siege of Tyre is depicted in Ezekiel 26:7–12.
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PHOENICIAN RELIGION [FIRST EDITION]
7129
After the fall of Tyre, Sidon emerged as the chief main-
gods associated with Aram or North Syria. Then the Phoeni-
land city. When the Persians defeated the Babylonians in
cian gods are invoked: Baal-Shamem, Baal-Malage, and
539, they made Phoenicia part of their fifth satrapy, and
Baal-Safon are to raise a tempest and destroy the Phoenician
built a royal palace in Sidon. During the period of Persian
ships; Melqart and Eshmun are to deprive the Phoenicians
rule, the Phoenician fleets acted in Persia’s interest against
of their sustenance and clothing; and Astarte is to lead them
the Greeks. In general, however, both the Phoenician main-
to defeat in battle.
land and the colonies moved closer to the Greek cultural
The epithet Baal-Shamem (“lord of heaven”) denotes
sphere. Finally, Alexander conquered Phoenicia in 332,
the high god of any local Phoenician pantheon. In the tenth-
thanks in part to a remarkable feat of military engineering
century inscription of King Yehimilk of Byblos, the god is
(Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica 17.40–46). Only ves-
summoned to bless the king for having restored the local
tiges of Phoenician autonomy remained in the Seleucid and
temples. He is presumably the El (“god”) of Byblos (not to
subsequent Roman periods.
be confused with the El of Ugarit) who is identified with
Until the middle of the nineteenth century CE, the
Kronos by Philo Byblius. In the eighth-century inscription
Phoenicians were known exclusively from non-Phoenician
of King Azitawadda (found at Karatepe, in southern Anato-
sources—products of the Phoenician encounters with the
lia), Baal-Shamem takes precedence over the rest of the gods.
Greeks, Romans, and Israelites. Since that time, there has
He is the Elioun/Hypsistos (“highest one”) of Philo Byblius,
been extensive archaeological work both in Phoenicia proper
and the Olympian Zeus venerated in Tyre, according to
and in the colonies. Material discoveries have supplied con-
Dio’s History of the Phoenicians (see Josephus Flavius, Against
siderable data about Phoenician sacrificial and funerary prac-
Apion 1.113). A bilingual Palmyrene inscription makes the
tices. But native Phoenician and Punic texts (mostly funerary
equation of Baal-Shamem with Zeus Hypsistos absolutely
and dedicatory inscriptions) do not provide a sufficient con-
certain.
text for the interpretation of those data. Any coherent ac-
In the Esarhaddon treaty, Baal-Shamem is clearly the
count of Phoenician religion, therefore, must still rely heavily
lord of the storm, and he is appropriately identified with the
on biblical and classical sources, especially the Phoenician
old Canaanite Baal of Mount Tsafon, the weather god who
History of Philo Byblius and The Syrian Goddess, attributed
was the Baal of Ugarit in the second millennium. According
to Lucian of Samothrace.
to Philo Byblius, the primordial inhabitants of Phoenicia
Two additional factors make a general description of
considered Baal-Shamem “the sole god, the ruler of heaven,”
Phoenician religion difficult, if not impossible. First, there
and appealed to him in times of drought. It is precisely Baal-
seems never to have been a unified national religious con-
Shamem’s power to alleviate a drought that is challenged by
sciousness. As a result, the major centers had their own pan-
the prophet Elijah in 1 Kings 18. The other title of this Baal,
theons and idiosyncratic practices. Second, Phoenician reli-
Baal-Malage, probably means “lord of mariners,” and refers
gion tended to be adaptive rather than exclusive; in
to the god’s role as patron of Phoenician seafaring. This title
particular, Egyptian, Aramean, and Greek elements are evi-
may be compared with the Zeus Meilichios (“gentle Zeus”)
dent, as are local influences in the western colonies. It has
of Philo Byblius; that god is identified with Chousor/
often been claimed that there is a Phoenician “core” that can
Hephaistos (“first of all men to sail”), inventor of fishing
be isolated from the external influences, on the assumption
equipment and the raft. Philo’s Chousor, in turn, must be
that Phoenician religion substantially perpetuated second-
descended from the old Canaanite craftsman god, Kothar.
millennium Canaanite religion. That assumption, which is
While the high god is the leading deity in the pantheon,
mostly based on a comparison of Phoenician evidence with
he is not the principal object of cultic veneration. That situa-
the second-millennium religious texts excavated at Ras
tion is paralleled at Ugarit, where Il (El) is head of the pan-
Shamra (ancient Ugarit), is fraught with difficulties. Despite
theon, but he is neither the most active god in the myths nor
some important elements of continuity, Phoenician religion
the most popular god in the cult. The other two types of gods
seems to have been far more innovative than is generally al-
mentioned in the Esarhaddon treaty were evidently regarded
lowed. This innovation and change continued throughout
as the protective geniuses of the individual cities, and cultic
the first millennium, as the Phoenician gods, beliefs, and
activity centered around them.
practices evolved in response to changing circumstances.
The treaty shows that Eshmun and Melqart were gods
DEITIES. The Phoenicians worshiped three main types of
who guaranteed the fertility of the land and the fecundity of
gods under different names in different places. These gods
the flocks. The prophet Hosea (especially in 2:10–15) calls
are well characterized in the treaty drawn up in 677 BCE be-
this type of god ba Eal (pl., ba Ealim), and condemns the
tween the Assyrian king Esarhaddon and his newly con-
Northern Israelites for thus identifying their own national
quered vassal, King Baal of Tyre. The fourth column of the
god (cf. 2:18–19). Melqart was the city god of Tyre; his cult
treaty contains the traditional treaty curses, invoking the
later spread to Egypt, Cyprus, Carthage, and elsewhere. Ac-
wrath of the gods against any Tyrian breach of the treaty’s
cording to Menander of Ephesus (see Josephus, Antiquities
terms. The curses are divided into two sections. The first
8.146), the tenth-century King Hiram of Tyre (Solomon’s
mentions Esarhaddon’s own gods, as well as two additional
famous ally) built a new temple for Melqart (Herakles), and
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PHOENICIAN RELIGION [FIRST EDITION]
innovated the celebration of the “awakening” (i.e., resurrec-
no more than tentative in light of the evidence. The cult of
tion) of Melqart. This testimony shows that Melqart was a
Beirut, for example, seems only to possess a divine couple
dying and reviving god; his life cycle evidently corresponded
(Poseidon and Aphrodite/ Astarte), and the Tyrian Melqart
to the seasons of the agricultural year. Melqart’s name literal-
seems to be both a high god and a dying and reviving god.
ly means “king of the city.” Since the word city is a wide-
In addition, the precise relationship between the goddess and
spread Semitic euphemism for the netherworld (i.e., the in-
the dying and reviving god is often uncertain.
fernal city), the name is a further indication of Melqart’s
Various other gods comprise the “assembly of the gods,”
chthonic character.
the “holy ones” (so the Yehimilk inscription), or the “whole
Eshmun, who is linked with Melqart in the Esarhaddon
family of the children of the gods” (Azitawadda). The main
treaty, was the dying and reviving god venerated at Sidon.
feature of the different local pantheons is their diversity. In
He was later identified with the healer god Asklepios. The
the Karatepe inscription, for example, King Azitawadda’s pa-
association of healer gods with the chthonic cycle is a com-
tron god is the otherwise unknown Baal-krntrysh (signifi-
mon phenomenon in the ancient Near East. At Ugarit, the
cance uncertain). The inscription also mentions Rashap (Re-
patron of the deified dead was Rapiu (“healer”), and his
shef), one of the most important West Semitic gods from the
name survives in those of the late first-millennium Phoeni-
third millennium onward; but the epithet assigned to
cian deities Shadrafa (“healing spirit”) and Baal-Merappe
Azitawadda’s Rashap is unique and problematic. In his curse
(“healer Baal”).
against anyone who would remove the great portal he has
just dedicated, Azitawadda specifically invokes Baal-
The third important dying and reviving god was Ado-
Shamem, El-Creator-of-the-World, and Eternal Sun. All of
nis, whose cult was prominent in Byblos, and especially at
these divine titles evoke numerous Near Eastern parallels,
the spring of Aphaca, near Beirut. This god’s name is attested
but nowhere else do they occur in this form or juxtaposition.
by classical authors, and does not appear in Phoenician texts;
the name is, however, clearly derived from the Canaanite
Another problematic deity of great importance bears the
adoni or adonai, which means “my lord.” The well-known
epithet Baal-Hammon (“lord of the brazier”). He is later
story of the death of Adonis (e.g., Ovid, Metamorphoses
identified with Saturn, but the Phoenician divine name that
10.710–739) is undoubtedly of Semitic origin.
underlies his epithet cannot be determined, nor can anything
definite be said about the god’s character. He is mentioned
The most prominent deity in the Phoenician and Punic
once in the ninth- or eighth-century inscription of King
cults was the goddess Astarte. In the Esarhaddon treaty she
Kilamuwa of Ya’adi (Zinjirli, in southern Anatolia), and later
is invoked as a war goddess, but her personality was more
becomes enormously popular in the Punic cults of North Af-
complex; she was also a fertility goddess, a mother goddess,
rica, Malta, and Sicily. In Carthage, votive stelae are regularly
and a goddess of love, having assimilated her many character-
dedicated “To the lady, Tanit-Face-of-Baal, and to the lord,
istics from various older goddesses such as the Canaanite
Baal-Hammon.” (Elsewhere, Baal-Hammon is generally
triad of Athirat, Anat, and Athtart; the Egyptian Hathor; and
mentioned first.) In view of the close relationship between
the Mesopotamian Ishtar. Astarte’s character was so diverse,
Tyre and Carthage, it is tempting to equate Tanit and Baal-
in fact, that she was identified with several Greek goddesses:
Hammon with Astarte and Melqart. While some assimila-
Aphrodite, goddess of love and fertility; Hera, queen of heav-
tion is certain, however, absolute identity is not.
en; and the mother goddess Cybele. In Byblos, Astarte was
worshiped simply as Baalat, “lady” (feminine form of Baal),
Throughout the first millennium, the Phoenician divine
and in Carthage she was identified with Tanit (origin uncer-
world becomes increasingly complex. Innovations do not,
tain). She was also venerated at Tyre (as consort of Baal-
however, appear to be organic developments. They stem,
Shamem), Sidon, Arvad, and Ashkelon, as well as in the colo-
rather, primarily from syncretism—incorporation of external
nies on Cyprus, Sicily, and Malta. She is the Ashtoret/
influences. Compound divine names, which appear in profu-
Ashtarot so detested by the biblical authors.
sion after the middle of the first millennium, are good indica-
tions of syncretism and assimilation. For example, Eshmun-
In the fifth-century inscription of King Eshmunazor of
Melqart is attested in several fourth-century inscriptions
Sidon, Astarte bears the epithet “name of Baal”; similarly, in
from Kition (Cyprus). Milk-Astarte, whose name is probably
Carthage, Tanit is styled “face of Baal.” These epithets sug-
a combination of Melqart and Astarte, is prominent in the
gest that the Phoenicians saw Astarte as the manifestation of
third- and second-century texts from Umm el-Awamid (near
Baal-Shamem’s numinous power. The cult of Astarte, then,
Tyre); the significance of the combination, however, is un-
was the means of access to the high god; the great mother
clear.
served as a sort of mediator between the people and the heav-
In addition, a number of old gods from different places
enly Baal.
appear in various cults. The old Canaanite storm god Hadad,
It has often been suggested that the divine triad de-
for example, is found together with the “Syrian goddess”
scribed above—high god, great goddess, and dying and re-
Atargatis in a second-century Greek inscription from Kfar
viving god—constituted the basis of all Phoenician panthe-
Yassif, near Acre. In general, though, the old gods belong to
ons. Attractive as that suggestion is, it must be considered
a shadowy world of protective geniuses and malevolent de-
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mons. The proliferation of divine and semidivine guardians
In Phoenician religion, three kinds of cultic activity pre-
and healers (usually chthonic, like Shadrafa) is one of the
dominated: (1) rituals associated with the dying and reviving
most important developments within Phoenician religion.
god, (2) sacrificial rites, and (3) funerary rites. There were
Early evidence comes from the two extraordinary seventh-
three centers of cultic activity: (1) undeveloped natural sites,
century apotropaic plaques from Arslan Tash in north Syria,
especially mountains, rivers, and groves of trees, which for
which name several of these figures. One of the plaques in-
one reason or another were considered sacred (cf. Is. 57:3–
vokes the protection of Baal-Lord-of-the-Earth (i.e., the
13); (2) open-air shrines, usually featuring a sacred grove, a
netherworld) and of the chthonic god Horon, who is also
small chapel, a sacrificial altar (the biblical “high place”), and
prominent in two second-millennium Canaanite incantation
one or more conical stone pillars, called betyls, that symbol-
texts. And later Phoenician and Punic cults venerate the
ized divine presence (to be compared with the wooden ashe-
Egyptian Osiris and Bes, the Babylonian Nergal (Rashap),
rah poles mentioned in the Bible); and (3) fully enclosed
and the Canaanite Mekal and Anat (identified with Athena),
temples with large courtyards for public ceremonies, such as
among others.
Solomon’s Phoenician-designed sanctuary. When the Phoe-
nicians established a colony, they generally built a temple to
Finally, some Phoenician gods are only attested by their
serve as a center of both religious and mercantile activity.
Greek “equivalents,” so that their Phoenician identities can
Their commercial ventures and dealings with foreigners thus
only be surmised. An important case in point is the high god
came under divine protection (see the excellent discussion by
of Beirut, who was “Poseidon,” perhaps to be identified with
Guy Bunnens, 1979, pp. 282–285).
El-Creator-of-the-Earth.
The cult of the dying and reviving god was associated
BELIEFS AND PRACTICES. Phoenician religion was certainly
with sacred natural sites. The temple of Eshmun in Sidon
rooted in a rich mythological tradition. That tradition, un-
was located on a hillside near the Asklepios River (modern
fortunately, does not survive in native texts. The main source
Nahr el-Awali), and the famous shrine of Adonis at Aphaca
is Philo Byblius’s Phoenician History, which is supposedly a
was in the mountains outside Beirut at the source of the Ado-
Greek translation of a Phoenician account by a priest named
nis River (modern Nahr Ibrahim), near the sacred grove and
Sanchuniaton. Most of the extant portions of Philo’s work
shrine of Astarte. Lucian (Syrian Goddess 6–8) describes some
are in book 1 of Eusebius’s Praeparatio evangelica, and vari-
of the rites and traditions associated with Adonis. In an an-
ant versions of some parts can be found in other late classical
nual celebration of his death, the people of Byblos would
texts.
perform mourning rites and lamentations. Then they would
offer sacrifices to Adonis “as if to a dead person,” following
Despite the indubitable value of Philo’s work, its reli-
which they would proclaim his revival. Celebrants were re-
ability should not be overstressed. It is composed of numer-
quired, according to Lucian, to shave their heads; the many
ous sources, and is replete with internal confusion and dupli-
ritual razors found in Punic tombs may be connected with
cation. It conflates originally independent local traditions,
this rite, as are biblical proscriptions of such shaving.
and it imposes an alien euhemeristic framework on the mate-
Women who refused to shave had to act as prostitutes for
rial. Still, as Albert I. Baumgarten concludes in his important
a day, turning the proceeds over to Aphrodite (Astarte).
study (1981) of Philo Byblius, “behind the distortions one
can see traces of a more traditional mythology and religion”
Other sources confirm Lucian’s general description of
(p. 268).
the feast of Adonis. It entailed a dramatic enactment of the
god’s funeral, a mournful procession to the temple of Astarte
At the very least, Philo’s work demonstrates that the
where sacrifices were offered, and an orgiastic banquet that
Phoenicians had a cosmogonic creation myth that was com-
celebrated the god’s resurrection. It can be surmised that
bined with the generations of the gods and an account of the
similar festivals took place in other Phoenician cities (see es-
origin of culture. The traditions are generally comparable to
pecially Édouard Lipinski’s brilliant study [1970] of the festi-
such texts as the Babylonian epic Enuma elish and Hesiod’s
val of the burial and resurrection of Melqart).
Theogony (according to Philo, Hesiod appropriated the
Phoenician stories and “decked them out in every way”);
The ultimate source of the festival is clearly the seasonal
they all provide etiologies and apologies for the supremacy
cycle; the dying and reviving god, whose demise comes with
of particular gods and cults in particular places. Thus, for ex-
the withering summer heat, personifies that cycle. The return
ample, the high god Kronos/El (Baal-Shamem?) assigns
of the god guarantees the return of fertility to the land. To
Phoenicia to Astarte and Zeus-Demarous/Adad (“Baal,” that
the archaic fertility cult, however, the Phoenicians appear to
is, a dying and reviving god), constituting the divine triad
have added a personal soteriological dimension, which be-
(cf. Dt. 32:8 with Baumgarten, p. 214). Astarte herself then
came increasingly important in the late first millennium. In
consecrates her shrine at Tyre. The text continues with etiol-
this new theological context, Adonis personifies the vicarious
ogies of human sacrifice (see below) and circumcision, ex-
sacrificial victim whose life is forfeit for the benefit of the in-
plaining that Kronos gave his beloved son up as a wholly
dividual celebrant. Noel Robertson (1982) rightly calls the
burned offering during a time of “pestilence and death,” and
god’s death “a mythical paradigm of an act of personal atone-
later circumcised himself.
ment” (p. 359). The believer performs a private sacrifice (cf.
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PHOENICIAN RELIGION [FIRST EDITION]
Syrian Goddess 55) and a rite whereby he identifies himself
in his chthonic aspect. The location of the Jerusalem tofet
with the victim. He then participates in the public displays
outside the city’s eastern wall, at the traditional entrance to
of mourning for Adonis, who is the mythic projection of the
the netherworld, explicitly connects child sacrifice with the
sacrificial victim, and he ultimately rejoices at the god’s (and,
cult of death. Offering up an innocent child as a vicarious
vicariously, his own) “salvation.”
victim was a supreme act of propitiation, probably intended
to guarantee the welfare of family and community alike.
The concept of the vicarious victim finds its fullest ex-
pression in the Phoenician and (especially) Punic sacrificial
Another aspect of the Phoenician attitude toward death
cults. In Phoenicia proper, animal and vegetable offerings
shows up in funerary practices. The preferred mode of burial
were made at the various shrines, especially in conjunction
was inhumation, although there were some cremations (aside
with the seasonal festivals, and in fulfillment of personal
from sacrificial victims). Wealthier Phoenicians were buried
vows; human sacrifices were apparently offered in times of
in decorated coffins, in rock-cut tombs of various types.
crisis. In the Punic cults, sacrifice was the primary (not to
Egyptian influence is often discernible in the design of both
say only) religious act; there is no evidence for the sort of
tombs and coffins. In later times, funerary monuments were
temple ceremonies and religious feasts found in the
sometimes built above the tombs. The deceased were buried
homeland.
together with all sorts of practical and ritual objects: utensils
for food, cosmetic containers, toilet articles, clothing, jewel-
The evidence for the Punic sacrificial cults comes pri-
ry, coins, masks, and figurines. As Donald Harden (1980)
marily from Carthage, with comparable evidence from other
remarks in his excellent discussion of Phoenician tombs and
sites in Sardinia, Sicily, and North Africa. The sacrificial pre-
burial customs (pp. 96–104), “were it not for the burials, we
cinct was known as the tofet (cf. the biblical sources of this
should know little of the pottery and other things which the
term: 2 Kings 23:10; Isaiah 30:33; Jeremiah 7:30–32, 19:6–
Phoenicians used in their day-to-day existence” (p. 104).
14); the tofet of Carthage covered as much as 6,000 square
meters. Excavations in the area have turned up thousands of
The funerary practices strongly imply Phoenician belief
urns containing the cremated remains of birds, animals, and
in an afterlife. That impression is confirmed by Phoenician
small children. The urns have been found in three distinct
royal tomb inscriptions, which level curses against anyone
archeological strata, indicating that the precinct was in con-
who would disturb the tombs. In the fifth-century inscrip-
tinuous use from around 750 BCE until the Romans de-
tions of both King Tabnit of Sidon and his son Eshmunazor
stroyed the city in 146 BCE.
II, part of the curse would deny the tomb violator his “rest
with the Refaim.” This term, meaning literally “healers,” de-
Many urns were buried under stelae that were engraved
notes the deified dead of second-millennium Ugarit (also the
either with inscriptions or designs. The designs are usually
depotentialized shades of the Bible). As at Ugarit, presum-
crude representations of betyls, figures of Tanit, or symbols
ably, dead Phoenician notables assumed a new role as
of Tanit and Baal-Hammon: the upraised right hand, the ca-
chthonic healers. A first-century- CE bilingual inscription
duceus (crescent and disk atop a staff), the disk surmounted
from Lybia contains a dedication “to the divine Refaim.”
by a crescent, and the enigmatic “Tanit sign,” basically a tri-
There is insufficient evidence to permit the reconstruction
angle topped by a horizontal bar upon which a disk rests.
of a Phoenician cult of the dead, but a first-century- BCE text
The inscriptions are typically of the votive type, such as the
from Piraeus (Greece) does mention a Sidonian marzih
following: “To the Lady, Tanit-Face-of-Baal, and to the
feast—the ritual banquet of the cult of the dead.
Lord, Baal-Hammon, that which Matonbaal, wife of Abd-
milqart son of Baalhanno son of Bodashtart vowed, because
The many Phoenician religious shrines were staffed by
he [the god] heard his [the votary’s] voice and blessed him”
various cultic officials, including priests, scribes, musicians,
(Donner and Röllig, 1966–1969, no. 88).
barbers (probably for the ritual shaving mentioned above),
and male and female cult prostitutes. The titular head of the
The dedicators of these stelae evidently repaid their
cult, in all likelihood, was the king (in those cities that had
vows to the gods with live sacrifices, mainly of children. And
one). Tabnit refers both to himself and to his father as “priest
while it is often suggested that child sacrifice took place only
of Astarte, king of the Sidonians.” The word for “priest,”
in times of duress (cf. Diodorus Siculus 20.14.4–7), the ar-
khn, is common West Semitic; it occurs frequently in the in-
cheological evidence points toward regular, institutionalized
scriptions to designate the most important cultic officials, as
practice. Sacrificial animals, in fact, were probably substi-
does the feminine form khnt, “priestess.” The priesthood was
tutes for the preferred human victims (cf. Genesis 22, which
hereditary: one stela from Carthage lists seventeen genera-
is, among other things, an etiology of the substitute offering).
tions of priests of Tanit. Since the stela is probably from the
late fourth century, that line of priests might date back to
The sacrifice was called a mulk-offering; the term mulk
the very founding of Carthage (see Harden, 1980, p. 283,
(biblical Molech) is derived from the West Semitic word for
n. 31, and corresponding plate 31).
“king,” and it is evidently an epithet of the god who was the
recipient of the offering. This god would have been either
Artistic representations of the priests show them bring-
an autonomous god of death, like the old Canaanite Mot,
ing offerings (in one case an infant) and giving benedictions.
or, more likely, the dying and reviving god (Baal-Hammon?)
They wear a squarish cap or a head scarf, with a stole over
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one shoulder and a close-fitting tunic. Something of the
treatments of key issues are Sabatino Moscati’s Problematica
priests’ livelihood can be determined from lists of the sacrifi-
della civiltà fenicia (Rome, 1974) and the essays of Giovanni
cial tariffs of third- and second-century Carthage, of which
Garbini collected in I Fenici, storia e religione (Naples, 1980).
several broken copies have survived. These tariffs detail the
An excellent introduction to the present state of scholarship
payments the priests received for performing various sacri-
is the conference volume La religione fenicia: Matrici orientali
fices—both in money and in portions of the sacrificial ani-
e sviluppi occidentali (Rome, 1981). This volume includes,
among a number of important studies, two seminal program-
mal (cf. the opening chapters of Leviticus). The two main
matic statements: Paolo Xella’s “Aspetti e problemi
types of offering were apparently the “whole gift-offering”
dell’indagine storico-religiosa” (pp. 7–25) and Giovanni
and the “substitute offering” (for a child?), although both
Garbini’s “Continuità e innovazioni nella religione fenicia”
terms are problematic. The priest’s fee was higher for the lat-
(pp. 29–43; also in I Fenici, cited above, pp. 151–159).
ter; the fee also varied according to the type of animal sacri-
There are many recommendable studies on special topics. Javier
ficed. Bird offerings, oblations, and meal offerings constitute
Teixidor’s The Pagan God (Princeton, 1977) is a brilliant
separate categories in the tariff, and there is also a provision
analysis of popular religion in the Greco-Roman Near East,
for free sacrifices for the poor.
with special attention to Phoenicia, Syria, North Arabia, and
Palmyra. Two volumes of essays filled with learning and in-
In addition to performing their sacerdotal functions, the
terest are Robert Du Mesnil du Buisson’s Études sur les dieux
priests were probably the conservators and transmitters of
phéniciens hérités par l’empire romain (Leiden, 1970) and
Phoenician culture. Through their activity, the Phoenician
Nouvelles études sur les dieux et les mythes de Canaan (Leiden,
language and traditions survived even in the most unpromis-
1973). The two essays that reconstruct the pantheons of By-
ing circumstances. Poignant evidence of that survival is the
blos (Études, pp. 56–116) and Tyre (Nouvelles études,
one extant Phoenician prayer, an improvised personal prayer
pp. 32–69) are tours de force. A characteristically insightful
recited by a merchant named Hanno, which is preserved in
and controversial study of Phoenician religion in relation to
Latin transcription at the beginning of the fifth act of the
the Bible is William F. Albright’s Yahweh and the Gods of Ca-
Poenulus of Plautus.
naan (London, 1968), pp. 208–264. On the dying and reviv-
ing god, two recent studies of extraordinary interest are Édo-
uard Lipinski’s “La fête de l’ensevelissement et de la
BIBLIOGRAPHY
résurrection de Melqart,” in Actes de la Dix-septième Rencon-
There are two excellent general works on the Phoenicians in En-
tre Assyriologique Internationale, edited by André Finet (Brus-
glish: Donald B. Harden’s The Phoenicians, 2d ed. (New
sels, 1970), pp. 30–58 (exhaustively annotated), and Noel
York, 1980), and Sabatino Moscati’s The World of the Phoe-
Robertson’s “The Ritual Background of the Dying God in
nicians, translated by Alastair Hamilton (New York, 1968).
Cyprus and Syro-Palestine,” Harvard Theological Review 75
Both are well illustrated and contain extensive bibliographies
(July 1982): 313–359.
of older works (which will, therefore, not be listed here). The
A splendid account of the Phoenician colonization of the west is
definitive edition of the Phoenician and Punic inscriptions,
Guy Bunnens’s L’expansion phénicienne en Méditerranée
still in progress, is the Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum,
(Brussels, 1979). A popular account of recent excavations at
part 1 (Paris, 1881–). A thoroughly annotated English trans-
Carthage that emphasizes the issue of child sacrifice is Law-
lation of Phoenician (but not Punic) texts is John C. L. Gib-
rence E. Stager and Samuel R. Wolff’s “Child Sacrifice at
son’s Textbook of Syrian Semitic Inscriptions, vol. 3, Phoeni-
Carthage: Religious Rite or Population Control?” Biblical
cian Inscriptions (Oxford, 1982). A good selection of both
Archaeology Review 10 (January-February 1984): 31–51. The
Phoenician and Punic inscriptions with German transla-
article is generally more sober than the title would suggest,
tions, commentary, and glossary is Kanaanäische und ara-
and it is magnificently illustrated. For a powerful argument
mäische Inschriften, 2d ed., 3 vols., edited by Herbert Donner
against the existence of institutionalized child sacrifice, see
and Wolfgang Röllig (Wiesbaden, 1966–1969). Of the ut-
Moshe Weinfeld’s “The Worship of Molech and of the
most importance for students of the inscriptions is Javier
Queen of Heaven and Its Background,” Ugarit-Forschungen
Teixidor’s “Bulletin d’épigraphie sémi-tique,” which has ap-
4 (1972): 133–154.
peared more or less regularly in the journal Syria since 1967
(vols. 44–). There is also a fine dictionary available in En-
On Philo Byblius’s Phoenician History, there is a first-rate transla-
glish: Richard S. Tomback’s A Comparative Semitic Lexicon
tion and commentary by Albert I. Baumgarten, The Phoeni-
of the Phoenician and Punic Languages (Missoula, Mont.,
cian History of Philo of Byblos (Leiden, 1981). No similar up-
1978). The standard survey of the Phoenician gods is Marvin
to-date study of The Syrian Goddess exists, although there is
H. Pope and Wolfgang Röllig’s “Syrien: Die Mythologie der
a readable English translation with brief introduction by
Ugariter und Phönizier,” in Wörterbuch der Mythologie, vol.
Harold W. Attridge and R. A. Oden, Jr., The Syrian Goddess
1, edited by H. W. Haussig (Stuttgart, 1965), pp. 219–312.
(De dea Syria) (Missoula, Mont., 1976). For a fuller com-
Phoenician and Punic personal names are collected and ana-
mentary, Lu-kíans Schrift über die syrische Göttin, edited and
lyzed in Frank L. Benz’s Personal Names in the Phoenician
translated by Carl Clemen (Leipzig, 1938), is still useful.
and Punic Inscriptions (Rome, 1972).
Finally, space must be found for Gustave Flaubert’s novel of Car-
thage, Salammbö, corr. ed. (Paris, 1879), inspired by his visit
The student interested in the state of the art in Phoenician and
to the site in 1858. The chapter entitled “Moloch” includes
Punic studies must learn Italian, the primary language of
Flaubert’s gruesome account of child sacrifice.
scholarly publication. The most important scholarly journal
is the Rivista di studi fenici (Rome, 1973–). Fundamental
ALAN M. COOPER (1987)
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PHOENICIAN RELIGION [FURTHER
placed in an urn and buried. According to this view, the chil-
CONSIDERATIONS]. With regard to the mlk-
dren buried in the special sacred precinct were symbolically
sacrifice, both the definition of the word mlk and the nature
“offered” to a deity in hopes for the divine protection or sur-
of the actual sacrifice are still under debate. There was an un-
vival of others. Other scholars have suggested that the textual
derworld deity named M-l-k (variously vocalized) in many
occurrences of mlk Ddm could but did not necessarily mean
Mesopotamian and Syro-Palestinian god lists and personal
the sacrifice of a human, and that the substitution of an ani-
names from the late third millennium BCE on, and there ex-
mal would often occur, as is the case with, for example, the
isted an Akkadian term maliku designating shades of the
mlk b El (sacrifice in place of an infant) or with the mlk bˇsr
dead or chthonic deities who received funeral offerings in
(sacrifice in place of flesh). At any rate, the majority opinion
texts from the same time period. However, there is no evi-
among European scholars is that the immolation of humans
dence that either the god or the shades are to be connected
may not have existed at all, or that, at best, it was a limited
to child sacrifice or to the later Phoenician sacrificial term
phenomenon in the Phoenician and Punic world. Neverthe-
mlk. It is not necessary to assume that, by his nature, a god
less, other scholars tend to argue that human sacrifice played
of the netherworld would receive such a sacrifice, and indeed
a somewhat essential role in non-Israelite religions. At this
the god Mlk at Ugarit (possibly pronounced Milku) receives
point, however, it seems that still more evidence is needed
only typical animal offerings (e.g., KTU 1.111). In addition,
before the mlk-sacrifice is fully understood.
the later Phoenician or Punic mlk-sacrifice is given to more
THE SPECIALIZED RELIGION OF PHOENICIAN MARINERS.
than one god and never to one called Mlk; for example, to
That Phoenician mariners had a specialized religion is dem-
the god Kronos in classical texts, to BaEl Hammon and Tanit
onstrated by excavations of harbor shrines and ancient ship-
at Carthage and elsewhere in the western Mediterranean, and
wrecks, burials of sailors, iconographic representations of sea-
perhaps to Eshmun in the only Punic mlk text from Palestine
faring activity, and classical texts. In addition to the gods BaEl
(third or second century BCE). It is only in the Bible that
Sˇamem, BaEl Malage, and BaEl S:apon mentioned in the treaty
human sacrifices are given to a god Molech (or Molek). This
between Esarhaddon and the king of Tyre, all of whom seem
may be the result of a confusion on the part of the biblical
to be aspects of the weather god, one notes that Libyan
text between the sacrificial term mlk and the divine designa-
Ammon and BaEl RoDˇs (“lord of the promontory”) were in-
tion Mlk, which was perhaps triggered by an antagonistic
voked concerning control of the winds and weather. The
and rather defamatory view of non-Israelite religions.
goddesses DAsherah and Tanit, known mostly from their cults
on land, were also believed to help in navigation. Many
It seems most likely that the term mlk/mlkt is a causative
promontories, islands, and harbors were named after the god
nominal form with the pattern maqt:il(at), meaning “thing
Melqart, and, on the basis of the attributes of his Greek
presented” or “the act of presenting,” from the causative of
counterpart, Herakles, it was probably believed that he was
the root ylk (wlk), meaning “to offer, present” (cf. mtnt,
a god of travelers who also conquered sea monsters. Ships
“gift,” from ntn, “to give,” or ms:D “place or act of going
were thought to possess protective spirits, sometimes repre-
forth,” from ys:D, “to go forth”). The mlk-sacrifice is thus not
sented on the prow, and archaeologists can isolate promonto-
connected to the root mlk, “to rule” (cf. biblical melek,
ry shrines that seemed to have served as landmarks for navi-
“king”), even if the divine name Mlk may be.
gation and as indicators of freshwater sources. Maritime
Moreover, there have been new discussions about
votive offerings such as model ships and dedicatory anchors
whether or not the mlk-sacrifice could sometimes actually in-
in harbor shrines were presumably offered by sailors.
dicate a human offering. Scholars have tried to distinguish

between the sacrifices in the Punic realm and those on the
Phoenician mainland. The large cemetery containing the
SEE ALSO Baal; Heracles; Melqart.
burned bones and ashes of small children at Carthage, as well
as the several occurrences of mlk Ddm (sacrifice of a human)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
in Punic texts—in contrast to the almost total lack of archae-
Recent discussions of the mlk-sacrifice include: J. Day, Molech: A
ological and textual evidence in the Palestinian Levant—
God of Human Sacrifice in the Old Testament (Cambridge,
have led to the understanding of some scholars that there
1989), G. C. Heider, The Cult of Molek: A Reassessment
(Sheffield, 1985); D. Pardee, “Review of Heider, Cult of
were no human sacrifices in Phoenicia. However, an unpub-
Molek,” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 49 (1990): 370–372;
lished basalt stela from ˙Inçirli in southeastern Turkey found
K. A. D. Smelik, “Moloch, Molech or Molk-Sacrifice? A Re-
in 1993, written in standard Phoenician from the late eighth
assessment of the Evidence Concerning the Hebrew Term
century BCE, may indicate that mlk-sacrifices of firstborn
Molekh,” Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament 9
human sons were made there along with those of sheep and
(1995): 133–192. G. C. Heider, “Molech,” in Dictionary of
horses (Zuckerman and Kaufman, 1998).
Deities and Demons in the Bible, edited by Karel van der
Toorn, Bob Becking, and Pieter W. van der Horst,
One may still wonder whether mlk Ddm denotes the lit-
pp. 581–585 (Leiden, 1999); H.-P. Müller, “Mo¯lek,” in the
eral sacrifice of a human. Some have proposed that the Car-
Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, vol. 8, (edited by
thage cemetery may simply contain burials of stillborn or
G. J. Botterweck et al., Grand Rapids, Mich., 1997),
short-lived infants whose bodies were cremated and then
pp. 375–388. Otto Eissfeldt’s classic article is now reprinted
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in a bilingual edition by C. González Wagner and L. A. Ruiz
ognize his election, and, under pressure from Ignatius’s
Cabrero, El Molk como concepto del sacrificio punico y hebreo
supporters, he officially condemned Photios in Rome (863).
y el final del dios Moloch (Madrid, 2002), and in the same vol-
After the intervention of the new emperor, Basil I, in 867,
ume an article by Edward Lipinski (pp. 141–157) sums up
Photios was deposed and Ignatius once again became
the strongest arguments for the occurrence of actual, non-
patriarch.
symbolic, human mlk-sacrifices. For counterarguments
against mlk as a child sacrifice, see M. Gras, P. Rouillard, and
A synod convened in 869, comprised of only a limited
J. Teixidor, L’univers phénicien (Paris, 1989).
number of bishops, condemned Photios and definitively jus-
For a preliminary description of the as-yet unpublished ˙Inçirli In-
tified Ignatius. As Francis Dvornik has said, this synod was
scription, see Bruce Zuckerman and Stephen Kaufman, “Re-
used exclusively by the Latins to define their attitude against
cording the Stela: First step on the road to decipherment,”
Photios (Dvornik, 1948). However, ten years later, in 879,
available from http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/humnet/nelc/
at the request of John VIII, another synod was held that can-
stelasite/zuck.html (last updated June 21, 1998). For a brief
celed all decisions of the previous one and reelected Photios
notice, see H. Shanks, “Who—or what—was Molech? New
as patriarch. He died in the Monastery of Amoniakon, prob-
Phoenician Inscription May Hold Answer,” Biblical Archae-
ably on February 6, 891.
ology Review 22, no. 4 (1996): 13.
On the specialized religion of Phoenician mariners, see Aaron Jed
Photios’s most important theological views are ex-
Brody, “Each Man Cried Out to His God”: The Specialized Re-
pressed in his Mystagogy of the Holy Spirit, which is a detailed
ligion of Canaanite and Phoenician Seafarers (Atlanta, 1998);
analysis of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. According to Pho-
see also the review by Ignacio Márquez Rowe, Orientalistische
tios, the filioque clause, which claims that the Holy Spirit
Literaturzeitung 97 (2002): 369–372. For an up-to-date edi-
proceeds from the Father “and from the Son,” was theologi-
tion and detailed commentary of Lucian’s On the Syrian
cally unacceptable because it introduced a new principle into
Goddess, see now that of J. L. Lightfoot (Oxford, 2003).
the Trinity. If the procession of the Holy Spirit was depen-
For works on the relation between Phoenician religion and the
dent upon procession from the Son, then this would create
Bible, Albright’s Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan is now sur-
an unequal union among the three divine persons, destroy-
passed by Mark S. Smith’s The Early History of God: Yahweh
ing the balance.
and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel, 2nd ed. (Grand Rap-
ids, Mich., 2002), and John Day’s Yahweh and the Gods and
Within the church, Photios thought true communion
Goddesses of Canaan (Sheffield, 2000). For general matters on
impossible without the coexistence of dogma and ethos.
Phoenicians, see The Phoenicians, edited by Sabatino Moscati
However, he saw the importance of accepting a diversity of
(New York, 1988) and Corinne Bonnet, Melqart: Cultes et
institutions and ecclesiastical customs, a diversity that would
mythes de l’Héraclès tyrien en Méditerranée (Leuven, 1988).
be made whole by the effects of the Spirit. As a result of mis-
For the Ugaritic texts (KTU), see now Manfried Dietrich,
sion work, there were new Slavic churches demanding auton-
Oswald Loretz, and Joaquín Sanmartín. The Cuneiform Al-
omy, which was giving impetus to changes in ecclesiastical
phabetic Texts from Ugarit, Ras Ibn Hani and Other Places
organizations that had until that time remained uniform.
(KTU) (Münster, 1995, 2nd edition of Die keilalphabetischen
Texte aus Ugarit
, Neukirchen, 1976).
According to Photios, political authority is equal to ec-
T
clesiastical authority in the governance of a people; the func-
AWNY L. HOLM (2005)
tions of the emperor and patriarch are parallel. Photios’s the-
ory, known as the dual control theory, places responsibility
for the subjects’ material well-being in the emperor’s hands;
PHOTIOS (c. 820–891), patriarch of Constantinople,
the patriarch is held accountable for their spiritual welfare.
saint of the Orthodox church, was a scholar, public minister,
In other words, governance is equally distributed between
diplomat, professor, organizer of missions, ecclesiastical writ-
the emperor and the patriarch, who work harmoniously for
er, and hierarch. Photios was born into a noble family. His
the good of the world.
father, Sergius, was the brother of the patriarch Tarasios.
Photios’s theological and literary works continued to in-
Three of Photios’s four brothers held high civil offices; be-
fluence others long after his death. His theological work has
cause of his family’s social position, he was able to obtain an
had the most influence, especially his detailed presentation
advanced education.
of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, which was identical to that
In 850, when the university of Constantinople was reor-
put forth by his successors. Photios’s interest and participa-
ganized (by Photios at the empress’s request), Photios was
tion in the theological and political discussions of his time
one of the first professors called there to teach. He was sent
directly determined the field of jurisdiction of the early
to Baghdad in 851, together with Constantine the Philoso-
Christian rulers in Slavic countries and contributed to the
pher, as diplomatic representative of the emperor to the ca-
formation of laws and to the regulation of relations between
liph al-Mutawakkil. After intervention in 858 by the caesar
church and state. Photios was, in fact, the first patriarch of
Bardas, uncle of Michael III, the conservative patriarch Igna-
Constantinople to initiate missionary work among the Slavs.
tius resigned. Photios as a layman was elected patriarch. Al-
He chose Cyril and Methodius from Thessalonica to preach
though he was eventually ordained, Nicholas I refused to rec-
Christianity in Russia, Bulgaria, Moravia, Croatia, and
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PHYSICS AND RELIGION
Slovenia. At the same time, Photios struggled to protect
cenna; 980–1037). This collection of writings had a pro-
the rights of the ecumenical throne from the interference of
found impact on European history, precipitating many of
the ambitious Nicholas I in southern Italy, Sicily, and on the
the intellectual shifts that led to the birth of modern physics
Balkan peninsula.
during the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. Because of
Photios’s corpus includes poetic and prose writings, lit-
these historical connections, the impact of modern physics
erary works, and theological works. His most significant
upon religious ideas has been most enduringly felt and evalu-
works are Lexicon, Ecclesiastic History Compendium, and
ated from the perspective of Western Christian thought.
Myriobiblion (or Bibliotheca), which contains the literary
This article thus focuses primarily on Christian responses,
analyses of 280 works studied by Photios, many of which are
though works relating to other religions are included in the
no longer extant. Photios’s Amphilochia is an important col-
bibliography.
lection of dogmatic essays, whereas his Mystagogy of the Holy
Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) stands at the center of one
Spirit, an anti-filioque essay, presents all the arguments relat-
of the first encounters between physics and Christianity. The
ed to the teaching about the procession of the Holy Spirit
Roman Catholic Church is commonly perceived to have put
from the Father alone. His Against the Manichaeans refutes
forward theological objections to the sun-centered, or helio-
the Manichaean heresy and warns about the dangers it holds
centric, account of planetary motion first developed by Ni-
for the orthodox faith. Although the Nomocanon and the
colaus Copernicus (1473–1543) and later promoted by Gali-
Epanagoge certainly reflect Photios’s opinions and were for
leo. However, historians now generally agree that the
years attributed to him, they were most likely written by his
church’s hostility toward heliocentrism resulted more from
students.
Reformation controversies over authority and biblical inter-
pretation, as well as the various personalities involved in the
BIBLIOGRAPHY
encounter, than from any real theological difficulties stem-
Only a few of Photios’s works have been translated. See, for exam-
ple, in English, The Homilies of Photius, Patriarch of Constan-
ming from the earth’s motion. In retrospect, the lasting theo-
tinople, translated, with commentary, by Cyril Mango (Cam-
logical significance of physics’ emerging worldview proved
bridge, Mass., 1958), and, in Russian, Patriarkha Fotiia XLV
to be its comprehensive account of physical motion in terms
neizdannykh pisem, edited and translated by Athanasios Pa-
of deterministic laws. If every moment in history had been
padopoulos-Kerameus (Saint Petersburg, 1896). Photios’s
completely determined by physical laws acting upon what
writings are collected in Patrologia Graeca, edited by J.-P.
came before it, could one still conceive of God’s ongoing ac-
Migne, with Joseph Hergenröther, vols. 101–104 (Paris,
tivity in the world? And equally important, in such a world
1857–1866), and in Epistolai, edited by Ioannou Balettas
could one still conceive of human thought and action as gen-
(London, 1864). For critical discussion, see Francis
uinely free?
Dvornik’s “Photius, Father of Schism or Patron of Re-
union?” in Report of the Proceedings at the Church Unity Oc-
NEWTONIAN MECHANISM. The deterministic worldview of
tave, 1942 (Oxford, 1942), pp. 19–32, and the same author’s
early modern physics solidified around the grand synthesis
The Photian Schism: History and Legend (Cambridge, 1948),
of Isaac Newton (1642–1727), which united celestial and
which includes a full bibliography and explicates the false
terrestrial motion into a single conceptual scheme. The heav-
legends about Photios. In Greek, see my Theologia kai dia-
ens were no longer the abode of spiritual beings but merely
prosopikai skheseis kata ton M. Photion (Thessaloniki, 1974);
in German, Joseph Hergenröther’s Photius, Patriarch von
another part of the physical world that could be understood
Konstantinopel, 3 vols. (Regensburg, 1867–1869).
mathematically in terms of its parts. In this key respect, New-
ton’s account of physical motion, his “mechanics,” shaped
VASILEIOS YIOULTSIS (1987)
the character of modern science in general. All of the early
scientists in Europe, including Newton, were at least nomi-
nally Christian, though many held unorthodox beliefs.
PHYSICS AND RELIGION. Physics describes the
Some, like Johannes Kepler (1571–1630), took it as their
material world on the basis of repeatable observation and in
task and reward to “think God’s thoughts after him” and
terms of concepts such as mass, energy, space, and time. As
thought of their investigations as a hymn of praise to the Cre-
the earliest of the modern scientific disciplines, physics has
ator. Others, like Galileo, attempted to distance scientific
played a central role in establishing the approach that charac-
ideas from theological ones by describing science and the
terizes modern science in general. At the heart of this ap-
church as two distinct authorities, each controlling separate
proach lies the quest for precise mathematical “laws,” which
spheres of knowledge. Quoting the respected cardinal and
can be used to explain, predict, and control the natural
Counter-Reformation historian Césare Baronio (1538–
world. The historical roots of this quest lie in the musings
1607), Galileo wrote in his own defense that “the intention
of the ancient Greeks, most notably those of Pythagoras
of the Holy Ghost is to teach us how one goes to heaven,
(sixth century BCE) and his followers. The writings of the Py-
not how the heavens go.” But distinguishing religion from
thagorean tradition, as well as those of Aristotle and other
science in this way obscured, at least initially, the far-
Greek philosophers, were re-introduced to late medieval Eu-
reaching consequences of replacing the medieval view of the
rope by Islamic scholars such as Ibn S¯ına¯ (known also as Avi-
world as an organism open to divine interaction with physics’
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PHYSICS AND RELIGION
7137
developing view of the world as a lifeless and autonomous
proach. Such explanations rely problematically on scientific
clocklike mechanism closed to any “external” influence.
ignorance and must retreat whenever science fills an explana-
tory gap. Others pursued a more compelling version of this
At the heart of this new worldview lay the idea of deter-
approach, often called interventionism, in which God breaks
minism, which has become a synonym for classical (i.e.,
the laws of nature when acting in a specific event. God, on
Newtonian) physics signifies the impossibility of any genuine
this view, creates gaps in an otherwise deterministic world
novelty in the world. As the French mathematician Pierre-
to make “room” for particular divine acts. Deists rejected this
Simon de Laplace (1749–1827) famously stated, “Given for
theory because they felt that the most honest and reasonable
one instant an intelligence which could comprehend all the
response to determinism was to relinquish the God who con-
forces by which nature is animated and the respective situa-
tinues to act, in favor of a God who brings the world into
tion of the beings who compose it. . . , for [this intelligence]
nothing would be uncertain and the future, as the past,
existence and then desists. (Newton’s account of inertial, or
would be present to its eyes” (Laplace, 1917, p. 4). Newtoni-
self-sustaining, motion helped to discredit the idea that the
an mechanism also reinforced the strategy of reductionism,
world depends upon God’s ongoing activity for its continued
by which an object’s behavior is explained solely in terms of
existence.) Finally, nineteenth-century Protestant liberals
the behavior of its parts. Embracing both determinism and
eliminated from their theory of divine action all objectively
reductionism, Newtonian physicists and other scientists
special acts and miracles, speaking only of God’s one great
came to eschew explanations that appealed to purpose, or
uniform act: the entire history of creation. On the liberal ac-
telos. Instead, they sought to provide explanations solely in
count, one might perceive God acting specially in some par-
terms of efficient causes. This mechanistic outlook continues
ticular physical event, but this would be merely a matter of
to oppose religious perspectives that speak of the meaning-
one’s own subjective perception.
fulness and purposefulness of the world.
The three responses—interventionism, deism, and lib-
In response to the rise of mechanistic physics, Western
eralism—differ sharply from one another, yet they brook a
philosophers and theologians of the Enlightenment focused
common theological constraint. Each accepts that a God
much of their effort on protecting human freedom. One of
who brings about change in the world must be treated on
the first to deal with this issue was René Descartes (1596–
a par with any other object entering into human experience.
1650), who divided reality into two realms: the material
Thus, all concede to classical physics that if the world is de-
world of mechanical necessity (res extensa) and the mental
terministic then there is no “room” within its structures for
world of human free willing (res cogitans). Immanuel Kant
God to act. Deism and liberalism infer from this that God
(1724–1804) subsequently advanced a more nuanced dual-
does not act specially at particular moments in history. Inter-
ism, distinguishing between the determinism of the per-
ventionism retains the idea of an active God, but it sees God
ceived world (the realm of phenomena) and the freedom of
acting by breaking the world’s natural structures. The far-
the world in and for itself (the realm of noumena). Following
reaching consequences of this constraint cannot be overem-
Descartes and Kant, many Protestant theologians abandoned
phasized. Prior to the rise of physics, theologians had no dif-
the physical world and retreated into the “inner” world of
ficulty harmonizing a God who acts with a world that mani-
the human spirit. Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834)
fests its own causal integrity. While few would accept a
was one of the first to push this agenda, removing religion
return to prescientific notions of divine action, the virtues
from the realm of knowledge and relocating it in the realm
and liabilities of the notion that objectively special divine acts
of feeling. By the end of the nineteenth century, Albrecht
are incompatible with physical determinism, or theological
Ritschl (1822–1889) could write, “theology has to do, not
incompatibilism, have not been discussed extensively by con-
with natural objects, but with states and movements of man’s
temporary theologians.
spiritual life.” In its first interactions with modern physics,
Recent developments in physics have led to a new (but
Christian thought had managed to protect human freedom
still theologically incompatibilist) approach to divine action.
from physical determinism only by severing human existence
On the one hand, this approach agrees with the liberal theo-
from its physical foundation.
logical tradition that God must be understood to act with
Classical physics also posed a serious challenge to no-
the grain of natural processes—after all, it is noted, God
tions of God’s ongoing activity in the world. In response to
is the one who established these processes—though it rejects
determinism, Christian thinkers developed three markedly
the liberals’ purely subjective view of special divine action.
different theories of divine action. According to the first, the
On the other hand, it agrees with interventionism that God
universe does not have the causal powers within itself neces-
acts objectively at particular moments in the world, though
sary to bring about its present configuration. Newton es-
it rejects the interventionist view that God thereby violates
poused an early version of this approach, claiming that the
the laws of nature. This new noninterventionist strategy at-
planets’ orbits were inherently unstable and thus in need of
tempts to straddle the traditional divide by turning to devel-
occasional divine adjustment. Locating God’s activity as
opments in twentieth-century physics, many of which can
Newton did in events allegedly lying beyond the ken of sci-
be seen to undercut the determinism and reductionism of the
entific explanation has been called the God of the gaps ap-
classical paradigm.
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PHYSICS AND RELIGION
THE TWENTIETH-CENTURY REVOLUTION. As the nine-
in 1951 that physics had finally confirmed the Christian doc-
teenth century drew to a close, physicists’ work seemed near-
trine of creation. Much discussion has ensued as to whether
ly complete. Classical mechanics described the motion of
such connections can be made and whether the concept of
physical masses under the influence of mechanical forces,
creation entails an absolute beginning or only the more gen-
electromagnetic theory described the interaction of electrical
eral notion of ontological dependence. Recent scientific pro-
charges and currents, and thermodynamics described the
posals such as eternal inflation and quantum cosmology suggest
phenomena of temperature and heat. The eminent Victorian
that the beginning of our universe may have been only one
physicist Lord Kelvin (1824–1907), who was instrumental
event in a much longer series. Consequently, the Big Bang
in the development of thermodynamics, saw nothing new on
now looks less and less like an absolute beginning.
the horizon for future generations of physicists to discover.
Contemporary cosmology has also reinvigorated the de-
He professed to see only a few inconsequential clouds ob-
sign argument for the existence of God. Although earlier
scuring the “beauty and clearness” of Newtonian physics.
forms of this argument focused on the intricacy and beauty
But in truth, behind these clouds lay deep puzzles regarding
of living organisms, Darwin’s case against design—it was
the nature of light and the behavior of atoms. Contrary to
only “apparent”—shifted the debate to the level of physics.
Kelvin’s expectations, attempts to solve them ushered in the
According to the so-called anthropic principle argument, the
greatest revolution in physical science since the time of New-
structure and processes of the universe are finely tuned for
ton. This revolution came in the form of two new theoretical
the requirements of our own existence. In its strongest form,
paradigms, both of which seemed at odds with the worldview
this argument leads to the existence of a divine tuner. In its
of classical physics: the theory of relativity developed by Al-
weaker form, however, our existence is seen merely as the re-
bert Einstein (1879–1955) and the theory of atomic behav-
sult of a process of cosmic Darwinism: we can only live in
ior called quantum theory developed by a host of scientists
a particular domain of the universe where its structures and
in the 1920s. New views of space, time, and causation
processes are hospitable to life. This weaker version avoids
prompted by these theories encouraged renewed theological
the theistic conclusion, but much disagreement remains as
reflection on the nature of God, the world, and humanity.
to whether or not it amounts to a scientific explanation. The
Newton had conceived of space as God’s means of expe-
design argument runs into further difficulties with the far fu-
riencing the world and of time as an absolute structure with
ture of the universe, which appears doomed either to endless
an endless past and future, as well as a uniformly moving
expansion and cooling, the freeze scenario, or to eventual re-
present. Einstein, in his special theory of relativity, reconcep-
collapse and implosion, the fry scenario. Neither offers much
tualized space and time as a single reality, spacetime, and pos-
comfort for an eschatological perspective that clings to the
tulated that the speed of light, not space or time, was the true
notion of future fulfillment. It is at least conceivable that life,
invariant of the universe. Accordingly, measurements of dis-
suitably transformed, could extend itself far into the future,
tance and time vary from different perspectives depending
though this kind of pseudo-immortalization does not satisfy
upon the different observers’ relative motion. This under-
the Christian vision of a creation ultimately assumed into the
standing denies the existence of a universal “now” and raises
divine life.
questions about traditional notions of the relation between
While Einstein was rewriting Newton’s account of space
divine eternity and creaturely temporality. Additionally, the
and time, as well as reshaping our understanding of the uni-
portrayal of time as a fourth dimension has led some to inter-
verse at the largest scales, another even more radical revolu-
pret Einstein’s theory as hostile to the very idea of temporal
tion was taking place at the very smallest scales. In 1900 the
flow. According to proponents of the block universe interpre-
physicist Max Planck (1858–1947) turned his attention to
tation, our spacetime universe exists timelessly as a four-
one of the most puzzling of the remaining “clouds,” a prob-
dimensional whole, challenging the reality of human free-
lem having to do with the emission and absorption of elec-
dom and our general sense of temporal becoming.
tromagnetic radiation by atoms. He solved this problem the-
After publishing his special theory of relativity, Einstein
oretically by introducing the curious notion that energy
turned to the problem of developing a new theory of gravity
comes only in discrete units, called quanta, not in continu-
(the general theory of relativity) based on his account of
ously varying amounts as classical physicists had supposed.
spacetime. His new theory treated gravity geometrically as
This and other breakthroughs led physicists such as Niels
the curvature of spacetime rather than in Newtonian terms
Bohr (1885–1962), Werner Heisenberg (1901–1976),
as a force acting on a mass. According to Einstein, matter
Erwin Schrödinger (1887–1961), and Paul Dirac (1902–
curves spacetime, and spacetime tells matter how to move.
1984) to develop quantum theory, which achieved great suc-
It is within this conceptual framework that physicists devel-
cesses in describing the behavior of atoms and their compo-
oped the cosmological theory of the origin, structure, and de-
nents. These successes, however, came at the expense of clas-
velopment of the universe known as the Big Bang theory. Ex-
sical intuitions regarding basic physical concepts such as
trapolating backwards from the present expansion of the
causality, determinism, separability, and the wave-particle
universe, physicists arrived at the notion of a primordial ex-
distinction. At the quantum level, objects can change their
plosion, or big bang. This notion led Pope Pius XII to suggest
state over time without any sufficient mechanical cause,
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PHYSICS AND RELIGION
7139
evolve in a purely random or indeterministic manner, remain
SEE ALSO Chaos Theory; Cosmology, article on Scientific
intimately connected to one other over large distances, and
Cosmologies.
behave like waves in one setting but like particles in another.
Theologians have responded to the quantum perspective on
BIBLIOGRAPHY
the physical world in a variety of ways. Some have connected
General
Bohr’s notion of complementarity, the idea that mutually in-
Introductory theological texts include a collection edited by Rob-
compatible descriptions like wave and particle are necessary
ert J. Russell, William R. Stoeger, S.J., and George V. Coyne,
for a complete description of the same reality, to issues such
S.J., Physics, Philosophy, and Theology: A Common Quest for
the relation between religion and science. Others have ap-
Understanding (Vatican City, 1988), and Mark W. Wor-
pealed to quantum indeterminism to resolve the question of
thing’s God, Creation, and Contemporary Physics (Minneapo-
divine action. According to their arguments, an indetermin-
lis, 1996). Twentieth-century developments in physics are
istic ontology makes it possible to conceive of God (and per-
surveyed in Paul C. Davies’s God and the New Physics (New
haps human beings as well, though by different means) as
York, 1983), and in his The Mind of God: The Scientific Basis
acting directly in the physical world without breaking physi-
for a Rational World (New York, 1992). For a more detailed
analysis of epistemological issues, see Philip Clayton’s Expla-
cal laws by determining otherwise underdetermined quan-
nation from Physics to Theology: An Essay in Rationality and
tum events. Still others are exploring quantum nonsepara-
Religion (New Haven, Conn., 1989) and Roy D. Morrison’s
bility or entanglement, which suggests that creation is a place
Science, Theology, and the Transcendental Horizon: Einstein,
not only of immense times and distances but also of deep and
Kant, and Tillich (Atlanta, 1994), as well as a collection of
subtle connections.
essays edited by Jan Hilgevoord, Physics and Our View of the
World
(Cambridge, U.K., 1994). Apologetic concerns domi-
The remarkable subtlety of physical processes is addi-
nate in Stephen M. Barr’s Modern Physics and Ancient Faith
tionally highlighted by chaos theory, a third significant theo-
(Notre Dame, Ind., 2003) and Victor J. Stenger’s Has Science
retical development within twentieth-century physics. Strict-
Found God? The Latest Results in the Search for Purpose in the
ly speaking, chaos theory fits within the Newtonian
Universe (Amherst, N.Y., 2003). In one of the first popular
deterministic paradigm. However, it reveals how even pro-
works to explore the religious implications of modern phys-
ics, The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels between
cesses described by deterministic mathematical laws, such as
Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism, 3d ed. (Berkeley,
weather patterns, can develop in seemingly random and un-
Calif., 1975), Fritjof Capra focuses on connections to the
predictable ways. Because the theory is deterministic, it does
Eastern traditions. Essays written from a wide variety of per-
not appear to offer any straightforward opportunities for
spectives are contained in a collection edited by Henry Mar-
those pursuing a noninterventionist account of divine or
genau and Roy A. Varghese, Cosmos, Bios, Theos: Scientists
human action. Still, some have argued that, despite being
Reflect on Science, God, and the Origins of the Universe, Life,
presently deterministic, the theory points to a genuine form
and Homo Sapiens (La Salle, Ill., 1992), and in another edited
of openness in nature; this openness, they aver, will eventual-
by Clifford N. Matthews and Roy A. Varghese, Cosmic Be-
ly be reflected in a future version of the theory. If this were
ginnings and Human Ends: Where Science and Religion Meet
(Chicago and La Salle, Ill., 1995). Other general works in-
to happen, chaos theory would provide yet another example
clude Arthur Peacocke’s Theology for a Scientific Age: Being
of physics moving beyond its Newtonian origins.
and Becoming: Natural, Divine, and Human (Minneapolis,
1993), John C. Polkinghorne’s The Faith of a Physicist: Re-
Physicists are currently struggling to unite the various
flections of a Bottom-up Thinker (Minneapolis, 1996), Mi-
theoretical developments surveyed here under one conceptu-
chael Heller’s The New Physics and a New Theology (Vatican
al framework, but at present the theory of relativity, quan-
City, 1996), Guy Consolmagno’s The Way to the Dwelling
tum theory, and chaos theory each provide quite distinct
of Light: How Physics Illuminates Creation (Vatican City,
lenses onto the world’s physical structures and processes. Al-
1998), Peter Hodgson’s Theology and the New Physics (Ox-
though both relativity theory and chaos theory transform
ford, 1998), and Andreas Benk’s Moderne Physik und Theolo-
various aspects of Newton’s account of space, time, and cau-
gie: Voraussetzungen und Perspektiven eines Dialogs (Mainz,
sation, they also essentially sustain the determinism of the
Germany, 2000). See also Pierre-Simon de Laplace, A Philo-
sophical Essay on Probabilities, 2d
ed., translated from the 6th
classical tradition. Quantum theory, on the other hand, at
French edition by Frederick Wilson Truscott and Frederick
least according to the most widely held interpretation, dra-
Lincoln Emory (New York, 1917).
matically overturns this tradition. Physics is a scientific disci-
pline presently at odds with itself, presenting us with remark-
Historical
able but fractured insights into the nature of the physical
Studies of religious and philosophical developments accompany-
world. The resolution of this tension will no doubt lead to
ing the rise of modern physics include Edwin A. Burtt’s The
Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Physical Science: A His-

further opportunities for conversation with religious perspec-
torical and Critical Essay, rev. ed. (Atlantic Highlands, N.J.,
tives. The human quest for meaning and transcendence can-
1952); Amos Funkenstein’s Theology and the Scientific Imagi-
not be reduced to physical explanation, but it can be en-
nation: From the Middle Ages to the Seventeenth Century
riched by the deeper understanding of the world’s natural
(Princeton, N.J., 1986); Michael J. Buckley’s At the Origins
processes that physics provides.
of Modern Atheism (New Haven, Conn., 1987); and John
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PHYSICS AND RELIGION
Hedley Brooke’s Science and Religion: Some Historical Per-
Mich., 1999). The anthropic principle is discussed in John
spectives (Cambridge, UK, 1991). Carolyn Merchant exam-
D. Barrow and Frank J. Tipler’s The Anthropic Cosmological
ines the social and ecological impact of mechanistic thinking
Principle (Oxford, 1985) and John Leslie’s Universes (Lon-
in The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology, and the Scientific
don, 1989); its theological implications are further explored
Revolution (San Francisco, 1980), and Margaret Wertheim
in Nancey C. Murphy and George F. R. Ellis’s On the Moral
compares the historical marginalization of women in reli-
Nature of the Universe: Theology, Cosmology, and Ethics,
gious institutions to their exclusion from the physics acade-
(Minneapolis, 1996). Cosmological arguments for and
my in Pythagoras’ Trousers: God, Physics, and the Gender Wars
against the existence of God are presented in William Lane
(New York, 1995). N. Max Wildiers examines the impact of
Craig and Quentin Smith’s Theism, Atheism, and Big Bang
modern science on religious cosmology in The Theologian
Cosmology (New York, 1993). Attempts to harmonize scien-
and His Universe: Theology and Cosmology from the Middle
tific and biblical accounts of creation can be found in Hugh
Ages to the Present (New York, 1982). The preservation and
Ross’s Beyond the Cosmos: The Extra-Dimensionality of God,
expansion of early science in Islamic society is discussed in
2d ed. (Colorado Springs, Colo., 1999), Gerald L.
Muzaffar Iqbal’s Islam and Science (Burlington, Vt., 2002).
Schroeder’s Genesis and the Big Bang: The Discovery of Har-
Other works deal with particular concepts or historical fig-
mony between Modern Science and the Bible (New York,
ures: Jerome Langford discusses recent scholarship on Gali-
1990), and Howard Van Till’s The Fourth Day: What the
leo in Galileo, Science, and the Church, 3d ed. (Notre Dame,
Bible and the Heavens Are Telling Us about Creation (Grand
Ind., 1998); Wolfhart Pannenberg treats the religious signifi-
Rapids, Mich., 1986). Scientific and theological consider-
cance of the concept of inertia in Toward a Theology of Na-
ations are enlisted to support a philosophical cosmology in
ture: Essays on Science and Faith, edited by Ted Peters (Louis-
Arthur Gibson’s God and the Universe (New York, 2000) and
ville, Ky., 1993); J. L. Heilbron recounts the use of churches
Nancy Howell’s A Feminist Cosmology: Ecology, Solidarity,
for astronomical observation in The Sun in the Church: Ca-
and Metaphysics (Amherst, N.Y., 2000). The far future of the
thedrals as Solar Observatories (Cambridge, Mass., 1999);
universe is the topic of a collection edited by John C. Polk-
Max Jammer examines Einstein’s views in Einstein and Reli-
inghorne and Michael Welker, The End of the World and the
gion: Physics and Theology (Princeton, N.J., 1999); and Rich-
Ends of God: Science and Theology on Eschatology (Harrisburg,
ard Cross reconstructs one medieval perspective in The Phys-
Pa., 2000); Arnold Benz’s The Future of the Universe: Change,
ics of Duns Scotus: The Scientific Context of a Theological
Chaos, God? (New York, 2000); and a volume edited by
Vision (Oxford, UK, 1998).
George F. R. Ellis, The Far-Future Universe: Eschatology from
a Cosmic Perspective
(Philadelphia, 2002). The possibilities
Special Relativity and Temporality
for life continuing into the distant future are explored in
Paul Davies introduces the scientific and philosophical issues in
Freeman J. Dyson’s Infinite in All Directions (New York,
About Time: Einstein’s Unfinished Revolution (New York,
1988) and Frank J. Tipler’s The Physics of Immortality: Mod-
1996). Treatments of the religious implications include Law-
ern Cosmology, God, and the Resurrection of the Dead (New
rence W. Fagg’s The Becoming of Time: Integrating Physical
York, 1994).
and Religious Time (Atlanta, 1995), Jürgen Heinze’s “Gott im
Herzen der Materie
: Die Struktur der Zeit als Grundlage chr-
Quantum Theory
istlicher Rede von Gott im Kontext der modernen Physik (Bonn,
Popular scientific introductions include Nick Herbert’s Quantum
Germany, 1996), and William Lane Craig’s Time and Eterni-
Reality: Beyond the New Physics (Garden City, N.Y., 1985)
ty: Exploring God’s Relationship to Time (Wheaton, Ill.,
and John Polkinghorne’s Quantum Theory: A Very Short In-
2001). The relation between eternity and temporality is the
troduction (Oxford, 2002). Early theological reflections on
topic of several of the essays in a collection edited by Robert
quantum theory include Karl Heim’s The Transformation of
J. Russell, Nancey C. Murphy, and Chris J. Isham, Quantum
the World (London, 1953) and William G. Pollard’s Chaos
Cosmology and the Laws of Nature: Scientific Perspectives on
and Providence (London, 1958). The noninterventionist ap-
Divine Action, 2d ed. (Vatican City and Berkeley, Calif.,
proach to divine action is assessed in a book edited by Robert
1996).
J. Russell, Philip Clayton, Kirk Wegter-McNelly, and John
Polkinghorne, Quantum Mechanics: Scientific Perspectives on
General Relativity and Cosmology
Divine Action (Vatican City and Berkeley, Calif., 2001); see
Popular scientific introductions include Stephen W. Hawking’s A
also earlier volumes in the VO/CTNS series. Metaphysical
Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes (New
perspectives are constructed in David Bohm’s Wholeness and
York, 1988) and Robert Jastrow’s God and the Astronomers,
the Implicate Order (London, 1980) and John A. Junger-
2d ed. (New York, 2000). Discussions of the religious impli-
man’s World in Process: Creativity and Interconnection in the
cations can be found in Stanley L. Jaki’s God and the Cosmol-
New Physics (Albany, N.Y., 2000). An Islamic perspective is
ogists (Edinburgh, 1989); in a collection edited by Ted Pe-
developed in Bint al-Shati’s The Subatomic World in the
ters, Cosmos as Creation: Theology and Science in Consonance
Qur Dan (Norwich, UK, 1980). A Buddhist perspective is
(Nashville, 1989); in another edited by Robert J. Russell,
presented in Matthieu Ricard and Trinh Xuan Thuan’s The
Nancey C. Murphy, and Chris J. Isham, Quantum Cosmology
Quantum and the Lotus: A Journey to the Frontiers Where Sci-
and the Laws of Nature: Scientific Perspectives on Divine Ac-
ence and Buddhism Meet (New York, 2001). John Losee dis-
tion, 2d ed. (Vatican City and Berkeley, Calif., 1996); and
cusses methodological parallels in Religious Language and
in Willem B. Drees’s Beyond the Big Bang: Quantum Cosmol-
Complementarity (Lanham, Md., 1992).
ogies and God (La Salle, Ill., 1990), Owen Gingerich’s Space,
Time, and Beyond: The Place of God in the Cosmos
(Valparai-
Chaos Theory
so, Ind., 1993), and Jeffrey G. Sobosan’s Romancing the Uni-
A popular scientific introduction is James Gleick’s Chaos: Making
verse: Theology, Science, and Cosmology (Grand Rapids,
a New Science (New York, 1988). John Polkinghorne argues
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PIETISM
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for the relevance of chaos theory to divine action in, for ex-
Oration he cites a broad array of ancient sources—the mysti-
ample, Reason and Reality: The Relationship between Science
cal writings ascribed to Hermes Trismegistos, various Persian
and Theology (London, 1991). Its relevance is examined criti-
writers, David, Moses, Plato, Pythagoras, Enoch, the qabbal-
cally in a book edited by Robert J. Russell, Nancey C. Mur-
ists, Muhammad, Zarathushtra, the apostle Paul, and many
phy, and Arthur Peacocke, Chaos and Complexity: Scientific
others. Unlike Marsilio Ficino, his friend and mentor at the
Perspectives on Divine Action (Vatican City and Berkeley,
Platonic academy in Florence, Pico did not give humans a
Calif., 1995).
fixed place in the great chain of being; he described humanity
Spirituality
as the object of special creation and the focal point of the
Numerous works have been written from a variety of religious per-
world with no fixed place, outline, or task, but free to make
spectives. Some of the more prominent include Daniel Lider-
its own choices and to seek what is heavenly and above the
bach’s The Numinous Universe (New York, 1989); B. Alan
world, free to become a veritable angel. The Oration served
Wallace’s Choosing Reality: A Contemplative View of Physics
as the rhetorical introduction to his Conclusiones (1486),
and the Mind (Boston, 1989); John L. Hitchcock’s The Web
of the Universe: Jung, the “New Physics,” and Human Spiritu-

nine hundred “theses” providing a summation of all learning,
ality (New York, 1991); Kevin O’Shea’s Person in Cosmos:
which Pico offered for public disputation. Upon publication
Metaphors of Meaning from Physics, Philosophy, and Theology
in Rome, seven of the theses were found by a commission
(Bristol, Ind., 1995); Brian Hines’s God’s Whisper, Creation’s
of Innocent VIII to be heretical and six of them dubious.
Thunder: Echoes of Ultimate Reality in the New Physics (Brat-
Pico’s apologia for them was not accepted, but Alexander VI
tleboro, Vt., 1996); Daniel C. Matt’s God and the Big Bang:
subsequently vindicated his orthodoxy.
Discovering Harmony between Science and Spirituality
(Woodstock, Vt., 1996); Diarmuid O’Murchu’s Quantum
Pico’s mature philosophical writings include the Hepta-
Theology: Spiritual Implications of the New Physics (New York,
plus (1489), a sevenfold interpretation of Genesis 1:1–27; Of
1997); Lothar Schäfer’s In Search of Divine Reality: Science
Being and Unity (1491), on the harmony of Plato and Aris-
as a Source of Inspiration (Fayetteville, Ark., 1997); David
totle; and a long treatise attacking astrology as demeaning to
Toolan’s At Home in the Cosmos (Maryknoll, N.Y., 2001);
human liberty and dignity. He allowed for sidereal influence
and Ken Wilber’s Quantum Questions: Mystical Writings of
only because of heat and light, but not because of any occult
the World’s Great Physicists, rev. ed. (Boston, 2001).
power of the stars. His thought was notable for its synthesis
KIRK WEGTER-MCNELLY (2005)
of Aristotelianism and Platonism, its combination of scholas-
tic and humanist elements, and for the fascination with Qab-
balah that it reflects.
PICO DELLA MIRANDOLA, GIOVANNI
BIBLIOGRAPHY
(1463–1494), philosopher of the Italian Renaissance, was
Although Pico’s Opera (Basel, 1572) is not readily accessible, Eu-
the youngest son of Francesco Pico, count of Mirandola and
genio Garin has published editions of various texts: De
Concordia, a small feudal territory just west of Ferrara. He
hominis dignitate, Heptaplus, De ente et uno, e Scritti vari
was named papal protonotary at the age of ten and was sent
(Florence, 1942) and the Disputationes adversus astrologiam
to study canon law at Bologna in 1477. Two years later he
divinatricem, 2 vols. (Florence, 1946–1952). For a transla-
began the study of philosophy at Ferrara, and from 1480 to
tion of the Oration, see The Renaissance Philosophy of Man,
1482 he studied at Padua, one of the main centers of Aristo-
edited by Ernst Cassirer et al., translated by Josephine L.
telianism. He visited Paris, where he encountered Scholastic
Burroughs (Chicago, 1948), pp. 223–254. For Pico’s life and
thought, see Eugenio Garin’s Giovanni Pico della Mirandola
theology, returned to Florence, and then moved to Perugia,
(Florence, 1937) and La cultura filosofica del Rinascimento
where he studied Hebrew and Arabic with several Jewish
italiano (Florence, 1961); Eugenio Anagnine’s Giovanni Pico
teachers. In Perugia, Pico developed an interest in Ibn Rushd
della Mirandola (Bari, 1937); and Paul O. Kristeller’s Eight
(Averroës) and the mystical Jewish Qabbalah. In his late
Philosophers of the Italian Renaissance (Stanford, Calif.,
twenties, after a carefree youth, Pico’s life took a more serious
1964), pp. 54–71, the best brief treatment in English.
turn. He gave up his share of his patrimony and planned to
LEWIS W. SPITZ (1987)
give away his personal property in order to take up the life
of a poor preacher. During his final years Pico came under
the influence of the Dominican friar Savonarola. He died of
a fever in Florence on November 17, 1494, the very day on
PIETISM. Pietism has been and remains an identifiable
which Charles VIII of France made his entry into Florence,
religious orientation within the churches of the Reformation.
after the expulsion of its ruler, Piero de’ Medici.
As the name indicates, it emphasizes the life of personal piety
A brilliant young philosopher, Pico is best known as the
according to the model it finds in the primitive Christian
author of Oration on the Dignity of Man, which is considered
community. By doing so it has hoped to complete the Refor-
to be the manifesto of Renaissance humanism. “I have read
mation, which, in the judgment of many of its adherents, has
in Arabian books,” Pico wrote, “that nothing in the world
never become a movement to reform the religious life of in-
can be found that is more worthy of admiration than man.”
dividuals. The roots of Pietism are found, on the one hand,
To support this humanistic assertion of the first part of the
in the mystical spirituality of an earlier day and, on the other,
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PIETISM
in the writings of Martin Luther and John Calvin, as well
systems of Protestant orthodoxy. Later it was opposed to the
as other reformers such as Caspar Schwenckfeld and the
Enlightenment attempt to reduce Christian commitment to
prominent Anabaptists.
the acceptance of a few propositions held to be rationally de-
monstrable. In tension between these poles, Pietists strove to
It is difficult to fix precisely the boundaries of Pietism,
restore to Protestantism a theology based on a commonsense,
either in terms of chronology or distribution. While scholars
untortured, more-or-less literal, and basically devotional in-
have associated Pietism largely with Lutheranism, it has been
terpretation of the Bible. Lastly, Pietists hoped to reform so-
customary to date its beginning from the publication of
ciety through the efforts of renewed individuals, thus stem-
Philipp Jakob Spener’s Pia desideria in 1675, two years after
ming the moral decay that, in their judgment, afflicted both
which his followers were referred to as “Pietists.” The present
the churches and the body politic.
tendency, growing out of a great deal of recent research, is
EARLY PIETISM. The rise of Pietism is best discussed with ref-
to expand the term so as to include what is now widely per-
erence to five early groupings.
ceived as the same development within other communions,
notably the Reformed, as well as Protestants who questioned
1. Pietism’s manifestation within the Reformed territo-
the need for any kind of church affiliation because they
ries of the Low Countries is sometimes still referred to as
found a lack of religious devotion and ethical urgency within
“Precisianism,” though it may be best to drop that designa-
the churches of the day. Under the circumstances, the classi-
tion because of the difficulty of distinguishing it conceptual-
cal phase of the Pietist movement should now be loosely re-
ly from Pietism as it is here understood. Pietism within
garded as a Protestant phenomenon of the seventeenth and
Dutch Reformed churches had certain natural affinities with
early eighteenth centuries. It is bounded, on the one hand,
Puritanism, which historically comes from the same source.
by the age of post-Reformation orthodoxy, to which it react-
It is attached to such illustrious names as Willem Teellinck
ed both negatively and positively, and, on the other, by the
(1579–1629), who may be regarded as its father; William
Enlightenment, which rejected some of its insights and in-
Ames, or Amesius, as he called himself (1576–1633), who,
corporated others. In the sense of a prominent undercurrent
although born and educated in England, chose to teach at
within the religious self-understanding of large segments of
the University of Franeker; and Jodocus van Lodensteyn
Protestantism, Pietism as a historical entity has never ceased
(1620–1677). Within German Reformed territories its chief
to exist.
theological spokesman became Friedrich Adolph Lampe
(1683–1729).
The basic characteristics of the movement can be most
easily isolated with reference to its classical phase. Pietists of
2. The branch of early Pietism that has received the
the day believed that religiousness within the Christian tradi-
greatest attention is the Spener-Halle type. It was strictly a
tion, if it is to be meaningful, must involve the complete reli-
Lutheran phenomenon, profoundly indebted to Johann
gious renewal of the individual believer. The experience of
Arndt (1555–1621) and counting among its outstanding
such a renewal need not follow any prescribed pattern, but
representatives Philipp Jakob Spener (1635–1705) and Au-
it must consist in a conscious change of humanity’s relation-
gust Hermann Francke (1663–1727). Although its concern
ship to God so as to bring certainty concerning divine for-
encompassed men and women in all walks of life, it ad-
giveness, acceptance, and continued concern. The fruit of
dressed itself especially to the nobility.
such a renewal must become visible in the form of “piety,”
3. Swabian Pietism, on the other hand, exhibited a
that is, a life expressive of love for God and humanity and
somewhat different ecclesiastical, as well as social, profile. Its
built on a vivid sense of the reality of God’s presence in all
chief spokesman, Johann Albrecht Bengel (1687–1752), was
situations of life. Pietists believed that those in whom this
a convinced Lutheran and partially indebted to Spener. Yet
religious perspective becomes actualized constitute an inclu-
he and his followers steered the Pietist development so as to
sive fellowship, namely the koino¯nia, that was so profoundly
make it dominantly a movement of the people. For that rea-
cherished by the primitive Christian community. This fel-
son Württemberg witnessed the eventual rise of various Pi-
lowship was perceived to transcend every barrier of church
etist fellowships, made up of peasants and artisans, that often
affiliation, race, class, and nationality—even that of time.
resonated to the mysticism of Jakob Boehme and hence were
Thus Pietists characteristically addressed one another as
only loosely associated with Lutheranism. A typical fellow-
“brother” or “sister,” terms symbolic of a common experi-
ship was the Hahnische Gemeinschaft, named after its
ence of profound spiritual unity. This sense of religious soli-
founder, Johann Michael Hahn (1758–1819).
darity was enhanced by an awareness of the fact that they
4. A fourth branch of early Pietism arose within Luther-
were called upon to live in a society that chose to adhere to
anism but followed the theological leadership of Count
a value system different from their own, though it was widely
Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf und Pottendorf (1700–
supported by the major Christian communions. Hence they
1760). This strain ultimately became the Renewed Moravian
often assembled in conventicles of like-minded people with-
Church.
in local parishes. Furthermore, Pietism during its classical pe-
riod centered its concept of religious authority in a biblicism
5. Not to be overlooked is the radical wing of Pietists,
set originally against the formidable but lifeless theological
which was often very critical of the major communions and
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PIETISM
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their close ties to the state. Especially prominent among these
Friedrich Schleiermacher and his disciples. Not to be forgot-
critics were the young Gottfried Arnold (1666–1714) and
ten is the fact that the chief representatives of the intellectual
Johann Konrad Dippel (1673–1734), while the saintly Ernst
movement known as German Idealism grew up in a Pietist
Christoph Hochmann von Hochenau (1670–1721) and
environment. Its genius is discernible also in a variety of later
Gerhard Tersteegen (1697–1769) were among the radical
religious movements, such as American evangelicalism.
wing’s more irenical representatives.
SEE ALSO Devotion; Francke, August Hermann; Schleierma-
The eighteenth century. During the second part of the
cher, Friedrich; Spener, Philipp Jakob; Wesley Brothers;
eighteenth century the face of Pietism was considerably al-
Zinzendorf, Nikolaus.
tered by the spirit of the times. In its reaction against the En-
lightenment philosophy of Christian Wolff (1679–1754),
BIBLIOGRAPHY
who greatly influenced continental Protestantism, Pietism
The first extensive historical study of Pietism was Albrecht
was forced to align itself theologically with Protestant ortho-
Ritschl’s Geschichte des Pietismus, 3 vols. (Bonn, 1880–
doxy, its former antagonist, while espousing at the same time
1886). Although it was an unfriendly, strongly biased treat-
the ethical sensitivity of the Enlightenment. Interacting also
ment, it brought into focus the whole Pietist movement in
with the literary movement usually referred to as Sturm und
both the Lutheran and Reformed communions as well as
Drang, which tried to legitimize the inner human experi-
among radicals. This was followed by Paul Grünberg’s thor-
ence, the freedom of the individual vis-à-vis the accepted
ough and scholarly work, Philipp Jakob Spener, 3 vols. (Göt-
norms of the day, and especially the place of feeling, it tended
tingen, 1893–1906). Subsequently there were many local
to become sentimentalized and suspicious of rational conclu-
histories, but only sporadic attempts to examine the general
sions.
phenomenon of Pietism. There was a growing tendency to
disregard Ritschl’s broad concept and to limit the study to
In one form or another Pietism eventually reached both
Lutheranism, specifically to Philipp Jakob Spener and Au-
Switzerland and Scandinavia. By various emissaries, among
gust Hermann Francke, Spener’s well-known successor at
them Henry Melchior Muhlenberg (1711–1787), Theodor
Halle.
J. Frelinghuysen (1691–1748), Michael Schlatter (1718–
After decades of neglect, Erich Beyreuther concentrated some of
1790), Philip W. Otterbein (1726–1813), Peter Becker
his prodigious energies upon the subject, notably upon
(1687–1758), and Zinzendorf, it was brought to the Ameri-
Francke and Zinzendorf. His first volume in this effort was
can colonies. Its Moravian phase strongly influenced the
August Hermann Francke, 1663–1727 (Marburg, 1956). A
Wesley brothers and hence the Methodist movement in
new era of Pietism study commenced when Martin Schmidt,
America. Thus Pietism, along with Puritanism, must now be
the outstanding Pietism scholar of the day, published the
first of a series of works in the field, Das Zeitalter des Pietis-
considered one of the major religious traditions that shaped
mus (Bremen, 1965), edited by Wilhelm Jannasch. The pres-
American Protestantism.
ent very intense interest in Pietism study was given tremen-
HERITAGE OF PIETISM IN THE PROTESTANT TRADITION.
dous impetus when, under the leadership of Martin Schmidt
The influence of Pietism on world Protestantism has been
and the Francke scholar Erhard Peschke, the Kommission
pervasive and far-reaching. With respect to the ministry, it
zur Erforschung des Pietismus was founded in Germany in
1965. On the basis of its findings the concept of Pietism was
stressed the religious and ethical qualifications of the minis-
once again broadened, and under its auspices a series of vol-
ter above his ecclesiastical status. In the area of Protestant
umes was published under the title “Arbeiten zur Geschichte
worship, it greatly expanded Protestant hymnody, deempha-
des Pietismus” (Bielefeld, 1967–), edited by Kurt Aland, Er-
sized ritual, and tended to make the sermon central. It helped
hard Peschke, and Martin Schmidt. In 1972, it brought out
to make religious commitment the major aim of Protestant
the first volume, Abteilung 3: August Hermann Francke, of
worship. Its advocacy of the devotional reading of the Bible
Texte zur Geschichte des Pietismus (Berlin, 1972), and later
made the latter a book of the people and produced a large
the first yearbook, titled Pietismus und Neuzeit (Bielefeld,
corpus of edificatory literature. It was instrumental in reori-
1974).
enting theological education by enthroning the concept of
During the same period I attempted to generate interest in the
biblical theology and by advocating the religious formation
study of Pietism in the English-speaking world through Rise
of the whole person, which inevitably resulted in the estab-
of Evangelical Pietism (Leiden, 1965), German Pietism during
lishment of theological seminaries for prospective clergy. Its
the Eighteenth Century (Leiden, 1973), and Continental Pi-
deep concern for the plight of the poor and the sick made
etism and Early American Christianity (Grand Rapids, Mich.,
for a massive effort to establish homes and schools that would
1976). In the meantime Theodore G. Tappert had translated
meet their needs, and it projected the hope of a better world
into English and edited Spener’s Piadesideria (Philadelphia,
1964), based on Kurt Aland’s treatment of the same work.
brought about through the involvement of concerned Chris-
James Tanis followed with Dutch Calvinistic Pietism in the
tians. Its vision of a humanity in need of the gospel of Christ
Middle Colonies (The Hague, 1967); J. Steven O’Malley with
made for the initiation and rapid expansion of foreign and
Pilgrimage of Faith: The Legacy of the Otterbeins (Metuchen,
domestic missionary enterprises. Its contribution to the rise
N. J., 1973); Dale W. Brown with Understanding Pietism
of the ecumenical ideal is clear, as is its impact on the devel-
(Grand Rapids, Mich., 1978), which is limited largely to an
opment of modern theology, notably through the work of
exposition of the views of Spener and Francke; and Gary R.
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PIGS
Stattler with God’s Glory, Neighbor’s Good: A Brief Introduc-
In the cult of Attis and Adonis as well as in the festivals
tion to the Life and Writings of August Hermann Francke (Chi-
of Demeter, each worshiper sacrificed a pig as an individual
cago, 1982).
offering. According to mythic tradition, Attis was gored by
F. ERNEST STOEFFLER (1987)
a wild boar, and likewise Adonis was killed by a wild boar
while out hunting. In commemoration of these tragic events
boars were sacrificed in the Levant in the domestic rite of
PIGS. The pig is an animal at once unclean and sacred.
mourning, in which the sacrificer acted as if he had been de-
Dear to demons, it is used as bait to divert them from tor-
prived of his own life. The boar sacrifice was a vicarious offer-
menting humans, but at the same time it has particular asso-
ing for the life of the worshiper.
ciations with sacrifices of expiation and purification. The pig
For the Jews, the pig is an unclean animal and its flesh
is strikingly chthonic in nature, for it is usually offered to the
may not be eaten nor its carcass touched (see Lv. 11:7, Dt.
divinities and powers of the underworld. When pigs are so
14:8). In ancient times, Jews did not hesitate to risk their
bred as to grow tusks that are curved or crescent in shape,
lives for their devotion to the Torah in this regard (e.g., 2
they assume the lunar symbolism of the renewal of life or of
Mc. 6:18–31); in the middle of the second century BCE, they
rebirth after death. Pigs are sometimes believed to be the
stood against the Seleucid king Antiochus IV when he de-
transformations of certain divine beings.
filed the Temple of Jerusalem by dedicating it to Olympian
In ancient Mesopotamia the pig was domesticated in
Zeus, immolating pigs and other unclean animals and offer-
very early times, but its use in the temple cult was extremely
ing them in sacrifice. His religious policy was dictated by his
rare. As an Assyrian fable puts it, “The pig is not acceptable
concern to unify the beliefs and practices of his empire (1
in the temples, and it is an abomination to the gods.” How-
Mc. 1:41–42), and the cult of Zeus seemed to him an appro-
ever, it played a very important role in healing rituals and
priate focus for the religious allegiance of all his subjects. In
the exorcism of demons. One healing ritual prescribed the
order to break down the resistance, the king directly attacked
immolation of a piglet: The bed of a sick person is rubbed
the things that expressed Jewish faith: the Torah and its pre-
with its blood, the beast is dismembered, and its limbs are
scriptions, circumcision, the Sabbath, the ritual of sacrifices,
applied to the limbs of the sick person. In this way, the piglet
and finally the prohibition against immolating and eating
substitutes for the sick person. Pigs were especially employed
pigs.
against the demoness Lamashtu, the enemy of pregnant
The dietary prohibition of the Torah is pre-Israelite in
women, young mothers, and their babies. In the rite of exor-
origin, for abstinence from the meat of the pig was a wide-
cism a piglet was immolated and its heart placed at the
spread, religiously motivated custom that is well attested
mouth of a figure of Lamashtu. In Egypt, the pig appeared
among the Phoenicians, the Cypriots, the Syrians, the Arabs,
most notably in connection with the myths and rituals of
and in fact among all Semitic peoples with the exception of
Seth, the god who killed his brother Osiris and who repre-
the Babylonians. Although its religious origins have sunk
sented the forces of evil. According to the Book of Going Forth
into oblivion, the custom has been preserved: Jews and Mus-
by Day (chap. 112), Seth changed himself into a black pig
lims of today abstain from eating pork in accordance with
during his fight with Horus, the son of Osiris. Whenever a
its strict prohibition by the Torah and the QurDa¯n.
pig was sacrificed to Horus and its related divinities, it sym-
bolized the forces of evil.
In the Hindu tradition, the boar appears again as an ava-
tar of the god Vis:n:u. When a demon, Hiran:ya¯ks:a, cast the
Pigs were sacrificed in ancient Greece for the purifica-
earth into the depths of the cosmic ocean, Vis:n:u assumed
tion of the sacred field, the sanctuary, and the house of the
the form of an enormous boar, killed the demon, and re-
priestess; they were sacrificed partly because of their associa-
trieved the earth with his tusk. This mythic scenario proba-
tion with dirt, with which evil spirits were often equated, and
bly developed through a primitive non-Aryan cult of the sa-
partly because of their association with fertility. Especially
cred pig.
noteworthy is the use of pigs in the festivals connected with
the goddess Demeter and her daughter Persephone. In the
The pig continues to play a highly significant role in the
Eleusinian mysteries, for example, each initiate had to sacri-
myths and rituals of Southeast Asia and Melanesia. Among
fice a piglet for the specific purpose of purifying himself. Be-
the Ngaju of South Borneo, when cosmic order has been de-
cause the piglet was as symbolic of the celebration as were
stroyed by violation of the divine commandments, by incest,
the torch and the kernos (the sacred vessel used in the Eleu-
for example, the guilty parties must slaughter a pig as a vicari-
sinian cult), in a number of works of art it is represented in
ous sacrifice. The entire village community in which they live
the arms of the initiates. Small pigs played a part also in the
(the people, houses, fields, animals, plants, and so on) is
Thesmophoria, the annual fertility festival honoring Deme-
smeared with the blood of the pig, and then a “tree of life”
ter and Persephone. Together with wheat cakes in the shape
is erected at the center of the village square before cosmic
of serpents and human beings, pigs were thrown, probably
order is restored. According to the aborigines of the Melane-
alive, into underground chambers (megara), where they were
sian island Malekula, the journey to the land of the dead
left to rot for a year, while the bones from the year before
starts with the offering of a pig to the female divinity who
were brought up aboveground and placed upon an altar.
guards the cavernous entrance to the otherworld. The pig
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PILGRIMAGE: AN OVERVIEW
7145
can be no ordinary one; it must have been raised by the sacri-
ROMAN CATHOLIC PILGRIMAGE IN THE NEW WORLD
ficer’s own hands and ritually consecrated time and again.
EASTERN CHRISTIAN PILGRIMAGE
MUSLIM PILGRIMAGE
Especially important is the shape of its tusks: They should
CONTEMPORARY JEWISH PILGRIMAGE
be curved or crescent, symbolizing the waxing and waning
BUDDHIST PILGRIMAGE IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA
moon. While the pig’s black body, consumed by the divinity,
BUDDHIST PILGRIMAGE IN EAST ASIA
corresponds to the new, or “black,” invisible moon, its cres-
TIBETAN PILGRIMAGE
HINDU PILGRIMAGE
cent-shaped tusks symbolize the continuance of life after
death, rebirth, or resurrection. The killing of pigs is under-
stood by the Ceramese in New Guinea as a reenactment of
PILGRIMAGE: AN OVERVIEW
their ancestors’ murder of the maiden divinity Hainuwele,
A religious believer in any culture may sometimes look be-
which occurred at the mythical time of beginning. Hainu-
yond the local temple, church, or shrine, feel the call of some
wele was killed, but her dismembered body was miraculously
distant holy place renowned for miracles and the revivifica-
transformed into tuberous plants (such as coconuts, bananas,
tion of faith, and resolve to journey there. The goal of the
and yams) and into pigs, neither of which had previously ex-
journey, the sacred site, may be Banaras, India (Hindu); Je-
isted. Pigs are thus Hainuwele in disguise.
rusalem, Israel (Jewish, Christian, Muslim); Mecca, Saudi
Arabia (Muslim); Meiron, Israel (Jewish); Ise, Japan
BIBLIOGRAPHY
(Shinto¯); Saikoku, Japan (Buddhist); or one of a hundred
The best single study of the pig in the ancient Near East is Roland
thousand others. Whatever the site, whatever the culture, the
de Vaux’s “Les sacrifices de porcs en Palestine et dans l’ancien
general features of a pilgrim’s journey are remarkably similar.
Orient,” in Von Ugarit nach Qumran, 2d ed., edited by
A generalized account of one woman’s pilgrimage may thus
W. F. Albright et al. (Berlin, 1961), pp. 250–265, which is
serve to illustrate the process.
now translated by Damian McHugh in de Vaux’s The Bible
and the Ancient Near East
(London, 1972), pp. 252–269. See
Once, in a place apart, there appeared a very holy per-
also Noel Robertson’s “The Ritual Background of the Dying
son; miracles occurred at that place and drew multi-
God in Cyprus and Syro-Palestine,” Harvard Theological Re-
tudes of pilgrims. Later, a shrine was built by devotees.
view 75 (1982): 313–359. On pigs in the myths, symbols,
Now, in the present, those who are afflicted make a
and rituals of Southeast Asia and Melanesia, see Hans
promise to the holy person in their hearts: “If you help
Schärer’s classic study, Die Gottesidee der Ngadju Dajak in
me, I will make the journey to your shrine and perform
Süd-Borneo (Leiden, 1946), translated by Rodney Needham
devotions there.” The journey will be arduous and in-
as Ngaju Religion: The Conception of God among a South Bor-
convenient, but the goal beckons, the source out there
neo People (1946; reprint, The Hague, 1963); John Layard’s
that heals both body and soul, and worldly consider-
Stone Men of Malekula (London, 1942); and Adolf E. Jen-
ations fall away. The pilgrim sets out lightheartedly. As
sen’s Die getötete Gottheit: Weltbild einer frühen Kultur (Stutt-
she travels, she joins with many others who are bound
gart, 1966).
in the same direction, and bonds of friendship develop
New Sources
between them. During her journey the pilgrim calls at
Hendel, Ronald S. “Of Sacred Leopards and Abominable Pigs:
sacred way stations, each of which strengthens her faith
How Common Practice Becomes Ritual Law.” Bible Review
further. When she nears her goal, and can make out the
16, no. 5 (2000): 8.
shrine from afar, she weeps for joy. When she enters the
sacred domain she is conscious of actually seeing with
Hesse, Brian, and Paula Wapnish. “Pig Use and Abuse in the An-
her own eyes the place of those holy events, while her
cient Levant: Ethnoreligious Boundary-building with
feet touch the very ground the holy one trod. At last she
Swine.” In Ancestors for the Pigs: Pigs in Prehistory, edited by
is in the presence of the sacred—and is in awe. She
Sarah M. Nelson, pp. 123–135. Philadelphia, 1998.
touches the shrine with her hand, then remains there
Landau, Paul S. “The Spirit of God, Pigs and Demons: The ‘Sa-
a long time in bliss and prayer. Afterward, she gives of-
muelites’ of Southern Africa.” Journal of Religion in Africa
ferings and makes the rounds of the lesser shrines that
29, no. 3 (1999): 313–340.
cluster about the main one. Before leaving she eats holy
Nihom, Max. “On Buffalos, Pigs, Camels, and Crows.” Wiener
food and calls at the market for pious presents to take
Zeitschrift für die Kunde Südasiens und Archiv für indische
home. Her return journey is cheerful, for her affliction
Philosophie 31 (1987): 75–109.
is lifted. When she arrives home, her family and neigh-
bors feel and share in the blessings that have come to
Rappaport, Roy. Pigs for the Ancestors: Ritual in the Ecology of a
her.
New Guinea People. Rev. ed. New Haven, 1985.
THE EXPERIENCE OF PILGRIMAGE. Pilgrimage has the classic
MANABU WAIDA (1987)
Revised Bibliography
three-stage form of a rite of passage: (1) separation (the start
of the journey), (2) the liminal stage (the journey itself, the
sojourn at the shrine, and the encounter with the sacred),
PILGRIMAGE
and (3) reaggregation (the homecoming). It differs from ini-
This entry consists of the following articles:
tiation in that the journey is to a center “out there,” not
AN OVERVIEW
through a threshold that marks a change in the individual’s
ROMAN CATHOLIC PILGRIMAGE IN EUROPE
social status (except in the case of the pilgrimage to Mecca).
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PILGRIMAGE: AN OVERVIEW
The middle stage of a pilgrimage is marked by an awareness
gin may be the magnet. Such images show great variety, from
of temporary release from social ties and by a strong sense
a painted picture such as that of the Virgin of Cze˛stochowa,
of communitas (“community, fellowship”), as well as by a
to a lovingly clothed doll as at Tlaxcala, Mexico, to a colossal
preference for simplicity of dress and behavior, by a sense of
statue of the Buddha in Sri Lanka. They induce awe and de-
ordeal, and by reflection on the basic meaning of one’s reli-
votion, for they have the power to touch the religious in-
gion. Movement is the pilgrim’s element, into which she or
stinct. There is an ambivalence in such objects. Are they
he is drawn by the spiritual magnetism of a pilgrimage
themselves divine or not? The ambivalence only intensifies
center.
the wonder.
Freedom from social structure. The temporary release
Miracles of healing also endow pilgrimage centers with
from social ties that characterizes a pilgrim’s journey is shared
a powerful spiritual magnetism. Such miracles seem to occur
by other travelers who have an affinity with pilgrims, espe-
when there are both a heightened sense of the supernatural
cially tourists and mystics. Tourists may, at heart, be pil-
and a profound sense of human fellowship, of shared experi-
grims, for many serious-minded ones, perhaps alienated
ence. Although the study of neurological effects of religious
from their own society, find an elective center in the periph-
experience is in its infancy, there appears to be a healing fac-
ery of society, in a place of power that affects them in a per-
tor in the unitary experience that is central to religion. The
sonal way. Like pilgrims, they switch worlds, and they may
repeated stories of miracles at pilgrimage centers may thus
even experience transcendence in the situation of liminality,
constitute more important material than has been hitherto
in the special state of being freed from social structure. Their
recognized.
outward journey, like pilgrimage, may thus be a form of exte-
Many pilgrimage centers are sites of apparitions, places
riorized mysticism. Mystics, on the other hand, make an in-
where supernatural beings have appeared to humans. The ap-
ward sacred journey, an interior pilgrimage. Pilgrims, tour-
pearance of a supernatural being imparts magnetic power to
ists, and mystics are, all three, freed for a time from the nets
a site whether or not it has independent beauty or signifi-
of social structure.
cance. Pilgrims endeavor to touch objects as close as possible
Communitas. Pilgrims typically experience the senti-
to the site of apparition. Through the concreteness of touch,
ment of communitas, a special sense of bonding and of hu-
they experience connection with the original event.
mankindness. Many pilgrims claim of their own company
The birthplace, location of life events, or tomb of a holy
that “here is the only possible classless society.” Yet, in each
person may be a pilgrimage magnet in the same way, and the
case, this communitas is channeled by the beliefs, values, and
land itself in certain places has power to move the spirit, so
norms of a specific historical religion. The rules and norms
that rivers, mountains, caves, islands, and strange features of
that develop in pilgrimage are essential to the sense of flow
the landscape may radiate spiritual magnetism. A cave at
that pilgrims feel when they act with total involvement. They
Amarnath, India, is an example. The magically beautiful ice
need the frame to focus action. So pilgrimage, in its specifici-
formation within it is worshiped as an incarnation of S´iva.
ty, can foster exclusiveness between the religions, the sense
Nature, at the margins of the mundane, may represent a
that “ours is the only one.”
threshold into the spiritual.
Here one encounters the fact that pilgrims are usually
Generally, the numinosity of a pilgrimage center is pal-
social conservatives, while their critics are often liberals.
pable. After the inception of the center it takes on a longterm
More often than not, pilgrimage is a phenomenon of popular
character, gradually unfolding throughout history.
religion. The populations from which pilgrims are drawn
H
tend to cling jealously to their traditional rights and customs.
ISTORICAL CLASSIFICATION OF PILGRIMAGES. Pilgrimages
have arisen in different periods of history and have taken dif-
Thus there occurs the paradox that they have often rallied
ferent paths. According to one typology, based largely in a
for national independence under pilgrimage banners such as
Western view of history, pilgrimages can be classified as ar-
Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico and the Virgin of
chaic, prototypical, high-period, and modern. Although this
Cze˛stochowa in Poland.
typology is most fruitful in examining Christian pilgrimage,
Pilgrimage has been of concern to the orthodox hierar-
it can be extended to other religious traditions as well.
chies of many religions, for pilgrimage draws the faithful
Archaic pilgrimage. Certain pilgrimage traditions have
away from the center of organization. A devotion may arise
come down from very ancient times, and little or nothing
spontaneously, not in a consecrated place, and may not keep
is known of their foundation. Some of these archaic tradi-
the strictest rules of the structured religion. Once started, it
tions, like that of the Huichol Indians of Mexico, retain a
is democratic, rich in symbolism of its own and in com-
complex symbolic code. Others have been overlaid by the
munitas. From the point of view of social structure such
trappings of a later religion, although archaic customs can
manifestations of communitas are potentially subversive.
still be discerned; the communitas of past ages also carries on,
SPIRITUAL MAGNETISM OF PILGRIMAGE CENTERS. A num-
providing energy for the new establishment. Such syncretism
ber of factors may be involved in the spiritual magnetism of
occurred at Mecca and Jerusalem in the Middle East, at Iza-
a pilgrimage center. A sacred image of great age or divine ori-
mal and Chalma in Mexico, and at Canterbury in England.
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PILGRIMAGE: AN OVERVIEW
7147
At Canterbury it was officially sanctioned; Augustine of Can-
mobile and airplane, and pilgrimage centers publish newspa-
terbury received a message from Pope Gregory the Great that
pers and pamphlets. The catchment areas of modern pil-
he should “baptize” the Anglo-Saxon customs, bringing
grimage are the great industrial cities. However, the message
them into the fold and harnessing them for the new religion.
of the shrine is still traditional, at variance with the values
of today. Many Roman Catholic pilgrimages have been trig-
Prototypical pilgrimage. Pilgrimages established by
gered by an apparition of the Virgin Mary to some humble
the founder of a religion, by his or her first disciples, or by
visionary with a message of penance and a gift of healing, as
important evangelists of the faith may be called “prototypi-
at Lourdes, France.
cal.” As in all new pilgrimage traditions, the foundation is
marked by visions and miracles and by the advent of a swarm
Other centers have arisen from the ashes of some dead
of fervent pilgrims. They make spontaneous acts of devotion,
pilgrimage shrine. A devotee has a vision of the founder,
praying, touching objects at the site, leaving tags on trees,
which heralds new miracles and a virtually new pilgrimage,
and so on. As the impulse for communitas grows, a strong
as at Aylesford, England. Both apparitional and saint-
feedback system develops, further increasing the popularity
centered pilgrimages in other parts of the modern world
of the pilgrimage center. A prototypical pilgrimage tradition
abound, as in Japan and at the tomb of the holy rabbi Huri
soon manifests charter narratives and holy books about the
of Beersheva, Israel.
founder. A shrine is built and an ecclesiastical structure de-
CONCLUDING REMARKS. Pilgrimage is a process, a fluid and
velops. The Jerusalem and Rome pilgrimages are prototypi-
changing phenomenon, spontaneous, initially unstructured
cal for Christianity, Jerusalem for Judaism, Mecca for Islam,
and outside the bounds of religious orthodoxy. It is primarily
Banaras and Mount Kailash for Hinduism, Bodh Gaya¯ and
a popular rite of passage, a venture into religious experience
Sa¯rna¯th, India, for Buddhism, and Ise for Shinto¯. Pilgrims
rather than into a transition to higher status. A particular pil-
at these sites often reenact events of the founding times.
grimage has considerable resilience over time and the power
of revival. Pilgrims all over the world attest to the profundity
High-period pilgrimage. In the heyday of a pilgrimage
of their experience, which often surpasses the power of
tradition an elaborate shrine, crowded with symbols, is creat-
words.
ed; side shrines, a market, a fairground, and hostels spring
up near the center, and professional pilgrims make their ap-
SEE ALSO Relics.
pearance. In the Middle Ages, when the growth of Muslim
power in the Mediterranean hampered Christian pilgrimage
BIBLIOGRAPHY
to the Holy Land, the loss was compensated by the creation
Aradi, Zsolt. Shrines to Our Lady around the World. New York,
of shrines all over Europe. A holy relic was commonly the
1954. A remarkably full listing of world Marian pilgrimages,
focus of devotion, as, for example, at Chartres, France, where
illustrated, and with short descriptions.
the Virgin’s veil is enshrined. New World pilgrimages resem-
Bhardwaj, Surinder Mohan. Hindu Places of Pilgrimage in India:
bled their medieval forerunners, although New World
A Study in Cultural Geography. Berkeley, 1973. A much-
shrines lacked relics—one of the reasons for the prevalence
discussed analysis of levels or rank-order among pilgrimages
of images as a substitute in this region.
in India.
Meanwhile, at many European centers routinization
Janin, Hunt. Four Paths to Jerusalem: Jewish, Christian, Muslim,
and decline had set in. The shrines became so choked with
and Secular Pilgrimages, 1000 BCE to 2001 CE. Jefferson,
N.C., 2002.
symbolic objects that meaning was being forgotten. Thus,
during the Reformation and the era of Puritanism many of
Kamal, Ahmad. The Sacred Journey, Being Pilgrimage to Makkah;
them became targets of iconoclasts and were suppressed.
the Traditions, Dogma, and Islamic Ritual That Govern the
Walsingham in England is a prime example.
Lives and the Destiny of More Than Five Hundred Million who
Call Themselves Muslim: One Seventh of Mankind.
London,
Desiderius Erasmus, William Langland, John Wyclif,
1964. This volume, which is a primary source, was written
Hugh Latimer, and John Calvin were reformers who op-
in response to the request of eminent ShiEites in Baghdad.
posed pilgrimage and the excessive veneration of images. In
Kitagawa, Joseph M. “Three Types of Pilgrimage in Japan.” In
recent years opposition has come from the Vatican, which
Studies in Mysticism and Religion Presented to Gershom G.
denied approval to pilgrimages to Joazeiro, Bahia, in Brazil
Scholem, edited by E. E. Urbach, R. J. Zwi Werblowsky, and
and to Necedah, Wisconsin, in the United States; miraculous
Chaim Wirszubski, pp. 155–164. Jerusalem, 1967. Analyzes
or apparitional events may be ratified only after exhaustive
pilgrimages to sacred mountains, to temples and shrines, and
to places hallowed by holy men. A pioneer article.
examination by clerical officials. In Israel the rabbinate keeps
watch for irregularities at the many popular pilgrimages to
Morinis, E. Alan, ed. Sacred Journeys: The Anthropology of Pilgrim-
the tombs of tsaddiqim (“holy persons”).
age. New York, 1992. An essential reference covering many
types and aspects of pilgrimage throughout the world, using
Modern pilgrimage. All over the world in the last two
an advanced theoretical framework.
centuries a new type of pilgrimage, with a high devotional
Palestine Pilgrims Text Society (London). Volumes 1, 3, and 10
tone and bands of ardent adherents, has developed. Modern
(1891–1897) are classic primary sources, constituting the
pilgrimage is frankly technological; pilgrims travel by auto-
texts of the earliest pilgrims to the Holy Land.
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PILGRIMAGE: ROMAN CATHOLIC PILGRIMAGE IN EUROPE
Preston, James J. “Spiritual Magnetism: An Organizing Principle
those based on the veneration of a miraculous statue, some-
for the Study of Pilgrimage.” In Sacred Journeys, edited by
times called the Black Madonna; important examples of the
E. Alan Morinis, pp.47–61. New York, 1992. A careful and
type are found at Chartres, Le Puy, and Rocamadour in
enlightened essay introducing pilgrimage in all its aspects.
France; Montserrat and Guadalupe in Spain; Mariazell in
Turner, Victor. “Pilgrimage as Social Process.” In his Dramas,
Austria; Einsiedeln in Switzerland; and Cze˛stochowa in Po-
Fields, and Metaphors, pp. 167–230. Ithaca, N.Y., 1974. The
land. All these shrines have been frequented since the Middle
first modern anthropological essay on pilgrimage, introduc-
Ages. A variation on this type is represented by the two loca-
ing the role of pilgrimage in the generation of communitas
tions where homage is paid in a place where the Virgin Mary
and the sentiment of humankindness. Turner views religious
was miraculously transported or resurrected: Loreto in Italy
pilgrimage as a moving process, not an arrangement of
structures.
and Walsingham in England.
Turner, Victor, and Edith Turner. Image and Pilgrimage in Chris-
The second main category of Marian shrine consists of
tian Culture. New York, 1978. An anthropological study of
places sanctified by an apparition of the Virgin and the trans-
the cultural, symbolic, and theological aspects of pilgrimage,
mission of a message to a believer chosen by her. These appa-
using Mexican, Irish, medieval, and Marian examples.
ritions are evident mainly in the nineteenth and twentieth
E
centuries. The principal ones took place in the rue du Bac
DITH TURNER (1987 AND 2005)
in Paris (1830), at La Salette (1846), Lourdes (1858), Pont-
main (1871), and at Pellevoisin (1876) in France; at Fátima
in Portugal (1917); and at Beauraing and Banneux in Bel-
PILGRIMAGE: ROMAN CATHOLIC
gium (1932). Of all the shrines, those dedicated to the Virgin
PILGRIMAGE IN EUROPE
Mary still attract the greatest number of believers.
During the Middle Ages the concept of Christian pilgrimage
THE EVOLUTION OF PILGRIMAGE IN EUROPE. There have
became a reality in Europe, with varied significance. Pilgrim-
been six main stages in the evolution of pilgrimage in Europe
age, making one’s way to holy places, is above all an ascetic
beginning with the Middle Ages. The period encompassing
practice that lets the Christian find salvation through the dif-
the eleventh to the fourteenth centuries saw a dramatic in-
ficulties and dangers of a temporary exile. It is also a means
crease in the number of centers of pilgrimage and a corre-
of coming in contact with that which is divine and thereby
sponding rise in the number of pilgrims. During the fifteenth
obtaining grace because of the accumulation of supernatural
century and above all the sixteenth century (at the time of
power in the pilgrimage site. However, there are occasions
the Reformation), the practice of pilgrimage underwent a cri-
where the blessing requested has already been received, and
sis in which its very usefulness was called into serious ques-
the pilgrimage is then an act of gratitude. One can therefore
tion (in the context of the rise of the iconoclastic movement
distinguish two kinds of journey: the journey of the pilgrim
in the churches). With the Council of Trent (1545–1563)
seeking blessing and the journey of the pilgrim giving thanks.
there began a period of resurgence, the duration of which
Important in both cases, however, is the interchange between
varied from country to country. The impulse was halted in
God and man through the medium of the saints. It works
France at the beginning of the eighteenth century, but it con-
like an exchange: a material offering (often symbolic, such
tinued in the Germanic and Slavic countries right up to the
as a candle) and a self-imposed mortification, the journey to
time of the French Revolution. Generally speaking, the pil-
the shrine, correspond to a spiritual or material favor be-
grim movement became victim to the philosophy of the En-
stowed upon the faithful, who considers it a miracle.
lightenment, which favored reason above religion, and vic-
PRINCIPAL TYPES OF SHRINE. The first type of shrine for pil-
tim as well to the wish to purge the faith. (The pilgrimage
grimage evident in Europe was the sanctuary for relics, cen-
is interpreted by the Roman Catholic hierarchy at this time
tered on a tomb or reliquary containing the remains of a saint
as a form of superstition to be discouraged.) In the nine-
or a fragment thereof. Usually initiated by mass devotion,
teenth century, Catholicism underwent another renewal of
such worship was validated by the bishop up to the thir-
faith, which brought with it a renewed impulse for pilgrim-
teenth century and thereafter by the pope. Among these
age, slow in the first half of the century, then gathering mo-
shrines, the tomb of Peter in Rome and that attributed to
mentum and reaching a peak between 1850 and 1875, prob-
James the Greater at Santiago de Compostela in Spain were
ably due to the development of rail travel coinciding with a
by far the most frequently visited. But there were also thou-
rise in the influence of the papacy. Since the end of World
sands of small churches frequented mainly by local pilgrims,
War I, pilgrimage has been at a notable level, while undergo-
most of which were brought to life only once a year, on the
ing sociological change: collective pilgrimages have taken the
feast day of the patron saint.
lead over individual journeys, and more than ever before,
The second large category of centers of pilgrimage is
young people are taking part in pilgrimages, previously more
that of the Marian shrines. From the twelfth century onward,
of an adult occupation. This contributes a notably more uni-
the worship of Mary developed greatly in Europe, worship
versal and ecumenical tone to pilgrimage. However, the
that continues to draw the faithful right up to the present.
modern-day pilgrimage continues, as in previous centuries,
Two main types of Marian shrines have evolved. First are
to temporarily dissolve the normal lines between social class-
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PILGRIMAGE: ROMAN CATHOLIC PILGRIMAGE IN THE NEW WORLD
7149
es. It has also kept its popular nature, even if some of the
PILGRIMAGE: ROMAN CATHOLIC
folklore and customs attached to it have disappeared.
PILGRIMAGE IN THE NEW WORLD
The current record for the number of visits to a shrine
Roman Catholic pilgrimage shrines are found from Alaska
is held by Lourdes, to which three million pilgrims journey
and Canada to Tierra del Fuego. The oldest shrine in the
each year. Next comes Fátima with two million visitors.
Americas is probably Our Lady of Mercy at Santo Cerro in
There are several shrines that annually receive more than one
the Dominican Republic. Here, according to tradition,
million pilgrims: the Chapel of the Miraculous Medallion at
Christopher Columbus erected a cross in thanks for a victory
the rue du Bac in Paris, Our Lady of Rocamadour, Our Lady
over local Indians in the mid-1490s. The original image of
of Scherpenheuvel (French, Montaigu) in Belgium, Our
the Virgin Mary is said to have been a gift from Isabella I,
Lady of Montserrat in Spain, the Sacré-Coeur at Montmar-
queen of Castile (1474–1504), and a pilgrimage chapel may
tre in Paris and Mont-Saint-Michel in northwestern France.
have been erected as early as 1505. Thereafter, Catholic
With regard to pilgrimages to Rome, the greatest number of
shrines spread through the Americas with Spanish, Portu-
believers come in the Holy Years.
guese, and French colonization. In some cases, as at Guada-
lupe, Amecameca, and Chalma in Mexico; Esquipulas, Gua-
Today, as during previous centuries, the pilgrimage is
temala; Caranqui, Ecuador; and Copacabana, Bolivia,
a manifestation of collective devotion in which are mingled
indigenous holy places were christianized. More often, how-
the two great concerns of the faithful: the salvation of the
ever, the establishment of shrines involved events leading to
soul and the thirst for miracles. The pilgrimage is also an op-
the sanctification of places not previously conceptualized as
portunity for human contacts of all sorts and for economic,
holy.
artistic, and religious interchanges, making it one of the most
vital elements of European Catholicism.
Missionaries and immigrants to the Americas from vari-
ous parts of Catholic Europe introduced their own special
SEE ALSO Relics.
devotions as well as regionally specific ideas about shrines
and pilgrimages. Iberian and French influences were particu-
B
larly important during the sixteenth through eighteenth cen-
IBLIOGRAPHY
For a general view of the meaning of Christian pilgrimage, see
turies, as were ideas brought by missionaries from Habsburg
Victor Turner and Edith Turner’s Image and Pilgrimage in
Germanic regions. Diversity increased with mass migrations
Christian Culture: Anthropological Perspectives (New York,
from other parts of Europe during the nineteenth and twen-
1978). A more detailed work on Roman Catholic pilgrimage
tieth centuries. For example, areas of Italian settlement in Ar-
in Europe, and particularly in France, is the recent and well-
gentina, Chile, and southern Brazil have important shrines
informed publication edited by Jean Chelini and Henry
dedicated to the fifteenth-century Marian apparition at Car-
Branthome, Les chemins de Dieu: Histoire des pèlerinages chré-
avaggio in northern Italy and to the Virgin of Pompei, a late-
tiens des origines à nos jours (Paris, 1982). With regard to the
nineteenth-century cult that originated near Naples. Similar-
medieval period, a good study in English is Jonathan Sump-
ly, eight shrines of the Byzantine rite are found in the diocese
tion’s Pilgrimage: An Image of Mediaeval Religion (London,
of Curitiba, Brazil, where 95 percent of the population are
1972). More recent developments are described in the work
edited by Bernard Plongeron and Robert Pannet, Le chris-
persons of Ukrainian descent, and a shrine at Doylestown,
tianisme populaire (Paris, 1976). Finally, a good work on the
Pennsylvania, honors the Polish Virgin of Cze˛stochowa. As
greatest European contemporary pilgrimage, the pilgrimage
a result of multiple influences from different parts of Europe
to Lourdes, is that of Bernard Billet and Pierre Lafourcade,
at different time periods, the pattern of pilgrimage circula-
Lourdes pèlerinage (Paris, 1981).
tion in the Americas is rich in variety.
New Sources
The New World’s most famous shrine is the Basilica of
Dahlberg, Andrea. “The Body as a Principle of Holism: Three Pil-
the Virgin of Guadalupe on the outskirts of Mexico City.
grimages to Lourdes.” In Contesting the Sacred: The Anthro-
Here, according to tradition, the Virgin Mary appeared in
pology of Christian Pilgrimage, edited by John Eade and Mi-
1531 to an Indian named Juan Diego. As proof of the appari-
chael J. Sallnow. New York, 1991.
tion’s validity, Diego’s cloak was miraculously imprinted
Dunn, Maryjane, and Linda Kay Davidson, eds. The Pilgrimage
with an image of the Virgin in the guise of an Indian maiden.
to Campostela In the Middle Ages. New York, 1996.
The Mexican Virgin of Guadalupe has been proclaimed pa-
Nolan, Mary Lee, and Sidney Nolan. Christian Pilgrimage In
troness of Mexico and of the Americas.
Modern Western Europe. Chapel Hill, N.C., 1989.
Other apparitional shrines of sixteenth-century origin
Kessler, Herbert L., and Johanna Zacharias. Rome 1300: On the
are at San Bartolo, Naucalpan, Tlaxcala, and Zacatecas,
Path of the Pilgrims. New Haven, Conn., 2000.
Mexico; Cisne, Ecuador; and Chiantla, Guatemala. Later co-
Webb, Diana. Pilgrims and Pilgrimages in the Medieval West. Lon-
lonial-period shrines of this type are located at Chirca, Boliv-
don, 1999.
ia; Lima, Peru; Ambato, Ecuador; Segorbe, Colombia; San
P
Cristóbal, Venezuela; and Higüey, Dominican Republic.
IERRE ANDRÉ SIGAL (1987)
Translated from French by P. J. Burbidge
One of the most recent accounts of a New World Marian
Revised Bibliography
apparition came from Cuapa, Nicaragua, in 1980.
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PILGRIMAGE: ROMAN CATHOLIC PILGRIMAGE IN THE NEW WORLD
Numerous American shrines commemorate European
Fishermen at Cobre, Cuba, found a statue of Mary
apparitions of the Virgin Mary, particularly the 1858 event
floating on the waters of the bay in 1601. An image of Mary
at Lourdes, France. Some of the more important New World
was found on a lake shore after a 1603 flood at Caacupé, Par-
Lourdes shrines are at Mar del Plata, Argentina; Santiago,
aguay. Early in the seventeenth century, some Indians found
Chile; Montevideo, Uruguay; Maiquetía, Venezuela; Euclid,
a statue of Mary in a cave at Catamarca, Argentina. At Carta-
Ohio; Brooklyn, New York; San Antonio, Texas; and Ri-
go, Costa Rica, in 1635 an Indian woman found an image
gaud, Canada. American shrines celebrating the 1917 appari-
of Mary in the woods. Boys found a faded painting of Mary
tions at Fátima, Portugal, are found at Campo Grande and
in a hut at Táchira, Venezuela, in 1654, and the painting was
other places in Brazil as well as at Cojutepeque, El Salvador,
miraculously restored. In 1685, just south of Bogotá, Co-
and Youngstown, New York. A shrine at Mayo, near Buck-
lombia, a man looking for lost treasure found a statue of
ingham, Canada, commemorates the 1879 Marian appari-
Mary.
tions at Knock, Ireland, and several shrines in the United
At Yauca, Peru, in about 1700, a group of farmers found
States and Canada are dedicated to a manifestation of the
an image of Mary in some bushes. A woman on her way back
Virgin Mary at La Salette, France, in 1846.
from a pilgrimage to the shrine of Coromoto at San Cristó-
Many New World shrines came into being when a
bal, Venezuela, in 1702 found an image of Mary in a tree
newly acquired relic or an image of Mary, Christ, or a saint
at Acarigua. At Aparecida do Norte, Brazil, fishermen found
was credited with miracles. Some of these images were proba-
a black image of Mary in a river in 1717. An elderly peasant
bly brought by early missionaries. Examples are found at Itati
man found an image of Mary buried in the ground at Suya-
and Laguna de los Padres, Argentina; Monserrate, Colombia;
pa, Honduras, in 1747. At Ipiales, Colombia, in 1754, a
young girl saw a painting of the Virgin on a rock face. In
and Zapopan and Querétaro in Mexico. Other images, such
1780, an image of Mary was found after a rainstorm on the
as those honored at Cedros, Honduras; Guanajuato, Mexico;
edge of a solar, a usually dry lake bed, at Copiapó, Chile.
Lima, Peru; La Estrella, Colombia; and Cuenca, Ecuador,
were sent as gifts by Spanish royalty. Mysterious strangers are
In 1807, a flash of lightning revealed a damaged image
said to have left miraculous images in such places as Cuerna-
of Mary in the corner of a convent room in Guadalajara,
vaca, Mexico, and Nátago, Colombia. Elsewhere, as at
Mexico, and in 1868 a rustic wooden cross was found on a
Banos, Ecuador, and Saltillo and Oaxaca, Mexico, the image
mountain with pagan associations near Motupe, Peru.
is said to have been brought by a mule that refused to move
Other shrine-generating images are said to have been
any farther. A variation on this theme comes from Luján, Ar-
found in oak tree branches, inside trees being cut for timber
gentina. Here, at the greatest of all Argentine shrines, an ox
or firewood, in fountains, under stones in rivers, in thorn
cart carrying a statue of Mary from church to church for ven-
thickets, under magueys, and in ruined churches. At least
eration became stuck in 1630, thus indicating the proper
one, at Sopo, Colombia, appeared in an eroded stone.
place for the shrine.
Other important New World shrines came into being
Shipwrecks, or the “refusal” of ships to leave harbors,
as the result of a miraculous transformation of an already ex-
resulted in the acquisition of important cult objects at Antón
istent image. For example, in 1586, the cult of the Colombi-
and Portobelo, Panama, and at Montecristi, Ecuador. The
an Virgin of Chiquinquirá emerged when a painting of the
image of Christ at Bom Jesus de Lapa, Brazil, was brought
Madonna was mysteriously restored. Similar stories are told
in 1690 by a workman who spent years of penitence in a
about once-faded copies of this image that have been vener-
grotto before becoming a missionary priest, and the image
ated since the mid-eighteenth century at Aregue and Mara-
of Santa Rosa of Lima venerated at Pelequén, Chile, was
caibo, Venezuela. Similarly, at Talpa, Mexico, a deteriorating
brought south from Lima by a soldier in 1840. Shrines of
corn-paste image of Mary is said to have been miraculously
this type in the United States include those at Dickinson,
restored in about 1644. Weeping and sweating images of the
Texas, where a relic of the True Cross was enshrined in 1936;
Virgin Mary have given rise to the establishment of pilgrim-
San Juan del Valle, Texas, where an image of Mary was
age shrines in several places, including Lima, Peru (1591),
brought from Mexico by the local priest in 1949; and Miami,
and Santa Fe, Argentina (1636). Pilgrimages began to the
Florida, where a modernistic pilgrimage church has been
Colegio San Gabriel in Quito, Ecuador, in 1906 after stu-
built in honor of the “exiled” image of Our Lady of Charity
dents reported that a painting of Mary opened and closed
that arrived from Cuba in 1961.
its eyes several times, and a similar event in 1888 encouraged
the development of pilgrimages to a Marian shrine in Cap
Many New World shrines trace their origins to the find-
de la Madeleine, Canada. One of the most recent examples
ing of relics or images, usually under mysterious circum-
of this type of phenomenon is a plaster image of the Virgin
stances, similar to events dating to early Christian times in
in the cathedral at Managua, Nicaragua, reported to be
Europe. Stories of such discoveries account for some of the
sweating copiously in 1980.
most important shrines in the Americas. Among those of six-
teenth-century origin was the dark image of Christ that “ap-
The most important devotion for northern Mexicans,
peared” in a cave at Chalma, Mexico, around 1540.
at San Juan de los Lagos in the state of Jalisco, began attract-
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PILGRIMAGE: ROMAN CATHOLIC PILGRIMAGE IN THE NEW WORLD
7151
ing devotees in 1623 after a traveling acrobat’s daughter,
include the “La Leche” shrine in Saint Augustine, Florida,
thought to be dead after falling onto upright knives, came
at the site of the first Spanish mission in America north of
back to life when an old woman touched her with an ancient
Mexico (established 1565); the Sacred Heart Mission church
image of the Virgin. Pilgrimages generated by sudden cures
at Cataldo, Idaho; and several of the Spanish mission church-
have also emerged in Quinche, Ecuador (1589); Sainte Anne
es in the southwestern United States. Although not a pil-
de Beaupré, Canada (1659); San Felipe, Guatemala (1820);
grimage center in a conventional sense, Boys Town, Nebras-
and numerous other places. Shrines to which there have been
ka, established as a home for wayward boys by Father
a declining number of pilgrimages have often been regenerat-
Edward Flanagan in the early twentieth century, provides an-
ed by spectacular cures, as happened at Andacollo, Chile, in
other example of a religiously significant site. It draws more
1860 and San Juan Parangaricutiro, Mexico, in 1869.
than one million visitors a year and is considered an impor-
tant place of inspiration.
Frequently shrines were established as community
thank offerings for salvation from catastrophe. Survival of In-
Finally, many New World shrines, especially in North
dian attack or victory in battle has given rise to shrines in
America, are of purely devotional origin. They came into
such places as Jujuy, Argentina; Recife, Brazil; Coroico, Bo-
being because an individual or a group believed that a pil-
livia; Villa Vieja, Uruguay; and Maipú, Chile. Riobamba,
grimage center should be created in a particular place and set
Ecuador, and San Miguel, El Salvador, are among the shrine
about to make it happen. Examples of such shrines include
centers that commemorate the end of earthquakes and/or
the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Wash-
volcanic eruptions. Others, like that at Yaguachi, Ecuador,
ington, D. C.; the Shrine of the Miraculous Medal in Perry-
emerged in the wake of epidemics, or, like that at Biblián,
ville, Missouri; the Sanctuary of Our Sorrowful Mother at
Ecuador, in the aftermath of threatened famine.
The Grotto in Portland, Oregon; and the National Shrine
of the Sacred Heart at Pointe aux Trembles, Canada.
Votive shrines have also been created by individuals. For
In 1983 a number of North American churches not pre-
example, the venerated image at Guadalupe, Peru, was
viously conceptualized as pilgrimage shrines were scenes of
brought from the Spanish shrine of the same name in the
pilgrimages for the 1983–1984 Holy Year of the Redemp-
mid-sixteenth century in thanks for the donor’s release from
tion. Given the late-twentieth-century interest in pilgrimage
prison, and a shrine at Hormigueros, Puerto Rico, is said to
on the part of many American Catholics, it is possible that
have been promoted by a man who was saved from a bull.
some of these places will become permanent centers for the
The famous shrine at Chimayo, New Mexico, was estab-
devotion of pilgrims, especially if miraculous events are per-
lished in the early nineteenth century by Don Bernardo
ceived to occur there. Certainly, shrines will continue to
Abeyta in thanks for health and prosperity.
emerge in the hemisphere as religious significance is attached
Shrines also emerge in places sanctified through associa-
to relief from environmental stress ranging from natural di-
tion with saints or exemplary, but uncanonized, persons.
sasters to political upheavals.
This type of holy place is more common in Europe than in
the Americas, but there are several New World examples.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
These include the burial places of Santa Rosa and San Martín
No comprehensive study of Roman Catholic pilgrimages in the
de Porres in Lima, Peru; the Aracanian Indian Ceferino Na-
Americas has yet been published. Much of the information
muncura in Pedro Luro, Argentina; San Pedro Claver in Car-
in this article comes from letters, pamphlets, booklets, pho-
tagena, Colombia; Saint John Neumann in Philadelphia,
tocopies of accounts in diocesan handbooks, and similar ma-
terials acquired in response to mail queries directed to Latin
Pennsylvania; the Blessed Philippine Duchesne in Saint
American bishops in 1979 and North American bishops in
Charles, Missouri; and the Italian missionary nun Mother
1983. These materials are on file in the Department of Geog-
Cabrini in New York City.
raphy, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon. Numer-
Mother Cabrini is also honored at a site in the Rocky
ous descriptive works on individual New World shrines exist,
but they are difficult to obtain except on site or by direct cor-
Mountain foothills near Denver, Colorado. Here, in 1912,
respondence with shrine administrators. An exception is a
the first citizen-saint of the United States struck a rock with
work edited by Donald Demarest and Coley Taylor, The
her staff, whereupon a spring emerged with waters since re-
Dark Virgin: The Book of Our Lady of Guadalupe; A Docu-
ported to be curative. Other examples include a shrine at
mentary Anthology (Freeport, Maine, 1956).
Midland, Canada, near the place where French Jesuit mis-
Some of the more important shrines and those that are interesting
sionaries were killed by Huron Indians in the 1640s, and the
for the folklore attached to them are mentioned in travel
Coronado Cross erected in 1976 near Dodge City, Kansas,
guidebooks and travelers’ accounts. Occasional publications
at the place on the Arkansas River where Father Juan Padilla
by national tourism agencies, such as the Mexican Govern-
offered a mass for members of the Coronado expedition.
ment Tourism Department’s Fiestas in Mexico (Mexico City,
Killed by Indians in 1542, this Franciscan friar was the first
n. d.), provide useful information. A thorough search of the
priest martyred in what is now the United States.
ethnographic literature in all relevant languages would un-
doubtedly yield a rich body of information on shrines and
Pilgrimages have also developed at a number of places
pilgrimages that happened to attract the attention of anthro-
known primarily for their historical significance. Examples
pologists, cultural geographers, and other field investigators.
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PILGRIMAGE: EASTERN CHRISTIAN PILGRIMAGE
Compendiums of selected shrine descriptions form a devotional
Sallnow, Michael J. Pilgrims of the Andes: Regional Cults in Cusco.
point of view include Joseph L. Cassidy’s Mexico: Land of
Smithsonian Series in Ethnographic Inquiry. Washington,
Mary’s Wonders (Paterson, N.J., 1958); Ralph Louis Woods
D.C., 1987.
and Henry Fitzwilliam Woods’s Pilgrim Places in North
America: A Guide to Catholic Shrines
(New York, 1939);
MARY LEE NOLAN (1987)
Revised Bibliography
Francis Beauchesne Thornton’s Catholic Shrines in the Unit-
ed States and Canada
(New York, 1954); Nectario María
Hermano’s Venezuela Mariana, o Sea relación histórica com-
pendiada de las imagenes más celebradas de las Santísima Vir-

PILGRIMAGE: EASTERN CHRISTIAN
gen en Venezuela (Madrid, 1976); Francisco García Huido-
bro’s Santuarios Marianos del Ecuador (Quayaquil, 1978);
PILGRIMAGE
and the mammoth two-volume compilation on Marian
Christian pilgrimage is rooted in the eastern domain of
shrines in Latin America by Rubén Vargas Ugarte, Historia
Christianity, primarily in Palestine, where Jesus was born
del culto de María en Iberoaméri-cá y de sus imagenes y sant-
and accomplished his mission, and secondarily in Egypt, the
uarios más celebrados (Madrid, 1956). Folklore-oriented de-
cradle of Christian monasticism. The fact that Jerusalem be-
scriptions of several Middle American shrines can be found
came the focal point of Christian pilgrimage is not surpris-
in Frances Toor’s A Treasury of Mexican Folkways (New
ing. For the Israelites, the Temple in Jerusalem had long
York, 1947) and in Edith Hoyt’s The Silver Madonna: Leg-
served as the locus of the pilgrimage prescribed by their reli-
ends of Shrines, Mexico-Guatemala (Mexico City, 1963).
gious tradition.
Short descriptions of important Canadian churches are pro-
vided in L’almanach populaire catholique 1984 (Sainte Anne
The meaning of pilgrimage in ancient Israel and in early
de Beaupré, 1983), but this source does not consistently dif-
Christianity is similar yet differs markedly in one point: for
ferentiate between pilgrimage churches and other notable ec-
the Israelite, a visit to the Temple was a requirement of faith
clesiastical structures.
to be fulfilled annually; for the Christian, that requirement
I have undertaken preliminary attempts to provide an analysis of
had been fulfilled once and for all by Jesus Christ in his own
Mexican shrines in “The Mexican Pilgrimage Tradition,” Pi-
final pilgrimage to the Temple. Therefore, the Christian pil-
oneer America 5 (1973): 13–27, as did Victor Turner in “The
grimage became a journey to fulfill personal needs of piety
Center Out There: Pilgrim’s Goal,” History of Religions 12
rather than collective requirements. Understanding Chris-
(February 1973): 191–230. Victor Turner and Edith Turner
tian pilgrimage and appreciating forms of Eastern Christian
included an overview of New World, primarily Mexican, pil-
pilgrimage that have persisted for centuries necessitates, nev-
grimages in their pioneer effort to interpret Christian pil-
ertheless, an examination of the meaning and form of pil-
grimage, Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture: Anthro-
grimages in the Old Testament as well as in the New
pological Perspectives (New York, 1978). Most other
Testament.
published works by social scientists deal with one pilgrimage
center or a few regionally interrelated shrines. Examples of
PILGRIMAGE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. Ancient pilgrimage
such studies include Daniel R. Gross’s “Ritual and Confor-
sites in the history of Israel were usually linked to a marvel-
mity: A Religious Pilgrimage to Northeastern Brazil,” Eth-
lous event in the life of an individual Israelite or in the collec-
nology 10 (April 1971): 129–148, and N. Ross Crumrine’s
tive history of the community. The site for a sanctuary was
“Three Coastal Peruvian Pilgrimages,” El Dorado 2 (1977):
not arbitrarily chosen but was designated by God in a the-
76–86. Numerous shrine and regionally specific pilgrimage
ophany (or divine manifestation) as, for example, Jacob’s
studies undertaken during the 1970s were just beginning to
dream on his way to Haran (Gn. 28:10–22). The memory
be published in the early 1980s. A collection of papers on
of the glorious event was made concrete by the erection of
Latin American pilgrimage, edited by E. Alan Morinis and
N. Ross Crumrine, was in the final stages of review as of June
an altar. The journeys of Abraham, Moses, and the other pa-
1985.
triarchs, the exile of the Israelites from Egypt and their forty-
year journey through the desert were all pilgrimages, in the
New Sources
sense that they were the means to an end: the possession of
Office of Pastoral Care for Migrants and Refugees. Catholic
the land where milk and honey flows and where God has
Shrines and Places of Pilgrimage In the United States. Rev. ed.
made his rest (Dt. 12:9; Ps. 95:11, 132:8–14). After the
Washington, D.C., 1994.
building of the Temple, in which rested the ark of the cove-
Griffith, James S. Beliefs and Holy Places: A Spiritual Geography of
nant, Jerusalem became the goal for Israelite pilgrims. It was
the Primería Alta. Tucson, 1992.
the sacred obligation of each Israelite to make an annual pil-
grimage to Jerusalem, anticipating in this way the eschato-
Olivas Weston, Marcela. Peregrinaciones en le Perú Antigua Rutas
logical pilgrimage to God’s city where all the nations of the
Devocionales. Lima, 1999.
world would gather at the end of time to inaugurate the king-
Quiroz Malca, Haydée. Fiestas, Peregrinaciones y Santuarios en
dom of God.
México: los viajes para el pago de las mandas. Mexico City,
SIGNIFICANCE OF PILGRIMAGE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT.
2000.
The importance and meaning of pilgrimage is not explicit
Salazar Medina, Richard. El Santuario de la Virgen de la Quinche:
in the New Testament. The Synoptic Gospels ascribe to
Peregrínacion en un Espacio Sagrado Milenario. Quito, 2000.
Christ only one journey to Jerusalem on the occasion of the
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PILGRIMAGE: EASTERN CHRISTIAN PILGRIMAGE
7153
Passover feast (except for Luke’s account of Jesus’ pilgrimage
It is noteworthy that the churches that have maintained
with his parents at age twelve). John, however, assumes the
a strong liturgical tradition, particularly all of the ancient
regular participation of Christ in the pilgrimage feasts (Jn.
churches of the East, have lived these pilgrimage themes sym-
2:13, 6:4, 11:55, 7:2, and 10:22). The four evangelists are
bolically through their cyclical liturgical celebrations. As pil-
in accord in their messianic interpretation of Jesus Christ’s
grims they need not fulfill either the pilgrimage to the Tem-
final journey to Jerusalem, which culminates in the events
ple or to the holy places of Christendom; rather, a spiritual
of his crucifixion and resurrection. In this way, Christ fulfills
participation in the life of Christ, expressed through liturgi-
for all time the eschatological pilgrimage into the city of God
cal celebrations, is their pilgrimage. For example, Gregory of
and inaugurates the kingdom of God. In this kingdom, one
Nyssa maintains that Bethlehem, Golgotha, the Mount of
no longer needs to buy and sell sacrificial animals for the of-
Olives, and the empty tomb should always be before the eyes
fering at the temple; according to the Pauline epistles, Christ
of the true Christian as spiritual pointers to the godly life.
has eliminated the need for sacrifice, having become himself
The same attitude gave rise to another form of pilgrim-
both the sacrificed lamb and the high priest who entered be-
age: visits to the holy men and women who had chosen to
hind the veil into the Holy of Holies (Heb. 6:9–20).
give themselves to a life of perpetual prayer—the monks and
The theme of exile occurs again and again in the New
ascetics. Basil of Caesarea, who in 351 made the journey to
Testament writings (1 Pt. 1:1–17, 2:11; Heb. 13:14; cf. Gn.
Palestine and later to Egypt, Syria, and Mesopotamia, hardly
23:3–4; Ps. 39:12–13, 119:19; Acts 7:6–29.) For the early
mentions the holy places; he states that the object of his jour-
Christians viewed their lives as the time of pilgrims in exile,
ney was to visit the monks and ascetics, to stay with them
and the destination of this journey was the heavenly city of
in order to learn the secret of their holy lives. Basil wanted
Jerusalem. So powerful was this idea that the Greek word
to learn the method of the personal spiritual pilgrimage, the
paroikia, which means “sojourning in a foreign land,” came
destination of which was the heavenly city of God experi-
to designate the fundamental unit of the Christian commu-
enced on an inner level.
nity, the parish.
The pilgrim Egeria (late fourth century) refers to anoth-
E
er tradition, that of the pilgrimages to martyria (churches
ARLY CHRISTIAN PILGRIMAGE. Imperial influence and not
religious obligation became the greatest single motivating
that have been built on the tomb of a saint or a martyr). She
force in the growth and development of Christian pilgrimage
notes that the monks in Charra, a region of Mesopotamia,
to Jerusalem. Constantine’s church-building program on the
rarely come out of seclusion but that they do so on Easter
holy sites of Jerusalem (begun after the Council of Nicaea
and on the feast of the martyr to celebrate the Divine Liturgy
in 325) invited many Christians to go and see the sacred
in the martyrium.
places where Jesus was born, lived, worked, and was crucified
This tradition still continues. Many pilgrims go to the
and raised.
monasteries of Mount Athos in Greece and to monasteries
in Egypt, Syria, and other parts of the world. Among these
As pilgrimage to the holy places of Christendom became
monasteries there are many that were built near martyria or
more common, the corporate life of the church was affected
near sites that have biblical importance. In Egypt there is the
as well, through liturgical development. Many of the early
monastery of Dair al-Muharraq, the site where the holy fami-
pilgrims came to Palestine with a desire to see the places de-
ly rested and took refuge in their flight from Herod. Each
scribed in biblical episodes, a desire that combined historical
year in Dair al-Muharraq, as at all martyria, on the feast day
curiosity and pious zeal. The pattern of worship conducted
of the saint, pilgrims come to commemorate liturgically and
at each site by the pilgrims, the central feature of which was
later through festivities the saint in whose name the martyri-
the reading of the relevant passage from the Bible, gave rise
um or shrine was built.
eventually to an annually recurring cycle of liturgical festivals
in commemoration of the life of Christ. In these celebrations
Thus, personal piety for the Eastern Christian has found
too, the central feature remained a reading of the biblical nar-
expression beyond the liturgical life. Pilgrimage to Jerusalem,
rative, appropriately chosen to suit not only the place but
to martyria, and to the cells of monks has given rise to nu-
also the liturgical season.
merous customs and traditions that symbolically perpetuate
the main theme of pilgrimage: the yearning of the exile to
Another significant feature of Christian pilgrimage lit-
reach his destination, the promised land, the city where God
urgies was the practice of numerous processions. “The desire
rests and encounters his people.
to embrace all the principal holy places in the course of the
CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS ASSOCIATED WITH PILGRIM-
celebrations, combined with the possibility of commemorat-
AGE. Armenians, Copts, Greeks, Russians, Syrians, Ethiopi-
ing the events of the gospel at the actual places where they
ans, and other Eastern Christians share common traditions
were believed to have occurred, produced a form of worship
of pilgrimage.
distinguished by its constant movement and its arduous
length” (Hunt, p. 114). These processions remind one of
The pilgrimage to Jerusalem. There is no particularly
h:ag, the Hebrew word for pilgrimage feasts, the root mean-
appropriate time in one’s life when one ought to make a pil-
ing of which is “to dance” or “to move in circles.”
grimage. However, the pilgrimage par excellence, the journey
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PILGRIMAGE: MUSLIM PILGRIMAGE
to Jerusalem, generally becomes possible late in one’s life.
quest is for healing, they bring silver charms that represent
Once in Jerusalem, a pilgrim considers that the serious occu-
the part of the body in need of healing. These they leave on
pations of his or her life have ended. Having seen “death con-
or near the icon of the saint to whom they pray.
quered” at the site of Christ’s resurrection (the holy sepul-
Returning home. The return of pilgrims to their homes
cher), the pilgrim looks forward to his or her own death,
has been marked ceremoniously in some Armenian commu-
sometimes desiring to die in Jerusalem. The Armenian term
nities. Usually a group of pilgrims make the journey togeth-
mahdesi (“one who has seen death”) aptly describes this state.
er. Upon their return, they go to the parish church, where
This title of honor is given to a pilgrim returning from a pil-
prayers of thanksgiving are offered on their behalf for having
grimage to Jerusalem. Russian pilgrims also acknowledge the
been able to fulfill their pilgrimage. At the conclusion of the
overcoming of death by taking white shrouds to Jerusalem.
service, the pilgrims distribute to the congregation objects of
They bathe in the Jordan River, the scene of John’s baptisms,
devotion that they have brought home.
shrouded in white, in evocation of the awakened dead on
Resurrection Morning. Other Eastern Christians bring their
They bring home oil from the lanterns that have been
white shrouds and on Holy Friday place them on Christ’s
lighted in holy places to use for anointing and healing. Olives
tomb, anoint them with oil from the lamps burning there,
from two-thousand-year-old trees in the garden of Gethsem-
and perfume them with sweet-smelling incense. A pilgrim
ane are treasured also. Most valuable, however, are the can-
designated as a mahdesi is one who has seen the Holy Fire
dles that were lighted in various holy places, especially from
on Easter and who has received a tattoo on the inner right
the Holy Fire on Easter.
wrist, depicting most often a cross and the date of the pil-
grimage.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The ceremony of the Holy Fire. Conducted jointly by
L. M. Orrieux’s “Le pèlerinage dans la Bible,” Lumière et vie 15
all of the Eastern churches at midday on Easter Eve in the
(September–October 1966): 5–34, is a concise yet compre-
hensive study of the meaning of pilgrimage in the Old and
Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the ceremony of the Holy
New Testaments. The rise and development of Christian pil-
Fire is of uncertain origin, but it derives from the ritual and
grimage are presented in two important works: E. D. Hunt’s
symbolism of the primitive church. It symbolizes the tri-
Holy Land Pilgrimage in the Later Roman Empire, AD 312–
umph of the Christian faith. The Eastern Orthodox patri-
460 (Oxford, 1984), a thorough study that takes into ac-
arch and the Armenian patriarch (representing also the
count the historical, political, and liturgical aspects of Chris-
Copts, the Ethiopians, and the Syrians) enter through the
tian pilgrimage, and John Wilkinson’s excellent translation
door over the tomb, then emerge, each carrying a sheaf of
of Egeria’s account of her travels, with exhaustive commen-
lighted candles. This light quickly spreads among the people
tary, Egeria’s Travels (London, 1971). While the pilgrim
present, who light their own candles from it. It is said that
routes and churches are discussed in Wilkinson’s book, the
some pilgrims take pains to carry the flame home unextin-
study of the Jerusalem liturgy holds an important place
and is based on the detailed information given by Egeria.
guished, preserving it in a lantern.
L. G. A. Cust’s The Status Quo in the Holy Places (Jerusalem,
It is also the custom of the Armenian patriarch to dis-
1980) is a descriptive account of the holy places and the prac-
tribute wafers with the resurrection imprint to all the pil-
tices that are carried out by their principal caretakers, the
grims. This may be a symbolic vestige of a custom of hospi-
Greeks, the Armenians, and the Roman Catholics. For a de-
tality that was practiced by the monks in Egypt and
scription of the ceremony of the Holy Fire, see pages 66–70.
elsewhere in the East. Isolated in the desert, monks had to
Concerning pilgrimage sites of the most ancient monasteries
and shrines, see Otto F. A. Meinardus’s Monks and Monaste-
provide pilgrims with both food and lodging. As the number
ries of the Egyptian Desert (revised ed., Cairo, 1989) and Er-
of pilgrims increased, the monks began to give tokens of hos-
hart Kaestner’s Mount Athos (London, 1961).
pitality, most often in the form of the fruit they had grown.
The pilgrim Egeria called this the monks’ “blessing.”
New Sources
Meinardus, Otto Friedrich August. Coptic Saints and Pilgrimages.
Vows, offerings, and healing. Whether rich or poor,
Cairo and New York, 2002.
the pilgrims carry gifts of offering to the churches on the holy
Smith, Mark. S., and Elizabeth Block-Smith. The Pilgrimage Pat-
sites. Many bring their work or the work of skillful crafts-
tern in Exodus. Sheffield, U.K., 1997.
men; vessels and vestments to be used for the liturgical rites.
Some contribute toward the building of guest rooms in the
SIRARPI FEREDJIAN-AIVAZIAN (1987)
holy city where pilgrims can stay. Traditionally, pilgrims
Revised Bibliography
spend many months, as much as a whole year, in pilgrimage.
Originally, they would come before Christmas and stay until
after Easter in order to participate in the events commemo-
PILGRIMAGE: MUSLIM PILGRIMAGE
rating the life of Christ. Gradually, that time has been short-
The annual pilgrimage of Muslims to Mecca, in west-central
ened to the season of Lent and Easter.
Arabia, is known by the term h:a¯jj. As a religious duty that
Pilgrims come often to fulfill vows they have made.
is the fifth of the Five Pillars of Islam, the h:a¯jj is an obligation
Some also bring with them the petitions of friends. If the re-
for all Muslims to perform once in their adult lives, provided
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PILGRIMAGE: MUSLIM PILGRIMAGE
7155
they be of sound mind and health and financially able at the
made to serve pagan nature deities. Yet, the pre-Islamic h:a¯jj
time. In 1982, from an estimated world Islamic population
provided important precedents of ritual sites and gestures
of 750 million, approximately 3 million Muslims were re-
that continued to be auspicious in Islamic times.
ported to have made the journey. The nature and size of this
By the sixth century CE, the bedouin tribes of central
annual ingathering of Muslims from countless ethnic, lin-
Arabia were undergoing political and social changes, reflect-
guistic, and political backgrounds, combined with the com-
ed especially in the growing commercial importance of set-
mon sacred status that ideally makes princes indistinguish-
tled markets and caravansaries at Mecca. Muh:ammad’s tribe,
able from paupers, render the h:a¯jj experience an important
the Quraysh, dominated caravan trading through the use of
expression of social and religious unity in Islamic culture.
force and lucrative arrangements with other tribes. Such
H:A¯JJ IN THE CONTEXT OF MIDDLE EASTERN WORLDVIEWS.
trading centers were also pilgrimage sites to which Arabs
The duty of performing the h:a¯jj rests on the authority of
journeyed annually during sacred months constituting a
scripture (QurDa¯n) and the recorded practice of the prophet
moratorium of tribal feuding. Although the pilgrimage re-
Muh:ammad (sunnah), as these are interpreted by the ortho-
mained a dangerous undertaking in the face of banditry and
dox schools of Islamic law; Sh¯ıE¯ı Muslims rely in addition
unpacified tribal rivalry, the special months and territories
on the teachings of the early ima¯ms, leaders descended from
provided sanctuary for many of the shared sacred and pro-
the family of the Prophet through the lineage of EAl¯ı. The
fane activities of Arab tribal culture. The auspicious times
mana¯sik al-h:a¯jj, manuals that explain the rituals and prayers
and places of pilgrimage, along with the annual fairs and
required at each of the h:a¯jj stations, are adduced from these
markets held at nearby locales along the pilgrims’ routes, ap-
authorities. More than the symbolism found in the other re-
pear to have played significant roles in stabilizing the seg-
ligious duties of Islam, however, h:a¯jj symbolism carries over-
mented polity of Arab tribalism.
tones of ancient Arab and Judeo-Christian cosmologies,
The term h:a¯jj itself, like its Hebrew cognate h:ag, seems
which resonate in the appointed times and places of the ritual
to reflect an ancient Semitic notion of “going around” or
performances.
“standing” in the presence of a deity at a sacred mountain
For Muslims, the shrine in Mecca comprehends several
or shrine, or the journey to it (see Ex. 23:14; also Ex. 23:17
notions: for example, that creation began at Mecca; that the
and 24:22, Jgs. 21:19, and 1 Kgs. 8:2). The pilgrimage sta-
father of the prophets, Ibra¯h¯ım (Abraham), constructed the
tions at Arafat, Muzdalifah, and Mina¯ on the road east of
first house of worship (KaEbah, Bayt Alla¯h) at Mecca; that
Mecca appear to have been associated with solar and moun-
the pagan practices of the Arabs at the KaEbah were displayed
tain deities prior to the rise of Islam; the “standing” at Arafat,
by God’s final revelation through Muh:ammad, his Messen-
the “hurry” to Muzdalifah, and the stoning of the pillars at
ger to the Arabs and to all of humankind. Indeed, the KaEbah
Mina¯—the Islamic significance of which will be discussed
determines the ritual direction, or qiblah, the focal point to-
below—were all ancient rites among the Arabs.
ward which canonical prayers (s:ala¯t) and places of prayer
Islam did not destroy the pre-Islamic h:a¯jj rituals, but it
(masjid, mosque) are physically oriented, the direction in
infused them with new symbols and meanings. In its own
which the deceased are faced in their graves, and the focus
conceptual terms, Islam asserted (or reasserted) monotheism
of other ritual gestures as well. The KaEbah is regarded as the
over the polytheism of Jahil¯ıyah. The QurDa¯n also declared
navel of the universe, and it is the place from which the
that the sacred months of pilgrimage should be calculated ac-
prayers of the faithful are believed to be most effective. For
cording to a lunar calendar that could not be adjusted every
Muslims, Mecca has been the site of divine, angelic, prophet-
few years—as it had been in pagan times—and the QurDanic
ic, and auspicious human activity since the primordial mo-
injunction against intercalation resulted in a lunar year of
ment of creation.
twelve months approximately every 354 days, thus distin-
guishing the h:a¯jj and other Muslim festivals from the fixed
H:a¯jj manuals commonly begin with the following
seasonal celebrations characteristic of pagan astral and agri-
QurDanic epigraph: “Truly, the first House of Worship estab-
cultural (fertility) religions. Following the Muslim calendar,
lished for humankind is the one at Bakkah [Mecca], a bless-
the h:a¯jj and other ceremonials rotate throughout the seasons
ing and guidance to all realms of being. In it are clear signs,
of the year.
such as the Place of Ibra¯h¯ım, and whoever enters [the Mec-
can precincts] is safe. The h:a¯jj to the House is a duty human-
According to Islamic tradition, the Abrahamic origins
kind owes to God, that is, for those who are able to journey
of h:a¯jj sites and rituals had been taught by the prophet
to it” (3:96–97). The significance of the prophet Ibra¯h¯ım to
Muh:ammad to the nascent Islamic community during the
the sacred origins of the h:a¯jj sites is attested widely in Islamic
pilgrimage he performed just before the end of his life (632
literature. Ibra¯h¯ım symbolizes the pure monotheism that the
CE). The sermon he delivered on the Mount of Mercy, at Ar-
ancient communities subsequently perverted or forgot. In
afat, and his removal of all pagan idols from the KaEbah in
the Muslim view, the period of Arabian history that inter-
Mecca are recollected annually during the h:a¯jj ceremonies.
vened between the prophets Ibra¯h¯ım and Muh:ammad was
The imputed Abrahamic origins of the h:a¯jj ceremonies con-
one of religious ignorance, Jahil¯ıyah—a period during which
stitute a deeper, complementary layer of symbolism that
monotheism was abandoned and the pilgrim stations were
serves to underpin Muh:ammad’s treatment of the h:a¯jj as a
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monotheistic ritual. Ibra¯h¯ım’s duty to sacrifice Isma¯E¯ıl (Ish-
possession of sufficient and honest funds not only for the ex-
mael; not Isaac as in the biblical tradition), Satan’s three at-
penses of the h:a¯jj but also for the care of dependents who
tempts to dissuade Ibra¯h¯ım from following God’s com-
remain at home.
mand, and the divine substitution of a ram for the blood
sacrifice are celebrated at Mina¯ during the festival of the
From figures available on h:a¯jj participation in relation
Greater Sacrifice and the ritual stoning of the three pillars
to total Muslim population, it is clear that only a small per-
(see below). Mecca itself is believed to have been the wilder-
centage of Muslims make the pilgrimage in any given year,
ness sanctuary to which the banished H:a¯jar (Hagar) and her
and that many never undertake the journey at all. In addition
infant son Isma¯E¯ıl were escorted by Ibra¯h¯ım. The KaEbah
to the above qualifications, one is not expected to risk life,
stands on the site of a primordial temple where Adam is said
limb, or possessions if war and hostility are known to exist
to have prayed after his expulsion from Paradise. Destroyed
along the pilgrim’s path. Living at great distances from
by the deluge, the KaEbah was rebuilt by Ibra¯h¯ım and
Mecca has tended to make fulfillment of the duty of h:a¯jj less
Isma¯E¯ıl: during the deluge, the sacred Black Stone from the
likely for many Muslims for obvious reasons, although in
primordial KaEbah had been sealed in a niche in Mount Qu-
modern times some Muslim countries such as Malaysia have
bays (east of Mecca), then brought by the angel Jibr¯ıl (Gabri-
instituted programs to assist Muslims in saving and prepar-
el) to Ibra¯h¯ım for the reconstruction of the present KaEbah,
ing for the journey. Children, to whom the obligation of h:a¯jj
where it was set into the eastern corner. The sacred hillocks
does not apply, may nonetheless accompany their parents.
of al- S:afa¯ and al-Marwah situated near the KaEbah symbolize
The schools of law generally agree that women should be ac-
the points between which H:a¯jar is said to have run in desper-
companied by their husbands or by two male relatives who
ate search of water, and the gushing forth of water next to
are ineligible to marry them (first-cousin marriages are com-
the KaEbah is a Muslim symbol of God’s providential relief
mon in Islam). Although legal consensus and practical con-
to H:a¯jar and Isma¯E¯ıl.
siderations discourage women from making the journey
without appropriate male chaperons, the law does not allow
The historic seventh-century shift at Mecca from a poly-
males to prevent female Muslims from fulfilling the h:a¯jj if
theistic to a monotheistic cosmology—of which the h:a¯jj is
proper arrangements can be made. The Prophet is cited as
the supreme ritual expression—is significant for the compar-
having approved of Muslims’ making the h:a¯jj on behalf of
ative study of religions and civilizations. Urban geographer
deceased relatives who intended, but were unable, to do so
Paul Wheatley (The Pivot of the Four Corners, 1971) argues
themselves. The feeble and desperately ill may send others
that archaeological and textual evidence on the rise of cities
to Mecca on their behalf.
throughout the ancient world point to the importance of
shrines and cults that stood at the center of urban complexes.
Thus, although h:a¯jj is a duty one owes to God, the deci-
Wheatley suggests that cities such as Mecca, by focusing sa-
sion as to whether and when one should undertake the “jour-
credness on cult symbols of cosmic and moral order, were
ney to the House” belongs ultimately to each individual
able to organize the previous tribal polities into larger, more
Muslim. The authorities insist that h:a¯jj is valid at any stage
efficient economic, social, and political systems. Urban-
of adult life. The h:a¯jj, therefore, is not a rite of passage in
based great traditions evolved and were perpetuated by litera-
the sense of the ritual celebrations of birth, circumcision,
ti who canonized the technical requirements and meanings
marriage, and death, which have their appointed times with-
of ritual performance at the shrines. In this way, such tradi-
in the human life cycle, and this aspect of the h:a¯jj duty allows
tions provided for the continuity of culture over time and
Muslims, including the very pious, to delay the decision to
geographic space; they ensured that the cosmic center (om-
make the h:a¯jj, in many cases indefinitely. Islam recognizes
phalos, axis mundi) continued to be enshrined and celebrated
that conditions may exist that will cause postponement of
within the sacred city. The seventh-century shift from local
the journey and charges apostasy or heresy only to those who
deities and tribal morality to a monotheistic cosmic and
deny that h:a¯jj is a duty to God.
moral order in Islam coincided with a period of Arabian he-
A pilgrim’s separation from familiar social and cultural
gemony over larger neighboring civilizations. With the Is-
surroundings constitutes a moment of prayerful anxiety and
lamization of the Arabian h:a¯jj during this process, therefore,
joyful celebration for all concerned. On the eve of departure,
the pilgrimage to Mecca came to symbolize for Muslim peo-
it is traditional for family and friends to gather for prayers,
ples and lands across Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa
QurDa¯n recitation, food, and perhaps poetry and singing
the sacred origins and center of their common confessional
about the h:a¯jj. (So, too, when the h:a¯jj rites have been com-
heritage.
pleted, the pilgrim’s return home will be celebrated by family
REQUIREMENTS AND PREPARATIONS FOR THE H:A¯JJ. Muslim
and friends; in some parts of the Islamic world the homes
authorities generally agree on the following requirements of
of returning pilgrims are decorated with symbols of the h:a¯jj,
eligibility for the h:a¯jj: (1) one must be a confessing Muslim
reflecting local popular art forms.) Many pilgrims follow the
who (2) has reached the age of puberty, (3) is of rational and
practice of setting out from home on the right foot, a symbol
sound mind, (4) is a freed man or woman, and (5) has the
of good omen and fortune. Similarly, it is auspicious to enter
physical strength and health to undertake the rigors of the
mosques, including the Sacred Mosque in Mecca, on the
journey. Islamic law also provides that a pilgrim must be in
right foot and depart on the left; the right/left symbolism is
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PILGRIMAGE: MUSLIM PILGRIMAGE
7157
associated with several ritual gestures in Islam as well as in
h:a¯jj provides occasions for establishing friendships and per-
other traditions. As on so many occasions during the h:a¯jj,
sonal relationships, although marriage and sexual contact are
the actual moment of departure calls for the recitation of a
forbidden during the period of sacred observance at the Mec-
particular verse from the QurDa¯n, and departing pilgrims re-
can precincts. In former times, when travel was considerably
cite the words of Noah, uttered to those escaping the deluge:
more difficult, many pilgrims followed an open itinerary and
“Board [the Ark]; in God’s name be its course and mooring.
lingered at towns and cities along the way; those who thirsted
My Lord is forgiving, merciful” (11:41). Indeed, the symbol-
for knowledge found opportunities to attend the lectures of
ism of separation, salvation, and safe passage is found in the
famous teachers at mosque colleges. Biographical literature
pilgrimage rituals of many religious traditions. Those who
in Islam indicates that the h:a¯jj has been for many individuals
complete the h:a¯jj will be entitled to the epithet h:a¯jj or h:a¯jji
an important moment or phase of life that has had numerous
(h:ajjah or h:ajjiyah if female). This honorific title indicates
ramifications of lasting personal, if not social, significance.
socially perceived status enhancement in the sense of recog-
IH:RA¯M, THE CONDITION OF CONSECRATION. The h:a¯jj sea-
nition by one’s peers that a sacred duty has been fulfilled, and
son lasts from the beginning of the tenth month of the Mus-
this is a matter of universal value, if not universal achieve-
lim calendar, Shawwal, until the tenth day of the twelfth
ment, in Islam.
month, Dhu¯ al-H:ijjah. Although the actual h:a¯jj rites do not
Most pilgrims require assistance in arranging for travel,
begin until the eighth of Dhu al-Hijjah, the two-and-a-half-
lodging, and proper guidance in the execution of rites and
month period known as al-miqat al-zaman¯ıyah is reserved
prayers within the Meccan precincts. During the Middle
for travel and ritual preparations for the h:a¯jj ceremonies. The
Ages, caravans of pilgrims assembled and traveled together
rites of preparation and consecration are comprehended by
from Egypt, South Arabia, Syria, and Iraq. Their common
the term ih:ra¯m. Pilgrims assume the condition of ih:ra¯m be-
wayfaring experiences on the road have not produced an Is-
fore they pass the territorial markers, al-m¯ıqa¯t al-maka¯n¯ıyah,
lamic Canterbury Tales, although one Muslim writer has ob-
that are situated several miles outside of Mecca along the an-
served that material for such a literature abounds within the
cient routes for caravans from Syria, Medina, Iraq, and the
communities of pilgrims who journey each year to Mecca.
Yemen. Within the territory bounded by these markers lie
During the Middle Ages hospices and hostels were estab-
the sacred precincts of Mecca. For the vast majority of Mus-
lished along the pilgrimage routes from religious endow-
lims who in modern times disembark from air and sea travel
ments given by those in possession of both piety and wealth.
at the west Arabian port of Jidda, the rites of ih:ra¯m are begun
In recent times, h:a¯jj travel organizations in Muslim countries
on board before arrival, or at Jidda itself. Muslims may enter
have helped to arrange for chartered air, sea, and overland
Mecca and its vicinity at any time without assuming the con-
travel and for local accommodations in Mecca.
dition of ih:ra¯m, but if their intention is to perform the rites
of h:a¯jj or Eumrah (see below), ih:ra¯m is required.
Of considerable importance throughout the centuries
Assuming the condition of ih:ra¯m before passing the ter-
have been the h:a¯jj guides (known as mut:awwifs). The re-
ritorial markers has several aspects.
sponsibilities of these guides and their agents include leading
groups of pilgrims through the proper performance of rituals
1. Ih:ra¯m requires a state of ritual purity, and pilgrims
and prayers at each pilgrimage station as well as seeing to
who enter it must perform ablutions much the same as they
food and lodging needs. Employing a trustworthy guide is
do for the daily canonical prayers, s:ala¯t. The special condi-
a major concern for pilgrims, as attested in h:a¯jj manuals and
tion of ih:ra¯m also requires pilgrims to trim their fingernails
in conventional wisdom about preparing for the h:a¯jj. Since
and remove underarm and pubic hair, and men must shave
the rise of Islam in the seventh century CE, the Muslims of
off beards and mustaches. The further cutting of nails and
Arabia, especially the Meccans, have served a growing “h:a¯jj
hair is part of the rite of deconsecration, tah:allul, and is not
industry” of services for pilgrims from around the world.
permitted until the h:a¯jj and/or Eumrah rites have been com-
Recognizing that opportunities invariably arise to take ad-
pleted. A pilgrim in the state of ih:ra¯m is also forbidden to
vantage of those who are far from home and in a state of in-
use perfumes or carry symbols of personal wealth, such as silk
tense piety, in modern times the government of Saudi Arabia
and gold jewelry.
has sought to regulate the offering of religious, material, and
health services to the millions of visitors who enter its nation-
2. Ih:ra¯m is initiated and sustained by prayers of several
al boundaries each year to fulfill the sacred duty.
kinds. (a) The n¯ıyah is the prayer by which each pilgrim de-
clares his or her intention in the rites that follow. At any time
Travel accounts by pilgrims reveal other dimensions of
of the year except during the three days of the h:a¯jj itself,
the h:a¯jj, such as opportunities for adventure, business, edu-
Muslim visitors may enter the Meccan precincts with the in-
cation, and even marriage. The intention to engage in busi-
tention of performing rites at the Sacred Mosque of Mecca,
ness with other pilgrims is lawful, especially if it is meant to
which enshrines the KaEbah. This is known as the Eumrah,
help defray the costs of the journey. H:a¯jj manuals nonethe-
or “lesser pilgrimage.” Pilgrims making the h:a¯jj, or “greater
less caution wariness of unscrupulous sellers of goods and ser-
pilgrimage,” will declare a n¯ıyah also to visit Arafat, Muzdali-
vices, even those who may be found within the sacred pre-
fah, and Mina¯ on the eighth through the tenth of Dhu¯
cincts. Marriage among pilgrims is also permitted, and the
al-H:ijjah. Their prayers must stipulate whether or not they
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intend to interrupt the state of ih:ra¯m during the interval that
drastically, for pilgrims are now approaching the navel of cre-
may lapse between the performances of Eumrah and h:a¯jj. (b)
ation, the primordial house where Adam and Ibra¯h¯ım wor-
A second form of prayer is the s:ala¯t, which includes the for-
shiped, a hallowed ground where Muh:ammad recited God’s
mal prostrations in the direction (qiblah) of the KaEbah in
final revelation to humankind.
Mecca. When pilgrims assume ih:ra¯m, they perform a s:ala¯t
EUMRAH, THE LESSER PILGRIMAGE. All accounts of the expe-
of two prostrations before entering the sacred territories.
rience of the final approach to Mecca indicate that it is a mo-
During the h:a¯jj, including the days of travel to and from
ment of high emotions attending the realization of a lifelong
Mecca, the five daily performances of s:ala¯t assume the fol-
ambition. The practical matter of securing lodging and the
lowing pattern: once at dawn, the noon and afternoon
care of a pilgrim guide is usually the first order of business;
prayers together at midday, and the sunset and evening
the most valued and anticipated task, however, is a visit to
prayers at dusk. (c) A third form of prayer is called du Ea¯D,
the KaEbah for the rites of Eumrah.
“supplication.” Du Ea¯D is a less formalized, more individual-
ized expression of communication with God. A supplication
From ancient times, the KaEbah and its environs have
is normally offered after the s:ala¯t, especially the s:ala¯t of
been symbols of refuge from violence and pursuit, a sacred
ih:ra¯m, and thereafter frequently at each of the pilgrimage
space in which wayfaring pilgrims could find sanctuary with
sites. The texts of supplications recommended in the h:a¯jj
the divine. The KaEbah is now enclosed within the roofless
manuals reveal something of the meanings these shrines and
courtyard of the Sacred Mosque of Mecca, al-Masjid al-
performances hold for Muslims. (d) The fourth type of
H:a¯ram. Arriving pilgrims approach the mosque through
prayer, the talbiyah, belongs to ih:ra¯m alone. The talbiyah is
streets teeming with the traffic of other pilgrims, vendors,
uttered in a loud voice as pilgrims pass the markers of the
and merchants, whose shops and stalls compact the urban
sacred territory and frequently during the days of consecra-
space that surrounds the ancient shrine.
tion. The brief lines of talbiyah begin with a phrase
Twenty-four gates lead into the mosque courtyard. The
that means roughly “Here I am, O Lord! What is Thy
four corners of the outer walls of the Sacred Mosque as well
command?”
as the four corners of the KaEbah in the center of its grounds
3. In addition to the ablutions and prayers, ih:ra¯m re-
are oriented approximately in the cardinal directions. The
quires each pilgrim to exchange normal clothing for special
KaEbah is surrounded by a circle of stone flooring called the
garments. The ih:ra¯m garb is simple, a visual symbol of the
mat:a¯f, the place of circumambulations. Set within the eastern
ideal of universal Islamic brotherhood that the h:a¯jj and
corner of the KaEbah is the sacred Black Stone, encased by
Eumrah rites celebrate. For males the ih:ra¯m attire consists of
a silver rim; another auspicious stone is encased in the south-
two seamless white pieces of cloth, one attached around the
ern corner. The four walls of the KaEbah are covered with a
waist and reaching to the knees, the other worn over the left
gigantic black curtain, called the kiswah, which is decorated
shoulder and attached around the torso, leaving the right
in bands of Arabic calligraphy embroidered in gold. The
shoulder and arm free for ritual gesturing. Males may not
Gate of Peace near the northern corner of the Sacred Mosque
wear any head covering, and their footwear is restricted to
is the traditional entrance for the performance of Eumrah.
sandals that leave the backs of the heels exposed. Females
Again, emotions rise at the first glimpse of the haunting spec-
wear plain dresses that extend from neckline to ankles and
ter of the KaEbah.
cover the arms. A head covering is required of females, but
Once they have entered the Gate of Peace, pilgrims
veiling the face is not permitted during the period of conse-
move to a position east of the KaEbah and face the corner
cration. H:a¯jj manuals are less than sanguine about the com-
with the Black Stone. The rite of t:awa¯f, or circumambula-
fort of the ih:ra¯m attire, especially in summer and winter
tion, begins from this point with a supplication followed by
seasons.
a kiss, touch, or gesture of touching the black stone. The pil-
grim turns to the right and begins the seven circumambula-
Ih:ra¯m, then, is a state of consecration that each pilgrim
tions, moving counterclockwise around the KaEbah. Each
must assume before he or she may enter the sacred precincts.
circuit has a special significance with recommended prayers
The state of consecration exemplifies the concept of egalitari-
that the pilgrim may recite either from h:a¯jj manuals or by
an brotherhood, or communitas, that many religious tradi-
following the words of the h:a¯jj guide leading the group.
tions establish ritually during pilgrimages and other rites.
When passing the stone in the southern corner and the sa-
The h:aram, or “sacred precincts,” is a place in which those
cred Black Stone in the eastern corner, it is traditional to
who enter expect to feel nearness to God, and ih:ra¯m is a spe-
touch or make a gesture of touching each stone with uplifted
cial moment and condition of brotherhood for all pilgrims.
right arm and a verbal supplication. Male pilgrims are ad-
Within the spatial and temporal boundaries of ih:ra¯m, it is
monished to take the first three laps at a quickened pace and
forbidden to uproot plants, kill animals, or foment any social
the remaining four more slowly.
violence. Husbands and wives are enjoined to refrain from
sexual intercourse, and women are counseled to conduct
Following the t:awa¯f, pilgrims visit shrines adjacent to
themselves modestly so as not to attract male attention. Fa-
the KaEbah. An area along the northeastern wall of the
miliar sociocultural identities and structures are reduced
KaEbah between its sole door and the Black Stone is the
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multazim or “place of pressing.” With uplifted arms, resting
Mount of Mercy is covered with pilgrims. The themes of
if possible on the multazim wall, pilgrims offer a supplica-
brotherhood and repentance dominate the afternoon ser-
tion. Another place of visitation is the Maqa¯m Ibra¯h¯ım,
mons and supplications.
which symbolizes the place from which Abraham is said to
Muzdalifah. At sundown the somber scene of prayer
have prayed toward the KaEbah. From within or near the cov-
changes abruptly as pilgrims scramble to break camp and
ered shrine of Ibra¯h¯ım, pilgrims perform a prayer of two
begin the “hurrying” to Muzdalifah. This rite is called the
prostrations. Near Maqa¯m Ibra¯h¯ım to the east of the KaEbah
ifad:a¯h (“pouring forth”) or nafrah (“stampede”) and is de-
is the well of Zamzam. A drink of its water, said to have a
scribed in pilgrim diaries as a moment of urgent confusion.
brackish taste, is sought by every pilgrim. On the northwest-
Like the preceding period of respectful standing, however,
ern side of the KaEbah, a low semicircular wall encloses a
the hurry to Muzdalifah is a rite of ancient significance; it
space. The enclosure is known as al-H:ijr, and it is thought
is not simply undisciplined mass behavior. At Muzdalifah,
to be the site of the graves of H:a¯jar and Isma¯E¯ıl. Al-H:ijr is
a few miles on the road back toward Mecca, pilgrims halt for
also said to be the spot beside the KaEbah where Muh:ammad
a combined observance of the sunset and evening s:ala¯t
slept on the night of his miraculous journey from Mecca to
prayers. The sunnah of the Prophet established the tradition
Jerusalem.
of staying overnight at Muzdalifah, although it is permissible
After the circumambulations and visitations, pilgrims
after the halt in Muzdalifah to push on closer to Mina¯. The
leave the Sacred Mosque (leading with the left foot) through
QurDa¯n admonishes: “When you hurry from Arafat, remem-
the Gate of Purity on the southeast side. A few yards outside
ber God at the Sacred Grove (al-mash Ear al-h:aram),” that is,
the Gate of Purity is the small hillock of al-S:afa¯. From al-
at Muzdalifah (2:198). Today a mosque marks the place in
S:afa¯ begins the sa Ey, the rite of trotting seven laps to and
Muzdalifah where pilgrims gather to perform the special
from the hillock of al-Marwah, which is located some four
s:ala¯t. Also during the halt at Muzdalifah, pilgrims gather
hundred and fifty yards to the northeast of the Sacred
small stones for the ritual lapidations at Mina the next day.
Mosque. The sa Ey commemorates H:a¯jar’s desperate search
Mina¯. The tenth of Dhu¯ al-H:ijjah is the final official
for water in the Meccan wilderness and ends the rites of
E
day of the h:a¯jj season. Most of the ritual activities of this day
umrah. Year-round visitors to Mecca who intend to perform
E
take place in Mina¯ and include (1) the casting of seven small
umrah only, or pilgrims who arrive early for the h:ajj, decon-
stones at the pillar of Aqaba, (2) the feast of the major sacri-
secrate themselves at this time by a ritual of haircutting and
fice (EId al-Ad:h:a¯), (3) the rite of deconsecration from the
by doffing the ih:ra¯m garb (see below).
condition of ih:ra¯m, and (4) the visit to Mecca for the t:awa¯f,
H:A¯JJ, THE GREATER PILGRIMAGE. The h:a¯jj proper begins on
called al-ifa¯d:ah.
the eighth of Dhu¯ al-H:ijjah, the day of setting out for Arafat,
The story of Ibra¯h¯ım’s duty to sacrifice Isma¯E¯ıl provides
which is located some thirteen miles east of Mecca. Many
the symbolic significance of the rites of lapidation and blood
pilgrims spend the first night at Mina¯, as the prophet
sacrifice. It is said that on his return from Arafat, Ibra¯h¯ım
Muh:ammad himself is said to have done, while others push
was given the divine command to sacrifice that which was
on to Arafat. The goal of all pilgrims is to reach Jabal
most dear to him, his son Isma¯E¯ıl. Along the way to Mina,
al-Rah:mah, the Mount of Mercy, located on the eastern
Satan whispered to him three times (or to Ibra¯h¯ım, Isma¯E¯ıl,
plain of Arafat, by noon on the ninth of Dhu¯ al-H:ijjah.
and H:aja¯r), tempting him (or them) not to obey the heavy
command. The legendary response was a hurling of stones
Arafat. Muslim authorities agree that “there is no h:a¯jj
to repulse the Tempter. Three brick and mortar pillars stand
without Arafat,” that is, the rite of wu¯quf or “standing” at
in the center of Mina¯ as symbols of Satan’s temptations, and
the Mount of Mercy. According to legend, Adam and Eve
the pillar called Aqaba is the site where pilgrims gather early
first met and “knew” ( Earafu¯) one another at Arafat after the
on the morning of the tenth of Dhu¯ al-H:ijjah to cast seven
long separation that followed their expulsion from Paradise.
stones. Following the lapidations, those pilgrims who can af-
Tradition also teaches that Ibra¯h¯ım went out to Arafat and
ford it offer a blood sacrifice of a lamb or goat (sometimes
performed wu¯quf. The prophet Muh:ammad addressed a
a camel) to commemorate the divine substitution of a ram
multitude of followers performing wuquf during his farewell
for Ibra¯h¯ım’s sacrifice. H:a¯jj manuals recommend supplica-
pilgrimage, and the following words are attributed to him on
tions that express the pilgrim’s willingness to sacrifice for the
that occasion: “O people, hear what I have to say, for I know
sake of God that which is dear. The meat is consumed by
not whether I shall again be with you here after this
family and friends, with unused portions given to the poor.
day. . . . Truly, all Muslims are brothers . . . and your
The festival of the major sacrifice is also celebrated on this
Lord is one.” Tradition also accords to this occasion the reve-
day by Muslims around the world in gatherings of family and
lation of the final verse of the QurDa¯n recited by Muh:ammad:
friends.
“This day I have perfected your religion for you and have
chosen for you Islam as your religion” (5:3). On the Day of
T:awa¯f al-ifa¯d:ah and tah:allul. After the sacrifice and
Standing at Arafat, pilgrims perform an ablution and canoni-
feast, the process of tah:allul, or deconsecration, is begun with
cal prayer at a mosque located near the western entrance to
the rite of clipping the hair. Many men follow the tradition
the plain. When the sun passes the noon meridian, the
of having the head shaved, although for women, and for men
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PILGRIMAGE: MUSLIM PILGRIMAGE
if they prefer, the cutting of three hairs meets the ritual re-
The most auspicious visitation is the one to the Mosque
quirement. This is followed by a visit to Mecca for another
of the Prophet in Medina. Under the guidance of a shaykh,
rite of circumambulation known as t:awa¯f al-ifa¯d:ah. Pilgrims
visitors enter the mosque through a passage called the Gate
who have not yet performed the complete rites of Eumrah
of Peace, uttering a supplication. Inside the mosque as it
may do so at this time.
stands today is a brass railing that marks out the smaller
The KaEbah itself undergoes purification and ritual re-
boundaries of the original home and mosque of the Prophet,
newal during the three days of h:a¯jj. Shortly before the h:a¯jj
and within this brass railing pilgrims perform a s:ala¯t of two
begins, the black kiswah—weathered and worn by a year of
prostrations followed by supplications. Nearby is the green-
exposure to the open air—is replaced by a white one, sugges-
domed mausoleum of the Prophet, where pilgrims offer sup-
tive of the ih:ra¯m garb worn by pilgrims. After pilgrims go
plications and praises for the Prophet. The Prophet’s mauso-
out to Arafat, Meccan authorities open the door of the
leum also enshrines the graves of the first two caliphs of
KaEbah for the purpose of washing its interior, an act symbol-
Islam, Abu¯ Bakr and EUmar, for whom prayers may also be
ic of the Prophet’s cleansing of idols from the sacred house.
said.
Pilgrims returning for t:awa¯f al-ifa¯d:ah on the tenth of Dhu¯
THE H:A¯JJ INTERPRETED. The meaning of the pilgrimage to
al-H:ijjah are greeted by the sight of a lustrous new black
Mecca, in general and in its many particulars, has been the
kiswah. In the early Islamic period, the new kiswah and other
subject of numerous books by Muslims throughout the cen-
presents for the shrines of Mecca and Medina were sent an-
turies and by non-Muslim scholars in modern times. Al-
nually by the caliphs; these offerings were borne by camel
though h:a¯jj is a duty that is carefully delimited by Islamic
caravan in an ornate box called a mah:mal. From the thir-
law, the great diversity of Muslims with differing degrees and
teenth century until 1927, the Egyptian mah:mal. brought
kinds of piety are accommodated remarkably well within the
the new kiswah each year. Since 1927 the kiswah has been
structures of traditional interpretations. For example, the
made at a factory in Mecca.
various schools of law differ in the degree of stringency each
When the t:awa¯f al-ifa¯d:ah has been completed, the dis-
suggests for the length of time one must perform the rite of
solution of the condition of consecration is made final by
standing at Arafat. The more pious pilgrims seek to emulate
doffing the pilgrim garb and wearing normal clothing. All
what the Prophet recommended and practiced at each sta-
the prohibitions of ih:ra¯m are now lifted, and most pilgrims
tion within the sacred precincts, while others may choose to
return to Mina¯ for days of social gathering on the eleventh
follow the minimal requirements of the more lenient inter-
to the thirteenth of Dhu¯ al-H:ijjah. On each of these days it
pretations of the schools of law. For virtually every rite, such
is sunnah to cast seven stones at each of the three pillars in
as the blood sacrifice at Mina¯, physical or economic inability
Mina¯. This vast amalgam of pilgrims, dwelling in a river of
to meet the literal requirement can be compensated by the
tents pitched along the narrow valley of Mina¯, eases into a
substitution of prayer and fasting.
more relaxed atmosphere of friendly exchanges of religious
greetings and visiting with Muslims from around the world.
The continual process of interpreting h:a¯jj meanings and
By sundown on the thirteenth, the plain of Mina¯ must be
requirements within the framework of Islamic symbols can
vacated. Though many will choose to spend additional time
be witnessed in the writings of contemporary Muslims. One
in Mecca, all pilgrims make a last visit to the KaEbah for the
problem under increasing discussion is the size of the pilgrim
final circumambulation, t:awa¯f al-qu¯dum, which is permissi-
gathering in relation to available physical space for perfor-
ble without the condition and attire of ih:ra¯m. The h:ajj is
mance of the rites. The press of more than two million pil-
thus complete, and each pilgrim leaves the sacred precincts
grims to cast stones at the pillars of Mina¯, for example, has
with the honorific title of h:ajj¯ı.
prompted Saudi h:a¯jj authorities to devise ways of organizing
and regulating the social space within which the rite is per-
THE ZIYA¯RAH, OR VISITATION TO HOLY PLACES. The Sa-
formed. The mass slaughtering of hundreds of thousands of
cred Mosque in Mecca, the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina,
animals at Mina¯ within a limited space and time creates a
and the mosque of al-Aqs:a¯ in Jerusalem are the three most
considerable health problem, particularly when the h:a¯jj oc-
sacred shrines in Islamic belief, and the three cities are espe-
curs during the hot summer months. Some authorities have
cially holy to Muslims. Thus an additional pilgrimage to the
speculated on alternative ways for pilgrims to accomplish the
Prophet’s mosque and tomb in Medina is made by many
root meaning of the sacrifice, namely, giving up that which
Muslim visitors to Arabia each year, usually preceding or fol-
is dear. Others, on the basis of statements drawn from the
lowing the h:a¯jj. Although such visitations do not have the
sunnah and the schools of law, have proposed that greater lat-
weight of religious duty in Islamic law and are not a formal
itude should be given to the time permitted for the comple-
part of the h:a¯jj, ziya¯rah, or visitation to holy places, is none-
tion of such rites as the lapidations and the blood sacrifice.
theless an essential aspect of traditional Muslim piety. There
are many monuments in both Mecca and Medina that mark
The problem of interpretation and meaning must also
the homes, graves, and events associated with the Prophet,
be seen in relation to the political and technological changes
his family, and his closest companions. Guides for ziya¯rah
that have affected the Islamic world. For example, the rise
conduct pilgrims to these sites, where prayers and meditation
of nationalism has added a new dimension to the quest for
are offered.
ritual unity with the sacred precincts. Mass transportation
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has made travel to Mecca available to vastly larger numbers
The tradition of pilgrimage, Ealiyyah le-regel (literally,
of pilgrims. The traditional experiences of adventure and
going up on foot), has been institutionalized in Jewish cul-
hospitality along the h:a¯jj routes are being exchanged for the
ture since the beginning of nationhood, with the religious
benefits of faster and safer passage by a growing majority of
prescription that committed all males to “go up” annually
contemporary pilgrims. The ability to have media coverage
to the Temple in Jerusalem on three festivals (Passover; Sha-
of the h:a¯jj at home affords the Muslim community at large
vuEot or Pentecost; and Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles; see
an audio and visual experience of the pilgrimage rites. Thus
Ex. 23:17, 34:23; Dt. 16:16). The essence of the pilgrimage
the h:a¯jj is becoming an ever more visible event to the world
was the entry of the pilgrims into the Temple to worship,
of Islam in modern times.
particularly through the offering of sacrifices. After the de-
struction of the Temple in 70 CE, pilgrimage to the holy site
SEE ALSO KaEbah.
in Jerusalem continued until modern times, though it lost
its convivial characteristics. The Western Wall (often re-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A readable modern Muslim h:ajj manual is Ahmad Kamal’s The
ferred to as the Wailing Wall), which survived the destruc-
Sacred Journey (New York, 1961). A pictorial essay with color
tion of the Temple, became the symbol of Jewish historical
photographs and accompanying text has been expertly pre-
continuity, recalling the tragedy of destruction and disper-
pared by Mohamed Amin, Pilgrimage to Mecca (Nairobi,
sion as well as the hope of the exiles to return to Erets YisraDel
1978). Both the old and new editions of The Encyclopaedia
(the Land of Israel).
of Islam (Leiden, 1913–1938 and 1960–) are valuable
sources of information about the h:ajj; see especially the arti-
Other sites related to the biblical period have gradually
cles “H:adjdj” and “KaEba.”
become centers of pilgrimage. The most venerated are the
Among the works that attempt to analyze and interpret the h:ajj
Cave of Machpelah in Hebron (the reputed burial ground
from a history-of-religions and social-science perspective, the
of the patriarchs); the reputed tomb of Rachel, Jacob’s wife
most substantial is Maurice Gaudefroy-Demombynes’s Le
(and symbol of Jewish motherhood), in Bethlehem; and the
pèlerinage à la Mekke (Paris, 1923). On the h:ajj in relation
reputed tomb of King David in Jerusalem. For most of the
to the study of ritual in the history of religions, see the arti-
past nineteen hundred years, however, it was usually diffi-
cles by Frederick M. Denny and William R. Roff in Islam
cult, if not impossible, for Jews to visit most of the biblical
and the History of Religions, edited by Richard C. Martin
sites because of obstructions set up by the local authorities.
(Berkeley, Calif., 1983). David Edwin Long’s The Hajj
Today: A Survey of the Contemporary Makkah Pilgrimage
(Al-
The Western Wall was for many centuries under Muslim
bany, N.Y., 1979) analyzes various social and health prob-
Waqf administration, and Jews were not allowed to enter the
lems and modern attempts by the Saudi Arabian government
Cave of Machpelah. Free entrance and worship at these sites
to resolve them; it includes a useful bibliography.
became possible for Jews only after the Israeli army gained
Numerous accounts of the h:ajj by travelers and adventurers pro-
control of them during the 1967 war.
vide useful historical information about the pilgrimage at
specific times in the past. The best known of this genre is
In later years, however, the free presence of Jews in the
Richard F. Burton’s Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to al-
site of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem that hosts two monu-
Madinah and Meccah, 2 vols. (London, 1893). Eldon Rut-
mental Muslim shrines (the mosques of Al-Aqsa and Dome
ter’s The Holy Cities of Arabia, 2 vols. (London and New
of the Rock) as well as the competition for control over the
York, 1928), is a work written about the 1925 h:a¯jj—the pe-
Hebron Cave of the Patriarchs gradually raised tensions that
riod of Ibn Saud’s incursion into western Arabia—and con-
culminated in extreme violence between Israelis and Pales-
tains considerable geographical information and descriptions
tinians. These two centers of pilgrimage became major sym-
of the major h:ajj sites as well as the numerous points of visi-
bols of contesting national aspirations, as well as obstacles to
tation in and near Mecca. The role of Mecca and the Mec-
reconciliation and a territorial accommodation between two
cans in relation to the h:ajj was studied in Christiaan Snouck
independent states. But less-central sites also gained popular-
Hurgronje’s Mekka in the Latter Part of the Nineteenth Centu-
ity after 1967 and gradually caused violent conflicts, in par-
ry (Leiden, 1931).
ticular the reputed tomb of Joseph in the Palestinian town
RICHARD C. MARTIN (1987)
of Nablus (the biblical location of Shechem).
A second center for pilgrimages developed in the Gali-
PILGRIMAGE: CONTEMPORARY JEWISH
lee, at Safad and Tiberias, where many Talmudic sages (first
PILGRIMAGE
to fifth centuries) and qabbalist sages (particularly during the
Jewish pilgrimages in Israel may be classified into three main
sixteenth century) lived and were reputedly buried. The first
types: (1) those that originated during the biblical period or
evidence of pilgrimage to these sites dates from the thirteenth
that have as their goals historical sites from the biblical period
century. The most famous site is the reputed tomb of Rabbi
located in Jerusalem and its surroundings; (2) pilgrimages to
ShimEon bar Yoh:Dai, since the sixteenth century the most
the tombs of Talmudic and qabbalistic sages, mainly located
venerated postbiblical figure in Jewish folk tradition. Bar
in the Galilee; and (3) emerging new centers of pilgrimage
Yoh:Dai, who lived during the second century, was a scholar
in various parts of the country dedicated to Diaspora sages
and patriot who opposed the Roman occupation and who
and saints.
has been accredited by popular tradition with the authorship
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PILGRIMAGE: CONTEMPORARY JEWISH PILGRIMAGE
of the Zohar, the classic text of Jewish mysticism. According
of North African Jewish cultural heroes, they seem to express
to tradition, Bar Yoh:Dai was buried with his son ElEazar in
symbolically their shared experience of emigration and their
Meron, a village on a hill near Safad. For at least four centu-
position in Israeli society.
ries a ceremony and a popular festival have been held at
Contemporary Israelis also go on pilgrimage to Jewish
Meron on the holiday of Lag ba-EOmer, the eighteenth day
sites outside of their country. They visit the graves of famous
of the Jewish month of Iyyar. Pilgrims to Meron usually also
rabbis and saints left behind in eastern Europe (Nah:man of
celebrate at the tomb of Rabbi MeDir BaEal ha-Nes in Tiberi-
Bratslav [1772–1810] in the Ukraine in particular), in Mo-
as. The latter is believed by many to have been a distin-
rocco, and, since the late 1990s, to the grave in New York
guished scholar and saint, also from the second century.
of the last venerated leader of the Habad Hasidic movement,
Regular pilgrimages to the tombs of the sages and saints
Menah:em Mendel Schneersohn (1902–1994).
have been particularly popular in North Africa, where Mus-
All pilgrimages to holy sites, tombs, and shrines, during
lim and Jewish beliefs have often been shared and exchanged.
the major annual festivals or on other occasions, are deemed
Among Moroccan Jewry (formerly the largest Jewish com-
to carry good luck and remedy for particular misfortunes.
munity in the Muslim world), many individuals were devot-
The pilgrims pray, make offerings, and sometimes write re-
ed to a particular family saint. Some of these saints’ tombs
quests on notes that they leave at the site. With the exception
acquired wide reputations throughout Morocco and became
of the Western Wall in Jerusalem, where prayers are ad-
centers for large annual festivals (hillulot; singular, hillula).
dressed to God, pilgrims tend to call on the ancestors and
A number of these shrines have been symbolically transferred
saints associated with the holy site to intercede for divine
to the state of Israel, to which the majority of Moroccan Jews
help. The belief in this practice has been expressed by a Mo-
immigrated. Synagogues or memorial rooms were dedicated
roccan immigrant, who stated: “We travel to the saint who
on spots indicated by the saints themselves, as revealed to cer-
will ask God for mercy. When you can’t get to the mayor,
tain individuals in dreams. Also a few venerated North Afri-
you approach the deputy and ask for his help.”
can rabbis who died in Israel have gained the popularity of
saints and attract large crowds of pilgrims (in particular the
SEE ALSO Culture Heroes; Folk Religion, article on Folk Ju-
hillula at the tomb of Baba Sali in the Negev town of Neti-
daism.
vot). The new shrines, often located in poor immigrant
towns, have become new centers for convivial pilgrimages.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ben-Ami, Issachar. Yahadut Maroko. Jerusalem, 1975. See pages
Contemporary pilgrims often visit, at the appropriate
110–117 and 171–197.
annual dates, the biblical, the Talmudic-qabbalistic, and the
Ben-Ami, Issachar. “Le-heqer folqlor ha-milhamah: Motiv ha-
new centers of pilgrimage. But they demonstrate at the vari-
qedoshim.” In Sefer Dov Sadan, edited by Samuel Werses,
ous sites different patterns of devotional activity. Visits to
Nathan Rotenstreich, and Chone Shmeruk, pp. 87–104. Tel
biblical sites are shorter than visits to other sites (a few hours
Aviv, 1977.
at most), more specifically oriented, more formally ritual-
Ben-Ari, Eyal, and Yoram Bilu. “Saints’ Sanctuaries in Israeli De-
ized, and less convivial.
velopment Towns.” Urban Anthropology 16 (1987): 243–
272. This article is also in Israeli Judaism: The Sociology of Re-
The pilgrimage and the festivities carried out on Lag
ligion in Israel, edited by Shlomo Deshen, Charles S. Lieb-
ba-EOmer in Meron are the most elaborate. More than
man, and Moshe Shokeid, pp. 255–284. New Brunswick,
100,000 pilgrims assemble on that day, and many stay for
N.J., 1995.
several days. Boys are brought to the Meron pilgrimage for
Bilu, Yoram. “Dreams and Wishes of the Saint.” In Judaism
their first haircuts, and the hair is burned in the fire kindled
Viewed from Within and from Without, edited by Harvey E.
on the roof of the tomb to commemorate the saint’s spirit.
Goldberg, pp. 285–314. Albany, N.Y., 1987.
Into the same fire people also throw small personal belong-
Braslavi, Joseph. Studies in Our Country, Its Past and Remains. Tel
ings, such as scarves and handkerchiefs. Money and candles
Aviv, 1954. See pages 342–358.
are thrown onto the tomb itself; the money is later used for
Deshen, Shlomo. “The Memorial Celebrations of Tunisian Immi-
charity. Sheep and goats are slaughtered on the spot to pro-
grants.” In The Predicament of Homecoming: Cultural and So-
vide food for the congregating people, including the poor,
cial Life of North African Immigrants in Israel, by Shlomo De-
who are invited to take a share. A variety of ethnic groups,
shen and Moshe Shokeid, pp. 95–121. Ithaca, N.Y., 1974.
including Jews of Ashkenazic (eastern and central European),
Levy, André. “To Morocco and Back: Tourism and Pilgrimage
Middle Eastern, and North African extraction, meet conviv-
among Moroccan-Born Israelis.” In Grasping Land: Space
ially at the site, which is reputed to have miraculous powers.
and Place in Contemporary Israeli Discourse and Experience,
Structural liminality and feelings of Israeli communitas reach
edited by Eyal Ben-Ari and Yoram Bilu, pp. 25–46. Albany,
their peaks here.
N.Y., 1997.
Shokeid, Moshe. “An Anthropological Perspective on Ascetic Be-
In contrast, the North African immigrants who partici-
havior and Religious Change.” In The Predicament of Home-
pate in hillulot at the new shrines, though aspiring toward
coming: Cultural and Social Life of North African Immigrants
similar religious and moral goals, display more noticeable
in Israel, by Shlomo Deshen and Moshe Shokeid,
feelings of ethnic solidarity. Through the commemoration
pp. 64–94. Ithaca, N.Y., 1974.
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PILGRIMAGE: BUDDHIST PILGRIMAGE IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA
7163
Shokeid, Moshe. “The Moroccan Jewish Cult of Saints in Israel
In addition to bodily relics (Pali, sar¯ıradha¯tu), Buddhist
Revisited” (in Hebrew). Israeli Sociology 1, no. 1 (1998):
tradition also recognizes two other forms of relics that are
39–54.
taken as indicative of the Buddha’s presence in the world.
Vilnay, Zev. Matsevot qodesh be-Erets-Yi´sra Del. Jerusalem, 1963.
In Pali these are termed paribhogikadha¯tu and uddesikadha¯tu,
Weingrod, Alex. The Saint of Beersheba. Albany, N.Y., 1990.
the former referring to objects that the Buddha used (as, for
MOSHE SHOKEID (1987 AND 2005)
example, his alms bowl) or marks (such as a footprint or
shadow) that he left on earth, and the latter referring to vo-
tive reminders, such as images and stupas known not to con-
PILGRIMAGE: BUDDHIST PILGRIMAGE IN
tain actual relics.
SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA
From the edicts of A´soka is obtained the first historical
Victor and Edith Turner, in their book Image and Pilgrimage
evidence of Buddhist pilgrimage, even though it is probable
in Christian Culture (New York, 1978), have written that “if
that the practice began before A´sokan times. In Rock Edict
mysticism is an interior pilgrimage, pilgrimage is exteriorized
8, he says that, while previously he used to go out on
mysticism.” In the Buddhist tradition, one undertakes a pil-
viha¯raya¯tra¯s (“excursions for enjoyment”), ten years after his
grimage in order to find the Buddha in the external world;
coronation he undertook a dharmaya¯tra¯ (“journey for truth”)
one undertakes meditation to discover the Buddha nature
to the place where the Buddha attained enlightenment, that
within oneself. The internal pilgrimage brings one closer to
is, to Bodh Gaya¯. This pilgrimage appears to constitute the
the goal of nirva¯n:a (Pali, nibba¯na) than does the external pil-
beginning of A´soka’s search for the true Dharma and for the
grimage, but the turning toward the Buddha who is iconical-
significance of the Dharma in his own life as emperor.
ly represented in the marks of his presence on earth or in rel-
ics constitutes an important preliminary step along the path
From the time of A´soka to the present, Bodh Gaya¯ has
to enlightenment. That the Buddha actually existed in the
remained the most important Buddhist pilgrimage site in
world, and continues to exist through traces (Skt., caitya;
India. It is often grouped with three other sites—Lumbini
Pali, cetiya), must be acknowledged before one begins to fol-
in Nepal, where Siddha¯rtha Gautama, the future Buddha,
low his teachings (Skt., dharma; Pali, dhamma).
was born; the Deer Park at Sa¯rna¯th near Banaras, where he
The question of the persistence of the Buddha in the
“turned the Wheel of the Law,” that is, preached his first ser-
world arose as he approached his physical death and his
mon; and Ku´sinagara in Uttar Pradesh, where he passed into
parinirva¯n:a (parinibba¯na), or “final cessation.” During his
the state of nirva¯n:a. None of these other sites, nor any other
lifetime, the Buddha had attracted many followers, among
in India where he was reputed to have performed miracles
whom were those who came to constitute the sam:gha, the
during his life, however, holds the significance for Buddhists
order of mendicants devoted to his teachings. While the
that Bodh Gaya¯ does. Bodh Gaya¯ represents the birth of
sam:gha could be entrusted with the responsibility of perpetu-
Buddhism, the place where the Tatha¯gata realized the funda-
ating the Dharma through practice and teaching after the
mental truth that lies at the base of Dharma.
Buddha’s death, there remained still the problem of how
The quest for the Dharma appears to have been the pri-
people were to be attracted in the first place to the Buddhist
mary motivation for perhaps the most famous of Buddhist
message. This problem was resolved when the Buddha
pilgrims, the Chinese monks who journeyed from their
charged his disciple Ananda to arrange for his cremated re-
homeland to India in the fifth century and again in the sev-
mains to be enshrined in stupas. In the Maha¯parinibba¯na
enth century
Sutta it is recorded how, after the death of the Buddha, his
CE. Faxian, the earliest of these pilgrims to have
left a detailed record, departed from his home in Chang’an
body was cremated, and his remains were divided into eight
in 399 and traveled by land through Central Asia and then
parts, each enshrined in a separate stupa. Two more stupas
across northern India. From northern India he then traveled
were also erected; one, built by the brahman who had divided
by ship to Sri Lanka and to Java and finally returned to
the relics, enshrined the Master’s alms bowl, and another,
China in 412. While Faxian’s pilgrimage, like those of subse-
erected by those who had arrived too late to receive a portion
quent Chinese monks, was undertaken for the purpose of ac-
of the remains, enshrined the ashes of the funerary pyre.
quiring the Dharma, it reveals also another model of Bud-
According to ancient legend, after the great Mauryan
dhist pilgrimage, one much more popular with lay persons,
king A´soka (c. 270–232 BCE) converted to Buddhism he had
namely a pilgrimage centered on the cult of the relics.
all but one (which was protected by na¯gas) of the original
reliquary shrines opened and the relics divided into eighty-
From his first encounter with Buddhist communities in
four thousand parts, each destined for a new stupa. Although
Central Asia, Faxian found not only monks but also stupas
this number must be interpreted symbolically, there is histor-
and images of the Buddha that were the foci of popular cults.
ical evidence that A´soka did, in fact, erect a number of new
He himself visited a number of places associated with inci-
stupas. Moreover, the tradition that relics of the Buddha had
dents in the life of the Buddha, and his account serves as a
been, as it were, placed into circulation by A´soka served to
brief version of the life of the Buddha. Of particular interest,
legitimate claims that true relics of the Buddha were to be
given the later development of Buddhist pilgrimage in lands
found wherever Buddhism became established.
outside India, Faxian observed “footprints” of the Buddha
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7164
PILGRIMAGE: BUDDHIST PILGRIMAGE IN EAST ASIA
in areas as far removed from the region where the Buddha
al. (New Haven, Conn., 1966), pp. 1–26; Bryan Pfaffenber-
actually lived as the Punjab and Sri Lanka.
ger’s “The Kataragama Pilgrimage: Hindu-Buddhist Interac-
tion and Its Significance in Sri Lanka’s Polyethnic Social Sys-
Shrines marking traces left by the Buddha in his super-
tem,” Journal of Asian Studies 38 (1979): 253–270; and
natural visits to lands that were to become Buddhist as well
H. L. Seneviratne’s Rituals of the Kandyan State (Cambridge,
as shrines enclosing relics that had been transported—
1978). Buddhist pilgrimage in Thailand has been examined
naturally or supernaturally—from India to such lands often
in my article “Buddhist Pilgrimage Centers and the Twelve
became pilgrimage centers in their own right. Indeed, for the
Year Cycle: Northern Thai Moral Orders in Space and
long period between the decline of Buddhism in India in the
Time,” History of Religions 15 (1975): 71–89, and in James
latter part of the first millennium
B. Pruess’s “Merit-Seeking in Public: Buddhist Pilgrimage in
CE and the late nineteenth
century, when cheap travel and Buddhist revival together
Northeastern Thailand,” Journal of the Siam Society 64
(1976): 169–206.
stimulated renewed interest in the sacred Buddhist sites in
India, Buddhist pilgrimage was confined mainly to Buddhist
New Sources
lands outside India. The emerging importance of certain
Cohen, Paul T. “Lue across Borders: Pilgrimage and the Muang
sites—the so-called sixteen great places in Sri Lanka and the
Sing Reliquary in Northern Laos.” In Where China Meets
twelve shrines associated with the twelve-year cycle in north-
Southeast Asia: Social & Cultural Change in the Border Re-
gions
, edited by Grant Evans, Chris Hutton, and Kuah Khun
ern Thailand—was associated primarily with the linking of
Eng, pp. 145–161. Singapore, 2000.
political and moral communities in the world to a sacred
Buddhist cosmos.
Doyle, Tara Nancy. “Bodh Gaya: Journeys to the Diamond
Throne and the Feet of Gayasur.” Ph.D. diss., Harvard Uni-
Buddhist pilgrims have long traveled to such important
versity, 1997.
shrines as those housing the Buddha’s footprints on Siripada
Leoshko, Janice. “On the Construction of a Buddhist Pilgrimage
(Adam’s Peak) in Sri Lanka and at Saraburi in Thailand and
Site.” Art History 19 (1996): 573–597.
those housing famous Buddhist relics, such as the Temple
Pruess, James B. “Sanctification Overland: The Creation of a Thai
of the Tooth in Kandy, Sri Lanka; the Shwe Dagon in Ran-
Buddhist Pilgrimage Center.” In Sacred Journeys: The An-
goon, Myanmar; the That Luang temple in Vientiane, Laos;
thropology of Pilgrimage, edited by Alan Morinis,
and Doi Suthep near Chiang Mai, Thailand. Pilgrims visited
pp. 211–231. Westport, Conn., 1992.
these and other holy sites in order to acquire merit or to gain
Walters, Jonathan S. “Pushing Poson: The Politics of a Buddhist
access to the presumed magical power associated with them.
Pilgrimage in Postcolonial Sri Lanka.” In Sri Lanka: Collec-
While some have made pilgrimages to shrines associated with
tive Identities Revisited, edited by Michael Roberts,
traces of the Buddha as an end in itself, most have continued,
pp. 133–162. Colombo, 1998.
as did A´soka and Faxian, to see pilgrimage as a means for ori-
CHARLES F. KEYES (1987)
enting themselves toward the Buddha as a preliminary step
Revised Bibliography
along the path to enlightenment. The pilgrimage that begins
by turning toward the Buddha in this world finds its culmi-
nation in an inner pilgrimage that leads to a true understand-
ing of the Dharma.
PILGRIMAGE: BUDDHIST PILGRIMAGE IN
EAST ASIA

SEE ALSO A´soka; Faxian; Stupa Worship; Xuanzang; Yijing.
Pilgrimage, especially to sacred mountain sites, has long been
a popular religious practice in both China and Japan. Since
BIBLIOGRAPHY
the entry of Buddhism into China in the first centuries of
The scriptural source for Buddhist pilgrimage is to be found in
the common era, and since its entry into Japan through
the Maha¯parinibba¯na Sutta¯nta, a text that has been translat-
China several centuries later, pilgrimage in East Asia has be-
ed by T. W. Rhys Davids in “Sacred Books of the East,” vol.
come associated with Buddhist religious beliefs.
11 (Oxford, 1881), pp. 1–136. A discussion of A´sokan pil-
PILGRIMAGES IN CHINA. In mainland China there have been
grimage, together with translations of the edicts in A´soka,
various pilgrimage sites, related to both Buddhism and Dao-
appears in A´soka (London, 1928) by Radhakumud Mooker-
ji. The travels of Faxian have been translated by James Legge
ism. As for the former, there existed the following four major
in A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms (1886; reprint, New
sites: Mount Wutai, sacred to Mañju´sr¯ı (Skt.; known in Chi-
York, 1965). The locus classicus for an understanding of the
nese as Wenshu); Mount Emei, sacred to Samantabhadra
cosmological significance of Buddhist stupas is Paul Mus’s
(Chin., Puxian); Mount Putuo, sacred to Avalokite´svara
Barabadur (1935; reprint, New York, 1978). Marilyn St-
(Guanyin); and Mount Jiu Hua, sacred to Ks:itigarbha (Di-
ablein has provided an overview of Buddhist pilgrimage
zang). In the case of Daoist pilgrimages, one of the most fa-
among Tibetans in her “Textual and Contextual Patterns of
mous sites is Mount Dai. This article shall deal with Mount
Tibetan Buddhist Pilgrimage in India,” Tibet Society Bulletin
Wutai and Mount Dai.
12 (1978): 7–38. For discussions of Buddhist pilgrimage in
Sri Lanka, see Gananath Obeyesekere’s “The Buddhist Pan-
Mount Wutai. Located in northeastern China, Mount
theon in Ceylon and Its Extensions,” in Anthropological
Wutai consists of five peaks. This sacred mountain has at-
Studies in Theravada Buddhism, edited by Manning Nash et
tracted a great number of pilgrims over the centuries, not
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PILGRIMAGE: BUDDHIST PILGRIMAGE IN EAST ASIA
7165
only from every part of China but also from Manchuria,
related to Hell. It was believed, then, that the dead received
Mongolia, Central Asia, India, and Japan. It has, therefore,
judgment at Mount Daishan as to whether they should
been referred to as the most eminent pilgrimage site in Asia.
go to Hell or not. This idea of Hell was introduced by
Although it was famous as the sacred site of Mañju´sr¯ı, it is
Buddhism.
said to have been originally a sacred place related to the spiri-
From the Song dynasty (960–1279) up until the mod-
tual tradition of Daoism. It was not until the Northern Wei
ern period, another new belief was associated with Mount
dynasty (386–535) that Buddhist influence became wide-
Dai: that of a goddess. This goddess was worshiped as one
spread in China, predominating over the indigenous Daoist
who presided over the birth and rearing of children. This
tradition, and from this time Mount Wutai became a site
special characteristic of the goddess attracted a great number
holy to Mañju´sr¯ı. In the Tang dynasty (618–907), it was so
of pilgrims because of its familiarity and closeness with the
popular as a pilgrimage site that many pilgrims even came
common people. Accordingly, miniature statues of this par-
to visit the mountain from foreign countries, including Tibet
ticular goddess were enshrined all over China in modern
and India. During the same period, many books were pub-
times.
lished, collecting stories of the miracles and wonders per-
formed by Mañju´sr¯ı. Drawings sketching Mount Wutai
Pilgrimage in modern China. Pilgrimages in China
were also widely distributed. These drawings were usually
seemed to have disappeared after Communist China was es-
put up on the walls of either Buddhist temples or individual
tablished in 1949. Moreover, many temples and shrines be-
houses all over China.
longing to various pilgrimage sites all over China were seri-
It is said to have been during the Yuan dynasty (1271–
ously damaged during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s
1366), when China was invaded and ruled by the Mongols,
and 1970s. However, in recent years, pilgrimage sites have
that Tibetan Buddhism, which the Mongols preferred to
been rapidly restored and have reopened their doors to pil-
Chinese Buddhism, started to spread its influence at Mount
grims both from China and from overseas. The majority of
Wutai. Soon Chinese Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism
the foreign pilgrims are Chinese merchants living abroad. As
came to coexist on this sacred mountain. In other words, the
a result of a rapid growth in the living standards of the Chi-
mountain became an important pilgrimage site for two dif-
nese people, there seems to be a tendency for famous pilgrim-
ferent religious traditions simultaneously. During the Qing
age sites to become targets of tourism.
dynasty (1644–1912), Tibetan Buddhism gradually came to
PILGRIMAGES IN JAPAN. In Japanese religious tradition, both
predominate at Mount Wutai, partly because the Manzhu
Shinto¯ and Buddhism have various pilgrimage sites. In
Qing rulers, who were not ethnically Chinese, began to take
Japan, pilgrimages can be divided into two general types.
a conciliatory policy toward other non-Chinese groups such
The first is the type exemplified by the Pilgrimage to the
as the Mongols, who believed in Tibetan Buddhism. As a re-
Thirty-three Holy Places of Kannon (Avalokite´svara) in the
sult, Mount Wutai became the most holy religious site of the
Western Provinces and by the Pilgrimage to the Eighty-Eight
Mongols. According to the reports of Japanese scholars who
Temples of Shikoku, in which one makes a circuit of a series
visited Mount Wutai in the 1930s, many fervent Mongolian
of temples or holy places in a set order. The individual holy
pilgrims were to be witnessed there. In the case of Chinese
places that the pilgrim visits may be separated by great dis-
Buddhist pilgrimage sites, it is quite common for other reli-
tances, as in the case of the Shikoku pilgrimage, in which
gious traditions, including indigenous ones like Daoism, to
eighty-eight temples are scattered along a route of about
have been closely related to the history of the sites.
1,200 kilometers (746 miles). The order of visitation is an
important feature of this type of pilgrimage. The second type
Mount Dai. Long famous as a Daoist pilgrimage site,
is a journey to one particular holy place. Pilgrimage to the
Daishan has been continually associated with Buddhism in
Kumano Shrines and Ise Shinto¯ Shrine, as well as to certain
various ways. In Chinese history, this sacred moutain has
holy mountains, belong to this type. In common usage, the
been well known as one of the so-called Five Peaks, designat-
term junrei, the Japanese word for “pilgrimage,” usually re-
ed as indispensable for the protection of the whole country.
fers to the first type only.
The history of Mount Dai can be separated into three phases.
It is thought that pilgrimages were first undertaken in
In ancient times, Chinese emperors were supposed to
the Nara period (710–794), although the custom did not be-
visit Daishan when they ascended the throne and were sup-
come popular until the Heian period (794–1185). With the
posed to perform a special ritual for declaring their ascension,
increasing popularity of religions involving mountain wor-
worshiping all the divinities in the sky and on the earth as
ship, members of the imperial family, the nobility, and Bud-
well. At the same time, the emperors were said to pray for
dhist monks made pilgrimages to remote holy mountains.
their own individual wishes, such as longevity.
Among them, Kumano in the southern part of Wakayama
It was probably toward the end of the Latter Han dynas-
prefecture is the most famous, having at that early time al-
ty (25–220 CE) that Daishan came to be regarded as having
ready developed into a large center for the adherents of
some connection with the world of the dead, although this
mountain worship. Besides Kumano, Hasedera Temple, Shi-
was diametrically opposed to the previous belief in longevity.
tennoji, Mount Koya, and Mount Kinpu were also popular
As time went on, therefore, Mount Dai was thought to be
pilgrimage sites. Early forms of the pilgrimage circuits for the
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7166
PILGRIMAGE: TIBETAN PILGRIMAGE
western provinces and Shikoku were also established by the
Shinjo¯ Tsunezo¯. Shaji-sankei no shakai-keizaishiteki kenkyu¯. Rev.
late Heian period. It can be surmised that many of these
ed. Tokyo, 1982.
places were centers where Buddhist monks and ascetics en-
New Sources
gaged in austerities. Such pilgrimages continued throughout
Birnbaum, Raoul. “The Manifestation of a Monastery: Shen-
the Kamakura period (1185–1333) and the Muromachi pe-
ying’s Experiences on Mount Wu-t’ai in T’ang Context.”
riod (1333–1568).
Journal of the American Oriental Society 106, no. 1 (1986):
In the Edo period (1600–1868) an unprecedented
119–138.
number of people began to visit pilgrimage centers. While
Huber, Toni. The Cult of Pure Crystal Mountain: Popular Pilgrim-
the vast majority of pilgrims had previously been member of
age and Visionary Landscape in Southeast Tibet. New York,
the upper classes, such as monks, aristocrats, and warriors,
1999.
in the Edo period the number of pilgrims from the general
McKay, Alex, ed. Pilgrimage in Tibet. Richmond, Va., 1998.
populace greatly increased. This change was largely owing to
Naquin, Susan, and Chün-fang Yü, eds. Pilgrims and Sacred Sites
the peace established by the Tokugawa feudal regime and to
in China. Berkeley, 1992.
the improvement in the economic condition of both the
Swanson, Paul, and Ian Reader. “Editor’s Introduction: Pilgrim-
farming and the merchant classes. Transportation improved,
age in the Japanese Religious Tradition.” Japanese Journal of
and although government policy restricted travel between
Religious Studies 24 (1997): 225–270.
provinces, an exception was made for pilgrimages. The num-
HOSHINO EIKI (1987)
ber of pilgrims who made journeys to the western provinces,
Revised Bibliography
Shikoku, Kotohira Shrine, Zenkoji, Ise, and Mount Fuji in-
creased rapidly, and many new pilgrimage centers developed
in various parts of the country. During this period, pilgrims
tended to travel in groups, and as more and more people par-
PILGRIMAGE: TIBETAN PILGRIMAGE
ticipated for recreational as well as for religious purposes,
Pilgrimage, in the sense of an extended journey to a sacred
temple and shrine towns sprang up with facilities for accom-
place, has long been central to Tibetan life. The word for pil-
modating these people. One should also note an increase in
grim is gnas skor ba, “one who circles a sacred place.” Thus
the number of so-called beggar-pilgrims who wandered from
the lexicon defines pilgrims by the rite they perform at the
one center to another. The Shikoku circuit was particularly
end of their journey. Although one may ride a horse to the
frequented by criminals, lepers, and beggars.
pilgrimage site, one must as a rule walk around (or circum-
Travel since the Meiji period (1868–1912) has basically
ambulate) the sacred place on foot. In fact, in the Buddhist
preserved the Edo period pattern of pilgrimage. Even today,
world it is said that the merit accrued by the pilgrim for the
many travelers include visits to famous temples and shrines
pious act of pilgrimage is far smaller if the circumambulation
in their itineraries. Even pilgrimage circuits that lack any
is performed on horseback.
other attraction, such as the Shikoku pilgrimage, have once
PILGRIMAGE SITES. Since the conversion of Tibet to Bud-
again become popular. Behind this phenomenon perhaps lies
dhism, which began in the seventh century CE, Tibetans have
a nostalgia for the past, a resurging interest in religion, and
venerated the holy places of Buddhist India. During the elev-
a desire for temporary escape from urban life.
enth and twelfth centuries Tibetans traveled to India to re-
ceive Buddhist teachings and to visit Buddhist sacred sites.
SEE ALSO Avalokite´svara; Ks:itigarbha; Mañju´sr¯ı; Moun-
Buddhist institutions, and Buddhism in general, in India
tains; Shugendo¯; Worship and Devotional Life, article on
ended after the twelfth century. The Tibetan practice of pil-
Buddhist Devotional Life in East Asia.
grimage to India was not revived until the late nineteenth
century and early twentieth century, following the archaeo-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
logical discovery of sites associated with the life of the Bud-
Adachi K., and Shioiri Ryodo, eds. Nitto¯ guho¯ junrei ko¯ki. 2 vols.
dha, such as Bodh Gaya¯, where he was enlightened, and
Tokyo, 1970–1985. An annotated edition of Ennin’s ac-
Sarnath, where he preached his first sermon. Tibetans also
count of his travels in Tang China.
travel to Indian sites associated with the history of Tibetan
Kitagawa, Joseph M. “Three Types of Pilgrimage in Japan.” In
Buddhism, such as Lotus Lake (Mtsho Padma) in Himachal
Studies in Mysticism and Religion Presented to Gershom G.
Pradesh. There, Padmasambhava, a key figure in the intro-
Scholem on His Seventieth Birthday by Pupils, Colleagues and
Friends,
edited by E. E. Urbach, R. J. Zwi Werblowsky, and
duction of Buddhism to Tibet, is said to have appeared from
Chaim Wirszubski, pp. 155–164. Jerusalem, 1967.
a lotus in the middle of a lake.
Maeda Takashi. Junrei no shakaigaku. Kyoto, 1971.
Also outside the borders of Tibet, the stupa of Bodnath,
Ono Katsutoshi. Nitto¯ guho¯ junrei gyo¯ki no kenkyu¯. 4 vols. Tokyo,
in the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal, is a primary pilgrimage
1964–1969. A translation and study of Ennin’s account of
destination for Tibetans in the southern Himalayan region.
his travels in Tang China.
It has attracted pilgrims for centuries and, following the Chi-
Ono Katsutoshi, and Hibino Takeo. Godaisan. Tokyo, 1942.
nese occupation of Tibet that began in the 1950s, became
Reischauer, Edwin O., trans. Ennin’s Diary: The Record of a Pil-
a place of refuge for many Tibetans. Its fame derives from
grimage to China in Search of the Law. New York, 1955.
the legend of its founding. The Tibetan king Khri sron lde
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PILGRIMAGE: TIBETAN PILGRIMAGE
7167
btsan, the Indian Buddhist abbot S´a¯ntiraks:ita, and the tan-
LITERATURE. A wide variety of Tibetan texts have been des-
tric master Padmasambhava (who together played important
ignated by Western scholars with the term pilgrimage guides.
roles in establishing Buddhism in Tibet in the eighth century
Some of these are indeed guidebooks in the ordinary sense
CE) were said in a previous life to have been brothers who
of the term. They provide concrete information, indicate di-
built the Bodnath stupa.
rections to follow, and sometimes even give the approximate
time it takes to go from one point to another. A great num-
In Tibet itself, two types of pilgrimage sites can be dis-
ber of texts, however, are not conventional guidebooks. They
tinguished. The first are man-made. These include cities, the
are dedicated to a single site and present a tantric vision of
most famous of which is the Tibetan capital Lhasa, the “place
the sacred place. These works describe, in more or less detail,
of gods.” Within the city the most famous temple is the Jo
the subjugation of the local deities and the transformation
khang, or “house of the Lord,” which shelters a statue of
of the place into a man:d:ala, the multistoried palace of a Bud-
S´a¯kyamuni Buddha said to have been brought by the Chi-
dhist deity. These texts are literary projections of an internal
nese princess Wengcheng in the seventh century CE. Bud-
vision onto the physical landscape, intended to convey the
dhist monasteries are also important destinations for pil-
pilgrim toward a higher level of spiritual insight. Pilgrims,
grims. Some of the more famous include Bsam yas, the first
many of whom have traditionally been illiterate, know these
Buddhist monastery built in central Tibet; Bkra sis lhun po
in the city of Gzi ka rtse, the seat of the Panchen Lamas; and
texts from monks, nuns, and lamas met along the pilgrimage
sKu ’bum in present-day Qinghai province, birthplace of
routes. Thus these written sources, passed on orally, superim-
Tsong kha pa (1357–1419), the “founder” of the Dge lugs
pose the sacred landscape onto the land for those who have
school.
not yet gained the insight to see its true nature for them-
selves.
Pilgrimage sites may also be natural phenomena. The
PRACTICES AND BENEFITS. Through pilgrimage, Tibetans
lake Lha mo bla mtsho (Central Tibet), for example, is tradi-
seek purification, the accumulation of merit, and blessings.
tionally visited to receive visions of the birthplace of the next
Some of these are gained through the rituals they perform
Dalai Lama. The caves where the saint Mi la ras pa (1028/
along the way. Yet the place itself has its own power, often
40–1111/23) practiced meditation are considered powerful
derived from the past presence of a saint, and pilgrims often
pilgrimage sites. The most important of the natural pilgrim-
take water, stones, earth, and plants home with them from
age places, however, are sacred mountains, like Mount
their pilgrimages. Drinking the water or wearing the earth
Kailash in Western Tibet, Tsa ri in Southeast Tibet, and A
or the stone inside an amulet around the neck is said to aid
myes rma chen in Qinghai province. A mountain associated
in finding a better rebirth in the next lifetime. But it also
with a lake—with the mountain considered the father and
brings more immediate rewards, such as prosperity, long life,
the lake the mother—is regarded as the ideal sacred place.
and protection from harm.
Beginning long before the introduction of Buddhism,
Despite the pervasive influence of Buddhism in Tibet,
the mountains of Tibet were regarded as territorial gods (yul
pilgrimage remains a mixture of Buddhist and non-
lha). In Buddhist Tibet many mountains have retained this
Buddhist, Tibetan and non-Tibetan elements. Pilgrimage
status and its cult, according to which only males were per-
guides state where along the route pilgrims must circumam-
mitted to perform rituals of offering on the slope. Many of
bulate, bow down, make offerings, and recite sacred mantras,
these mountains were incorporated into the Buddhist cos-
the most popular being om: man:i padme hu¯m:, the mantra
mography through the deeds of a Buddhist saint. This trans-
of Avalokite´svara, the bodhisattva protector of Tibet. Circu-
formation typically occurred when a great religious figure
mambulation derives from the Indian practice of keeping re-
“opened the pilgrimage” (gnas skor phyed ba) by subduing the
vered objects to one’s right; there is evidence of this ritual
negative forces that prevented access to the site. It was then
act being practiced in Tibet during the final centuries of the
a Buddhist site, and the practice of circumambulation was
monarchy (seventh to ninth centuries
performed by men and women alike to consolidate this
CE). Buddhists must
metamorphosis. The popularity of such sacred sites has
move in a clockwise direction; adherents of the Bon religion
waxed and waned over time through competition between
move counterclockwise. In order to accrue special merit, pil-
Buddhist schools to gain real and symbolic control over
grims sometimes perform prostrations (lying face down, ris-
them.
ing, taking a step, and lying face down again) along the entire
route. There are also particularly auspicious times to perform
A rarer type of pilgrimage takes the form of great mille-
pilgrimage during the twelve-year cycle of the Tibetan calen-
narian migrations toward “hidden lands” (sbas yul), revealed
dar. Upon arrival at the sacred site, pilgrims make Buddhist
by Padmasambhava, where Tibetans can take refuge when
offerings of money, butter lamps, or ceremonial scarves. But
dangers threaten the country. The most well known of these
they also perform non-Buddhist rituals, like burning juniper
is Gnas Padma bkod in Southeast Tibet. Finally, Tibetans
branches and adding stones to a cairn. Other practices mix
have set off on pilgrimages to mythical kingdoms like Sham-
Buddhist and non-Buddhist elements in a single act, like
bhala, said to be in the north, the cradle of the Ka¯lacakra
weighing sins by hanging from a projection of a rock or
teachings.
crossing the smyal lam, the “path to hell,” in order to over-
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7168
PILGRIMAGE: HINDU PILGRIMAGE
come the fear of facing the intermediate state (bar do) be-
the economic and political conditions but also the sense of
tween death and the next rebirth.
local identity of the Tibetan residents. In general, the tre-
S
mendous influx of tourists, most of them Han Chinese seek-
OCIAL, POLITICAL, AND ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS. Pil-
grimage routes link the sacred sites of Tibet and provide
ing an idyllic place populated by “authentic Tibetans,” has
pathways for the expression of political and cultural identity.
led to a decline of the practice of more traditional pilgrimage
The long pilgrimages so typical in Tibet lead to large move-
to the region.
ments of population into new regions where all forms of so-
SEE ALSO Circumambulation; Mantra; Worship and Devo-
cial interaction occur. Pilgrims not only visit sacred sites,
tional Life, article on Buddhist Devotional Life in Tibet.
they also meet people (leading sometimes to marriage), they
carry news, and they transmit forms of knowledge. The prac-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
tice of pilgrimage in Tibet helped in breaking down cultural
Buffetrille, Katia. Pèlerins, lamas, et visionnaires: Sources orales et
separatism and building political integration.
écrites sur les pèlerinages tibétains. Vienna, 2000. A translation
Along the pilgrimage routes all the ranks of the society
of several pilgrimage guides, biographies of religious figures,
and prayers, with Tibetan text and French translation.
are encountered, yet social distinctions and hierarchies do
not fade. In some cases women are not permitted to enter
Ekvall, Robert B., and James F. Downs. Tibetan Pilgrimage.
monastic spaces or set foot on certain segments of the ritual
Tokyo, 1987. A survey, with numerous examples, of many
aspects of Tibetan pilgrimage.
route. At the same time, pilgrimage offers the opportunity
to escape from a variety of political constraints and social ob-
Huber, Toni. The Cult of Pure Crystal Mountain: Popular Pilgrim-
ligations. Since the 1980s, for example, pilgrimage has some-
age and Visionary Landscape in Southeast Tibet. New York,
times provided a pretext for escaping from Chinese oppres-
1999. A study of the representations, ritual practices, and
participants of the pilgrimage around Tsa ri Mountain in
sion; numerous refugees who have gone on pilgrimage to
Southeast Tibet.
Mount Kailash in Western Tibet have then continued on to
Nepal.
Huber, Toni, ed. Sacred Places and Powerful Places in Tibetan Cul-
ture: A Collection of Essays. Dharamsala, 1999. Essays regard-
In the Tibetan world, pilgrimage is a collective practice.
ing sacred space in Tibet, Nepal, Sichuan, Qinghai, North
Groups of pilgrims from the same family, the same locality,
India, and other Tibetan areas.
or the same monastery typically gather together. Often
Mcdonald, Alexander W., ed. Mandala and Landscape. New
monks or lamas will serve as guides for lay people, providing
Delhi, India, 1997. Essays on the relationship between the
information along the way. Upon arrival at the sacred site,
conception of the man:d:ala and physical landscapes.
these groups of pilgrims do not mix with one another, and
McKay, Alex, ed. Pilgrimage in Tibet. Richmond, Surrey, U.K.,
conversation is limited to requests for information from a
1998. Essays on the theory and practice of pilgrimage in
local person or a religious figure. But pilgrimage is also a fes-
Tibet and Sikkim as practiced by Indians and Tibetans.
tive occasion, with groups stopping along the way for song
KATIA BUFFETRILLE (2005)
and dance and people dressed in their most beautiful clothes
and jewelry.
The economic implications of pilgrimage are also signif-
PILGRIMAGE: HINDU PILGRIMAGE
icant. It promotes trade, both large-scale and small-scale, and
Over the millennia, Hindus have developed an enormous
thus the redistribution of wealth. Pilgrims typically are asked
number of pilgrimage places, pilgrimage-related practices,
by family members to carry gifts and make offerings on their
and texts extolling the virtues of, and benefits to be gained
behalf at the sacred destination in order that they might share
by, pilgrimages to powerful places and persons. Some of the
in the merit of the pilgrimage. The monastery or temple, so
more prominent themes that emerge in Hindu pilgrimage
often located near the pilgrimage place (if it is not the sacred
are the importance of water, the effects of powerful persons
site itself), provides consecrated items (ceremonial scarves,
on particular places, the centrality of purity and asceticism,
consecrated pills, and sometimes food) in return for these do-
the association of pilgrimage with death, and the growing
nations.
popularity and commercialization of pilgrimage as it be-
MODERNIZATION. Since the Chinese occupation of Tibet,
comes associated with tourism.
many changes have occurred in the Tibetan practice of pil-
In Sanskrit and related languages, the central term for
grimage. Numerous roads have been constructed, so it is not
pilgrimage place is t¯ırtha, a crossing place or a ford where
unusual to see pilgrims performing the circumambulation of
one leaves the mundane world and crosses over into a more
a sacred lake in a bus. Roads have also redefined pilgrimage
powerful or spiritual location. The term already points to the
routes. In 2002 many Tibetans completed only half of the
centrality of water, rivers, and bathing in Hinduism. It is
traditional pilgrimage around A myes rma chen Mountain,
possible that this centrality was already present in the ancient
stopping at the end of the road construction.
Indus Valley Civilization, in which bathing seems to have
Tourism, encouraged by the Chinese authorities, has
been of central ritual importance. The Indus River itself is
also had an influence on some sacred sites, affecting not only
highly praised in the Vedas (where it is called the Sindhu),
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PILGRIMAGE: HINDU PILGRIMAGE
7169
as are seven other “mother-rivers,” originally located in Pun-
form special rituals for throwing the bones of deceased per-
jab in the northwest of India. The practice of Hindu pilgrim-
sons into sacred rivers. Important Hindu rituals such as
age always involves bathing, so that the pilgrim is purified
pin:d:a-da¯na (feeding the ancestors), tarpan:a (offering water
before entering the sacred place or approaching the divinities
to them), and S´ra¯ddha (regular worship of them) are en-
there. From ancient times until the present, rivers have been
joined at t¯ırthas. More than one-third of the Tris:t:hal¯ısetu is
prominent pilgrimage places, along with the numerous tem-
devoted to such death-associated rituals. In addition,
ples and other religious places along their banks.
Laks:m¯ıdhara recommends living at a t¯ırtha until one dies,
The great Hindu epics Ra¯ma¯yan:a and Maha¯bha¯rata al-
so that its special power will help the pilgrim to achieve a bet-
ready mention the practice of pilgrimage, and many of the
ter birth. Elsewhere in the dharma´sastra literature, the
places visited by their protagonists subsequently became im-
maha¯prastha¯na, or “pilgrimage unto death,” is allowed for
portant pilgrimage places. In the T¯ırthaya¯tra¯parvan (the epi-
those who have committed a heinous crime, or have an in-
sode relating to the pilgrimage to the t¯ırthas) of the
curable disease. Sometimes, particular t¯ırthas are recom-
Maha¯bha¯rata, numerous sites throughout the subcontinent
mended as places for such religious suicide, and there are nu-
are mentioned that have continued to be prominent pilgrim-
merous historical accounts of this being practiced, by kings
age places to the present day: rivers like the Ganges, the
and others. These citations tend to confirm what has been
Goda¯var¯ı, and the Narmada¯; as well as places such as
suspected by many scholars, that Hindu pilgrimage in the
Badrina¯th, Gaya¯, Pus:kara, and Praya¯ga.
medieval period was in many cases positively valued as a way
for sick and infirm people to die with dignity.
There is no comparable listing of pilgrimage places in
Va¯lm¯ıki’s Ra¯ma¯yan:a; however, many of the places visited by
Many of these ideas and practices are very much alive
Ra¯ma and his entourage in this epic have subsequently be-
today. In general, Hindu pilgrims refrain from sex, as well
come important places of pilgrimage for Hindus, such as
as from the consumption of meat, fish, liquor, and other im-
Ayodhya¯, the city of Ra¯ma’s birth; Citrakut:, where he paused
pure substances during their journeys. Numerous pilgrim-
with S¯ıta¯ on his journey; and Ra¯me´svaram, in the far South,
ages throughout the subcontintent are strongly associated
where he allegedly worshiped S´iva before crossing to
with the assumption of a “temporarily ascetic” lifestyle, for
Ra¯van:a’s island of Lan˙ka¯.
example the pilgrimage to Sabari Mallai in Kerala in South
India. Men participating in this pilgrimage temporarily be-
The Hindu Pura¯n:as, written roughly between the
come “renouncers” for a period ranging from forty-five to
fourth and the eleventh centuries CE, have preserved a large
sixty days, adding the energy of their asceticism to the power
number of names of pilgrimage places, along with a system
of the sacred place. Similar practices are followed by the so-
classifying them into “divine” (daiva), “demonic” (a¯sura),
called ka¯var¯ıwa¯la¯s, pilgrims who carry Ganges water from
“sage” (a¯rs:a), and “human” (ma¯nus:a) sites. The Pura¯n:as also
Hardwa¯r in North India back to their local S´iva shrines in
contain extensive ma¯ha¯tmyas, passages extolling the virtues
time to offer it on the annual festival of S´ivara¯tr¯ı, observing
of particular pilgrimage places and the benefits to be ob-
strict asceticism on their journey.
tained by pilgrimage to them. This ma¯ha¯tmya literature con-
tinues to be produced today, by those interested in promot-
Death- and ancestor-related rituals also remain impor-
ing the fame and virtue of particular sites.
tant in contemporary Hindu pilgrimage. Some of the most
Later sources like the Kr:tyakalpataru of Bhat:t:a
famous and well-attended t¯ırthas, such as Ka¯´s¯ı (Banaras) and
Laks:m¯ıdhara (early twelfth century) and the Tris:t:hal¯ısetu of
Gaya¯, are strongly associated with the performance of these
Bhat:t:a Na¯ra¯yan:a (mid-sixteenth century) rework the Pura¯n:ic
rituals. For those lacking the time or opportunity for such
material and develop detailed rules and regulations for the
a long pilgrimage, local and regional t¯ırthas serve as places
behavior of pilgrims. It has been suggested that such litera-
for the performance of such rituals. People still come to Ba-
ture was developed in reaction to the appearance of conquer-
naras for “Ka¯´s¯ımoks:(a)”—the liberation obtained by dying
ing Islamic armies in the subcontinent, as Hindus sought to
there—while the immersion of the bones of the dead remains
codify and systematize their own practices. Both works stress
a common practice.
that one of the virtues of pilgrimage is that it is accessible to
Certain particularly famous t¯ırthas became important in
all. Whereas Vedic sacrifice requires great wealth, the merit
the political and economic history of India. Kaut:ilya, in his
of pilgrimage is available to everyone, including the poor.
Artha´sa¯stra (written at the beginning of the common era),
Laks:m¯ıdhara says that even the lowest-caste can:d:a¯la can ob-
had already advised kings that they should send spies to pil-
tain the fruits of pilgrimage. Both works emphasize the im-
grimage places in order to ascertain the mood of the populace
portance of purity and an ascetic lifestyle during pilgrimage,
and to be on the lookout for enemies of the state. Pilgrims
in order to obtain its fruits. Practices such as bathing, fasting,
were not traditionally subject to taxation, but the commer-
and shaving are recommended, and Laks:m¯ıdhara says that
cial activities that grew up around large pilgrimage centers
it is these practices, as much as the place itself, that bring
attracted the attention of rulers. In later times certain pil-
benefit, arguing that the best of all t¯ırthas is a pure heart.
grimage places became objects of contention amongst vari-
Both works stress the connection of t¯ırthas with death
ous rulers and religious orders, for commercial reasons as well
and the ancestors, and they give instructions on how to per-
as for the prestige that accrued to those who controlled them.
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PILGRIMAGE: HINDU PILGRIMAGE
Caitanya (1486–1533), Guru Na¯nak (1469–1539; the
Another well-known system of pilgrimage places is the
founder of Sikhism), and many other sect-founders are said
so-called Saptapur¯ı, or “seven cities” (also known as the
in their hagiographies to have performed extensive pilgrim-
saptamaha¯t¯ırtha or seven great pilgrimage places), where lib-
ages throughout South Asia, in the course of which they con-
eration may be obtained. These include Dva¯raka in Gujarat
verted the adherents of rival sects to their cause.
(already mentioned as one of the four dha¯m); Ayodhya¯, the
birthplace of Ra¯ma; Mathura¯, where Kr:s:n:a spent much of
One of the oldest and best-known Hindu t¯ırthas is the
his life; Ka¯´s¯ı (mentioned below); Ujjain (associated with the
city of Ka¯´s¯ı (Benaras), which has pride of place in
Maha¯kala jyotirlin˙ga mentioned below); and Haridva¯r, on
Laks:m¯ıdhara’s book. By the twelfth century it had become
the Ganges at the foot of the Himalaya. Some say that
the premier pilgrimage place in India. Lying on an unusual
Ka¯ñc¯ıpuram in the South is the seventh city, others say it
north-turning bend of the Ganges River, the entire riverfront
is Praya¯ga in the north. Other sectarian pilgrimage systems
of Ka¯´s¯ı is lined with gha¯t:s, stone steps that lead pilgrims from
include the twelve jyotirlin˙ga or “lin˙gas of light” sacred to
the city’s lanes to the edge of the river to bathe. Images of
S´iva. According to the S´ivapura¯n:a, these are: Somana¯tha in
these gha¯t:s have become almost synonymous with India and
Saura¯s:t:r:a, Mallika¯rjuna on S´r¯ısaila hill, Maha¯kala in
Hinduism in the tourist literature. Originally a sacred forest,
Ujjayin¯ı, Parame´svara in Oµka¯raks:etra (an island in the
Ka¯´s¯ı is a large city filled with perhaps the greatest concentra-
Narmada¯ river), Keda¯ra in the Himalayas, Bh¯ıma´san˙kara at
tion of t¯ırthas anywhere in India. It has always been regarded
the source of the Goda¯var¯ı River, Vi´sve´svara in Ka¯´s¯ı,
as S´iva’s city, and it is believed that those who die there ob-
Tryambake´svara on the Goda¯var¯ı River near Na¯sik (another
tain moks:a when S´iva whispers a liberating mantra into their
site of the periodic Kumbha Mela¯), Vaidyana¯tha in
ear.
Cita¯bhu¯m¯ı, Na¯ge´sa in Da¯ruka¯vana, Ra¯me´svara (mentioned
In addition to Ka¯´s¯ı, there are two other great ks:etras or
above as one of the four dha¯m), and Ghr:s:n:e´sa (near present-
“pilgrimage fields” located in north India: Gaya¯ and Praya¯ga.
day Daulata¯ba¯d).
Gaya¯ is above all a pitr:-t¯ırtha, a pilgrimage place where the
ancestors are worshiped. The S´ra¯ddha ritual mentioned
The system of S´aktip¯ıt:has, or seats of power sacred to
above is believed to have special merit when performed in
the goddess, is said to have been created after the goddess
this place, and even today hundreds of thousands of pilgrims
Sat¯ı immolated herself on the sacrificial fire of her father
gather there every year during the pitr:-paks:a, the time of year
Daks:a. Crazed with grief, S´iva picked up her corpse and
especially set aside for this practice, in order to perform the
began performing his world-destroying dance, the
S´ra¯ddha and related rituals.
a¯nanda-t:a¯n:d:ava, or dance of bliss. Vis:n:u, understanding that
the entire world was threatened by S´iva’s dance, cut Sat¯ı’s
The third great pilgrimage field of North India is
body into pieces with his discus, and the places where they
Praya¯ga, even more ancient than Ka¯´s¯ı. It is located at the
fell became the S´aktip¯ıt:has. Currently, the most powerful of
san˙gama (confluence) of the two sacred rivers—the Ganges
these is believed to be Ka¯maru¯pa in Assam, where the god-
and the Yamuna¯—along with an invisible third river, the
dess’s vulva fell to earth.
Sarasvat¯ı. At Prayaga, one is not only allowed, but in fact,
enjoined to commit religious suicide by drowning, and there
The sectarian aspect of pilgrimage systems is, in any
are historical records of such suicides there by ancient Hindu
case, not terribly relevant for contemporary Hindu pilgrim-
kings. Praya¯ga is the site of the Kumbha Mela¯, the largest re-
age. Hindus have in the past been famous for their tolerance.
ligious gathering in the world, as well as a pilgrimage fair that
Sectarian differences among Hindus are not very important,
occurs there once every twelve years.
and most Hindu pilgrims readily visit the shrines of a variety
of gods. This kind of openness extends to the pilgrimage
There are many other systems of pilgrimage places in
places of different religions as well. Kataragama in Sri Lanka,
India. The most encompassing of these are the “four dha¯ms,”
for example, is visited by Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, and
four pilgrimage places at the corners of kite-shaped India.
Muslims; the tomb of the Muslim saint Niz:a¯m al-D¯ın
Badrina¯th in the central Himalayas of North India, sacred
Awliya¯’ (AH 636–725 /1238–1325 CE) in Delhi is regularly
to Vis:n:u, was already known to the redactors of the
visited by Sikhs and Hindus; and the Sikh pilgrimage place
Maha¯bha¯rata; Jaggana¯th to the East in Orissa is, like
of Amritsar attracts numerous pilgrims from other religions,
Badrina¯th, sacred to Vis:n:u and was of great importance dur-
including Hinduism.
ing the late medieval period in India as a source of authorita-
tive religious practice and doctrine. Ra¯me´svaram in the
In addition to the all-India level of pilgrimage places
South, the only S´aiva temple of the four dha¯ms, is where
and systems discussed above, each region within the subcon-
Ra¯ma is believed to have worshiped S´iva before crossing to
tinent has its own important pilgrimage places. A complete
Ra¯van:a’s fortress city of Lan˙ka¯; and Kr:s:n:a’s temple-city of
list of such places would be very long; however, some of the
Dva¯raka¯ in the West. It is widely believed that the great phi-
more notable shrines in India that have not been mentioned
losopher S´an˙kara¯ca¯rya (c. eighth–ninth centuries) made a
above include the following: the goddess temple of
circumambulatory pilgrimage of the subcontinent and estab-
Jwa¯la¯mukhi, near Ka¯n˙gad:a¯ in Himachal Pradesh;
lished these four shrines, though there is no reliable historical
Kuruks:etra, near Amba¯la¯ in Punjab, thought to be the site
evidence of this.
of the great battle in which the Maha¯bha¯rata culminated;
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7171
Mount Kaila¯sa in Tibet, thought of as the home of Lord
The ritual processions that occur throughout South Asia
S´iva; Amarna¯th in Kashmir, a lin˙ga of ice that is the goal of
are also pilgrimage-like activities. Many pilgrimage temples
a very large annual pilgrimage; Amarakan:t:aka in Madhya
are associated with annual festivals where the god or goddess
Pradesh on the banks of the Narmada¯ River; Na¯thadva¯ra,
emerges from his or her temple and circumambulates the
near Udaipur, associated with Kr:s:n:a; Somana¯tha in Gujarat,
town or visits another deity. Ritual processions in which one
destroyed by Mah:mu¯d in 1026 and now an important shrine
deity visits another are common in the Himalayas, and in
for Hindu nationalists; Na¯sik in Maharashtra, where one of
these processions the deity is normally accompanied by
the periodic Kumbha Mela¯s is held; Pa¯ndharpur, associated
priests and pilgrims who tend the deity during the procession
with Vit:t:hoba¯, the “Maharashtrian Vis:n:u”; the goddess
and worship him regularly.
Ka¯l¯ı’s temple of Ka¯l¯ıgha¯t: in Kolkatta, West Bengal; the tem-
Sa¯dhus, or holy men, are often seen wandering in India,
ple of S´r:n:ger¯ı in Karnataka, one of the four headquarters of
and they are particularly prevalent at pilgrimage places, so
the Da´sana¯m¯ı order of S´aiva monks believed to have been
that one easily thinks of them as “perpetual pilgrims.” How-
founded by S´an˙kara¯ca¯rya; Ud:ipi, also in Karnataka, birth-
ever, their own understandings of these journeys are rather
place of the dualist philosopher Madhva¯ca¯rya; and in Tamil
different. They may think of themselves variously as gods’
Nadu, the city of Madurai with its temple of the “fish-eyed”
soldiers, as novices undergoing initiation, as members of a
goddess M¯ına¯ks:¯ı, the famous S´aiva pilgrimage place Cidam-
travelling monastery, or as ascetics who are roaming for plea-
baram, and the city of Ka¯ñc¯ıpuram. The state of Andhra Pra-
sure or merely wandering aimlessly.
desh includes the Vais:n:ava temple of Tirupati, quite possibly
the wealthiest shrine in India.
With the rapid growth of tourism and transport in the
past few decades, pilgrimage activity in India is exploding.
Pilgrimage activity is often associated with certain dates
It is now quite common to combine religious pilgrimage
or times of the year. Gaya¯ is visited especially during the
with tourism, and this occurs at all economic levels, from the
pitr:-paks:a, the annual half-month period that is reserved for
inexpensive bus tours organized for a clientele of peasant or
ancestor rituals. The sanctity of the four sites at which the
lower-middle-class Hindus to the five-star pilgrimage tours
Kumbha Mela¯s are held on a rotating basis is also connected
organized for overseas Hindus and increasingly promoted by
to particular astrologically determined times. In many places
the government of India. The video bus coach, in which pil-
throughout the subcontinent, it is believed that a conjunc-
grims en route to a t¯ıirtha stha¯n watch Bollywood movies
tion of heavenly bodies releases a kind of power that can in
rather than singing religious hymns, has existed for some
turn be tapped or absorbed by pilgrims at sacred places for
time. Other new forms of pilgrimage include “web pilgrim-
a limited time. Therefore, throughout India, one finds pil-
ages,” where one may have dar´san (sight) of the deity online,
grimage fairs (mela¯s) that draw huge crowds of pilgrims, but
and even order some prasa¯d, or blessed food, from the
only for a limited time.
temple.
The motivations for pilgrimage are often rather mun-
dane: success in business or studies; curing of sickness; and
SEE ALSO Banaras; Ganges River; Kumbha Mela¯;
birth of children (especially sons). These desired objects are
Kuruks:etra; Rivers; Sarasvat¯ı; Vr:nda¯vana; Worship and De-
called fruits (Skt., phala). Typically, one takes a vow, promis-
votional Life, article on Hindu Devotional Life.
ing that if the desired fruit is obtained, one will perform a
pilgrimage; or one performs a pilgrimage in the hope that the
BIBLIOGRAPHY
desired fruit will be obtained. The power of the sacred place,
The best general introduction to the concept of t¯ırtha is still
along with the energy that is generated by the ascetic prac-
Diana Eck’s “India’s T¯ırthas: ’Crossings’ in Sacred Geogra-
tices associated with pilgrimage and the grace of the god for
phy,” History of Religions 20 (4): 323–344. Excellent sources
whom the pilgrimage is performed, are believed to result in
on the medieval classification of t¯ırthas, their particular qual-
ities, and the rules and practices associated with them can be
the attainment of the desired object. Such a “this-worldly”
found in the Kr:tyakalpataru of Bhat:t:a Laks:m¯ıdhara (Gaek-
orientation has been an object of criticism for Hindu theolo-
wad’s Oriental Series, Vol. XCVIII, Baroda, India, 1942)
gians and reformers for centuries. For example, the poet-
and the Tristhal¯ısetu of Bhat:t:a Na¯ra¯yan:a (translated with
saint Kab¯ır lamented the many pilgrims who wander the
commentary by Richard Salomon as The Bridge to the Three
earth lost and parched, not realizing that the true Ganges lies
Holy Cities (Delhi, India, 1985). Further information on the
within.
history of Hindu pilgrimage can be found in P. V. Kane’s
History of Dharma´sastra (in five volumes, Pune, India, 1930–
Hindus also engage in many kinds of practices that are
1962).
quite similar to pilgrimage. For example, Hindus often jour-
The most comprehensive modern listing of pilgrimage places is
ney to have the dar´san (auspicious sight) of a holy person.
found in a special issue of Kalya¯n:a 31, no. 1 (1957), titled
This may be done on the occasion of a special ritual, or dur-
T¯ırtha¯n˙k. The best source for the S´aktip¯ıt:has is still D. C.
ing a mela¯ or other festival. Such journeys are not called pil-
Sircar’s “The S´akta P¯ıt:has,” Jounal of the Royal Asiatic Society
grimages (t¯ırtha-ya¯tra¯), but the similarity of holy place and
of Bengal Letters 14 (1948): 1–108 (republished Delhi, India,
holy person is implicitly recognized by the fact that a holy
1973). Other contemporary lists of pilgrimage places with
person is often called a t¯ırtha.
commentary include S. M. Bhardwaj’s Hindu Places of Pil-
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PIL:L:AI LOKA¯CA¯RYA
grimage in India: A Study in Cultural Geography (Berkeley,
Vais:n:ava brahman dialect, Man:iprava¯l:am, and is addressed
Calif., 1973), which maps the pilgrimage places mentioned
to “women and ignorant men,” to free them from their pain-
in the Maha¯bha¯rata; Agehananda Bharati’s “Pilgrimage in
ful bondage to the world and to deliver them into the joyful
Indian Tradition,” History of Religions 3 (Summer, 1963):
service of Na¯ra¯yan:a. After the sect had divided into two
135–167 and his “Pilgrimage Sites and Indian Civilization,”
schools, the Ten˙kalai and the Vat:akalai, the As:t:ada´sa
in Joseph W. Elder, ed., Chapters in Indian Civilization (Du-
Rahasyam served the Ten˙kalais through commentaries by the
buque, Iowa, 1970). Discussions of “pilgrimage unto death”
school’s paramount theologian, Ma¯n:ava¯la Ma¯munikal:
include von Stietencron’s “Suicide as a Religious Institu-
¯
¯
tion,” Bha¯rat¯ıya Vidya¯ XXVII (1969) and William Sax’s
(1370–1443).
“Pilgrimage Unto Death,” in To Strive and Not to Yield: Es-
Of the eighteen treatises, three have been highly signifi-
says in Honour of Colin Brown, edited by Jim Veitch (Wel-
cant for S´r¯ı Vais:n:avas: Mumuks:uppat:i (The means for those
lington, New Zealand, 1992). One of the most remarkable
who desire freedom), Tattvatrayam (The three realities), and
studies of an important pilgrimage center is to be found in
S´r¯ı Vacana Bhu¯s:anam (The auspicious ornament of instruc-
Anncharlott Eschmann, et al., The Cult of Jagganath and the
tion). Pil:l:ai Loka¯ca¯rya teaches Vi´sis:t:a¯dvaita Veda¯nta but
Regional Tradition of Orissa (New Delhi, India, 1978).
stresses one aspect—that of God’s grace and the relative help-
Anthropological accounts of pilgrimage include Ann Gold’s Fruit-
lessness of embodied souls to emancipate themselves. As vari-
ful Journeys: The Ways of Rajasthani Pilgrims (Berkeley, Calif.,
ous scriptures reveal, Na¯ra¯yan:a’s consort, S´r¯ı, or Laks:m¯ı, is
1988), E. Valentine Daniel’s “Equilibrium Regained,” chap-
ter five of his Fluid Signs: Being a Person the Tamil Way
the mediating agent between the majestic Lord and the num-
(Berkeley, Calif., 1984); David Haberman’s Journey Through
berless souls entangled in self-created bondage. She is com-
the Twelve Forests: An Encounter with Krishna (New York,
passionate toward all sentient beings and perfectly subservi-
1994); Alan Morinis’s Pilgrimage in the Hindu Tradition
ent to her Lord. Being totally dependent, she thus is able to
(Delhi 1984), and William S. Sax’s Mountain Goddess: Gen-
influence him on behalf of those souls whom she touches
der and Politics in a Himalayan Pilgrimage (New York,
with her grace. Surrender to the Goddess is all that is re-
1991).
quired for emancipation.
WILLIAM S. SAX (2005)
Pil:l:ai Loka¯ca¯rya thus teaches that the devotee—whether
male or female of any caste whatever—who cannot fulfill the
scriptural requirements of ritual, wisdom, and devotion can
nevertheless attain the Lord, either through the grace that en-
PIL:L:AI LOKA¯CA¯RYA (1264–1369) was an early for-
ables the devotee to give up this world out of impatient long-
mulater of Ten˙kalai theology for S´r¯ı Vais:n:ava Hindus of
ing for God, or through such absolute trust in Na¯ra¯yan:a and
South India. Born in the sixth generation of disciples of Ra-
S´r¯ı that he relinquishes the burden of his salvation to them.
manuja, and from a family learned in Sanskrit and Tamil,
Furthermore, even the devotee who cannot surrender to God
he lived his long life in the temple complex of S´r¯ı Ran˙gam.
can still surrender to a guru¯. Regarding the refugee as help-
His father was known simply as Vat:akku Tiruv¯ıti Pil:l:ai, “the
less, the properly qualified guru¯, by virtue of his own wisdom
Pil:l:ai of North Street,” and his mother was S´r¯ı Ran˙ga
and S´r¯ı’s activity within him, can assume his disciple’s bur-
Na¯cciya¯r. The couple was childless until, tradition says,
den. Any ritual and devotional acts performed after surrender
Pil:l:ai’s guru¯, Nampil:l:ai, ordered him to give up his ascetic
to God or guru¯ are to derive from the refugee’s desire to
chastity. When subsequently a son was born, the couple
please God and as a witness to his neighbor, not from his de-
named him Loka¯ca¯rya (“teacher of the world”) after one of
sire for merit. A contemporary of Pil:l:ai Loka¯ca¯rya, Veda¯nta
Nampil:l:ai’s own titles. Pil:l:ai Loka¯ca¯rya himself never mar-
De´sika (1268–1369) of the rival Vat:akalai school, took issue
ried, but rather devoted himself to the service of Na¯ra¯yan:a
and taught that in addition to S´r¯ı’s activity, ritual and devo-
in his iconic forms and to teaching. In 1309, when northern
tional efforts, too, are important for emancipation.
Muslims raided the temple, tradition relates that he walled
in the immovable icons and escaped with the movable ones
SEE ALSO S´r¯ı Vais:n:avas.
to a distant village, sustaining their worship until they could
be safely returned.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Teaching shaped his scholarship from an early age.
A good exposition of S´r¯ı Vacana Bhu¯s:anam by a modern Hindu
Whereas his father recorded Nampil:l:ai’s comments on
guru¯ is Sree Srivachana Bhushanam by Sri Pallai Lokacharya:
Namma¯lva¯r’s Tiruva¯ymoli in the Bhagavat Vis:ayam, and his
An English Glossary by Sri Satyamurthi Swami (Gwalior,
¯
¯
younger brother, the ascetic Alakiya Ma¯n:ava¯l:a Peruma¯l:
India, 1972). The differences between Pil:lai Loka¯ca¯rya and
¯
Na¯yana¯r, one of his own disciples, likewise composed an im-
Veda¯nta De´sika are discussed succinctly in Srimad
¯
Rahasyatrayasara of Sri Vedantadesika, translated with intro-
portant commentary on Namma¯lva¯r’s poems, the A¯ca¯rya
¯
duction and notes by M. R. Rajagopala Aiyangar (Kumbako-
Hr:dayam (The heart of the teacher), Pil:l:ai Loka¯ca¯rya pro-
nam, India, 1956). John B. Carman provides an excellent
duced theological textbooks such as the As:t:ada´sa Rahasyam
discussion of the concept of surrender and its relation to
(Eighteen Secrets), a compendium of succinct treatises that
Ra¯ma¯nuja’s thought in chapter 17 of The Theology of
systematically explain the esoteric teachings S´r¯ı Vais:n:avas re-
Ra¯ma¯nuja: An Essay in Interreligious Understanding (New
ceive from their guru¯s. The work is written in the S´r¯ı
Haven, 1974). The most recent discussion of Pil:lai
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PINDAR
7173
Loka¯ca¯rya in the history of Tamil literature is given in Tamil
tending to prepare a massive dictionary; the project was in-
by M. Arun:a¯calam in Tamil ilakkiya varala¯r:u, 6 vols.
terrupted, however, by the outbreak of World War II. Pinard
¯
(Tirucir:r:ampalam, India, 1969–1972).
then turned to the study of the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius
D. D
Loyola. Several books and articles on Ignatian spirituality
ENNIS HUDSON (1987)
appeared between 1940 and 1956. He died at Lille on Febru-
ary 9, 1958.
Pinard prided himself on rigorous logic and objectivity,
PINARD DE LA BOULLAYE, HENRI (1874–
holding irrationality, sentiment, and subjectivity in suspi-
1958), was a French Jesuit theologian, preacher, and writer
cion. He asserted that religion comes into existence on the
on theology, comparative religion, and the spirituality of Ig-
basis of reason: That is, it is on the rational, deductive plane
natius Loyola. Born in Paris in 1874, Pinard entered the So-
that religion first imposes itself on humans (“Dieu se conclut
ciety of Jesus in 1893. He was subsequently appointed pro-
avant d’être vu”). Religious experience, on which he wrote
fessor of theology at a Jesuit institution in Enghien, Belgium,
several articles during his tenure at Enghien, he considered
a position that he held from 1910 to 1927. During his pro-
to be a complement to religion arrived at rationally.
fessorship at Enghien he became interested in the study of
comparative religion. He introduced a course in the history
BIBLIOGRAPHY
of religions that he later offered at the Gregorian University
Pinard’s major work is L’étude comparée des religions, 2 vols. (Paris,
in Rome, where he lectured from 1927 to 1934.
1922–1925). Attention should also be directed to his early
work on religious experience, La théorie de l’expérience reli-
Earlier, in 1913, Pinard had printed privately for the use
gieuse: Son évolution de Luther à W. James (Louvain, 1921),
of his students a manual entitled De vera religione. In this
and to his much later writings on Ignatian spirituality: Exer-
work he endorsed the theory of a primitive monotheism (Ur-
cices spirituels, selon la méthode de saint Ignace, 4 vols. (Paris,
monotheismus) proposed by the priest-ethnologist Wilhelm
1944–1947), Saint Ignace de Loyola: Directeur d’âmes (Paris,
Schmidt, and the theory of cultural cycles of Fritz Graebner,
1947), and La spiritualité ignatienne (Paris, 1949).
also an ethnologist. The manual was a detailed study of com-
HARRY B. PARTIN (1987)
parative problems, a foretaste of the intellectual style of his
later, more important work, L’étude comparée des religions,
the two volumes of which appeared in 1922 and 1925. Sever-
al editions were published subsequently, for Pinard contin-
PINDAR. The links between poetry and religion were
ued to revise the work.
tight in ancient Greece, and Pindar (c. 518–c. 438 BCE) was
Volume 1 of L’étude comparée des religions, subtitled Son
no exception. Born in Cynoscephalae (near Thebes) and ed-
histoire dans le monde occidentale, evidenced Pinard’s erudi-
ucated in Thebes and Athens, he had a special relationship
tion. By means of detailed historical, biographical, and bibli-
with the Sicilian tyrants and the Aeginetan aristocratic fami-
ographical research, he lucidly presented the periods and per-
lies, but his reputation was Panhellenic. Some of Pindar’s
sonages relevant to the comparative study of religion, broadly
odes allude to the most relevant historical event of his life-
conceived, in the West. Almost an encyclopedia, the volume
time: the Persian invasion, which was put to an end by Greek
was followed by an extensive double index (names and top-
victories at Salamis in 480 and Plataia in 479. In odes for
ics) that appeared in 1931. The second volume, subtitled Ses
the Sicilian victors, Pindar emphasized the triumphs of the
méthodes, studied numerous methods of classification and
local rulers against the Carthaginians (Himera, 480) and the
comparison, and the associated theories of explanation and
Etruscans (Kyme, 474). Ancient biographies of Pindar, in
interpretation of religion, that had appeared during the past
which he is described as theophilés (loved by the Gods), high-
century. Pinard analyzed the philosophical positions and pre-
light certain “prodigious” episodes of his life. The biogra-
suppositions of the various methods and defined precisely
phies claim, for example, that a bee made a honeycomb on
what each could bring to the understanding of religion on
his mouth as he was sleeping on Mount Helikon (a symbol
the historical plane, as well as their defects and limits. He
of his inspiration), that the goddess Demeter reproached him
gave considerable attention to the method of the historico-
for having ignored her in his hymns, and that the god Pan
cultural school of Graebner and Schmidt, but he preferred
was heard singing one of Pindar’s songs in the mountains
Schmidt’s rationalism to his parallel emphasis on primordial
near Thebes.
revelation. Further, Pinard emphasized the importance of
The ancient editors classified the Pindaric poems into
the several human sciences (history, ethnology, philology,
seventeen books containing hymns, paeans (a variety of
psychology, and sociology) in the comparative study of reli-
hymn, mostly in honor of Apollo), dithyrambs (Dionysiac
gion, calling for the convergence of these disciplines in such
hymns), processional odes, maiden songs and others “sepa-
study. Moreover, he insisted on the unity of science and
rate from the maiden songs,” dance-odes, eulogies, dirges,
faith.
and victory odes.
In 1937 Pinard returned to Enghien, where he devoted
The victory odes were grouped, according to the kind
himself exclusively to the study of comparative religion, in-
of contest they celebrated, as Olympian, Pythian, Isthmian,
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7174
PINDAR
or Nemean (a class to which two odes of a different origin
the Gods are wrong, and the poet must look for the truth
have been added). Although the essential aim of the victory
in all of them. Moreover, destiny is mutable, as many mythi-
odes is to praise the victor and his exploits, the religious ele-
cal paradigms show, and mortals must grasp the fragility of
ments that pervade them can be explained in terms of the
human existence: “a dream of a shadow is man” (Pythian
festivals, which were dedicated to the important gods Zeus
Odes 8, 95, tr. Race). Fortunately, the celebration of triumph
(Olympian and Nemean), Apollo (Pythian), and Poseidon
spreads a particular aglaia (brilliance) upon the victors and
(Isthmian). The poems’ religious elements also reflect the be-
their families. The Graces preside on those moments, and the
lief that victory was proof of a divine predilection for the vic-
charis (grace) of the song contributes to this hopeful joy.
tor and his family, as well as the ritual context of the celebra-
tion that followed the triumph, and the immortalizing power
Other types of songs with special significance for Greek
of poetry. The poet contributed to this extraordinary reli-
religion are paeans, dithyrambs, and dirges. Pindar adapted
gious atmosphere through a wide range of means: music and
his paeans to the requirements of audience and performance.
choreography; formal resources, such as poetical and rhetori-
In the Delian paeans either he sings the origins of Delos (7b),
cal devices that shared traits with religious hymns or prayers;
the birth of the God in the island (12, for the Naxians), and
maxims; and mythical narratives or allusions.
its colonization (5, for the Athenians), or he exemplifies,
with relevant heroes, faith in the Gods and love for the
More than half of Pindar’s forty-six victory songs begin
homeland, as in, for instance, Euxanthios and Melampous
with a short prayer or an invocation to a divinity. Thirty-
(4, for the Keans). Among the Delphic paeans (3, 6, 8, 10),
three of Pindar’s odes describe one or more myths that give
it is worth mentioning the myth of the successive temples
a solemn tone to the poet’s praise for the victor, who appears
(8), which symbolically exemplifies the evolution of prophet-
in a remarkably heroic light. Seventeen of those myths deal
ic activity, whereas in Paean 6 the epic past and the sanctuary
with local traditions of the victor’s homeland: the myths of
are linked by the myth of Neoptolemos’s death (his tomb
the Aeacids in the eleven odes for Aeginetans, with many epi-
was at Delphi). Neoptolemos was an important hero for the
sodes from the old epic poetry; Apollo’s love for the nymph
Aeginetans, who were attendants at this celebration. Paean
Cyrene, eponym of this city (Pythian Odes 9, for Telesicrates
10 probably included the foundation myth of Python’s kill-
of Cyrene); the origin of Rhodes (Olympian Odes 7, for the
ing and the purification of the god. Paeans 1 (for Apollo Is-
Rhodian Diagoras); and so on. Another ten either underline
menios), 7 (with the myth of Apollo and Melia), and 9 (mo-
the parallel between the victors and some mythical hero, or
tivated by an eclipse) were composed for the Apollonian cult
they display an ad hoc narrative fitting the hero’s personal
of Thebes.
circumstances, or they even adopt a paradigmatic tone. Thus
the young hero Perseus is a perfect model for the child Hip-
As was the case with paeans, Pindar’s dithyrambs
pocles of Thessaly (Pythian Odes 10); Heracles for a pancrati-
stressed the links between the current festival and the divine
um winner (Isthmian Odes 4, 5, and 6); and Philoctetes for
world using a rich variety of resources. The degree to which
a pain-suffering Hieron of Syracuse (Pythian Odes 1). Escha-
the words, music, and contents fit the spirit and tradition of
tological myths, which are related to Orphic beliefs, are sig-
a festival is clearly apparent in the impressive beginning of
nificant in an ode for the Sicilian victor Theron of Acragas
Dithyramb 2 (for the Thebans), which is rich in orgiastic and
(Olympian Odes 2), where for the first time in Western litera-
religious evocations (the heavenly festival mirrors the present
ture an afterlife with prizes and punishments is described, as
rite). It is also apparent in the first stanza of Fragment 75 (for
is the Island of the Blessed, a destiny for exceptional heroes.
the Athenians), where the alliterative effects echo the sound
Finally, there are other myths that are included in the poems
of musical instruments. Perhaps it is not a coincidence that
because of the type of victory or traditions about the origins
the myths included in the dithyrambs were apt to enhance
of the festival. This is the case with the well-known myth of
local trends of Dionysiac religion. Herakles’ descent to the
Pelops, the mythical paradigm of winners in the chariot race
underworld and the introduction into Thebes of the Eleu-
(Olympian Odes 1), or with Herakles as founder of the Olym-
synian mysteries were commemorated in Dithyramb 2.
pian games (Olympian Odes 10).
Myths having Perseus as protagonist appeared in at least two
dithyrambs (1 and 4) and were probably composed for the
The odes are full of moral advice regarding religious
city of Argos, where stories told that the hero fought against
conceptions and other values. The poet is a sophós, an in-
the god, with whom he was finally reconciled.
spired wise artist. A victory is proof of the nature of the win-
ner, a gleam of inborn excellence, but also a result of effort.
The dirges illustrate the importance of the consolatory
Poets contribute to the winner’s glory and fame among mor-
function of poetry and the wide range of beliefs concerning
tals but also proclaim the necessity of being prudent and of
the afterlife that were current in the fifth century BCE. Along
following the Delphic precept “know thyself”: mortals must
with a description of a delightful paradise reserved for the
be aware of their limits and not fall into hybris (wanton vio-
pious in Hades (Threni 7, Fragment 129), the dirges also con-
lence). Humans must fear the justice of Zeus, be aware of
tain one of the first literary testimonies of Orphic beliefs
Apollo’s infinite wisdom, and recognize the immense powers
(Fragment 133) concerning the destiny of souls and the role
of all divine beings. Stories about the shameful conduct of
of Persephone in their expiation process.
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PINDAR
7175
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Metaphor in Pindar (London, 1986); Gregory Nagy, Pindar’s
The best bibliographies on Pindar can be found in Douglas E.
Homer: The Lyric Possession of an Epic Past (Baltimore, Md.,
Gerber, A Bibliography of Pindar, 1513–1966 (Cleveland,
and London, 1990); and William H. Race, Style and Rhetoric
Ohio, 1969); “Pindar and Bacchylides 1934–1987,” Lustrum
in Pindar’s Odes (Atlanta, 1990). Interesting analyses on the
31 (1989): 97–269, and Lustrum 32 (1990): 7–67. An excel-
role of myth can be found in Adolf Köhnken, Die Funktion
lent edition (with a good translation) of Pindar’s works is
des Mythos bei Pindar (Berlin, 1974), and Paola A. Ber-
William H. Race’s Pindar (Cambridge, Mass., and London,
nardini, Mito e attualità nelle odi di Pindaro (Rome, 1983).
1997), vol. 1: Olympian Odes, Pythian Odes; vol. 2: Nemean
On the specific religious questions in Pindar, see Erik Thum-
Odes, Isthmian Odes, Fragments. The paeans have been ed-
mer, Die Religiosität Pindars (Innsbruck, Austria, 1957);
ited, with full commentary and introduction, by Ian Ruther-
Luigi Lehnus, L’inno a Pan di Pindaro (Milan, 1979); Hugh
ford in Pindar’s Paeans: A Reading of the Fragments with a
Lloyd-Jones, “Pindar and the After-Life” in Pindare (Van-
Survey of the Genre (Oxford, 2001). For the dithyrambs, see
doeuvres-Genève, 1985), pp. 245–279; Eveline Krummen,
Salvatore Lavecchia, Pindari dithyramborum fragmenta
Pyrsos Hymnon: Festliche Gegenwart und mythisch-rituelle
(Rome, 2000), and for the dirges, Maria Cannatà Fera, Pin-
Tradition bei Pindar (Berlin, 1990); Emilio Suárez de la
darus threnorum fragmenta (Rome, 1990).
Torre, “Píndaro y la religión griega,” Cuadernos de Filología
Clásica (egi)
3 (1993): 67–97; and Michael Theunissen, Pin-
Some important works for the understanding of Pindar’s poetical
dar: Menschenlos und Wende der Zeit (Munich, 2000), an im-
technique are Elroy L. Bundy, Studia Pindarica (I–II)
portant essay on the concept of time in Pindar, with religious
(Berkeley, Calif., 1962; reprint, 1986); Richard Hamilton,
implications.
Epinikion: General Form in the Odes of Pindar (The Hague,
Netherlands, 1974); Deborah Steiner, The Crown of Song:
EMILIO SUÁREZ DE LA TORRE (2005)
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N